The night was getting deeper, and the faint sound of insects was heard from the valley outside.

Baggins boredly carved the stone in his hand, and when he looked up, he saw that the merchant was leaning against a rock at the entrance to the crack, holding his hands and looking out at the valley in a daze.

The night in Istania is quiet, cold and shrouded in a layer of mystery. It was the night above the sea of sand, and the silver moon hanging alone in the night sky, the crescent moon was like a hook, and the moonlight reflected in the distance a dry and forked tree on the ridge.

It's so desolate.

The sky on the ridge was as vast as the stars of the sea—the sailor looked up and saw the constellations Boatman, the Sea Beast, the Mermaid and even the Siren—and it seemed that the crystal sky could be seen more clearly in this high and wide place.

It was a flattened, pitch-black drape, sprinkled with countless fine crystals, on which all the secrets of the gods and mortals seemed to be displayed. The history of mortals looking up at the starry sky has been at least hundreds of thousands of years.

It was only in the early years when people sailed above the sea of clouds that these stars guided the way—and so those who begged for a living on the seas gave them these strange and strange names.

"The south wind is blowing, right?"

Bunigu heard Baggins' voice and turned back with some surprise. There were several scars on the sailor's body, which caused the merchant to shrink back with some uneasiness.

But Baggins didn't bother to walk up to him, looking at the endless sea of silver sand south of Idus, and said, "'Fortalin' will blow until after autumn, after which the silver barracuda in the empty sea will migrate back to spawn - and then you may be able to see floating island whales and rock sharks at sea." ”

Bunigu gave him a look of surprise.

"Your Excellency seems to be a man who begs for a living on the sea," he muttered as he relaxed, looking out at the deserted valley outside, "yes, yes, the best time to go to Hanruina is when the trade winds come," he sighed, "If I hadn't been trapped here, I might have been on board." ”

"I'm a sailor," Baggins replied, "at least it was." ”

"Then your captain is really young and promising." Bunigu complimented Fang Ou.

Baggins shook his head: "He's not, but he'll be a good captain in the future, and I'm sure the eldest lady's eyes." ”

"Miss?"

Baggins sat down and chatted with the other about his old captain and his own captain's daughter. Bunigu suddenly realized, and couldn't help but praise: "I have to say, that is really a great beauty, I have been to so many places, but I have never seen such a peugeot person." ”

"That's the only thing, and you're not wrong at all."

Baggins accepted this compliment without modesty, and when it came to the temperament and beauty of their eldest lady, it was a good one.

On the Seven Seas Traveler, the old sailors would occasionally make a joke about the captain, saying that Mr. Mazak was really an old stubborn and unkind man.

But when it comes to their eldest lady, there is no room for a bad word.

Baggins scratched his chin, and suddenly became a little curious about how the old guys would make things difficult for Fang Yuan when they knew that the eldest lady had a sweetheart. He thought with interest—he was afraid that their new 'captain' would suffer a lot of crimes.

But he wouldn't stop it, and the big cat might be interested in seeing this interesting scene; can win the favor of the eldest lady, this kid is really shit lucky.

"Most of the people who beg for a living on Kukai are extremely vicious bandits," Bunigu sighed, "but there are reasonable people like Your Excellency, as well as your eldest lady and that young man, all of whom are good people. ”

"If it weren't for you, I'd be in bad luck this time, and though I may not be able to get the goods back, at least I will get my life back," he said, "if Mr. Ed could help me with that ring...... When the ring was found, I wasn't worried at all. ”

Baggins smiled teasingly and glanced at him, "But you're not telling the truth, Mr. Bunigu. ”

Bunigu's eyes widened in surprise, and he looked at him with his mouth wide open, as if he had been debunked in front of him for a while, and said a little incompatible: "You...... You, I, I ......"

"I see that you are a serious businessman, and you know what I am talking about when I say about Fortalin, and only a seasoned businessman would have such a sharp reaction," replied Baggins, "and if it weren't for that, I'm afraid you wouldn't have had any good fruit to eat before—after all, even I saw this, and naturally I couldn't hide it from the others." ”

He sat down in front of Bunigu: "Can you talk to me about the ring?" ”

Bunigu bowed his head and hesitated for a long time.

After a while, he finally sighed and said in a low voice: "Yes, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lie to you......"

He stammered, "It's just, but I can't tell you what this is, and if I tell the truth, I'm afraid most of you won't believe it." ”

"Oh, what the hell is going on?"

Bunigu then looked up, looked at Baggins and said, "The ring is not actually mine, but my sister's husband's. I don't know what to say about it...... My sister's husband is an archaeologist...... But he didn't do anything serious, and actually joined the Blood Shark Air Pirate ......"

"A scholar who joined the air pirate group?"

"Look, I'll tell you," said Bunigu, spreading his hands, "I said, and you won't believe me when I say that." Actually, don't talk about you, even I don't know the situation right now. ”

Baggins asked, "So do you have any evidence?" ”

"Of course," but Bunigu shook his head again, "but not now, I had a letter from the other party to me, but I took it away from those air pirates, and now I can't take it if I want to." ”

Baggins replied, "No wonder others don't believe it. ”

Bunigu looked helpless and said in frustration, "But I can't help it." ”

"It's okay," Baggins thought for a moment and said, "You can talk about it, I'll listen to it, anyway, it has nothing to do with the things in it, just let's just make small talk." ”

Bunigu nodded, "...... Well, my sister's husband, after joining the Air Pirates, sent me a letter telling me to take this ring to him if I had the chance. ”

"So you're here?" Baggins interrupted him.

"How dare I?" Bunigu hurriedly shook his head: "I'm a businessman, and I threw myself into the net to find these people, isn't that a joke?" It's just that the letter says that they are now operating in the area of Idus, so when I arrived at Anquid Bay, I originally planned to go to the nearest place to inquire about the news, but who would have thought that I would encounter the Blood Shark Sky Pirate. ”

He sighed and said, "My great-grandfather's generation was a smuggler active in Idus, and as you know, a businessman, he is actually half a family of air pirates today. My grandfather and father, on the other hand, inherited the family business and had no less innocent blood on their hands—but they were also retribution, and they went to the kingdom of Lady Roman early to repent. ”

"I'm the only one left, and my sister, and the two of them depend on each other. And in my generation, I finally relied on the savings of my great-grandfather for three generations, got through the relationship, got the identity of a full-fledged businessman, washed away the past experience, and had a formal livelihood. ”

"I haven't seen my father a few times since I was a child, my mother died early, and I only have a younger sister, and I single-handedly raised her. Her current husband was also introduced by me, and I originally thought that being a scholar could be regarded as a decent identity, but who would have thought that such a thing would happen. ”

"I can't bear to see my own sister in tears all day long, but as a businessman, how dare I deal with air pirates? I just didn't think about it, I didn't expect it to fall into the hands of these people, and I originally thought that this fate would be explained, but seeing you, I was in a hurry...... I couldn't help but think of this crooked idea. ”

"Speaking of which, you saved my life, and I shouldn't have done that."

Baggins listened, observed the other party carefully, and after confirming that the other party was not lying, he asked, "You thought about it a long time ago, why don't you just say it?" ”

"How can you tell me to say it directly?" Bunigu sighed, "It's also true that my brother-in-law joined the Blood Shark Air Pirate, and even I can't trust him, let alone you. ”

He couldn't help but shake his head: "Anyway, I shouldn't be lucky, fortunately you see this, otherwise if Mr. Ed and your eldest lady have three advantages and two shortcomings, I can't forgive myself no matter what." ”

Baggins patted him on the shoulder: "Don't worry, the big cat in that team, as well as our young lady and Miss Attila are not simple people, Mr. Ed himself is also the top in strength, even if you don't tell the truth, they will consider taking a look at the situation as appropriate." ”

Bunigu looked up with a sad face: "Really? ”

"Of course," Baggins smiled, "after all, our future captain is a young man with a lot of energy and a sense of justice, and if it weren't for that, you think I'd let the eldest lady be with him?" ”

Bunigu breathed a sigh of relief and said Lady Roman's blessing.

But Baggins was not as relaxed as he was, how could a scholar inexplicably take the initiative to defect to the air pirates, when did the raiders on the empty sea start recruiting for the position of scholars?

The other party is right, the scholars of Kaurin-Ishurian have studied at least eleven years in the Dossier Society, Candle City, and have often worked in the great library of the Tower of Silver since their youth. It is not until you get the approval of your mentor and get the scholar's emblem and Angela's blessing that you can learn to become a teacher.

But not everyone can be called a scholar -

This was indeed a very decent profession, and the nobility often recruited professional scholars to serve as their advisors, think tanks, and to teach future generations. Of course, scholars have a higher profession, that is, naturalists.

Among them was a little naturalist lady.

But neither naturalists nor scholars have heard of anyone who can see a pirate, after all, the two are not the same world at all.

He couldn't help but think to himself that this was a noteworthy clue, and it seemed necessary to talk to the others about it after they had finished investigating. Originally, the matter of Bunigu's ring was dispensable, but with such a fact, it can become a direction that can be paid attention to.

After Bunigu no longer dwelled on this question, he relaxed a lot, and asked privately when Ed and they would be back.

But Baggins didn't answer this time.

The sailor was looking in the direction of the valley—Idus, to be exact.

It was a long moment before he turned around, put a finger to his lips, and gestured to Baggins not to speak.

"What's wrong?" Startled, Bunigu asked in a mouth shape behind him.

Baggins felt the communication crystal in his hand suddenly light up, and a dark red light shone from the dark and multi-faceted crystal.

And suddenly, a golden brilliance lit up the eyes of the two. Bunigu staggered a little, stood up from the ground by the wall, and was staring blankly into the southern night sky, where a golden thread slowly unfolded into his eyes.

It was as if it were a shooting star, blooming from above the night sky, extending from a point to a slanted line.

Then the second one, the third one.

Above the dome, it was like stars falling like rain.

"Airship Launch ......"

A heavy glint flashed in Baggins' eyes: "How could the Navy be here!?" ”

……

A bright fire, a crumbling flame, rolled into the tunnel.

Parker coughed heavily and stepped back from outside. And the two Blood Shark Sky Thieves were also rushing in in the direction of the smoke, looking extremely embarrassed - only they took a picture with Parker, Big Cat Man, Sylvid, and Alyssa behind them, and were obviously stunned for a moment.

The other party obviously didn't expect that there were people under this tunnel.

The air thief subconsciously drew his sword, but with a 'bang' gunshot, a ball of blood and fire burst out in his chest. Sylvid put away the smoke-curling muzzle of the gun, pulled the hammer, poured the gunpowder, and filled it with buckshot - all the while, Red let out a roar.

The roar of the big cat man caused the blood shark air thief to subconsciously raise his sword and block in that direction.

But instead of waiting for Red's surprise attack, Miss Nightingale walked around behind her in the other direction and slashed her throat with a cold short blade.

Alyssa let go of the other's jaw, still lying to the ground weakly by the air thief, convulsing. Only then did she raise her head, look at Red, and teased, "Big cat man, you attacked again." ”

Red shrugged his shoulders and gestured at the scepter in his hand: "I'm really ready to do it, but I haven't had time to pull out the scepter yet, you know, the paladin, as a heavy armor, moves relatively slowly." He looked at the guy's body and shook his head.

"Blame him for reacting a little too quickly."

Alyssa laughed.

Sylvid put away her gun, looked at the smoke-filled scene outside, and asked, "What's going on outside?" ”

"I don't know," Alyssa replied, "not the captain, not someone we know - but the Blood Shark pirates did get into a fight with someone, but I haven't found out which side the intruder is from. ”

"So someone entered Idus, at the same time as us—but not on our side?" The big cat man thought for a moment and asked.

Alyssa nodded.

She added, "I look at the situation outside, it should be the time we went to the place on the log, and the other party has already infiltrated Idus. And when we fought the monster before, the other party almost happened to have a fire with the Blood Shark Air Pirate. ”

"Could there be such a connection?"

"I don't think so," replied Alyssa, "how can there be such a coincidence?" ”

She looked at Sylwid again, "What does Miss Sylwide think?" ”

Sylvid also shook her head: "Not necessarily," she replied very calmly, "If the other party is from Pudra's side, then the other party's wooing of Rollin is meaningless." As for the person behind Rollin, there may be a certain possibility—"

"But the Worship Dragon Cult has always been cautious and cautious, do they really kill each other?"

The big cat man also pointed out at this time: "Pudra died in that place by accident, but what if he wasn't an accident?" ”

Alyssa was slightly surprised: "You mean Rollin did it on purpose...... Wouldn't we be too unlucky to run into that scene? ”

"It's not certain to say it's lucky," Sylvid analyzed, "otherwise how would we know all this?" ”

Several people discussed for a moment, but Parker interjected in a rare way: "Guys, how long are we going to stay here?" Besides, we don't even know who the other party is now, so isn't it a way to continue guessing like this? ”

The others paused for a moment, then turned their gazes to Sylvid.

And the ship's attendant only bowed her head slightly: "Anyway, it seems that it is no longer safe on the ground, suspend the operation and go back the same way." ”

"What about the ring?" Parker took out the round ring and gestured for it, as if he was afraid that this thing would trap him: "Can I also hand it over to you for safekeeping?" ”

But this proposal was immediately and ruthlessly rejected by the big cat people:

"You take it first."

"Huh?"

Sylvide asked, "Have you contacted Baggins?" ”

"Wait a minute," Alyssa took out the communication crystal, wiped it a few times, and whispered something to the other side. Then she raised her head and looked hesitant: "Asked, there are some problems over there." ”

"What's the problem?"

"It seems that the Kaulin-Ishurian navy has arrived, but it is unclear if it is the same ...... as the people in the city."

"Navy?"

Several people were visibly stunned.

Rhett looked at Miss Ship Officer almost immediately, and asked, "Miss Sylvide, have you contacted the Elffindor Council, and they have found the Navy?" ”

But Sylvid frowned and shook her head, "I didn't, and Ed didn't either." ”

The big cat man looked puzzled almost immediately, and it nodded its chin with its paw and asked, "So, in addition to us, the navy, and the dragon worshippers, there are actually a fourth party here?" ”

……