Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 51 Gold-toothed First Mate
After sailing for most of the day, just before dusk, the Valkyrie finally left the waters 100 nautical miles around the Pirate City.

"How far is the Candide?"

In the conference room, Cheng Lang held up a telescope and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at a pirate ship at the stern and asked.

“It’s very close.”

At the long table, Yun Ji calculated the distance on the sea chart and replied, "They should be nearby. Yafuso just sent Xin Weng to notify them to come over."

"I hope the boat behind us is just going the same way as us," Cheng Lang said as he put down the telescope.

"That boat must be coming towards us."

Shenba, who was also in the conference room, said confidently, "He could have caught up with us, but he kept following us. It's obvious that he's planning to rob us!"

"But why haven't they taken action yet?" Cheng Lang asked expectantly.

"Captain, why don't we take action first?" Shenba suggested, "We stop the ship and then rob them!"

“That boat is not profitable”

Yun Ji said, "They just came out of the pirate city. There's no way they have any valuables on the ship."

"So there's nothing worth looting on our ship?" Cheng Lang said, drawing inferences from one instance. "Unless..."

"Me and Shenba"

Yun Ji then said, "On this boat, the only ones who appear to be valuable are Shen Ba and I, especially..."

"Especially the bold words I asked Shenba to shout out before he set off," Cheng Lang said the second half of the sentence before the other party had time to finish.

"Did you do this on purpose?" Yun Ji asked subconsciously.

"It was indeed intentional, but it was only to confuse the existence of the vine goblins." Cheng Lang spread his hands, "These are just accidents."

At this moment, Yafuso ran in with a glass bottle, "Captain, Captain, the armed merchant ship Flamingo just sent a letter from a messenger."

"The Flamingo?"

Cheng Lang took the glass bottle handed to him by Yafuso. The small bottle containing the letter was sealed with wax and had the emblem of Flamingo Company on it.

Cheng Lang took the letter opener handed to him by Yafuso, pried open the wax mixed with pine resin, pulled out the wooden cork, and took out the letter inside.

"The Royal Boerland Witch Hunters intercepted the Flamingo and the Crucible and boarded them for inspection. They discovered Boerland artillery and inquired about its origin. They were informed that it was a counter-raid operation against the Swordfish Merchant Corps. The danger has not been eliminated. Please evade it as soon as possible."

"Write back and ask them whether their losses are serious and whether they have returned to Furnace Port." Cheng Lang said.

"I'll reply right away!"

As she spoke, Yafuso picked up the quill on the table, dipped it in ink, and wrote a reply on a piece of letter paper on behalf of the captain. She then put the letter into a bottle, sealed it with wax, and ran out.

"It seems that the Demon Hunters will find us soon."

Yun Ji said this worriedly, and even Shenba, who was originally eager to try, turned pale.

Obviously, in the hearts of this brother and sister, the Demon Hunting Group is still an lingering shadow.

“It looks like we can make a lot of money again.”

Cheng Lang offered a completely different opinion, "Besides, we will soon enter the Sea of ​​Despair, so there is no need to worry too much about them."

"The Demon Hunters are not what you think."

Before Yun Ji could finish her words, Yafuso ran in with a bottle in her hand. "Captain, a reply from the pirate brothers!"

"The reply arrived so quickly, it seems they are indeed nearby."

Yun Ji took the glass bottle, took out the sea chart inside, and compared it with the chart. "They are less than 10 nautical miles away from our position, and they have already summoned fog with the Mirage Horn."

"Drive over and then deal with the people behind us." Cheng Lang made the decision immediately.

"I'll go replace Grandpa Gerta!" Before Shenba finished speaking, he was the first to run out of the meeting room.

"Captain, when do we start?"

Behind the Valkyrie, about four or five nautical miles away, on the pirate ship that had been following since the Pirate City, the first mate with gold teeth and gill holes on his neck asked impatiently.

The first mate, nicknamed Gold Teeth, is from Murphy Tower. He is a mixed-race sailor born to a human mother. This is also Murphy Tower's "special product". They enjoy the same treatment as human crew members on the ship and can often become the captain's right-hand man.

'Some patience'

The smelly pirate captain said, "There are still too many pirate ships around, and it's getting dark soon. Let's wait until dark before we take action.

That's a black elf, a beautiful black elf. I don't want to share this treasure with other pirate ships.

If we can snatch the Dark Elf from that mushroom ship and sell her to the lunatics in the Demon Hunter Group, we might be able to get a better ship, a big one with a double gun deck!"

Hearing this, First Mate Jin Ya suggested, "Why don't we try the black ourselves first?"

"If you dare touch that dark elf, I'll cut off your dick and stuff it in your cheeks!"

The captain harshly warned, "Female Dark Elves aren't meant to be bed companions. Those crazy demon hunters want to use Dark Elves for sacrificial rituals. They don't need rag dolls to be played with."

"Sacrificial ceremony?" First Mate Gold Teeth asked in confusion, "What sacrificial ceremony?"

"I also heard about it from my captain. I was only the second mate at that time."

The captain raised his telescope again and looked at the "mushroom boat" in front of him. "It is said that the Duchy of Boerland has been trying to create new Valkyries using Dark Elves for the past few hundred years."

"Creating a Valkyrie?"

The first mate, Gold Teeth, looked at the captain in astonishment. "Are they crazy? They can even create a Valkyrie? That's impossible!"

"impossible?"

The captain snorted, "Can you understand how the legendary ship bottle is made?"

"No," the Gold Tooth First Mate shook his head.

"But ship bottles do exist," the captain reminded him. "More than ten years ago, I had the opportunity to see one. It was an incredible sight. The bottle wasn't even as big as a wine bottle, but it could hold thousands of barrels of liquor. I'll never forget that scene."

Glancing at the first mate who still looked somewhat bewildered and stunned, the captain shook his head secretly.

This half-blooded first mate's brain is not very bright, which may be related to the half blood he inherited from his father, a shark-like mermaid.

Fortunately, although his brain is not very good, the fighting ability of the First Mate Gold Teeth is worthy of praise. After all, which captain doesn't like a sailor who has no brains but muscles?
"Captain, there seems to be a cloud of sea fog ahead!"

Just as the pirate captain was lost in thought, the first mate with golden teeth beside him suddenly reminded him, "That mushroom ship is heading towards the sea fog!"

"Oh no! That must be some captain who summoned the sea fog!"

The pirate captain immediately sensed something was wrong. "Full sail! We have to stop that ridiculous mushroom ship before it enters the sea fog!"

"Yo!"

On the pirate ship, many shirtless sailors responded in unison, and the pirate ship immediately sped up, closing the distance between them and the Valkyrie.

"That ship is catching up!" Yun Ji warned in the Valkyrie's conference room. "How long do you estimate it will take to catch up with us?" Cheng Lang asked as he walked out.

"At most half an hour," Yun Ji quickly followed and answered.

"How long until dark?"

“About the same time”

"Shenba, change direction before entering the sea fog. Let's circle to the right."

Cheng Lang ordered Teng Xiao, who was in charge of the boat outside the meeting room, "Yun Ji, signal Mi Wuli. We will pass by their left side. Tell them to get ready."

"Yes! Captain!" Yun Ji and Shen Ba responded to his order in unison.

"Gun deck ready!"

Cheng Lang issued the second order when Yun Ji ran to the bow and started sending light signals, and the vine goblins immediately responded in unison from the Valkyrie's gun deck.

At the same time, inside the edge of the fog, the pirate brothers Kervik and Belvik, who were already prepared, looked at each other and immediately controlled the Honest Man to slowly adjust the angle.

In this almost close chase, the distance between the Valkyrie and the pirate ship with ulterior motives behind it was getting closer and closer, and the sunset in the distance was slowly sinking into the sea level.

Almost as the last ray of sunset was about to disappear, the Valkyrie cut diagonally into the right edge of the sea fog, but the pirate ship behind her finally caught up from the side and brought the Valkyrie into the range of its artillery.

At this time, the three ships are almost at the same "starting line".

However, just before the captain of the pirate ship preparing to plunder gave the order to fire, a thick fog with a diameter of one nautical mile suddenly rose in the sea area!
This thick fog not only covered the fog ball summoned by the Honest Man, but also easily covered the pirate ship on the right that was trying to rob them.

What made the pirate captain realize that something was wrong was that the "mushroom ship" sank at an extremely fast speed!
"Fire! Fire quickly!" The captain gave the order almost subconsciously.

"Boom boom boom!"

However, just as his order reached the gun deck, the sailors had not yet had time to pick up the red-hot iron hooks when dense gunfire rang out from the other side of the "sunken ship"!

Even with the fog blocking the view, those 15- or 20-caliber solid shells, paired chain bullets, and even grapeshot glued together with asphalt and hemp, still narrowly brushed past the top of the Valkyrie's mast, which had not yet completely sunk underwater, and accurately hit the sails, deck, and even the waterline of the pirate ship!

After just one round of attacks, the sails and masts of the ship were severely damaged, and a large number of holes were smashed near the waterline!

Especially those grapeshot bullets that are covered with asphalt and coarse linen and have a diameter of one coin. They are like small fireballs. They can not only kill living people, but also randomly ignite anything they hit!
Under the intensive and continuous bombardment, the first mate with gold teeth was hit on the chest by a flying wooden barrel and fell from the open bridge at the stern into the sea shrouded in thick fog. His life or death was unknown. However, the captain reacted very quickly and hid in the cabin, roaring and urging his sailors to fight back.

"Boom boom boom!"

The gun deck of the pirate ship also began to roar. At the same time, their captain immediately mobilized the power granted by the heart of the ship, causing the speed of the ship to suddenly increase by a full double!
Although this dangerous increase in speed caused most of the second round of shells to miss, it also caused the shells fired from the pirate ship's own gun deck to lose their accuracy.

What's even more terrible is that although the ship's core gives the captain the ability to accelerate the ship, this ability can only last for a short ten minutes.

After these long yet short ten minutes, the ship's speed began to decrease, and because of the damaged mast and sails, their speed continued to slow down.

At the same time, the Honest Man had already rushed over in the thick fog, and was gradually increasing its speed, trying to seize a more advantageous T-head.

In contrast, on the deck of the Valkyrie, which had already sunk underwater, Cheng Lang was looking at the emerging ship's hull with great interest.

Unlike last time, this boat's bladder has been restored to its original state after being repaired by Lord Panini, and it is still slowly releasing thick black ink around it.

It's like a drop of ink falling into clear water.

Almost when the entire ship sank completely into the water and the pirate ship began to accelerate, he manipulated the heart of the ship to make the Valkyrie float to the surface again, and continued to move slowly towards the pirate ship that tried to rob him, pushed by the wind.

In just a short while, because of the setting sun and Poseidon's curse, the sails of the Valkyrie had become tattered.

By the time the Valkyrie had followed the sound of the bombardment and reached the pirate ship's rear and turned sideways, the Honest Man had already seized the T-head and completed the second round of bombardment. At this point, they had even approached and started boarding.

Thick fog can block the sailors' vision, but it has no effect on the magic mirror.

Because of this, Cheng Lang not only saw the almost one-sided battle situation, but also saw the "disguised" Honest Man.

However, when he saw the boat, the expression on his face was particularly wonderful.

The Honest Man, formerly an armed passenger ship, now has a figurehead in the shape of an old man holding an axe and a saw. In addition, the surrounding sides of the ship are carved with white-painted human skeletons with noose around their necks and holding ship lanterns in their hands. These human skeletons are also covered with colorful paintings of various beautiful female mermaids.

He seriously suspected that the two brothers must have at least one copy of the "Siren's Illustrated Book" in their hands!
If Cheng Lang had to draw an analogy or description for this boat, the only thing he could think of was the elaborately decorated trucks of his fellow Pakistanis in his familiar world.
No matter how dishonestly the pirate brothers dressed up the Honest Man, the battle was over in less than half an hour. After leading the small sailors to eliminate all the enemies, Belvik ran back to the Honest Man in a panic, and got into the dim lower cabin and squeezed into a ball again.

It was not until this time that Cheng Lang commanded the Valkyrie to move closer and let the vine goblins start boarding to search for spoils and prisoners.

However, Belvik and the small-time sailors he led who had lost their fear and reason were too clean in their actions, and no one was left alive on the ship.

Not only that, because of the bombardment commanded by Kervik, not only was the bow of the ship on fire, but the cabin was also leaking extremely seriously, and it was obvious that it would sink soon.

Time was running out, so the goblins moved all the supplies on the ship except for fresh water to the Honest Man as quickly as possible.

By the time all this was done, the ship had sunk, but the work of salvaging the spoils was not over yet.

While the goblins were busy, six 20-coin cannons and two exaggeratedly large 30-coin cannons and their matching shells were salvaged and sent to the deck of the Honest Man. The latter immediately dropped an equal number of 8 15-coin caliber cannons.

Forget about the powder kegs. Those things exploded when the honest man launched the second round of bombardment. Otherwise, the ship might not have sunk so quickly.

The vine goblins also fished out not only this, but also the bodies of the sailors from the pirate ship and a small amount of valuables.

Just as Yun Ji had predicted, there weren't many valuables on the ship. There were only about 150 gold coins, and there was no way to find armor pieces or Poseidon's blood. However, they unexpectedly found a piece of armor on the captain's body.

According to the magic mirror's identification, the only function of this crystal ball-like armor is to predict the sea conditions and weather within a radius of 10 nautical miles, and it can only predict the weather one hour in advance.

It is true that this thing is useful, but its usefulness is not very great, especially since there is no way to predict whether the sea fog is naturally formed or man-made.

In short, it was a piece of crap. He even suspected that the unlucky captain who was shot more than a dozen times was cheated by a shrewd vendor in the pirate market.

Because of the original contract with the pirate brothers, and because the Valkyrie did not participate in the battle just now, all the spoils, including this armor, belong to the Honest Man.

Of course, the Valkyrie was not without gain. While the vine goblins were busy, the bodies of the sailors, whether floating on the sea or sunk into the water, were salvaged and sent to the deck of the Valkyrie.

The bodies of the small-time sailors were naturally sent to the fake center pool at the bow to be disposed of and hidden. The bodies of the few human sailors, including the captain, had their lips smeared with the blood of Poseidon and were sent to the loyalty tombstone.

It was not until this time that Cheng Lang began to pay attention to the damage to the Honest Man.

In the previous battle, the Honest Man lost four small sailors, and the two large 30-caliber cannons only caused damage as big as two human heads at the waterline of the ship.

While the Honest Man was repairing the leaking cargo hold, Cheng Lang brought Shenba to personally deliver the reheated dinner purchased from Pirate City.

At the same time, the vine goblins, who had already taken off their disguises and were still only wearing canvas shorts, also delivered some supplies they had helped to purchase to the ship.

For the rest of the day, Belvik would hide in the lower cabin, while Kervik would be deaf.

So Cheng Lang didn't have a detailed chat with the two brothers. He just took a quick tour of the ship and then returned to the Valkyrie with Shenba.

After patiently waiting for about an hour, until the damage to the Honest Man's cargo hold was completely repaired, the two ships left the fog together and turned course towards the direction of the Desperate Trade Winds.

Of course, neither Cheng Lang, the magic mirror, nor the black elves with sharp eyesight noticed that under the sea still shrouded in thick sea fog, there was a mixed-race sailor who was knocked into the sea by the oak barrel at the beginning of the war. He was hiding in a coral reef and looking at the two ships moving further and further away above his head in fear. In his hand, he was still holding a gold tooth that was knocked out.

He was a mixed-race sailor, and because of this, even though the light underwater was dim, he had clearly seen the sunken pirate ship and the gorillas who jumped into the sea to salvage spoils and even corpses.

"The Vine Mandrill. It's the Vine Mandrill that the Boerlan Demon Hunters have a high bounty on."

The Gold Tooth First Mate, who was hiding in the coral reefs and dared not move, muttered to himself excitedly. He knew that he might soon have his own ship - as long as he delivered everything he had just seen to the Demon Hunters!

(End of this chapter)