The night was getting deeper and deeper, and the faint sound of insects came from the valley outside.
Baggins carved the stone in his hand boredly, then raised his head and saw the businessman leaning behind a rock at the entrance of the crack, holding his hands and looking at the valley outside in a daze.
The night in Istania is quiet, cold, and shrouded in a layer of mystery. It was the night above the sea of sand, and the silvery moon hanging alone in the night sky. The crescent moon was like a hook, and the moonlight reflected a dry and forked tree on the ridge in the distance.
Such a desolate place.
The sky on the ridge is as vast as the sea of stars - the sailor raised his head and saw the Gondolier, the Leviathan, the Mermaid and even the Sirens - in this place where the sky is high and the sky is high, it seems that he can see the stars more clearly. The crystal sky.
It was a flat, pitch-black curtain, covered with countless tiny crystals, and all the secrets between gods and mortals seemed to be displayed on it. Mortals have been looking up at the stars for at least hundreds of thousands of years.
Only in the early years when people sailed on the sea of clouds, they used these stars to guide the way - so the people who made a living on the sea gave them these magical and strange names.
"Is the south wind blowing?"
Bu Nigu turned around in surprise when he heard Baggins's voice. The sailor had several scars on his body, making the merchant shrink back uneasily.
But Baggins didn't care and walked to him, looking at the endless silver sand sea south of Idos, and said: "'Futalin' will continue to blow until after autumn. After this period of time, the silver shuttle in the sky will The fish will migrate back to lay eggs - by then, you might be able to see floating island whales and rock sharks at sea."
Bunigou glanced at him in surprise.
"Your Excellency seems to be a man who makes a living at sea." He relaxed, looked at the deserted valley outside, and murmured to himself: "Yes, yes, when the trade wind comes, we will go to Hanrui." The best time," he sighed: "If I hadn't been trapped here, I might have already boarded the ship."
"I'm a sailor," replied Baggins. "At least I was."
"Then your captain is really young and promising." Bu Nigu complimented Fang Plion.
Baggins shook his head: "He is not, but he will be a good captain in the future. I believe in the eyes of the eldest lady."
"Miss?"
Baggins sat down and chatted with the other party about his old captain and his captain's daughter. Bu Nigu suddenly realized it and couldn't help but praise: "I have to say, she is truly a beauty. I have been to so many places, but I have never seen such a beautiful person."
"That's the only thing you said is right."
Baggins accepted the compliment without humility. When it came to the temperament and beauty of their eldest lady, it was a no-brainer.
On the Seven Seas Traveler, the old sailors would occasionally make jokes about the captain, saying that Mr. Mazak was really a stubborn and unkind man.
But when it comes to their eldest lady, there is no room for a bad word.
Baggins scratched his chin, suddenly curious about how the old guys would make things difficult for Fang Plover when they knew that the eldest lady had a sweetheart. He thought with great interest - I'm afraid that their new 'Captain' will suffer a lot.
But he wouldn't stop him, and the big cat might also be interested in seeing this interesting scene; this boy is really lucky to be favored by the eldest lady.
"Most of the people who make a living on Kukai are extremely vicious gangsters," Bunigou sighed: "But there are also reasonable people like you, as well as your eldest lady and that young man. They are all good people."
"If it weren't for you, I would be in big trouble this time. Although I may not be able to get the goods back, at least I can save a life," he said. "If Mr. Ed could help me find the ring... the ring When I come back, I won’t worry at all.”
Baggins showed a teasing smile and glanced at him: "But you are not telling the truth, Mr. Bunigou."
Bunigou's eyes widened in surprise, and he looked at him with his mouth wide open, as if he had been exposed in front of him for a moment, and said a bit inconsistently: "You...you, I, I..."
"I think you are a serious businessman. When I talked about Futalin just now, you knew what I was talking about. Only a seasoned businessman would have such a keen reaction," Baggins replied, "If it weren't for that, I'm afraid you didn't have any good fruits to eat before - after all, even I can see this, so naturally I can't hide it from others."
He sat down in front of Bunigu: "Can you tell me about the ring?"
Bunigu lowered his head and hesitated for a long time.
After a while, he finally sighed and whispered: "Yes, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lie to you..."
He stammered: "It's just that I can't tell what it is. If I tell the truth, I'm afraid most of you won't believe it."
"Oh, what's going on?"
Bunigou then raised his head, looked at Baggins and said, "That ring is actually not mine, but my sister's husband's. When it comes to this matter, I don't know what to say... My sister's husband is an archaeologist...but he didn't do anything serious and actually joined the Blood Shark Pirates..."
"A scholar joined the air pirate group?"
"Look, let me tell you," Bunigou spread his hands: "I told you, you won't believe me if I say this. In fact, let alone you, even I still don't understand the situation."
Baggins asked: "What evidence do you have?"
"Of course," Danbu Nigu shook his head again: "But not now. I originally had a letter written by the other party on me, but the letter was taken away by those damn air pirates. Now I want to I can’t even take it out.”
Baggins replied: "If you say that, no wonder others don't believe it."
Bu Nigu looked helpless and said in frustration: "But there is nothing I can do."
"It doesn't matter," Baggins thought for a moment and said, "You just say it and I just listen. Anyway, this has nothing to do with what's going on inside. Just treat it as if we were chatting."
Bunigou nodded: "...Okay, after my sister's husband joined the Sky Pirates, someone sent me a letter, telling me that if I have a chance, I can go to him with this ring. .”
"So you're here?" Baggins interrupted.
"How dare I?" Bunigou hurriedly shook his head: "I am a businessman, and I throw myself into a trap to find these people. Isn't that a joke? It's just that the letter said that they are now operating in the Idos area, so I went to Anquid Bay , I originally planned to go nearby to inquire about the news, but who would have thought that I would bump into the Blood Shark Air Pirate."
He sighed and said: "My great-grandfather's generation were smugglers active in Idos. You know, they are businessmen, but they are actually half the same family as these air pirates today. And my grandfather and father , they basically inherited this family business, and their hands were stained with the blood of innocent people - but they also suffered retribution, and went to Ms. Roman's Kingdom of God early to repent."
"Only me and my sister are left, and they depend on each other. But in my generation, I finally relied on the savings of three generations of my great-grandfather to get through the relationship, get the status of an official businessman, wash away the past experience, and have a new life. A formal business."
"I haven't seen my father a few times since I was a child, and my mother died early. I only have one sister, and I raised her up single-handedly. I also introduced her to her current husband. I originally thought that a scholar could be considered a decent status, but Who would have thought something like this would happen.”
"I couldn't bear to see my sister crying all day long, but as a businessman, how could I dare to deal with air pirates? I just thought that I would fall into the hands of these people. I didn't expect that I would fall into the hands of these people. This fate has been sealed, but when I saw you, I was so anxious... that I couldn't help but come up with this crooked idea."
"Speaking of which, you just saved my life. I shouldn't have done this."
After hearing this, Baggins observed the other party carefully, and after confirming that the other party was not lying, he asked: "If you had thought so earlier, why didn't you just say it?"
"How can I tell you directly?" Bunigou sighed: "My brother-in-law has joined the Blood Shark Pirates. This is also a fact. Even I can't trust him, let alone you all."
He couldn't help but shook his head: "In short, I shouldn't take any chances. Fortunately, you have noticed this. Otherwise, if Mr. Ed and your eldest lady have a problem, I will not be able to do anything about it." Forgive yourself.”
Baggins patted him on the shoulder: "Don't worry, that big cat in the team, and our miss, Miss Attila are not simple people, Mr. Ed himself is also top-notch, even if you didn't say it To be honest, they will also consider taking a look at the situation as appropriate."
Bunigou raised his head with a sad expression: "Really?"
"Of course," Baggins smiled: "After all, our future captain is a motivated young man with a sense of justice. If not for this, do you think I would let the eldest lady be with him?"
Bu Nigu breathed a sigh of relief and even said Ms. Roman’s blessing.
But Baggins was not as relaxed as he was. How could a scholar inexplicably defect to the sky pirates? When did the looters above the sea start recruiting scholars?
What the other party said was correct. Scholars from Corin-Ithurian have at least been studying in Candle City, the Archives Society, for more than eleven years. They have often been in the large library of the Silver Tower since their youth. Work. Only after receiving the approval of the instructor, receiving the scholar's emblem and the blessing of Anjina, can one become a master.
But not everyone can be called a scholar——
This is indeed a very respectable profession, and nobles often recruit professional scholars to serve as their advisors, think tanks, and to teach future generations. Of course, there is a more advanced profession for scholars, that is, naturalist.
Among their ranks was a little lady who was a naturalist.
But no matter whether they are naturalists or scholars, I have never heard of anyone looking at air pirates. After all, the two are not in the same world at all.
He couldn't help but think that this was a clue worth noting. After the others completed their investigation, it seemed necessary to discuss this issue with them. Originally, the matter of Bunigu's ring was irrelevant, but with such a fact, it can become a direction that can be paid attention to.
After Bu Nigu stopped worrying about this problem, he felt a lot more relaxed and asked in private when Ed and the others would be back.
But Baggins didn't answer this time.
The sailor was looking in the direction of the valley—to be precise, the direction of Idos.
After a while, he turned around, raised a finger to his lips, and made a stop-talk gesture to Baggins.
"What's wrong?" Bu Nigu was startled and mouthed a question from behind.
Baggins felt that the communication crystal in his hand suddenly lit up, and a ray of dark red light came out of the dark multi-faceted crystal.
And suddenly, a golden brilliance lit up their eyes. Bunigou stood up from the ground with some staggering support on the wall. He was looking blankly into the southern night sky, where a slowly unfolding golden line caught his eye.
It seemed like a bunch of meteors blooming from the night sky. It extended from a point to an inclined line.
Then the second and the third.
Above the sky, it looked like stars falling like rain.
"Airship drop..."
A deep light flashed in Baggins' eyes: "Why is the Navy here!?"
…
A bright fire, a burst of flames, rolled back into the tunnel.
Parker coughed heavily and stepped back from the outside. The two Blood Shark Air Pirates were also rushing in from the direction filled with smoke, looking extremely embarrassed - but they had a face-to-face encounter with Parker, Big Catman, Sylvide and Alisa behind them. , obviously stunned for a moment.
The other party obviously didn't expect that there were people under this tunnel.
The air pirate subconsciously went to draw his sword, but there was a gunshot, and a ball of blood and fire burst out from his chest. Sylvide put away the smokey muzzle of the gun, pulled the hammer, poured in the gunpowder, and then loaded the lead bullets - at the same time, Rhett let out a roar.
The big cat man's roar caused the blood shark air pirate to subconsciously raise his sword and block it in that direction.
But he didn't wait for Rhett's surprise attack. Instead, Miss Nightingale came around from the other direction and slit his throat with a cold short blade.
Alyssa let go of the opponent's chin, and the air thief still fell to the ground helplessly, twitching. Then she raised her head, looked at Red, and said jokingly: "Big cat man, you made a sneak attack again."
Rhett shrugged and gestured with the scepter in his hand: "I am indeed ready to take action, but I haven't had time to draw out the staff yet. You know, the Paladin, as a heavy armor, moves relatively slowly." He looked at the The guy's body shook his head.
"I blame him for reacting a little too quickly."
Alyssa laughed out loud.
Only then did Sylvide put away her gun, looked at the smoke-filled scene outside, and asked, "What is going on outside?"
"I don't know," Alyssa replied: "It's not the leader, nor someone we know - but the Blood Shark Pirates did fight with someone, but I haven't yet found out which side the intruders came from. .”
"That means someone entered Idos at the same time as us - but not on our side?" The big cat man thought for a moment and asked.
Alyssa nodded.
She added: "Looking at the situation outside, it should be that when we went to the place on the log, the other party had already sneaked into Idos. And when we fought with the previous monster, the other party also happened to be with us. The Blood Shark Air Pirates are on fire."
"It's such a coincidence. Is there any connection?"
"I don't think so," Alyssa replied, "How can there be such a coincidence?"
She looked at Sylvide on the side again: "What do you think Miss Sylvide?"
Sylvide also shook her head: "Not necessarily," she replied calmly: "If the other party is from Pudra's side, then wouldn't it be meaningless for the other party to win over Luo Lin? As for Luo Lin's behind People, there may be a certain possibility——"
"But the Dragon Worship Cult has always been careful and cautious. Will they really kill each other?"
The big cat man also pointed out at this time: "Pudela died in that place accidentally, but what if he was not an accident?"
Alyssa was slightly surprised: "You mean Luo Lin did it on purpose... Then wouldn't we be too unlucky to bump into that scene?"
"It's not necessarily luck," Sylvide analyzed: "Otherwise, how would we know all this?"
Several people discussed for a while, but Parker rarely interjected: "Everyone, how long will we stay here? Besides, we don't even know who the other party is now, so it's not an option to continue guessing like this. ?”
The others were stunned for a moment before turning their attention to Sylvide.
The ship officer lady only nodded lightly: "Anyway, it seems that it is no longer safe on the ground. Stop the operation and return to the original route."
"What about the ring?" Parker took out the round ring and gestured, as if he was afraid that it would deceive him: "Can I leave it to you for safekeeping?"
But this proposal was immediately ruthlessly rejected by the big cat people:
"Take it first."
"Why?"
Sylvide asked again: "Have you contacted Baggins?"
"Wait a moment," Alyssa took out the communication crystal, wiped it a few times, and whispered something to the other side. Then she raised her head, with a hesitant look on her face: "I asked, there are some problems over there."
"what is the problem?"
"It seems that the navy of Kaolin-Ithurian has arrived, but it is still unclear whether it is the same group as the people in the city..."
"navy?"
Several people were obviously stunned.
Rhett looked at the ship officer almost immediately and asked: "Miss Sylvide, have you contacted the Elfendor Council? They have invited the navy?"
But Sylvester frowned and shook her head: "I didn't, and neither did Ed."
The big cat man showed doubts almost immediately. He tapped his chin with his paw and asked, "So, in addition to us, the navy, and the Dragon Worshipers, there is actually a fourth party here?"
…
