Chapter 586: Whistling Wind
_15th day. Month of the wind pursuit. Clear weather._
It has been three days since we left port. We are sailing through the Strait of Light and heading into Port Eland of the Country of Light. I know how arduous this mission is. The fate of the entire nation lies on my shoulders. I must gather sufficient foodstuff in the shortest period of time and transport it back to the Southern Port to alleviate the food crisis. But I know that this isn’t an easy task. Although the Southern Fleet has sealed off the waterway, I can’t put my heart at ease and I can’t fall asleep almost every night. Every smas.h.i.+ng of the waves has startled me off my bed. What worries me most is the King’s Party’s ambush.
Besides, I know that dangers don’t exist only on the outside. I saw the evil glints in the eyes of the greedy sailors. They know what we’re s.h.i.+pping. I have given them a sufficient amount of money with hopes that they can pour their hearts into their jobs and not eye the wealth inside the cabin. However, I don’t know if this is useful. I have dispatched enough guards to protect the wealth. But even so, I can’t put my heart at ease.
I don’t know if we’re walking on the wrong path. We have overly relied on the Country of Light’s Parliament. Up until this point, they don’t seem to be pa.s.sionate whenever we request for their helping hand. Although this may let down Chairman, I’m still really concerned. Even if we make it safely on the Country of Light’s port, we’re still unsure if we can receive the supplies that we have agreed upon…
Saville put down the feather pen and let out a sigh subtly. Then, he closed his dairy and pressed down the creases on his attire before stepping out of the cabin.
The s.h.i.+p sailed across the calm, limitless ocean. All he heard was the splas.h.i.+ng of the waves into the hull and peals of laughter from the sailors. The salty sea breeze brushed his face and he calmed down upon gazing at the two escorting wars.h.i.+ps of the Southern Fleet by the sides. This time, they were headed to the Country of Light to purchase foodstuff and the Southern Parliament had specially approved for four escorting wars.h.i.+ps to defend them against enemy ambush. Moreover, the Southern Fleet had sealed off the entrance to the Strait of Light. With the double a.s.surance, the King’s Party couldn’t easily break through the blockade no matter how powerful they were.
At this moment, a deep voice sounded behind him. “Sir Saville, what are you doing here?”
Saville turned around and revealed a smile upon meeting the man with a captain hat. “I’m only here to admire the view, Mr. Captain. I hope I didn’t disturb everyone from working.”
“Hahaha. Not at all, Sir Saville. Don’t worry! We are about to enter the Strait of Light. Once we sail through the strait and enter the Pearl Archipelago, we will just need another three days to arrive at Eland. Please rest a.s.sured that sailors here are all first grade. Besides, with so many wars.h.i.+ps escorting us, the enemies will need to reconsider if they are capable of taking us down! Hahahaha!” The captain smacked on Saville’s shoulders as he burst into laughter while Saville revealed a bitter smile and tolerated his tough slap.
Suddenly, a strong sea breeze blew into Saville’s mouth as he gaped, leaving the man in a well-ironed attire curling up and coughing loudly. After a few moments, the wind weakened and Saville caught his breath. He lifted his head and gazed at the surrounding with lingering fear. “What was that about? Mr. Captain? That wind…”
“Ah, don’t worry, Sir Saville. This is normal for us, the maritime men. This is in the direction of the tempest. Every year during this period, the tempest will pa.s.s through here and bypa.s.s the Mermaid Summit before returning. We may even arrive at our destination if we make good use of it, which would be a great thing for us.”
“I see…” Saville nodded.
Perhaps due to the choking from the sea breeze, he felt his heart pounding fiercely. An unknown sense of nervousness had emerged inside his body. He looked around worriedly and everything was as tranquil as before. The azure sky, white clouds, and sailing wars.h.i.+p. Everything was just fine.
Maybe I’m a little too sensitive.
Saville mocked himself and nodded at the Captain. Then, he turned back to the cabin for a rest.
“—!”
At this moment, a deep horn sounded.
Saville came to an abrupt stop and scanned the surroundings quickly. The captain looked at him curiously and said. “Sir Saville, what’s wrong?”
“Didn’t you hear that? Mr. Captain?” said Saville.
The captain gazed blankly at Saville. As he was about to respond, the deep horn sounded again. This time, the captain finally responded. As a sailor, he knew that sound. He nodded at Saville with a stern expression before rus.h.i.+ng over to the deck and yelling at the top of his lungs. “Watch out for the surroundings! Full alert!”
The captain hurriedly retrieved a monocular from his pocket and viewed it to the front. The peaceful ocean had no signs of hostile wars.h.i.+ps. At this moment, commotion had broken out in the other wars.h.i.+ps. Sailors climbed to the observatories and couldn’t discover anything strange around them. Then, the deep horn sounded again and it was even clearer this time.
“Where? Where?! Watch your surroundings! Be cautious of all directions!”
The sailors were getting restless. They frantically laid by the edge of the wars.h.i.+ps and widened their eyes to search for the source of the horn. Most of the crew members on the s.h.i.+p were superst.i.tious and if it were currently night, perhaps they might even believe that it was a ghost s.h.i.+p playing a prank on them. The sailors widened their eyes to the size of copper bells, but they couldn’t discover anything at all.
“Waaa—!”
Suddenly, a blood-curdling screech rang in their ears and an ashen sailor fell to the ground. Everyone turned and glared at him furiously. The stupefied sailor ignored their stares, lifted his wobbly arm and pointed his shaky finger at the sky. “T-T-That…”
“What’s wrong? Calm down! Look at your shameful self!” The captain frowned and dug his foot into the sailor’s fallen body. He lifted his monocle to see what exactly had scared his sailor into a mouse that has just seen a cat. However, he raised the monocle halfway and blanked out entirely.
Spotlessly white and thick layers of cloud hovered in the azure sky. A ma.s.sive pitch-black figure emerged within like a razor-sharp claw slas.h.i.+ng through the cotton clouds and presented itself before everyone. A wars.h.i.+p of 200 meters long and 56 meters wide blocked the brilliance of the sun and cast a vast dusky shadow on them. Magic cannons densely lined the three floors of cannon decks. The ma.s.sive hull made with a combination of oak and steel gave an unprecedented amount of pressure like a roaring storm on the ocean. One couldn’t hide and one could only pray to get by it peacefully.
Dozens of meters long steel s.h.i.+p oars oscillated at the lower hull and adjusted its balance. Looking from afar, this ma.s.sive s.h.i.+p was as though a floating whale descending from the sky and charging toward everyone. Five slightly smaller wars.h.i.+ps emerged from the clouds and followed closely in a tight formation. Magical radiance flickered on their hulls and four green ritual circles suspended in all directions of their hulls emanated faint radiance. As the enormous wars.h.i.+ps sailed, rays of glorious light trailed in the air.
The large, spotlessly white sail depicted a mermaid stroking her fingers on the harp while an extremely familiar flag fluttered at the tip of the mast.
Double-sword Angels.
Royal Fleet!
How… is this possible…!
Saville stood blankly on the deck. Disaster came so quickly that he didn’t even have the strength to tremble in fear. At this moment, he felt as though his strength had been sucked away by someone. If it weren’t for the wall, he would have chosen to collapse to the ground directly and not think about anything. Oh, Lord. What is this?
Indeed. They knew that the King’s Party had a fleet, but no one had seen them before. The Reformist Party had investigated the ports around the Golden City several times and they had never received any data on the Royal Fleet. In fact, the Munn Kingdom usually dispatched the Southern Fleet to manage maritime conflicts. As time pa.s.sed, the rumored Royal Fleet had become only a ‘rumor’.
But now, they actually presented themselves before him in this spectacular fas.h.i.+on.
What a joke!
He looked unbelievably at the six ma.s.sive magic wars.h.i.+ps turning and aiming their cannons at his s.h.i.+p. This middle-aged n.o.ble had the urge to lift his head high and burst into laughter.
Hahahaha. In the end, we’re nothing but a bunch of clowns who foolishly thought we could seize our fate, eh? I’m really an idiot and the group of men in the parliament is just a bunch of dotards. Wasn’t the Munn Kingdom the one who first developed the Ocean Trade Route and built the floating boats? Since they were able to build merchant s.h.i.+ps that were able to pa.s.s through the ocean trade route to transport merchandise, how difficult is it to build a few wars.h.i.+ps? How hilarious that the dumb Parliament still dispatched people to investigate the ports. Has no one thought of looking above them?
What a joke! We are seriously a bunch of clowns!
Saville felt like everything was just a ridiculous dream. He knew that the King’s Party could rely on these magic wars.h.i.+ps to take them down even after the South had declared independence successfully. He thought back to how alike the Southern Parliament were as comical clowns when they were all righteous and serious in submitting their independence declaration. The d.u.c.h.ess in the Golden City must be laughing her b.u.t.t off. She could have taken action to take them down immediately. Why did she choose to play along with them for so long? Could it be that this isn’t a game for the d.u.c.h.ess and we are just chess pieces in her game?
At this moment, the deep bugle horn sounded once more. Then, a crisp voice filled the entire seas. “This is the 3rd Royal Fleet. In the name of the Munn Royal Family, the Strait of Light will be sealed off entirely from today onward. Disarm yourselves and surrender or suffer the consequences.”
“W-What should we do… Sir?” The captain had lost his cool. He gulped his saliva and turned to Saville with an ashen expression. The enemies were high up in the sky and their wars.h.i.+ps had no chance of beating them at all. They couldn’t hit the enemies even if they retaliated. Besides, a single glance would be enough to know that the enemies weren’t equipped with budget cannons. The magic cannons that they had were only used in large cities and Fortresses and the damage of every shot would be powerful enough to shatter a wars.h.i.+p like his to bits. And now, six wars.h.i.+ps with close to 300 magic cannons had aimed at them. The captain was sure that nothing would remain after the enemies bombarded them. They would shatter into powder and dissipate even before the fishes at the seafloor had the chance to be fed.
The captain saw Saville standing there blankly. He hesitated for a moment and hurriedly ran up to Saville. “Sir, should we surrender?”
“Surrender?!” Saville felt a chill down his spine as though he had woken up from a nightmare. The captain realized that this calm and collected n.o.ble widened, bloodshot eyes and was behaving like a lunatic. Saville stared at the captain and lifted his head at the magic wars.h.i.+ps before breaking into laughter. “Surrender? Surrender? You b.i.t.c.h! Don’t you wanna play anymore?! Alright then, I shall play with you until the very end!”
Saville drew out his sword and pointed at the magic wars.h.i.+ps. His face flushed and veins popped up on his forehead. At this moment, Saville knew that he no longer had any chance of survival. But he refused to give up. You want me to surrender? Hahaha. Lydia, do you think we will play along with you until the end?!
“Inform everyone that we’re charging over! We shall let them know that they can’t get everything that they wish for in this world! For freedom! For the Southern Parliament! For the honor of victory! Attack!!!”
“Ooo— Ooo— Ooo—!”
The sound of bugle horns filled the entire sea and the wars.h.i.+ps on the ocean surface sailed forward. They changed their directions and raised their sails, launching their final attack at the magic wars.h.i.+ps.
This was his only chance for survival. If they could escape from the enormous floating magic wars.h.i.+ps, it meant that there would be a chance—a very slight chance.
“Reporting, Sir.” A black-haired soldier entered the cabin and gazed at the figure standing by the window. The soldier paused for a moment before saluting and said. “They refuse to surrender and are charging their way toward us.”
“How foolish,” Gaya said plainly.
The Court Musician was no longer dressed in her elegant robe. Instead, she wore a glorious, pitch-black light armor. The only thing unchanged was the harp beside her.
“The weak have no right to resist. If they don’t comply with their obligations, then send them to their deathbeds.” Gaya stroked the harp strings gently and a crisp, melodious tune resounded in the cabin. “Slaughter every single one of them except our target.”