Extraordinary Voyage - Chapter 32
Chapter 32: Bounty
The patrol was uneventful this time, and after more than half a month at sea, the Silver Wing returned to Gabred Naval Base successfully.
The wind-sail battleship could only be powered by wind, so its travelling speed could not be guaranteed. Coastal patrolling could already be considered a task that took less time and was relatively safer.
According to the veteran crew members, when performing ocean-going escort duties, such as those to the New World, it was normal to be at sea for months on end. Of course, those were tasks that only class 4 battleships and above could undertake. The Silver Wing was unqualified for such tasks now.
After disembarking from the ship, the rest of the crew went to relax, while Alvin and Gary returned to their residence by the sea, ready to continue their training. They understood that what was more important than the Extraordinary inheritance was self-control, and that to be saintly in front of others, one had to suffer behind their backs.
Just as the two of them joined forces to clean up the house that had been unoccupied for more than half a month, one of the sailors who had stayed on board came running to report the news, and shouted while panting, “Sir, there is an urgent mission. The Captain has issued a summoning order, all personnel are to return to the ship immediately.”
“Okay, we got it.”
Returning to the Silver Wing and seeing First Mate Perry working overtime to replenish the ship’s resources, Alvin greeted him then headed straight to the captain’s cabin.
“One-Eyed Bech? A reward of 1,000 Golden Lion Coins!!!”
“Is this guy that arrogant? He actually dared to sink a warship?”
“It’s said that he’s the deputy leader of the Shark-Tooth Pirates, and already has senior knight-level combat power himself.”
When Alvin arrived at the captain’s cabin, the officers of the Silver Wing were already gathered here in a circle and discussing feverishly.
In the middle of the desk was a bounty that had just been brought back from the fleet command, along with simple information about the wanted criminal.
When they saw the reward, not only Alvin, but the whole group of officers became red-eyed.
What were a thousand Golden Lion Coins worth?
It was almost equal to a naval officer’s salary for a hundred years without eating or drinking, equivalent to ten quality war horses, and equivalent to one-fifth of a class 6 sloop.
And this money would be paid in full directly by the Third Naval Fleet’s Command, regardless of the rules governing the distribution of spoils of war. The 1,000 Golden Lion Coins would go to whoever killed this guy!
Add to that the possibility of loot after fighting the pirates, and allow everyone to eat till oil flowed out of their mouths in one battle.
Alvin was also taken aback. What kind of guy was worth so much money? He greeted Uncle Gull and his colleagues, picked up the information on the table, and read it.
He did not care about his identity as the deputy leader of the Shark-Tooth Pirates. What pirate force on the sea could be stronger than the navy? A terrifying force that ordinary people dared not provoke would cower in front of the Kingdom Navy.
However, according to accurate information, “One-Eyed” Bech himself had the Extraordinary rank of Senior Official Knight, and had a record of killing powerful people of the same level. Not long ago, his pirate ship even sank a navy class 6 communication ship in a head-on battle.
Alvin could not help but marvel at his craziness and strength.
In reality, there were pirates that dared to fight the navy head-on, and many great pirates across the world had sunk navy warships before.
But that had prerequisites.
First, you had to have great strength that even the navy would fear. Would it be worth it to chase you across the ocean to kill you? That power had to be equivalent to that of Level Three and Grand Knights. Secondly, do not let anyone see it, and do not spread it around gleefully or make it such that everyone knows about it.
However, although this guy called One-Eyed Bech seemed to already have the strength of an official knight, which was beyond the reach of most navies, he was far from being feared by the authorities.
He did not even flee immediately after sinking the warship, and continued to sway in the Third Naval Fleet’s jurisdiction, which was like slapping the Third Fleet’s officers and soldiers in the face. If they did not attack him, who should they attack?
Alvin did not think this guy could get away with it for long. Now it was up to whoever was lucky enough to catch him. When the ships closed in, unless he could fly or dive, the outcome would be inevitable.
“Captain, resupply complete!”
After a while, First Officer Perry returned and reported to Captain Gull that the supplies were ready and the crew had all made their way back to the ship.
Seeing the fiery gazes of everyone, Gull nodded in approval of the crew’s morale and waved his big hand, “Set sail! According to the Command, we will go to the vicinity of Tarot Island to rendezvous with the Warrior and search for One-Eyed Bech together.
Gentlemen, the majesty of the Navy cannot be tarnished. We will clean it with the blood of One-Eyed Bech!”
“Yes! Captain!”
…
On the blue sea, the waves were not too rough, the wind was gentle, and the sun was shining. The two similarly sized class 5 cruisers were travelling in a patrolling formation.
“Squawk… Squawk…”
The chirping of seabirds were also not as friendly and pleasant as usual, but rather a bit irritating.
The two warships Silver Wing and Warrior had already searched the ocean for eight days in pursuit of One-Eyed Bech.
Not only had they not found One-Eyed Bech, even other minor pirates were nowhere to be seen. The well-informed pirates had received the news long in advance and were frightened away by the huge formation the Third Naval Fleet had employed.
It could be said that most of the warships that did not have an emergency mission had joined the pursuit team. The sheer strength and numbers of the pursuit team was very rarely seen in the past ten years.
If not for the fast communication ships and terns that kept sending the latest information to make sure that One-Eyed Bech did not go ashore and did not leave the Third Naval Fleet’s territory, they thought he would have slipped away by now.
Now both the officers and soldiers on the Silver Wing and the Warrior were getting a little anxious. Even with the power of the Third Naval Fleet, such a large-scale blockade of the sea could not go on indefinitely. The longer the delay, the greater the possibility of everyone ending up with nothing.
The ocean was just too vast for human beings, and even if they just wanted to find this guy in this small area on the west coast of the Black Sea, it was not much better than trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Alvin had a very good attitude though. Even if they did not find their target, it would still be an experience for him.
Because they might encounter sudden battles at any time during this period, Alvin’s special training was temporarily postponed, and he spent most of this time under the mast.
Alvin learnt how to control the sails very quickly and was already at a level where he could be Boatswain Jeb’s assistant. All he was lacking to become a qualified boatswain was experience.
It had been more than a month since he boarded the ship, and Alvin had already gotten used to life on the ship completely. Now he felt just like a fish in water when on the ship.
He even secretly thought, “I was born to be the man who conquers the sea, hehe.”
Standing on the watchtower, looking around against the slightly salty sea breeze, he would not miss any trace of One-Eyed Bech with the help of his Data Vision.
“Hmm, the Warrior sent a signal?”
At that moment, Alvin keenly discovered the flag signal from the other ship and interpreted it to mean that the other ship knew that there was an island with fresh water ahead, and was inviting the Silver Wing to replenish its fresh water.
Every drop of fresh water on the ship was a precious resource, because fresh water stored for a long time would spoil and become smelly. So after a period of time at sea, the seamen would replace the fresh water with sugar cane liquor, the rum that appears in many western fictional stories. It would be difficult for people living on land to experience the lack of water on board.
As the part-time captain’s messenger, Alvin immediately got down from the mast to report to Gull.
After a moment, as the Silver Wing sent back a flag signal, the two battleships made a turn together and headed towards the unnamed island.
…
“The scenery of this island is quite nice. If it were off-shore, there would be many people willing to come here for a vacation.”
It had sunshine; white, sandy beaches; and a few graceful coconut trees. While the first mate organised the seamen to replenish the freshwater, Alvin sat leisurely in a small boat and started fishing near the small island.
“Yo, another one!”
One had to say, in a place like this, which humans rarely visited, the fishes had never seen fishing hooks before. They were so innocent, it was cute. Even though Alvin was an average fisherman, he caught two buckets full of big fish he could not identify.
The sailors of this era did not bother to give names to all kinds of strange and bizarre sea fish. That was what the scholars should be doing. To them, there were only two types of sea animals: edible and inedible.
After returning the fish to the boat and seeing that the sailors had not finished their work, Alvin ran straight to the estuary of the island’s freshwater river and took a freshwater bath.
“Satisfying!”
While on the ship, no matter how good conditions were for an officer, Alvin found it difficult to tolerate not being able to shower regularly. Now that he had the opportunity to shower, he naturally would not give it up.
Wiping his hair with a towel as he returned to the ship, Alvin saw that the chef was barbecuing on the ship’s deck using the fish that Alvin had brought back, sea shells that the crew had found on the beach, and cured meats from the storeroom. Smoke curled up from the barbecue and made people very hungry when they saw it.
Life at sea was hard, and the seamen had long learnt how to make the most of it. Gatherings and good food were only some of the ways to do so.
Alvin was a little eager to try his hand as he watched. As a single man for two lifetimes, he had developed decent skills and wanted to try cooking too.
He picked up a tuna-like fish with red stripes from the bucket of fish, picked up the kitchen knife on the side, and played a knife trick. He brushed it twice and skilfully turned it into two pieces of crystal-clear flesh.
The kitchen knife in his hands turned into a silver flash and, like cartoon effects, pieces of paper-thin shiny sashimi flew out automatically and landed on the clean plate at the side, which had been prepared long ago.
Right now, Alvin was much better than top chefs in his previous life in the usage of knives, and his precision and swiftness were pleasing to the eye.
Such flashy knife skills made Alvin quickly surrounded by a group of people, with most of them being crew members of a higher status on the ship. Even the ones with the lowest status were irreplaceable technicians.
“This kid has too many ideas, doesn’t he?” Both Gull and Alvin were not the kind of swordsmen who regarded sword techniques as their lives, and he did not think that there was anything wrong with Alvin using sword techniques in this manner.
It was just that he knew beforehand that Alvin had invented “bean sprouts” and taught the ship doctor about several kinds of food and drinks that could prevent diseases. Now that he had created this new way to eat fish, he really did not know where he had pulled so many crazy ideas from.
After slicing the sashimi, Alvin used the ingredients on hand to make a sauce, dipped the fish in it, and tasted it. Although it was missing something compared to the special dipping sauce he used in his previous life, the fresh fish he had just caught from the sea seemed to come alive in his mouth and made up for any differences in flavor.
“Not bad, fresh!”
