Chapter 274 50. Dead Rot Disease
“Of course, don’t say it’s going to the Northern Region; if you want to circle the world, it’s not a problem as long as you feed her coal. Let me on the captain’s deck, and you can go wherever you want.”
After hearing his words, Fisher looked at the old man in front of him. The man came from an unknown country but spoke fluent Nali. He was covered in heavy dirt, suggesting he was an experienced captain, but the only proof of his words was the golden compass on his chest, adorned with the accolades of Nali’s peak maritime achievements.
“You are not Nali?”
“Half-Nali, I suppose. My bloodline is not, but decades ago, I worked for the Nali Exploration Company. Back then, Nali’s enterprises were eager to venture overseas to earn substantial profits, but the Nali populace was still hesitant. No mother or wife wanted their sons and husbands to drift on an endlessly vast sea.”
As he spoke, Jesse took another swig from the wine jug. The pungent smell of alcohol made his already wrinkled brow furrow again, turning into a series of horizontal lines.
“Therefore, reluctantly, the Nali Exploration Company hired many destitute and desperate Nali and foreigners to act as cargo haulers, helping Nali companies continuously extract profits from overseas.”
In fact, Jesse was not wrong. During the early days of Nali exploration, although the legendary pioneer Captain Blake had already established connections between Nali and overseas, letting many Western Continent people know for the first time about another continent and countless islands over the sea, shifting from the original traditional conservative mindset to the current exploration craze still required time. In the decades following Blake’s return, apart from a few reckless entrepreneurs and sailors who dared to follow Blake’s example to explore outward, most people remained hesitant and, of course, were unwilling to send their children and husbands onto a ship.
At that time, the exploration company eagerly recruited sailors and seamen in Saint Nali. The result was either gamblers in desperate financial situations or homeless wanderers with nothing to their names.
It was unavoidable; due to the high demand for recruits, the exploration company had to lower their standards and began hiring foreigners as company employees.
But the problem was, even though the exploration company had no choice but to recruit foreigners, their positions were primarily as sailors; the company would never assign the crucial role of captain to a foreigner.
As for this Jesse, his eyes and hair were black, and his features were noticeably softer than those of a typical Nali, indicating a Cardu appearance.
“I know about that time, but I don’t believe they would assign the captain’s position to you, a foreigner from Cardu.”
Jesse blinked, instinctively rubbing the compass on his chest, pausing for a second before he raised the wine jug and took a swig of strong liquor. Once he felt the warmth return to his face, he continued,
“I am the most special one. You don’t understand; the Flying Fish can only perform at her best in my hands. She’s like my wife—only Nali’s exploration company recognized my skills, allowing me to help them transport goods from the Southern Continent back to the Western Continent.”
“It’s embarrassing to say, but when I was younger, I idolized that ‘initial pioneer,’ Captain Blake. I loved sailing, the boundless sea, and beautiful stories. I joined the Nali Exploration Company to have that kind of life.”
“For many years afterward, I worked for the Nali Exploration Company. As a captain, of course, I didn’t care what I was transporting, even if they were living people. Indeed, I was transporting whole shipments of natives sold to Nali from the Southern Continent.”
“Initially, I didn’t care; they stayed in the cargo hold at the bottom of the Flying Fish, conducting all their activities like defecating, eating, and sleeping there. It wasn’t until one time when I heard wails from the ship’s hull that I couldn’t help but go down and see what was going on.”
At this point, Jesse seemed to remember a painful scene, lowering his head in agony, burying his face in ragged clothes, his voice trembling,
“There was an epidemic on the Flying Fish. It might have been caused by those ‘goods’ staying on the ship too long, or perhaps they brought it with them. Regardless, in the end, those natives contracted the Dead Rot Disease; they were riddled with sores, their pain and blood permeating the entire cargo hold. There was a cure available, but at that time, what kind of medicine was on the Flying Fish?”
The Dead Rot Disease was a massive infectious epidemic that ravaged Shivali hundreds of years ago. Its early symptoms included fever, weakness in limbs, and muscle pain. If not treated during this period, large pus-filled sores known as Dead Rot Abscesses would grow on the body, causing significant swelling and emitting a strong smell of decay. In no time, the infected would die, hence the name Dead Rot Disease.
The outbreak of the Dead Rot Disease coincided with the time the Shivali Sun Knights launched a large-scale attack on Nali. The sudden outbreak in the rear led to peace talks with the Godlin Royal.
If it weren’t for the sudden outbreak of the Dead Rot Disease, whether Nali would still exist is questionable; it could be said this terrifying epidemic that spread across the Western Continent saved Nali, but cast a shadow of fear over the Sun Kingdom of Shivali.
The extent of its spread and the lethality far exceeded any weapon, with records indicating its reach even arriving in the Southern Kingdom of Sardinia at the southern tip of the Northern Region, causing quite a stir.
But just as the Dead Rot Disease was about to completely devastate Shivali, an unknown physician named Torga developed an antidote from long periods of observation in the wild. It was a special antidote extracted from natural herbs that could alleviate the disease when taken at the onset of infection. Moreover, it was inexpensive to produce, requiring no complex extraction skills.
This life-saving medicine, which saved both Shivali and the Western Continent, was thus named Torga’s Decay Antidote. No one knew how that obscure doctor Torga thought of creating such a miraculous medicine, but people still haven’t fully explained the principles behind Torga’s Decay Antidote, as they have yet to extract the genuinely effective components from it.
The Dead Rot Disease was gradually overcome by humanity and disappeared in the Western Continent. To this day, only historical records remain about that period. Perhaps medical books have more on this disease and its antidote, but Fisher didn’t know much.
Fisher’s thoughts momentarily paused as he pulled away from the memories of the Dead Rot Disease, again listening to Jesse burying himself in his tale.
“The first mate and sailors could only abandon those lives to protect themselves; they completely sealed off the cargo hold and tossed all the people inside overboard. A mother begged me to secretly keep her child, but I saw with my own eyes that her child had already developed the Dead Rot Abscesses. I couldn’t do anything; I truly couldn’t do anything.”
“In the end, I returned to Nali safely with the Flying Fish. My crew and I were in debt for losing the cargo, needing to serve extra times thereafter. From that point on, I saw the true nature of the exploration company: even if the cargo we were transporting wasn’t living people, even if they were inanimate objects that didn’t speak, they were still taken from corpses and broken families in the Southern Continent, be they subhumans or humans.”
“Under such torment, all the crew members of the Flying Fish decided to escape from the hell of the Nali Exploration Company. We took the company’s cargo and headed north along the Southern Sea, vowing never to return to Nali again. But we were not a powerful naval warship like the Iceberg Queen, and wherever we went, we were quickly discovered by Nali spies. With each resupply and landing, the treasures held by the crew dwindled, and they died one by one, leaving only me to come here.”
After such a long speech, the old man Jesse slowly lifted his head to look at Fisher.
“Hehe, this may be the Mother Goddess’s punishment for the sins we committed before. The exploration company will eventually face this day as well. But what’s the point of saying this now? My ship is still locked out at sea by those gangsters; I can’t return to my beloved Flying Fish.”
“Unless the Iceberg Queen can help, that damn gangster will never let go. But that’s just a joke. As I said before, I have nothing to repay her with.”
In closing, Jesse took another swig of liquor and slumped to the roadside like a ragged beggar, reaching for his belly.
Fisher glanced at Jesse on the ground, seemingly deep in thought. After a second or two, he looked up at the Flying Fish quietly floating under the moonlight and then asked,
“Do you stay here regularly?”
“Ah yes, just here. I still owe those gangsters a ton of money; even if I had spare change, I’d spend it all on liquor. However, the weather on Pat Sulshen Island is nice; at least I won’t be frozen awake at night, though the rain isn’t very friendly to me.”
“Alright, wait for my message here. I will come find you later.”
After saying that, Fisher turned to leave, leaving Jesse on the ground blinking at Fisher’s back. Then he slightly smiled, raising a hand to wave at Fisher, drunkenly responding,
“Okay, no problem.”
As Fisher walked back, Emhart on his shoulder seemed quite excited, as if the book hidden on the Flying Fish was waiting for his attention.
“Hurry, hurry! Go inform Alagina and let her help us retrieve the ship; then I can document that book I’ve never seen before!”
Fisher glanced at the overly enthusiastic Sir Book on his shoulder and interrupted his impatience coldly,
“When did I say I’d go inform Alagina to seize the ship?”
Upon hearing Fisher’s words, the bouncing Sir Book instantly froze in place, staring blankly at the expressionless but utterly annoying Fisher, suppressing the impulse to bash his head against Fisher’s face as he spoke,
“Not going to seize the ship?! Then why did you chat with that old man for so long? Do you love listening to other people’s stories that much? If you don’t want to help me, just say so! Sir Book doesn’t care, hmph!”
Fisher didn’t even glance at him, slowly weaving through the little alley in the area. Soon enough, he caught sight of the outline of the hotel they had previously stayed in.
“That old man can’t possibly be the captain of the Flying Fish. No matter how vividly he describes it, the Nali Exploration Company would never hire him as the captain of a cargo ship. Besides, I just checked that compass; it looked pristine even under the moonlight, which means he treats it as a treasure rather than a tool. That’s not the behavior of a real captain.”
“As for his story being true or not—if it is, he might be a subordinate working with the captain of the Flying Fish; if it’s false, then it’s likely a trap to entice me to help. Regardless, he’s telling me all this to provoke my sympathy, hoping I will ask Alagina to help reclaim his ship, which likely contains something he values greatly.”
Listening to Fisher’s analysis, Emhart opened his mouth, pondering for a long time before murmuring,
“My goodness, you humans are truly treacherous. Such deep plots even someone as wise as I couldn’t see through it all. You could’ve just exposed him! I hate being tricked, especially by those who write their tricks in books making me spend ages recording them—I’m going to slap his face hard!”
You can’t tell it’s entirely because you’re foolish.
Fisher didn’t say this but granted him some face. However, regarding Emhart’s suggestion, he simply shook his head and continued,
“No, we shouldn’t expose him; instead, we need to play along with his wishes. After Alagina leaves, I will help him reclaim his ship. This is Pat Sulshen Island, a pirate’s territory. To go by ship to the Northern Region not only distances us but might cost us a fortune. I need a ship to take me to the Southern Kingdom of Sardinia, and that ship is a good choice.”
Fisher stretched and casually pinched Emhart in his palm.
“You’d better pray he has malicious intent towards us; that way, I can find out what treasures are hidden aboard his ship. And weren’t you eager to see what that book says, hmm?”
Staying in Fisher’s palm, Emhart stared blankly at Fisher, pausing for a moment before shaking his head, quickly saying,
“Oh my goodness, Fisher, how can you be so wicked? But I love it. Now I finally understand why those ladies always fall for your tricks; even I, Sir Book, can barely withstand it. I can’t wait! When do we start implementing the plan?!”
Fisher gave a speechless glance at the reinvigorated Sir Book, casually tossing him into the air, letting him float.
“Don’t rush. Wait until Alagina leaves here.”
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(The End of this Chapter)
