Chapter 1056: Narrow Sea Geography and the Decline of Sea Transport

Xia Duo and Niya followed Evans to the harbor pier, standing beside the "Yuanfang," and as they looked at this large ship that was slightly longer than the "Lucky Owen," Xia Duo nodded to himself.

This ship did not belong to the category of oceangoing vessels, and its hull size and cargo capacity were not up to par with true oceangoing ships, but it had no problems at all with coastal navigation.

Although Harbor Port was far from Seventon, it still fell within the range of coastal navigation, and this had to be explained by a special geographical feature of the Narrow Sea.

The overall shape of the Narrow Sea was like a stomach, and the narrowest part in the northwest was the esophagus connecting to the stomach; Asikeer, the trade city of the Dwarf Kingdom Danzo on the surface, was located at the end of the esophagus.

And in the east, the Strait Mountains, which extended from the Great Northern Glacier, divided the main body of the Narrow Sea into eastern and western halves.

Zhenisi was located on the southern shore of the West Xixiahai, while Seventon was located on the southern shore of the East Xixiahai.

As for Harbor Port, it was actually the point where the Strait Mountains were severed within the Narrow Sea; of course, this was only from the perspective of the sea surface, as the Strait Mountains remained a single entity beneath the seabed.

And Shouwang Dao was the closest island outside of Harbor Port; of course, it could also be understood as a peak of the Strait Mountains that rose above the sea.

The fastest way to sail from Seventon to Harbor Port was, of course, to travel in as straight a line as possible, while taking wind direction and undercurrents into account.

However, doing so would inevitably lead into the open ocean, which carried a higher risk factor.

With a ship like the "Yuanfang" that was not suitable for the open ocean and a crew that had just been recruited, choosing such a sailing method was not prudent.

The truly prudent method was to sail west along the coastline first, reach the Strait Mountains, and then continue north along the Strait Mountains until arriving at Harbor Port.

Sailing this way kept one basically within the range of coastal waters.

Last night, Xia Duo and Niya had also discussed the route; although the two of them were not worried about the risks at sea, the ship and the other crew members on board needed to be.

Therefore, even Niya, who longed for an adventure at sea, fully agreed with the more prudent coastal route.

……

After boarding, Evans introduced Captain Bill to Xia Duo and his wife—a veteran navigator with deep experience, who was said to have once led his crew to victory over a sea monster at sea.

"My lord, Evans is exaggerating; that time I merely survived the sea monster's attack, it could hardly be called a victory," Bill said very humbly.

However, Xia Duo heard a sense of immense pride in his humble words, and it was indeed worth being proud of, as even a Spellcaster had few good options when encountering a sea monster at sea.

Running away was almost the only choice, and for an ordinary Spellcaster, succeeding in running away in the vast ocean was almost impossible.

And as Evans continued to introduce the ship's past, Xia Duo noticed that the old captain, Bill, revealed a look of desolation.

After hearing Evans's account, he also roughly understood the origin of Bill's desolation.

Mainly, it came down to one point: last year, Netheril and the Danzo Kingdom cleaned up and reorganized the Underground Passage connecting Zhenisi and Asikeer, eliminating most of the underground creatures that threatened the caravans.

At the same time, they significantly lowered the transit fees, which resulted in oceangoing shipping becoming somewhat lackluster.

Apart from the shorter time, it had no other more obvious advantages.

The trade between Netheril and the Danzo Kingdom was mostly concentrated in raw ores, metals, weapons, grain, and alcohol; among these, Netheril mainly exported raw ores, grain, and alcohol, and imported metals and weapons.

Among these, the metal was mainly Mithril.

Ores and metals had no shelf life, but even for grain and alcohol, their shelf life was sufficient to cover the entire duration of land transport.

If some high-speed transportation tool appeared in the future, then sea transport would completely decline.

This "Yuanfang" was abandoned by its original owner for this very reason, and Captain Bill had also recently become unemployed for the same reason.

Regarding such an outcome, it was difficult for Xia Duo to make a judgment; on Earth, although air transport existed, sea transport remained prosperous, the reasons being nothing more than large transport volume, cheap freight, and safety.

But in this world of Magic, before one could effectively deal with sea monsters, sea transport was somewhat a matter of luck; of course, land routes were not necessarily safe either, as there would be a large number of wild monsters attacking caravans.

But relatively speaking, land routes were still somewhat safer.

Even if an environment or technology similar to that on Earth appeared in the future, sea transport might not necessarily rise again, as one must know that Magic existed in this world.

On Earth, it was certainly impossible to perform spatial teleportation, but here, Xia Duo had just used a Teleportation Array to come from Nan Jing!

Once the cost of teleportation was significantly reduced, then whether it was sea transport or land transport, both would be finished.

As a Senior Arcanist, Xia Duo was very clear about where the difficulty lay; there was basically only one difficulty, and that was cheap resources.

Mithril, gold, colorless Gemstones, and Arcane crystals—as long as these became a bit cheaper, it would be very easy for the commercial use of Teleportation Arrays to emerge.

And this was very easy to achieve in the foreseeable future!

For a moment, Xia Duo did not know how to describe this society where development and backwardness coexisted, but this made him even more determined to develop a magical civilization.

Only Magic was the primary productive force; only civilization could bring this great power to its extreme.

……

Before setting sail, Evans disembarked, taking the Communication Magic Tool of the Tower of Time version that Xia Duo had gifted him.

On the deck, Xia Duo waved his hand at Evans, then stood at the bow with Niya; as the sea surface ahead constantly parted beneath his feet, the "Yuanfang" gradually sailed away from the Seventon Port.

"Xia Duo, look! Are those dolphins?"

Following the direction of Niya's finger, Xia Duo turned his head to look, and sure enough, he saw five or six dolphins leaping from the sea surface, gliding through a curve, and then crashing into the water, splashing a spray of water.

Afterwards, they leaped again, and after several times in succession, they disappeared from sight.

In Netheril, there was also a saying that encountering dolphins while at sea meant good luck, but this was Niya's first time seeing dolphins; after repeatedly confirming with Xia Duo many times, Niya also became exceptionally excited.

"Look, they're back!"

Xia Duo looked back and saw that not only were they back, but they had also been following the "Yuanfang" for quite a long distance; at their closest, those five or six dolphins were only a dozen meters away from the "Yuanfang."

And after those dolphins gave up following the ship, Niya even cast a Spell to search for their figures, but unfortunately, ordinary Scrying Spells were perhaps not very effective in water or soil.

Looking at the place where the dolphins disappeared on the distant sea surface, Niya suddenly said, "I've decided, I want to create a type of Scrying Spell that can detect information underwater!"

"Hmm, a very good idea!"

Xia Duo encouraged her.