Chapter 226 - The End of the Voyage

Chapter 226: Chapter 225 The End of the Voyage Chapter 226: Chapter 225 The End of the Voyage Afterward, Richard and Nancy followed Macbeth back to the port city of “Lisben” Island, boarded the huge ship, and embarked on a new voyage.It was already the tenth day or so since the giant vessel set sail again, and rumors had it that they were very close to the mainland.

The weather became increasingly hot, and the cabin turned unbearably humid. Out of eagerness for the mainland and the difficulty of enduring the cabin conditions, as soon as daylight broke, the deck was filled with ordinary students who had come up for air and a breeze.

That day was in the morning hours.

The deck was bustling with noise as the ordinary students gathered in groups, talking. Suddenly, the door to the cabin on the deck creaked open, and Wizards Dempsey and Macbeth emerged, followed by Potter, Demi, Luther, and several other Wizard Apprentices.

This immediately caught the attention of many students and sparked their curiosity, but no one dared to approach and ask. They simply watched as the two Wizards led the Apprentices to the edge of the deck, looking ahead of the massive ship.

Everyone looked along, only to see the sea ahead was still endless, with nothing appearing in sight.

That…

Everyone puzzled over this for a while, until finally, someone sharp-eyed spotted something: “Look over there!”

In a flash of eyes, they saw a small black dot appear on the sea surface, followed by a second, then a third…

In an instant, there were neatly lined up nine black dots in a row.

As they drew closer, the crowd made out that they were nine imposing, sky-blue military vessels, speeding through the waves.

The crowd was momentarily dumbfounded, then exchanged glances with their neighbors, showing puzzled faces.

Nine military vessels, what were they there for?

Could it be yet another Wizard Country coming along the way to collect taxes? Since Macbeth joined the huge ship, with two Wizards on board, it had been a long time since the new style of pirate—the Sea Tax Officers—had dared to harass them. Could this be a surprise?

It seemed the others came well-prepared—nine military vessels in total!

Logically, even with nine vessels, Dempsey and Macbeth aboard the large ship should be able to handle it, especially since Macbeth had single-handedly destroyed three military ships with ease before.

But the problem was, what if there were Wizards on the arriving military vessels that could match them? If that were the case, things could become a bit troublesome.

As everyone made wild guesses, the nine military vessels came even closer. Eight of the vessels split into two parts, arranging themselves like wings on either side to form a semi-encircling barrier. The ninth vessel—the largest—in the middle, headed straight for the massive ship, which appeared to be stunned and came to a complete stop.

People were a bit tense, thinking that in the last few days of their voyage, they were going to face another twist, when at a corner of the deck, Richard’s eyes flickered, and looking at the expressions of the two Wizards, he had a different guess.

At this moment, the expressions on Dempsey and Macbeth were calm, even with a hint of a smile. Facing the approaching sky-blue military vessels, they showed no signs of vigilance or hostility.

In that case…

“Splash splash,” the water stirred, and the vessels drew ever closer. Strange sounds floated up from the decks of the ships.

“Drip-drop—ooh-la—diddy-diddy!”

“Boom-brola—buzz-buzz—plop-da!”

The crowd was surprised, but Richard quickly recognized several instruments from the sounds and muttered to himself, “A harp, a clarinet, a trumpet, hmm… this should be bagpipes…”

They got closer still, and the crowd could now clearly see the situation on the ship’s decks; there stood a group of extravagantly dressed musicians, holding various instruments, playing vigorously.

Then a troop of soldiers, dressed in pristine white uniforms, emerged, followed by an authoritative military officer in his forties, and next to the officer was a person dressed in a dark hooded cloak, resembling a Wizard.

The military vessel continued to approach and finally stopped just a few meters from the huge ship, a gangplank was let down, and laid between the military ship and the enormous vessel.

The music stopped, and the authoritative military officer, along with the hooded Wizard and a soldier carrying a wooden box stepped onto the deck of the huge ship.

The austere officer glanced at Macbeth, then turned to Dempsey and bowed slightly, saying, “Greetings from Zorro Duke of the Aiqin Kingdom to you, Lord Dempsey of the White Stone Tower.”

Dempsey spoke indifferently, “Count Zorro, you’re too kind.”

“It’s only right,” Zorro said, his words lacking any real pretense. He got straight to the point, “My visit this time is mainly concerning the matter of taxes.”

“Go ahead,” Dempsey gestured with his hand, inviting Zorro to continue.

Zorro began, “Last month, the ores and various materials listed were fully gathered and sent to the continent, and by now they should already be at White Stone Tower. However, the Crystal Coins were only completely collected a few days ago and haven’t yet been shipped. Considering the value of Crystal Coins and how they tend to attract unwanted attention, coupled with the fact that the Aiqin Kingdom is weak and possesses but a few wizards, escorting them would be perilous. Therefore, I have been specifically waiting at sea for Lord Dempsey to arrive and transport the Crystal Coins to the White Stone Tower for me.”

“I can do that,” Dempsey nodded in agreement.

“Much obliged,” Zorro bowed in thanks, his movements meticulous, and then he gestured with a wave of his hand.

Following this, a soldier who had come to the deck of the massive ship hurried forward, handing Dempsey a box.

After accepting it, Dempsey didn’t look inside but directly handed it to the Third-Level Apprentice Potter standing beside him.

Zorro’s eyebrows raised, and he spoke firmly, “Aren’t you going to check it, Lord Dempsey? The count is listed inside the box; make sure it’s correct. My Aiqin Kingdom isn’t in a position to gather the tax again this year. Collecting sea taxes isn’t so easily done, especially dealing with ships from several Wizard Organizations. We’re still waiting for White Stone Tower to fulfill its previous promises—if something’s amiss…”

Dempsey shook his head after listening, “There’s no need to check. Whether it’s the Aiqin Kingdom or Count Zorro, we trust both fully at the White Stone Tower. As for the difficulties in tax collection, we understand that too, which is why we allow for an extension. Regarding promises, as long as the Aiqin Kingdom does what it must, we at White Stone Tower will naturally fulfill our end without a worry.”

“Then…” Zorro hesitated a moment, then nodded, “Okay then, thank you, Lord Dempsey, goodbye.”

Having said his piece, Zorro didn’t hesitate, turned around, and along with the wizards and soldiers, quickly made his way back to the warship using the gangplank, leading his fleet away without delay.

Dempsey and Macbeth likewise said little more, taking the Apprentice and swiftly returning to the ship’s cabin.

The giant ship set sail, continuing its voyage as if nothing had happened.

Yet, the people on the deck exchanged puzzled looks, quite perplexed: Before, fleets would come to collect passage fees from the giant ship, but now why had an even more powerful fleet come to give money to the giant ship?

From a corner, Gro, with questions in his mind, turned to Richard to ask, “Lord Richard, what’s going on here?”

Richard’s eyes flickered with thought.

If he hadn’t been on a mission with Macbeth, he might have been just as clueless. But having accompanied Macbeth on a mission, and considering some of the things mentioned during it, he had some speculation about the current situation.

It seemed that the sea-bound Wizard Countries also varied: Some were supported by White Stone Tower, friendly toward it, while others were backed by different Wizard Organizations, antagonistic toward White Stone Tower.

Those Wizard Countries opposing White Stone Tower would naturally try to tax White Stone Tower’s giant ship. If a ship had many wizards onboard and considerable strength, such as now, taxing would be temporarily suspended. But if a ship had few wizards, especially if they were injured, as it had been for some time prior, it would face frequent taxation.

This was similar to how some Recovery Country on modern Earth would send naval ships to patrol the international waters near a small island nation. Being powerful, the island country dared not make a sound, acting as if it was both mute and blind. However, if it wasn’t a naval ship but a fishing boat, the island nation might just turn hostile—taking advantage of the fishermen, even seizing the fishing boat.

The reason the island nation would act this way wasn’t because it dared to provoke the Recovery Country but rather because it was backed by a superpower antagonistic to the Recovery Country.

And the Recovery Country was well aware of this, knowing better than to start a war against the little island nation over a seized fishing boat, which might bring temporary relief but wouldn’t solve the underlying issue—the real solution was to defeat the antagonistic superpower. Otherwise, even if one small island nation was destroyed, another would arise to take its place.

Richard thought of these analogies and explained them to Gro in simple terms he could understand.

Gro listened and had a moment of realization, murmuring, “So that’s how it is.”

Nancy, who had overheard Richard’s explanation, appeared contemplative. She had her own suspicions about the matter because she had been on a mission with Macbeth, much like Richard, but she lacked the depth and clarity of his insight.

Reflecting on what Richard had said, after a moment, Nancy turned to him and asked, “Speaking of which, what kind of place is the White Stone Tower? What is the continent where it’s located really like? It appears to be very complex.”

“I’m not sure,” Richard shrugged, “That’s a question that can only be answered once we truly arrive on the continent, at the White Stone Tower.”

“But when can we get to the continent, to the White Stone Tower?” Nancy frowned.

“Perhaps… it won’t be much longer,” Richard said, pointing toward the distance.

Nancy and Gro followed Richard’s pointing finger and at the far horizon, where the sea met the sky under the bright sunlight, they saw a dark line emerging into their view.