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If you have never gone to sea in midsummer, you will never understand how beautiful the inland sea of Morbigas is.
It is true that the sea seen from the shore has its own beauty. Sometimes I look at the white tower shining in the sun on the shore of Parnilla during the day, watching the sparkling waves crashing on the breakwater; or in the evening I see the tower keepers above. I lit the whale oil brazier and began to adjust the mirror to reflect the light, watching with my own eyes the orange beam of light shining on the darkening water.
Or on a foggy day, when the vast expanse is white, in addition to the cool and moist air, one can also hear the long sound of the guide fog horn blown by the tower guard on the tower.
But that was just the longing of the people on the shore, which limited their perspective, like peering out of the vast world through an archer's shooting hole in a stone castle.
This is not how sailors see it.
No matter how beautiful the scenery is from a distance, it cannot compare to being in it personally.
The endless sky and horizon are dazzlingly far away. There is only a faint sky blue in the clear sky. The clear sunlight shines on the water. Looking down from the side of the ship, you can see all the way to the depths of the seabed.
The sea water in Morbigas is clear blue.
Compared to the icy North Rican Sea, the ocean currents here are warmer and therefore lighter in color. When the midday sun is strongest in the relatively offshore part, you can even see coral reefs and a variety of marine life on the seabed.
But beneath this peaceful and beautiful scene, the occasional glimpse of sunken shipwrecks reminds everyone that even the calm and pleasant inner sea of Morbigas can become an abyss of no return if not careful.
As expected, after two days at sea and gradually entering the high seas to start the official voyage, many first-time boarders lay on the bed with pale faces and could not get up. The wooden barrel used to hold vomitus has turned jet black after years of use. Even many people who are relatively less prone to seasickness can't help but see the greasy black color and unpleasant smell in the barrel. Started to retching.
A weak-willed person cannot become a sailor.
Anyone without a sense of adventure cannot become a sailor.
This kind of life has never been related to comfort. In the early years when navigation technology and related knowledge were still very primitive, it was common for sailors to suffer from septicemia. And even today, when great progress has been made, it is still a business accompanied by extremely high risks.
It is common for large merchant ships to be targeted and robbed by cruising pirates. In this vast sea, the only solid ground is the wooden ship plank you are stepping on. If there is a leak in the ship, there is no way to escape. Too little.
In addition to this, coupled with various weather effects, although in theory in the Mobigas Inland Sea, as long as you look in the direction of the rising and setting sun and walk east or west, you can reach the land. But considering the bias and the fact that not all parts of the east and west coasts are inhabited, this is still a bet at the cost of lives.
The risks are so high, but people still keep going.
Wealth and fame are one of the reasons, and many people may have entered this industry in the first place because of these. However, there are many ways to make money and gain fame. Sailors and captains will continue on this path, perhaps because the sea and ships can give them things that other industries cannot.
free.
On land, there are lands divided by race, language, culture and even identity and ancestry. The huge east coast has been artificially divided into countless small pieces by people based on their own interests.
But nothing like this exists in the sea.
As long as your ship can keep moving, the sky is the limit for you. As long as the wind is still blowing and the sail is not broken, you can go anywhere.
This kind of free life is a gamble with life at any time. It is high-risk and will lose everything in many cases.
But when you are riding on this ship, which is very large compared to people, but looks extremely small in the sea. Looking at the endless blue sea and sky, the bright sunshine, the salty sea breeze, and the whales spraying water and dolphins jumping in the distance on the sea.
Any risk seems worth it.
Humans are the race that is best at killing each other. No creature is better at persecuting and killing humans than humans. No matter how upright and civilized a country it is, the darkness inside is bottomless.
To a large extent, this is a hopeless race.
but.
There are thousands of creatures in the huge Rigal world.
Only human beings can feel excited and moved when looking at such beautiful scenery.
This is a contradictory race that cannot be summarized by simple good and evil.
Most of the people, including the first-time boarders who were vomiting, walked out of the dark cabins and looked up at this amazing scenery under the sunny weather.
I am just grateful for the fact that I was born as a human being.
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The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Everyone knows this truth. However, considering the influence of terrain factors, unless you can fly, the shortest distance is often not an option.
Just as land routes encounter obstacles such as mountains and lakes, maritime navigation is also greatly affected by the environment.
Although people often think of the east and west coastlines as a single unit when describing them, in fact, like any land or island tectonic edge, it is rugged.
Not all places on the plate edges where protrusions and depressions coexist are suitable for building ports. Coupled with the rift valleys and ocean currents, especially the water depth near the land, where there are a large number of reefs, although traveling close to the edge of the land is the most convenient and fast method for laymen, actual navigation is often not easy. will do so.
The route between the two ports is more like a less obvious arc. People first set out from the port and entered a place relatively far away from the sea with deeper water, and then moved forward until they were near the next port before approaching the land again.
Large ocean-going sailing ships generally travel in this way. They need a deep draft to avoid running aground or running aground on rocks. There are many things they need to pay attention to when sailing. The reason why the northern raiders who made people on the west coast trembled in fear at that time can leave so many legends is precisely because the longships they used had extremely shallow drafts, and they could sneak up on the coast and land on shoals, or even follow creeks and rivers. Go against the current.
People have had many ingenious ideas in the design and production of ships, and various design styles have emerged according to different uses. Mira and Henry were traveling on a typical large oriental merchant ship this time. It had a huge displacement and internal volume. It was not built for short-distance travel. The round-trip route spanned almost the entire east coast, starting from Parnilla at the southern end. It started and then stopped all the way to the northernmost part of the empire.
The long route coupled with the large-capacity transportation of goods and people allowed the price difference to be earned by transporting large quantities of southern products to the north. The money that such a large sailing ship could earn from one trip alone was something that small businessmen could hardly count on in their lifetime. And after using 80% of the load capacity for cargo, the remaining space can still be used to carry many guests and their belongings, making another profit and maximizing the benefits that can be obtained from a voyage. change.
How big is this merchant ship? The feeling of looking at it from the outside is different from that of being inside.
It is separated by several levels of wooden floors. The lowest level is naturally the so-called "ballast", some weights used to maintain balance and where the rowing slaves are located. Further up here, there is a densely packed cargo hold.
Further up the cargo hold is the cargo hold for live livestock - most of these are cattle and horses, including the horses used by travelers and the robust breeding animals that livestock dealers intend to sell. Livestock can also get seasick, so in order to prevent them from vomiting and making cleaning up too troublesome, most animals are given medicine to put them into a comatose state after boarding the ship.
Above the livestock hold, the last floor below the deck is half the cargo and the other half is the living quarters for the sailors. Junior sailors on the ship need to do various chores, and it is easier to access the cargo and livestock holds on this level.
The remaining three floors above the deck are the living floors for passengers and the private rooms of the first mate, captain and other key personnel of the merchant ship. The captain's house is always the largest and most gorgeous. Everyone can see the decorated house when they look up. wooden door, with the captain's full name written on it in Lamani.
The room where the sage and the Luoan girl stayed was on the second floor of the guest residence, which was the third room after going up the small staircase. This is a small independent room, not big. There is nothing except two small beds, a cabinet and wooden hooks on the wall for hanging weapons and clothes, but it still cost a lot of money.
The second floor is a place that can only be chosen by mercenaries and merchants who are better off, as well as children of nobles and gentry who go out to see the world. In comparison, the first floor is cheaper, but it is a Datong shop without any obstruction. In addition to the pillars and walls used to support the structure, people also need to bring their own beds. It is usually chosen by businessmen who want to save money and ordinary people who cannot afford a separate room on the second floor.
The disadvantage of being relatively cheap is that there is no private space. Not only is it inconvenient to be crowded with strangers, but you also have to take care of your belongings. If you are not careful, if your belongings are stolen, even if you pay the travel expenses, the merchant ship officers will not help you.
You have to rely on yourself for everything when you go out. If you are careless, you may lose your life next time.
All in all, Henry and Mira chose a separate room on the second floor in order to reduce trouble when they could afford it. After all, it is not suitable to carry weapons on the ship, plus Mira's books and other things are not convenient to carry with you. Although they ensured that the money was not exposed, after all, it was more secure to lock it in the room than to leave it in Datongpu.
The two newly purchased horses for transportation were finally sold at a very low price due to Margaret's "excellent bargaining skills". Our Luoan maiden, who already knows a lot about horses, has carefully selected her. Not only can she be compared to the purebred horses of the Imperial Knights, at least she can be regarded as a stoic, strong and intelligent vehicle.
They were naturally placed on the level where livestock was transported, but in addition to these two horses, there was another horse that went on the road with the two of them.
"Step--" The Luoan girl stopped and looked at the white foal resting peacefully in the corner of a small cabin through the light coming from the ventilation windows on both sides. .
This is a special cabin located on the left side of the livestock floor near the stern of the ship. The way in is locked by a door, and you have to walk through a small staircase to reach it. There are only a few independent small cages here that look relatively high-end and comfortable. At this moment, except for the place where it is located, the other small cages are empty.
Needless to say, its identity is naturally the little unicorn that was encountered by chance in the Bao Forest and had some kind of spiritual connection with our Luoan girl.
Originally, Mira was not so willing to take it on the road. For a profession like mercenary, keeping a low profile and not being noticed by others is the right way to reduce trouble. And even if the little unicorn doesn't have the eye-catching little horn on its head, its white and graceful figure is enough to attract gangsters who want to get something for nothing.
But this smart little guy didn't want to stay with Margaret. No matter where Mira went, it wanted to follow closely. Perhaps it was the same feeling shared by people who had lost their parents. Seeing how clingy it was, the Luoan girl couldn't bear to leave it alone and move on alone.
The deceased Horno once communicated with her when he went to the forest. After reaching full adulthood, the unicorn has enough wisdom to use magic to hide its overly proud figure - this It has also appeared in many legends that the unicorn who hides his true identity tests and selects his master, and only reveals his true identity after ensuring that the heroic knight is indeed a person with a pure heart.
But it is obviously still too difficult for the current little guy. So in order to hide all this, with the help of Margaret, they made a gorgeous horse suit for it to wear.
Because of yearning, knights and nobles throughout the ages often wore horse helmets with horns on their horses. This practice is so common that people usually don't doubt whether there is really a horn under the helmet.
In order to further dispel this suspicion, in addition to the luxurious helmet, it also wore a horse suit. The horse jacket with the same horizon blue background is painted with beautiful basil chrysanthemums, which to some extent indicates the blood relationship between the palace of Parnila City and the current royal family of Seksiyutu.
Such a clear sign of identity, coupled with the written proof written and stamped by Margaret herself, cleared the way for the two of them to take the little unicorn on the road together.
But thinking of this letter, the Luoan girl couldn't help but want to laugh. Margaret's certificate was stamped with her family's seal, and the content of the certificate stated that Henry and Mira were mercenaries who accepted the mission to escort this "precious little pony" to Suomir. ——Leave it to herself.
The strict hierarchical social structure of the Padrosi Empire became an advantage in this situation. Everything was done in place. Not only did no one raise unnecessary suspicions, but it also made many people, including the captain of the ship, Everyone served the two of them carefully, for fear that if there was something inconsiderate, the eldest lady of the main house of the largest port city on the east coast would be unhappy.
In this way, the little unicorn was placed in a special room where pets of nobles lived when they traveled. Only senior personnel on the ship had the key. And because there were no other noble pets on this trip, the captain handed the keys to Henry and Mira in a flattering manner, and hinted that they could beautify him in front of Margaret after completing their mission. In a few words, in the future, the tariffs and parking fees for shipping goods in Parnira can be more favorable.
The sage and the Luoan girl who understood these underground rules naturally agreed wholeheartedly, and after both parties achieved a satisfactory result, no one would bother with more details.
Margaret took care of it all, covering the little unicorn's identity with more gorgeous things, perfectly concealing it. The captain of the merchant ship only thought that it was the willfulness of a noble daughter. He felt that he had received a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to please, and he would not think about it deeply.
Nobles are worthy of being nobles, Mira thought. Even her friend Margaret, who seemed to be small, had some things that were inherently much better than commoners like her.
Looking at the little unicorn who was still sleeping peacefully, Mira carried the candlestick and walked back into the dim livestock cabin, and then locked the door.
When she returned to the deck and merged with Henry, under the dazzling sunshine, the aroma of lunch came from the ship's kitchen on the first floor, which was only separated from the main bunk.
"Hiss—" the Luoan girl closed her eyes and sniffed with her cute little nose.
"It's fish again." She frowned, but there was still a smile on her lips.
"That's great." Mira said in a brisk tone, while Henry next to her looked at her and just shrugged.
The sea breeze continued to blow, and the sky was cloudless. A dozen sailors on the forward deck quickly inserted the long wooden pole with a large sunshade into the fixed seat. There was immediately a shady area for dining on the exposed deck. .
They then set up the table and the leather-covered pony. Then the sailor with the loud voice who called people on board once again put the white towel used to wipe sweat over his shoulder:
"It's time to eat!"
