Schliemann recognized the gentleman in front of him at a glance, the message holder who had been kicked out of the tavern by Artus, John Lorenz.
"Mr. John Lorenz, I am troubled as to how I shall see you."
John raised his white-gloved hand and shook it with Schliemann, then quickly withdrew it.
"It seems that you have been to that barn-like tavern...
I can't understand why a well-known explorer and adventurer like you would put your contact point in such a smelly place. Don't you have your own mansion? "
Schliemann smiled helplessly, stretched out his hand to invite John to board the ship, and took him straight to the captain's cabin.
"Welcome to the Crescent, this is my residence."
As Schliemann spoke, he rolled up the aeronautical charts and calculations. After clearing the table, he took out the wine glass and prepared to entertain his guests.
"Oh... no, no, no, you should have your own place on the mainland island, even if you only use it as your mailbox."
John said, taking the wine glass, and after taking a look at the cleanliness of the glass, he nodded approvingly.
"I had no money and I spent almost all my money on exploring this."
"This is good. Focus is a necessary condition for success, which will be very useful for our future cooperation."
Schliemann was a little surprised. He thought John came to him to talk about finding the legendary ruins of the empty island.
In order to find the place of return, as soon as he hears a legend related to the place of return, or something similar to the effect of the place of return, he will listen carefully, collect information, and search for this place over the vast blue sea.
And cooperation, a word commonly used by businessmen, made him wary.
John narrowed his eyes. He was so sophisticated that he noticed that Schliemann's interest was losing, so he decided to go straight to the point.
"Excuse me, Lord Schliemann, I got to know you a lot before I found you.
As far as I know, you appeared out of thin air on the Falcon flying ship five years ago, worked as a crew member for two years, then bought your own flying ship, and have been exploring all the way to this day.
I can't help but wonder, what exactly are you looking for?
Until today, I met a retired chief mate and he told me the answer. "
Schliemann narrowed his eyes. In the past five years, his identity from Bihai had brought him a lot of trouble. Now, a stranger who knew him well appeared in front of him. It sounded like this person had also had a long conversation with Anthony, which made him wary. got up.
"Oh? Have you met Anthony? What did he say?"
John put down his wine glass with a smile on his face.
"Don't be nervous, Anthony has been praising your wisdom. He said that you are the most powerful captain on this mainland island.
He told me how you controlled the flying ship to pass through the ghost fog, and how you escaped from the overwhelming winged demons... In short, it was very exciting. "
Schliemann took a sip of his wine and showed no emotion at John's compliment.
"Didn't you say anything else?"
"He said you were looking for a place called the Land of Return, is that right?"
Schliemann remained calm, and when John stopped talking, he exhaled.
It seems that Anthony didn't tell him that he was from Bihai, he just wanted to get some business for himself.
"Then, I'm sorry, Mr. John Lorenz, since you know that I am looking for a place to return to in the blue sea, you should know that I am not interested in other directions of exploration."
"Of course I know, this is the place of return I'm talking about."
When he heard about the land of return, Schliemann held back his racing heart to avoid being overly disappointed after having high hopes.
"Oh? Do you know where this place is? Or do you think its existence is just a legend?"
"No, no... I don't know." John shook his head, put his hands on the table, and moved his thumbs around each other.
"Looks like I need to introduce myself again.
I, John Lorenz Cervisi.
He is the last tenth-generation descendant of King Cervisi, and the only legitimate successor in the Valance continent. "
Schlieman was stunned by the other party's smooth self-introduction. He lacked knowledge of the history of the Valance continent and never imagined that he was in front of a descendant of a royal family.
The aura of this royal family almost suffocated Schliemann, but fortunately there was such a saying in his world: Do princes and generals have the right to live in peace?
He remained polite and replied in a neither humble nor condescending manner: "But you still don't know where the place of return is..."
Faced with this question that should have been extremely embarrassing, John was not angry. He laughed twice and leaned forward.
"Do you know what a royal family has the most?"
After thinking about it for a while, Schliemann only had two options left: money and women. He suddenly felt extremely vulgar.
"It's a collection of books. The royal family's collection of books is beyond the imagination of ordinary people."
As John spoke, the excitement on his face suddenly disappeared, replaced by endless loneliness.
“Of course, with the fall of our family, the palace was destroyed, but we still retained a lot of knowledge and information through family records.
There is a book that does mention the Land of Return, so I conclude that the Land of Return is real. "
"So, do you know where the place of return is?"
John sighed and said, "As I said just now, I don't know where the place of return is.
When our family was in danger, in order to avoid being liquidated, the royal family gathered thirty-nine flying ships and fled from the mainland island of Valans. They were loaded with wealth, books, and rare treasures.
Now more than two hundred years have passed, and no one knows where they are. I hope you can help me find their whereabouts. "
Schliemann pondered for a while, then took out the small leather bag from his pocket, took out the dark green stone leaf pendant, held the rope and stretched it in front of John.
"Take off the glove and hold it. I have some questions for you."
John looked at Schlieman in confusion, and Schlieman nodded slightly.
"Don't worry, it won't cause you any harm."
John took off his gloves and grasped the dark green stone pendant with his aging but still delicate hands. A sense of power flowed into his body, which surprised him.
"Let me ask you, are you sure there is a book recording the location of the place of return?"
"I am sure!"
John responded immediately and decisively.
"Are you sure this book left Valance with the fleet?"
John nodded vigorously and answered firmly.
"Then how do you know what happened two hundred years ago?"
"It's very simple. Our family still retains the habit of recording family history. The loading catalog of the fleet that left the mainland island two hundred years ago is still attached to our family history book."
"Then since it happened two hundred years ago, how do you know there is a book on it recording the place of return?"
"As I said just now, we have a family history record. The family history record not only records events, but also contains the diary of each family head. Two hundred years ago, the family head Wall mentioned in his diary the book that followed the fleet. Among the books left is one that describes the place of return.”
"I want to read this diary."
John's brows furrowed together, and Schlieman knew that the side effect of the leaf pendant could only make others tell the truth, but it could not make people obey.
John, who had a pious expression, realized that he was uncontrollably revealing the truth. He quickly let go of his hand and looked at Schliemann warily.
"I hope you will forgive me, Mr. John. I have to make sure that what you said about the place of return is true."
"Now that I've said everything, we're going in the same direction, right?"
In the past five years, Schliemann had never received such a clear clue about the place of return, and his desire to set sail immediately was beating wildly. Even so, he suppressed his excitement deep in his heart.
As he put the pendant into his leather bag, he asked, "Then what do you want from me?"
John took a deep breath and felt relaxed when he felt that the other party was convinced.
"I know that you are very good at sailing. You seem to have sailing skills that do not belong to this era. The lines and strange symbols on your charts cannot even be understood by me, a captain who often leads caravans.
Of course, this is also the main reason why I hope to cooperate with you.
But you don’t have to worry, I’m not coveting your navigation skills. I was the property that was taken away by the flying fleet two hundred years ago. "
Schliemann sensed ambition from the imperative to win in John's eyes. It was a kind of pressure from a superior person unique to the royal family. Although John behaved politely, this pressure still existed.
But Schliemann was not interested in the historical direction of this world. He just wanted to return to the surface world that he longed for.
"Okay, the book of Timothy is mine."
John nodded, and the two looked at each other in silence, and the atmosphere became strangely awkward.
"In that case, I need clues, including the port where it sailed two hundred years ago, its course, supplies, etc. I need all the information you have."
"Then please ask Mr. Schliemann to come back to my humble abode with me."
John put on his gloves and stood up gracefully, with a hint of deep curiosity between his slightly furrowed brows.
"Please satisfy my curiosity. That strange little stone...where did you get it?"
"Trust me, you don't want to know."
Schliemann exhaled with a smile, finally having a reliable direction to explore, which made him feel happy.
Unlike Schliemann's happy mood, the priest Ulien, who failed to complete his task, was being reprimanded by Bishop Marius.
"Nine flying ships, nine exploration directions, six disappeared, and only one brought back the holy bones of our Lord...
Is this the person you picked? Ullian! "
"Your Majesty Bishop, that's just a legendary empty island. It's normal if you can't find it..."
"Legend? Are you questioning the existence of the Lord?!"
Marius's scolding was like stones rolling down in the valley, low but reverberating. Ullian trembled all over and sweat dropped like rain.
"No, that's not the case, Lord Bishop, I mean the clues you gave are too vague. Who can find an empty island the size of a needle's eye in the vast blue sea with just a few words..."
"Didn't that Schliemann do it!?"
Ullian was silent. Schliemann's success was indeed a fact, which he could not refute.
"Those useless captains you are looking for are wasting our Lord's precious time! If you miss the promised day, just wait for the Lord to punish you!"
