Chapter 1066: The Fate of an Ordinary Person, the Widened River Channel

In the captain's cabin of the *Yuanfang*, Xia Duo's sudden arrival truly gave Captain Bill a start, though this was merely because there was suddenly one more person in the room.

After seeing clearly who the visitor was, Captain Bill decisively let out a sigh of relief, and while saluting, he asked, "My lord, do you have any instructions for suddenly seeking me out?"

Xia Duo glanced at the narrow, messy room, casually opened the cabin door, and said to Bill, "There are indeed some things to discuss; let's go to the deck to talk!"

Saying this, he took the lead in stepping out of the cabin door, arrived outside, and walked to the bow in a few strides.

At this moment, the *Yuanfang* had already docked at Harbor Port; some crew members were tidying up cables, some were cleaning, and more were leaning against the ship's rail, chatting about dinner or some streetwalker in the port.

Seeing Xia Duo suddenly appear on the deck, these chatting crew members all fell silent, one by one, and began to help others with their work.

Xia Duo didn't say anything about this; they were just a group of temporarily hired crew members, and it was already quite rare that they could get their work done without errors, so there was no need to mind the trivial details.

As for Harbor Port, it was beyond Xia Duo's expectations; he had originally thought that as a transit point between the East and West Narrow Sea, Harbor Port should be very prosperous.

But in fact, this place was just a supply point, roughly consisting of two streets: one along the sea, which was all warehouses, and one slightly further in, which was also somewhat winding and filled with inns, taverns, and other such places for rest.

It was basically a shrunken version of the Seventon Port District, looking very crude.

A Mage Tower somewhat similar to a Watchtower was located at the midpoint of the inner street; if one were to cast spells through that Mage Tower, Xia Duo felt it was a question whether it could even cover the entire port area.

Perhaps it only needed to perform the basic functions of communication and teleportation, and that would be enough.

"My lord—" Captain Bill arrived.

Xia Duo turned around and carefully examined this old captain whose face was covered in the weathering of the sea; he did not directly arrange the *Yuanfang*'s subsequent itinerary, but instead asked Captain Bill a rather personal question:

"Captain Bill, in which territory is your hometown, how many people are in your family, and what kind of work do they all do?"

Upon hearing this, Bill was stunned for a moment, not knowing what purpose his new employer had in asking these things, but he still answered truthfully:

"My lord, my home is in Halan Territory, not far south of Seventon. There is still my wife, two sons, and their wives and children at home. They operate a leather shop of moderate size together in Halan Territory, and life is getting by. As for me—"

When speaking of his family, a happy smile was clearly overflowing on Captain Bill's face, but when he finally mentioned himself, his expression dimmed in an instant—

"I was recruited by the Lord of Halan when I was young and joined his fleet. From a handyman who initially only washed clothes for the crew in the bilge, to the captain I am now, I have been doing this for over thirty years.

"It is just a pity that the Lord of Halan decided to reduce the scale of the fleet not long ago, and I unfortunately became the only captain to be dismissed. Perhaps after this mission ends, I will go to Halan Territory and operate the leather shop together with my two sons.

"This might be a decent ending for me, but for my three grandsons who can already call me 'Grandpa', it is almost a turning point in their destiny; one, or perhaps even two of them, will lose the opportunity to learn Magic."

After listening to Bill's account, Xia Duo once again felt fortunate that he had been able to receive help from Mu Yan, and he felt even more grateful to Mu Yan.

If a captain grandfather and a leather shop could hardly support one or two family members in learning Magic, how much of a price would he, a transmigrator without any background, have to pay?

Thinking back now, if he hadn't obtained the status of an Official Apprentice when he first joined the Tower of Time, and hadn't been able to use those Learning Scrolls and the opportunities for free questions to start a study group.

Then perhaps he would still be struggling even now, working hard for the Library's reading fees, the Spell Laboratory's usage fees, and the consultation fees for asking others questions!

If he didn't have the status of an Official Apprentice, and didn't have a benefit he could directly offer, even if the study group was theoretically feasible, why would others trust him?

Even if he had eventually gained the trust of other apprentices and started the study group, what about the time cost in that process?

One must know that the Orc Tide appeared in the winter of the year he joined the Tower of Time; if he couldn't have obtained the ability for Spellcasting before then, he might have been exempted from the draft, but for the subsequent Arcane Competition, one step behind would mean being behind in every step.

Even if he could still become an Official Mage by now, it would be impossible for him to become the Lord of Daxia, become Niya's husband, or become a Senior Arcanist.

Or perhaps, if he hadn't followed Neil to watch the circus outside the town back then, he wouldn't have met Mu Yan; sometimes, a single thought really can lead to a world of difference in destiny.

And now, Captain Bill's true turning point in destiny had arrived; Xia Duo pondered for a moment, then voiced the idea he had already decided upon:

"Captain Bill, you should know that I am the Lord of Daxia in the Nan Jing; my Territory is currently lacking an old hand who is familiar with Northland affairs. I think you, Captain Bill, can still work for a few more years!"

"My lord, you want me to continue serving as the captain of the *Yuanfang*?" There was both joy and some hesitation in Bill's eyes.

A captain's income was certainly higher than that of a leather shop, but at the same time, the risks of sailing were also higher than those of a leather shop. He had already decided to return to Halan Territory after this mission, but he had not expected such a choice to appear now.

Thinking of his grandsons, Bill still silently made his decision.

And Xia Duo did not let him down, "Yes, I intend for you to continue serving as the captain of the *Yuanfang*. The *Yuanfang* will not need to go out to sea in the future, but will instead handle inland river shipping."

"Inland river shipping? I know your Territory is in the Nan Jing, but I have heard that the river channels in the Nan Jing are narrow; can this ship pass through them?"

Being able to say such things meant that Bill had already accepted Xia Duo's recruitment and was already considering things for Xia Duo. To this, Xia Duo's answer was—

"If it were in the past, this ship might indeed be inconvenient for sailing on inland rivers, but now I can say with certainty: this ship will have no problem!"

The reason was naturally because of the previous Murloc Tide at Maihete Lake.

When Priest Morton was clearing the Murloc Tide, a torrent of Negative Energy swept across the northern and southern waters, taking away not only countless murlocs, but also parts of the riverbed and riverbanks.

Under the erosion of the Negative Energy, with Maihete Lake as the center, the northern and southern river channels had both been expanded quite a bit; although the narrow sections were still not enough to allow two *Yuanfang* ships to pass each other, one ship would have absolutely no problem.

And the probability of actually encountering other ships while exactly in a narrow section was extremely low.