Chapter 704 Sailing Timetable <TOC> Chapter 706 Roman
Translator: SumTLMan
Seagulls flapped their wings, and the rhythmic sound of their calls mixed with the surge of the tide reached their ears.
Angel groggily opened his eyes, looking at the sea and blue sky outside the window as clouds shifted and flowed. For a moment, he thought he had returned to four years ago, during his time aboard the Purple Bohemia, when he often gazed at the outside world through a small window.
As Angel was lost in thought, a gray seabird dressed in a panda outfit fluttered its wings and landed on the windowsill, chirping at Angel.
“Good morning, Toby,” Angel greeted with a lazy wave.
At Toby’s urging, Angel finally got out of bed leisurely.
In the mirror, Angel’s figure was tall and fair, with broad shoulders yet not overly muscular. His inverted-triangle body shape was the perfect clothes hanger. Even with messy golden hair, he still looked strikingly handsome.
While Angel was grooming himself, there was a knock on the door, accompanied by a youthful voice, “Sir Pat, First Officer Helen of the Cloud Conch is here to inquire about when you’ll be joining them. The Cloud Conch is scheduled to set sail in an hour.”
“I’ll be right there,” Angel replied.
“Alright, I’ll go and relay the message.”
After hearing the person outside the door leave, Angel chose a brown vest suit and put on a slim-fitting gentleman’s coat. Then, he used an illusion transformation spell to turn back into a dispirited middle-aged man, and called Toby to leave.
As soon as he walked downstairs, he saw a slightly plump woman wearing a dark blue uniform with white trim standing by the door. When she saw Angel coming down, she removed her hat and saluted him from afar.
“Sir Pat, this is First Officer Helen of the Cloud Conch,” Boro introduced to Angel.
The woman also stepped forward, bowed to Angel and said, “Helen has the honor to meet the great wizard.”
Generally speaking, only ordinary people could not distinguish between wizards and apprentices and would address all extraordinary people as “great wizard.” Upon closer inspection, Angel found that this woman was indeed an ordinary person.
She appeared to be in her thirties, not bad-looking but with a somewhat sharp gaze.
“Ms. Helen, I apologize for the wait,” Angel greeted with a smile.
Helen’s expression changed slightly. As the first officer of the Cloud Conch, she had met many extraordinary people. Most of them paid no attention to ordinary people. She had grown accustomed to being ignored and even prepared for cold treatment, but she hadn’t expected the man before her to be so surprisingly amiable.
“It wasn’t a long wait, would you like to leave now, great wizard?”
“Yes, please lead the way,” Angel smiled.
As they left the base, Boro also came out, smiling at Angel and asking Helen, “First Officer Helen, do you know who will be overseeing the Cloud Conch this time?”
Helen fell silent for a moment, “Lord Boro, I just saw Sir Roman on the deck.”
“So it’s Roman?” Boro whispered to Angel, “Roman’s full name is Roman Rofka, proficient in water-based magic, belonging to the lineage of Ocean Wizards. He is outwardly called a hired caster by the White Shell Shipping Company, but in fact, he is an apprentice stationed there from Sky Mechanical City…”
Boro gestured towards the sky.
Angel nodded, understanding.
“He has been stationed in White Shell Sea City for almost twenty years. He didn’t go out to sea for the first ten years, but now he goes with the ships. His lifespan is almost up, just like mine. However, his power is much stronger than mine, being at the peak of the apprentice stage. In recent years, he has often taken the route through the Devil’s Sea, presumably looking for a chance to advance.”
Angel was not particularly interested in Roman himself, but more curious about one thing, “Can a third-level apprentice hold down the dangers of the Devil’s Sea?”
Instead of answering, Boro gestured for Helen to speak.
“Reporting to the Lord, our cargo ship has been professionally designed, and it can handle ordinary severe weather conditions. It is only when we encounter powerful sea beasts that we need the wizard to take action.”
Angel understood. Although there were wizard-level sea beasts in the ocean, they generally wouldn’t reveal themselves, or else they would be hunted down by wizards once their traces were exposed.
As for other sea beasts, even if a peak apprentice couldn’t deal with them, driving them away shouldn’t be a problem.
Moreover, Angel remembered that the front of the Bohemia had a hidden Nightmare Stone. If the Cloud Conch also had one, it could help them avoid many threats from sea beasts.
“Is there no one else besides Roman?”
“I didn’t see anyone else.” Helen knew that by “people,” Boro meant extraordinary beings, not ordinary mortals like them.
“Well, after all, it’s already late in the season, and other wizard organizations wouldn’t send Guides out to sea.” Boro said to Angel, “That’s a good thing, at least there’s no one to compete with you for talents.”
Boro’s comfort had little effect. Even if a hundred or so Guides went out to sea and were thrown onto the same overseas continent, they probably wouldn’t cause a ripple. Let alone competing for talents, it would be difficult even to meet each other.
The world was vast, and even the Old Land Continent known as “Island” had more than a dozen neighboring countries. When Morrow went to find talents, he only searched a small Goldfinch Empire.
Soon, they arrived at the port of White Shell Sea City.
“Sir Pat, I won’t accompany you on board. I wish you a safe journey.” Boro doffed his hat and bowed, “I hope you can find a new generation of torchbearers for the Savage Grottoes.”
Angel also returned the courtesy and whispered, “Thanks to Sir Boro’s care during this time, I’ve left a small gift for you in my bedroom. I hope you like it.”
After saying this, Angel and Helen turned around and left.
Boro, however, was puzzled: a small gift? What is it?
As Boro was still baffled, the Cloud Conch had already set sail, with the gentle morning light illuminating the White Shell Seaport, and the sea breeze caressing Boro’s long white beard that trailed on the ground.
By the time Boro came to his senses, all that was left by his ear were the distant sounds of the horn and the seagulls soaring near the sails in the distance…
Upon returning from the harbor, Boro found the hall filled with goods as soon as he entered. Books that were previously strewn about were now piled up in the corner, making room for the new arrivals.
“Old man Boro, the headquarters has already sent the supplies, and not a single item is missing!” the chubby apprentice said with a smile when he saw Boro.
Every time resources arrived from the headquarters, the apprentices at the outpost would rejoice as if it were a holiday since these things were meant for their own use.
In this lonely and remote place, this was the only thing they looked forward to.
“Of course, nothing would be missing, as long as we don’t apply for something like a music box like last time, there would be no errors,” Boro said with a smile.
Hemi pursed his lips and muttered a curse under his breath. However, he quickly immersed himself in the planning and distribution of the resources.
As the second strongest “expert” at the outpost, Boro was in charge of the overall situation, and Hemi took care of the rest, such as distribution.
Without hesitation, Hemi allocated the best items to his own faction, causing the others to grit their teeth in frustration but unable to do anything about it.
After Hemi had taken nearly a quarter of the resources, Boro finally intervened. Hemi looked at a colorful shell, his face conflicted, “I promise, this is the last one, I don’t want anything else, even if it’s given to me.”
The colorful shell was actually a Tide Sound Conch, a material for special attribute users. Hemi was not a special attribute user, and there were no special attribute apprentices here, so the colorful shell could only be used as a plaything, such as to listen to the sound of the sea…
“Fine, but remember, this is what you said. You absolutely can’t have any more,” the others agreed to Hemi’s request, as they didn’t need the colorful shell either.
Hemi continued to allocate the resources, while the others gathered around Boro, flipping through the —Mirror— magazine.
Whether the events in the Eternal Night Kingdom affected the Savage Grottoes and what the Savage Grottoes should do next were matters of concern to them.
“Temporarily halt reception of outside guests, restrict apprentices’ travel, and significantly reduce the number of external missions. Meanwhile, for stationed personnel on external assignments, other than those in the Eternal Night Kingdom who must immediately return to the Mirror World, those in other places will remain unchanged, or even have their… stationing time extended?!”
Everyone, except for Boro, was shocked upon seeing the message.
Even Hemi dropped the resource allocation sheet and came over.
“Does this mean we have to stay here for the time being?”
“No wonder they gave us so many resources so generously; they never intended for us to return in the short term…”
“I knew I shouldn’t have taken this garrison assignment.”
People began to sigh and complain, with no shortage of discontent.
Boro sighed, “Not letting you return might actually be to protect you. After all, nobody knows the current situation in the Savage Grottoes…”
“Didn’t that guy named Pat just come from headquarters? We could ask him.”
“He’s already gone, so asking now is pointless,” Boro retorted. “Besides, he might have taken the Guide Mission to escape trouble and go far away…”
Suddenly, Boro seemed to recall something: “Right, before Sir Pat left, he said he left me a small gift in the room. I’ll go see what it is.”
A short while later, Boro came down the stairs with an elegantly simple silver cloak in hand.
From a distance, it appeared to be a solid color, but upon closer inspection, faint gray patterns could be seen on the cloak. The patterns were strange wave-like formations, full of exotic charm.
“Old Boro, what is this? It feels…like it has energy fluctuations,” someone asked curiously.
Boro swallowed hard, looking at the brief note in his hand.
At that moment, the plump apprentice leaned in and read the contents of the note out loud: “Sir Boro, this cloak is called ‘Between the Diving Ducks’ and can conceal one’s presence while allowing the wearer to breathe underwater and withstand the pressure at the bottom of the sea… As a token of my appreciation for the Sailing Timetable you gave me, I hope you like it.”
As the plump apprentice read further, his voice trembled.
“If this cloak really has the effect he mentioned, it’s like an upgraded version of the Blood Shark Suit!”
When the plump apprentice mentioned the Blood Shark Suit, Hemi eagerly gazed at the silver cloak, “Boss Boro, I…”
Before Hemi could finish, the plump apprentice interrupted, “You said earlier that after receiving the Tide Sound Conch, you wouldn’t want anything else.”
“But this isn’t a resource provided by our organization, it’s a gift for Boss Boro from someone else.”
“You know it’s a gift, and you still have the nerve to ask for it. You used to mock others, but if you had helped with organizing the navigation charts back then, maybe this would have been gifted to you.”
Hemi was left speechless, feeling a mix of regret and disappointment in his heart, but still stubbornly said, “Maybe the note is just deceiving us. Last time I went to see, he was only using ordinary materials to make clothes…”
As Hemi spoke, Boro suddenly pointed to a spot inside the hood of the cloak and exclaimed, “This emblem…”
Everyone looked over to find a lionheart entwined with thorns, emanating a faint energy aura.
“I feel like I’ve seen this pattern somewhere before…”
Almost simultaneously, everyone turned to look at the cover of the —Mirror— magazine on the table, which also featured a lionheart entwined with thorns.