Chapter 495: Hope
After the two partners, Heath and Giggs, renovated the magic ship, they did not lose any time. They are now ocean-going ship owners, and time is worth money.
After loading a shipment of sought-after cargo at Starlight Castle, Giggs picked up some official transport assignments.
Once the ship was loaded with cargo, the newly converted magic ship sailed out of port and headed south along the coastline.
Compared to the neighboring coastal countries, the Kingdom of Haaland attaches great importance to maritime trade, and each seaport city has established a port authority and customs. Personnel were recruited to be responsible for cleaning and sanitation, the wharves along the coast were clean and tidy, there was no domestic garbage, the air was very fresh, the workers were strong and orderly, and they had undergone a long period of discipline training at a glance.
Even the public toilets on the pier were built 500 meters away from the coastal embankment, which shows the details of the treatment.
In the kingdoms of Sith and Palame, the port docks are always messy, smelly, and look very chaotic, without any order, and the slaves working on the docks will defecate in the open.
Due to various factors, there are basically no sea monsters in this sea area, let alone intelligent creatures such as fish people and sea elves. The biggest threat to ships is mainly bad weather. This problem is relatively easy to overcome, as none of the ships sailing far from the shoreline. In the event of a storm, it will quickly dock.
In order to defend against the tactical feature of the Fish-Man, the magic ship will install a magic alloy steel plate on the bottom of the ship.
Fortunately, Giggs paid insurance for the Hope, and the insurance company was able to pay a sum of money on his behalf, reducing the financial pressure a bit.
This tactic is the most classic tactic of the fish-people, once the plank is gouged, the ship is in danger of leaking and sinking, in the vast ocean without borders. Even a legendary knight can't go back alive.
Now that the Red Moon Plane garrison is full, and the mainland can also provide some simple ordnance, the transportation pressure has been reduced a bit.
After the fish-man appeared, he almost did not hesitate to attack the Hope.
Both Hiss and Giggs have been on the battlefield for a long time and have a wealth of experience in warfare. The fish-people suddenly attacked, and they didn't show any panic.
After heading south from Starlight Castle, we sailed for about two and a half days and anchored at Glowing Castle for the night.
After resting overnight at Xiaguang Castle, we continued southward and sailed for about four days to reach the shipping terminal of Silvermoon Island.
In the face of the classic tactic of the fish-man, Heath was not flustered. He looked at Giggs, bravely jumped into the ocean, and first unleashed an underwater breathing spell on himself, and in an instant a pair of artificial gills changed on his neck, and the water immediately became like a fishman.
After consulting with Giggs, Heath decided to wait a few days to see if there were any ships to accompany him?
The Kingdom of Haaland and the Kingdom of Paramet have opened a route, which is mainly to transport soldiers and supplies into the Red Moon plane.
Due to the scattered targets of the fishmen and the speed of movement in the water, it is difficult for the magic crystal cannon to hit effectively. Therefore, against small targets such as fishmen, the magic bow and crossbow are more suitable.
This part of the journey is relatively more dangerous.
Nowadays, the materials of the Red Moon Plane are replenished from the mainland, mainly magic bows, alchemy bombs, magic crystal cannon shells, magic airship accessories and other scarce resources.
Now the kingdom of Haaland has built a dock on the island and sent administrators.
After defeating the Fish-Man, Giggs's face became very ugly. He never imagined that his luck would be so bad, and he would encounter danger twice when he went to sea three times.
After unloading some of the cargo on Silvermoon Island, replenishing a little water, he continued his voyage south for about ten days before reaching Sawyer's Castle in the province of Rex.
These properties are connected, not only do they not pay taxes to the Earl of Silvermoon Island, but they also have independent law enforcement powers, as if they were concessions.
This time, the destination of the Hope was the Kingdom of Parame, and the voyage was 5,000 kilometers away, and it was just over halfway through the journey to Sawyer Castle.
After the funeral, the rest of the voyage went smoothly, and thirteen days later, the Hope sailed into the waters of Rex Province, sold the Monster materials at Sawyer Castle, and rested for two days.
The cooperation between the two was very tacit, and they repelled three tentative attacks of the fish-man together. At the same time, more than a dozen sailors on board the Hope also bravely jumped off the ship with fishing nets in their hands to help Heath and Giggs fight.
Because of the special geographical location, once Haaland falls out with the Grant Kingdom, Silvermoon Island will immediately become a powder keg.
Fish-people have a special language, which has a small vocabulary, low and short. Because of their high intelligence, many fishmen also master the language of sea elves.
It was found that more than a dozen spells were struck, and once the ship's side was penetrated, the ship would inevitably not be spared after sinking.
Hiss dives to the bottom of the ship and finds a fish-man rushing up and immediately unleashing a magical curse ray.
In the waters north of Silvermoon Island, there are often warships of the Harland Kingdom patrolling, and there are domesticated lions hunting in the waters south of Starlight Fort and north of Silvermoon Fort.
Located in the southernmost part of the Kingdom of Haaland, Xiaguang Castle is far less developed than Starlight Castle, with a population of about 20,000 and a ship repair yard. Although craftsmen and technicians were dispatched locally, the lack of funds, talents, and machinery meant that the workshop could only repair simple damage, most of the time by replacing the planks, sails, and masts.
The second half of the journey was more dangerous than the first, and there were no more supply points for the Kingdom of Harland along the way.
There are no conditions for the preservation of corpses on the ship, and there are no conditions for cremation, so the burial is so simple.
Upon spotting the fish-man, the lookout with the binoculars immediately blew the horn and shouted to his companions. As soon as the sirens sounded, Heath and Giggs went to the side of the ship.
The Fishman and Warcraft materials combined, at most, sell for five or six hundred gold coins, which is less than half of the pension, and only by relying on insurance compensation can we not lose money.
This creature has a gestation cycle of seven months and is an amphibious creature. Despite their clumsy appearance, the Fish-Men are very agile and combative in the ocean.
For the death of a crew member, a pension of 80 gold coins is required, and in the case of an officer, the pension is calculated separately. After a battle is fought, the loss of personnel alone is a lot of money.
There are more than a hundred crew members on the Hope, including six professional retired officers, and less than ten people are good at using magic bows and crossbows, including the magician Hiss, whose archery skills have reached the fourth order.
Although their underwater combat effectiveness is far inferior to that of the fishmen, more than a dozen crew members still disregard their sacrifices to fight for the opportunity and time for Heath and Giggs to hunt the fishmen.
The fish-men have very hard scales, as if they were covered with a thin layer of iron armor. Only one of the fishmen who were hit by the arrow was killed by a single hit, and the remaining fishmen were not seriously injured. I saw that there were arrows hanging from their bodies, and they fired ice arrows at the Hope.
Seeing the defensive spell released on the side of the ship, Giggs held a medium enchanted bow and arrow, and fired more than ten arrows in a row in just one minute, quickly shooting four fishmen, making the attacking fishmen tremble.
Although the fish-people are brave and good at fighting in the sea, they cannot compete with the human legions on land.
Silvermoon Island still belongs to Earl Silvermoon, but the Kingdom of Harland has a lot of property on the island.
The only thing that can confront the legendary deep-sea monsters is the large magic ship that uses legendary energy as the core. And in the kingdom of Haaland, there are only two large magic ships of the legendary rank.
Under the crotch of the fishman, there is also a shark-type magical beast riding, and he can't tell how many steps he has for the time being. Judging from the momentum alone, it should be two or three orders.
A thousand or hundreds of years ago, the fish-men from Aslan even crossed the ocean and entered the lands of the present-day Sith and Rex provinces to breed, and it is rumored that the fish-people also established a dynastic regime.
Giggs doesn't have time to be sad, a man at sea, life and death are very light. He and Hiss took matters into their own hands to retrieve the bodies of the fallen crew members, first sorted out their faces and changed into clean clothes, then prayed to the goddess of the dawn, held a brief funeral, and finally put the body into a body bag, and then tied to a stone and sank to the bottom of the sea.
Before Heath could make a move, Giggs had already jumped underwater in a diving suit and rushed over to reinforce him. Because the underwater magic bow and crossbow could not be used, Giggs held a magic speargun and decisively released his magic power, directly shooting the sluggish fishman.
In the dock area, there are not only ship repair yards, but also a large number of warehouses and cargo stations, and a living area one kilometer away from the dock area, in which there are also hotels and hotels.
A few years ago, Richard led a fleet in the waters of the Sith Kingdom and killed a legendary-level deep-sea beast. The Hope, modified by Hiss and Giggs, will not be spared if it encounters a legendary deep-sea monster.
What's more, more than a dozen crew members were killed on the voyage.
According to the information obtained by Haaland, these fishmen are all from the Yaslan Sea, which is 1,500 kilometers away from the coastline of the Central Continent.
The waters of Aslan are shrouded in fog all year round, and there are no conditions for navigation. Only the fish-man race living in Aslan has mastered a special underwater passage and can get out of the fog of Aslan.
Sutton has been active on this route for seven years with the naval fleet of the Kingdom of Haaland.
A man on the sea also ends up in the sea after death, and his body will also feed fish and turtles.
As for the loot, although this battle killed ten fishmen and six tiger sharks, only five magic cores were dug up, and these five magic cores were not of high level, and the best one was only a third order, so it couldn't be sold for a lot of money.
After all, this archipelago was brought down by the Haraland people, although the island was returned to its original owners at the strong request of the Roger Kingdom, and Richard also took advantage of the war to acquire a large amount of real estate on the island.
Seeing this, the leader of the fishmen let out a terrible roar, and immediately changed his tactics and dived underwater, preparing to swim under the water of the Hope and scuttle the ship's plank.
Giggs's ears were very flexible, and in an instant he heard a mysterious language.
On the third day after the Hope crossed Silvermoon Island, it was attacked by more than a dozen fishmen.
Finally killed a lot of ordinary crew members and destroyed the fishing net array, but the fish-man team also killed three people again, and the casualties were already more than half, seeing that the second wave of organization and mobilization was completed on the Hope, this time more than a dozen crew members went into the water, and they were not afraid to fight a war of attrition with the fishmen.
In the Dawn Plane, all crew members who dare to sail far away have a character that is not afraid of death and loves adventure.
In order to save consumption, now that the Auxerre Castle Plane Teleportation Array is opened once a month, the Haaland Kingdom will basically send out a batch of supply ships every month.
Fish-people are intelligent beings, and their natural lifespan is not comparable to that of humans, about thirty to forty years.
In this situation, the Earl of Silvermoon Island chose to turn a blind eye.
When the Hope was converted into a magic ship, a magic alloy steel plate was also installed on the bottom of the ship, but the resources of the two were limited, and the thickness of the alloy steel plate was relatively thin, and if it was left alone, it would still be chiseled by the fishmen.
Therefore, all things considered, Earl Silvermoon chose to curry favor with both ends, treating the Harland Kingdom as if it were the suzerain, so that Hiss, Giggs and others had the feeling of being in the territory of the Harland Kingdom.
The fish-men of Aslan have a deep grudge against humans, and if the two sides meet at sea, a war will inevitably break out.
Under the command of Hiss, Giggs and others, the crossbowmen held their breath and fired a volley at the fishmen, and in an instant, seven or eight fishmen were hit by arrows.
In the blink of an eye, the fish-man rushed over was hit by the curse ray, and his spirit seemed to fall into a stupor.
Seeing this scene, the leader of the fishmen suddenly became flustered, and hurriedly called the remaining members to retreat, not daring to provoke the human magic ship again.
The situation of the enemy's strength and weakness is very obvious, and the Grant Kingdom has long been unable to compete with the Harland Kingdom in terms of military strength. When the time comes, it really angers the Haalanders, and the Silver Moon family may be in danger of being wiped out.
When it comes to the Snow Crystal Fish Returning Season, this unusually large population of Warcraft will also kill competitors.
On this voyage, if he hadn't met Hiss as a companion and transformed his ship into a magic ship, he might not have been spared the attack of a dozen fishmen.
Hiss was no longer distressed about the consumption of demon cores, and a curtain of light suddenly bloomed on the Hope, which was a protective force field spell, blocking more than a dozen ice arrows.
These fishmen are not of high professional rank, with a green skin color, a darker back, and a lighter belly. Some also have dark stripes, bands, or spots, and the fish-man stands 6 feet tall and weighs more than 200 pounds, with a fish-like head and muscles and bones that are stronger than humans.
When you reach the south of Silvermoon Island, you will have to face the threat of fish-people and deep-sea monsters.
After all, the contrast of strength between the two sides is extremely obvious, and for the sake of long-term consideration, the weaker side must compromise.
However, although the port sparrows are small, the dock is still very clean and tidy.
There are some fish-man sacrifices that have more contact with humans, and can even use magical powers to master the universal human language.
Moreover, Count Silvermoon knew in his heart that Richard wanted to swallow the strategic place of Silvermoon Island back then, but King Roger's resolute opposition did not achieve his wish.
The Hope waited for five or six days, and two magic ships appeared outside Sawyer Harbor with more than a dozen steamships. Giggs consulted directly with the navy and rushed to Hawkins Castle together. It is also very happy to be able to be paired with a magic ship, and the supply fleet is also very happy, after all, the second half of the route is more dangerous than the first half.
The Hope joined up with the Navy supply fleet and continued its voyage for about a month before reaching the end of the voyage.
(End of chapter)