As the son of a knight, it was the first time for Elio to leave the imperial capital so far away. The endless blue sky made him scream without caring about his image. The old Beron man Grum next to him shook his head.
"After going to sea, there will be more scenery." An wrote. Of course, it may also cause seasickness. She thought a little funny in her heart, but did not tell Elio this.
"Should we rent a boat or buy one ourselves?" Old Belon once hosted the Archduke Egmonton's expedition and knew the advantages and disadvantages of both. "Leasing a boat means that the captain has more say.
But he is relatively skilled and cooperates better with the sailors on the ship; buying a ship means that you are the owner of the ship, but the sailors responsible for operating the ship need to be recruited separately. Of course, you can also try to take over the sailors of the previous captain - although it may only be part of it.
"
The girl listened to Groom's words and gave the answer almost without thinking: "It's not far to go to sea this time, renting a boat is a more practical option." She tapped her chin with the holder of the quill pen and continued to write, "
It might be better if the captain is younger. In short, I leave the boat charter to you."
"Leave it to me!" Old Beron patted his chest, his face full of confidence.
He did have confidence. In the afternoon of that day, Groom came to Ann with three captains and asked her to choose the boat she liked. By the way, it was learned that the patron who rented the boat this time was a
When they were still underage girls, even the three captains, who had experienced many storms, could not help but show surprise.
The oldest captain seemed dissatisfied with Ann's desire to board the ship, so she politely persuaded the middle-aged man to leave. Then she followed the two remaining captains to the dock to inspect the ship.
Both of their boats were three-masted Caravel boats, which were light and flexible and capable of performing offshore exploration tasks. She took a half-circle on each of the two boats, and after a little thought, she selected one of them.
"Why that one?" Elio asked curiously on the way back to the hotel after signing the lease document, "Is it because the captain is younger?"
"No, because that boat is cleaner." An Li wrote confidently.
It took nearly a week to prepare for the voyage. The purpose this time was to redraw the coastline, but there was no shortage of opportunities for replenishment. During this period, An learned a lot about navigation instruments from the ship's first mate, a middle-aged woman named Ella.
How to use it. Ann's learning ability greatly amazed Ella, and in return, she drew a bust of the other party, which greatly impressed Ella and the rest of the crew.
As for Elio, his abundant energy and skillful mast-climbing skills were also praised as "a descendant of the knight family." The person involved seemed quite satisfied with this praise and became more energetic when helping to prepare.
All in all, within just one week, the two of them successfully got along with the crew. Groom seemed very satisfied with this and believed that the old Grand Duke did have an excellent eye for people.
"I'm starting to have some confidence in you." One day at dinner, he was drinking potato soup and said angrily, "I thought they were just two kids, but now it seems... they are worthy of the royal family and the Laurent family.
Descendants?"
Ann smiled and accepted the compliment. Elio complained a few times that he was not a child, and quickly turned his attention to the bacon and bread on the plate.
The ship set sail on the seventeenth day of the winter month. The crew believed that seven was a lucky number for sailors, and sailing on a day that included seven would ensure a safe return.
This may be because there are seven stars on the holy symbol of "Lord of the Heart" Flo - the crew members who understand the elusiveness of the sea are one of the most important believers of the "Lord of the Heart", and the other group is the fortune tellers. ...and wizards who are good at prophecy.
The "Lady Victory" raised its sails and slowly sailed into the sea. During this season, the sea further north will be frozen, but the area within dozens of nautical miles from the shore is still relatively safe. Of course, this is only relatively speaking. ——Icebergs from the northwest sometimes drift here, and under the current temperature, even if you have a small boat ready, touching the iceberg may be a fatal disaster.
...but before that, seasickness was a bad enough disaster.
In the first two days, everything seemed fine for the two people who were taking a boat for the first time. On the third day, there was a strong wind on the sea, and the boat was tossed around like a leaf by the waves, but it was a big misfortune for the two people.
Elio was lying on the side of the boat with a blue face, vomiting all over the place. He almost didn't even have yesterday's breakfast left. Anze was lying on the hammock in the bedroom. She didn't eat anything to begin with. There was a lot to vomit, but the churning in her stomach left her with no strength to even stand up, let alone observe the coastline.
Fortunately, the storm passed quickly. After the sea surface calmed down, the chef cooked a pot of fresh fish soup. The delicious soup without any fishy smell allowed the two of them to regain some strength. Elio forgot about his previous unhappiness and continued his interest. An excitedly climbed up to the mast to take a look; An then picked up a telescope, a rangefinder and a sextant, memorizing all the details of the surrounding coastline and waiting to be drawn into a map at night.
"It's the same for everyone the first time." Ella came over and comforted her, "You guys are pretty good. You'll definitely be more used to it when you encounter a storm next time."
She would rather not get used to this - but if this is an ability necessary for adventure, it would be good to master it, An thought.
The ship continued to sail west. This time, the farthest target was fifty miles west of the empire's border. At the current speed, it would take about fifteen days to sail. On the way, the "Lady Victory" docked to replenish fresh water, and then successfully reached the target. location and start returning.
The accident occurred on the second day of the return voyage. A group of humans wearing light armor made of fish skin, holding short spears, gills on their cheeks, and smelling of stench jumped on the ship and tried to seize the cargo of the "Lady Victory".
"Don't resist!" the leader said rudely, "otherwise, the ship will sink and you will all die!"
These are the pirates of the Fritz people - it turns out that apart from being a bit smelly, they look not much different from the Kamal people, An Xin thought.
She saw that the captain and crew members had pale faces. After all, at sea, the Fritz people did have a huge advantage. Elio quickly slipped from the mast and stood in front of An, shouting: "If you want to hurt An, you must step on it." Get over my head!"
All these words were funny to An, and she didn't need protection. She gently pushed the boy away, walked to the opposite side of the leader of the pirates, and showed him the notebook with Fritz's writing on it.
"This is an exploration ship. Apart from the people and the ship itself, there is no treasure or cargo you need. However, I have a proposal that will give you enough benefits."
Several Fritzites looked at each other, either because they were surprised that there was such a delicate-looking little girl on the ship, or because someone actually understood their words. No matter what it was, this obviously aroused enough curiosity from the other party.
"Tell me about it." The leader of the pirates changed to Fritzl in a friendly manner, and at the same time showed a fierce look, "If your answer does not satisfy me, I will be the first to chop off your head."
"I am the person in charge of this expedition." An did not look scared at all, and the hand holding the charcoal pen did not tremble at all. "I can only get the corresponding reward after completing the expedition and reporting it back to my client."
"You mean, let us wait until you return?" The pirate leader interrupted her and spat, "Get out of here, you liar! When you return, I won't get anything!"
"I can sign a treaty with you, proving that you provided escort and guidance for this ship, so I am willing to share half of the reward with you." An was unmoved by the pirate leader's evil words, "In addition,
I am the fifth princess of the Violet Empire, if you are willing
, I can ask the Grand Duke of Egmonton to grant you the status of honorary citizens of the empire. In this way, you can live safely within the empire-colored area. If there are other maritime adventures in the future, you can also join us if you are willing.
Go and receive the corresponding reward."
"Don't try to kidnap me." She continued. "My existence is not important to the empire, so I was appointed to explore places like this. If you cause my expedition to fail, you will get nothing. But
If you kill me, it will be regarded as a provocation to the empire - at that time, whether the empire will use this as an excuse to eliminate you is not something I can know."
"That's all I want to say. The decision is left to you." After writing this sentence, I quietly put down the pen without any nervous expression on my face.
The pirates gathered together and discussed in low voices. They had obviously never thought of many of the things An said, but they should have understood what the girl wanted to express.
One pirate claimed that none of the people in Kamal were trustworthy, so it would be better to kill everyone and sell the ship. Another man next to him immediately called him a fool. If An's identity was true, selling the ship would obviously bring trouble to them.
Unnecessary trouble, etc.
The girl listened to their discussion quietly, only biting her lower lip slightly, showing that she was not so calm inside. The captain, first mate and crew members looked at each other. Things seemed to be completely beyond their expectations, but for now they could only look forward to it.
Negotiations with girls can be successful.
Elio stood beside An, his hands tightly clenched into fists, as if he was ready to counterattack the enemy at any time. Grum, the old Belon man, squinted his eyes and leaned against the mast, tapping the beat casually with his right hand. He was the most powerful person on the entire ship.
A relaxed person.
About a quarter of an hour later, the pirates finally came to the conclusion of their discussion - it should be said that the leader couldn't bear to hear the quarrels like wheels and forcibly stopped the argument. He touched his tangled hair and walked up to the girl.
, "I will believe you just once, little girl. People who can speak our language must not be scheming people."