Chapter 1055: Preparing to Depart

Seeing that Xia Duo was about to discuss the matter of purchasing a ship with Evans, Niya hurriedly sent a Sending to chat with Xia Duo privately: "Why don't we just teleport over? Buying a ship like this feels rather irrational!"

"Don't worry, this ship isn't just for sailing tomorrow; in the future, I will use it to travel to the North to bring new residents to the South."

Xia Duo gave Niya a reassuring look, then said to Evans: "I want to buy that ship! If everything is left for you to handle, can it set sail tomorrow?"

He knew that this kind of request was somewhat difficult for others, but if Evans could manage it, he wouldn't mind giving the other party a small surprise.

After stating his request, Xia Duo just looked at the other party with a calm expression.

At the same time, Evans's expression began to show signs of struggle. He knew full well that a ship was nothing to a Senior Arcanist, not to mention that if a Senior Arcanist wished, he could teleport to his desired destination at any time.

Evans was not sure if Xia Duo was testing him or putting him to the task, but he knew he had to agree. However, wanting to set sail tomorrow was—

"My lord, I cannot guarantee that we will definitely be able to set sail tomorrow, but I am willing to try."

"Very well."

Looking at the cautious Evans before him, Xia Duo ultimately agreed to let him try. However, he guessed that the other party must have some degree of certainty; otherwise, he wouldn't have taken on such a job at the risk of offending a Senior Arcanist.

Afterwards, Xia Duo took out about 10,000 Gold Coins worth of Exchange Vouchers from his Personal Space, handed them to Evans, and said meaningfully: "Do not let me down!"

Hearing this, Evans's hand, which was about to take the Gold Coin Exchange Vouchers, suddenly froze. Xia Duo found this quite amusing.

However, he could also understand the difficulties of a small person, and since the person before him was not his subordinate, he said:

"Take it. I know that completing the acquisition and recruiting suitable crew members in one night is not an easy task. I am not a harsh person; as long as you do your best, I can accept it even if it is a little late."

Only after Xia Duo said this did Evans take the Gold Coin Exchange Vouchers. After counting them, he assured Xia Duo:

"My lord, if it is to set sail tomorrow morning, that is very difficult, but I guarantee that everything will be ready before noon."

"Very good, then I won't delay your time. See you tomorrow!"

After saying this, Xia Duo took Niya and walked toward the outside of the Port District.

"If the ship isn't ready tomorrow, let's just teleport over!"

On the way, Niya mentioned teleporting again, but Xia Duo could see that her words did not match her heart. So, taking advantage of the falling night, he quietly held her hand and firmly conveyed his thoughts to her.

Although there were few pedestrians on the streets of Seventon at night, it was not completely empty. Holding hands on the street, an act Xia Duo considered very normal, still made Niya feel very shy.

In fact, this was because Niya had never been to the Elven Nations. Xia Duo had many experiences of manifesting as an Elf in the Projection Plane, and he knew that Elven society was already extremely close to modern society on Earth in some aspects.

Let alone holding hands on the street, even men and women being together was not strange at all.

Netheril also had quite avant-garde people, but Niya was still quite conservative in this regard, and this sometimes became the aspect of Niya that teased Xia Duo the most.

Holding Niya's soft little hand and occasionally saying ambiguous words that only the two of them understood, they walked to the entrance of Giles Tower without realizing it.

However, upon arriving here, Xia Duo stopped instead. He pulled Niya, "Why don't we go back to the Tower of Time tonight and come back tomorrow morning?"

"But that would cost an extra 2,000 Gold Coins!" Niya subconsciously wanted to refuse.

But Xia Duo said: "It's fine, 5th-Level Members of the Arcane Union have a discount, it won't cost that much."

All Niya lacked was an excuse. Under Xia Duo's Guidance, Niya did not know when she had returned to the Tower of Time, nor when she had arrived in the bedroom.

She did not know when the Mage Robe on her body had quietly left her.

The next morning.

Niya opened her eyes and met a pair of familiar eyes like Chenxing, which revealed a smile. Niya was instantly overwhelmed with shyness and buried her head in the arm of Xia Duo, who had already woken up.

But the skin-to-skin contact without any barrier made her feel somewhat at a loss. It was daytime now, not night. Niya let out a soft moan and dared not make any further movements.

Feeling the heat on Niya's cheek, which was pressed against his chest and significantly higher than human body temperature, Xia Duo suddenly found it funny. They were already an old married couple, yet Niya was still so shy.

He propped himself up slightly, kissed Niya on the forehead, then gathered his willpower, withdrew his left arm that was still wrapped around Niya's body, and whispered in Niya's ear:

"I'll prepare breakfast first. We still have to head to Seventon in a while, don't sleep too long."

"Mm."

After finishing breakfast, the blush on Niya's face gradually faded, and she returned to being the cold Savile Mage she usually was.

With the help of the Teleportation Array, the two teleported directly from the South to the Arcane Union. Such is the convenience of a Spellcaster. If it weren't for Niya wanting to see the seascape along the way, perhaps the two of them would have already returned from Shouwang Dao by now.

Arriving at the port, Xia Duo sent a Sending to Evans to ask about the status of the ship. A moment later, Evans came running over to Xia Duo with seven or eight people dressed as ship workers:

"My lord, Evans has not failed the task. The final crew members have been found, and the 'Yuanfang' is ready to set sail at any time!"

As he spoke, Evans returned the remaining Gold Coin Exchange Vouchers and had the seven or eight ship workers salute Xia Duo. Xia Duo waved his hand; he did not care about these things.

As for the remaining Gold Coin Exchange Vouchers, he took a rough look and saw that there were about 2,000 Gold Coins left. It seemed that a ship plus all the crew members cost about 8,000 Gold Coins.

For that kind of ship capable of sailing on the sea, Xia Duo also had a rough budget; after all, he had bought a ship before.

Looking at Evans's eyes, which were almost dark circles, Xia Duo knew that the other party probably hadn't rested all night, so he said:

"Thank you for your hard work, but now I must ask you to take us to see the ship. You can rest after we set sail!"

"My lord, I don't need to rest. Let's go to the ship now, my lord, please follow me!"

Evans revealed an unusual excitement in both his words and eyes, and he led Xia Duo, Niya, and those seven or eight ship workers, half-running and half-jumping toward a large ship.