The Chancellor of the Valstad Empire, Langford Onassis, raised his eyebrows and said:

"What's that little money? When we defeat the Combined Fleet and return to my old nest, the port of Santa Casrella, I'll reward the entire fleet with 500,000,000,000,000 universal currency from the Chamber of Commerce's coffers! When the time comes, everyone will be rewarded! But until then, you'll all have to do your part! Don't be lazy with me! ”

"Yes! Prime Minister! The crowd replied in unison.

On the Valsta Peninsula, everyone knows the magnanimity of Langford Onassis, the king of merchants.

This man may be a full-fledged, mercenary profiteer, but he is true to his word and good integrity, and there is no doubt that with his promise, if this naval battle is won, everyone in the fleet command room will have a lot of money, and the other officers and men of the fleet will also be rich.

The arrival of reinforcements and the lure of bounties made everyone excited and eager to try.

Captain Danesle's face was full of wrinkles, and he leaned down and took the large pile of gold coins on the table into his arms, and his greedy face reflected the golden light, and he was almost incoherent with joy:

"Prime Minister, I'll leave first, I'll ...... I'll go to the captain's room, put the money in the safe, and then I'll get to work! Take a trip to the sailors' room, let everyone prepare gunpowder and shells, and prepare for war in advance! ”

"Well, there you go."

I saw Daines carefully holding the gold coin in his arms, for fear of falling to the ground, humming a delightful tune among sailors, and almost jumping out of the captain's room.

Such childish behavior was extremely inconsistent with his image of a tough and rough man, and caused the prime minister's righteous son, Victor Jr., to laugh.

The commander of the fleet, Admiral Hammond, covered half of his face and said:

"Fuck! Daines is a miser, as if he has never seen money, and he is still my fellow countryman, and my face is going to be lost by this guy! ”

With a burst of laughter, everyone's mood relaxed a lot.

The boy Victor looked at the stained glass, suddenly became alert, he turned his ear sideways, pressed it to the porthole, and said, "Huh? I seem to hear some kind of ...... Song? ”

The laughter stopped abruptly, and the command room quickly fell silent.

Everyone heard it, too, and the sound of the tide outside the stern seemed to be mixed with subtle, sweet female singing.

Its timbre is beautiful and strange, as if it is not an earthly sound, and the humming voice is soft to the extreme, which makes people can't help but be fascinated.

Langford asked, confused, "...... this song No, I remember, there are no women in our fleet. ”

"But it's a woman's voice! Did someone break discipline and take his mistress on board?

"If that's the case, that guy who broke the discipline is going to be out of luck!"

"Listen, the voice...... Not from the ship, but from somewhere else, somewhere in the direction of the reef. ”

"Well, it's coming from the reef area, it's strange, why is there a woman singing on the reef, could it be that the fishermen who have sunk the boat are taking refuge?"

While the high-ranking officers of the fleet were talking, a hoarse and old voice came from the corner: "I know what the song is!" ”

Everyone looked at the man who spoke, and it turned out to be Captain Pelican's first mate, who was about sixty years old, with a weather-beaten face and a gray beard stained with wine.

"Now that you know, tell me about it."

Captain Peter's wrinkled old face, flushed and looking a little too drunk, said in a hoarse voice:

"My lords, this bay is notorious and has been called the Sea of Death by sailors, and since it has been named 'Banshee Fjord', it is naturally because there is something unclean here."

"You're saying there's a Kraken here?"

"That's right, those damn songs are bait for the Sirens, who sit on the reef in the fjord all year round. Theologians believe that the Krakens were the daughters of the god of the sea, lurking at the bottom of the sea during the day and coming out at night to sit high on the reef and watch out for ships passing in and out of the waterway.

Their enchanting song drifts to the ship in the wind and reaches the ears of the sailors, and the poor sailors lose their nature and forget their duty, and the helmsman turns uncontrollably towards the reef until their ship crashes into the reef.

At that point, the cruel and bloodthirsty Krakens will emerge from the coral palaces at the bottom of the sea, mercilessly devouring the corpses of the sailors, and finally plundering the ship's treasures into their treasury without even a bone. ”

The young Guardian of the Holy Sepulchre, Victor Stronghold, asked with some confusion, "What did you say...... How is it not quite the same as the story I have heard, Aunt Olis, the head maid of the Golden Lake Palace, told me the story of the Siren, she said that the upper body of the Siren is a beautiful human female figure, the lower body is fish, their kisses can soothe the fatigue of sailors, their tears can turn into pearls, they are quite beautiful and kind creatures. ”

Hearing the boy's speech, Captain Peter shook his head: "Little sir, don't be deceived by the stories of those old ladies, they have been in the palace all their lives, they have never seen anything, their stories are pure fabrication. ”

Little Victor was a little unconvinced, and said, "You are so rude to say such a thing about a lady!" Besides, why do I have to think that what others are doing is false, and what you are telling is the truth? ”

The elderly first mate laughed: "Haha, little lord, we were born as pirates, and later served our prime minister, we are men who have been begging for a living at sea all our lives, and we can't finish talking about the strange and strange things we have seen for three days and three nights, we have always told the truth, never adding oil and vinegar!" ”

"Then tell me about it." The boy said.

"Those damn troubadours like to embellish and adapt stories, and they like to call Sirens 'mermaids.'"

I'll admit, if you just look at the upper body, those little ladies do look quite iconic, much stronger than the low-grade goods in the Sailor's Tavern.

But the beauty and the singing were bait to trick the sailors, who were in fact bloodthirsty monsters, with teeth in their mouths and nails on their hands so sharp that they could easily tear open the throats of adults. ”

General Hammond said, "Hey, Peter, don't talk nonsense, there are children here, don't scare people." ”

The boy Victor stubbornly said, "I didn't say I was scared! The men of our Strandhall family are all men who stand up to the sky, even if there is a man-eating kraken, I will face it bravely! ”

"Yes, little sir, there is no doubt that you are the strongest and bravest boy I have ever seen.

But our good first mate - Mr. Peter is a notoriously big mouth, he is very superstitious, every time he drinks too much, he likes to tell some strange stories, how can there be so many demons and monsters in this world, they are all things that people conjecture, what he says, you just listen to it, don't take it too seriously. ”