Accurately calculated and divided clock scales do not have a half-point effect on the passage of time.

Like the currents in this vast ocean, it rolls forward without the will of anyone.

The Windless and several of its frigates are currently heading at a steady pace towards a busy port on the eastern side of the Plains of the Goddess, where the Windless was supposed to dock instead of docking, but instead heading towards the coastal waters of the Black River Principality.

After all, there was still a group of passengers who needed to board the ship at the largest port in the Black River Principality and rush to Merlin Lehe.

But now, after this series of strange events aboard the Windless, everyone believes that returning to land now must be the right choice.

Compared to the panicked Windless, the armored ships and the sailors on board were much calmer.

As professional soldiers, they always have confidence in their ships and the weapons they can handle, and they share a common language with the soldiers in this regard.

"The weather should be fine for the next few days, right? Why do you suddenly have to change course? ”

"Who knows, maybe there are big men on the Windless who can't get used to the boat and want to go back to land and walk on their feet."

On the armored ship "Silver Shield", several sailors who had just been rotated were blowing the wind and chatting on the side of the ship, they were all naval soldiers of the Duchy of Boult, but now, their uniforms were additionally marked with the logo of Merlinle and the Legislative Council, which meant that they were now considered supernumerary members of the Legislative Council.

For the Vann "elite" who flew the Windless and had a variety of statuses, these duchy soldiers from the civilian class did not have much affection, and most of them came from ordinary families, and their parents were mostly tailors, miners, farmers, or fishermen.

It was not easy to get these people to have a good impression of the nobles and officials.

One of the sailors looked around, and seeing that no one was noticing, pulled out a half-pack of cigarettes from a hidden pocket of his uniform, which made their chatter more relaxed and lively.

An older sailor tugged at his collar, and he exhaled two streaks of smoke through his nose, and then sighed: "Judging from the course direction, we may call at noon the day after tomorrow, and I don't know how long we will stay, and I want to go ashore for a walk." ”

"Don't think about it, the military regulations won't give you a chance to leave the port, those mages are so strict, they only follow one set of methods for everything."

The companion next to him sneered, then lifted his chin and asked playfully, "What?" Can't hold it back? Want to find a woman? ”

"Why are you talking so badly?"

The old sailor wrinkled his nose, but his serious expression lasted less than two seconds, and then he laughed: "Alas, I was on vacation, and if it weren't for that bullshit black sun and the requests of Merlinle and the old men, I should have been happy in Cyanobacteria Harbor instead of blowing the wind on the sea with you!" ”

"If you really want to have this kind of thought, you might as well hope that everything is normal, and we will hurry to the Heihe Principality, or simply go directly to Merinle and ...... I've heard people say that the atmosphere there is a hundred times better than that of Cyanobacteria Harbor! ”

As soon as this kind of topic was mentioned, the sailors who had been bored and leaned on the side gathered all at once, and the one who had handed out the cigarettes before even took out an extra cigarette and stuffed it into the "well-informed" fellow, hoping that he would elaborate on the "amorous" related matters.

"Come here, come here, I'll whisper."

The well-informed sailor beckoned, and when the crowd had gathered around, he said in a mysterious tone: "In recent days, many refugees have migrated to all the towns and principalities that are close to the north...... It's not easy to live in a foreign country and survive, so ......"

He smoked a cigarette and made a strange "you know" look at the crowd, then added, "Most of these refugees are from the North, and the young girls among them are very ...... Tsk, famous. ”

"You mean, a lot of St. Stilles escaped?"

"It's not just 'a lot', I should say 'a lot'!"

The sailor corrected: "Think about it, even in places like Merlinle and this kind of place, there is no way to completely ban those women in the north who 'do business' now, you know, those mages used to be the most unaccustomed to this kind of thing, but now, they can only turn a blind eye!" ”

"Hey, there's such a thing?"

One young man did not believe this, and he questioned: "I know those mages from our hometown, they have no taboos and no particularities in this kind of thing, and they go in and out of the tavern and keep their lovers a lot!" ”

"So I'm talking about Merlin Lehe!"

The experienced old sailor raised his eyebrows disdainfully: "Do you know what they call Merlin?" It is a sacred place of magic and scholarship, and it is the concentration of the faith of the goddess Mel! Who would have dared to talk about those things in such a place in the past? ”

At this moment, all the people present couldn't help but nod their heads, and this was indeed true.

Being able to concede a group of conservative, old-fashioned mages and scholars is indeed a testament to the fact that Merlinle and the others have accepted a considerable number of refugees in the very short period of time, and these young and restless soldiers can't help but have their cheeks burning and their hearts beating faster when they think of the women of the North who are still trying to show their charm to others in the face of the bitter cold and cold.

However, at such times, there will always be people who are disappointed to jump out.

The young man who had questioned before pouted and shook his head, he was a very typical Bourth, who came from a family of fishermen by the sea, and had his own set of opinions and opinions on love and loyalty, so he retorted: "Those women are very difficult and pitiful, they may have already had their own families or lovers, and now they are forced to do these things......"

The soldiers fell silent for a moment, but then burst into laughter, and one of them put his hand around the young man's shoulder and asked, "Okay, you have to be clear, not everyone on this ship has a fiancée!" ”

The young man is still holding his opinion: "It's not a fiancée's problem......"

"Listen, you've been on the ship for so short a time that you don't know what it's like to be on the sea for a year and a half."

The older soldier shook his head and explained, "Right now you feel more comfortable, it's all your illusion, after a while, I'm afraid you'll think of the fish you catch as your 'fiancée'!" ”

The moment this strange remark was uttered, the veterans who had been on the ship for quite some time and had heard many bizarre stories burst into laughter, and the conversation immediately moved away from the themes of St. Steele, the North, and the Black Sun Society.

This is a tacit understanding of theirs.

Instead of discussing these heavy topics that may bring you a sense of crisis and anxiety, it is better to talk about something else.

Soon, the bored sailors were talking about the anecdotes they had heard and seen during their rotations.

"At noon today, I heard that Lieutenant Balai and Lieutenant Sluk had a fight, and almost got into a fight."

"Two lieutenants quarreling? What can they quarrel about? ”

"I wasn't there either, listening to what others said...... It is said that Lieutenant Balai routinely used a telescope to observe the sea in the distance, and then he suddenly said that he had observed a huge reef on the course ahead, and thought that our ships should immediately turn to avoid it! ”

"Reef? Over here? ”

Someone in the audience immediately shook their heads: "What about kidding? In our sea area, if he wants to say that he sees an island, I may still believe it, how can a single reef come out? ”

"Lieutenant Sluck thought the same thing, and he thought it must be a mistake or a dazzle, but Lieutenant Barley quickly confirmed it again, saying that there was indeed a large green reef on the route......

"."

The listener shook his head: "So then what?" ”

"Lieutenant Sluk snatched his binoculars over to inspect the sea, and of course nothing came of it...... He questioned Lieutenant Balai's eyes and common sense, and the two got into an argument and almost moved their fists. ”

"It's me and I question, the reef, and it's green...... Maybe it's because your eyes are green after holding it for a long time! ”

The simple young sailor had been bored by the discussions, and he turned and yawned at the evening sea, and some tears seeped out of his eyes as he moved, so he raised his hand and gently wiped them away.

But at this moment, a strange shadow appeared at the edge of his vision.

He instinctively looked in the direction of the shadow.

Then he saw that in front of him, far away from the "Silver Shield" armored ship, there was a strange silhouette looming in the waves, because the sky was dim and far away, the young man could not accurately see the details of the shadow, only felt that its surface was as green as a large amount of algae attached.

The discovery made him stunned, so he instinctively rubbed the corners of his eyes, then squinted them again and looked in the direction of the shadow.

At this moment, he saw that strange shadow actually sank directly into the deep sea, but in just a few seconds, there was no trace on the surface of the sea.

"What's that? Whales? Or am I dazzled? ”

He was a little confused.

However, he did not want to be ridiculed or unhappy by this uncertain discovery in the face of his companion, who was still chatting, so the young man buried the strange sight that had just passed away into his belly.

"It's another calm and boring day......"

The young sailor sighed silently in his heart.

……

"Let's call these monsters 'skin bugs'...... Maybe at first, we would have some preconceived judgments about what they look like, but now I can confirm that they are definitely not so-called 'bugs'! ”

After most of the day's study, Scholar Legel, who has a good understanding of sea magical creatures, has come to some preliminary conclusions, and he is very confident in the face of a group of mages such as Xiuge and Weilin, which is basically similar to his previous appearance in the house arrest room with a handful of snot and tears.

"It's incredible, even though they were found on the backs of dwarves, their limbs and body structure don't look like they're pure 'parasites' at all."

With the help of Verin's mage, a "skin bug" that had been used as a research sample was slowly turned over, and its abdomen was directly exposed to everyone.

Pointing to the wiggling limbs, Legel said, "You see, their limbs are arranged in a completely different way than ordinary insects. ”

With Legel's explanation, another mage's hand floated over, and gently flicked the tentacles of the abdomen of the "skin worm", so in the next moment, everyone saw that these "limbs" that looked extremely similar to ordinary insects quickly loosened, and many people, including Xiuge, realized that these so-called "limbs" were actually made of a large number of tentacles like hair!

When the black tentacles are completely released and droop down, the appearance of the "skin bugs" is completely changed - they look like a piece of human skin with countless hairs extended!

"Amazing, right...... But that's just the beginning. ”

As he spoke, Scholar Legel picked up a glass of water and slowly poured it on the body of the "skin worm", so the "tentacles" that fell from the belly of the skin worm immediately swayed in a special posture, although they were extremely light, but under the drive of some strange force, they could be as neat as black waves.

This is not the end, with Legher's instructions, this "skin worm" was thrown directly into a large tank filled with water, so people saw that this strange insect actually swam directly in the tank, its movements are very flexible, those slender and dense tentacles seem to constitute several flexible "fins", every regular swing, can make it move as it wants.

Immediately afterwards, Legle took some fresh blood from the side and put it into the sink, so that the swimming "skin worm" became more active, and everyone saw that its flexible black tentacles completely stretched out, and the blood-colored seawater was continuously sucked into its body, and quickly discharged from between the tentacles, and as this process progressed, the blood in the sink quickly faded, and there was no remnant.

"I'm here to remind you that the water I used throughout the process was seawater."

Scholar Legel tapped lightly on the sink: "These things...... They are simply inherently aquatic creatures, and perhaps the previous parasitism is just a means of hiding and survival that they are forced to hide. ”

(End of chapter)