Many crew members have the same stitching appearance. Some people have thick beards. Other people’s teeth are missing or are decaying. Some of Bonnister’s miscellaneous teams even lack fingers or entire limbs. Nevertheless, they still perform their duties like everyone else.
The door of the captain's cabin opened, and Van Fan and Gideon cheered up. They eagerly looked forward to the man they owed his life to. A man wearing a dark blue vest and a matching three-cornered hat walked out of the cabin.
"Ash?" Fan Fan asked.
"This is Captain Bonnister, young Van Fan," he said.
"So you are Captain Bonnister," Gideon said.
"I know, I know. You have been trying to find out who is more energetic and wise than your new friend Ash," Bonnister said, "but your doubts are over, the answer is clear-no one is !"
One thing is certain, Ashe or Bonnister, or whoever he is, did not lose his sense of humor. Fan Fan grinned and said, "I think we owe you our life, Captain."
Captain Bonnister patted Fanfan on the shoulder, "Ah, well, let's not thank the almighty gods who deserve it, okay?" He nodded to Gideon and said, Gideon smiled and nodded. Agree, he won't admit it, but Gideon seems to like this guy as much as Fan Fan. Bonnister seemed to be a rascal at first glance, but beneath the outside, a pure gold heart kept showing up.
"So, kids, what plans do you have, or do you plan to settle down in Tilly?"
Fan Fan said: "I'm trying to save my sister, Gideon is helping me."
"I understand, and then, Satan put you on the right path. The Maistrom is heading towards Emmanuel, I think you can go with us, right, guys?" Bonnister was right. Said his crew.
"Yes, Captain!" they shouted.
"Of course, you have to lose weight by yourself," he said. "As the Bible says, a person who does not work or eat is the same on this ship."
Fanfan and Gideon looked at each other. "We are happy to serve in any way we can, Captain Bonnister," Gideon said.
"Very well, Anthony... Blass?"
"Yes, Captain?" they replied.
"I want you to take these guys down and get them some food. Then give them some clothes if they need it, and take them back to the deck within an hour and tell them what they need to do and how to do it."
"Yes, Captain," they said. Van Fan followed Gideon and hurried under the deck with Bonnister's men. Divine favor once again guided them in the way they should go, and soon they reached their destination. Fan Fan wanted to know if he could find his sister, and if he did that, would she die or alive
The bell rang at four o'clock, and a full minute later, Jǐng in the cabin rang. A ship was found in the bow of the ship, and the weather has been very good. Until an hour ago, there was a storm in front of them. The wind had been rising steadily, allowing the vortex to increase at an extremely rapid rate.
Fanfan and Gideon are taking a lesson on how to unwind the sails. They climbed up the ropes with Blass. Fanfan changed their clothes to some brown pants and white pullovers, while Gideon refused to change. He took off his priest's clothing, but chose to use a washing board to wash the clothes in a bucket.
Captain Bonnister ordered more sails to catch the increasing wind. Blas explained why Captain Bonnister liked to find the edges of the storm system and propel them like a slingshot on good wind. Blass said: "For this reason, the Mastrom is famous, and no big ship can control them better."
"Binoculars!" Bonnister's order came. Anthony happened to be the first officer. He handed the captain a brass telescope. Bonnister stretched it out and placed it on a boat on the horizon. Emmanuel seems to be the same. On the boat floated Morey's face, a black flag, a red circle and a black pupil, just like a red eye watching in the dark.
Bonnister murmured, "Wait, what is she doing?"
When he looked at the ship, he saw all the sails, and they changed directions, leading them directly to the upcoming storm system.
"She found us, children! Break all our fabrics, Anthony, open the sail!"
Anthony announced the captain's order loudly to the crew, and the order was repeated on the deck.
"Yes, Captain."
Van Fan and Gideon and Blas climbed up the bow together and brought them to the middle of the mast to help put the sails in place. "I don't understand!" Fan Fan shouted in the wind.
"We are going to chase that ship," Gideon said.
"Yes, but why? Who are they?"
"Slave ship!" Blas shouted.
The sails advance in the wind, and the speed of the boat increases.
"What is a slave ship?" Fan Fan asked.
"Morey's army conducts random raids on villages and towns," Blass said. "They sold prisoners as slaves abroad. Some of them went to work at the Emmanuel Palace and worked for Morey in the city. Even so, he took the women away. Morey didn't want to be under his nose. Being risked to rebel, they burned down the village and usually killed others in the process."
This reminded Fan Fan of what happened in Grandi. That's all there is to it, just to provide a slave trade? He couldn't believe it could be so simple. There is a demon in the council meeting. It controlled the results. Cāo indulged the men in the council to prevent Grandi from joining the uprising under King Stephen of Welland.
Then he thought about it again. If this ship is a slave trader, maybe Elspeth is also on board. Before she reaches Morey, he may be about to find and rescue her. This glimmer of hope gave Van Fan a bit of comfort, and Bonnister had to seize it before Van Fan was happy.
From where Fan Fan stood, the slave ship looked far away. "Can we catch it?" he asked Blass. "My sister was taken away by Morey's people."
"This will definitely give us a chance," Blass said. "They tried to hide in the storm, but Bonnister was nicknamed the Storm Rider. The reason is simple. No ship can sail in the waves like I have seen. He hates them. You better hurry up and protect you. Lifeline. When we reach that storm, it will be a bumpy journey for all of us."
It took more than an hour to get close. In the meantime, the guns are ready, and Blass shared some ideas about what Mastrom can do in real battles. The ship carried sixty cannons, divided into two layers on both sides of the ship. Blass explained how the upper level carried twenty catties, while the lower level, like the one they were standing inside, was thirty catties. One of the secrets of Bonnister's long-term victory is his custom castings. "Look," Blass said, holding a 0-jin ammunition. "These cannons work very well. However, depending on the strength of the enemy ship, they may not have much penetration into the hull, which is really important." (to be continued) (end of this chapter)