Chapter 444 Heading to Pala Island
Angel, who had just been laughing at the soaring value of "Flame" and lamenting the gold mountain on the sea, could no longer laugh at this moment.
She looked around and saw that no one cared about these pirate "illustrations" that were valuable but even more dangerous. Then she slowly walked forward, tore off her own wanted poster, and studied it carefully.
She found that apart from the change in the amount, the rest of the description was no different from before.
"No one else knows about my hunt for 'Steel.' Even if the Mandated Punishers divined additional information, the timing of the bounty increase wouldn't match Danitz's... The only possibility is that the captain of the Blue Mountain Rose reported the destruction of the 'City Breaker' on the way to the Mid-Range Island, and the Church of Storms judged me to be even more dangerous... Alas, islands with submarine cables are not very friendly to wanted individuals."
Thinking of this, Angel crumpled up the wanted poster into a ball and threw it into the trash heap next to him, smoothing out the "flaming" wanted poster that was blown by the wind, making it more conspicuous.
"I hope you surpass my bounty soon, Mr. 6,000 pounds..."
She muttered, carrying her suitcase, blending into the crowd and heading towards the short ferry she was going to take.
Pala Island is only about 40 nautical miles away from the Medium-distance Island, and the steam ferry takes three hours to travel there. Therefore, this ship, which can carry hundreds of people, does not have guest rooms. It only has two large rooms for passengers to rest and a wide deck. The cabins below the deck are warehouses that supply industrial products and raw materials that cannot be produced locally on Pala Island.
Soon after Angel got on board, the ferry set sail with the whistle blowing. Most of the passengers were local residents who had been traveling on this route for a long time. They were either chatting on the deck or taking a nap in a corner of the lounge, which made Angel, a stranger who came for the first time, feel a little at a loss.
She stood on the deck and felt the cold, salty sea breeze for a while, but soon felt bored. She returned to the lounge, sat down on a long chair, and leaned against the porthole to look at the rain clouds in the distance. The clouds were closer than the ones she had seen at the dock just now, and the heavy rain they brought seemed to be about to hit at any time.
You can’t be so unlucky as to encounter bad weather right after going out to sea, right?
Angel touched the "Lucky" revolver at his waist and suddenly felt a little guilty.
Fortunately, an unexpected guest distracted her.
“Meow—”
Suddenly, a somewhat unreal meow sound came from her ears. Angel had an epiphany and turned on her spiritual vision. She found that Ms. Wensa had appeared at the porthole beside her at some point, holding a small envelope in her mouth.
"Thanks."
She thanked him softly, reached out to take the letter, and touched the black cat's furry back, but the nimble messenger easily dodged her. The blue eyes seemed to glance at her with contempt, and then disappeared into the spirit world.
I almost forgot, it's just a spiritual creature...
Angel awkwardly withdrew his arm, opened the envelope, and looked at the letter, only to find that it was indeed a reply from Klein.
"I'm sorry it took me three days to reply. I've been going through a lot in Bayam these past few days, and it wasn't until today that I finally resolved most of the issues.
"The locals hiding in the shadows of Bayam worship the 'Sea God' Kalvetuwa, but he seems to have recently gone mad, attempting to unleash hurricanes and tsunamis upon the 'City of Generosity.' Fortunately, a demigod of the Church of the Storm, 'Sea King' Yann Kottman, easily suppressed this not-so-powerful 'Sea God.' The military also collaborated with the Mandated Punishers in a city-wide search, engaging in a melee with the resistance. Danitz and I participated in this. Incidentally, Danitz said his captain believed the 'Sea King' had reached Sequence 3, making him an object that absolutely could not be provoked."
"Also, during this incident, I contacted the blue-haired captain you met last time, Alger Wilson, and confirmed our identities as believers. We may engage in limited cooperation in the future. Of course, he doesn't know about your relationship with me.
"Finally, there's something you might want to know. At an underground Beyonder gathering on Sunday, someone offered a reward of 1,500 pounds for information leading to a red-haired woman named Elaine. She's very similar to the target being sought by Vice Admiral Disease, as described in your letter.
"Looking forward to your return soon, Hermann."
At the bottom of the letter was a black cat's face with a strange grin on its face. It was drawn very lifelike, and somewhat resembled Ms. Wensa who had just delivered the letter.
Was he testing whether Wensa would read the letter... Angel suppressed his laughter, folded the letter carefully and put it away, then thought about the contents of the letter.
Angel had heard of Bayam's local resistance organization during his conversations with the Hanged Man Alger and the intelligence dealer Dominican Federation, but he didn't pay much attention to it. He didn't expect that they actually believed in a nearly crazy "sea god" and even wanted to flood the entire city with a tsunami.
Judging from Klein's description in the letter, Bayam was likely caught up in a chaotic battle between the local garrison, the Church of the Storm, and the resistance organization. It was unknown whether the war would spread from the "City of Generosity" to the entire Rorsted Archipelago.
The resistance organization, which has been oppressed by the colonists for a long time and is filled with anger, and the Storm Church and the Loen military, which believe in fighting violence with violence... If the two sides clash head-on, I'm afraid the war will not end in a day or two.
Sighing, Angel temporarily put aside his sympathy for the local residents of the Rorsted Islands and focused his attention on matters concerning himself.
Klein's contact with "The Hanged Man" Alger didn't surprise Angel. They were both followers of the Fool and had even collaborated once when hunting "Iron" Maveti. Although she acted as a go-between, Klein already knew about this Fool follower hiding in the Church of Storms. Although Alger didn't know there was another person behind Angel, he should be able to learn about the battle situation that day through the information within the Mandated Punishers, and it wouldn't be difficult for him to make a corresponding analysis.
"I hope Mr. Hanged Man won't reveal too much about the Tarot Club. This requires Mr. Fool's consent..."
She murmured.
Finally, there was Elaine. Tracy had apparently not successfully intercepted her on her way back to Bayam after arriving at the mid-range island, so her only option now was to offer an underground bounty for her capture. As the holder of a £25,000 bounty, she couldn't risk offering one through official channels, as she might be targeted before Elaine.
"Luckily, I gave her the travel expenses. Otherwise, if she had been delayed at the Middle Island for a few days, she might have been blocked at sea by Tracy."
After praising his own small kindness, Angel cast his gaze towards the sea outside the window again, and suddenly found that the sky outside had become dim at some point, covered with dark clouds, deep and unfathomable, as if it was a door leading to an unknown area.
The storm that was far away in the sky just now has now come above Angel, and the violent and changeable sea has shown its fickleness.
In the blink of an eye, heavy rain began to fall, interspersed with bright lightning, like scars cutting through the dark sky. The originally calm sea surface around it had rolled up huge waves, which kept hitting the ferry, causing the lounge to sway irregularly from side to side. The flickering lights inside added a sense of helplessness under the great power of nature.
What "good luck"... Angel complained in his heart, looking towards the lounge door. The passengers who were originally strolling and chatting on the deck rushed in to take shelter from the rain. They each found a seat and sat down without any panic, as if they saw similar scenes all day long.
The few passengers who looked terrified and clung tightly to their seats were all "newbies" who were arriving in the turbulent sea for the first time. Although Angel was a little panicked inside, he still kept a straight face and tried to blend into the atmosphere of the "veterans".
The ferry continued to move forward in the wind and waves, skillfully avoiding the most dangerous positions, and soon sailed out of this doomsday scene. Bright sunshine suddenly appeared in the sky, and the waves gradually subsided.
Angel looked back and saw that the rain cloud was moving rapidly towards the medium-range island as if controlled by someone. It was conceivable that the dock over there would soon be hit by the same storm.
"Hey, this is the Raging Sea. You'll get used to it."
A man next to her, who was obviously a local, said to another passenger who was trembling and grabbing the protrusion on the wall to stabilize his body.
————
After this little incident, the ferry did not encounter any other accidents and arrived at the pier of Pala Island according to the schedule. Angel got off the ship with other passengers and set foot in this not-so-big port town.
The architecture here bears some resemblance to the southern continent's Balam, forming natural curves that follow the terrain, unlike in Loen, where the hilltops would rather be leveled than paved with straight streets.
Of course, the vehicles plying here are still two- or four-wheeled carriages, not the "coffin carts" from Balam's cult of the god of death. Angel had only seen the latter in books and had always wanted to see them in person. Unfortunately, the attitudes towards death in the North and South continents were completely different. Here, carrying a coffin onto the street, or even letting a living person lie in it, would make people think you were a fool.
After hiring a carriage, she took many detours before arriving at a remote hotel. At first, she thought the driver was trying to rip her off, but after repeated confirmation, she was surprised to find that almost all the local hotels were full. The driver was indeed kind-hearted and took her to one of the few places with vacancies.
"You're a really nice person..."
Still somewhat in disbelief, Angel paid the bill and entered the somewhat dated-looking hotel. He was immediately shocked by the noisy and crowded first-floor lobby.
Could it be that this island has recently become a popular tourist attraction, receiving far more tourists than it can handle?
Although she felt strange, she still quickly went to the front desk, registered with a pseudonym, and rented a single room.
When Angel saw the waiter put the "No Booking" sign in a conspicuous place, he realized that the driver had not lied. If he had come a few minutes later, even the hotel would have been fully booked.
"Has anything happened here recently? Why are all the rooms fully booked?"
She took her number plate and key and asked the waiter at the front desk.
"Lately? Apart from the increasing frequency of storms, nothing else has changed."
The young man in a red vest and with slicked-back hair looked at Angel in surprise and answered.
"But if you're asking about guest rooms, all hotels are similar. Business has been slowly picking up since half a year ago. Look, that family of four over there has been staying with us for four months, and the brown-haired lady next to them has been here for three months."
He pointed to the rest area in the corner of the hall and spoke in a low voice.
"You will definitely stay here forever."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
