Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 16: Pointing to the Pirate City

When Cheng Lang opened his eyes again, he felt dizzy. Fortunately, the continuous turbulence seemed to have stopped, but in this dim lower cabin, there was only him and the oak barrel filled with vomit in his arms.

After untying the vines around his waist and trying to stand up twice without success, Cheng Lang, unable to even shout, could only take out the whip and hit the oak barrel filled with vomit with all his strength.

Soon, two vine goblins walked in.

"Take me upstairs," Cheng Lang said weakly.

"Oh!"

The two vine goblins responded briefly, and one of them carried Cheng Lang in a princess hug and ran up, while the other one pinched his nose with one hand and followed with an oak barrel filled with vomit in the other hand.

When Cheng Lang was carried to the open deck, there was bright sunshine above his head and the surroundings were calm, but there was no island, land or sail in sight.

Even the whereabouts of Swallow Island are unknown.

Lying on the second-floor open-air deck, Cheng Lang relaxed for a while. He took the fruit wine handed to him by a vine goblin in a wooden cup, rinsed his mouth and spit it out of the boat, then gulped down a few big mouthfuls of the sweet fruit wine.

While recovering, he was also observing the ship.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but fortunately, all the damage to the ship had been repaired on the way up, and new sails had been replaced on the masts.

But after feeling relieved, he couldn't help but think of the magic mirror that had disappeared and whose life or death was unknown.

He waited patiently for a moment until he had regained some strength, then he asked the vine goblin to carry him back to the captain's room.

At this time, the furniture in the captain's room had been restored to its original state, and even the quilt on the bed had been replaced with a new one.

Not giving up, he moved his body little by little and looked in the cloakroom, the stair compartment and the heart chamber of the ship, but he still couldn't find the magic mirror, as if it had never appeared.

He sighed weakly, then lay down on the soft bed, pulled the quilt over him, and closed his eyes. He needed to rest, and more importantly, think about how to survive in this strange world.

After an unknown amount of time, Cheng Lang, who had fallen asleep due to the influence of alcohol, was finally awakened by hunger and the urge to urinate, and he staggered to his feet again.

When I woke up again, the dizziness had finally disappeared, but the feeling of physical weakness was real.

Cheng Lang walked into the bathroom with unsteady steps, unbuckled his belt, and while peeing, he wondered what to do next.

Without the help of the magic mirror, his only way of understanding the world was through the books he had looted from his office.

But more important than these, he had no idea where the ship was now.

"Oh—look at this powerful jet of water! Look at this blooming amber urine flower! My respected, honorable captain! You have finally awakened!"

"grass"

Cheng Lang, who had successfully urinated on his hand, turned back blankly, and then found that a half-figure appeared in the bathroom mirror!
"You are the magic mirror?!"

Cheng Lang asked in surprise. The person in the mirror was wearing a beautiful black tuxedo with a red bow on the collar. There was even thick white woolen curly hair on his head. Looking closer, it was not hair at all, but fine goose down.

Only the skin of the magic mirror itself was still a pale green and full of flattery.

"As you can see, my respected and honorable Captain, I am the Magic Mirror."

The person in the mirror turned around and said, "How do you like my new look?"

"You're much more handsome than before." Cheng Lang's face showed a bright smile, "I thought you were dead."

"I am a mirror, am I not? As long as I am not broken, I will not die." The magic mirror said while rubbing its pale green, skinny and slender hands.

"What on earth is going on?" Cheng Lang washed his hands belatedly, then fastened his pants and asked.

"Santa Barbaya gave me as a gift to the captain she loved, intending for me to merge with the heart of the ship."

The magic mirror explained, "But for some reason, the captain, whose name and experience cannot be mentioned, did not do so, and the person who inherited the ship later also did not know about this.

Of course, I didn't know that myself until you sent me into the heart of the ship. To be honest, I had never had the opportunity to enter the heart of the ship in the hundreds of years before that."

Having said that, the dramatic magic mirror burst into tears again, and as expected, he took out the red handkerchief to wipe his tears and blew his nose hard.

"So you can only appear in this mirror from now on?" Cheng Lang asked, and at the same time began to wonder whether to draw a curtain on the mirror.

"no no no"

The magic mirror threw the red handkerchief behind it and said, "From now on, I can appear in any mirror on this ship at will."

“That’s not bad.”

Cheng Lang breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Do you know what happened?"

"I woke up after you fell asleep," the mirror replied, "so I don't know what happened."

"Okay, the new question, and the most crucial one, is where we are now?"

"I'm sorry, Captain, we're literally lost."

The magic mirror replied guiltily, "Why don't we move to the conference room or the captain's office to talk? It's really rude to discuss things with my respected captain in such a filthy place."

"Then let's go to the office. I'm going to change my clothes first. Also, you are not allowed to appear in any bathroom mirrors from now on."

"Everything is at your disposal." The magic mirror bowed slightly, and then disappeared completely from the mirror.

"This ship has many secrets."

Cheng Lang muttered to himself, took off his dirty and damp clothes, took a good hot shower, and then went into the cloakroom to pick out a set of clothes to change into.

Shortly after he left, a short Vine Goblin came in, picked up his changed clothes and soiled blanket, walked to the gun deck, and began to clean them diligently.

In the captain's room, Cheng Lang sat behind the huge desk and placed a mirror and his spoils on the table.

Before leaving the Sea of ​​Despair, he obtained a treasure map, a ship bottle, three boxes suspected to contain gold coins, a piece of armor and a box of glass tubes from the shipwrecks.

Of course, there is also the Mirage Horn hanging around his neck, the hypocritical mask hidden in his arms, the sailor's tombstone in the stairwell that needs to be poured with ten cups of Poseidon's blood to be used, the box that cannot be opened, and the armor piece obtained from the Savage Island.

"Let me first tell you about what we gained this time."

As Cheng Lang spoke, he reached out and opened three boxes that were suspected to contain gold coins.

Of the three boxes, the first contained two flintlock rifles in leather cases.

This flintlock rifle looks ordinary, but on the left and right sides of the handle, there is half a piece of Poseidon's armor inlaid on each side.

"This is a flintlock rifle with armor plates embedded in it."

The magic mirror said something nonsense, and then continued, "It is a high-end product from the Principality of Ricca, which excels in metal smelting and forging naval guns. Although the firing rate and lethality will not be improved, it saves the trouble of reloading, and the accuracy seems to have improved slightly.

Dear Captain, you can try opening the window."

Hearing this, Cheng Lang stood up with the two flintlock rifles, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, pushed open the door and walked onto the outer balcony.

"Bang! Bang!"

After two consecutive gunshots, accompanied by powerful but easily controlled recoil, a faint smoke of gunpowder spread out, and two small splashes of water appeared on the water in the distance.

I tried to cock the hammer, but the hammers of the two flintlock rifles seemed to be rusted and could not be moved at all.

"You may need to wait a moment," the magic mirror behind him reminded.

Hearing this, Cheng Lang simply pressed the hammer with his hand while counting silently in his heart.

About ten seconds later, the hammers of the two flintlock rifles were finally pressed down one after another.

"Bang! Bang!" Two more gunshots were heard, and the hammer was locked again.

"not bad"

Cheng Lang nodded in satisfaction, returned to the table with his gun in hand and sat down, looking at the second wooden box. There were no gold coins he wanted to see in it either, only a copper-yellow monocular telescope.

"This is a product of the Principality of Murphyta. Those grass carp hybrids have a good relationship with the Sirens, so they can obtain relatively pure deep-sea crystals to make telescopes."

The magic mirror introduced, "It's nothing special except that it can see more clearly. It's not even as useful as me."

“Then I won’t watch it.”

Cheng Lang threw the telescope back into the box and turned to look at the third box.

This time, he finally saw the gold coins, a whole box full of them, with a few silver coins and copper coins mixed in. "There are 407 gold coins, 51 silver coins, and 18 copper coins." The magic mirror reported the exact number before Cheng Lang was about to pour out all the gold coins and count them.

"A fleet only has this much money in reserve?" Cheng Lang couldn't help but ask.

"Dear Captain, gold coins are completely useless in the Sea of ​​Despair. Cannons and sailors can help you rob anything you find."

The Magic Mirror said bluntly, "If you can't grab the cannons and sailors, hoarding too much gold will only benefit your opponent."

“That makes sense”

Cheng Lang couldn't help but nodded, and he had a more intuitive understanding of the barbarism of this world.

"Compared to these, what comes next is more valuable."

The magic mirror took the initiative to say, "There's no need for me to introduce the armor piece and the ship bottle. The ship in this ship bottle is the same as the previous one. They both have already conceived a ship heart.

Since their captains have all met with tragic death, if you wish to become the captain of these two ships and obtain their hearts, all you need to do is break the ship bottle to release them, then take your own captain's token and sign a contract with the heart of the ship.

"If I can become their captain, can I also gain new power given by the heart of the ship?" Cheng Lang's heart was pounding.

"No"

The magic mirror poured cold water on him. "Unless the Valkyrie's heart is destroyed, it's like you can't summon more sea fog even if you obtain a second Mirage Horn."

"Okay." Cheng Lang put down the bottle in disappointment.

“At least they can be used as containers.”

The magic mirror said, "Especially the boat bottle you just got. The boat inside is a style I have never seen before. It may save my life in a critical moment."

"I hope I won't have to use it."

Cheng Lang tapped the remaining boxes on the table and asked, "What are these glass tubes filled with green liquid?"

"Those green glass tubes are healing potions produced in the Elven Principality."

The magic mirror explained, "You just need to break the glass tube and sprinkle the potion on the injured area to treat external injuries. It can even be taken internally, but it is said to taste very disgusting.

Furthermore, they are only suitable for minor injuries. If the injury is serious, drinking them all will have no effect.

Also, they are only effective against humans and have no effect on vine mandrills, sirens, or sea monsters.

Finally, there are 61 glass tubes in this box, which should be the stock of the medical room."

"Okay, let's talk about this treasure map next." Cheng Lang patted the last box and asked.

"This is the treasure map left by Count Walesa."

The magic mirror immediately explained, "There are at least hundreds of such treasure maps circulating in the world."

"How do I use this?" Cheng Lang asked.

"Maybe you can let Vine Goblin try," the magic mirror suggested.

"Great Sage! Great Sage!"

Cheng Lang immediately shouted loudly.

Soon, the leader of the Vine Goblins, the Great Sage, pushed open the door of the captain's room from the outside and walked in on all fours.

"Help me take a look at this treasure map," Cheng Lang said, pushing the parchment to the other party.

"Oh~"

The Great Sage shouted in a strange tone, then put down the treasure map and ran out.

Soon, he returned to the captain's room with a glass of fruit wine and placed it on the table.

Under the watchful eyes of Cheng Lang and the magic mirror, the vine goblin leader stretched out a finger and gently wiped the spike on his shoulder, squeezing a few drops of blood into the glass of fruit wine.

Then, it put its finger into its mouth and sucked it, then soaked the parchment treasure map in the fruit wine mixed with blood.

When he took it out again, the vine goblin sculpture on the treasure map disappeared, and a detailed sea map appeared instead.

"It's in Pirate City?" the magic mirror said in surprise.

"Towards the Pirate City?"

Cheng Lang looked at the parchment, which indeed had a detailed sea map drawn on it. He also noticed that there was something else drawn on the back of the parchment.

Turning the parchment over, this time a detailed map was drawn. An additional mark on the map was a place called "Pirate Cemetery". Next to this place name, there was a string of numbers unique to this world.

"Dear Captain, it seems our next stop is Pirate City." The magic mirror said flatteringly.

"Do you know how to get there?" Cheng Lang asked.

"Well, that's only possible if we know where we are now."

"Then do you know where we are?" Cheng Lang asked weakly.

"I'm sorry, I don't know either." The magic mirror gave the same answer in a listless tone as it had given not long ago.

“We’ll always find our way.”

As Cheng Lang spoke, he stuffed the treasure map into the belt he had snatched from the prince, occupying the same pocket as the hypocritical mask.

By the way, he replaced the boat bottle with the latest one he got, and stuffed the third pocket with the metal box that once contained the blood of Poseidon, and filled it with ten elven potions.

After putting on his shirt and leather vest again, he placed the pair of flintlock rifles across his waist in front and back.

"No matter what, the Valkyrie is now in its strongest condition." Cheng Lang said to himself as he found the black windbreaker in the cloakroom on the ship.

"The strongest?"

The Magic Mirror's tone subconsciously tinged with nostalgia, "The Valkyrie in its prime, every cannon inlaid with armor plating, and the ship's hold stockpiled with Poseidon's blood, numbering in the hundreds."

"Is it that exaggerated?"

Cheng Lang was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously asked, "If you are so strong, how could you capsize in the gutter of Savage Island?"

“Not an exaggeration at all”

The Magic Mirror sighed, "I just talked about the Valkyrie in its prime, but when the previous captain took over the ship, he could barely afford the crew. Otherwise, how could he be attracted to the Tengxiao and Count Walesa's treasure? And..."

"And what?" Cheng Lang saw that the magic mirror stopped here and asked quickly.

"And the Savage Island is far from as simple as you think."

The Magic Mirror said with a lingering fear, "There's something very wrong with that island. According to my analysis, the stronger the ships that dock, the stronger the savages and crocodiles on the island will be. It also seems that some kind of existence is slowly stealing the power of the ships.

When the Valkyrie first docked, the crocodile was nowhere near as big, and there weren't as many savages there."

“But a hundred years.”

"A hundred years is not a long time"

The magic mirror said seriously, "Even for a tiny mirror like me, a hundred years is just a nap. The same goes for the crocodile. A nap won't make it that big."

"So there are other treasures on that island?" Cheng Lang asked seriously.

"A treasure far more important than the Goblins"

The magic mirror subconsciously lowered its voice, "I wouldn't be surprised even if there's a reverse scale hidden there."

"We will have the opportunity to return to the Savage Island in the future."

Cheng Lang took a deep breath, looked into the magic mirror and asked, "You know the route, right?"

"certainly"

The magic mirror covered its chest and bowed slightly. "As long as you are free from being lost, I am willing to guide you."

(End of this chapter)