Chapter 60: Bayam Under Lockdown

Chapter 60: Bayam Under Lockdown

Watching Gehrman Sparrow put on his coat, don his hat, and pick up his cane, Danitz finally remembered that he seemed to have been forgotten.

He coughed once and, under two gazes, said, “Do I need to go too?”

Best not… Who knows what will happen! Previously we merely stopped briefly at Bansy Harbor, and we encountered a strange, terrifying incident. Last night, I took Gehrman Sparrow to visit the rebels’ contact person, and as a result we stirred up Sea God’s curse. Today, if I follow this madman to help search for Leticia and those archaeologists, who knows what will happen! Danitz lowered his eyes to glance at his left arm, still bound in a splint. He felt that in only a few days, the things he had encountered had surpassed those of the previous few months, perhaps even half a year.

“You may stay here, but people will come later to inspect the place,” Elland said with a chuckle.

People will come to inspect the place? Then the great pirate Blazing will be caught and turned into gold pounds? Danitz frowned and laughed dryly.

“Apart from claiming bounties, chances to earn money from the military are rare. I would be more than happy to try.

“The only problem is that you will have to wait a few minutes while I put on a disguise. Captain, I do not wish to cause unnecessary misunderstandings and make things difficult for you.”

If I go without disguising myself, then a great pirate like me running off to act with the military and the Church will only get pressed down on the spot and arrested… Danitz imagined himself being slammed face-first onto the ground, a knee pressed into his back, able only to struggle like a catfish.

Elland thought back for a few seconds, then took an iron-black mask from an inner pocket of his clothes and tossed it over.

“Just wear that. I will explain the rest.”

Mm, there is no need to waste time on a disguise that will not be very useful… Klein commented inwardly.

He said nothing, turned the handle, and walked out of the room.

Elland followed closely behind. Danitz, putting on the iron mask while taking off his coat, hurried after them.

Arriving on the empty, puddled street, Klein pressed down on his hat and asked, “How do we search?”

Elland smiled.

“By district.

“My Beyonder profession has certain traits. As long as I have seen the real person, a photograph, or a sketch, I can firmly remember the target’s appearance and gain extra perception on the supernatural level. Mm, I can also sense abnormal factors and grasp subtle traces. By combining the two, the search can be quite effective.”

Sequence 8 Sheriff of the Arbiter pathway… Klein nodded thoughtfully and asked while walking, “Do you have any of their belongings?”

Last night, Danitz had included Leticia’s portrait on the notices. Klein had completed it through ritual magic by praying to himself.

“No.” Elland shook his head. “We have not yet grasped their previous movements. What can be confirmed is that they returned from Simim Island at around three yesterday afternoon. No passenger ship left port after two o’clock. This morning, because of the weather, ships have entered but not departed.”

In other words, Leticia and the others have not yet been able to leave by ship… Klein understood what Elland meant.

Danitz suddenly gave a scoff.

“That proves nothing. Perhaps they left Bayam yesterday afternoon and headed for another city on the island.”

Blue Mountain Island was the largest island in the Rorsted Archipelago. It was very large, rich in forests and mineral resources. Therefore, many other cities also stood upon it, built around fertile land and astonishing mineral deposits.

For the sake of these riches, the Kingdom of Loen had first bribed indigenous princes, then forced them with military power, and finally directly established the Governor-General’s Office. Through a relatively efficient approach, they developed broad roads connecting the various cities and completed several important railways. Those railways had been advanced by establishing corresponding railway companies, selling shares on the Backlund Stock Exchange, and raising funds.

Of course, those massive projects were accompanied by the deaths of countless local people. The dangerous construction environments, excessive work demands, near-slave treatment, and exceedingly meager wages buried corpse after corpse beneath roadbeds and railway sleepers.

To this day, many locals still hated railways, believing they had devoured large numbers of lives, brought endless suffering, and symbolized evil gods and demons.

Elland turned his head to glance at Danitz.

“If they left by land, then there is no need to worry about anything.”

“Why?” Danitz asked in confusion.

Simple. Those roads pass through the jungle and are directly threatened by the rebels, and the overwhelming majority of the rebels are believers of Sea God. So how would Leticia and the others, who caused Kalvetua to approach disintegration, dare pass through those areas at night? If they dared, it would prove only one thing: they had not recognized how serious the consequences were from what they did inside the Sea God ruins on Simim Island. That would also negate the theory that the Moses Ascetic Order or Elemental Dawn had another scheme… Klein controlled the impulse to shake his head and followed Elland into another street.

Elland did not explain either. He simply took out a notice and handed it to Gehrman Sparrow.

“This woman is the main target.”

The woman on it was drawn by me… Klein glanced at it, then tossed it to Danitz.

At that moment, they heard intense sounds of fighting from a building to the side.

“Found them?” Danitz asked the question Klein wanted to ask.

“Probably not.” Elland shook his head. “According to the arrangements, after discovering the main target, the first reaction should be to fire a red flare. Once that appears, everyone must converge on that location. If they encounter some other wanted criminal of a type they cannot handle themselves, they will fire an orange flare, and several nearby teams will rush to assist. If it is merely an ordinary pirate or criminal, they handle it themselves. We will wait and see. Perhaps there was no time to fire the flare…”

As he spoke, glass shattered on the third floor of the street-side building. A giant-bear-like burly man jumped down, moving at tremendous speed like a cheetah as he ran toward the distance.

At that moment, a huge shadow covered him, and rat-tat-tat sounds came from high above.

The burly man’s body was almost torn apart by machine-gun bullets. Without any ability to resist, he collapsed onto the street, blood gushing out and staining the ground red. If residents had not been forbidden to leave their homes, screams would surely have risen one after another.

The airship, painted deep blue and hovering over at some unknown point, did not stop. It shifted away, heading toward another location.

“…Gortat.” Danitz recognized who the dead man was.

Seeing Gehrman Sparrow turn his head to look, he forced a smile and said, “He was the leader of a pirate crew. A Feysacian. Bounty of 950 pounds.”

A Feysacian… Are they all barbarians after all… To think he would just run through a street under lockdown like that, without guarding against an attack from above… Still, these pirates spent the whole night drowning in pleasure and had no idea that even airships had been mobilized… If he had planned an escape route, he might not have been unable to avoid the aerial machine-gun fire… Klein withdrew his gaze and watched the deep-blue aerial monster fly past the rooftops.

Seeing that pirate’s fate, Danitz felt extraordinarily glad that he had come along.

Elland, seeing that the alarm here had been resolved, no longer lingered. He led Klein and Danitz toward the area he was responsible for.

After five or six minutes of brisk walking, they saw a barricade built up at the intersection ahead. Guns had been set in place, artillery arranged, and Loenese soldiers in red coats silently guarded it.

On the other side of the barricade, twenty or thirty bodies lay messily on the ground, forming the shape of a group that had charged forward.

Their clothes were ragged, their faces gaunt. All were local natives.

Farther away, several young indigenous children hid in a corner, quietly and fearfully looking toward this side—toward the deep, iron-heavy gun barrels. Their eyes were black and their faces filthy.

Klein and the others remained silent for a few seconds before detouring around the place.

…

Backlund, Cherwood Borough.

Fors picked up the ceramic cup on the table, feeling its scalding heat.

She gathered her focus and quietly waited for change.

The hot water’s temperature rapidly dropped. A thin layer of ice formed on the surface, and white frost appeared on the cup’s rim.

“I am a Trickmaster now…” Fors closed her eyes in delight.

After receiving the Spirit Eater’s stomach pouch, she had not delayed. She immediately concocted the potion, completed her advancement, and obtained quite a few low-powered, spell-like abilities.

Among them, Fors liked Fog Creation, Wind, Flash, Freeze, Electric Shock, and the Footslip spell most.

Only at this moment did she finally feel like a complete Beyonder. She no longer only knew how to pass through walls and open doors, and no longer had to rely solely on ritual magic.

…

Near noon, with Klein’s and Danitz’s assistance, Elland completed most of the search work.

“Let us chew on some bread and drink some water, then continue.” Removing his ship-shaped hat, he spoke with dry lips.

Klein was just about to nod when he suddenly saw an orange flare rise into the air not far away and bloom.

Almost without hesitation, Elland put his hat back on and ran in that direction.

“I will go support them first.”

“Orange means some other wanted criminal they cannot deal with… Who could it be?” Danitz muttered with considerable interest.

He changed to a high-knee stride, doing his utmost to arrive only after the battle ended. Then he saw Gehrman Sparrow abandon him and follow close behind Fair Elland.

Glancing at the deep-blue “monster” flying through the sky, Danitz laughed dryly twice and abruptly sped up.

A little over two minutes later, they reached the target location and saw three or four military personnel lying outside a house with a lawn facing the street. Their faces were blue-green, their bodies trembling, as though they had been thrown into a frozen lake.

The closer Klein walked toward that direction, the more he felt as though he had encountered a disaster of cold and arrived at a polar region.

Soon, he noticed that the ditches outside the house were piled thick with white snow.

At that moment, a woman’s laughter suddenly came from inside the house. It rose and fell, at times mad, at times strange:

“Hahaha…

“Kekeke…

“Hahaha…

“Kekeke…”

Danitz could not help stopping in place. He rubbed the goosebumps on his neck with his right hand.

With a clang, a window opened, and a charred human body flew out.

It landed heavily on the ground, as though it had suffered through a fire.

Klein only glanced at it once before relying on spiritual intuition to identify the body as one of the three male adventurers who had accompanied Leticia.