Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 40: The Ship's Heart Contract and the Wandering Circus
"If we throw these mermaid eggs into the sea, can they hatch on their own?" Cheng Lang asked.

"No," the magic mirror replied, "they will only become food for sea fish."

"What if they hatch on our ship?" Cheng Lang asked a new question.

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

The magic mirror quickly explained, "Mermaid eggs need specific temperatures and sunlight to hatch. If you want them to become sailors, you also need to water them with blood and sweat.

So as long as they are kept cool and out of the sun, you don’t have to worry about it.”

"How long will it take to hatch them?" Cheng Lang asked.

"soon"

The magic mirror said, “It will only take a day or two for them to hatch, and if you water them with the ship’s blood, they can start working within a week.

If they are willing to mix in some Poseidon's blood, they can even fully mature in a very short time."

“It’s really useful.”

After a brief hesitation, Cheng Lang finally stood up and said as he walked out, "Let's put those mermaid eggs aside for now. We need to think about what to do with the boat first."

"At least a captain is needed," the magic mirror said nonsense.

Compared with the cargo and corpses on the ship, this ship that was almost picked up for free was actually more difficult for Cheng Lang to deal with.

It was obvious that they did not have enough sailors to fly the ship, nor even a suitable captain.

The most important thing is that if you rashly bring this ship to the Pirate City, it is almost equivalent to being charged with plundering the ship, which is the most troublesome thing.

"If we give up half of our vine goblins, we can certainly get this ship going," the magic mirror reminded him again, "but who will be the captain is a real problem."

Hearing this, Cheng Lang couldn't help but look at Yafuso and others in the distance. According to Yun Ji, it would be difficult for an elf to gain the recognition of the ship's core and become a captain.

Moreover, neither Yafuso, Yun Ji, nor Shenba were suitable to be the captain at all - they had only established preliminary trust.

Gerta is a good candidate. As long as Yafso stays on the Valkyrie, he is not worried that the other party will have any ideas.

Of course, he could also sign a ship's core contract with the pirate brothers and let one of them serve as the captain of the ship.

In any case, abandoning this ship here was impossible. After much deliberation, he stepped into the forecastle of the Valkyrie and stood outside the corral.

"Dear Captain"

The pirate Kervik said flatteringly, "Is there anything we can do for you?"

"We've captured a ship," Cheng Lang said bluntly, "now we need a captain."

"We are willing to sign a ship heart contract with your ship," Kervik said without hesitation, "It is our honor."

"But I only have one boat," Cheng Lang reminded him, "one boat can only..."

“You can also have two captains”

Kervik said, "Belvik and I have abilities that were originally given by the same ship's heart."

"Given by the same ship's heart?" Cheng Lang frowned. "Is it possible?"

“No, generally speaking.”

Kervik explained flatteringly, "But when we were giving a heart to a ship, an accident happened. My brother drowned right after he conceived the heart, and then I became the captain of that ship."

"Valkyrie Blessing"

The tall, thin Belvik, chewing on worm-infested bread, said, "Just after my brother became captain, I was hit in the stomach by a triggerfish. Although it broke several bones, it also saved my life."

"But his brain was affected a little bit," Kervik added.

I thought this lack of wit was just natural.
Cheng Lang thought for a moment and asked, "In that case, what kind of ship heart contract are you willing to sign?"

"We are willing to be your sailors and will never betray you until your ship is destroyed."

Kervik said, "But we also hope to gain a certain degree of freedom, and every battle that requires our participation can get a 40% bonus."

"Forty percent is too much"

Cheng Lang said, "20% is the limit, but for the battles you fight alone, I can also only take 20% of the bonus."

"make a deal!"

Kervik bared his yellow, foul-smelling teeth and said flatteringly, "Respected Captain, we are willing to sign a ship's heart contract with you."

"Bring them with me."

Cheng Lang waved his hand, and the gorillas beside him immediately opened the wooden door of the pen and escorted the two brothers, one tall, one short, one thin, and one fat, out.

Taking them down to the fake ship's heart chamber in the cargo hold, the two brothers each took out their captain's token, then took the dagger handed to them by Teng Xiao, cut their palms, smeared the captain's token with their own blood, and simply threw it into the ship's heart pool.

"Dear Captain"

Kervik said flatteringly, "You will need to pay an additional cup of Poseidon's blood and throw it into the center pool of the ship."

I knew it
As Cheng Lang spoke, he took out a cup of Poseidon's blood from his pocket and threw it into the pool in the center of the ship.

Almost at the moment when Poseidon's blood fell into the water, a piece of parchment floated up.

Picking up the parchment, Cheng Lang followed the steps he had learned from the magic mirror, wrote down the agreement between the two parties in detail, and then handed it to the two brothers.

After checking and confirming that everything was correct, the two brothers happily pressed their still bleeding hands on the parchment, each leaving a bloody handprint, and then threw it into the pool in the center of the ship.

Almost at the moment the parchment fell into the pool, the captain's tokens of the two brothers also floated up.

"You two seem very happy?" Cheng Lang asked puzzledly.

“Of course I’m happy”

The tall, thin Belvik said, "Our two ships have been mortgaged to the Swordfish Merchants. Otherwise, we wouldn't even be able to pay our sailors' salaries. We've long since given up on being captains, and we can't afford to redeem them."

"Cough cough!"

Kervik said quickly, "Our main concern is to survive, and we want to fight alongside a powerful captain like you."

What a bunch of garbage these are.
Cheng Lang grinned. He understood clearly that these two were simply laid-off workers who had lost everything in their attempts to find a job again. Now they really wanted to find a job to live a quiet life!
But now that the Ship Heart Contract had been signed, he couldn't just kick them out, so he simply led them upstairs while asking, "Tell me again what abilities the Ship Heart has bestowed upon you two brothers."

"I can increase the range of the artillery by 50 percent, but my gunners will be deaf for a whole day after the battle," said brother Kervik.

"The heart of the ship gave me the ability to breathe underwater"

Belvik, his younger brother, said with a silly smile, "During boarding battles, I can increase the sailors' strength and temporarily make them lose their fear. But after the battle, for a whole day, the surviving sailors will become cowards who can only hide in the lower cabins."

It's really top-notch
Cheng Lang grinned and took them both into the public bathroom in the stern deck. "Take a shower and change clothes, then get ready to take over the boat."

“Thank you for your generosity!”

As Kervik said this, he jogged into the rarely used bathroom.

"Dear Captain, that ship still needs sailors." The magic mirror whispered a reminder after Belvek also entered the public bathroom.

"Let's use those mermaid eggs."

Cheng Lang said like an unscrupulous capitalist, "Hatch those mermaid eggs and use them as sailors. Pour some of the ship's blood and blood into them, and let them start working as sailors as soon as possible."

"Dear Captain, you can use the blood in the heart pool at the bow. That blood is more nutritious." The magic mirror suggested flatteringly.

"That's a good suggestion." Cheng Lang nodded and called a vine goblin to assign the task.

At the same time, Kervik and Belvik in the public bathroom were staring blankly at the hot water pouring down from the shower head.

"We actually use fresh water for bathing on this ship, and it's hot."

Kervik opened his mouth and took a sip of the bath water, whispering excitedly, "Bervik, we're finally going to get lucky!"

"Those grass carp bastards actually abandoned us and ran away."

As Belvik scrubbed the dirt off his body with volcanic stones, he said, "If they knew, they would regret it and use their cheeks as brooms."

"They'll probably have to dig in the mines of the Vermilion Bird Islands for several years before they can see the sun again!" Kervik began to gloat.

The two brothers arranged the kung fu of their former colleague, and Yafusuo also invited Cheng Lang to the conference room.

“We just counted the harvest.”

Yun Ji said as she handed Cheng Lang three cups of Poseidon's blood and a Mirage Horn. "In addition to these, we also gained money and various jewelry worth 948 gold coins. The latter can probably be sold for around 500 gold coins in Pirate City."

"Aren't there any armor or treasure maps?" Cheng Lang asked.

"No," Yun Ji shook her head, "It's just an armed passenger ship that runs a fixed route."

"448 gold coins are your battle bonus. You can discuss the specific distribution among yourselves."

Cheng Lang thought for a moment and said, "Also, you can each pick out some jewelry you like, okay?"

"Are we participating in the dividend distribution as crew members?" asked Yun Ji.

"If you and Shenba are willing," Cheng Lang said casually.

"We have no reason to refuse, Mr. Captain."

Yun Ji immediately said that it was generous enough to get such a thing from the battle just now.

Without paying any more attention to the division of spoils among the crew members and prospective crew members, Cheng Lang called a gorilla to take the captain's share of the bonus out of the meeting room and sent him to the stairwell compartment in the bedroom.

When he came out again, the Kervik brothers had already taken a shower and changed into the clothes they had just taken off the corpses.

After boarding the boat with the two of them, Cheng Lang waited until they were recognized by the captain of the boat before taking them into the lower cabin and starting to hatch the mermaid eggs.

"It's these grass carp bastards again," Belvik muttered.

"This is much better than hiring those bastards. At least we don't have to worry about them rebelling." Kervik was particularly satisfied.

"What's the difference between the two?"

While Cheng Lang was asking, he also took out the bottle of Poseidon's blood that was used to smear the corpse's lips and threw it into the oak barrel containing the ship's heart blood. At the same time, Kervik also poured some of the ship's heart blood he brought into the oak barrel.

“Some differences”

Kervik quickly explained respectfully, "It depends on who their mother is. If they're sirens, most of them will be packed into oak barrels like this and become merchandise."

"What if it's a human?" Cheng Lang couldn't help but ask.

"If their mothers were human, they would have to go through ten months of pregnancy before giving birth. So they would only have some siren characteristics, at least they wouldn't have scales on their bodies."

"And they won't be treated as merchandise," Kervik explained. "I mean, they'll at least be treated as human beings, with a legal identity, at least in name."

"It's also a hybrid of grass carp"

Belvek muttered, "They have the ability to reproduce, but only with sirens or orcs."

"Is it not possible with humans?" Cheng Lang asked curiously.

"She will give birth to a monster," the two brothers said in unison.

What a complex biodiversity.
Cheng Lang muttered to himself, then said, "Next, you will be responsible for hatching these mermaid eggs."

Upon hearing this, the two brothers immediately took a wooden cup each and poured a large cup of "nutrients" into each of the oak barrels containing mermaid eggs.

Next, the two brothers increased the power of the boiler in the lower cabin and took over all subsequent hatching work.

After waiting for a while and seeing that the mermaid eggs in the oak barrels seemed to have no changes, Cheng Lang turned around and left the cabin and returned to the Valkyrie.

It was definitely impossible to leave now, so the Valkyrie simply dropped anchor and waited patiently for dawn.

"Did you hatch those mermaid eggs?" Yun Ji stopped Cheng Lang and asked before he returned to the captain's bedroom.

"Another ship needs crew," Cheng Lang stopped and explained, "What's wrong?"

"I found a letter among the spoils," said Yun Ji, shaking an envelope with a wax seal between her fingers.

"Come in and talk." Cheng Lang opened the door and invited the other party in.

"Your bedroom is so luxurious." Although it was not the first time for Yun Ji to come here, she still couldn't help but admire it.

“That was the situation when I took over the ship.”

Cheng Lang gestured for the other party to sit down, "Let's talk about this letter. Haven't you opened it yet?"

"Not yet. The sealing wax on this letter is a little special." Yun Ji said as she handed the letter to Cheng Lang.

I took the letter and looked at the sealing wax on it. On this piece of red sealing wax was the image of a clown riding a unicycle, with several skulls thrown in the clown's hands.

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be the seal of the wandering circus."

Yun Ji said, "But there's no recipient's information or address on the envelope. Captain, would you like to open it and take a look?"

(End of this chapter)