I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

Captain Evelyn was walking past the helm when her gaze inadvertently swept over the row of shimmering silver fish on the deck, and she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

She walked over quickly, squatted down, picked up one of the fish and examined it carefully for a moment, her expression quite interesting.

"Hero, do you know what you caught?"

Ji Tian, ​​who was baiting the hook at the time, asked upon hearing this, "What?"

"This is the 'Silverfin Moon Bass,' one of the rarest edible fish in the Southern Seas. A whole Silverfin Moon Bass can sell for more than 20 gold coins in the market, while in the high-end restaurants in the capital, a plate of Silverfin Moon Bass fillets can sell for eight gold coins."

As for how to transport the fish from the sea to the capital relatively intact?

This brings us to the advanced storage ring with its built-in time-delay function.

High-end storage rings are often priceless, and ordinary people simply cannot afford them. Even if they could, they are usually not very useful. Their target audience is usually major merchant guilds, nobles, and S-class adventurers.

Ji Tian suddenly cast the baited fishing hook out.

"Is this fish hard to catch?"

"It's not that it's hard to catch. Silverfin moon bass generally live in deep, dark currents, often hundreds of meters below the surface, and rarely rise to shallow water. The fact that it's biting the bait on a regular fishing rod hook means that it's either starving or something has driven it to the vicinity of the surface."

As she spoke, her gaze shifted to the deep blue sea.

"And catching so many at once... that's not normal."

After listening, Ji Tian realized that something was wrong.

Am I not a fishing expert?

No, could it be that some kind of creature is sending it fish?

Just as he was thinking this, the creatures in the deep sea seemed to have read his mind.

A tentacle tentatively peeked out from beneath the sea surface, swayed gently twice on the water's surface, as if mimicking a human greeting, before quickly retracting.

Just as the deep-sea races have a deep-seated reverence for a certain great being passed down through generations, this sea monster dared not get too close to the spirit ship.

"My God, it's a sea monster! This is the first time I've seen one alive in my two hundred years at sea."

Captain Evelyn exclaimed in surprise, losing all her composure as a seasoned captain and acting like a child.

Other idle elves also rushed over to watch, marveling at the sight.

The moment that tentacle emerged from the sea, Ji Tian recognized the other party's identity; it was one of the sea monsters he had helped break through with lightning tribulation a few days ago.

At that time, it was slowly swimming in the deep sea plain, its aura deep and accumulating power for hundreds of years, unable to find a way to break through. Now, its aura has solidified and its body has become much more relaxed, clearly indicating that it has successfully broken through.

The sea monster seemed to sense that Ji Tian recognized it, and gently stirred the water's surface with its tentacles.

Immediately afterwards, a series of fine ripples appeared on the water's surface. Seven or eight shimmering silverfin moon bass seemed to have been driven up from the deep water by something, swimming rapidly toward the direction of the Seagull. Some of them even leaped out of the water and landed near Ji Tian's fishing rod.

This was the first time Ji Tian had ever seen a creature feel grateful for his act of sending down a lightning tribulation, so he couldn't very well refuse its kindness.

He lifted the rod, baited the hook, and pulled another silverfin moon bass out of the water, where it hopped twice on the deck.

Over the next half hour, several more rows of shimmering silver fish appeared on the deck of the Seagull.

The wooden barrels along the ship's side were quickly filled, and Captain Evelyn looked at the barrels of fish, seemingly lost in thought, and said:

"Brave warrior, in sea legends, if something in the deep sea wants to express goodwill to someone, it will usually send a group of fish to him."

"...It's quite thoughtful of it."

It seemed to have sailed away from the sea area it occupied, and the tentacle never appeared again after its last wave.

The Sea Sparrow sailed north for the next two days, occasionally stopping at islands along the way. Ji Tian symbolically checked a few abandoned mines, but as before, he found nothing.

Clearly, the "thing" the Queen mentioned was either taken away long ago, or it wasn't even in the mine.

Two days later, at dusk, the Haique sailed into Baiou Port.

This port was more than twice the size of Lion Tooth City, with a breakwater extending hundreds of feet outwards, and more than a dozen merchant ships of various sizes moored on the outer side, their masts standing like a dense forest in the twilight.

The dock was bustling with activity. Porters carried goods between the gangplanks, and several port tax collectors in dark blue uniforms stood in front of a wooden booth checking the shipping manifest.

In the distance, the streets are lined with the signs of various businesses, and the shops, lit by warm yellow lights, stretch along the coastline and into the depths of the city.

Ji Tian jumped off the boat and had only taken a few steps when he heard several porters unloading cargo whispering among themselves.

"...Have you heard? The second young master of the William family was assassinated in the south of the city a couple of days ago, and he still hasn't woken up."

"I've heard about it too. It's said that someone attempted assassination in the street, and they couldn't even find out who it was."

"Will the William family let this go? I heard that the eldest son has already sent people to investigate."

"Why investigate? If you ask me, it's just that the second young master has offended too many people. It was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Shh—keep your voice down, are you out of your mind?"

The whispers drifted into Ji Tian's ears on the sea breeze.

He didn't stop walking, his expression remained normal, but he already knew what was going on in his mind.

The William family has clearly intervened in public opinion, changing the story of "being struck by lightning in the street" to "being assassinated," thus saving face and providing a plausible excuse for subsequent actions.

In this way, even if the assassin cannot be found, this incident can be used as a pretext to take action against any forces that they dislike.

Ji Tian stopped at the dock, and under the guise of tying his shoelaces, he lightly brushed his fingertips across the hilt of his sword.

The aura of the holy sword receded like the tide, merging into the depths of the blade. The golden halo on its surface also dimmed, making it look like a slightly valuable but ordinary sword.

"When we enter the city later, don't reveal your identity."

Ji Tian decided to travel incognito to find out if there was any news about new cannons, and then have Ophelia perform divination and prophecy after accumulating enough information.

As everyone knows, the best places to get information are taverns and adventurers' guilds.

The tavern was a mixed bag, and most of the business involved drinking and boasting. Ji Tian decided to try his luck at the Adventurers' Guild first.

The Adventurers' Guild of White Gull Harbor is located at the intersection of the dock area and the commercial street. It is a three-story stone building with a signboard at the entrance depicting a crossed sword and shield, and several magic lamps hanging on both sides.

As dusk fell, warm yellow light shone through the windows, mingling with the aroma of alcohol and barbecue.

Pushing open the heavy oak door, a wave of noisy voices rushed in like a heatwave.

There were a dozen or so wooden tables in the hall, where all sorts of adventurers were drinking, boasting, and making a lot of noise, which the Adventurers' Guild administrators ignored.

Clearly, the adventurers' guilds along the coast don't have as many rules as those inland.

Several huge notice boards were nailed to the wall, covered with mission notices, as well as wanted posters and bounties for many pirates.

Ji Tian walked towards the notice board, his eyes quickly scanning the pages.

Most of them are routine tasks such as clearing out monsters, escorting caravans, and finding medicinal herbs.

In the corner were several badly worn parchment papers with the words "Recruiting boatmen, course unknown, pay negotiable" written on them, with no signature in the lower right corner.