Pillars of Ita

"Brother Ed, why do we need so much mithril? It's hard to get rid of this thing. Ordinary people don't use that much, and big guilds generally don't purchase from individuals. If the discount is too much, then we will lose money. ”

After Catherine left, Tian Lan asked.

"No, we don't have to take action," Fang Plover shook his head. He actually had a plan in mind, and he took this opportunity to explain to everyone: "I plan to transform the Seven Seas Traveler."

"Renovate the Seven Seas Traveler?"

The attention of others was also attracted.

"If I remember correctly," Alyssa asked, "Seven Sea Traveler was born just over a year ago."

"That's true. We put a lot of effort into building the Seven Seas Traveler in Tansnir, but after all, it was the first time we built a fairy-type aerostat. The first version of the Seven Seas Traveler was not actually a ship. A sailboat suitable for adventure and oceangoing.”

"So after receiving a large amount of funds, the captain has new ideas?"

"Yes, this money is more than enough to update the equipment of the 1st and 2nd regiments of the Seven Seas Brigade, but after much thought, the remaining part is most suitable for rebuilding the Seven Seas Traveler."

Fang Plover looked at everyone. "The Seven Seas Traveler is the common property of all of us, and it is also the basis for the existence of the Seven Seas Brigade. Now we have to cross the continental bridge and cross to the second world. The original Seven Seas Traveler seems too cramped, and there are various preparations. Not enough."

Alyssa shook her head slightly: "Captain, you don't need to explain to us. We just want to know what you think?"

Fang Yu was startled, then looked at the others, and saw that everyone agreed - including Parker, who didn't object, but just snorted disdainfully.

It was the first time for Trixis and Daryl to participate in the discussion related to the Seven Seas Traveler. Daryl did not understand technology, but Trixis seemed very interested.

Fang Plover nodded and waved for everyone to gather over.

"Everyone, please look over here."

He took out a roll of blueprints from his backpack, spread them out in front of everyone, and laid them flat on the table. When everyone saw that his backpack was filled with rolls of parchment, most of which contained the designs of various types of sailboats, they naturally understood that Fang Plover had been prepared.

"I have an idea to use mithril to replace magic wood as the keel of the next version of the Seven Seas Traveler. Mithril is a lightweight metal. Three tons plus the mithril in stock on the ship should be more than enough."

"Use mithril to replace magic wood?" Cui Xisi was surprised when she saw the ship on the design drawing. "The reason why the sailboat can sail on the open sea is because of the balance of wind elements in its keel and ribs. The only material in the world that is more compatible with magic wood and lighter is mithril. It's just..."

"Is it just a little too extravagant?"

"Yes." She nodded slightly.

She looked at the drawing and said: "This is the Imperial Storm. It is also the first Dragon Knight battleship in the world, and the first floating ship with a keel forged with mithril... But the reason why the Imperials use mithril is also Because of the limitations of technology at that time..."

"Only Mithril can support the huge elemental power required by the Dragon Knight battleship. Later, the empire's second and third generation new main battleships no longer use this technology. Firstly, it is too expensive. Secondly, Even the Imperial Storm only has about one-third of the mithril in its keel.”

"That's because the empire needs an entire fleet, but we don't. The Seven Seas Traveler is our home, so naturally the stronger the better," Alyssa asked as if she saw what Fang Plover was thinking: " Is that what the captain thinks?"

Fang Plover nodded lightly.

"The elemental suitability of mithril is three times that of magic wood. Its weight is less than 80% of that of magic wood of the same volume. It can almost be regarded as more than twice the buoyancy. This means that the new Seven Seas Traveler can be built larger. , and having stronger armor——"

"But that would require more manpower."

"We can indeed recruit some manpower," Fang Plover replied to Cui Xisi: "I plan to set up a central workshop. Everyone's level has been upgraded for more than one round. Next, we need to update equipment above AA level, even legendary. Inspiration can be It’s rare to find it, but secondary legendary equipment can be mass-produced through high-level workshops, but it requires a lot of manpower - you and I will definitely be too busy, even if Luo Yu is added. "

The Seven Seas Troupe really needs to expand.

They have too few logistics staff. Other ships generally have thirty or forty people on board. Even though Miss Tata can replace some of the sailors' work, it still seems stretched on a daily basis.

And if the Seven Seas Traveler expands further, the gap in the crew on the ship will only become larger. They will definitely not be able to hire ordinary people as sailors. There are too many secrets on the Seven Seas Traveler. Ordinary sailors come and go, and it is difficult to hide them. secret.

He had earlier inspected Cuisi to join the team and become one of them, more or less out of this consideration.

What's more, Miss Attila's greenhouse and garden can be further expanded. Many guilds have their own alchemy workshops and pharmaceutical production, but the Seven Seas Brigade does not have a fixed base, so they can only find ways to put it all on the ship.

Just like Loofah, there is a legendary alchemy workshop 'Triprism' on the Angel, which is world-famous.

Moreover, as the number of personnel increases, the supply of supplies must also keep up. This requires the new Seven Seas Traveler to have a larger warehouse and load. In addition to basic rations, it is best to provide food with rich flavors to maintain morale——

If they choose the selector as a sailor, the selector is well-known for being picky about the quality of life. Although this is not the most important part, morale and emotion are also important guarantees of combat effectiveness.

After all, big guilds such as Ragnarok and Silver Vislan have had big troubles, including crew protests, passive strikes and even civil strife.

Generally, sailboats will replenish fresh food when docked, but it will be quickly consumed during the long voyage, or it will naturally decay. Aitaria has certain refrigeration technology, but it is still not as good as Earth.

What's more, high-precision cold storage is generally used to preserve alchemy materials.

Therefore, the solution for most ship groups is to raise livestock, poultry, milk-producing artiodactyl mammals and others on board. If there are excellent druids and animal trainers on board, a good positive cycle can often be formed.

In this regard, because of the existence of magic technology, Aitalia's level is even far higher than that on the other side of the star gate.

But these all require manpower and space. The other part is the combat-related cabin and the artillery deck. The first version of the Seven Seas Traveler sacrificed too much to install the Fairy Heart, and in the end it was not able to install a magic cannon on the deck. .

Usually when they encounter the enemy, they rely on Miss Tata and Fang Plover to launch air combat structures themselves. However, this tactical method is good when the distance is wide. Once it enters the close combat range, the Seven Seas Traveler will be very passive. .

But combat-related cabins require a lot of space——

Several artillery decks often span the entire middle and lower decks of the sailboat. Fang Plover also plans to use gear-controlled mechanical artillery, which can save some gunners and allow Miss Tata to act as the fire control center on the Seven Seas Traveler.

He laid out his ideas one by one, and everyone couldn't help but be fascinated.

As Fang Plover said, it was 'their boat'.

"...But the reserved transmission device, as well as the channels for transporting artillery shells - as well as the unique construction compartment and air combat deck of the Goblin-type aerostat, will make the entire ship bloated. If a traditional structure is used, it will Protection has to be sacrificed.”

Trish questioned.

"That's why I thought of using mithril to build the new hull structure of the Seven Seas Traveler," Fang Plover replied: "The same volume of mithril can provide nearly double or even triple the elemental suitability. We don't need it at all. Using heavy white oak as hull armor—"

"We use adamantine."

The others were stunned for a moment.

Trixis immediately retorted: "Wait, adamantine is the strongest metal in the world, and it also has strong magic resistance. This is true... but the reason why it can obtain magic resistance is because it It has elemental shielding properties..."

Her voice gradually became lower...

The girl gradually looked at Fang Plover with a suspicious look——

Adamantine will weaken the elemental adaptability of the structure. Generally speaking, in the construction of sailboats, we generally try to avoid using similar materials to dope it, but the powerful elemental affinity of mithril makes up for this.

It is not that the predecessors have not considered this, but it is too extravagant, too extravagant. The Empire almost went bankrupt when they used mithril to build an Imperial Storm - that's because they used the Magic Emperor to The ship was built too big.

Use fully constructed mithril to build a medium-sized fast sailing ship?

If it uses adamantine as its hull——

"An all-metal sailboat?" Even Parker came back to his senses, "Did I hear you right? Isn't this whimsical?"

“The specific ratio needs to be calculated, how much mithril is invested, how thick the fine gold shell needs to be, and the empty weight of the entire ship all need to be recalculated,” Dan Fang plover affirmed: “But the possibility does exist. "

"I……"

Cui Xisi swallowed, she felt a strong shock - how could she not have thought of it? This idea is actually not crazy, but is it really not crazy? A ship made of gold might just be an exaggeration—

However, this is a genuine aerostat made of precious metals.

This idea is much crazier than the Oshurs'.

"It's too expensive... Do we really have that much money?" Tian Lan couldn't believe it.

"Little by little," Fang Plover replied: "If we can get so much mithril, then everything will at least have a foundation. We don't need to get it right at the first step. We can use the method of attaching fine gold armor. "

"I have calculated that fine gold less than two millimeters thick is almost equivalent to thirty millimeters of homogeneous steel armor, which has exceeded the protection of most magic wood and white oak - it is definitely not enough for the main battleships of the Empire of God. , but it is almost impossible to penetrate our protection against opponents of the same level.”

"What's more, the main warships may not be able to keep up with the speed of light sailing ships like ours. Ships faster than us are no match for us, and sailboats that can penetrate our protection may not be able to catch up with us."

He looked at Cui Xisi: "Cui Xisi, don't you want to participate in such a project?"

Cui Xisi nodded vigorously, how could she not want to?

Except for those mediocre people, no craftsman would refuse such a crazy request. She even felt that if Fang Plover was willing to issue an invitation, Ms. Ming and Virus might also be interested. These two people had a good relationship with the Seven Seas Troupe. .

Tian Lan wanted to say something more, but her head was a bit big.

Mithril's keel might be okay. After all, Mithril is a light metal, and two or three tons might be enough. But she always felt that Fang Yu was oversimplifying it. Fine gold was more expensive than Mithril.

She felt that the captain was deceiving her. Although this plan sounded very good, once she jumped into this trap, she and Miss Silverd would never have peace as logisticians. There must be a bottomless pit hidden behind this plan. .

No, no, this matter must not be left to their captain's temper. He is like a child sometimes.

She had to discuss it with Miss Sylvide.

She instinctively wanted to retort, but Fang Yu suddenly raised his head and made a silencing gesture to her.

He turned his head sideways.

In fact, Alyssa and Parker had already reacted first. They both heard a strange sound of footsteps coming from the corridor outside the room. The footsteps were familiar to them. It was the sound of wooden prosthetics rubbing against the wooden board.

The footsteps stopped outside the door.

Then there was a knock on the door, and a man's voice came from outside the door: "Everyone, are you free? Something unexpected happened."

That was Edward's voice.

The others looked at Fang Plover, "The door is unlocked," Fang Plover said, "Mr. Edward can push the door in by himself."

The doorknob made a slight noise, twisted to the side, and then opened with a click. Edward stood outside the door. Before he could speak, he saw the short Papalal man and Ms. Nightingale beside him raising their hands to his. hand crossbow. A bit of cold light came into his field of vision, and there were two muffled sounds of "bang, bang", and the two crossbow arrows sank straight into the throats of the two people dressed as imperial soldiers behind him, leaving only the tail feathers of the arrow-tailed buzzard trembling slightly.

The two people were caught off guard and their eyes widened. They subconsciously covered the arrows on their throats with their hands. They seemed to want to scream, but they only made a gurgling sound. They stepped back, hit the wall hard, and then turned their backs. fell down.

Edward almost froze, but he reacted after a moment and looked at everyone in the room with a strange look: "...Everyone, we are in trouble."

"You'd better speak more clearly, Mr. Edward," Fang Plover said to Tianlan: "Tianlan, accent."

Miss Poet understood it, rushed to the sofa, opened her suitcase, took out the seven-stringed lute, plucked it with her hand, and threw a note into the ground.

There was a soft buzz, and the whole room seemed to tremble. Edward's eyes only felt blurred. The next moment, the cold sword in Darier's hand was placed on his neck. The one-eyed man was so frightened that he quickly raised his hand:

"Everyone, please listen to my explanation."

"Long story short."

"These people are not the Imperial Army. They are blood shark pirates pretending to be pirates. I don't know how they found them, but my identity was exposed." Edward explained quickly.

"Blood shark pirates?" Fang Yu was startled and couldn't help but think of the news that Catherine told them before - such a coincidence? "Mr. Edward, you are a local gangster in Guimana Port. I heard that you also have official connections. Are you afraid of these outlaws?"

"Isn't this an urgent decision, everyone," Edward spread his hands, "Besides, I'm going to inform the Imperial Army now. Can you accept it?"

"Of course not," Dariel showed his fangs at him and added a little more force, "You are so good at what you get."

"Madam, madam, be gentle." Edward said quickly: "Their people are still in the hall. What are you going to do?"

"How many of them are there?"

"Not many, about ten, but they already attracted attention when they came. I was worried that the Imperial Army was already on their way... They asked me if there were any other special guests in the hotel, and I revealed it to them. I know your whereabouts..."

"Of course, this, this is actually to inform you."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Edward."

"You're welcome, you're welcome."

Fang Plover has changed his mind. Although he doesn't know why these blood shark pirates are interested in the guests in the hotel. They have never dealt with these cold-blooded hyenas on Kukai, but the Seven Seas Brigade cannot see the light, and they can't Meet the Imperial Army.

It may not be difficult to deal with a dozen or so people, but if they really start fighting, they may not be able to end.

He looked out the window and asked, "Mr. Edward, we have a warehouse in Guimana Port."

"I understand, I understand, I know that place. After passing through the woods behind, there is a path leading to the port. There is an underground cave there that can lead directly to the dock where you are. Everyone, please let me guide you and take you to that place. place."

Fang Yu looked at the man and nodded with satisfaction. It was easy to communicate with smart people.

After a while, the door to the room burst open again, but this time the visitors were obviously not so polite. Two people knocked the door open from the outside, and the tattered wooden door hung crookedly on the damaged door shaft.

A man wearing an imperial army coat and a sinewy face walked in from outside. He was looking fiercely at the empty room. The ugly scar across the bridge of his nose was twisted, and his eyes fell on the window that was shaking in the wind and rain. .

"They ran away," he spat in a rough voice: "Chase, there's definitely something wrong with those people, let's get 'Little Thumb' and 'Harpist' over, it's Ecstasy, there's a bard on the other side, maybe there's something wrong with them." There are other spellcasters.”

The crowd immediately dispersed.

……

Fang Yu was leading others through the apple forest. Only then did he have time to turn around and question Edward: "Mr. Edward, you are Ms. Catherine's friend, but you are not our friend. You'd better explain clearly that this is What's going on?"

His tone was not cold, but his condescending majesty made Edward shudder. It sounded very much like that woman - the latter couldn't help but take it seriously: "No, no, I don't know...that woman...I mean Catherine should have told you about the Blood Shark Pirates. They may have come for Barossa, but somehow they found me."

"Does that mean we suffered an unreasonable disaster from you?"

"You can't say that. Everyone, they are here to find someone in the hotel, and they will bump into you sooner or later. And as I said, they made too much noise. If they attract the Imperial Army, you don't want to Did you run into something like that without knowing it?"

"So we still have to thank you?"

Because of what happened to Jita before, Tianlan didn't have a good impression of this man and immediately made a mockery of him.

"No, no," Edward smiled bitterly, "Help each other, everyone."

While they were discussing, they had reached the end of the orchard, where there was a low stone wall made of large pebbles. Dalil, who was walking in front, suddenly turned around, pointed outside the wall and shouted: "Ai De!”

She put the big sword on her shoulder and pointed in the direction of Guimana Port. The promontory stretched out to the sea of ​​clouds like a claw, connecting the trestle, lighthouse and warehouse area. At the end of the skyline, a shadow of a sail appeared on the sea of ​​clouds. .

The three three-masted sailing ships lined up in a straight line, opened their densely packed gunports, and pointed in the direction of the port.

Imperial Army? Fang Plover was slightly startled. No, there was no imperial eagle emblem on the sail.

Edward's teeth were chattering on the side, "Yes, it's the Blood Shark Pirates. They are indeed here..."

"Is that the blood shark's ship?" Fang Plover turned around and looked at the pale-faced guy, "How can you see it?"

"I, I recognize it." Edward stammered. He was the one who got off those ships. The woman helped him a lot in that matter. He was also very proud of his golden cicada's escape from the shell.

But the other party still came to the door and found him. No matter what, he also understood that he was a traitor, and as a former member of the Blood Shark, he knew very well how those people treated traitors.

He only felt dizzy, and his heels felt a little weak.

But Fang Yu only felt novel - it must be at least a fourth-class battleship or above. The Blood Shark Pirates actually have such a big ship. No wonder they can make waves in the air and sea, which makes people change their minds.

However, the Blood Shark Pirates are still not as good as the Pale Pirates in their most powerful era. They are now just on a par with the Pale Pirates, and there is nothing anyone can do about them. Fang Plover couldn't help but think about what the Gray Fleet in Rodrigo's era had. How terrible.

No wonder it is a difficult opponent for the Imperial Navy as well.

But what does Blood Shark Pirate mean? Blockade the empire's ports? This was a bit too bold. You should know that the nearest Fletcher Squadron was only a day's sail away. This was considered a provocation under the eyes of the empire.

Could it be that what Catherine said was true, that the current Pirate King was really on this island? Fang Plover couldn't help but frown, why could he always encounter such troubles, couldn't he complete the transaction smoothly?

Just as I was thinking about it, a group of blood shark pirates appeared on the side of the orchard. These people came around from the hotel. They were probably originally arranged outside the hotel. When they saw Fang Plover and others, they shouted: stand up:

"Found them, there they are!"

But no one in the Nanami Brigade even looked at these rabble. Only Miss Mei came forward with a large shield.

When the members of the Blood Shark Pirates saw a sweet and cute little girl walking towards them, they couldn't help but be a little surprised and even whistled, but Miss Knight said nothing and stuck the big shield on the ground with a bang.

"In the name of Ori——"

She shouted loudly, and a ray of light penetrated the clouds and shone on the halberd in her hand, and the runes on it lit up one by one.

She threw it forward hard - everyone saw a flash of lightning at that moment, and the halberd penetrated the blood shark pirates like a beam of light, piercing the bodies of five or six people in a row, and led them towards Then it flew away and penetrated a stone wall behind it with a bang.

Even before the remaining strength was gone, the spear shaft was still vibrating slightly and making a buzzing sound.

"Ms. Mei," Fang Plover called back, "Follow me as soon as possible."

"Okay, Mr. Ed."

Mei Yi waved her hand, and the halberd turned into a ray of light and returned to her hand. The blood shark pirates were so frightened that they almost froze. The weapons in many people's hands clinked and fell to the ground, "Gu, Ancient knight!"

I don't know who screamed strangely, and the remaining people immediately dispersed.

Those people are the most ordinary members of the Blood Shark Pirates. The captains of each squad hope that they will delay for a while, but who knows that they will encounter such a group of monsters. The free paladins of Ori and Malan are traveling around the world, and among ordinary people The eyes are slightly rigid——

But in the eyes of those who do evil, these two are simply nightmares.

In fact, the ancient knight is a nightmare within a nightmare.

It was such bad luck. How could there be a genuine knight of the ancient training in such a small place like Port Quimana?

May then put away her spear and chased after the others. Edward was dumbfounded and frightened for a while - fortunately Catherine stopped him, otherwise those who were nailed to the wall might not have been his former colleagues. Maybe it's him.

He couldn't help but look at these people again, and the more he looked, the more frightened he became. A high-level alchemist, a professional nightingale, and an ancient knight. What kind of combination is this? Others looked not simple either, including the cat lady.

That seems to be the Holy Knight of Malland too.

He shuddered, and suddenly remembered the purpose of the woman, and thought of the identities of these people - where did she find these people, wait, couldn't that woman have this idea?

"Mr. Edward, you seem to have something on your mind?"

Alyssa glanced at him from the side and asked.

"No, no, of course I didn't... Everyone is going this way. The entrance to the secret passage is not far away. I will take you to your destination first. If you have any other opinions, we can wait until we get there to chat. "

Fang Yu nodded. This was also his idea. Although he didn't know how there were so many blood shark pirates on the island, now was not the time to cause trouble.

Over there, Tianlan was praising Miss Knight with admiration: "Sister Mei, you are too handsome. What about those blood shark pirates? I thought they were so powerful, but the result is nothing more than this! In my opinion, we No need to run away at all.”

As she spoke, she squinted at the former Blood Shark Pirate member.

What else could Edward say, so he raised his hands to apologize.

He was not a core member of the Blood Shark Pirates in the past, but there are actually some powerful guys among the Blood Shark Pirates, such as the twelve team captains of Barossa and the captains of their subordinate teams. There are also powerful people in those elite teams. .

He had only seen the team captain, the first mate and boatswain of their ship. In his opinion, the strength of the other party was far inferior to the young people he saw in front of him.

The Chosen Ones.

Mei Yi blushed slightly after hearing this, and replied in a low voice with embarrassment: "This is what Mei Yi should do, and Tian Lan, what you see are only peripheral members of the Blood Shark Pirates. I fought with their squad leader. Talking about it, the other party’s strength is almost equal to mine.”

After hearing this, Edward became even more impressed with this ancient knight lady.

...(End of chapter)