Chapter 24 Setting Sail

The Haimlong Tavern.

Amidst the noise and clamor.

If one listened carefully, one could hear words like Edward, adultery, murder, Feathered Serpent, witch, and wealthy merchant being bandied about among the many超凡 sailors.

Listening to the general gist of the story as told by those sailors, Gune rubbed his brow.

"These guys have way too much imagination! I almost believed it myself."

After Gune shot and killed the little pirate king Feathered Serpent Edward.

In the following days, Gune continued his steady study of spell runes and comprehension of runic mysteries.

At the same time, he continued recruiting members for his adventure group.

But this time, the recruitment target was no longer sailors, but accompanying超凡 chefs.

And recruiting chefs was obviously much easier than recruiting超凡 sailors.

"If the food you make tastes bad, I won't step in when the sailors throw you overboard. Of course, if you're a good swimmer and can swim back, that's your own skill."

With just this blunt statement, those sham chefs who wanted to pass off shoddy work for high pay backed off.

Of course, those sea-ship超凡 chefs with real skill had no need to worry about this problem.

After recruiting three sailor-chefs.

Gune, who was calmly comprehending runic mysteries, only needed to wait for Yasen Howell to finish modifying the sea-demon ship.

As time swiftly passed, the news of Feathered Serpent Edward's death eventually leaked and spread.

After all, there were only about twenty little pirate kings on the ocean.

And Feathered Serpent Edward was a very famous one; his death naturally couldn't be hidden.

Once the news got out, the many sailors who loved to stir up trouble passed it among themselves, eventually forming a very eye-catching story of "a cuckold enduring humiliation to achieve perfect revenge."

Roughly, it went that the wealthy merchant, knowing of his wife's affair with the pirate king, showed no emotion but endured the humiliation, spending a fortune to hire a highly skilled assassin.

In the end, the merchant waited for the pirate king, and the highly skilled assassin lived up to the merchant's gold pounds. Using some powerful method, he directly shot and killed the pirate king "Feathered Serpent Edward."

Compared to the story passed from mouth to mouth by these sailors.

Gune knew some deeper implications after the incident.

In the few days since Feathered Serpent Edward was shot by him.

It was said that many of the formidable pirates in Harutov Harbor had quieted down considerably these days.

Someone was hunting pirates.

This was clearly an important message that the pirates read from the death of Feathered Serpent Edward.

Even the incidents of pirate robbery and brawls had decreased significantly for several consecutive nights.

Gune hadn't expected that he would contribute to the public order of Harutov Harbor.

"You seem very interested in this story?"

As Gune listened sideways to the sailors' gossip, an old and steady voice sounded beside him.

Gune turned around and saw "Old Sea Chart," wearing a leather coat and a tricorn sailor's hat, his face wrinkled with the marks of age and time.

Old Sea Chart himself didn't quite remember his real name.

Everyone called him "Old Sea Chart."

In his own words, "Just like an old, yellowed, damaged nautical chart."

With graying hair, "Old Sea Chart" was a fourth-rank "Navigator." Though not strong in combat, he had unparalleled recognition abilities at sea.

Using a compass, the sun, the stars, and a pocket watch, he could precisely determine the ship's position.

By feeling the sea breeze, he could tell if a storm was coming.

By touching the sea-demon ship and releasing source power, he could sense whether there were reefs ahead or sea beasts approaching.

He also possessed powerful "ocean vision," which allowed him to see clearly through the water surface from the deck, spotting creatures swimming in the sea hundreds of meters deep.

And when sailing deep underwater, he could see even farther.

If deep-sea species came in groups to attack, Old Sea Chart could often detect them first, giving everyone time to prepare.

With such a navigator on board, Gune had no worries about losing his way at sea.

And Gune gave the third mate generous treatment.

"Just curious," Gune replied.

"Besides, such vicious pirates do all kinds of evil; it's better that they're dead, isn't it?"

"You're right, Captain."

Old Sea Chart nodded slightly.

"But... those powerful pirates on the ocean won't be dealt with anytime soon."

"And the area we're about to venture into is in deep-sea territory, a pirate hotspot."

"So we should avoid them when we encounter them. It's not good for an adventure group to clash head-on with a pirate group; even if we win, we'll suffer heavy losses."

"Rest assured, my third mate, those pirate ships can't catch up to us," Gune said with certainty.

"If they could, I'd let them taste my Italian cannon," Gune thought to himself.

Gune's mind stirred, and he looked toward the entrance of the Haimlong Tavern.

Yasen Howell, wearing a sailor's hat, walked in.

Scanning the room, Yasen immediately spotted Gune.

Then Yasen nodded slightly at Gune.

"Is it done?" Seeing this, Gune's heart stirred.

These past few days, Yasen had completely disappeared, nowhere to be seen.

Clearly, he had been secretly modifying the sea-demon ship.

After all, the modification of this pirate ship had to be handled by Yasen himself, without letting anyone else know.

Now that he had returned, it went without saying that the sea-demon ship was mostly finished.

"How is it?"

Once Yasen sat down, Gune asked softly.

"Everything's done, ready to set sail anytime."

"Excellent!"

Gune nodded slightly, then looked at Old Sea Chart and asked, "How's the weather today?"

"The wind is just right, and if we set out at noon, we can leave the jurisdiction before sunset and sail freely at night," Old Sea Chart replied expertly.

"Very good... In that case, notify all crew members to gather here. After lunch, we set sail," Gune said.

At the same time, Gune sighed inwardly.

"The great voyage... finally, is about to begin!"

As he spoke, Gune took out a high-level contract scroll.

He infused a small amount of source power into it.

This high-level soul contract had a "summon" function.

When the crew members were not far away, Gune could use this scroll to convey simple information to them.

Functions like "call" gathered everyone together, very convenient for assembly.

The "battle" function prepared everyone for combat.

This allowed everyone to instantly know that battle was imminent or already underway.

Though it only conveyed simple information, it had great practical value.

When Gune activated the "summon" ability.

All members of the "Whale Demon Adventure Group" simultaneously felt a faint call from their captain, "Jack Sparrow."

"Time to set sail!"

Undoubtedly, this was the first thought that arose in every member's mind.

The captain wouldn't call them for no reason.

Only on very important occasions would the captain do this.

And at this moment in Harutov Harbor, the most important thing was—setting sail!