Above the mage

Chapter 406 Auckland City

Although the blackwater shark swarm has retreated, no one can guarantee whether they will return or when.

Therefore, Knight Hao, along with most of the mages, remained on the ship, ready for battle.

According to the tradition of the Plantagenet dynasty, when danger is encountered, nobles must take the lead.

Therefore, from the time the flood occurred until now, settling the victims, dealing with the water monster, and all sorts of complicated matters, Knight Hao has been extremely busy, and in fact, he hasn't closed his eyes for almost two days.

He stood at the bow of the boat for a while longer, but the blackwater shark did not reappear. Finally, he could no longer hold on.

He told the others to wake him if anything happened, and then he went back to his cabin to take a short rest.

He had just lain down, his consciousness just beginning to drift off to sleep, when he was woken up again.

"What, is it the Blackwater Shark that's back?" Despite his distress, Knight Hao asked alertly, his tone revealing some tension.

"no."

"Then what do you want me to do?" he asked, barely suppressing his anger.

"Someone's coming!"

"Who are you, disaster victims? Can't you make your own arrangements? Why do you have to call me for such a trivial matter?" Upon hearing this reason, Knight Hao's anger intensified.

He had been working himself to the bone for two days and was exhausted. Yet these people were so incompetent that they wouldn't let him rest for a while.

"It's the Sea Sentinel Mage, who said he rushed here from Dorne to provide disaster relief!" The mage who had woken up Knight Hao also sensed his dissatisfaction and quickly explained.

Sea Sentinel Mage?!

Upon hearing this, Knight Hao felt a shiver run through his body.

His drowsiness was temporarily dispelled by his identity as a Sea Sentinel Mage and the "rescue" he represented.

He stood up briskly and walked out of the cabin.

Meanwhile, Gaode was climbing out of the water onto the boat, using a capybara to retrieve the exhausted dumpling.

After putting away the dough, he turned around and met the gaze of Knight Hao.

Under the warm orange light, Knight Hao squinted and carefully examined the sea sentinel mage before him.

His gaze swept over the two bronze stars on Gao De's sleeve.

A first-class apprentice mage. Still a greenhorn.

Of course, that was just what he thought in his heart.

Sea Sentinel Mages are promoted very quickly, and their future is very promising.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the other party is now a first-class apprentice mage; in terms of status, he is still lower than him.

But in just ten years, he will still be a knight, while the other party will definitely be a sergeant-level mage. If he is outstanding, he might even be promoted to warrant officer.

That status was already above his.

Therefore, Knight Hao did not dare to be negligent in the slightest.

"When we found this place, we saw a group of blackwater sharks attacking the fleet. It took a lot of effort to lure them into the whirlpool I encountered on the way. It was exhausted," Gao De explained, patting his capybara pouch.

He's not the kind of person who does good deeds anonymously.

The previous act of luring away the blackwater sharks was a huge risk, so wouldn't it be a waste not to speak up and "claim credit"?

"Was it you who led away the previous swarm of blackwater sharks, sir?"

Knight Hao was taken aback at first, then his head felt like it was about to explode.

He never imagined that the sudden departure of the black shark, which he had been trying to understand, would be the work of this first-class apprentice mage.

"Thank you for what you did, otherwise we really wouldn't have been able to deal with these blackwater sharks." After the initial shock, Knight Hao expressed his gratitude with great insight and sincerity.

"Did you come all the way from Dorn?" he then asked curiously.

"That's right," Gao De nodded. "After learning that a massive cyclone had made landfall in Auckland, the Sea Sentinels issued an emergency mission, ordering us to set off in batches immediately to provide disaster relief."

What a great speed!

Knight Hao couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

If you calculate the time, it's been less than a day.

As expected of a sea sentinel!

"What's the situation up there now?" Gao De pointed to the faint lights on the high ground and asked, "And where is your baron?"

In the Plantagenet dynasty, the highest-ranking official in a town was usually a baron.

"Before the dam broke, Baron Joloa had already sensed the possibility of it collapsing and immediately organized the town's residents to evacuate here. So when the flood finally broke out, most of the town's people were already here and their lives were not threatened by the flood."

"However, the nearby villages did not have time to organize evacuation and relocation, so after initially stabilizing the people, Baron Joloa led his fleet out to search for and relocate the disaster victims."

"She delivered two groups of disaster victims earlier today, and then went out again to a more distant village. She may not be back until tomorrow morning."

The Baron of Yaxi Town was actually a rare female noblewoman. A thought flashed through Gao De's mind.

Given the traditional values ​​and strict laws of the Plantagenet dynasty, it is not surprising that Giolos took such proactive measures to provide disaster relief.

"How many people are up there?" Gao De asked again. "Are all the disaster victims from Yaxi Town being transferred here?"

"There are approximately tens of thousands of people," Knight Hao said, though he couldn't give a precise number. After a moment's thought, he added, "This is only a portion of the disaster victims. Baron Joloa certainly wouldn't have gone to such lengths to transport the victims from the more remote villages back."

First, it would waste too much time; second, the carrying capacity of this high ground is limited, so they should be relocated to higher ground near the village.

"We've been here for over a day now. We left in a hurry and couldn't bring much supplies. Everyone is hungry now."

Moreover, the rain keeps falling, and there are no rainproof facilities on the high ground. If this continues, the elderly and children will definitely not be able to endure it.” Knight Hao frowned and told him about the grim situation.

Gaode nodded.

This was expected.

As for why, even though there were ships here, Knight Hao did not organize the evacuation of the disaster victims, but instead waited idly, leaving everyone in a terrible situation of lack of food, drinking water, and the spread of disease, the reason is also very simple:

In the early stages of a flood, the water flow is too rapid, with dangerous conditions such as undercurrents and whirlpools. Coupled with severe weather, this poses a huge risk to the voyage of the fleet and can easily lead to the capsizing of ships.

There are a lot of floating objects in the water, such as furniture and building debris. These floating objects may collide with boats and damage the hulls when carried by the turbulent current.

The severe weather and obstructed visibility significantly increased the difficulty and risk of the evacuation.

In addition, the presence of the water beasts made them hesitant to organize large-scale relocations.

Moreover, with limited boats and so many disaster victims, and insufficient manpower, hastily organizing a transfer could easily lead to chaos.

Therefore, after a flood, it is generally not advisable for disaster victims on higher ground to be evacuated by boat immediately.

These are some of the key points highlighted in "Whirlwind Rescue Compendium".

"On my way here, I passed through Tyrael and had already asked the officials there to lend me a boat and organize a fleet to be ready to set off for rescue at any time."

"Once it gets light, if the weather improves, we can notify the fleet from Tyrael to come and meet you," God said reassuringly.

"That's wonderful!" Upon hearing this, Knight Hao's worries eased somewhat.

If too many residents of the town are killed or injured, these nobles will be held accountable after the disaster, so he has always been under great pressure.

"Oh, by the way, I still don't know how to address you?" he said quickly, remembering the matter.

"Just call me Gaode." Gaode took out his identity badge and handed it over.

Knight Hao took the nameplate, glanced at it, and then handed it back with both hands.

The Sea Sentinel Mage's uniform may be a fake, but in this situation, who else but the Sea Sentinel Mage would risk such a huge risk to appear here?

This so-called identity verification is really just a formality.

"Take me up there and have a look," Gao De made another request.

"No problem, Master Gaode, please come with me." After all this fuss, Knight Hao's drowsiness had long since disappeared.

On the high ground, simple temporary tents are densely packed together.

Although it is already late at night, very few people can sleep due to the torrential rain.

The makeshift tents couldn't really keep out such heavy rain; almost all of them were leaking, just to varying degrees.

A foul odor permeated the air, a mixture of excrement and the putrid smell of rainwater.

The highlands have limited space, so the large number of disaster victims usually have to relieve themselves on the spot.

Lift the lid of any tent, and you'll find two families huddled together, sitting close to each other.

They trembled from the cold, their faces were ashen from hunger, their lips were pale, and they were in an extremely weak state.

The child in the woman's arms was breathing heavily and his face was flushed, clearly indicating that he was sick.

The woman kept patting the child's back, gently comforting him.

Gao De glanced at it and sighed inwardly.

A burst of green light appeared, and several divine berries appeared in his hand.

He distributed the sacred berries to the people in the tent, saying, "Give one to the child."

Divine berries can provide the body with the nutrients it needs for a day.

When you are sick, what you need most is to replenish your nutrition to boost your immunity.

After doing all this, he lowered the tent flap and followed Knight Hao to continue investigating the situation of the disaster victims.

After walking around the area, Gao De shook his head. "The situation is already very bad. If the excrement is not dealt with, it can easily lead to an epidemic. But with the rain so heavy and so many people around, it's not realistic to deal with the excrement."

"With such a dense population, the consequences of an outbreak are unimaginable."

"Moreover, with torrential rain and food shortages, these people simply cannot hold out for long."

"Once it gets light, no matter what the situation is, we must organize the evacuation of the disaster victims," ​​Gao De asserted.

This knowledge came from "The Complete History of Whirlwind Rescue".

Although Knight Ha'ao had not read the book, his rich experience made him understand this principle.

But Baron Joloa hadn't returned, so he hadn't dared to make a decision rashly.

If everything goes smoothly, that's fine. But if something goes wrong during the evacuation of disaster victims, he will be fully responsible.

This kind of thing requires someone to make the decision, and in any case, Knight Hao's conservative nature makes him hesitant to be the one to take the lead.

Now that Gao De has arrived and stepped forward to make the decision he has long wanted to make, Knight Hao is naturally overjoyed and readily agrees.

"Let's go back to the ship and rest for a while. I've been traveling all day and I'm exhausted," Gao De said, waving his hand.

Returning to the fleet from the highlands, I entered my cabin, found a bed, and used the "Comfortable Sleep+" spell on myself before falling asleep.

No one knows how long the disaster relief will last, so he needs to seize every opportunity to rest and recover.

It's already past midnight, but there's still some time before dawn, so I can still get some rest.

Under the influence of the spell, even though the ship was rocking violently in the turbulent waters, Gao De still managed to enter a deep sleep without any problems.

After a short three-hour rest, it was dawn.

Gao De was woken up and went out of the cabin to take a look.

Not only did the sun rise, but the torrential rain that had been falling all day finally turned into a drizzle.

At that moment, Knight Hao also stepped out of the cabin and came face to face with Gao De.

Upon closer inspection, Knight Hao realized that God was actually quite young.

The lighting was poor last night, and he could tell from the dim light that Gaode was very young, but he didn't expect him to be this young. He looked like he wasn't even twenty yet.

Such a young sea sentinel first-class apprentice mage must come from an extraordinary background.

Moreover, with such courage, his future achievements are sure to be extraordinary.

Knight Hao's expression grew increasingly respectful.

"Luckily, the rain has lessened a lot, we need to move out quickly."

"I see."

"Send two small boats to Tyrael to notify the fleet waiting there to come to the rescue, and also to scout ahead." Gao De had already made detailed arrangements.

It would be faster if he delivered the message himself, but the route he and Tuanzi took would definitely be different from the route taken by normal ships, so it would be of no reference value.

In addition, Gaode was not satisfied with just the small town of Yaxi; he also planned to go to Auckland to check things out.

Just as Knight Hao thought, God also sensed that there was something very wrong with this whirlwind disaster.

But the specifics of what's wrong can perhaps only be found by going to Auckland.

In addition, this is a rare opportunity to earn merit.

He might be able to accumulate enough military merits to be promoted to the second ring in one go during this disaster relief effort, so he certainly can't be satisfied with the "minor merits" he has now.

"No problem." Knight Hao nodded.

Yaxi Town and Tyrrell Town are adjacent, one upstream and the other downstream. Everyone is very familiar with the route, and just mentioning the name will tell you how to get there.

Soon, two small to medium-sized boats carrying mages sailed out in the light rain, cutting through the waves, and soon disappeared from sight.

"Lend me another small boat, I want to go to Auckland to take a look," Gao De added.

Knight Hao readily agreed and rowed a small boat for Gao De.

Although there is a shortage of boats at the moment, these small boats can't carry many people anyway.

Besides, if Gaode hadn't intervened last night, all these ships would have been destroyed by the Blackwater Shark long ago.

He had no choice but to refuse Gaode, both emotionally and rationally.

Gao De jumped off the large ship and landed on the deck of the small boat.

To escape the whirlpool's pull last night, he deliberately destroyed the saddle. It was a delicate contraption, not easy to make, and he didn't bring a spare. So now he can't use the dough to pull the boat, and he has to row it himself.

Fortunately, as the rain subsided, the water flow was no longer as rapid as it had been the night before.

After casting the [Heavy Burden] and [Relentless Pursuit] spells on himself, Gaode rowed the boat and headed towards Auckland.

He passed through several towns along the way, but did not stop there.

But he also put aside Tuanzi, who had also rested for most of the night and was now full of energy, and asked Tuanzi to help explore the water depth and boundaries of these towns.

Besides rescuing people and assessing the extent of the disaster, determining the affected area is also extremely important.

Early assessment of the disaster situation allows for more effective allocation of relief resources, facilitates overall coordination, and improves rescue efficiency.

Therefore, this matter also warranted a substantial military reward.

Gaode wants it all; it doesn't want to miss out on any credit.

(End of this chapter)