The third day after the pirate attack.
The moment of departure had finally arrived.
Alvin boarded the merchant ship Yellow Bird, which was temporarily docked at Leopold for resupply, alone.
Destination: the third largest naval base on the west coast of Phaletis: Gabred.
Standing at the stern of the ship, the seabirds chirped and circled above Alvin, and the salty sea breeze blew gently on his face. White waves disappeared from the back of the ship, and what also disappeared from his view was the place where he had lived for five years, Leopold.
Before leaving, Alvin did not inform anyone and left quietly. But he was sure that the next time he returned to this place, everything would be different!
"Mr. Alvin, let me show you to your cabin. The weather has been good these past few days, the waves are not high, and the captain says we can reach Gabred in less than two days with full sail." A very young sailor walked up to Alvin and introduced the journey to him enthusiastically.
After all, Viscount Andrea had reserved a place on the ship for him and sent someone to escort him on board. The crew could not guess Alvin's identity, so they naturally tried their best to take care of him.
With a gentle nod of his head, Alvin followed the young sailor into the cabin.
Alvin owed the Viscount a favor yet again. However, Alvin accepted it unperturbed. After all, the more debts one had, the more they would get used to it. It would not have been easy for him to find a ship that went to Gabred in a short amount of time.
The Yellow Bird was a very mature, three-masted galleon that was 42 meters long and had a crew of 200 people.
Even though he was about to join the navy, the Yellow Bird was technically the first large sea vessel Alvin had ever boarded. The small sampans and fishing boats he had been on before were only marginally better than wooden planks.
So after putting down his luggage, Alvin could not help but return to the deck and take a tour of the big ship.
Knowing that this passenger had a special identity, even the most loyal of the crew would leave him alone.
Standing in a corner that did not interfere with the crew's operations, Alvin gazed up at the sailboat's spectacular sails. The three masts at the front, middle, and back, and especially the mainmast, were almost four stories high. Looking up at them from the deck would make one dizzy.
The four white sails, consisting of the mainsail, the topgallant sail, the topsail, and the upper topsail, were already full of wind and beginning to provide the ship with a continuous stream of power.
The boatswain, who had a large, white beard, commanded his crew to constantly fine-tune the sails, striving to maintain the ship's speed while maximizing the ship's stability. Even though Alvin had been exposed to the relevant knowledge since he was a child, there was still a feeling of unawareness when he first saw it with his own eyes.
The bearded man swept several looks at this curious fellow who was staring at him, and was really unable to guess what this guest wanted.
It was as if he had nails stuck in his feet, and keeping his balance was as easy as eating and drinking. He stood steadier than the old sailors on the bumpy deck, as if he had lived on the sea since he was a boy.
But he was so curious about everything on the ship, from a piece of board, to a cable, and even the pulleys on the mast. If he had not been watching the guy closely, the guy looked like he would have wanted to come up and try his hand at controlling the cable.
He seemed like a complete novice if one looked at him from that point of view, and it was very weird.
Remembering the captain's special instructions, the bearded boatswain instructed his sailors to look after the sails, then he went over to Alvin, who was standing off to the side and watching intently. He asked, "Are you interested in steering sailboats, Sir?"
Alvin hesitated, but there was no need to hide his purpose. "Uh… Yes. I'm going to Gabred to join the navy, and I wanted to get an early look at life on board a ship. Am I disturbing you?"
"No, no, not really. Rather, if you're interested, I can introduce you to this beautiful big guy at our feet!" The boatswain was surprisingly reasonable and offered to give Alvin an introduction to the ship.
Alvin gladly accepted his offer.
He was also aware that he had been given super special treatment thanks to Viscount Andrea.
He just did not know that the Viscount actually owned a portion of the Yellow Bird's shares, and that after they loaded a portion of their cargo in Leopold, they would arrive in Gabred and fill up the cargo hold again before setting off with the large fleet for the New World and embark on an ocean voyage.
"Our Yellow Bird has just completed four years in the water and is in the best shape of its life…"
The pleasant conversation lasted for half an hour, and during the tour, Alvin's Data Vision was openly and honestly modeling the entire Yellow Bird. It could even be said that Alvin already knew more about the ship than many of the veteran sailors who had worked on it for years.
One of the things that surprised Alvin the most was that the Yellow Bird was not an ordinary merchant ship, but a genuine armed merchant ship.
According to the boatswain's introduction, this ship's hull was specially modified, and it was impossible to see where the cannon ports were from the outside. But as long as the hidden shields were opened, the ship could immediately reveal its hideous interior and blast away attacking pirate ships!
Alvin nodded on the surface, but in his heart, he did not believe a word of it.
Protection against pirates? I'm afraid it was disguised as an ordinary merchant ship and would then turn into a plunder ship after approaching other merchant ships!
However, privateering at sea was commonplace. As long as you had a privateering permit and only targeted enemy nations, it was fine. Alvin would not be stupid enough to expose this to the boatswain's face.
When he was warmly invited to lunch by Captain Joseph, Alvin realized that he was the only passenger on the ship.
After asking some indirect questions, Alvin found out that Viscount Andrea was also a shareholder of the ship and that he had arranged a private room on the Yellow Bird for himself. He could not help but marvel at the old man's stubbornness!
And Alvin believed that what he had seen was definitely just the tip of the iceberg, and that the Viscount was definitely a sly, old fox.
Since they were still sailing offshore, they were well supplied and the lunch was plentiful. It was a pity that today was not Alvin's lucky day, as he was destined to not be able to consume this lunch.
Clang, clang, clang…
Having just taken a sip of the pre-dinner bisque served by the sailor who doubled-up as a waiter, an alarm sounded on the ship. The sailor on the mainmast had spotted a dangerous situation and sounded the alarm.
On an empty, fixed commercial shipping route, such an alarm normally meant one one thing—pirates!
Slowly and methodically wiping his mouth with a napkin, the red-faced, curly-haired uncle across from Alvin calmly said, "Small matter, I'll take care of it. Mr. Alvin, just stay in this room and wait."
After saying that, he lifted the dagger placed on the table and strode out. Soon, the sound of his commanding voice was heard outside as the crew ran back and forth in an extremely rhythmic manner. Although they were nervous, they did not panic.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Soon, cannon shots rang out one after another. Although they did not hit the Yellow Bird, they created huge splashes of water near the merchant ship, which crashed onto the deck and created an atmosphere of extreme tension.
"Pirates are here. Non-combatants, return to your cabins immediately. Combatants, to your stations! I'll shoot his jaw off if he tries to raid the Yellow Bird!" Captain Joseph's calm voice gave the crew great encouragement.
Alvin looked out of the porthole and saw a sloop with blood-red anchors painted on its black sails speeding in his direction.
The ship was slowly adjusting its hull while moving and firing its ten cannons on its starboard side continuously. It was obviously trying to force the ship, which looked like it was carrying a lot of cargo, to stop.
In reality, in the era of wooden sailboats and naval battles with cannons, the probability of sinking an enemy ship directly with cannon shots in a cannon battle of the same level was extremely low. It would always end up in a boarding, and this was even more common for the attacking method that pirates employed, which aimed to plunder and capture opposing ships.
Otherwise, even if they sunk the merchant ship, they would get no benefit from it. So why would they do that?
So when the Blood Anchor was almost moving parallel to the Yellow Bird, most of the cannon holes on the side facing the Yellow Bird were closed, and only several cannons were fired sporadically to intimidate the merchant ship.
Obviously, the Yellow Bird's disguise had successfully tricked the pirates, and they did not notice the hidden threat in this ordinary merchant ship at all.
Blood Anchor Zack put down his monocular.
Although the fact that the number of sailors on the opposing ship was more than his made the situation a little tricky, it was only a minor inconvenience. With the strength of the pirates under his command, his crew could fight the ordinary merchant ship's crew outnumbered one to two and still win easily.
Tugging on an amulet around his neck that consisted of crossed black wings, Zack silently prayed, "Goddess of Black Wings, protect me!"