Chapter 517: Starting Over
Bayam, the Church of the Storm's Waves.
"The Hanged Man" Alger Wilson, wearing a linen shirt commonly seen in the port area, met with the diocesan bishop Qiao Geli under the pretext of confession.
The two of them arrived at the secret room behind the church, and Alger reported his whereabouts near the Gargas Islands over the past month to his superiors.
Of course, there was actually no useful information. More than a dozen ships of the Storm Church were running around in the Sonia Sea like headless flies. They almost covered every inch of the sea, but they couldn't find the "Ghost Empire".
"Sir Chogori, what's the point of us doing this?"
After finishing the report, he saw that the bishop's expression was still calm, without any change due to the failure of the mission. After pondering for a moment, he asked hesitantly.
Even the most devout believer in the storm should not ask nothing after wasting more than a month at sea, as this would make him appear even more abnormal.
Qiao Geli's face darkened:
"Whether it makes sense or not is not for you and me to decide."
Seeing Alger lower his head in fear, he softened his tone and continued:
"Whether or not the legendary ghost ship is found is not important. What is important is that other forces have not found it either."
Other forces... Feysac's garrison in Gargas, the Beyonders of the Church of Evernight, Loen's fleet, and even other pirates? As long as no one found them, the situation on the Five Seas would remain unchanged, and that was what the Church of Storms was happy to see!
His suspicions were confirmed. Alger raised his head, his face showing surprise at first, then understanding.
"You completed your mission well this time. Blue Avenger, rest in Bayam for a week. Afterwards, you must prepare to travel to Pasu Island."
Qiao Geli continued speaking, his voice showing no change, but it was like thunder in Alger's ears.
Pasu Island is the location of the altar of the Storm Church and the church's headquarters.
Going there would either mean that his status as a follower of The Fool would be exposed, and he would be judged and severely punished, or... his achievements would be noticed by the church's higher-ups, and they would prepare for a deeper investigation.
And telling myself so openly is almost like saying...
"Yes, Lord Chogori!"
He reacted at the right moment, putting on an expression of surprise, punching his left chest with his right fist, and bowing.
Then, as if he remembered something, he frowned slightly, his face hesitant, and after a moment he asked softly:
"Sir, when I was in Gargas, I saw someone selling a special kind of bullet. It's said to have originated from within the Church of Storms. It's expensive, but it can stack higher damage with repeated attacks. I've never heard of us having such an item."
The gray-haired bishop had already turned around, but upon hearing Alger's question, he turned back to look at him. His face was not solemn or angry as expected, but curious.
"Special bullets?"
He asked back.
————
As April approaches, the cold of winter has completely disappeared. In the warmer south, even many young sailors have put on short sleeves. However, experienced people know that the scorching sun is more terrifying than the cold. Protecting every inch of skin is the key to living longer at sea.
The Red-haired Lady hoisted her sails, splitting the waves with her bow as she headed eastward. This small boat, whose tonnage was not even large enough to be ranked in Bayam's private port, was now fully loaded with spices and liquor from Blue Mountain Island and was heading towards Naas, the capital of the Gargas Islands.
In addition to the cargo worth thousands of pounds, the red-haired girl also carried two special passengers.
Angel held down the wide-brimmed hat on his head with one hand. The white feather swayed in the wind, almost being blown away. With the other hand, he grabbed the side of the boat and looked around vigilantly.
She didn't want to experience the tragedy of being attacked by a pirate ship during the last "sea trial" and having her mainmast broken.
Repairs and costs are secondary. What’s important is that the mast, which was repaired after breaking, is no longer as strong as before, causing the sailboat’s top speed to drop by two knots.
Leaving the Island of Oravi eastward, the sea area near Naas is also known as the "Pirates' Paradise". After the ironclad warships of the Kingdom of Loen were launched and the huge naval fleet squeezed the pirates' living space, more and more pirate ships gathered here, making the waterway extremely dangerous.
This increased the profits of the cargo trade between Naas and other colonies, allowing many ships that dared to take huge risks to transport goods to earn a lot of gold pounds, and also attracted pirates to flock to them, who regarded the cargo ships as fat meat delivered to their doorstep.
Just as she squinted her eyes, looked at a black dot in the distance, and was about to take out the telescope to carefully identify it, thick gray fog suddenly appeared in front of her eyes.
Then, a figure with dark blue hair as messy as seaweed appeared in the gray fog.
“Dear Mr. Fool, please tell Miss Queen that I have received accurate information…”
Angel's heart immediately sank, and he pricked up his ears, listening carefully.
"...The bullets you mentioned that can gradually accumulate damage are called 'Thunder Bullets'. Because they are difficult to make and less powerful than spells of the same length of time, they are rarely used in combat anymore."
After The Hanged Man finished speaking, the gray fog gradually dissipated, but Angel still stood blankly at the bow, looking forward with unfocused eyes.
The small black dot gradually expanded, and a monochrome black and white sail became clear, with a symbol of two overlapping scimitars painted on it.
The sailors on the "Redhead Girl" were in a panic. Under the command of Captain Elaine and Boatswain William, they pushed the cannons to the muzzles, opened the ammunition boxes, and prepared to load them at any time.
No one dared to bet that the other party was a "kind pirate" who abided by the rules of Nast, the "King of the Five Seas", and only robbed goods but did not kill people.
After setting up a few artillery pieces and preparing to meet the enemy, the "Red-haired Girl" turned the ship sideways and changed its direction, trying to avoid the murderous pirate ship, while displaying its artillery in front of it as a futile deterrent.
But something surprising happened. The huge pirate ship with black sails and its cannons pushed to their positions slowly slowed down, as if it was hesitating whether to continue the pursuit.
A few minutes later, the other side turned the mast and swung the bow to the other side, leaving the sea area at an even faster speed than before.
Angel, whose face was covered with phantom scales and who was about to jump into the sea to deal with the pirate ship, was stunned. She roughly estimated the distance and realized that if she went into the water to chase it now, it would probably delay the "Red-haired Girl"'s journey, so she had to give up.
"What's going on?"
She murmured, looking back, her eyes meeting Klein as he walked out of the cabin.
"Perhaps their captain saw you standing at the bow and was scared away, just like when we hung 'Flame' Danitz outside the cabin when we first arrived at sea."
Klein replied with a chuckle, flipping up a gold coin and performing a simple divination. The result surprised him immensely.
My guess turned out to be true?
Angel, who had also seen the divination results, forced a smile on his face and said:
"It seems my bounty, which is similar to Vice Admiral Iceberg's, is indeed having a significant effect."
Mentioning how Angel had self-destructively raised the reward after learning the "truth" from Adam more than a month ago, he shifted his gaze unnaturally from Klein to Elaine, who was steering the boat back on course at the stern.
Ever since Klein forcefully stopped those gloomy and obscure thoughts that day, she had temporarily calmed down, trying to find some loopholes in "Adam's" words and confirm the authenticity of her memories.
After the initial panic passed, she had found many problems that she could not explain, such as her resurrection from death twice, the "disaster" spell that could kill demigods, and the abnormal attention paid to her by the Church of Evernight.
If, as Adam said, all of this was just "imagination", then He is probably no longer the "King of Angels" but the true God.
Even so, He needs the cooperation of another true god, the Goddess of Night, to achieve this.
An angel king and a true god, working together to plot against a small character like me, it’s ridiculous to think about it… Angel’s mouth twitched, but he couldn’t laugh.
Because of the information from Alger, the Hanged Man, Adam's statement became somewhat more true:
The Church of Storms does have a method for making a special bullet called "Storm Gathering".
Of course, she could continue to deceive herself, thinking that the "Thunder Bullet" was not the "Gathering Storm", and that it was purely a coincidence that the Earth's manufacturing technology could still be used in the "other world", or even that "Adam" and His words did not exist at all, and that when she closed her eyes it would be dark.
However, this kind of self-deception and inability to look directly into one's own heart will probably leave a sharp thorn in her heart, which will pierce her heart at some point and cause fatal harm.
Fortunately, after that brief period of pain, even if she faced reality again, Angel believed that she would not have the idea of "self-destruction" because she now understood Klein's intentions and her life no longer belonged to her alone.
Thinking of this, she smiled again, opened her arms, and hugged Klein.
The latter was a little surprised at first, and then felt a little uncomfortable under the scorching gazes of many sailors and Elaine on the deck, but finally accepted the enthusiasm.
"Even a crazy adventurer has a soft spot in his heart..."
He was silently adding to his character in his mind, but was surprised to find that the potion, which was supposed to take several weeks to be fully digested, was actually showing signs of loosening.
Behind him, Elaine, holding the steering wheel with both hands, was looking at this side in amazement.
In broad daylight, with so many sailors watching, they, they actually...
The captain, who was so handsome and had already established prestige among the sailors, felt his cheeks flushed and he didn't know where to look for a moment.
"He, he's actually on the deck, doing this kind of thing?"
A hoarse voice came from behind Elaine. She turned around and found that it was her burly, bronze-skinned first mate, William Jones.
The latter was completely oblivious to his captain's gaze, and instead was looking at the two people cuddling together at the bow, especially Hermann, whose back was facing this side. However, his gaze seemed to be somewhat fearful, and he did not dare to look at the other party at all.
"After Vice Admiral Iceberg and Vice Admiral Disease, is Gehrman Sparrow going to harm other women again?"
He lowered his voice and muttered as if he was afraid of being heard by others, his face gradually distorted.
"What? Vice Admiral Disease?"
Hearing a certain keyword, Elaine subconsciously asked.
"Yes, Captain, haven't you heard yet? There's a secret story about the crazy adventurer German Sparrow and two female pirate generals?"
William put his hand to his mouth and whispered.
He watched with satisfaction as his captain's expression twisted.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
