Mystery: I Married the Queen of Mystery.

Chapter 280 The Poet’s Real Purpose for Going to Sea

Odysseus returned to the "Argo" and made further arrangements. Third Officer Beavis and crew member Boris drove the "Ghost" with 8 "extraordinary puppets" and escorted these people back to "Zakl Island".

At maximum speed, we can be back tomorrow morning.

Odysseus took the rest of the crew on the Argo and continued to the island of Nohaus, where the two ships sailed separately.

After the "Argo" left the sea area, Odysseus went to the restaurant to pour a glass of beer to celebrate the victory of the operation.

As soon as he arrived at the restaurant, Odysseus slapped his forehead and said, "I forgot to grab the chef."

Rupert suggested, "We can go to Northhouse Island and rob it."

That island was about the same size as Chakel Island and certainly couldn't withstand an attack from the Argo.

Odysseus nodded: "That's a good idea."

At this time, the handsome Leonard said, "Excuse me, do you often rob like this?"

"Not often." Odysseus said, "Today is my first time, so I don't have much experience."

He should have made a list, Odysseus now remembered, and had forgotten about robbing the carpenter.

Fortunately, there is a carpenter in the port town of Cruz Island. When needed, we can requisition him and pay him a salary.

As he thought about it, Odysseus took another sip of beer and sighed in his heart: Being a pirate is really good. There is no need to consider the feelings of these people. If you need someone, just capture them.

Anyway, they will be paid in the future, and in terms of food and safety, it will definitely be better than on Chaker Island.

……

On the beach of Chakel Island, a thin-looking woman in her thirties watched the Argonaut rapidly leaving the shore from a distance.

"His strength has already surpassed that of an ordinary Sequence 5," she commented.

This is the person from the "Iron Cross" who came to investigate the murder of "Red Lion" Taylor. With the intelligence she collected in the past few days, she realized that she must report the situation she learned to her superiors as soon as possible. At least she could not solve the murderer by herself.

Moreover, the factor of "Dawn of the Elements" must also be considered.

At this time, night fell and the "Sword of Dawn" ship could no longer be seen on the coastline.

Call ~
The woman was engulfed in flames.

The next second, the flames went out and she disappeared from the spot.

……

On board the Argo.

Late at night, Leonard lay alone on the deck, staring at the starry sky in a daze.

After an unknown amount of time, he whispered, "Old man, this ship is very strange."

Pales Zoroast, the "grandfather" within this Red Glove member, said, "The strangest one is the captain."

Leonard was slightly stunned: "You mean, his strength is too strong?"

"No, he is the 'Blessed One of the Night', the real Blessed One."

Leonard sat up suddenly: "What?"

Because the noise was so loud, Cleveland, who was on night duty in the cab, came out and asked, "Mr. Leonard, what did you just say?"

"Nothing." Leonard said quickly, "The starry sky here is simply magnificent."

He smiled and said, "I haven't seen stars in Backlund for a long time."

Cleveland nodded. "I heard that city is quite foggy."

After saying that, he returned to the cab and continued his night duty.

If it was the boatswain, Salina, she would definitely ask about the specific situation of the fog in Backlund.

Leonard lay on the deck for a few minutes before he whispered, "Old man, why did you say that just now?"

"Because he's protected by the Night," Pales said with a smile. "That feeling isn't wrong. As long as you're out of sight, you won't feel his presence."

Leonard was slightly stunned, but he didn't pay attention to anything.

But he was a little puzzled: "Why can he be favored by the goddess?"

"You're not the only one in this world with secrets." Pales said, "Isn't that what you said?"

Leonard smiled bitterly, took a deep breath, and recalled his former colleague in Tingen City.
……

Early Thursday morning, the Ghost sailed into Moon Bay against the wind and waves.

At this time, the first ray of sunshine shone on Cruz Island, and the dock was already busy.

The reason why they started working so early was because the mayor had just arrived. He not only asked the restaurant to prepare food, but also asked Tom to send a group of police officers to wait for orders.

The "Ghost" docked and lowered the spiral staircase. The people who were captured yesterday got off the ship with confused looks on their faces.

They had been frightened all night and now had no idea why these pirates had kidnapped them.

To be precise, they were not tied up or thrown into prison.

They were allowed to rest in the cabin, but there were some terrifying guards guarding the door leading to the deck, preventing them from escaping from the deck.

After getting off the boat, the police officers who had received orders in advance shouted at them to have their meal on the dock.

Because they didn't get a good night's rest, many people didn't even have dinner last night. Everyone basically wolfed down their food and finished breakfast in just ten minutes.

Odysseus, who had also had breakfast in the restaurant, gathered these people together and said to them from a high place, "Don't be so nervous.

“As you can see, this is an island with little development, so I need a lot of construction workers to build roads and houses.

“I also need excellent engineers to help me plan how to build the town and the roads.

"As for the teachers, I need you to teach the humanities and the most basic mathematics here."

Many people breathed a sigh of relief, at least their lives were no longer in danger for the time being.

"Of course, I will pay you as well." Odysseus smiled and said, "Your wages will start from today. Your job is to build a room for yourself first.

“We can sleep temporarily in a warehouse at night and move in after the house is built.

"Also, the designer's two children don't have to participate in the labor, but I suggest you bring them with you."

When everyone heard that there would be rewards, some of them didn't quite believe their ears.

This means that the pirates would most likely let them go later, otherwise there would be no need to pay them because no one would pay the dead.

Odysseus said to Tom beside him, "Send 10 police officers to watch them and ensure their safety. Take them to the warehouse to rest for the time being.

“Those 10 police officers also receive one soli per day in overtime pay.

"Their meals will still be covered by the restaurant for now. Tell the restaurant owner that I will settle all expenses every three days."

That warehouse was requisitioned by Odysseus from the port town. It was quite large and could easily accommodate dozens of people.

Tom smiled and nodded: "I'll keep an eye on them."

On Cruz Island, there is no job that can earn 1 soli a day.

Normally, the police officers on this island do not receive a salary, and they do not have a unified working time. When the natives in the mountains harass the town, they will immediately take up arms and drive those natives away.

Therefore, the police officers' income basically comes from the spoils and extortion from the residents of the town.

Now, the new mayor is providing them with some job opportunities.

Because opportunities are limited, Tom prioritizes his cronies, which also makes him more authoritative among the police officers.

Afterwards, Odysseus asked Tom to take this group of people to the warehouse arranged for them, leaving only the designer behind.

Odysseus sat on a chair at the entrance of the restaurant and asked, "What's your name?"

"Cyril." The other party was somewhat nervous: "Mr. Pirate, my name is Cyril Daren."

Odysseus said, "Oh," and said, "You can call me Captain."

"Yes, Captain."

"Come on, I'll take you to see the terrain." As he said that, Odysseus stood up and used a "flying scroll" to fly with the designer Darren.

"Oh...ah..." Amid Cyril Dahlen's screams and while the residents of the surrounding towns regarded it as normal, the two men flew towards the high mountains opposite Lighthouse Mountain.

Lighthouse Hill is just a hill, but the mountain opposite it is very tall and offers a bird's eye view of the entire eastern and southern terrain of the island.

Odysseus waited until Cyril recovered from his surprise before pointing to the plains in the south and saying, "I want to build a town on that plain. What suggestions do you have?"

As he spoke, he handed Cyril a telescope.

Cyril took the telescope and looked at it for a while before saying, "There are two options. One is to build it in the center of the plain. I see two villages near that location. We can merge the villages to increase the population.

"Another option is to build along that curved coastline. I see that if we dig a little there, we can create a small port, which will make it more convenient to go out to sea in the future."

Odysseus nodded and said, "I prefer to build a town in the center of the plain. Building a port now will not be very useful.

"After you return, you will start drawing the design, and I will send someone to take you on a practical survey."

He paused and continued, "Your family will also receive preferential treatment. When we return later, I will send someone to rent a house for you in the town for you to stay in first."

"Thank you, thank you." Cyril said sincerely.

His only wish now is that his family can be safe and have the opportunity to go back.

"And here." Odysseus pointed to Beacon Hill. "I want to build a permanent position on the seaward side, and some office buildings, residential buildings, and other structures on the inner side."

"I suggest that buildings like office buildings be built in the middle, and residential buildings be built on both sides," Cyril suggested. "It would be best if the residential buildings could overlook the sea."

Odysseus nodded. "That's something I hadn't thought of. You can start drawing the blueprints for the buildings there."

Cyril warned: "Captain, if you want to build a building, wood is not very reliable."

"Don't worry about the building materials. Also, I'd like to expand this port." Odysseus pointed to Moon Bay and said, "It would be best if it could accommodate some large ships."

"This project will be huge," Cyril said. "We can only build a dam outside the harbor, drain the water, and then dig out the mud and rocks inside.

"Then we can extend the pier forward a little bit and finally release the water back, so that we can get a good deep-water port."

Odysseus nodded: "It's similar to what I thought."

He then added, "Finally, there's the issue of road construction. I hope to build a highway around the island, connecting the plains in the south and the ports in the east with the forests and hills in the north."

Cyril also gradually became enthusiastic: "This blueprint is not difficult, but it requires a lot of manpower and construction materials."

He gradually realized that it would be nice if he could plan and build an island.

The two chatted for more than half an hour on the top of the mountain, and Odysseus had a rough plan for the next construction work.

Because Odysseus has something else to do today, we can only talk here for now.

After returning to the town, Odysseus left Beavis and Boris on Cruise Island, asked Beavis to find a house for the designer's family first, and asked them to start organizing the workers to find a place to build their own dormitory.

Construction tools were first requisitioned from the port town, and Cyril made a list. Odysseus planned to go to Bayam to purchase them.

Then Odysseus used the power of the "Travel Ring" to come to Bayam, gave the list of tools to Bazel, and asked him to send someone to purchase them.

After Basel arranged the work, Odysseus took him back to the "Argo", which was not far from Nohaus Island.

Odysseus did not intend to let the "Argo" dock. After handing over the command of the ship to Bazel, he brought Leonard to the port of Nohaus to inquire about the news.

After emerging from the spirit world, Leonard sighed, "'Travel' is the most practical ability I've ever seen."

Odysseus smiled and said, "It really can save a lot of trouble."

The two people looked at the port city not far away. The seaside city seemed always full of hope under the sunlight.

The city is the size of a small city and is more prosperous than Chakel Island because it is closer to the main shipping channel.

As the two walked forward, Leonard asked, "Do you have any channels to obtain intelligence on this island?"

"I don't have any," Odysseus said. "But yesterday afternoon, Pas from the Sea Lion Bar found my first mate again and told me about his contact on this island, who's also an intelligence dealer. We can go and ask him for information."

As they approached the harbor, they finally encountered a hired carriage. Odysseus said to the driver, "Let's go to the Seaweed Bar."

This bar wasn't far from the port, and during the day, people would play cards and chat there. When Odysseus and Leonard, both wearing trench coats, entered, they immediately attracted quite a few people's attention, as no one else in the bar wore trench coats.

Odysseus walked straight to the bar with ease and familiarity: "'Sea Lion' introduced us."

The bartender was slightly stunned, then said, "Follow me."

He led Odysseus and Leonard to the back door, where there was a small yard. In the corridor leading to the yard, there were already two streetwalkers ready to take business.

When they saw Odysseus and his companion, they immediately flirted with them and made coquettish gestures, because it was rare for this place to receive such clean and handsome customers.

After passing through the corridor, the bartender led them to the door of a room and knocked on it, saying, "Mr. Gavin, there is a guest introduced by Sea Lion."

"Come in." A male voice came from inside.

The bartender pushed open the door. Although it was a mess inside, the middle-aged man who had just stood up and was sitting at the desk was dressed decently.

After tipping the bartender, he said to Odysseus and Leonard, "Come in, both of you."

After closing the door, Gavin quickly wiped the chairs and said, "Sorry, I don't have many people here. I usually entertain guests at the bar."

But it was only a little after ten in the morning today and he had just gotten up.

"It's okay." Odysseus didn't sit down, but said, "We have a few questions to ask."

"Please feel free to ask." Gavin smiled and joked, "I love answering questions the most."

Odysseus said, "I hope to obtain all the information about the 'Skull' pirate group."

Gavin thought for a moment, looked at Odysseus and Leonard, and smiled, "300 pounds."

Odysseus adjusted his windbreaker and said, "Just now I saw three bars near the port."

"280 pounds!" Gavin couldn't ask for a lower price. "I can guarantee you, no one has more comprehensive information than I do," he said sincerely.

Odysseus glanced at Gavin and said, "30 pounds."

Gavin smiled and said, "Then you should find someone else. But I dare say that no one on Northhouse Island can offer a cheaper price than me."

Odysseus smiled and said, "Do you think this is my first day at sea?"

He said to Leonard, "Let's go."

The two men opened the door and were about to walk out when Gavin said, "Wait a minute. Since Sea Lion introduced us here, 30 pounds is 30 pounds."

Odysseus then led Leonard back inside: "You should be thankful that I bargained with you."

Gavin was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood what the other party meant. If there was no bargaining, he would most likely be arrested and tortured.

He quickly stood up and said politely again: "Please sit down, please sit down."

Odysseus then sat down, and Leonard beside him also sat down. He didn't say a word during the whole process because he didn't know the value of this information, nor did he know how to bargain specifically.

"The Skeleton Pirates are named so because their flag is a skull." After agreeing on the price, Gavin began, "It's a very retro flag. It's said that in the beginning, the pirates' flags were all various skulls.

"The reason Balk was called 'Iron Hand' was because he lost one of his hands in his early years. He first wore an iron hook and later wore a more flexible iron hand.

“This pirate group often appears around North House Island, so many people speculate that they have a base nearby.

"Well, they just completed their supply departure from the port three days ago. Also, Jeff from the department store seems to be their intelligence officer and contact."

Odysseus asked, "Which direction did they sail when they left the harbor?"

"South," Gavin said, "but they often circle around, so they might not be heading south."

Odysseus asked again: "Is their supply proportional to their consumption?"

Gavin was stunned for a moment: "Wh...what do you mean?"

"For example, if they replenish their food and water for the next month, will they come back within a month? Or will they come back in about a month? Or more than a month." Odysseus had to explain.

Gavin thought for a moment and said, "Usually they would replenish their food and water for half a month. They would usually return within half a month or arrive at another port."

Odysseus took out his pipe and asked, "How many islands are there nearby? Are they inhabited? Are there any undeveloped or unexplored areas?"

This series of questions made Gavin stunned again, because this information seemed to have nothing to do with the "Skeleton" pirate group.

But after all, Odysseus had spent money, so Gavin quickly got up and rummaged through the messy desk, and finally found a hand-drawn sea chart.

"This is a nautical chart of the waters surrounding Northaus Island," Gavin handed it to Odysseus. "Of the eight surrounding islands, only two are inhabited.

"There are many unexplored areas. Look in this direction, and in that direction, there are large and dangerous sea areas."

The so-called "dangerous waters" refer to dangerous areas on the turbulent sea.

Most areas of the raging sea are extremely dangerous, and only the waterways are relatively safe. In other words, people have connected together pieces of safe sea areas to form the current extensive waterways on the raging sea.

Surrounding these safe areas are extremely harsh weather conditions such as dark clouds, strong winds, storms, etc.

Odysseus carefully examined the sea chart and asked, "Tell me about the specific information about the 'Skull' pirate group."

"Don't be fooled by the fact that the 'Skeleton' pirate group only has one ship, but I heard that it's a ghost ship that can summon a very terrifying power." Gavin described: "'Iron Hand' Balk is also a very powerful figure. He can summon the undead and even awaken corpses to provide him with assistance.

"First Mate Kentra brings misfortune to others for no apparent reason and possesses a very mysterious ability. Second Mate..."

Gavin briefly talked about the main members of the "Skeleton" pirate group, and Odysseus had a rough idea of the strength of this pirate group.

Odysseus asked, "How do I find Jeff at the department store?"

"Turn left when you go out and just walk along the main road." Gavin said with a smile.

Odysseus pulled out his wallet and counted out three ten-pound notes. "One last question. Has anything strange happened on Northaus Island lately?"

Gavin's eyes were fixed on the three banknotes: "Strange...strange thing?"

He thought for a moment before asking, "A few days ago, someone saw dark clouds forming the shape of a skull. Is that considered strange?"

Odysseus really wanted to ask, besides the skeleton, was there a snake?

He smiled, handed the money to Gavin, and left with Leonard.

Arriving on the street, Odysseus looked at the pedestrians around him before saying to Leonard, "Before we go find that Jeff, should we find a place to talk first?"

Leonard nodded. "Of course. After all, we just got a lot of valuable information. We should analyze it first."

As Odysseus walked toward the beach, he said, "I'd like us to discuss the issue of reimbursement of intelligence fees first."

He smiled and said, "Since accepting your mission, I have already spent 55 pounds on intelligence."

He just spent 30 pounds. Yesterday, Bazel went to the Sea Lion Bar to buy information from Paz, spending 15 pounds. That afternoon, Paz provided Gavin's contact information, spending 10 pounds.

Leonard was stunned for a moment before he said, "I'll notify Bishop Dean and have him reimburse you."

The mention of "reimbursement" reminded him of two colleagues when he worked in Tingen City.

While talking about funding, the two came to a deserted beach.

Seeing that there was no one here, Odysseus said, "This task may be a little more complicated than I imagined.

"The Skeleton Pirates don't have a base around here. They're cruising this sea area, probably looking for something."

Leonard was very surprised by what Odysseus said: "Just now... we didn't trade this information!"

"This isn't difficult to deduce," Odysseus said. "Firstly, apart from the 'dangerous seas', there are no unexplored areas in the surrounding waters, and there are no conditions for establishing a base.

"Of course, it's possible that they found a relatively safe area in the 'dangerous sea' and established a base.

“But their supply consumption is wrong. If they had a stronghold, the consumption of supplies wouldn’t be that high.

“Because the base will share some of the food and fresh water consumption, such as half a month’s supply of food and water from North House Island, when they return to the base, they prefer to fish, pick, etc., and eat some fresh food.

"In this case, they may not return to North Island for supplies until half a month or even a month later.

"But they resupplied on time, which means they had no other resupply locations."

Leonard opened his mouth. He didn't expect that he could analyze so much intelligence based on this information.

"But there's something strange," Odysseus said. "It sounds like Balk is a 'necromancer'. He should be able to control quite a few zombies. Why doesn't he use zombies as his crew?"

"Oh, this... I have a rough idea of what this is about." Leonard said, "I've heard from friends that zombies can only follow simple commands, and the execution process is generally not very flexible.

"It's fine for sneak attacks on land, but zombies are unreliable at sea. You can't have them steering the ship, keeping watch on the sea, or keeping watch in the cockpit, right?"

Odysseus was slightly stunned: "I have a deep understanding of this."

Normally, he didn't dare to hand over all these tasks to the "Extraordinary Puppet". All matters that required a lot of subjective judgment were still supervised by the crew.

"Since there's no base nearby, it's very strange that they're still roaming the surrounding waters." Odysseus continued, "The key is that he's not waiting for merchant ships or cargo ships to rob them.

"If merchant ships were frequently robbed, Northaus Island would have been deserted long ago, or there would be navy ships patrolling the area.

"Since they're not here to rob merchant ships, they must be looking for something."

Leonard sighed, “The ‘leader’ of the intelligence community is truly formidable.

"Hehehe, it would be great if the 'Red Gloves' could hire you to analyze intelligence for us."

"Sure, as long as you can offer an attractive price." Odysseus said immediately.

Leonard grinned: "My teammates often say that I am too casual and seem unreliable.

"Now it seems that I chose the wrong career. Wouldn't it be more suitable for me to be a pirate?"

Odysseus smiled and said, "You are welcome anytime. If you are willing to come, you can be the first mate."

Leonard joked, "A normal gentleman would be humble at this point, saying he's not qualified for the position and politely declining the offer, citing his unfamiliarity with the sea."

Odysseus said, "Oh," I see. You mean that your invitation just now was just a courtesy, and you are praising me in this way.

"But you don't seem like a 'proper gentleman'. I thought you really wanted to invite me to help."

Leonard skipped over Captain Gall's evaluation of him and said, "To be honest, that's what I really think, but I'm afraid Red Glove can't afford that price."

The two men stopped and looked at each other and laughed.

After laughing a few times, Leonard said with emotion: "I wish every one of my colleagues was as easy to get along with as you."

"Then the entire 'Red Gloves' will become unreliable." Odysseus smiled and said, "Okay, let's talk business first.

"I suspect you and Iron Hand Balk are looking for the same thing, and I hope to know what it is.

"Because this operation may involve us entering 'dangerous waters', we must be adequately prepared.

"Also, the window of opportunity to search for something in the ocean is very short and can easily be missed, and there might not be time to explain it then."

Leonard nodded and thought for a moment before saying, "Specifically, my mission isn't to find that thing, but to stop Balk from finding it."

He took a deep breath and revealed, "You should have heard of the 'Spiritual Cult', right? Although it is an organization, it has many factions within it, and Balk is a member of one of them.

"As for what he's looking for... You should have heard of the 'Pale Age'. It's said that over a thousand years ago, the 'Underworld Emperor' launched an attack on the Northern Continent.

"At that time, there were still many lands and islands in the Sea of Rage, at least larger than the Rorsted Archipelago.

"To support the war in the northern continent, the Balam Empire has established many military bases at the current location of the Raging Sea."

Odysseus said, "Oh!" "There must be a lot of good things there."

No wonder they were unwilling to wait for support from the Storm Church. When encountering such ruins on adjacent roads, Odysseus was unwilling to wait for even a second.

"We solved a case involving the 'Spiritual Cult' in Backlund," Leonard continued. "My mission is simply to confirm the accuracy of this intelligence and prevent Balk from continuing his exploration.

"After that, just go back and report. There are many powerful monsters in that military station. We are not capable of dealing with them at our level."

This is also a reminder, or a warning to Odysseus, that even if he encounters the ruins, he should not explore them casually out of greed, because that would be seeking death.

Odysseus pondered for a moment and said, "This time we are almost certainly entering the 'dangerous sea'."

Leonard was stunned for a moment before nodding and asking, "Are you sure?"

Odysseus grinned and said, "I've wanted to challenge this for a long time. It is said that in those dangerous seas, there are many treasures buried, as well as islands that have never been set foot on by humans."

　Thanks to [毒寒无味] for the reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)