21 Enter the Thermostat Sea

On October 6th, the night of Erin's competition with the captain, Milo suddenly informed Erin and the Nightsparrow that they would set off early at midnight. The Viscount gave Erin a large sum of gold coins as her personal expenses, but Erin only took a few and returned the rest to him.

"What a good girl!" The viscount was amazed, and specially instructed Milo and the others to take good care of Erin's safety.

In this way, Milo, Irene, Night Sparrow, and Snow Dog rushed to the southern port by night. At night, the port is brightly lit, and although there are far fewer caravans and horses coming and going than during the day, there are still many workers loading and unloading goods for merchant ships. The port wharf, which is still busy at night, is a testimony to the prosperity of Fengxing Town. Erin noticed that some workers were laying railroad tracks, probably to speed up the transportation of goods from the port to Windtown, and maybe to use steam-powered rail wagons in the future, but that was a story for another time.

The four dismounted in the harbor, where there were already people waiting to receive them, led the four to board a medium-sized merchant ship, and before Erin boarded the ship, she could read the words painted in white paint on the stern of the ship by the lights of the harbor: "Union". There is also a small print underneath: Wanyuan Church • Created by the Church of Dragon. The boat crew led the four into the cabin located below deck, where they put away their luggage and prepared to rest.

"Set sail!" Captain Finn, who was a seasoned seafarer, gave orders to the crew, sailors on the ship's side signaled to the watchtower on the docks, and the Union slowly sailed out of harbor and headed south, soon disappearing into the night, leaving only waves.

After the four of them had checked into their rooms, the captain ordered: "Sail!" "Riding the north wind, the Union headed south at full speed.

In the early morning of October 7th, the red sun began to rise, and it was spectacular. It was still a north wind, and the mainsail and foresail of the Union were open, blown by the wind, and the hull of the ship glided quickly in the early sun. The northern land has been taken out of sight, completely away from the hustle and bustle of towns and ports.

The atmosphere was so good that Captain Finn asked the sailors to invite the four passengers to Class A to watch the sunrise. After a while, Milo and Snow Dog arrived at Class A at the same time, and Night Sparrow also came up, but Erin was nowhere to be seen.

"She was seasick. It's more comfortable to lie down in your room. Nightsparrow said.

Captain Finn and the others enjoyed the magnificent scenery – the bright sunshine, the golden sea, the flying seabirds...... Everyone was fascinated by it.

"Look, our escort is coming." The captain pointed to a small black dot in the sun. As the black dot approached, everyone could see its silhouette and see that it was a dhow, with a narrow hull.

"This is our escort ship, hired from Aube." The captain said to the three.

"We need guards?" Nightfinch said, "Isn't this sea safe?" ”

"It's all right here," replied the captain, "but when we get to the Constant Temperature Sea, it will be a little more dangerous, hire a frigate to be safer, and the cargo in our cabin, if it is worthless, will hurt many people if it is really robbed." ”

"What is the ...... of the thermostatic sea?" Melo asked hesitantly, only to receive suspicious glances from Night Sparrow, Snow Dog, and Captain. "I've never been to sea before...... Milo hastened to explain.

"Oh, the Thermostatic Sea is the name of a large expanse of the sea located in the north of the Dragonon Empire, and since the temperature of the sea has always been kept at a higher temperature, we all call it the Thermostatic Sea. Oh yes, you've been from Splet, and you're probably located just east of the Desperate Desert, and that's a big expanse. Captain Finn explained, "You should take off your clothes when you get there, it's too hot." The captain pointed to the saber-toothed tiger fur coat on Milo's body.

As he spoke, the frigate ships were getting closer, accompanying the Union in the same direction, and the two ships occasionally exchanged flags with each other.

Nightfinch looked at the escort ship from Aube and asked puzzledly, "Why don't you use your own escort ship, isn't it better to have a Dragon ship?" Snow Dog also cooperated and looked at the captain, who also wanted to know the answer.

"Dragon's ship is too expensive!" Finn replied, "Now that Aube's economy is in turmoil, these frigates will be able to get rid of it with a few gold and silver coins." Also, it's hard to find someone. ”

"Can't find someone?"

"Well, Dragon's warships rarely cross the Thermostat Sea from south to north, and this is Split's sphere of influence. Coupled with the fact that the constant temperature sea is often weak or windless, the risk of warships sailing is too great. ”

"Weak wind or no wind?"

"You'll find out then."

The wind suddenly changed, and Captain Finn ordered the mainsail and foresail to be put away in favor of a nimble jib and corresponding auxiliary sail, and the Union made a graceful arc on the surface of the sea, and went diagonally at high speed.

Milo felt the oncoming wind with his hand, and suddenly said, "Why is it a headwind?" Can this ship go against the wind? The other three looked at him again with the sympathetic gaze of a poor beggar......

The Union and the escort ship continued to sail, and under the skilful manoeuvring of Captain Finn and the sailors, the Union maintained a high speed and rarely turbulent, which the captain said would avoid seasickness, but it did not seem to have any effect on Irene. Since Erin moved into the cabin, she didn't come out again because of seasickness, and the food was delivered by Night Sparrow, and Captain Fein specially asked the chef to prepare some food that was easy to digest and refreshing, which made the group very grateful. Milo wanted to visit Erin, but was dissuaded by Nightsparrow, "It's inconvenient for you to see the girl's business." Nightfinch said in her characteristic cold tone, and Merlot stopped there, and asked Nightfinch to greet her.

In addition to enjoying the sea view from the deck, Milo and the others also have enough things to do: chatting with the captain and others, climbing to the top of the mast to watch the passing ships and soaring seabirds, sitting on the side of the boat fishing, watching the dolphins jump...... If you don't want to do anything, you can go back to the cabin, where there are books for passengers to read. All in all, the trip is not boring.

Time was as fast as the Union, and it flew by.

At dawn on October 14, Captain Fein said to the passengers at breakfast: "We have entered the sea of constant temperature. After the meal, the captain led the group to the first class, and looked to the right side of the ship, that is, to the west: the calm sea stretched into the distance, and at the horizon appeared land—golden land.

"Desperate desert, if we get closer, we'll eat the sand scraped there." Said the captain.

"Can't you get closer?" Question from Milo.

"No, even at sea, you'll get swept up in a sandstorm and get lost."

It turns out that the horizon where the water meets the sky, like a thick line drawn with a golden brush, is decorated between the upper and lower blue curtains, but the reputation of the desperate desert makes this beautiful canvas bring people an indescribable horror.

"Is this all desert?" Nightfinch asked, she didn't know anything about it.

"A day further south it won't be a desert." Captain Finn replied, "But that's where the djinn first appeared, and it's not in good shape. ”

"At that time, the southeast coast of the Splett Empire was almost completely destroyed." Melo said to the two magicians.

……

Just as everyone was looking at the desperate desert to the west, they suddenly heard a slight footstep on the deck behind them, and several people turned around and saw Erin.

At this time, Erin was completely gone, and she was completely out of her health and vitality before the voyage, her whole body looked groggy, her face was pale, her lips were bloodless, her eyes were red and swollen, her eyelids were drooping, and her hair was very disheveled. She bent her back slightly, covered her stomach with her hands, and staggered towards the group. However, Irene's clothes had been changed into the red civilian clothes that I had seen for the first time, which made Night Sparrow and the others a little relieved, at least she was also trying to get out of the realm of psychological haze.

Night Sparrow hurriedly stepped forward to help Erin steady, and Erin waved her hand with difficulty, wondering if it was a signal for everyone not to worry about her, but it still looked like she needed to worry about it.

The boat shook slightly, and Erin immediately clenched her teeth, clenched her fists, and closed her eyes as if she were fighting against an invisible force. For her, the passage of time is like a desert in the distance, with no end in sight. It took a long time for Erin to recover.

"Beauty, do you still want to vomit?" Captain Finn quipped. As soon as she heard the word "vomit", Erin clutched her stomach tightly again, her eyes and mouth were closed, and her soul seemed to struggle out of her body.

"Sister, I'll take you back to the cabin, it'll be better to lie down." Nightfinch hurriedly helped Erin back to her feet.

Erin succumbed to the pain of seasickness once more, and was helped to move by the Night Sparrow, but she still used her strength to look back at the desperate desert to the west, just over twenty days ago, when she encountered a wind chime on the other side of the desperate desert, and her fate changed drastically.

But this time I turned around, making myself feel even more dizzy, Erin didn't hold on for a while, in front of everyone-

"Wow-" all spat on the deck.