Odis returned to the Argo and made further arrangements. Third Officer Bevis and crew member Boris piloted the Ghost, with eight Extraordinary Puppets, and escorted these people back to Chacker Island.
At maximum speed, we can get back tomorrow morning.
Odis and the rest of the crew continued their journey to Norhaus Island aboard the Argo, where the two ships parted ways.
After the Argo left the area, Odis went to the restaurant to pour himself a beer to celebrate the success of the operation.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, Odis slapped his forehead: "I forgot to snatch the chef."
Rupert suggested, "We could go to Norhouse Island and rob it."
That island was about the same size as Chacker Island, and it certainly couldn't withstand an attack from the Argo.
Odis nodded: "That's a good idea."
At this moment, the handsome Leonard asked, "Excuse me, do you guys often steal like this?"
"Not often," Odis said. "Today is the first time, so I don't have much experience."
"I should have made a list," Odis thought again, "and I forgot to rob the carpenter."
Fortunately, there are carpenters in the port town of Cruz Island, who can be requisitioned when needed and paid wages.
As he pondered this, Odis took another sip of beer and thought to himself: Being a pirate is really great. There's no need to consider other people's feelings. If you need someone, you can just capture them.
Anyway, they'll be paid wages in the future, and in terms of food and safety, it'll definitely be better than on Chacker Island.
...
On the beach of Chacker Island, a woman in her thirties, who looked thin, watched the Argo ship speeding away from the shore.
"Her strength has already surpassed that of an ordinary Sequence 5," she commented.
This is the "Iron Cross" investigating the murder of "Red Lion" Taylor. With the intelligence gathered over the past few days, she realized that she had to report what she had learned to her superiors as soon as possible, because she alone could not solve the case against the killer.
Furthermore, the factor of "Elemental Dawn" must also be considered.
By this time, night had fallen, and the ships of the "Sword of Dawn" were no longer visible on the coastline.
Whew~
The woman was engulfed in flames.
The next second, the flames went out, and she disappeared from the spot.
...
On the Argo.
Late at night, Leonard lay alone on the deck, staring blankly at the starry sky.
He didn't know how much time had passed when he whispered, "Old man, this ship is strange."
"The strangest one is the captain," said Palez Zoroaster, the "old man" inside the body of this "Red Gloves" member.
Leonard was slightly taken aback: "You mean, his strength is too great?"
"No, he is the 'Cherisher of the Night,' the true Cherisher."
Leonard sat bolt upright: "What?"
Because the noise was so loud, Cleveland, who was on night duty in the driver's seat, came out and asked, "Mr. Leonard, what did you just say?"
"It's nothing," Leonard quickly replied, "The starry sky here is just too spectacular."
He smiled and said, "I haven't seen the stars in Backlund for a long time."
Cleveland nodded: "I've also heard that the fog is quite thick in that city."
After saying that, he returned to the driver's cab to continue his night watch.
If it were Boatswain Salina, she would definitely ask about the specifics of the Backlund fog.
Leonard lay on the deck and asked in a low voice after a few minutes, "Old man, why did you say that just now?"
"Because he has the protection of 'the night'," Pales said with a chuckle. "That feeling is unmistakable; once he's out of sight, you won't feel his presence."
Leonard was slightly taken aback; he hadn't noticed that.
However, he was a little puzzled: "Why is he favored by the goddess?"
"You're not the only one in this world with secrets," Pales said. "Didn't you say that?"
Leonard gave a wry smile, took a deep breath, and recalled his former colleague from Tingen.
...
On Thursday morning, the Ghost sailed into Moon Bay.
At this moment, the first rays of sunlight shone on Cruz Island, and the docks were already bustling with activity.
The reason we're busy so early is because the mayor just arrived and not only ordered the restaurant to prepare food, but also had Tom send a group of police officers to be on standby.
The Ghost docked and lowered its spiral staircase. The people who had been captured yesterday disembarked with blank expressions.
They had lived in fear all night and still had no idea why the pirates had kidnapped them.
To be precise, they were neither tied up nor imprisoned.
They were allowed to rest in the cabins, but some terrifying guards stood watch over the doors leading to the deck, preventing them from escaping.
After disembarking, the police officers, who had already received orders, loudly commanded them to have their meal on the dock.
Because they hadn't slept well all night, many people hadn't even eaten dinner last night. Everyone basically wolfed down their food, finishing breakfast in just ten minutes.
Odis, who had also eaten breakfast at the restaurant, gathered the people together and stood on a high place, saying to them, "There's no need to be so nervous."
"As you can see, this is an island that is not heavily developed. I need a lot of construction workers to build roads and houses."
"I also need excellent engineers to help me plan how to build the town and how to build the roads."
"As for the teachers, I need you to teach the humanities and basic mathematics here."
Many people breathed a sigh of relief, at least for the time being, that their lives were no longer in danger.
"Of course, I will also pay you." Odis smiled and said, "Start calculating your wages from today. Your job is to build your own rooms first."
"You can sleep in a warehouse at night for the time being, and then move in after the house is built."
"Also, this designer's two children don't need to participate in the work, but I suggest you take them with you."
When people heard that there would be compensation, some could hardly believe their ears.
This suggests that the pirates will likely release them later; otherwise, there would be no need to pay them, since no one would pay dead people.
Odis then said to Tom, who was standing nearby, "Send 10 officers to watch over them and ensure their safety. Take them to the warehouse to rest for now."
"Those 10 police officers also receive 1 sulphur's worth of overtime pay every day."
"The restaurant will still be responsible for their meals for the time being. Tell the restaurant owner that I will settle all expenses every three days."
That warehouse was requisitioned by Odis from the port town; it was quite large and could easily house dozens of people.
Tom smiled and nodded: "I'll keep an eye on them."
On Cruz Island, there are no jobs that can earn you 1 soule a day.
Normally, the police officers on this island do not receive a salary, nor do they have a fixed working hour. They only take up arms and drive away the indigenous people when they are harassed by the locals in the mountains.
Therefore, the police officers' income basically comes from the small amount of loot they seize and from extorting the residents of the town.
Now things are much better; the new mayor is essentially providing them with some job opportunities.
Because opportunities are limited, Tom prioritizes his cronies, which makes him more authoritative among the police officers.
Afterwards, Odis had Tom take the group to the warehouse that had been arranged for them, but he left the designer behind.
Odis sat on a chair by the restaurant entrance and asked, "What's your name?"
"Cyril." The other person was somewhat nervous: "Mr. Pirate, my name is Cyril Darren."
Odis said "Oh," and added, "You can call me Captain."
"Yes, Captain."
"Come on, I'll show you the terrain." With that, Odis stood up, used a "flight scroll" to take the designer Darren flying.
"Ah... Ah..." Amid Cyril Darren's screams and the residents of the surrounding towns taking it all for granted, the two flew toward the high mountain opposite Lighthouse Hill.
Lighthouse Hill is just a hill, but the mountain opposite it is very tall and offers a bird's-eye view of the entire eastern and southern part of the island.
After Cyril recovered from his surprise, Odis pointed to the southern plain and said, "I want to build a small town on that plain. Do you have any suggestions?"
As he spoke, he handed Cyril a pair of binoculars.
Cyril took the telescope and looked at it for a while before saying, "There are two options. One is to build it in the middle of the plain. I see two villages near that location. We can merge the villages to increase the population."
"Another option is to build along that curved coastline. I saw that with a little digging there, we could create a small port, which would make it easier to go out to sea in the future."
Odis nodded: "I prefer to build a town in the center of the plain. Building a port now wouldn't be very useful."
"After you get back, you can start drawing up the design drawings, and I will send someone to take you to conduct an on-site survey."
He paused and then said, "Your family will also receive preferential treatment. When we get back, I will send someone to rent a house for you in the town so you can stay there for now."
"Thank you, thank you," Cyril said sincerely.
His only wish now is for his family to be safe and for them to have the opportunity to go back.
"And here too." Odis pointed to Lighthouse Hill: "I want to build a permanent base on the seaward side, and some office buildings, residential buildings and other structures on the inner side."
"I suggest that office buildings and similar structures be built in the middle, with residential buildings on either side," Cyril suggested. "Ideally, the residential buildings should have a view of the sea."
Odis nodded: "This is something I didn't expect. You can also start drawing up the blueprints for the buildings there now."
Cyril cautioned, "Captain, if you're planning to build a house, wood isn't very reliable."
"You don't need to worry about the building materials. Oh, and I'd like to expand this port further," Odis said, pointing to "Moon Bay." "It would be best if it could accommodate some large ships."
"This will be a huge undertaking," Cyril said. "We can only build a dam outside the port, pump out the water, and then excavate out the silt and rocks inside."
"Then extend the pier forward a bit, and finally drain the water back in, and you will get a great deep-water port."
Odis nodded: "That's about the same as what I was thinking."
He then added, "Finally, there's the issue of road construction. I hope to build a ring road that can connect the southern plains, the eastern port, and the northern forests and hills."
Cyril gradually became more enthusiastic: "The blueprints aren't too difficult, but they require a lot of manpower and building materials."
He gradually realized that it would be quite nice if he could plan and build an island.
The two talked for more than half an hour on the mountaintop, and Odis had a rough plan for the next stage of construction.
Since Odis has other matters to attend to today, we can only stop here for now.
Back in town, Odis left Bevis and Boris on Cruz Island, instructing Bevis to find a house for the designer's family and to start organizing the workers to find a place to build their own dormitories.
Construction tools were first requisitioned from the port town, and Cyril provided a list for Odis to purchase from Bayam.
Then Odis used the power of the "Travel Ring" to arrive in Bayam, where he first gave the tool list to Bazel and asked him to send someone to purchase them.
After Bazel had settled his work, Odis took him back to the "Argo," by which time they were not far from Nohaus Island.
Odis had no intention of letting the Argo dock. After handing over command of the ship to Bazel, he took Leonard to the port of Norhaus to gather information.
After emerging from the spirit world, Leonard remarked, "'Travel' is the most practical ability I've ever seen."
Odis smiled: "It certainly saves a lot of trouble."
The two looked towards the port city not far away. The seaside city, bathed in sunlight, always seemed full of hope.
This city is the size of a small city, and more prosperous than Chacker Island, because it is closer to the main shipping lanes.
As the two walked forward, Leonard asked, "Do you have any channels for obtaining intelligence on this island?"
"I didn't," Odis said. "However, yesterday afternoon, Pas from the 'Sea Lion Bar' contacted my first mate again and told him about his contact on the island, who is also an information broker. We can go and ask him for information."
As they approached the port, they finally encountered a horse-drawn carriage. Odis said to the driver, "To the 'Seaweed Bar'."
This bar is not far from the port, and people play cards and chat here during the day.
Odis and Leonard, both wearing trench coats, immediately attracted a lot of attention when they entered, as none of the other patrons there wore trench coats.
Odis walked straight to the bar with practiced ease: "'Sea Lion' introduced us here."
The bartender paused for a moment, then said, "Come with me."
He led Odis and Leonard to the back door, where there was a small courtyard. In the corridor leading to the courtyard, there were already two streetwalkers ready to take customers.
Upon seeing Odis and his companion, they immediately began flirting and striking seductive poses, for it was rare to find such clean and handsome customers here.
After walking down the corridor, the bartender led them to the door of a room and knocked, saying, "Mr. Gavin, we have a guest introduced by 'Sea Lion'."
"Please come in." A male voice came from inside.
The bartender pushed open the door. Although the inside was messy, the middle-aged man sitting at the desk who had just gotten up was dressed reasonably.
After giving the bartender a tip, he said to Odis and Leonard, "Please come in, gentlemen."
After closing the door, Gavin quickly wiped the chair: "I'm sorry, you two, I rarely have customers here. I usually entertain guests at the bar."
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
However, it's only a little past ten o'clock this morning, and he has just gotten up.
"It's alright." Odis didn't sit down, but said, "We have a few questions to ask."
"Please feel free to ask," Gavin joked with a smile. "I love the question-and-answer part the most."
Odis said, "I want all the information about the 'Skull' pirate crew."
Gavin thought for a moment, glanced at Odis and Leonard, and smiled, "300 pounds."
Odis straightened her trench coat: "I just saw three bars near the port."
"280 pounds!" Gavin said sincerely, "I can guarantee that no one has more comprehensive intelligence than I do."
Odis glanced at Gavin: "30 pounds."
Gavin laughed and said, "Then you should look for someone else. But I dare say, on Norhouse Island, no one will be cheaper than me."
Odis smiled: "Do you think I'm a first-timer at sea?"
He said to Leonard, "Let's go."
The two opened the door and were about to walk out when Gavin said, "Wait a minute. Since it was 'Sea Lion' who introduced us, 30 pounds it is."
Odis then led Leonard back inside: "You should be glad I negotiated with you."
Gavin paused for a moment, then immediately understood what the other party meant: if there was no negotiation, they would likely take him away for interrogation.
He quickly stood up and said politely again, "Please sit down, please sit down."
Odis then sat down, and Leonard, who was sitting next to him, followed suit. He didn't say a word the whole time because he didn't know the value of this information or how to negotiate the price.
"The 'Skull' pirate crew is called that because their flag is a skull." After agreeing on the price, Gavin began to say, "It's a very retro flag. It's said that in the beginning, pirate flags were all kinds of skulls."
"Iron Hand" Balk is named so because he lost one of his hands in his early years. He first wore an iron hook, and later he wore a more flexible iron hand.
"This pirate group frequently appears around Norhouse Island, so many people speculate that they have a base nearby."
"Yes, they just finished resupplying at the port and left three days ago. Also, Jeff from the department store seems to be their intelligence officer and contact."
Odis asked, "What direction were they heading when they left the port?"
"South," Gavin said. "But they often circle around, so they might not actually be heading south."
Odis then asked, "Are their supplies proportional to their consumption?"
Gavin paused for a moment, then asked, "Wh...what do you mean?"
"For example, will they return within a month after replenishing their food and water for the previous month? Or about a month? Or more than a month?" Odis had no choice but to explain.
Gavin recalled, "They usually replenish their food and water for half a month and return within half a month, or reach another port."
Odis took out his pipe and asked, "How many islands are there nearby? Are they inhabited? Are there any undeveloped or unexplored areas?"
This series of questions made Gavin pause again, because this intelligence seemed to have nothing to do with the "Skull" pirate crew.
However, since Odis had spent money, Gavin quickly got up and rummaged through the messy desk, eventually finding a hand-drawn nautical chart.
"This is a nautical chart of the waters surrounding Norhaus Island," Gavin handed to Odis. "Of those eight islands, only two are inhabited."
"There are many unexplored areas. Look in this direction and in this direction, there are large areas of dangerous waters."
The so-called "dangerous sea area" refers to the dangerous area in the turbulent sea.
Most areas of the raging sea are extremely dangerous. Only the shipping lanes are relatively safe. In other words, people have connected these safe areas of the sea to form the extensive shipping lanes that exist in the raging sea today.
Surrounding these safe areas are extremely harsh weather conditions, including dark clouds, strong winds, and storms.
Odis examined the nautical chart carefully and then asked, "Tell me the specific information about the 'Skull' pirate crew."
"Don't be fooled by the fact that the 'Skull' pirate crew only has one ship. I've heard it's a ghost ship, said to be able to summon terrifying power," Gavin described. "'Iron Hand' Balk is also a very powerful figure. He can summon the undead and even awaken corpses to help him."
"First mate Kentra has a mysterious ability to bring bad luck to people for no reason, and the second mate..."
Gavin gave a brief overview of the main members of the "Skull" pirate crew, which gave Odis a general idea of the crew's strength.
Odis asked, "How do I find Jeff at the department store?"
"Just turn left after you go out and keep walking along the main road," Gavin said with a smile.
Odis took out his wallet and counted out three 10-pound notes: "One last question, has anything strange happened on Norhaus Island recently?"
Gavin's eyes were fixed on the three banknotes: "Strange...strange thing?"
He thought for a moment before asking, "A few days ago, someone saw that the dark clouds formed the shape of a skull. Is that considered strange?"
Odis wanted to ask, besides the skeleton, was there also a snake?
He smiled, handed the money to Gavin, and left with Leonard.
Once on the street, Odis looked at the pedestrians around her before saying to Leonard, "Before we go find Jeff, shouldn't we find a place to talk?"
Leonard nodded: "Of course, after all, we just obtained a lot of valuable information, so we should analyze it first."
As Odis walked toward the beach, he said, "I'd like to talk about the reimbursement of intelligence fees first."
He smiled and said, "After accepting your mission, I have already spent 55 pounds to buy intelligence."
I just spent £30. Yesterday, when Bazel went to the "Sea Lion Bar" to buy information from Paz, he spent £15. That afternoon, Paz provided Gavin's contact information, which cost him £10.
Leonard paused for a moment before saying, "I'll inform Bishop Dean and have him reimburse you."
The mention of "reimbursement" reminded him of two colleagues he had worked with in Tingen.
The two chatted about money as they walked to a deserted beach.
Seeing that no one was around, Odis said, "This task may be a little more complicated than I thought."
"The 'Skull' pirate crew has no base in this area. They are patrolling this sea area, probably looking for something."
Leonard was quite surprised by Odis's words: "We...we didn't get this information in the trade!"
"This is not something that is hard to predict," Odis said. "First of all, apart from the 'dangerous waters,' there are no unexplored areas in the surrounding seas, so there are no conditions to establish a base."
"Of course, it is possible that they found a relatively safe area in the 'dangerous waters' and established a base there."
"But their supply consumption is incorrect. If there were strongholds, the consumption of supplies would not be so high."
"Because the outpost would share some of the food and fresh water consumption, for example, it would replenish food and water from Norhaus Island for half a month. When they returned to the outpost, they would prefer to fish, gather, and eat some fresh food."
"In that case, it might take them half a month, or even a month, to return to Norhaus Island for supplies."
"But the fact that they were able to resupply on time indicates that they had no other resupply locations."
Leonard opened his mouth, surprised that so much intelligence could be derived from this information.
"But there's something rather strange," Odis said. "It sounds like Balk should be a 'necromancer,' so he should be able to control quite a few undead. Why doesn't he use undead as crew members?"
"Oh, well… I roughly know what that means." Leonard said, "I've heard from a friend that zombies can only obey some simple commands, and the execution process is generally not very flexible."
"It's fine for ambushing enemies on land, but it's not so reliable against zombies at sea. You can't exactly have them steer the ship, keep watch, or stand guard in the wheelhouse at night, can you?"
Odis paused for a moment, then said, "I can certainly relate to that."
Normally, he wouldn't dare to completely delegate these tasks to the "extraordinary puppet." All matters requiring a lot of subjective judgment were still supervised by the crew.
"Since there's no stronghold nearby, it's quite strange that they're still frequently loitering in the surrounding waters," Odis continued. "The key point is that they're not waiting for merchant ships or cargo ships to carry out robberies."
"If merchant ships were frequently robbed, Norhaus Island would probably be in decline by now, or there would be naval vessels patrolling the area."
"Since they're not looking to plunder merchant ships, they must be looking for something."
Leonard remarked, "The 'leader' of the intelligence community is indeed formidable."
"Hehehe, it would be great if 'Red Gloves' could hire you to analyze intelligence for us."
"Sure, as long as you can offer an attractive price," Odis said immediately.
Leonard grinned: "My teammates often say I'm too casual and seem unreliable."
"Now it seems I chose the wrong career. Would I have been more suited to be a pirate?"
Odis smiled and said, "You're welcome anytime. If you'd like to come, I'll let you be the first mate."
Leonard joked, "At this point, a normal gentleman would say a few words of modesty, indicating that he is not qualified for the position, and politely decline on the grounds that he is not familiar with the situation at sea."
Odis said, "Oh, I understand. You mean your invitation was just a polite gesture, and you were praising me in this way."
"But you don't seem like a 'proper gentleman' either. I thought you really wanted to invite me to help you."
Leonard skipped over Captain Garr's assessment of him: "To be honest, that's what I really think, but I'm afraid the 'Red Gloves' can't afford that price."
The two stopped, looked at each other, and burst into laughter.
After laughing a few times, Leonard remarked, "If only all my colleagues were as easy to get along with as you."
"That would make the whole 'Red Glove' organization unreliable." Odis smiled. "Alright, let's get down to business first."
"I suspect you're looking for the same thing as 'Iron Hand' Balk, and I'd like to know roughly what that thing is."
"Because this operation may require us to enter 'dangerous waters,' we must be adequately prepared."
"Moreover, the opportunity to search for things at sea is very short and easy to miss, and there may not be time to explain it then."
Leonard nodded, thought for a moment, and then said, "To be specific, my task is not to find that thing, but to stop Balk from finding it."
He took a deep breath and revealed, "You should have heard of the 'Spirit Order,' right? Although it's an organization, it has many factions, and Balk is a member of one of them."
"As for what he's looking for... you've probably heard of the 'Pale Age,' right? It's said that over a thousand years ago, the 'Emperor of the Underworld' launched an attack on the Northern Continent."
"At that time, there were still many landmasses and islands in the Raging Sea, which were at least larger than the Rothschild Islands."
"To support the war in the Northern Continent, the Byron Empire has established many outposts in the current location of the Raging Sea."
Odis said "Oh," and added, "There must be a lot of good things there."
No wonder they're unwilling to wait for the Storm Church's support. When faced with ruins on adjacent paths, Odis isn't willing to wait even a second longer.
"We've cracked a case involving the 'Spirit Order' in Backlund," Leonard continued. "My mission is simply to verify the accuracy of this intelligence and stop Balk from pursuing it further."
"After that, we just need to go back and report, because there are many powerful monsters in that military station that are beyond our level to deal with."
This is also a reminder, or rather a warning, to Odis: even if he encounters that ruin, he should not explore it recklessly out of greed, because that would be courting death.
Odis pondered for a moment and said, "This time we're probably going to enter 'dangerous waters'."
Leonard paused for a moment before nodding and asking, "Are you confident?"
Odis grinned: "I've wanted to try it for a long time. It's said that many treasures and islands that no one has ever set foot on are buried in those dangerous seas."