Part 3 the traveler chapter xiii the legend of the treasure

　　Above deck, an extra layer of asbestos had been placed under the grill to prevent coal sparks from being blown out by the wind and scorching the ship’s surface.

　　The fat cook, wearing an apron and a white high hat invented by Rossel, kept applying a secret seasoning mixed with things like basil, cumin, sea salt, pepper and lemon juice to the long, white fish with a fine bristle brush, turning it over from time to time to make sure that the sides were evenly heated.

　　The flesh of the fisherman’s stomach is mostly greasy, and drops of it fall down, causing the coals held under the iron net to make a retorting sound and leap upward into flames.

　　A tantalizingly strange aroma gradually filled the air, and Klein inhaled puff after puff.

　　A round table and chairs had been set up in front of him, and on top of them sat bottles of a chicly shaped wine, which was golden-red in color and seemed to have a slightly viscous feel to it as it swirled.

　　”Sunia Blood Wine, brewed from the sweet wood juice specializing in the area around the Golden Springs, it’s like a thin honey mixed with blood, it has a sweet taste but is very easy to get drunk, if you have your eye on any lady and want to buy her a drink, consider this kind, it will make the other party drink too much without realizing it, haha, the prerequisite is that you have to have a sufficient amount of alcohol to withstand it.” Noticing Klein’s scrutiny, Captain Erland Karg half-jokingly introduced.

　　Worthy of being a former captain of sailors, he brought his own dirty joke literacy …… Klein sat down and maintained a cool demeanor:

　　”A competent adventurer does not indulge in alcohol.”

　　Next to him, Krivis nodded:

　　”Only back at home do adventurers allow themselves to drink.”

　　”That’s a shame.” Aeran turned to Donna and Denton’s siblings, who were curiously surveying Sunia’s blood wine, and let out a laugh, “It’s not something underage children should experience.”

　　”I’ve drank it, and it’s really good!” Donna instantly retorted, “It’s just, it’s just that then I fell asleep without realizing it and slept for the whole afternoon ……”

　　”I remember you had two glasses that time!” Denton, the young gentleman, said enviously.

　　Without quenching their thirst, Erland ordered the crew to give the siblings each a cup of sweet iced tea and casually explained:

　　”There are quite a few Southerners on this ship.”

　　Denton withdrew his disappointed gaze to the fisherman who had already had valuable materials taken from him and said, slightly naively:

　　”Actually, actually, it’s not that scary, it’s just a rather large, extraordinarily ugly, fish with four limbs!”

　　Donna glanced at her brother:

　　”Congratulations, you finally recognize it for what it is.”

　　She then eyed Krivis and Aeran:

　　”Uncle, uncle, are there many such monsters at sea?”

　　The fishman didn’t have extraordinary abilities beyond imagination, and to ordinary people, it was slightly equal to the beasts of the sea, slightly equal to the biological archetypes of the legendary magical monsters.

　　Erland chuckled:

　　”No, in the main channel and the surrounding sea, similar monsters rarely appear, have long been purged almost, can encounter a fishman, see this kind of creatures, is you are lucky enough.

　　”Think about it, if I could hunt monsters worth 200 pounds or even more on a regular basis, then I certainly wouldn’t be a captain of a passenger ship, I’d be organizing my own trapping ship to chase those golden pounds!”

　　It was very well said! Klein secretly cheered.

　　Based on his observation just now, the extraordinary material on the fishman’s body should be its swim bladder, the azure blue like water made it like seeing a gem.

　　Krivis picked up the black tea that the sailor had just delivered and took a whiff of the flavor before taking a sip:

　　”Only by straying from the main shipping lanes and going deeper into the oceans that are often shrouded in mists or storms is there a not-so-low chance of encountering such a monster, but that is very dangerous.

　　”In addition to the climbing, scaly fishmen, the legend in those seas is that there are also naga with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a python, which have six arms and are very agile.”

　　Aeran took up the conversation:

　　”There are also giant octopuses that spit out juice that can corrode clean many people, there are terrifying sea monsters that overturn a ship with a light top, there are mermaids whose songs mesmerize people and never want to leave, there are blue dragons that can create lightning, and there are big birds that can lift hurricanes with their flapping wings, hehe, I haven’t seen any of these, they’re all legends in the sea and no one knows whether they’re true or not. ”

　　Mermaid …… Klein’s expression did not change.

　　”Very interesting.” Donna exclaimed with a look of fascination.

　　Denton looked left and right, and when he saw that Klein didn’t speak, he asked curiously:

　　”Uncle, you are also an adventurer, have you seen such a monster before?”

　　Klein froze for a moment and said with a slight curl of his mouth:

　　”Seen it once, there were five of us at the time, we accidentally encountered one, a fishman, and after a fierce fight, we finally resolved it.”

　　This was his real-life experience in Tingen City, and it was also the first time he had come face-to-face with an out-of-control Official Extraordinary.

　　At that time, he and Neil had helped remove a mutated “sailor” at the request of Svein, the owner of the “Dragon Bar”.

　　Thinking about this incident, Klein was a bit nostalgic and saddened, and the hard-pressed coldness and sharpness on his face couldn’t help but soften a lot.

　　”Five people?” While asking rhetorically, Donna moved very stealthily to count the people involved in the battle just now.

　　1,2,3 …… She realized that only three of them had taken action in killing the fishman before.

　　Without waiting for Klein to answer, Aeran spoke in slight surprise:

　　”Accidental encounter?”

　　”Yes.” Klein answered frankly.

　　”Any casualties?” Aerlan followed up with a question.

　　Klein shook his head:

　　”Some minor injuries.”

　　”Accidentally met, only five people to solve a fishman …… you guys are very impressive.” Krivis gave his assessment.

　　His partner Cecil also showed his amazement with a nod.

　　The battle just now was short and swift, and the fishman seemed unbeatable, but both she and Crivis knew very well that without the pre-prepared bait, the hallucinogenic effect and subsequent exhaustion brought by the pepper pellets, the deadly threat of the mint cream to the fishman, and the two borrowed rifles, there was no telling how many people in the room would have had to die before they were able to kill a fishman.

　　”Indeed, very impressive.” Erland gave Klein a thoughtful look.

　　That was a team of four Sequence 9s and one Sequence 8 …… Klein half smiled and half sighed:

　　”At that time, I was still very young, and I hadn’t even experienced any battles, just pure assistance.”

　　”Uncle, you’re also very young now!” Donna nodded her head vigorously.

　　That’s a sentence I love to hear …… Klein acutely noticed that Captain Aeran had relaxed quite a bit due to his own words just now.

　　At this time, several crew members brought in a large ceramic plate with fish fried until golden brown, sprinkled with basil leaves that were dotted with color, and the tantalizing aroma came to his nose.

　　Aeran lifted the glass in which the Sunia blood wine had been poured and delivered a toast:

　　”A fine night, the storm is with us!”

　　”A fine night!” Donna and Denton cheered, each taking a sip of sweet iced tea.

　　Klein chose to clink his black tea cup with the other.

　　He forked up a piece of meat from a fisherman’s ribcage, only to find that it was tight and firm, with little fat, but made up for being too dry by absorbing the vegetable oil, giving off an aftertaste of elasticity and meaty flavor as he chewed.

　　Surely it’s not as good as the cheek meat at the moment, but it’s good enough, better than all the fish I’ve eaten in Birkeland and Prize Harbor …… Klein exclaimed contentedly.

　　Aeran put down the knife and fork in his hand, took a sip of the Sunia blood wine, and sighed on the subject of what had just been said:

　　”At sea, the most dangerous thing is not monsters, but those pirates.

　　”They steer their ships and go wherever they want, and no one can make a defense in advance.”

　　”Uncle Captain, will we meet pirates?” Denton swallowed the fried fish and asked with some concern.

　　Aeran laughed:

　　”The shipping lanes to the Rothschild Islands are the safest in the world, there are colonial islands to dock at every two or three days, and there are frequent patrols by the Royal Navy and Storm Church ships along the way.

　　”Even if any group of pirates stray here, they won’t do anything too outrageous, after seeing our artillery, they will at most extort some compensation.”

　　Seeing the two pre-teens reassured, Erland added:

　　”But south from the Rothschild Islands, or continuing east, we will have to rely on the Lord’s blessing.

　　”Many pirates are active in these regions, playing hide-and-seek with the navy and the ships of the Church, and if we are lucky, we will reach the southern continent and every place very well, but if we are not lucky enough, we will encounter quite powerful pirates, and this includes those seven pirate generals and even the fleet of the Four Kings.

　　”However, you don’t have to worry too much, since Nast became the ‘King of the Five Seas’ and made some rules that pass through the sea, most of the pirates will just ransack your money and won’t do anything too much.

　　”In here, the one we’re most afraid of encountering is the captain of the ‘Black Tulip’, ‘Admiral of Hell’ Ludwell, who will have his men kill everyone on board and throw these innocents into hell, followed by the ‘Admiral of Blood’ Seniol, he loves blood and condones his subordinates to do all evil deeds, many young girls were ravaged by them and then sold to different islands ……”

　　Donna shivered at the sound of this and subconsciously changed the subject:

　　”I heard, I heard that there is a lot of treasure in the sea!”

　　”Yes there are legends of treasure, but the vast majority of them are false.” Aeran glanced at Krivis and said, “There are six stories with the most stories and the most famous ones, and the one that ranks first is the ‘Death God’s Key’, and it is rumored that at the end of the Fourth Era, the God of Death who set off the Pale Catastrophe was struck down by the Seven Gods but didn’t fall on the spot, and attempted to return to the Southern Continent,k setting off violent winds and waves, creating an insurmountable obstacles, completely cutting off the shipping lanes between the north and south continents, this is the legend of the origin of the raging sea, however, k ultimately did not return to the south continent and disappeared into that ocean.”

　　Speaking of this, Ailan sighed somewhat yearningly:

　　”It is said that in some hidden place in the Berserk Sea, the treasure left behind by the God of Death is waiting to be found and opened by the person who holds a specific key, but no one knows what that key looks like and where it will appear.

　　”In second place is the ‘Fountain of Agelessness’, right in the depths of the Sunia Sea, and it is rumored that one of the Four Kings, the ‘King of Immortality’ Agaritu, drank from the spring of the Fountain of Agelessness.”