"My name is Tino Fritz, and I am the ship's wizard of the Ring of Fire Energy. If you have any questions during the voyage, you can contact me at any time."

“.”

Tino positioned himself relatively low, so the atmosphere during the entire communication process was quite harmonious.

The other two wizards on the ship felt very strange as to why Lord Tino was so humble towards the stranger Lord Richard, who was only at the "first level beginner".

But both of them were very smart people. They smiled very cautiously and echoed the conversation between Tino and Richard throughout the whole process.

After all, the veiled beauty next to Lord Richard is a first-level wizard, so it is obvious that this Lord has some hidden tricks up his sleeve.

After some greetings, Richard and Stephana boarded the largest ship in the middle, the "Lighthouse". Tino was the wizard on board the ship.

The other two wizards were responsible for guarding the other two ships.

An hour later, all the passengers had boarded the ship and the cargo had already been loaded.

As the five-masted sails were raised, the huge ship slowly left the port under the action of the wind. The three ships slowly formed a line and sailed towards the boundless sea.

The Governor of White Harbor, Count Andreas, the sheriff and his entourage were at the port, waving to Richard and Stephana on the fleet.

Taking a boat from the White Harbor City on the Crab Claw Peninsula to the Loras Peninsula on the Vitroll Continent is a process from shallow sea to deep sea, and then from deep sea to shallow sea.

Obviously, the danger level of the deep sea is much higher than that of the shallow sea.

Various huge sea monsters roam freely in the deep sea, and there are legends of ships being sunk or swallowed by sea monsters almost every year.

Therefore, this is why, on the long coastline of the Kingdom of Heron, White Harbor is one of the few ports with routes to the continent of Vitroll.

The slightly damp and warm sea breeze gently blew on his face. Richard stood quietly at the bow, looking at the endless sea and the white seabirds flying freely around the sails. He felt happy but also a little nervous.

The reason for his uneasiness was that although his own strength had improved significantly and he was still the strongest in the entire fleet, he always felt insignificant when facing the endless majesty of the vast ocean.

"I hope the journey goes smoothly!" Richard murmured to himself.

"Master, this is the nautical chart that Tino just brought over. Would you like to take a look at it?" A familiar fragrance blew over, and Stephania handed over a huge cowhide roll.

Richard glanced sideways and saw a huge sea chart drawn on the huge cowhide scroll that Stephanie had opened.

This immediately aroused Richard's interest, so he began to read it carefully.

There are densely packed longitude and latitude lines on the nautical chart. The farthest points in the east and west directions are the Crab Claw Peninsula and the Lolas Peninsula respectively. The shallow sea areas in these two directions are dotted with many scattered islands, while the center of the chart is full of wavy lines.

Obviously, the wavy area represents the deep sea, and there are no small islands for anchoring.

If you look closely at those islands, you can see that most of them are annotated with small words, such as the name of the island, the sea tribe or human forces to which it belongs, and so on.

In addition, the map even marks with dotted lines some areas where dangerous sea beasts often appear.

Obviously, this is a nautical chart depicting the conditions of the waters near the route from Crab Claw Peninsula to Loras Peninsula.

In this era, it is really hard to have such a precious sea chart.

It is very likely that it was gradually perfected after paying the price of many lives and even the blood of extraordinary people.

"Sir Richard, I see you are quite interested in the sea chart. Do you want me to explain it to you briefly?"

At this time, Tino, with short blond hair, came over with a smile on his face.

"Then I'll trouble you, Lord Tino." Richard said with a smile.

Obviously, reading the nautical chart yourself is not as thorough as hearing someone else explain it to you.

Especially during the previous greetings, after Richard learned that Tino often participated in this kind of ship escort mission, he realized that although Tino was not as strong as him, he had rich experience at sea and should not be underestimated.

"You're welcome, sir!" Seeing Richard agree, Tino took two quick steps forward, came to Richard's side and began to introduce him.

"Lord Richard, although we are in a shallow sea, we are about to leave the human sea area and enter the first sea area controlled by the sea people. This area is the territory of the Slippery Blade Naga Clan."

Tino used his right index finger to draw an ellipse in an area on the nautical chart close to the Crab Claw Peninsula.

"Slippery Blade Naga, you should be very familiar with it, sir. If it weren't for you, the route would probably have to be suspended for a while before it could be opened."

Tino complimented Richard on his achievements in the last battle appropriately.

"If we continue forward, we will slowly enter the deep sea area. This area belongs to the territory of the Whip Naga. Among all the Nagas, the Whip Naga has a very bad temper."

"But fortunately, we humans have reached an agreement with the Evil Whip Naga, so the danger is not that great."

"But the problem is that this area is often haunted by giant sea monsters from outside. Even the Evil Whip Naga can't do much to deal with these brutal and low-intelligence sea monsters."

"It is impossible for the Evil Whip Naga to take the initiative to help humans drive away sea monsters. Therefore, the deep sea area is the most dangerous area on our route!"

"This is the territory of the Siren"

"This is the territory of the giant claw lobster man"

"There are often large whirlpools in this area, so you have to avoid it."

"There are many reefs here, so you have to avoid them."

“.”

As Tino gave a thorough and easy-to-understand explanation, Richard and Stephanie nodded continuously.

Richard felt a little sad. In a voyage of just about half a month, there were so many things that needed attention.

It is conceivable how dangerous the oceans in more distant areas are to humans.

But Richard's heart was filled with surging motivation. He wanted to explore the unknown waters by constantly improving his own strength and see the scenery that no one had ever seen.

Just as Richard turned around and was about to return to the cabin to rest, he saw many people standing on the deck looking at the ocean scenery. At the same time, many people were glancing at them from time to time.

These people were all passengers on the ship, including nobles and wealthy businessmen dressed in gorgeous clothes, and a few wizard apprentices.

Obviously, this was because they were the people with the highest status on the ship.

When the passengers just boarded the ship, Richard discovered that there were almost no civilians on this ocean-going ship.

Also, ordinary people simply cannot afford the expensive cross-continental tickets.

Five days later.

Richard and Stephanie spent their rare leisure time on the ship.

Since ocean-going ships are much larger and stronger than coastal ships, normal waves will not affect the stability and comfort of ocean-going ships.

Today, the morning was bright and sunny. After breakfast, Richard and Stephanie went on deck again.

As soon as they got on the deck, they heard a little boy about ten years old beside the ship shouting excitedly:

"Flying fish! Look, mom, it's a flying fish! A fish that can fly!"

“It turns out there are really flying fish in the world!”

The mother, who was dressed like a noble lady, had a pretty face, but it was obviously the first time she had seen such a situation on the sea. She didn't know how to answer the child for a moment and looked a little at a loss.

Not far in front of the side of the ship, there was a large group of fish with thin wings on their backs. They were jumping out of the water one after another, and gliding in the air for more than ten meters or even dozens of meters with the help of their transparent wings as thin as cicada wings.

The body length of flying fish is about half a meter to one meter, and its wings are even shorter, less than thirty centimeters, so it can only glide, not fly.

The flying fish were very fast, so in a short while, the entire school of flying fish was about to pass by the Lighthouse.

“Bang!”

"ah!!!"

Suddenly, a flying fish covered with silver scales that sparkled in the sun unexpectedly jumped onto the side of the ship and fell onto the deck. It kept twisting its body on the deck, and its lips kept opening and closing.

This immediately caused many passengers to scream! But Richard took a closer look and realized that this flying fish, which had no sharp teeth and no size advantage, would probably be preyed on most of the time in the ocean.

“Swish!”

A sharp steel harpoon pinned the flying fish to the deck in one swoop, and light red blood splattered everywhere.

The one who made the move was a strong sailor. He laughed and said, "Not bad, not bad. It's a rare opportunity to eat delicious flying fish today!"

"Uncle, is this flying fish really delicious?" the little boy asked timidly.

"Of course, do you want to try it?" the sturdy man grinned and smiled at the little boy.

"Longilo, remember to clean the deck for me." A burly man with a pipe in his mouth suddenly walked over and said in a deep voice.

"Haha, right away! Right away! Captain Casper!" The sturdy man nodded and bowed with a smile.

“Snap! Snap!”

Just as he finished speaking, two more flying fish leaped onto the deck.

“Pah pah pah pah!!”

What followed was that more flying fish leaped onto the deck. Soon, there were more than ten silver flying fish struggling and twisting on the deck.

Now, the sailors who were watching on the sidelines couldn't help it anymore. Knowing how delicious flying fish was, they all picked up harpoons and started to kill the flying fish on the deck.

Captain Casper, smoking a pipe, looked at the scene and shook his head helplessly, muttering to himself: "What a bunch of stinky boys!"

Richard was standing aside, watching this scene happening during the voyage with a smile on his face.

But then he frowned and looked into the distance.

Just now, he seemed to feel a subtle energy fluctuation in that direction.

But maybe it's because the distance is too far, so it's not clear.

Moreover, that direction was at an angle of about thirty degrees to the direction the ship was moving.

Normally, ships don't go in that direction, so even if something happens, it won't be a big problem.

However, as time passed, the energy fluctuations Richard sensed became more and more obvious.

"Master, did you feel it too?" Stephanie turned her head and looked in that direction.

"Stephanie, go inform Tino. We might be in trouble." Richard was still staring into the distance.

"Yes, Master."

Stephanie immediately went to look for Tino.

Soon, Tino came hurriedly with a serious face.

"Lord Richard, which direction?"

"There is a strong energy fluctuation in that direction, and it is gradually approaching us." Richard pointed to the front right.

After a quick sense, Tino knew that what Richard said was right, but the distance was too far and he couldn't see the specific situation clearly.

Another two minutes passed.

From afar, Richard and his companions could see white splashes of water erupting from time to time on the sea in the distance, some large and some small, and some creatures flipping up and down again.

"It seems like there are some sea beasts fighting?" Richard, who had sharp eyesight, was the first to discover that there seemed to be some sea beasts fighting in that direction.

"This is the Naga fighting the sea monster. No wonder the flying fish were frightened out of the water."

When Tino saw the situation in the distance clearly, he said a little nervously.

"Captain Caspe, let all the passengers get into the cabin immediately! At the same time, use flag signals to notify the sailing ship in front and ask them to slow down and move behind us!" Tino quickly called out to the captain.

"No, they are not fighting, it seems... they are driving them away." Richard said with concentration.

"Hey! They are really driving them away." Stephanna also echoed in surprise.

At this time, at the highest point on the mast, a sailor holding a monocular telescope waved a flag with one hand and shouted: "Captain! The sea monster is coming in our direction!"

"Oh no, the other side is the Evil Whip Naga. These guys have seen us and are now driving the sea monsters in our direction! Damn it!!" After Tino concentrated on observing the opposite side for a while, his face changed drastically.

He saw several Nagas holding long whips and riding on giant sea snakes. They were standing on the sea and pointing at the fleet, while the huge sea monster under the water was being driven towards him.

Obviously, the Evil Whip Naga has no intention of helping the human fleet eliminate the threat of sea monsters. Instead, he just stands aside and diverts the trouble and watches the show.

This made several wizards on the ship, including Richard, extremely unhappy!

"Captain Casper, turn the rudder immediately to avoid him!" Tino turned around and said to Captain Casper, the pipe-smoking man, with a little anxiety.

Captain Casper shook his head solemnly and said, "Lord Tino, the sea monster is much faster than us. I'm afraid we won't make it in time! But I will do my best."

"First mate! Turn left thirty degrees! Quick!!" Captain Casper shouted.

"Get moving, you bastards! It's okay, just go to the bottom of the cabin and paddle!"

With Captain Caspe's roar!

There was a sudden commotion on the ship. The young and strong sailors who had nothing to do and were catching flying fish quickly returned to their posts, and a small number of them quickly ran to the bottom of the cabin.

After a while, a round hole the size of a human head suddenly opened on the outer wall of the ship, and long wooden oars protruded from the hole through the cabin wall.

"Crash! Crash!"

Just like a dragon boat race, the long wooden oars began to paddle vigorously, and suddenly, the speed of the giant ship gradually increased.

But Richard shook his head slightly.

Although the sailors were rowing with all their might and all five-masted sails were hoisted, the sea monster was still moving much faster in the water than the giant ship.

The white splashes and traces caused by the sea monster on the sea surface formed a long white line, getting closer and closer to the Lighthouse.

Standing on the deck, Richard could slowly see the general appearance of the underwater sea monster.

(End of this chapter)