The New Year has just passed, and the severe cold of winter still envelopes the entire Sainz continent.
The Malo Empire is located in the north of the continent, so every winter, it is naturally colder than the countries in the south of the continent.
The small town of Stratholme, located in the northernmost part of the Malo Empire, is not only colder than other places on the continent, it is almost completely two worlds away.
When the cold wind blowing from the endless sea in the north enters the south wind of the mainland, it can only be regarded as a breeze blowing on the face, making people feel a little chill. However, when facing this cold wind in the small town of Stratholme, you will find that this wind blows On the face, it is like a sharp blade blowing against the face, causing the face to sting.
"Silk-"
A cold wind hit them, causing Hogan and Dicard to gasp involuntarily. They couldn't help but wrap the leather jackets around them tighter again and shrink their necks. , even the pair of eyes that were only exposed narrowed involuntarily, leaving only a gap to look towards the north.
"Hey, Dicardo, in such a cold weather, how can we transport the goods back even if we join up with the transport fleet?" Hogan's voice through the mask sounded extremely dull, and he pushed forward. Dicardo felt something strange in his ears.
But this was certainly not what Dicardo was concerned about at this time. He glanced at the sea where there was no trace of anything in the distance, and shook his head with a wry smile.
"We can only take one step at a time. Who told the guys from the transport fleet to not come according to the plan at all, and it was more than two months later than the scheduled time. If they had arrived more than two months ago, this weather It would be much easier if it wasn’t so cold yet.”
Hogan was silent for a moment. Sighing: "You can't blame them. After all, they came from a place so far away from Standing. They ran around the entire continent. The journey is so long. The situation at sea is so complicated, and there are some emergencies in the middle. The situation is unavoidable. To be honest, it’s amazing that they can arrive safely.”
"Well... that's right."
Decado responded and looked at Stratholme Harbor in the distance again.
This port was originally the largest seaport in the north of the Malo Empire. After the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce signed an agreement with the Malo Empire last year, it invested three million gold coins in renovation and expansion, and built it into a new type of seaport that can accommodate large ships.
The New Flying Chamber of Commerce sent a fleet led by Nerval last year to explore the northern seas. It is with this harbor as the destination.
Originally, according to the plan, the first fleet of the New Flying Chamber of Commerce Transport Fleet led by Nerval should have arrived around October last year.
At that time, it was still early winter in the Malo Empire, and the weather was still normal.
However, the First Fleet was delayed at sea for more than two months, and even lost contact completely at one point, making the New Flying Chamber of Commerce almost think that something had happened to them and they were all buried in the endless sea.
Fortunately, the two magic airships Xu Yi sent to them out of caution played a big role at this time. In the middle of last month, about half a month after the fleet lost contact, a magic airship flew to the cable ship. The territory of Marquis Skyde brought news of the fleet.
After receiving the message. Hogan, who serves as the director of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce's office in the Malo Empire, and Dicardo, the deputy director of the office and the main liaison officer, immediately organized manpower and fleets. Arrive at Stratholme.
They waited for more than half a month after arriving here. They maintained close contact with the fleet through the magic airship every day. Finally, they received firm information three days ago that the fleet would arrive in Stratholme safely today.
So today, even though the wind was freezing and the temperature outside was almost freezing, the two of them left the warm bed early in the morning and came to Stratholme Port.
After observing Stratholme Harbor for a while, Decado breathed out gently.
"Fortunately, I was worried before that as the weather gets colder, the harbor might be completely blocked by ice, making it impossible to dock. Now it seems that no matter how cold the weather is, it would be difficult to completely freeze the Endless Sea. impossible things."
Hogan laughed when he heard this: "We were completely frightened by the rumors of these guys in the Maro Empire. They said that as soon as winter enters, the entire Endless Sea will freeze over, making it impossible to go out to sea. I thought at the time What they said is that the entire sea is covered with ice. Looking at it now, there is ice, but it’s just a piece of ice and it’s nothing.”
"It can't be said that they were completely wrong. After all, the fishermen here are just small wooden boats. If they are loaded by these floating ice blocks on the sea, they may fall apart." Dicardo said with a smile. "When they see the steel ships of our Xinfei Chamber of Commerce with their own eyes, they will know that such a small amount of ice is not a problem at all."
Hogan shrugged: "There's no way, they have no knowledge. When the fleet arrives, these guys will be surprised when they see the various magical machines produced by our chamber of commerce brought by the fleet."
Decardo and Hogan looked at each other and laughed.
Before the two came to the Malo Empire, they had a sense of fear and a deep sense of inferiority towards this huge empire. But when they actually came to the Malo Empire and stayed here for half a year, they found that besides the In addition to its large area, other places are much worse than the Kingdom of Lampali and the Principality of Standing.
Most of the people they usually come into contact with are the nobles and big businessmen of the Malo Empire. These people are undoubtedly the top group of people in the Malo Empire, and their lives are indeed extremely luxurious.
However, in the view of Dicardo and Hogan, although these people's lives are luxurious enough, they are so backward in every aspect that they will find it very inconvenient to live here in every aspect.
After the two of them stayed here for half a year, not only did their awe of this huge empire completely disappear, but they even felt an inexplicable sense of superiority.
The Marquis of Southgaard and the aristocratic businessmen around him made them feel superior, not to mention the aristocratic businessmen in the small town of Stratholme.
During the half month they were in Stratholme, all the nobles and businessmen they came into contact with left a very strong impression on them - that they were ignorant country bumpkins.
Of course, in the opinion of the two of them, the living conditions of these guys are worse than those of many farmers in the Lampali Kingdom and the Principality of Standing.
At least the farmers of the Lampali Kingdom and the Principality of Standing don’t look happy even after eating meat...
The two waited patiently for about twenty minutes when a familiar roar suddenly came from the distant sky.
The two of them raised their heads together and saw a black shadow flying in the northwest sky. It quickly approached and turned into a magic airship, and then slowly landed on the flat land of Stratholme Port.
"By the way, Hogan, how can this magic airship fly so smoothly in the sky when the wind is so strong now? Don't you think it's strange?" Dicardo suddenly asked.
Hogan was about to walk over. After hearing this question, he was stunned for a moment, tilted his head and thought for a while, then shook his head: "I'm not from the Magic Research Institute or R&D Center. You ask me how I know."
"That's right." Dicardo shrugged. "Let's go ask Captain Yin En later."
The two walked quickly towards the magic airship, and at this time, the door of the magic airship had also been opened. Captain Ian of the magic airship mentioned by Dicard just now jumped down from above and came to the two of them in a few steps. Loudly said: "Director Hogan, the fleet can resist here within an hour at most. Please make all preparations immediately!"
Hogan nodded: "Okay."
After saying that, he didn't waste any time, turned around, and went to arrange the manpower that had been prepared long ago, and began to make some final preparations to welcome the arrival of the fleet.
In fact, they have already made proper arrangements for these preparations within the past half month. All they need to do now is to confirm again.
Dicardo, who stayed behind, communicated with Captain Ian about some specific situations.
The content of their conversation mainly focused on whether the fleet had any special needs - such as supplies, corrections, etc., and then reconfirmed the various arrangements after the fleet arrived.
For example, according to the plan, after the fleet arrives, the goods will be unloaded at Stratholme Port first, and then the first sale will be carried out in Stratholme and surrounding cities, and then how much will be taken into the hinterland of the Malo Empire will be decided depending on the situation.
This sea route, which took nearly four months to be successfully explored, although there will be exchanges with the coastal countries along the way, its main task is to contact the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce and the Maro Kingdom, and ultimately with the Principality of Standing. The land trade routes leading directly to the Malo Empire are connected together to form a complete business circle.
After the two chatted for a while, Dicardo suddenly thought of the question he had inadvertently thought of just now, and asked Captain Ian.
"Maintain stable flight at high altitude?" Captain Yin En laughed, waved his hand and said, "Director Dicardo, don't you think that the magicians at the Magic Research Institute would not think of these problems?"
"No, no, no, of course I think they will figure it out, but I can't figure it out. The wind is so strong, why can the magic airship fly so smoothly?"
"Well... there is actually an aerodynamic balance device on the magic airship - don't ask me what this thing is, because I don't know. All I know is that you can turn on this device whenever you encounter strong winds at high altitudes. The aerodynamic balancing device can then offset a large part of the impact of strong winds, allowing the magic airship to remain stable at high altitudes.”
"So magical?" Dicardo blinked, thought for a moment, and guessed: "The magic airship relies on wind magic to fly in the air, so this aerodynamic balance device must also be a kind of wind magic, right? "
Captain Ian rolled his eyes: "Don't ask me, I just know how to use it, I don't need to know the principle."
Dika thought for a while, but still couldn't figure out the principle. He could only sigh helplessly: "Well, even the people in the chamber of commerce are not completely able to understand these gadgets produced by our chamber of commerce. Let me see, Those guys outside the Chamber of Commerce want to copy it at will, it is just a dream!" (To be continued...)