Above the mage

Chapter 352 Seizing the Time

Palm Tree Hotel.

Gaode came to the front desk.

He had only booked a room for three days initially, but things here are obviously going to take some more time, so he wants to extend his stay for another week.

After handing over two gold coin and one silver dragon coin, Gao De waited for the proprietress to write him a receipt while reviewing his day's itinerary.

After the Rose Inn, he explored all the other mid-range inns in the city, but found nothing else of interest.

It seems that Elsa only stayed at the Rose Inn on her first day in Lagos, and then found a new place to stay.

This is somewhat difficult to trace.

Fortunately, it was a waitress at the Rose Hotel who provided the crucial clue—the shipyard.

Although Elsa doesn't understand shipbuilding, since she asked this question, she most likely wants to find out what she needs from the shipyard.

However, it was getting late, so Gaode decided to visit the shipyards in the city one by one the next day.

Lagos is a traditional fishing city with a well-developed supporting industry related to fishing, and it has a considerable number of shipyards, more than twenty in total.

Therefore, this is clearly a huge project.

More importantly, while the smaller shipyards were relatively easy to manage, the larger shipyards were mostly backed by nobles within the city.

In this situation, he fell into the same predicament as before—his status as a sea sentinel apprentice mage was most likely insufficient, and those large shipyards might not be willing to give him that much face.

This caused Gaode some slight annoyance.

But worries aside, we still have to go tomorrow. In short, we'll just have to take it one step at a time.

Gao De thought to himself.

"Hello." Just then, a hoarse voice came from the side.

"Excuse me, has the inn recently received any guests of this woman?" Gao De subconsciously turned his head to look, and saw a man hidden in a black cloak appear in front of the counter. He pushed a piece of parchment towards the landlady.

There is a portrait on the parchment.

Gao De glanced at it casually, and then his mind was suddenly jolted.

He was extremely familiar with the portrait on the parchment.

It was Elsa, the sister Anna was looking for!

Besides yourself, are there other people looking for Elsa?

Was he an old friend of Anna's father?

This was the first thought that came to Gaode's mind.

However, it was quickly ruled out by Gaode Maps.

"Never seen it before," the proprietress replied decisively without looking up as she wrote the receipt.

Gao De's lips twitched slightly: Aren't you going to even bother with a perfunctory response?

"Ahem." The man remained calm, coughing softly twice and tapping the table lightly. A silver dragon coin had appeared on the portrait without anyone noticing.

Clearly, the man understood that unless he offered some benefits, the proprietress wouldn't reveal anything to him, even if she had slept with the woman in the portrait.

You can't get anything done without money to pave the way.

Unless you're like Gaode Maps, wearing a sea sentry uniform and coming to inquire, you can save a lot of money by using that "tiger skin".

The proprietress was clearly engrossed in writing a receipt, but as if she had divine insight, she knew that the man had used the "Silver Coin Technique." The next moment, she looked up at the silver dragon coin in the portrait, chuckled, and casually swept her finger into the drawer.

She then carefully examined the portrait several times before giving a definite answer: "I've never seen it before."

"Thank you." The man didn't react much, put away the scroll, thanked him, and left the hotel.

After the man left the hotel, the proprietress wrote out the receipt and handed it to Gao De, saying, "Sir, here is your receipt."

"Thank you for your help." Gao De put away the receipt and thanked him.

After leaving the hotel, the man couldn't help but look back at the Palm Tree Hotel one last time.

Only after seeing Gaode go upstairs did I turn my gaze away.

For a fleeting moment, he felt that the other person seemed to care about him.

However, nothing else seemed amiss afterward. The other party appeared to be just an ordinary guest. After returning to the hotel, Gao De had changed out of his sea sentinel uniform and showed no trace of a mage.

Therefore, he didn't think about it any further.

The task at hand is more important.

It's not that he wasn't vigilant enough.

The main reason is that this is his first time in the Golden Flower Dynasty, and he doesn't know anyone here, so under normal circumstances, who would care about him?

Open the door.

The little girl was frowning as she looked at her clothes.

When she came out, she had nothing with her except herself.

So I've actually been wearing this outfit for several days now.

Normally speaking, in this world, for most people, not to mention a few days, it's quite normal not to change clothes for a week.

But Anna used to change her clothes at least once a day, so now that the clothes looked "dirty" but weren't actually that dirty, she felt a little uncomfortable, and her nose wrinkled up.

"Brother!" Anna immediately looked up and called out obediently with her big eyes when she heard the door open.

What an incredibly cute little girl. As Gao De thought this, he walked to the bedside, knelt down to be at the same level as Anna who was sitting on the bed, and then said in an extremely "stern" manner:

"Anna, what else are you hiding about your sister? You must tell me today."

Seeing the little girl's face change from surprise to sadness, and her eyelashes trembling slightly, Gao De felt helpless. His heart softened, and he sighed, his tone becoming gentler: "Just now downstairs, I ran into a guy who didn't look like a good person. He was holding a picture of your sister and investigating her whereabouts."

"Huh?!" Anna's little face froze for a moment, then she lowered her head, seemingly unable to look directly at Gao De's face, looking incredibly pitiful.

"Brother, help sister! We can't let him find her!" Her voice became pitiful. "He's a bad person!"

Gao De crouched down a little more and looked down at the little girl's delicate, beautiful face. Her pretty eyes were already filled with tears.

He pursed his lips and said gently, "So, Anna needs to tell me what you're hiding so I can help you."

Perhaps it was this brief interaction with Gaode that truly instilled in Anna a deep trust in the company, for the young girl looked up again and said earnestly:

"It's true that my sister brought Anna here to escape from disaster. We didn't actually owe any money. It was just that some bad guys wanted to steal our family's treasure. Even though we escaped here, those bad guys kept chasing us and never gave up."

"But my sister didn't come to Lagos to make a living," Anna said, glancing cautiously at God, her voice becoming almost inaudible, "but to find a way to escape bad people. Anna lied to her brother; Anna is a bad child."

Gao De gave Anna a deep look, his eyes revealing a scrutinizing gaze, as if trying to discern whether her current statement was the truth or a new set of lies.

He looked at her carefully for a while. He had always been good at judging people, but it seemed that this ability was not very effective when it came to a little girl.

Gao De didn't look for long before quickly speaking, "So it seems that your sister's inquiry about the shipyard wasn't to work there for a living, but rather to buy a ship?"

Asking about the location of the shipyard, ruling out the possibility of a deliberate deception, naturally indicates that the purpose is to go to the shipyard for business.

If an outsider travels all the way to Lagos to find a shipyard, besides finding a job, wouldn't the only other thing on their mind be buying a ship?

Furthermore, buying a boat also happens to align with Anna's point about "finding a way to escape bad guys."

If the "bad guys" were really chasing you that hard, how would you react if you were in their shoes?

Gaode initially chose not to take any means of transportation, but relied on its own adaptive capabilities to leave Saint-Sien by ship, achieving true tracelessness.

Elsa cannot have the ability to adapt, so it is impossible for her to travel without relying on any means of transportation.

But there is another way to achieve a certain degree of untraceability: making the vehicle your own.

This refers to buying a boat and going to sea.

Of course, going to sea is not something that one person can handle alone; it also requires hiring crew members, etc. But once on board, unless the captain reveals a specific destination, it can be guaranteed that for a considerable period of time, no one will know where the ship is headed.

A very reasonable and clever method.

"Perhaps...that's how it is?" Anna blinked, uncertainly asking, "Brother, what do you think we should do now?"

"That should be it," Gao De thought for a moment, then added, "You don't need to worry too much, at least we have two advantages now."

"Huh, two?" Anna tilted her head and looked at Gao De, her small face still wet with tears, her confused look pitiful yet adorable.

"First of all," Gao De held up a finger and patiently explained, "The Palm Tree Hotel is located in a relatively central location in Lagos City. The fact that this bad guy has only just entered the Palm Tree Hotel to investigate your sister's movements means that he has most likely just begun his investigation."

"Because in an unfamiliar place, a hotel in a prominent central location should be the primary target of the investigator. At the very least, it is certain that he has not yet inquired about the Rose Hotel and has not obtained any further information."

"And now," Gao De looked up at the sky outside the window, "it's already evening, so he can only continue the hotel investigation tomorrow."

This world is not like his previous life. The service industry has been swept up to a certain extent, and it is common to see 24-hour front desk staff at hotels.

In most hotels here, the front desk staff are also the owners. Even if there are dedicated employees, in order to save costs, given the limited number of guests at night, it is rare to hire an extra person to stay at the front desk all night.

Most of the time, guests arriving at night need to ring a bell or call out to wake up the resting staff to provide service.

If you want to stay at a hotel, fine, but waking someone up just to ask for information? You'll see who gives you a good look.

Therefore, the man must wait until dawn tomorrow to continue his hotel search.

"This is a time advantage for us."

"Secondly, we've finished the hotel investigation phase and moved on to the next phase," Gao De said, taking out a parchment from his pocket. "We can identify our targets tonight, which will give us almost a day's time advantage."

As he spoke, Gao De unfolded the parchment.

On the parchment was information he had gathered about shipyards in Lagos, including their size, main ship types, addresses, and so on, listed in order of size.

"Then how do we identify the target?" Anna asked, her eyes wide with confusion.

"Look, if your sister really is planning to buy a boat, it's for escaping from disaster at sea. The bigger the boat, the more manpower it needs. But your sister is just trying to hide from bad guys, not actually doing any business, so naturally she doesn't need to buy a big boat."

"In that case, these large shipyards can be ruled out for now." Gao De's fingertip swept over the large shipyards listed at the very beginning of the parchment.

"Then, since you fled here, your sister probably isn't very well-off, so when buying a boat, she naturally wants to prioritize cost-effectiveness."

"Another point is that she is from out of town, so she will most likely look for some relatively unregulated small workshops to purchase boats. These small workshops value every transaction, so they are not as strict in verifying her identity."

Anna nodded repeatedly, feeling that every word Gao De said made perfect sense.

"So," Gao De pointed to a name on a piece of parchment, "this shipyard's main ship type is the two-masted sailing ship, a small transoceanic vessel suitable for small traders and explorers. In addition, they have gone bankrupt, stopped shipbuilding, and are now clearing out their stockpiled ships and transferring the shipyard at a low price."

In this situation, their boats would certainly be the most affordable.

Furthermore, they won't care about the buyer's out-of-town status anymore, since the shipyard will be closed after the sale, and even if the authorities want to punish them, there's no way to do so.

"Yes, yes." Anna narrowed her big eyes, looking at the shipyard that Gao De pointed to, and pronounced its name word by word.

"Harland Shipyard".

"Then let's get up early tomorrow and head straight to Harland Shipyard." Gao De was always a decisive person, and he made the decision immediately.

"Sir, yesterday a lady from out of town did want to buy our last remaining Harland frigate, but she didn't have enough money and said she needed to make some more money in a few days before leaving."

After a slight hesitation, the portly Harland boss glanced at Gao De's crisp sea sentinel uniform before finally revealing some information.

The Sea Sentinel Apprentice Mage wasn't a particularly important figure, but he was still a mage of the Sea Sentinel. As a bankrupt shipyard owner, he had no reason to provoke him for no reason.

Anyway, it's not any important news.

"Not enough money yesterday." Gao De's eyes lit up slightly, almost certain that he had found the right person.

"Do you know how to get in touch with her?"

Harland shook his head. "This lady didn't leave any contact information or a deposit, so I specifically reminded her to hurry up, otherwise if she runs into other guests, I won't be able to hold the boat for her."

"I see." Gao De fell into deep thought.

Clearly, Elsa was very wary.

But this vigilance has also prevented Gaode from finding her any further.

As Gao De pondered, he unconsciously surveyed the shipyard's surroundings.

The Harland shipyard is located near the port of Lagos City to facilitate the immediate launching and sea voyage of ships once completed.

There are also numerous timber mills, rope workshops, and canvas manufacturing workshops in the surrounding area, forming a relatively complete shipbuilding industry chain.

Therefore, the air is filled with the fragrance of wood, the pungent smell of tar, and the salty smell of seawater.

The largest and most central facility in a shipyard is the dry dock.

In addition, there are corresponding timber processing areas, workshops and other work areas, but because the Harland shipyard has gone bankrupt and stopped shipbuilding, they are all empty and very deserted at the moment.

As Gao De smelled the unique scent of the shipyard in the air, a thought suddenly popped into his mind.

"Boss, are you selling your shipyard at a low price? Have you found a buyer yet?"

"There are a few interested buyers, but they're all swindlers. Their prices are so low that even a dog wouldn't look at them!" Harland got excited at this point and couldn't help but complain.

"What's your price range if I want to take over the shipyard?" Gao De suddenly asked.

(End of this chapter)