Chapter 273: Captain Jesse
“Time to go.”
Fisher leaned against the window sill, watching the sky outside gradually darken. In the hazy moonlight, Miya’s warship slowly sailed out of the harbor, quickly leaving Pat Sulshen Island under the thick nightfall.
It seemed they had gotten what they wanted.
“Fisher, have something to eat.”
Just as Fisher was pondering the relationship between that exquisite ice and the Frost Parasol Tree, Alagina’s voice echoed in the room. When Fisher turned to look, he saw Alagina changed into a convenient white ship uniform, with her long hair tied back into a ponytail.
At that moment, she was holding two plates of local dishes from Pat Sulshen Island. After placing the dishes down, she went to the doorway to retrieve the prepared cutlery and neatly set it out for Fisher.
“The temperature here at night is quite low, be careful not to catch a cold. I have a coat for you, and here’s dinner. This morning I noticed you were looking at the restaurants in Pat Sulshen Island, so I went to buy some for you to try.”
As she spoke, her white ponytail swayed slightly. Although there was no significant change in her expression, Fisher felt that she seemed to be in a good mood.
Perhaps this was a benefit of dating a lady from the Kingdom of Women; they always treated you as someone who needed care. Since Fisher got out of bed after their second round of battle, Alagina was concerned about whether he needed clean clothes, food, or anything else, as if afraid he would break.
Fisher couldn’t recall how many times she had asked him if he was cold or hungry. Each time he answered, she would nod solemnly and, after a while, look over again, seemingly wondering if he was cold or needed something.
“So, after this, you and the Iceberg Queen will still be heading to the Pirate Haven, right?”
After a moment of silence, Alagina nodded and said, “Actually, the true master of the Pirate Haven, Black Chieftain Aliduo, has always been inviting me to join them and become a formal member of the Pirate Haven. In fact, the Pirate Haven is not just a center for issuing bounty tasks to pirates; its real purpose is to seek the legendary Storm Sea.”
Fisher recognized this familiar term. That place had been reached by Blake and Muxi, but for some reason, he didn’t boast about his achievement like before and buried it as a secret in his heart. Could it be that place hid some incomprehensible secret?
He chewed on the food on his plate and replied, “The Storm Sea exists.”
“I know it’s somewhere deep in the Eastern Ocean, but the deeper you sail into the ocean, the more dangerous it becomes. Even an experienced captain like Black Chieftain often suffers losses. So, he needs more experienced captains to help him search for the Storm Sea. For this, he promised me considerable rewards, including a safe return to Sardinia.”
“Safe return? Can a pirate have such power?”
Alagina shook her head and explained to the somewhat surprised Fisher, “He doesn’t have that ability, but the people behind him do. While the Pirate Haven is established by him, he is funded by others. The ones backing him are from the Turan Family, and Black Chieftain Aliduo’s goal of finding the Storm Sea aligns with that of the Turan Family.”
Again, the Turan Family?
Their business hasn’t spread to the Western Continent because it is already occupied by Nali’s Exploration Company, but their influence appeared incredibly terrifying in the Northern Region outside the Western Continent. This made Fisher, who had only heard of them vaguely in books, finally comprehend this fact firsthand.
“Fisher, I will take good care of Mr. Jack and Isabel. After we reach the Pirate Haven, I may join Aliduo. I want to return to the Northern Region one day and complete all the things I didn’t do well before and wish to do later. Will you support me, Fisher?”
Fisher looked at Alagina in front of him, then wiped his lips with a napkin, stood up, and said, “Everyone’s future path is visible to themselves, so generally, I don’t advise others to follow suggestions. Do what you want, whether as the Iceberg Queen or Alagina.”
After saying this, Fisher put on the coat Alagina brought; she was right, the temperature at night in Pat Sulshen Island was indeed a bit low. If he didn’t wear something, he could easily catch a cold.
Seeing Fisher about to leave the room, Alagina instinctively stood up wanting to go out with him but was stopped by Fisher, who turned back after putting on his clothes.
“I’m just going out for some air, you don’t need to follow. Also, there’s someone waiting to chat with you.”
“Another person?”
Fisher smiled lightly, opened the door to the room, and revealed Aoxi, who had been squatting in the corridor serving as a loyal guard. Upon seeing Fisher come out, she, along with the steel knife on her shoulder, was startled and nearly ran away shyly. However, when Alagina walked out and locked eyes with her, she froze in place.
“Aoxi.”
“Alagina, um, can we talk?”
With Fisher’s supportive gaze, Aoxi finally mustered up the courage to stand up and spoke to Alagina.
Alagina opened her mouth and then opened the door, responding to Aoxi, “Um.”
Fisher walked out into the corridor, watching Aoxi and the steel knife enter Alagina’s room. He waved goodbye to these two good friends who had been together but seemed to have developed a bit of a barrier. He then went down the stairs alone, left the tavern, and walked into the hazy moonlight.
Facing the night wind, Fisher suddenly felt a refreshing sensation like he had been unshackled after doing that kind of thing.
However, the overly high reproduction bonus didn’t seem to be a good thing after all.
Moreover, at this moment, Fisher suddenly realized a question: Did the points added by the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans reflect on his reproduction rank or his reproductive ability?
Despite the similarity of these two terms, reproduction rank should conceptually be considered a subset of reproductive ability.
Species with a high reproduction rank couldn’t impregnate those with a low reproduction rank, while reproductive ability should conceptually cover everything from top to bottom.
Thinking about this suddenly made Fisher feel uneasy; this wasn’t something that could be easily experimented upon. If something went wrong, it wouldn’t be a joke.
Fisher’s steps paused slightly, and after thinking for quite a while, he couldn’t confirm anything. He could only pray that the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans improved his reproduction rank.
However, after this ordeal, Fisher’s previously light mood sank a bit. After leaving the hotel, he walked a considerable distance and suddenly realized he seemed to have forgotten something. But at that moment, he couldn’t recall what it was until he walked another five minutes. When he saw several gang members by the roadside with guns and buckets on their shoulders, he suddenly remembered what he had forgotten.
It seemed he had thrown Emhart out of the room this afternoon, and now that everything was settled, he forgot to look for him.
Hmm? This afternoon, Fisher thought he remembered Emhart had helped him justify his actions to Alagina. However, he had been on the verge of losing control and had completely ignored what he had said, even throwing him out of the room.
Fisher paused briefly, immediately turned around, and returned to the hotel, preparing to find Sir Book Emhart.
Anyway, he felt that what he did today was improper, and he would apologize to him if he encountered him.
By the time Fisher ran back to the hotel, he didn’t see any trace of that annoying book in the hotel corridor. Aoxi was seemingly in the hallway earlier, and it was likely she noticed him getting thrown out. But Alagina and Aoxi hadn’t finished their conversation and hadn’t left the room.
Fisher stroked his chin, pondering as he left the hotel. Just as he began to suspect whether Emhart had stormed off in anger, he suddenly heard a somewhat muffled familiar quacking voice at the entrance.
“Oh, my God! You said you have lots of books on the ship. No problem, I have a little brother. Hehe, don’t look at me as just a book; that brat listens to me without question. That scoundrel owes me!”
Fisher eavesdropped for a while, then raised his eyebrows and walked towards the side of the hotel. Behind the hotel was the ocean, and on the coast stood a makeshift wooden house, unknown who it belonged to; it could possibly house captives or slaves brought by the island’s gang, in any case, the environment was terrible.
In front of this wooden house, there was a small alley facing the sea, where a square book was standing on a wooden crate, gazing at the distant ocean, seemingly conversing with someone.
That square book’s voice, that annoying quacking sound, couldn’t be anyone but Sir Book Emhart!
Before him, it seemed someone had picked up on his words, and an old man’s voice responded, “Really? There are a lot of guards there; can your little brother handle it?”
“Don’t joke around! My little brother may be an unprincipled scoundrel who likes subhumans and ladies and has a terrible temper, but he still has some strength. Just wait, once I call my little brother back to take the ship, it won’t take a minute!”
After some grandiose claims, Sir Book shook his body, stood tall, and seemed prepared to leave the wooden crate. Just as he turned around, he spotted the tall, expressionless Fisher.
“Oh! Little brother—no, Fisher! Cough cough, um, haha, are you done? I’ve been waiting for you for so long.”
Sir Book’s previous arrogant demeanor changed dramatically upon seeing the Nali gentleman in front of him. After a couple of awkward chuckles, he just wanted to fly onto his shoulder but was directly caught by Fisher’s merciless iron grip, unable to struggle free no matter how hard he tried.
Initially intending to teach this annoying book a lesson, Fisher thought for a moment about throwing him out of the room this afternoon and, after a second’s consideration, placed him back on his shoulder.
“Oh? It’s you, the customer from Nali whom I met this morning. What a coincidence, we meet again.”
Before Fisher could ask what Sir Book was doing here, he suddenly caught a strong smell of alcohol coming from the small alley. Following the hazy moonlight, he saw an old man with a beggar-like appearance, gripping a metal flask in his hand.
He leaned drunkenly against the alley, occasionally lifting the flask to his mouth, taking swigs of strong liquor, with drops of clear liquid dripping from the corner of his mouth and landing on a Nali-made compass resting in his arms.
It was the old captain Jesse whom he had encountered at the Magic Market this morning; Fisher still remembered his name.
“Captain Jesse, right?”
“That’s right! It’s rare for someone to remember my name. Thank you for buying the items this morning; it saved my flask from being empty. I forgot to ask your name; are you this book’s little brother?”
Fisher glanced at the book hiding on his shoulder, whose eyes were darting, not uttering a word, even trying to whistle to feign ignorance. Holding back the impulse to punch him, Fisher stayed silent for a couple of seconds before shaking his head and saying,
“Not exactly. What did he just say to you?”
“Ah, I guessed it wasn’t you. Your book friend brags more recklessly than I do when drunk; he said he battled demons in the Abyss for three hundred rounds and eventually triumphed. Seeing how impressive he is, I was going to ask him to help me get my ship back, but he then said he wanted his little brother, which is you, to do it.”
“Your ship?”
“Yeah, it’s parked over there. Beautiful, right?”
Following his gaze, Fisher looked towards the end of the alley, where the moonlight illuminated the sea. A wooden ship was docked at the shore. Although it was a wooden ship, Fisher noticed it had evident steam structures, likely a vessel made during the early stages of the technical revolution.
“Type 1 Exploration, Flying Fish. It used to be the fastest ship in its day. It still looks great, but now it has been snatched away by the cursed pirates on the island, simply because I owe their boss money. I only owe them tens of thousands of Nali, but who would have thought it multiplied tenfold over the years! Those damned leeches.”
“In short, there’s nothing valuable on board, only the few books I’ve collected over the years while touring the world, and an engine heart just waiting for me to start it. I was just joking with your book friend. Even if you help me get that ship back, I won’t be able to offer you much in return.”
While speaking, Jesse took another swig of liquor and casually waved his hand at Fisher and the others.
“Fisher! I can feel it; there’s a very enticing scent on that ship, a book that I haven’t recorded yet. Please, let me see what’s recorded in that book, and I won’t hold the incident of you throwing me out of the room this afternoon against you, and I won’t tell other ladies about your disgraceful deeds either.”
Fisher could hardly be bothered with him, but then again, looking at the wooden ship swaying on the sea with the waves, Fisher’s eyes flickered slightly, and he suddenly asked, “Can this ship head to the Northern Region?”
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(End of Chapter)
