Chapter 376

Hearing this, Gao De couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

Sea Hai Shao Bing mages belong to the official system of the Jin Quehua Dynasty.

This identity has many benefits.

The first is relying on the official, whether it is resources or knowledge systems, it is incomparably complete and rich, and the whole system is orderly and lawful.

As long as he makes enough contributions, he can exchange for anything.

Another is that the status of a Sea Hai Shao Bing mage is extremely high; when going out, others will give some face, and there are few who dare to have crooked thoughts, which can save many troubles that may be encountered.

There are also many other benefits, which won't be listed one by one for now.

But if you talk about the disadvantages, it's not that there aren't any.

For example, as an official system mage, acting requires justice and needs to conform to procedural processes.

After a normal mage kills an enemy, the next step is naturally to take the other party's wealth as his own.

Killing and setting fire brings a golden belt.

But in the Sea Hai Shao Bing system, this behavior is not allowed.

If clearing water beasts, the water beast corpses naturally belong to the mage personally; there is no doubt about this point.

But if it is like Gao De "punishing evil and promoting good," Gao De cannot directly occupy the evil person's property, but must hand it over to the public.

To a certain extent, this is actually to prevent Sea Hai Shao Bing mages from abusing their power.

Otherwise, if one could directly collect the other party's property after eliminating evil, I don't know how many "power corruption" and "unjust, false, and wrong cases" would be bred under the influence of profit.

Of course, although most of the property confiscated in the end will belong to the Sea Sentinels, a small part will be divided to Gao De as a reward.

But the process must also be to hand over and register everything first, and then the Sea Sentinels will reward based on merit, rather than Gao De picking a few he likes first and then handing over the rest.

Now what Gao De said was grasping this pain point, hoping to use this to make a deal with Gao De.

"You really have ideas." Gao De looked at Gao De and said.

"My lord, what do you mean?" Seeing that Gao De's tone seemed to have a chance, Gao De cautiously probed further.

"Very tempting," Gao De nodded, ignoring Gao De's gradually brightening eyes, and said regretfully: "It's just a pity that I'm not interested."

He relied on the Northern Realm and had the full support of the Northern Realm's largest tribe, the Zhenbing Tribe. Where would he lack the wealth of a second-circle mage?

Although it is said that one can never have too much money, and Gao De also kept saying that he would absolutely keep it secret, whether it was true or not was another matter.

In addition, even if Gao De really kept it secret, as long as the Sea Sentinels wanted to ask, wouldn't he have to confess everything under a spell?

Then the one who would be unlucky would be him.

For such a little "small money" that wasn't very important to him, violating the rules and regulations of the Sea Sentinels and leaving hidden dangers for his future development in the Sea Sentinels was absolutely not worth it.

Even if he didn't rely on the Northern Realm, he wouldn't reach such a deal with Gao De.

He still knew which was bigger, the sesame or the watermelon.

Gao De was very clear-headed, so he refused very decisively, not even listening to Gao De's conditions and specific treasures.

The pile of rhetoric Gao De had prepared was stuck under Gao De's flat refusal and could no longer be spoken.

The spirit he had mustered collapsed instantly.

It was normal... A mage who was so young and had such means, strength, and bearing must have an extraordinary background. How could he look down on the treasures of a small person like him?

Thinking of using his little stock to tempt others—wasn't this purely like a bare-assed person pushing a mill, losing face!

Nothing to talk about... nothing to talk about!

Those who play with fire will burn themselves.

To be honest, for someone doing his kind of work, hadn't he thought about this day?

It was just that when this day really came, even if he thought he had been mentally prepared long ago, he would still find it so caught off guard.

"It's Viscount McKinley, but it's useless even if I say it. He never entrusts me with tasks personally, but finds an intermediary agent. All transactions are conducted through the agent. I only know it's him, but I don't have any evidence."

Gao De's head suddenly drooped, and he answered weakly.

"These big shots do things seamlessly and won't leave any handles that are unfavorable to themselves."

"I don't care about this," Gao De said while recording Gao De's confession on the parchment, shaking his head calmly: "I'll bring you to justice and then claim the merit. My business ends here. The matters below have nothing to do with a small apprentice mage like me."

Not in that position, not seeking that policy.

The water beasts in the Makoko District already involved nobles in Lagos City, and the relationship was very large.

Matters of the upper level should naturally be solved by the upper level.

"Apprentice mage?!" Gao De was obviously stunned for a moment, and then noticed that the Sea Hai Shao Bing uniform Gao De was wearing was indeed that of an apprentice mage, and it was the lowest second-class apprentice mage.

"Second-class apprentice mage... I actually fell into the hands of a second-class apprentice mage..." After a long while, he seemed to be talking to himself.

"When did you start raising water beasts in the Makoko District, what was the frequency, what was the specific process, who was involved, transaction details... confess everything one by one." Gao De didn't care about Gao De's psychological activities, returned to the topic, and asked in detail.

This belonged to his merit, so naturally, it had to be done perfectly.

Gao De bit his chapped lips and honestly confessed everything according to Gao De's requirements.

The entire interrogation process was unusually smooth, not at all like what was often written in novels and biographies, where the villain's mouth was as hard as iron.

First, this was reality; most people were ordinary people, and the so-called "hard bones" were ultimately a minority.

Second, in a world possessing supernatural powers like spells, everyone understood that unless one was determined to die, lying didn't have much meaning.

Mages have plenty of means to make you open your mouth.

To exaggerate, even if it were really a corpse, a mage could make it temporarily come alive and speak.

After recording the ins and outs of the Makoko District water beast incident one by one, Gao De rolled up the parchment with satisfaction and put it into his bosom.

"My lord." Seeing Gao De preparing to leave, Gao De suddenly called out to Gao De.

"Hmm?"

"You say..." Gao De's eyes shone with a faint light, "Can I live?"

"Difficult." Gao De said calmly.

Gao De couldn't be sure whether the nobles involved behind this incident would finally receive the punishment they deserved.

But as the perpetrator on the surface, if Gao De wanted to live, the possibility was not great.

Whether it was taking the blame or normal law enforcement, his crime was too great, and there was no special turning point, almost no possibility of living.

Lagos City Port.

Although it was said that the fishing industry was depressed and the economy was sluggish, there were still many ships here, large or small, the hulls rising and falling slightly with the waves, and occasional slight collisions between the ships, making a dull crashing sound.

Masts stood like a wooden forest.

The shore was also crowded with people, noisy and chaotic.

Porters carried heavy goods, and vendors shouted to sell various items.

Today was the day the two-masted sailboat from the Harland Shipyard officially went to sea.

A new ship going to sea generally follows this process:

First, perform preparations and ceremonies related to the ship's launch, perform inspections, debugging, and equipment of materials after launch, then recruit crew members and conduct training, and finally, after completing the preparations for going to sea, can it officially set sail.

Due to the size of the ship, the distance of the destination, the complexity of the route, and the efficiency of the official, this preparation time generally takes from a few weeks to a few months.

Performing a comprehensive inspection and debugging of the ship's hull and purchasing reserve materials are carried out simultaneously with recruiting crew members.

Because it is a traditional fishing city, combined with the "unemployment wave" after the spirit marrow fever, there are many unemployed crew members in Lagos City.

Plus it was just a two-masted sailboat, so not many crew members were needed.

Hence, the crew recruitment and training work, which should have been the most time-consuming, went very smoothly, and everything was prepared in just two weeks.

As for the procedures for going to sea, using the connections and money-opening method that Harland had operated in Lagos City for most of his life, all the permit documents were also completed within two weeks.

The port management official wearing a crisp uniform held a registration book and carefully checked the ship's relevant documents, from the ship's construction permit and registration certificate to the crew list and identity proof, without any omissions.

Subsequently, they boarded the ship personally for inspection, randomly checked the types and quantities of goods loaded on the ship listed on the cargo manifest, and viewed the trade permit to ensure that the ship was not engaged in illegal smuggling and stowaway activities, and complied with specifications.

After completing this series of strict inspections, the official stamped the Lagos official seal on the sea permit.

Everything was ready, and it was time to go to sea.

However, according to local rules, there was still a set of rituals to go through before a new ship went to sea, which carried people's prayers for navigation safety and success.

Perhaps many people would think this is superstition, but for those who make a living on the ship, they just believe in this.

The beginning of the ritual, and also an extremely important link, is naming the new ship.

The naming person is usually served by a respected or close female relative of the ship owner.

Aisha was not suitable to show her face, so this naming person was finally served by Doctor Danika.

She wore a solemn nun's long dress, stood at the bow, held a bottle of Mulan Tan champagne, and solemnly announced the ship's name.

"I hereby announce that this two-masted sailboat, which carries the gifts and favor of the ocean and will bring rich wealth, its name is—Columbus!"

Of course, this was the name Gao De gave it personally.

Although Doctor Danika couldn't understand its specific meaning, she certainly wouldn't raise any objections; she was just responsible for announcing the name.

Following Doctor Danika's announcement, the crew on the Columbus erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

Immediately after, amidst the cheers, Doctor Danika raised the Mulan Tan champagne in her hands high and smashed it toward the bow with all her strength.

With a crisp and pleasant sound of the bottle shattering, the wine splashed like fireworks, sprinkling on every corner of the bow.

This implies blessing the new ship and giving the ship a unique identity and good luck.

After this step was completed, the crew on the ship, including the captain, hung their own mascots everywhere on the ship.

These mascots had various shapes, some were small and exquisite horseshoes, some were amulets with mysterious patterns, some...

These mascots were all very old, having gone through the baptism of time.

Because since they served as crew members, these mascots had accompanied them to sea I don't know how many times; they were old partners.

According to the saying circulating among the crew, the more times a mascot has been to sea, the more luck it carries; hanging it on the ship can turn bad luck into good.

After all this was completed, the captain didn't delay any longer and gave instructions loudly.

"All crew members, attention, prepare to set sail!"

After receiving the order, the sailors acted quickly and began to turn the winch.

With the turning of the winch, the iron chain connected to the anchor made a "clattering" sound, and the heavy anchor slowly rose from the seabed.

At the same time, the crew members responsible for raising the sails quickly climbed the mast, untied the ropes fixing the sails, and pulled the sail ropes hard; the huge sails slowly unfolded under the blowing of the sea breeze.

The sailor responsible for steering held the steering wheel tightly with both hands, and under the captain's command, he slowly turned the steering wheel to sail out of Lagos Port according to the prescribed route.

The ship's rudder turned underwater, driving the ship to turn slowly.

Gao De watched the Columbus gradually go away against the backdrop of golden sunlight and azure seawater, and slowly exhaled.

"Hope everything goes well." He thought to himself.

This voyage was very important for the development of the Northern Realm.

Because the Columbus actually carried the important mission of opening the Lagos—Valar Bay route.

As long as this voyage went smoothly, this route would be considered opened, and the Northern Realm and the outside world would be initially connected.

After that, exchanging what one has for what one lacks and resource replacement would no longer be a problem.

In addition, the Columbus also carried the wood and craftsmen that Phoenix was currently in urgent need of, as well as two stranded princesses.

—The first voyage was all unknown, and Gao De didn't let the orphans of the Ronggu Yuan board the ship.

Raise them first.

Anyway, with his current financial resources, raising a Ronggu Yuan was not too strenuous.

"Time to go back." Gao De exhaled a long breath and thought to himself.

He received the mission on the 11th of the Ice-Sealing Month and came to Lagos City.

And now it was already the 5th of the Winter Solstice Month, 25 days had passed.

This mission took almost a month to complete.

But without a doubt, the harvest was huge.

When not performing missions, the Sea Sentinels generally wouldn't manage where the subordinate mages went and what they were doing.

But when performing missions, if the time taken was too long, it would still attract attention.

So on the 15th of the Ice-Sealing Month, after completing the water beast expulsion mission, Gao De wrote a briefing and sent it back to the White Tower of the Dorn Abyss.

The general idea was that he had completed the water beast expulsion mission, but due to personal matters, he needed to delay for some time before returning to deliver the mission.

Although there were twists and turns, the harvest was huge.

This unexpected harvest of Gao De was enough to make him rank at the forefront of the Sea Hai Shao Bing year-end evaluation in the first year.

Go claim the merit!

Gao De was high-spirited and turned to leave the port.

But just after walking a few steps, his gaze suddenly froze.

In his field of vision, a familiar figure appeared.

It was a man wearing a black robe, the whole person was a bit gloomy, his head was slightly lowered, and his face couldn't be seen clearly.

But Gao De recognized the other party at a glance.

It was exactly the mage from the Efuja Principality who was looking for Aisha that he met at the front desk of the Palm Tree Hotel.

That pair of unusually slender ears slightly exposed from under the hat brim was really too memorable and too easy to recognize.

Gao De's heart moved slightly, but his face remained calm, just smiled slightly, his footsteps didn't stop, and he brushed shoulders with that man.

Obviously, this Efuja Principality mage didn't remember Gao De anymore.

He was just looking around by himself, looking for something, his eyes carrying imperceptible anxiety and fatigue.

"She clearly asked the hotel staff about the shipyard information in the city, she must want to go to sea to escape, but why did I ask all the shipyards in the city, but couldn't ask for any information about her..." The man frowned tightly.

"I've been squatting at the port for several days, and I've always gained nothing."

He looked up again, looking at the sea surface covered with ships: "Could it be that I came late, and she has already gone to sea?"

"If she has really gone to sea and left here, how could it still be possible to find her?"

"The 【Heart of Xidian】 is too important, I can't bring it back, how can I report to the monarch..."

(End of chapter)