Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 50 Setting Sail Again
As a new day began with the rising sun, the Pirate Town's docks became bustling again.

There were people selling spoils, looking for sailors, loading and unloading cargo or catches, and even selling various supplies and breakfasts.

A little further away in the Pirate Square, early risers have already set up their stalls and are busy displaying their various trophies, waiting for the lucky ones with plenty of money.

Above the dock, a whitebird flapped its wings and landed lightly on the outer balcony of the captain's bedroom in the stern of the Valkyrie, knocking on the floor-to-ceiling window with its hard beak.

"call"

Cheng Lang, who was pulled back to reality from his dream of friendly communication with the mermaid by the noise, irritably threw off the blanket on his body, then got up yawning, pulled open the heavy curtains and opened the floor-to-ceiling window.

As soon as he took a glass bottle from the neck of the letter bird, the letter bird immediately flapped its wings and took off, circling and landing on the top of the mast.

With a "pop" sound, Cheng Lang pulled out the wooden cork of the bottle and took out the note inside.

On this piece of paper, there was a string of Chinese characters from another world written: Dear Captain, we are ready.

This is the news sent by the Honest Man, and it is also the signal that the Valkyrie is about to leave the Pirate City.

"Dear Captain, are we about to set sail?" the magic mirror asked flatteringly.

"Not urgent"

Cheng Lang shook his head, put on his clothes and walked out while saying, "I still need to go buy some things."

As he said this, he had already left the captain's room alone.

After strolling around the pirate city, Cheng Lang bought a small amount of various spices and a not-so-big hand-cranked millstone for less than a gold coin.

I brought these things to the hostel of Yunji and her brother. Fortunately, everyone was there at that time.

"Captain, we're going to the library today. Do you want to join us?"

When Yafuso saw Cheng Lang coming in, she immediately extended a warm invitation, "Come with us, maybe we can find the treasure that Master Panini has hidden in the book!"

“I’m not going.”

Cheng Lang waved his hand and did not mention that he had obtained the treasures in the library, which would have been too disappointing.

"Are we ready to set sail?" Yun Ji was the first to guess.

"If you have somewhere else you want to go or anything else you want to do, you can come a few days later."

Cheng Lang said, placing the hand-cranked millstone he had bought on the table, "If you've had enough fun, we'll set sail tomorrow morning."

"I'm going to buy some more recipes!" Yafuso said first.

"I'm going to buy some more seeds and fertilizers," Gerta also said.

"Then let's go now," Yun Ji immediately called her brother Shen Ba to set off, "We also need to buy some necessary things."

After sending away the only four crew members under his command, Cheng Lang sat down, shaking the small millstone, and patiently crushing the spices he had just bought.

Next they will go to the Sea of ​​Despair to find the Misty Island and the tomb of Qin Jinyan.

Before that, he needed to make some incense sticks for worship, which was something that was not available in this pirate city, or even in this world.

In addition to these spices, he also brought a small piece of iron rubber blood core the size of a finger from the ship and put it into the millstone.

Fortunately, although this iron rubber blood core is a good material for repairing ships, it is not very hard at least in its current state, and can even be called soft.

Because of this, when dusk fell again, when Yafuso and others came back with large and small bags of various things, he had already ground out a full plate of dark red powder.

Under the curious gaze of the four sailors, Cheng Lang added a small amount of honey to the powder and kneaded it into a "dough" the size of a fist.

"Captain, are you cooking something delicious?"

Shenba came up and asked curiously. This guy was carrying a mace-like metal weapon on his shoulder.

“This is not for eating.”

Cheng Lang explained with a smile but did not elaborate. Although he would follow his family elders to burn incense every time he went out to sea, this was the first time he made this thing by himself. As for whether it could be done, he actually had no confidence at all.

Under everyone's curious gaze, Cheng Lang stuffed the dough into finger-thick bamboo tubes and compacted them with a wooden stick. Then he asked, "Have you finished shopping?"

"We've finished shopping!" Yafuso was the first to answer. "We also went to the library."

“But no treasure was found.”

Shenba yawned as he spoke, "I still couldn't finish the whole book before falling asleep. Although the ticket there is a bit expensive, it is indeed a good place to sleep."

"Yeah yeah"

Yafuso said helplessly, "We were kicked out because you snored too loudly. Maybe I can find some treasure after reading that book."

“We will come to Pirate City again”

Gerta smiled and comforted him, saying that he was the one who bought the most things among the four people, and the oak barrels loaded on the carriage outside were all his things.

“We will definitely be back here”

Cheng Lang put away the bamboo tubes and said, "Everyone, have a good night's rest today. We will set out for the Sea of ​​Despair early tomorrow morning!"

"So we're going to have a good meal tonight!"

As Shenba said this, he finally put the mace in his hand on the table, turned around and ran out of the inn, bringing one wicker basket after another filled with food or wine from the carriage.

That night, the Valkyrie's relatively small crew celebrated with a feast at the Inn at 77 White Sail Lane.

On the same night, the wandering circus members who had dealt with the Valkyrie also targeted the sailors and pirate towns that arrived at the port one after another, closely monitoring their movements.

"What are those crazy people from Boerland looking for?"

In the attic of a tavern, a woman who hid her entire body in a cloak asked while holding a glass of tartberry juice.

"Searching for the missing demon-hunting ship, the Harvest, and the ship that used vine mandrills as crews. They're offering a high reward."

In the attic, another woman replied, "And many of Xiangsha Island's demon-hunting fleets have already been dispatched. They are intercepting passing ships on several major shipping lanes for inspection."

"Teng Mandrill?"

The woman standing by the window pondered for a moment, then asked, "So the number of troops stationed on Xiangsha Island has decreased?"

"A lot less," another woman replied.

"Tell the parrot to attack Prince Marian."

The woman standing by the window said, "Also, before that, spread the word that a pirate ship using vine goblins has been spotted in the Windmill Sea."

"Okay," the other woman said, turning and leaving the dark attic.

That night, the Pirate Town was still as lively and peaceful as usual.

In a tavern not far from the dock, a drunken, small-time sailor was also holding up his glass, telling with lingering fear about his tragic experience of being robbed by a pirate ship in the Windmill Sea not long ago.

"Those are some red-eyed pirates!" the sailor mumbled. "They must have been cursed by Poseidon! The sailors on that ship all look like primitive people!"

"What kind of primitive man?" said a siren sailor, and offered a glass of liquor.

"No clothes, covered in black hair, water. Water. Splash!"

The small-time sailor fell asleep on the table littered with cups and plates before he could finish his words. Then he tilted his body and slipped under the table.

"Send Mr. Hans back to his room. Since today is his retirement day, I'll buy him a drink."

The bartender greeted him nonchalantly, and the drunk sailor was dragged up to the second floor by a burly waitress, holding his arm.

At the same time, several sailors left the tavern one after another. Soon after, messengers carrying secret letters also flew away from several pirate ships anchored at the nearby docks.

The next morning, the sun had just jumped out of the sea level when the Valkyrie spread its white sails and slowly left the harbor as Fujiman and several sailors in cloaks were busy pulling the cables.

Cheng Lang learned from the sea monster Panini that someone was looking for the vine goblin recently, so he naturally had to be extra careful.

Because of this, the vine goblins on the deck who were responsible for controlling the sails also wore a set of cloth armor specially made for them.

Although these cloth armors coated with a thick layer of asphalt could not protect against bullets at all, they at least covered the black hair of the vine goblin, especially with an extra thick cloak on the outside.

Similarly, Shenba also wore the same cloth armor and cloak, and deliberately stood on the open-air driving platform and took off the hood of the cloak, revealing his full head of black hair.

"Goodbye! Pirate City! I, Shenba, will come back! With a whole ship full of treasures!" Under Cheng Lang's arrangement, Shenba shouted at the top of his voice towards the direction of the dock.

"laugh!"

At another berth nearby, a one-eyed captain, who had just escorted his temporary girlfriend out of the room, snorted disdainfully, "If even a farmer selling vegetables can return to Pirate City with treasure, we might as well just go plunder the Star Sea Continent."

"Is that the pirate who sold mushrooms on the Tricorne Current?"

The "girlfriend" who hadn't had time to leave asked curiously, "I've heard from several captains that they made a lot of money along the way."

"Even if I were blind in my other eye, I could still recognize their ugly pirate flag," the captain said disdainfully.

"I know the black elf named Shenba," the girlfriend said, "he has a very beautiful sister."

"How beautiful?"

The one-eyed pirate immediately became interested and reached out to slap his girlfriend's perky butt, kneading it while asking, "Is it as pretty as you?"

"Prettier than me, and a dark elf."

The temporary girlfriend encouraged, "Maybe she's on that boat too. Do you want to rob them?"

"Are you serious?" The one-eyed pirate's eyes immediately lit up.

A dark elf, or rather, a beautiful dark elf ready to leave the protection of the Pirate City.

This in itself is a treasure worth thousands of gold coins - if they can capture the other party and sell it to the Boerlan Witcher Group.

"of course it's true"

The girlfriend said, "They used to run a hotel in White Sail Lane, but it hasn't been open for several months. I guess they must have gone out to sea with that ship."

“These are yours.”

Before he finished speaking, the one-eyed captain had already taken out a greasy purse and threw it to his temporary girlfriend.

"Thank you"

As the temporary girlfriend spoke, she opened her purse and poured all the gold, silver and copper coins inside into the deep grooves on her chest. Then she lifted her skirt and walked onto the gangplank, leaving the pirate ship that had just arrived at the port yesterday.

Less than an hour later, the pirate ship recalled the sailors who were hanging out in the tavern, and hurriedly left the pirate city, which was like a paradise, with emergency supplies.

Our first stop is Dragonfish Island.

In the captain's office of the Valkyrie, Cheng Lang said, "Yun Ji, tell me what you know about that place."

"Dragonfish Island is located on the edge of the Sea of ​​Despair."

Yun Ji replied, "Originally, it was a gathering place for ostracized small fry and sirens. The environment on the island was rather harsh, and most of those living there were half-blood sailors who had escaped shipwrecks and vulnerable sirens."

"Why don't they come to Pirate City?" Cheng Lang asked curiously.

“Not all the small fry are willing to be sailors.”

Yun Ji explained, "Especially for small fry, the sailor profession has a very high casualty rate, and not all captains treat their small fry sailors well.

If those small-time sailors who escaped from shipwrecks want to enter the Pirate City, they must at least find a job as a sailor first. But once they are on board, who can guarantee that the captain will let them reach the Pirate City alive?

"Can't they just swim over here?" Cheng Lang asked a stupid question.

"Smuggling is a serious crime in Pirate City"

Yun Ji pointed to the sea fortresses that they had just passed outside the French window and said, "The corpses hanging on them are all those who tried to sneak into the pirate city.

According to the sailors, sneaking into the Pirate City is as difficult as sneaking into the palace of any principality in the Star Sea Continent and getting the princess pregnant."

“What an apt metaphor.”

Cheng Lang shook his head. "How long will it take to get to Dragonfly Island from here?"

"If we take the Tricorne Current, it will take about a week to reach the edge of the Sea of ​​Despair, but we still need to rendezvous with the Honest Man.

So it's better to go to Shipbreaker Island first, wait for the other boat to meet up, and then take the Despair Trade Winds directly over there. The speed is not much slower than the ocean current."

After listening to Yun Ji's suggestion, Cheng Lang nodded and said, "Notify Shen Ba that we will take the Despair Trade Winds Route."

Upon hearing this, Yun Ji immediately got up and left the captain's office, closing the door from the outside.

"What do you think?" Cheng Lang asked.

"A standard answer," the magic mirror replied respectfully, "I can see that she is very suitable for the job of first mate."

"Do you have any better suggestions?" Cheng Lang said, taking out all the nautical charts of Dragonfly Island and Misty Island.

"I know a more convenient route."

The magic mirror replied, "After riding the trade winds of despair, we can reach halfway to the direction of Exile Island. There is an ocean current there that few people know about."

"Faster?"

"It's not very fast, but that sea area is always covered by fog. At least it can help us shake off any tails that may be following us."

As he spoke, a sea chart of the area surrounding the pirate city appeared in the mirror, with the magic mirror marking a route winding through a foggy area. "This sea area has many dangerous reefs. Considering that the Valkyrie is the target of the Demon Hunters, we can at least use this to clean up our tracks."

"Remind me when you're almost there," Cheng Lang said, and he also stood up and walked out of the office.

(End of this chapter)