Tirian stood on the towering bridge of the Sea Mist, looking through the wide window at the vast ocean in the distance.
That used to be the direction of Dagger Island - now there was only a wide expanse of sea and a few reconnaissance boats still searching in vain for clues.
Dagger Island disappeared for such a long time, but neither the Frost People nor the Sea Fog Fleet could find anything in this sea area.
The big pirate sighed, turned and left the bridge, then walked into his captain's room. On the desk in the captain's room, there was an antique oval mirror, which was out of tune with the overall advanced style of the Sea Mist.
Tirian came to the mirror and looked at his reflection in it, looking a little hesitant.
But soon he put his hesitation aside, reached into the drawer, took out the carved candlestick used for the ceremony, and placed it in front of the mirror.
"The Seamstress calls the Homeless..." Tirian muttered softly. At this moment, he felt like those sailors who were bewitched by the visions on the vast sea and fell into madness. In the last moments of madness, he offered a sacrifice to call on the terrifying power in the depths of darkness. And the truth seemed to be not much different. What he wanted to call was indeed the most terrifying power in this sea.
It's just that that power happened to be his father.
The candlestick lit up spontaneously, and the bright flame danced above the candle. The light and shadow were reflected in the mirror. Tirian looked at the small flame a little nervously. When he saw it jump a few times and then quickly turn a layer of dark green, he knew that his call was successfully responded to.
The oval mirror was quickly stained with a layer of flames, and the center of the mirror became as black as ink. Tirian's own figure disappeared in the mirror. A moment later, another figure emerged from it - it was Duncan's real body who stayed on the Lost Homeland.
Duncan was holding a piece of bread in his hand. He looked up and glanced at the mirror: "I was just about to have lunch - have you had lunch?"
"Um... not yet." Tirian was stunned for a moment, and answered somewhat uncomfortable. For some reason, his father seemed to have changed quietly after regaining his humanity. His way of greeting seemed so different. The good news was that this way of greeting was actually very cordial and friendly, but Tirian had not talked to his father so naturally for a long time, and he still felt particularly awkward.
"You should eat lunch on time, it's good for your health," Duncan said casually, "What do you want to talk to me about?"
"We have searched the entire sea area around Dagger Island and found nothing," Tirian
After calming down and focusing on the main task, he said, "The Frost People are still searching, but I think they will be in vain."
"The deep sea swallowed the island. The root of the problem is underwater. There is no point in searching on the sea surface. The biggest problem now is that we don't have the right diving equipment," Duncan shook his head. "Also, the city is getting nervous now. The church will soon expand the search to the second waterway. Don't worry, I have already sent a warning to your informants."
When Tirian heard that the church was going to search the Second Waterway, he subconsciously tensed up for a moment, but he heaved a sigh of relief when he heard the second half of Duncan's words. Then he frowned and said, "They suspect that the heretic's nest in the city is hidden in the Second Waterway?"
"After all, they have already turned over the entire city-state besides this one," Duncan raised his eyelids, "except for the second waterway, they have no other options."
Tirian frowned and said nothing. Duncan asked, "Why, what do you think?"
"...I don't think they can find any clues in the Second Waterway," Tirian shook his head slowly. "Although my informants don't control the entire Second Waterway, at least they are familiar with the situation down there and control several key nodes. If there really is a large number of Oblivion Cultists hiding down there and holding a large ceremony down there... I should have heard about it."
"Perhaps they hid it really well, or perhaps the ritual they performed had distorted the perception of all informants who noticed the movement - either they didn't notice it, or if they did, it would be contaminated, which resulted in you not receiving the correct intelligence."
Tirian Slow
He nodded slowly: "... This is indeed an explanation. After all, you have confirmed the existence of cognitive pollution in the city-state."
"I will also keep an eye on the Second Waterway," said the Duncan in the mirror. "I am also curious about where those Annihilation Cultists are hiding. If I find that your people are in trouble during this process, I will try my best to help them."
"Thank you very much." Tirian immediately bowed his head.
Just then, a sudden knock on the door interrupted the conversation in the captain's room.
"Someone is here to see you," Duncan in the mirror noticed the movement here, "If there's nothing else, just go and do your own thing."
"Yes, Father."
The figure in the mirror faded away, the flames at the edge of the mirror dissipated, and the candlestick in front of the mirror gradually returned to its original state.
Tirian breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the pressure gradually fade away in his heart, then frowned, stood up and opened the door: "What's going on?"
"A clipper ship from Frost," said an undead sailor with a hole in his head standing outside the door.
While saluting, he said, "They approached us with flags and light signals of 'non-violent action' and 'request for contact'. They looked like a group of... messengers."
"Messenger?" Tirian was surprised for a moment, but soon, his face showed an expression of interest, "This is quite interesting... They really can't sit still."
"Fire?" the sailor looked at his captain expectantly.
"Let them come," Tirian glared at the sailor, and then added, "Only three people are allowed on board. If you can't accept it, go back to where you came from."
On the mechanical clipper flying the flag of the Frost City-State, a well-dressed man wiped himself again and again while looking up at the steel battleship that was getting bigger and bigger in his field of vision.
The Sea Mist was getting closer and closer, and its high bow was like a mountain floating on the ice sea, bringing an increasingly strong sense of oppression. On the surrounding sea surface, the tiny pieces of ice floated and swam in the sea water like some kind of living thing, and even consciously rotated around the hull of the mechanical speedboat and constantly hit the hull near the waterline.
The sound of the broken ice hitting the hull was disturbing and nerve-wracking.
The confidential secretary couldn't help but wipe his eyes again, but in his mind, he couldn't help but think of the stories passed down by word of mouth in the Frost City-State - all the stories revolved around the curse on the open sea, the big pirate in the fog, the sailor who was frozen into an ice sculpture in his sleep, and a little child.
"We are close enough," the confidential secretary put on his gold-rimmed glasses, took a deep breath, and said to the accompanying officer beside him, "Stop at this distance - if we go any further, the battleship will open fire."
"Slowest speed, turn left!" The accompanying officer turned his head and shouted to the sailor who was delivering the message.
The speed of the mechanical speedboat suddenly slowed down, and the direction of the bow was slightly adjusted, making itself parallel to the huge steel battleship little by little.
At the same time, the accompanying officer was paying attention to the movements on the Sea Mist.
He saw flashing lights suddenly appear on the battleship, and then a sailor appeared on the side of the ship, waving a flag towards the mechanical clipper.
"They sent a signal," the confidential secretary asked quickly, "what does it mean?"
"The Sea Mist accepted our request... Thank God, this time it was a signal that living people could understand," the accompanying officer was obviously relieved. Then, he saw another small boat lowered from the side of the warship, "and they lowered the small boat for transporting personnel."
"May the God of Death bless us... I thought they would just open fire." The confidential secretary was also visibly relieved. As the first "envoy" sent to negotiate with the Sea Mist Fleet, although he had mentally prepared himself to be loyal to the city-state before coming, he still felt a sense of relief for surviving the disaster.
The small boat sent from the Sea Mist soon arrived next to the Frost Man's mechanical speedboat. On the boat sat several undead sailors wearing old-era naval uniforms.
The Queen's emblem on their arms and the
The uniforms representing the previous era were particularly eye-catching, but what was even more eye-catching than that attire was their dignity as undead.
Two of them had large holes in their heads, another had a hole through his chest, and only one seemed to have no external injuries - but his body was horribly swollen, like a corpse that had been soaked in sea water for three days.
The Frost sailors on the mechanical clipper were a little nervous when they saw these undead sailors, and after watching them step onto the Frost ship, many of them showed complicated looks.
However, the undead people obviously did not care about the attitudes of these living people. They just walked straight towards the person who seemed to have the highest military rank at the scene.
"Who is the messenger?"
"It's me," the man wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a short dress stepped forward immediately. He controlled his nervousness and tried not to focus too much on the terrifying features of the undead sailors. He tried to speak in a calm tone, "My name is Eddie Ruhl. I'm here to talk to the Sea Mist Fleet on behalf of the Frost City-State."
"A clerk?" The bloated undead sailor frowned and looked at the confidential secretary who called himself Eddie. He said with a teasing tone, "I thought you would at least send a few military representatives - the Frost Navy can't find a few brave soldiers now?"
The accompanying officer at the side immediately took half a step forward, but before he could open his mouth, Eddie stretched out his hand to stop him.
"I am a messenger," the civilian official with gold-rimmed glasses said, looking at the undead sailor in front of him, "Take me to see General Tirian."
The relationship between the Sea Mist Fleet and the city-state is already tense enough. The two sides have been confronting each other on a powder keg for fifty years. At this sensitive time, there is no point in sending a few more officers to deal with them - sending a clerk over can at least show a hint of friendliness.
The clerk was obviously a little nervous.
On the deck of the Sea Mist, Tirian looked up and down at the "city-state diplomat" in front of him. He could clearly distinguish the other party's forced calm eyes and the disordered rhythm of his breathing - this gentleman's calmness skills are actually very good, but unfortunately, this skill can be used against ordinary people, but not against a captain who commands an army of undead.
Tirian could even hear every heartbeat of the diplomat.
Eddie was also observing the big pirate in front of him—observing the man who once defended the city-state but has now become the source of horror legends in the hearts of almost all Frost people.
Tall, strong, silent, and majestic, his single eye carries a look of scrutiny and contempt, and every glance seems like a judgment.
In front of this big pirate, even breathing seemed to have become a very strenuous task.
"General Tirian," Eddie took two deep breaths and stood up straight, facing the pirate's scrutiny. "On behalf of the Frost City, I extend my greetings to you. I'm very happy to be aboard this legendary warship."
"Half a century has passed," Tirian calmly looked at the man in front of him who was a head shorter than him. "Frost finally got the courage to talk to me?"
Eddie didn't care about the provocation in the other party's words at all, and just continued: "I came here with a mission. The dispute between the Frost and the Sea Mist Fleet does exist, but that's not what we want to talk about today. You should know the troubles that the city-state is facing now. We just want to know the purpose of the Sea Mist Fleet. General Tirian, what do you want and what do you want to do?"
"General... please stop calling me that. It doesn't make me happy." Tirian glanced at Eddie and slowly walked to the edge of the ship's side. "As for what I'm going to do... isn't it obvious enough? I'm blocking this city-state that is about to fall - to prevent your disaster from spreading and harming my trading partners on the cold sea."
"Business partner?"
"I think the name is correct—they pay the price, and the Mist Fleet protects them on the cold sea." Tirian turned back. "Don't you think this is a very good trade relationship?"
The corners of Eddie's mouth trembled slightly, but he quickly concealed this change. He glanced at the undead sailors around him, and then slowly walked to Tirian's side: "You mean... you just
Want to help Frost control this crisis?"
"It's a bit self-indulgent, but it's okay if you want to think so," Tirian said casually, "I don't need you to do anything, just don't make trouble for me."
Eddie was silent for two seconds, and finally spoke cautiously: "... May I know why you want to help me?"
Tirian rested his hands on the side railing, not looking back. "Is the reason important?"
"I need a reason that will reassure my superiors and colleagues."
"Ah, Mr. Eddie, so you actually need a reason to be at ease," Tirian laughed. He turned his head and looked into Eddie's eyes. "Then I'll tell you the reason - my father's order."
Eddie was stunned.
After a moment, his expression became visibly horrified.
"It seems you have thought of it. Yes, my father's order, you can regard it as one sent from the warp. He asked me to send troops to besiege your poor little city-state. So go back and tell your superiors that the Sea Mist Fleet is carrying out the will from the warp." Tirian's tone was quite pleasant, "Then they can have a baby's sleep."
The pirate's face was filled with joy. Eddie finally realized what was happening - or thought he did. He heaved a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "That's not a good joke. Tyrian will... Captain, I understand what you mean. If you don't want to explain, I can stop asking."
Tirian stared at the "Frost Ambassador" in front of him, and after a moment he uttered a click of the tongue.
No one believes the truth these days.
But he was still in a very happy mood.
It was always a pleasure to see this serious senior Frost official startled in front of him.
"You may leave now, Mr. Eddy," he said politely, "there is no dinner prepared for you on board."
Eddie was visibly stunned: "Huh? Wait, I still..."
"You still have a lot to ask, such as the next plan of the Sea Mist Fleet, the matter about Dagger Island, the Queen and the Abyss Plan, but unfortunately I don't have much to say to Frost," Tirian said calmly, "You have achieved your goal and completed your mission. Go back and tell your superiors. If there is anything else, you can contact directly by wireless telegram, and there is no need to send anyone. We can receive any open frequency band."
Eddie was startled, then immediately reacted, with a hint of joy on his face: "Ah, okay, Captain Tirian, thank you very much for your understanding..."
He paused for a moment, as if he suddenly remembered something, and then hurriedly said, "Ah, wait, there is one more question, the last question!"