Part 3 THE TRAVELER CHAPTER XLIII THE CALM SCALE
Looking up at the wall clock and seeing that it was past eight o’clock, Alger set down his glass made of thick glass and squeezed past the drunks coming and going into the street.
Because of the wealth of coal in the Rothschild Islands, Byam was like the mainland cities of Berkland and Port Pritz, with a man-high black lamppost erected along the street, the glow of burning gas filtering through the metal-enclosed grill and illuminating the still-neat ground.
Alger tugged on his hood and turned slowly toward the side alley, smelling the stench of urine mixed with the smell of alcohol at the end of the sealed-off end – the Fragrant Leaf Bar had washrooms, but the number was clearly insufficient in relation to the rush of patrons, and certain drunks who couldn’t hold it in and couldn’t wait had to come out and find secluded places to settle down.
The red moonlight shone through the clouds and into the alley, and Alger was still considering whether or not to put on an act to look decent when a firm, full, vaguely amused voice came from behind him:
”Are you deliberately revealing the news of ‘Flame’ to us?”
Not yet stupid …… Alger muttered to himself and slowly turned his body, as if he was guarding against a surprise attack from the other side.
He saw seven or eight paces away, a silhouette leaning against the wall, standing in a poor position.
The silhouette was about 1 meter 78, wearing a boat-shaped hat, with a thin, angular face and a very aggressive appearance.
He had a lock of black hair hanging down, half covering his left dark green eye, which softened his own cold hardness.
Although wanted portraits often differed quite a bit from the person themselves, and many well-known pirates were able to roam the city without even making disguises, Arjay, being an insider in the Church, having seen many near-photographic portraits drawn using rituals, and having attended pirate conventions, was still able to smoothly connect the guy in front of him with one of the names on the bounty order.
He didn’t show this, and asked back with deliberate hesitation and indecision:
”Calm Scorch?”
This was the main helper of “Steel” McVittie, an extraordinary man who was good at controlling his emotions and thinking calmly, but inhumanly, with a reward of 1,500 pounds.
The man pulled on his black trench coat and said with a smile but without laughter:
”May I deny it?
”Well …… it seems not, just as you can’t deny that you deliberately mentioned ‘The Flame’ in front of Auruma, who is not a man who likes to use his head, while I am the opposite.”
”I never meant to hide it, I only wished to exchange the information I gained for some payment. Between ‘Flame’ who is alone and ‘Steel’ who has a lot of helpers, anyone with a normal brain understands which one to choose, of course, I hope you will keep my secret, I don’t want to be ‘Iceberg Lieutenant General ‘ after me.” Alger responded matter-of-factly.
Scor nodded leisurely and slowly:
”Tell us specifically.”
”As I mentioned before, I met and recognized ‘Flame’ at the Gold Coin Casino, and he commissioned me to help keep an eye out for ‘Iron’, huh? He seems to be trying to make a counterattack.” Alger snickered, “We agreed on a point of contact, and I think that’s at least a thousand pounds worth of information.”
”A thousand pounds? Look up at the red moon, you’re not dreaming!” Scorch chortled, “It might be a trap, don’t you see? The ‘Flame’ may well have found help and that’s why they dared to look for us in reverse.”
”It’s not for me to judge whether it’s a trap or not, five hundred pounds, below that I’d rather pretend nothing happened.” Alger argued forcefully for his reward.
”Three hundred pounds, you come with me to a place and stay there for a while, to avoid you selling this information to anyone else and disrupting our plans, and when we do catch ‘Flame’ with the help of this information, or get through to his spirit, then we’ll pay you again, don’t worry about it, the food, the wine, and the beds are all Free, no matter what, you’ve earned it! If anything originates from your accident, hey, you should know the consequences.” Scor offered in a tone that brooked no refusal.
Sure enough, just as I expected, in the case where my background is unknown and not too dangerous, the possibility of them choosing to temporarily detain me is far higher than exterminating me …… However, I have prepared for the worst, and with the appropriate preparations, as long as I’m not careless, escaping is still not a problem… …Alger thought about it in a difficult manner:
”It can’t be more than two days, or my crew will leave with my ship.”
”More than two days and I’ll let them know.” Scor had somehow managed to get a sharp scalpel in his palm and made it jump and spin like an acrobat.
Once Alger had described in detail the contact point of 15 Fragrant Tree Avenue and the corresponding contact information, without further ado, Scor turned around to lead the way in front of him, leading Alger around seven turns to an unknown street and into a featureless house.
”It’s been a long time, blue-haired Captain of the Ghost Ship.” The door was opened by an old man with more white than black hair, dressed as a local and wearing a pair of baggy, wide-legged pants.
”Old Quinn, you’re really the intelligence officer of the ‘Admiral Above Blood’ ……,” Alger spoke in mock surprise.
Old Quinn hemmed and hawed:
”There’s always truth in rumors, and what you think is false may be true.”
Without turning on the gas wall light, he held a silver candlestick in his hand and guided Alger and Scor through the dark hall into the spacious and sturdy windowless basement.
”You’ll be staying here for a while while a couple friends of mine and I keep watch and provide drinks and food.” Old Quinn smiled, “As a sign of our good faith, we will not disarm you.”
”Good.” Alger volunteered and walked over to the low bed in the basement.
Old Quinn then closed the heavy stone door and locked the basement.
Without lingering, Skor hurried away and double-checked to make sure he wasn’t being followed.
After switching once to a rented carriage, he arrived at the Ruin settlement of Byam, where the upper class lived.
Entering a garden house, Scor saw McVitie sitting against the living room couch, waiting for him, while the rest of his associates lay, stood, or sat in a semicircle, with the golems and walkers acting as guards around them.
”Steel” had thicker lips, darker skin, and locks of hair that curled up as if they were balls of steel of the type commonly found in factories.
”Is the news reliable?” The muscles in his arms quivered with power, but the whole thing gave the illusion of being cold and eerie unlike a living thing.
Scor said with a nod:
”A pirate captain who serves money, I’ve detained him at Old Quinn, if anything really goes wrong, he definitely won’t be able to get out alive, I think he should understand that very well.”
Speaking here, Scorre revealed an icy smile:
”However, we still have to beware of accidents, this could be a trap for the ‘Flame’.”
”What do you guys have in mind?” McVitie inquired directly.
The first person his eyes looked to was a pirate lying on a long couch, the other man set in a short coffee-colored native robe, his fingers twirling a yellowish-brown straw hat that was dented in the center.
It was McVitie’s second-in-command for this operation, the sixth captain who had lost his ship in the previous battle with the Admiral of the Dusk, Huntley the Scarlet Thorn, with a bounty of 3,800 pounds.
”Apparently, Scorch has had his way.” Huntley covered his slightly pale face with his straw hat.
Scull grinned:
”Didn’t John Smith’s group of adventurers send Modo to hide his identity and join us? Just accidentally reveal the news to him and make him think that we’re still waiting for help and need the day after tomorrow or the day after that to strike.
”That group of greedy adventurers definitely won’t let go of the ‘Flame’, and will definitely grab the first move, at that time, we’ll find a place to watch from the sidelines, and if there’s really any mishap, let them bear it, and if everything goes well, it’s just the right time to even eat them together!”
”Good.” “Steel” McVitie’s eyes moved slightly, bursting out with a strong bloodthirsty urge.
……
At dawn, everything was ready.
”Scarlet Thorn” Huntley lifted the leather suitcase, took out a peacock blue carpet from it, and slowly spread it out in front of him, with many mysterious and strange patterns on it, with a little bit of non-human-like flavor.
McVittie, Scull, two other Extraordinary Ones, seven or eight walkers and golems, stood up one after the other.
Huntley entered last, half-closing his eyes and pantomiming an Elvish word:
”Flight!”
The peacock-blue colored carpet snapped taut and floated up, carrying the group off the ground and up into mid-air towards the Avenue of Fragrant Trees.
In the process, Huntley pulled out a black handkerchief, shook his wrist and flung it around, transforming it into a night screen that marvelously obscured all of the more obvious traces in the moonlight.
It was only seven or eight minutes before they reached the neighborhood of 20 Incense Tree Avenue, diagonally opposite the target house.
They did not move forward, let the “flying carpet” quietly suspended in front of the crown of a thick tree, while they looked down on the opposite target situation.
Time passed, and Huntley steadily managed this magical object, with no sign of a lack of spirit.
The long night slowly passed, the sky reddens, the sun is about to rise, “steel” McVitie group of pirates began to prepare to look for another, suitable for daytime monitoring location.
At that moment, a figure, agile on his haunches, traveled across the rooftops and arrived above 15 Aroma Tree Avenue.
He was wearing a black cloak, with yellowed eyebrows and dark blue eyes, his features and profile were soft, it was Danitz “The Flame”!
Danitz looked cautiously to his right and to his left for a while, climbed up the rising chimney, put his hands on it, got in, and slid down.
Is it really coming? “Steel” McVittie, “Scarlet Thorn” Huntley, and Scorchers were all energized at the same time.
At this time, several figures leapt out from the chimneys and outer hiding places of houses No. 13, No. 14, and No. 17, and entered house No. 15 from different positions with a swift and fierce posture, or broke the windows, or kicked open the door, or made use of the chimney floor.