"Dream and Armament Master!"Orlando repeated it a few times, as though he wanted to engrave the name into his mind.
"Please!"
The merchant opened the door and gestured for him to enter.
Orlando took a deep breath and walked into the living room.
"Captain Orlando?"
The hall was very s.p.a.cious. It had a black bear hide hung on the opposite wall and even two tanned deer head mounts.
A green-haired, middle-aged man clad in a robe was leisurely adding sugar and milk to his coffee.
He raised his head and smiled brightly at Orlando. "Would you like a cup of Schland"s specialty coffee?"
"Thanks, Mr. Donald!"
Orlando unceremoniously picked up the coffee cup and sat on a chair straight away, gazing at Donald and sizing him up.
The two of them exchanged glances, feeling that they were somewhat similar.
After all, they were not only spell casters, but they also had close relations.h.i.+ps with the Dream and Armament Master, Fang Yuan.
"You should address me as Sir Donald now…" Donald corrected Orlando"s small mistake. "The Queen has just conferred me with the t.i.tle of lord. Of course, the news hasn"t really been spread yet."
"All right… Sir Donald, so you"ll be the middleman between the navy and me?"
Orlando continued to look at Donald closely.
Of course, he wanted to ask more about the Dream and Armament Master, but he held back.
"Yes, currently, in order to maintain our kingdom"s maritime supremacy, there"s an urgent need for talents like you to join…" Donald was very straightforward. "We need you to block the countries in the Opher Continent from exploring the oceans, especially Cecil, which is developing too quickly! Of course, when necessary, we"ll also need you to a.s.sist the navy in annihilating some pirates such as Blackbeard!"
"Blackbeard, haha… Did I mishear? Is today the G.o.d of Lies"s festival?" Orlando jumped up exaggeratedly. Shortly after, he unceremoniously grabbed an apple from a basket and took a bite. "Do you know Blackbeard"s true strength? He"s the Nightmare Ocean"s pirate governor and has an army of over ten thousand pirates under him. Three island nations are directly under his control. He"s the largest slave trader in coastal waters, and he even owns the legendary pirate s.h.i.+p Monster! Even if Ettoman"s Royal Navy attacks him, they might not necessarily be Blackbeard"s match in Nightmare Ocean!"
"Thank you for your explanation, Mr. Orlando. You seem to know a lot about Blackbeard?" Donald laughed scornfully. "However, your understanding of the royal navy is too shallow, even stuck at five years ago. Come… let me show you some things!"
He stood up, put on his coat, and brought Orlando to the other side of the dock.
It was filled with docked wars.h.i.+ps and had numerous naval soldiers conducting checks. If Donald had not displayed his ident.i.ty, Orlando reckoned that he would not be able to infiltrate this place at all.
Hiss hiss…
When he saw multiple giant steel wars.h.i.+ps, Orlando could only gasp in astonishment.
In front of him were several extremely enormous steel s.h.i.+ps. They cast enormous shadows and covered the skies; they resembled hills and oppressed all living beings.
"Such huge… s.h.i.+ps made entirely from steel. How do they not sink to the bottom of the sea, are they magical s.h.i.+ps? No… that"s wrong… they don"t have the slightest trace of magic…" Orlando mumbled with an infatuated gaze, yet he had very complicated feelings.
Presently, for the s.h.i.+ps on the ocean, apart from legendary wars.h.i.+ps, the largest first-level wars.h.i.+ps were only a hundred meters long, had three thousand tons of displacement, and a speed of no more than twenty knots.
Such standards were already large seven-masted s.h.i.+ps and the current limits for ordinary wooden sailing s.h.i.+ps.
But here? Any s.h.i.+p was easily over a hundred and fifty meters long and had more than twenty thousand tons of displacement. Furthermore, these s.h.i.+ps" hulls were significantly larger than wooden sailing s.h.i.+ps.
Taking any for comparison would be like comparing a muscular man to a child.
"Impossible… even if a s.h.i.+p made from steel doesn"t sink, what about its motive power…"
Orlando was indeed an experienced pirate, seeing yet another practical problem.
In a naval battle, a s.h.i.+p"s speed was extremely important. As long as its speed was superior, it could firmly grasp the initiative to fight or escape.
Otherwise, it would be sending oneself into the enemy"s hands for nothing.
"Have you… heard of steam engines?" Donald laughed. "In order to cope with the colonies" growing production demand, Ettoman"s research in steam engines is definitely the top in the continent. As for the wars.h.i.+ps" motive power, I can describe it to you like this—when they start running, they don"t need sailors to paddle at all. Of course, you may understand it better if I phrase it differently… That is, their speed is generally above twenty knots, and twenty-five knots is not unusual either! Perhaps they can"t catch up with the Pirate Prince"s Wanderer, but Monster would definitely be unable to escape…" Donald explained confidently.
Orlando closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Solely from looking at the armor covering these s.h.i.+ps, he already knew the result of naval battles with ordinary pirates. If their speed was also fast, there was no doubt that there would soon be a huge shuffle in the ocean forces.
And the initiative was in Ettoman"s hands!
The emergence of ironclad wars.h.i.+ps was this supreme maritime power displaying its might to the new world!
The pirates had been leading carefree lives for too long. A brand new era was about to arrive!
Orlando kept silent for a long time before suddenly bursting into laughter. "Haha… great! Arcane Trickster Roche, wait for me… It won"t be long before I once again stand before you!"
…
"Boss, based on the intelligence we obtained when we stopped at that pirate port earlier, your bounty has doubled to thirty thousand gold coins!"
Nightmare Ocean.
Fiery Lotus was in the lead, with Slavery and the other two s.h.i.+ps following behind. The sails were fully extended, but they were barely running at seventeen knots.
On the deck, Wilson was respectfully making a report to Fang Yuan.
"Mmm…"
Fang Yuan was lying in a cus.h.i.+oned chair with his hat covering half of his face. He made a casual response, seeming to be very bored.
Although this was already very fast in the eyes of ordinary pirates, it was no different from crawling turtles in Fang Yuan"s view.
"Perhaps… when Ettoman"s all-new ironclad wars.h.i.+ps are in active service, the whole world will be astonished?"
Steam engines were not Ettoman"s specialty, and neither were steam-powered wars.h.i.+ps.
But without a doubt, this supreme maritime power went the deepest and furthest in the area of ironclad wars.h.i.+ps.
With the early advantage gained from this, it was sufficient to leave its rivals behind by two to three years, which was basically the amount of time required to construct a steam-powered wars.h.i.+p. Even magic would be unable to save their overall strength from falling behind.
In other words, even if their rivals were able to get ahold of all of the s.h.i.+pwrights and design drawings and even relocate the entire factory from Ettoman right now, it was already too late.
"If this were in my previous life, with this huge advantage, in addition to a technical blockade and policy support, it"s absolutely enough for Ettoman to establish its position as a maritime empire and maintain its supremacy for decades… Unfortunately, this is a world br.i.m.m.i.n.g with extraordinary powers! Even some of the ironclad wars.h.i.+ps are inferior in strength to extraordinary s.h.i.+ps… But it wins in terms of being able to be ma.s.s-produced, which is its absolute advantage."
There would not be any problem in crippling a pirate governor when Ettoman"s acc.u.mulated strength was released.
Fang Yuan reckoned that it was about time for Donald to release another book—The Influence of Sea Power.
"Speaking of which, when Ettoman"s Royal Navy displays its might, the first one to be unlucky will definitely be Blackbeard!"
After all, the first section of the Golden Sea Route was the Nightmare Ocean. As the Nightmare Ocean"s governor, Blackbeard would not be able to escape!
By having his own logistics base, although his war potential improved greatly, he also lost the mobility that pirates originally had.
For instance, even if Blackbeard had an army of over ten thousand pirates, once he lost those few island nations, he would definitely be unable to provide for the tens of thousands of pirates and would only collapse in the end.
"During such a dangerous time, what exactly is Blackbeard"s purpose in waging war with the Pirate Prince?"
Fang Yuan pondered.
Do not underestimate any pirate governor.
Although the intelligence on ironclad wars.h.i.+ps was cla.s.sified, with Blackbeard"s extensive resources, he should be able to get ahold of some vague news.
However, he still took the risk to become enemies with the Pirate Prince at this time. Of course, it might be because their feud could no longer be stopped, but the motive was still pending deliberation.
"Could Blackbeard want to seize some territory and find a way out in the Golden Ocean… Or perhaps the Pirate Prince has grasped a portion of the ironclad wars.h.i.+ps" secrets but is unwilling to trade and thus angered Blackbeard?"
Pirate Prince Edward!
He was the Golden Ocean"s pirate governor and rumored to be a very charismatic young man. His smiles could even make mermaids become deeply bewitched.
Furthermore, Edward"s flags.h.i.+p, Wanderer, was also a legendary pirate s.h.i.+p. It was said that it had the blessing of the G.o.d of Speed, which gave it speed superior to all other wars.h.i.+ps.
With Wanderer, Edward was like a spirit in the wind, free and laid-back.
Needless to say, for such a person, even if he had some subordinates, his fleet"s cohesiveness and organization would certainly be inferior to Blackbeard"s.
Thus, even though Edward had the support and backing of other forces, he was still at a disadvantage in his fight with Blackbeard.
Under these circ.u.mstances, the Pirate Prince should be more welcoming of new forces joining?
Fang Yuan thought about it and then asked directly, "How much longer until we reach the Golden Ocean?"
"We"ve already reached the border of Nightmare Ocean. According to the nautical chart that Heathfrey provided, we just need to pa.s.s through the h.e.l.l of Lightning ahead of us before we reach the Golden Ocean!"
Wilson bowed and continued, "The Golden Ocean is a land of riches, and it also has numerous plantations and colonies that Ettoman established…"
"Attention, there are incoming s.h.i.+ps!"
At this moment, Helga gave a warning from the lookout, causing Wilson"s entire body to quiver.