Chapter 1738

Looking at the new badge rapidly forming on the interface, Leon, full of "What the hell, this actually works?", couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise.

【Ship Lovers: A beautiful woman of noble birth, a talented young poor boy, a giant ship far away from the real world, and a moving love story that transcends class and secularity】

【Wearing effect: When you are blowing in the wind at the bow of a ship with a member of the opposite sex who is full of love for you, neither you nor she will catch a cold】

【Advancement route: After continuously riding a ship with three married members of the opposite sex who are full of love for you, and encountering a shipwreck each time, this badge will automatically advance to the hidden Gold-tier badge 'Disaster of the Ocean'】

【Hidden trait (no need to wear): Due to your unique wildness and vitality as hot as the morning sun, you will have an extremely strong attraction to members of the opposite sex who are of noble birth, married or already engaged, and are tired of their current situation】

【Hidden trait 2 (no need to wear): When riding a ship with a woman who is full of love for you, the probability of the ship you are riding encountering a shipwreck will increase significantly】

"..."

What kind of shitty effect is this... And to advance, I have to go to sea with three married members of the opposite sex and encounter three shipwrecks to upgrade?

Looking at the 【Ship Lovers】 badge flashing with brilliant light on the interface, the corners of Leon's mouth couldn't help but twitch violently, as if he saw the Prime Minister's smile on this lewdly glowing badge...

The problem is, I didn't get on the ship with someone else's fiancée! I've held a proper wedding! I'm a married person with a standard, harmonious married life! Even if I might be forced to cheat after I die, I'm still alive, aren't I?

"Leon?"

After waiting for a while and seeing no follow-up, Queen Veronica, who had closed her eyes at Leon's request, leaned into the embrace behind her and asked with confusion:

"I've closed my eyes, and then what?"

Then what?

Realizing that the cosplay wasn't over yet, Leon came back to his senses, closed the interface, and said:

"Then you open your eyes."

"Okay~"

Although she didn't know what Leon wanted to do, she guessed that he might want to play some "little romantic games." Queen Veronica nodded with a smile, opened her eyes cooperatively, and looked at the beautiful... iceberg in front of her?

Under their astonished gazes, a fairly huge white iceberg "grew" out of the sea surface from nothing at an astonishing speed, precisely blocking the path of the "Prince Leon (crossed out) Carriage," and then...

"Bang!!!"

How could... how could this happen?!!!

Supported on Leon's shoulder, Melanie looked through the observation window at the goods bobbing in the seawater inside her own sealed cabin. Her eyes immediately turned red. After getting down from Leon's shoulder, she clutched her small skirt tightly with both hands, her eyes full of tension:

"Big... Big Brother! What about the goods on top? I didn't see clearly just now. What happened to the goods on top? Did they all get soaked in water too?"

The goods on top... sigh... Big Brother has really tried his best. The problem is that Johnson's anomalous object only protects people, not goods. Plus, the goods you brought are the first-edition pagers from the First Research Institute; this thing isn't waterproof at all...

"Even worse than the goods at the bottom; they're already spinning in the water."

After giving the teary-eyed Great Sin of Gluttony a look of helplessness, Leon concluded:

"Let's fish them out when we arrive. The packing boxes are painted and aren't afraid of soaking. If we sell them, we should still be able to get some money back, right?"

"Wuu..."

After receiving the tragic result of the pearls being destroyed while the boxes remained, Melanie's miserable little face collapsed. She threw herself directly into the arms of Anna, who was also looking helpless nearby, and began to sob uncontrollably, her shoulders heaving—it was truly pitiful.

"Actually, the situation might not be that serious. You can try to think about the bright side."

Seeing that she seemed to have suffered a fairly serious blow, Leon, who couldn't bear it, thought for a moment and offered comfort:

"For example, the packing boxes you specially ordered to raise the price of the pagers are all good materials from the First Research Institute, much more valuable than ordinary boxes. If you sell them all... it should be enough to pay back one-seventieth of your sister-in-law's loan?"

"Waaaaah!!!"

Upon hearing Leon's comfort, and remembering that these goods were ordered with borrowed money, Melanie, who was originally just on the verge of tears, completely broke down and wailed.

"Don't cry, don't cry! It's okay, it's okay!"

After glaring at Leon for his blind attempts at comfort, Anna hurriedly picked up the sobbing Melanie and took her to a place further away from the cargo hold, which was a place of sorrow. While gently patting her trembling back, she began to comfort her with soft, gentle words.

As for Leon, who had been shunned for dealing a heavy blow and was ordered not to go over and mess things up, he had no choice but to stay where he was and exchange a look with his calm younger brother William.

"Big Brother, your comfort just now was indeed problematic."

After receiving Leon's inquiring look, William pondered for a moment, then raised his small face and concluded earnestly:

"You should have told Melanie that the loans she borrowed are interest-free."

"Oh!"

Oh, what oh! Are you two doing this on purpose?!

Anna, who heard the brothers' conversation, was afraid they would say something else, so she hurriedly covered Melanie's ears and walked quickly up the freight elevator to leave the bottom deck. Leon and his brother, who were left behind, along with several other wailing merchants on the ship, began to examine the cabins that had flooded due to the collision with the iceberg.

Although a large iceberg had suddenly grown on the sea surface and the two sides had collided directly, due to the effect of 【Speedster Johnson】, there were no casualties on the Prince Leon (crossed out) Carriage; only nine cabins near the bow on the right side were cracked.

Excluding the three watertight cabins, the remaining six cabins contained the goods for this trip. Even though not all the goods in every cabin were as afraid of water as the first-edition pagers Melanie had bet heavily on, the merchants whose goods were in these six cabins were also suffering heavy losses, especially...

"My wine!!!"

Through the blurry observation window, looking at the large wooden barrels that had split in half and the seawater that had been dyed pink by the mellow wine, the fat merchant, who was so fat he had no neck—and who was likely doing business with borrowed money just like the Great Sin of Gluttony—began to wail and beat his chest.

After the fat merchant rolled his eyes and fainted from crying, Leon, who had been attracted by the wailing that was even louder than his sister's, leaned over to the four-layer glass sealed observation window and curiously looked into the cabin.

Hmm... slightly better than Melanie's situation; one-third of the wine barrels are still sealed. After draining the water from the cabin, it should still be sellable... By the way, what kind of wine is this? Looking at the color and the winery pattern, it looks like old Bronte barrels? The director invited me to drink it twice before.

But his recipe seems to have been modified; it also contains some ingredients for soaking wine, and it looks quite good. Let me see... cinnamon sticks, orange, cardamom leaves, mermaid...

Mermaid?!!!

(End of chapter)