In Purand, southeast of the docklands, a beautiful white steam-turbine ship is undergoing its final rearmament checks.

After a long layover, the White Oak was finally ready to set off again, this time carrying many commissions from the city-state of Purland, through the central route and the northern route, all the way north, through Cold Harbor, and until the frost.

It's a long voyage, but it's not much of a challenge for a specially modified exploration ship designed for fast ocean trips, and the route, which is mostly located in safe water, with a powerful steam core to keep the ship powered, and a refurbished onboard chapel to keep all crew safe.

The sailors who were busy on the shore and on board seemed quite relaxed.

In the aft mechanical compartment of the White Oak, the chief engineer and assistant mechanic supervise the sailors as they complete the final preparations for the steam core.

Huge as a house and anchored to the main support structure of the hull by a sturdy steel frame, the mighty machine consisted of three longitudinally arranged spherical vessels and a series of complex pipes, valves, and linkages surrounding them, with an iron drawbridge suspended halfway up the three vessels for the water suppliers to check the operation of the steam core and carry out the necessary maintenance work.

At this moment, several sailors were busy on the iron suspension bridge, they opened the heavy hatch of the spherical container, took out a few dull metal rods that had been worn out, and fixed several pale gold metal rods with the thickness of a small arm and nearly a meter long to the card slot in the hatch, activated the mechanism, and sent the metal rods into the center of the container.

It is a catalytic medium made of boiling gold, they are the source of powerful power in the steam core, and it is also one of the important guarantees for the stable operation of the machine, like the prayer and incense rituals of the priest near the steam pipe, the boiling gold medium in the steam core can also resist the invasion of some malicious forces to a certain extent, so as to avoid the machine from suddenly "falling into evil" after a long period of operation.

The creaking of the pulleys and hinges continued, and the operation of the two sailors seemed a little rougher, and the bald chief of the sturdy head suddenly shouted: "Be careful! Don't break those boiling gold catalysts, they're as soft as breadsticks, and if you break a captain, you're going to eat someone! ”

"If you're referring to Chef Finley's baked breadsticks—then you should be worried about the chutes and tenons in the steam core not being broken!" The sailors on the drawbridge laughed, but at the same time kept their movements careful.

"When the frost comes, I'll advise the captain to buy a batch of high-quality boiling gold catalysts from the local area—boiling gold is as cheap as the stones on the ground," muttered the assistant mechanic, a woman who looked to be in her thirties and forties, with arms as strong as a man's, and oil-stained overalls, "The Adventurers' Guild's procurement channels are too dark." ”

"It depends on whether the client and the church agree," the chief engineer shrugged, "Half of the cargo compartments on the White Oak are special 'sealing rooms', and many of the things we transported this time are holy relics and semi-finished products ordered by the church, these things are very sensitive, and there must be a strict list of supplies sent to the ship - before the Gray Raven brought a barrel of mead on the ship because of a bastard, which caused the seal on the ship to loosen, and the two shadows ran out and killed half of the ship's people......"

"I know, so I'm going to give the captain a suggestion then," the assistant mechanic waved his hand, then frowned slightly, "but speaking of which, the captain doesn't seem to be here yet—he doesn't usually be late." ”

"The captain will come," said the chief engineer, and then paused, as if to emphasize it, "the captain will come—he is not retired yet." ”

……

"It's really time for you to retire," his wife leaned against the doorframe next to her, her arms folded, looking at her side with an unkind expression, her eyes as sharp as they had been then, "Don't wait until I get to the boat and pull your ears before you realize how serious your situation is." ”

Lawrence didn't respond, he just silently arranged his captain's uniform in front of the mirror, checked his meticulously combed hair again, solemnly picked up the hat that was placed next to him, and put it on his head before breathing a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Martha, but it's time for me to go," the old captain whispered, "and the White Oak is waiting in harbor. ”

His wife watched him quietly, no more irritable words, no chattering complaints, only long stares, and silence.

It didn't take long for her to sigh softly, "Okay, then stay safe and come back early - don't run into any more messes." ”

"I hope." Lawrence sighed helplessly and turned away from the mirror.

"Did you bring everything?"

"I've brought it all."

"What about the keys to the house and the amulet to go out?"

"I brought it all, I didn't forget it."

"Bring a small prayer book, it's good."

"Take it with you," Lawrence stooped down and patted the small suitcase that had been placed in the doorway, "and a few pages of hand-copied prayers and sacred candles from the cathedral." ”

The wife opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but Lawrence turned around with a smile on her face: "I have brought it all, and I am not old enough to lose everything." ”

The wife was silent for a moment and exhaled softly: "Your medicine." ”

Lawrence's movements stiffened and froze.

"Your medicine, don't forget." The wife repeated it again.

Lawrence's lips twitched slightly, and his gaze shifted to the side a little.

On the small table at the door, a small brown glass bottle is quietly placed there, and the sunlight is shining on the bottle, and the clear texture of the liquid in the bottle can be vaguely seen.

After a long silence, Lawrence picked up the vial, and it took a few more seconds for him to uncork the little vial.

He looked up at Martha and saw that his wife was still leaning against the doorframe, looking at him with her arms folded, just as she remembered.

"Have a safe journey." She said with her mouth shaped.

"I'm out of the house." Lawrence replied softly, and then dropped a few drops into his mouth as the psychiatrist had instructed.

The strong smell escaped in the mouth, and the figure of the wife quietly dissipated in the sun.

Lawrence silently tucked the lid of the vial, opened the small suitcase again, put the rest of the potion in the corner that was not afraid of bumping, and muttered and complained as he sorted things out, "That psychiatrist is a fool...... This thing is just bitter to death, and there is no herbal aroma. ”

The old captain, who had been adrift on the endless sea for half his life, sorted out his belongings, sighed softly, picked up his suitcase, and left the house.

……

When Heidi finally got home before the evening, she opened the door, took off her coat, and the first thing she did when she entered the living room was to slump down in her chair and sigh deeply.

The mother was sitting by the warm fireplace, sorting out a few letters, and when she heard her daughter coming home, she turned her head slightly: "Big girl, pay more attention to your image—ladies don't do that." ”

"Let the lady rest, the lady is dealing with strange nightmares and babbling seafarers to-day," Heidi slumped in her chair and waved her hand weakly, "a ship had a mechanical failure in the endless sea, and was stranded in the open sea for nearly twice as long as planned, and several sailors were carried off board by a great deal of tying - it was a disaster. ”

Speaking of this, she exhaled, shook her head and sighed: "It is not easy to make a living on the boundless sea. ”

The mother looked up from the letter: "It sounds really bad, then you can't be paralyzed like this, hurry up and take a bath upstairs, let yourself relax first, the bath water is already boiling." ”

"Well, that's right," Heidi pouted, and finally got up from her chair, and walked towards the stairs, but suddenly stopped with some curiosity, "These letters are ......"

"Water, electricity, gas, bills—all sorts of bills—all sorts of things," the mother said casually, in a nonchaliant tone, "It used to be handled by your father, and now that he is out of the house, I will take care of it." ”

"Well, I don't want to deal with any of that." Heidi said as she waved her hand and stepped upstairs.

The mother watched silently as her daughter went upstairs before she withdrew her gaze and swept over the letters in front of her.

Most of these are indeed bills.

But there are two more real letters—one of them, from places that are unimaginable to the world.

It was a letter from Morris, delivered this afternoon by a messenger with a green flame burning all over his body.

The letter bears a special spell from the god of wisdom to prevent outsiders from peeking at its true contents.

The old woman looked at the familiar handwriting with a smile on her face:

“…… On the way to Frost, there is not much scenery to see along the way, except for the occasional small ice floe on the surface of the sea and the cold fog in the distance......

“…… Nina was making up her winter vacation homework in the cafeteria today, and a strange shadow ran out of her textbook, and everyone rushed to beat it, which was very lively......

“…… Before lunch the captain went fishing again, you know, the kind of 'fish' - it struggled very violently this time, it was a thrilling scene, the captain said that the energetic fish tasted better, but I didn't really taste the difference......"

The old woman smiled, put the letter aside for the time being, and picked up another letter that had just been opened.

The letter came from Frost.

The sender was Brown Scott.

(End of chapter)