The air was unusually dull and the sea was unusually calm. The dark cumulus clouds formed rolling mountains at the junction of the sky and the sea. The highest peak stretched straight through the sky and the earth, just like the legendary residence of the gods.
"It looks like a storm is coming."
Janus closed the account book in his hand, patted the dusty cover a few times, and gently flattened the rolled-up corners, and then walked out of the captain's cabin with slow and graceful steps. Came to the deck.
He is the most trusted captain of Lübeck Mayor Hermann. He has led merchant ships on many voyages from Lübeck in the North Sea to Alexandria in the Mediterranean. Therefore, he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of this Vinland expedition. The other end is always His most striking feature is his blond hair with a faint scent of roses. It is very long and hangs down from both sides to his shoulders. The few bangs on his forehead also extend far beyond the bridge of his nose.
"Captain, I still haven't seen land!" The sailor on the observation deck shouted to Janus, "It's been so many days, but there's still sea, and there's not even an island!"
"It's just that you can't see it." Janus smiled slightly, "We have been away from Ireland for less than a month. If we can find Vinland in this way, then there is no value in looking for Vinland."
"Captain, having said that, I think our sailors are a little panicked these days." The first mate on the ship came over and said, "We have not been sailing for a month, but we have not seen land for a month. This is unprecedented. Something that has never happened before. The most important thing is that for Vinland, we only know that it is in the west, but we don’t know its specific location. If we continue sailing like this, if we cross Vinland and sail all the way to the border of the world, we will start from the border of the world. The waterfall fell into the abyss!"
"Isn't there a chart?" Janus said, "Let's compare it and see where we are?"
So the first mate unfolded the chart full of monsters on the deck and showed it to Janus with his finger.
"A month ago, we left Ireland. According to the chart, we would encounter spiny rays, sea worms, many-legged monsters, sword-beaked whales, and finally an evil dragon. According to the information given to us by the mayor, we encountered After arriving at the Evil Dragon, continue west and you will reach Vinland. But Captain, we have been sailing for more than a month and we haven’t even encountered the Spinyback Ray yet!"
"Just because we haven't encountered it doesn't mean we haven't passed it. The crew prayed all the way, so it should have some effect."
"But if we don't see these monsters, we won't be able to confirm where we are." The first mate said, "There is nothing but sea around here!"
Janus smiled and shook his head.
"It's okay if we don't need to encounter it. First of all, our ship's speed remains unchanged..."
"Isn't it?" said the first mate, "it changes every day. The past few days it was a headwind, these days it's a tailwind, and the wind strength is also different."
"That's true, but if you calculate it on a monthly basis, the average speed is not much different..."
"Isn't it much different?" the first mate said, "The wind last month was not as strong as this month's wind."
Janus's face twitched.
"Of course we can't calculate precise speeds, but given the vastness of the land, the deviations in these speeds are negligible. Well, hear me out. It took us about a month to get from Lübeck to Ireland , but another month has passed since I left Ireland. If you calculate it this way..."
He placed his thumb on Ireland and his index finger on Lübeck. Then, with Ireland as the center of the circle, keeping his thumb still, he turned his index finger to the west of Ireland. In this way, his index finger pointed out a new point on the chart.
point.
"Look, we are about to enter the sea of big sea worms, and we are still far from the border of the world."
He patted the first mate on the shoulder to signal him not to panic. Then, he looked up at the sea - after that unusual calm, the sea began to ripple again.
"The wind has picked up again, which is not good. Let the sailor take down the sail first."
"Captain!" The sailor on the observation deck shouted to Janus again, "Behind! There is a ship behind us!"
"Ship?" the first mate shouted towards the observation tower, "How can there be a ship in this sea area? Look carefully, what kind of ship is it?"
"I guess that's the army of the King of Sweden." Janus smiled and said to the first mate, "I can bet a Nomisma."
"It's more believable if you say it's the fleet of the Tianfang Empire. Yes, I'll take a bet." The first mate responded, "Based on the motive, it should indeed be the fleet of the King of Sweden. But Janus, you can't just consider the motive.
.We set out from Lübeck and escaped the King of Sweden's patrol in the English Channel twenty days later. Even if the patrol went back to report immediately, the King of Sweden immediately led a team to chase them back and forth. They left the sea nearly four days later than us.
Ten days, it’s impossible to catch up so quickly!”
"Report, that ship has a black sail that we have never seen before!" shouted the sailor on the observation deck, "and there is a skull painted on it!"
The first mate proudly spread his hands to Janus.
"And it's very big!" the sailor continued to shout, "Although it's far away, it's really very big! If you get close, it will probably be the same as a fortress!"
"How?" Janus smiled and extended his hand to the first mate, "Twenty days are based on the speed of our ship. With the speed of the Pirate Kingdom, it doesn't take that long to get from Lübeck to the English Channel. More
What's more, we stayed in Ireland for ten days. This is the King of Sweden. If he comes up with some technologies we haven't seen before, it wouldn't be surprising to catch up with our fleet at this time."
"Damn it." The first mate reluctantly took out the money bag, picked out a Nomisma and patted it in Janus's hand, "It's okay to catch up, she even has time to change the color of the sail.
, and draw a skull on it.”
"The intention is obvious. She has made up her mind not to recognize that this is the Swedish army. The Swedish flag we spent money to buy may no longer be of any use."
"Then what should we do?" The first mate was frightened by Janus's words. "The combined number of people in our ten ships is not that many people in one ship of the Flying Sealander! The Flying Sealander is packed with a lot of people."
We are a battleship with weapons, but we are just merchant ships. We are not as fast as the other party, and we can’t even run away?”
"If it had been a few days ago or a few days later, then it would have been as you said, and we would have had no choice but to surrender honestly. But that may not be the case today."
As he spoke, Janus raised his head and shouted to the sailor who had climbed onto the mast:
"Come down, don't furl the sails yet!"
The waves rolled more and more violently, and the black cloud mountain was completely shattered at some point, and the fragments poured towards Janus's fleet.
This was a sign of the coming storm. Looking at all this, Janus finally added a bit of solemnity to his face:
"King of Sweden, I won't furl my sails, what about you?"
