Chapter 554

Facing the plea for help from the current "Sea Viceroy," Lu Mian was not surprised at all.

He raised his left hand, touched his ear, and said in Intis:

"What are you saying?"

"I only understood the word 'help'."

The current "Sea Viceroy" disguised as a woman was stunned, as if he hadn't expected a language barrier between the two parties.

He had gone to great lengths and risked danger to come to this street to wait for Louis Berry, but he couldn't understand what the other party was saying and couldn't convey the content of his request!

Lu Mian maintained the persona of someone who didn't understand Highland, took out a dark red fountain pen and a stack of memo paper without haste, and handed them over:

"Write down everything you want to say; I will find someone to translate it."

He still used Intis this time, but he used the gesture of holding a pen to indicate writing, thereby telling the other party what to do.

If this "Sea Viceroy" was still illiterate and couldn't write Highland at all, that would be troublesome... Could he only communicate by force using individual words and body language? I don't want to expose that I know Highland right now... Lu Mian thought with worry.

Whether it was Intis or Feynapot, the number of illiterate people was not small.

That "Sea Viceroy" was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood the meaning of the great adventurer Louis Berry. He took the fountain pen and memo paper and began to write rapidly.

Lu Mian watched with a calm expression. Although he was opposite, relying on his "Hunter" vision and spatial imagination, he still relatively easily saw clearly what the other party had written:

"Please help me, save me from Santa Harbor!"

"I am not the real 'Sea Viceroy'!"

Not the real "Sea Viceroy"... Lu Mian controlled the urge to raise his eyebrows and did not ask directly, maintaining a gaze as if he hadn't understood those words at all.

He wanted to see what else the current "Sea Viceroy" would write, and then consider how to ask questions.

That man in women's clothing paused for two seconds and continued to write:

"The real 'Sea Viceroy' died in last year's Sea-Praying Ceremony."

Died? The real "Sea Viceroy" died at the Sea-Praying Ceremony? Seeing this, a huge joy suddenly surged in Lu Mian's heart.

Finally saw the tail of those core members of "April Fool's"!

One of the results of their prank last year was that the scheduled "Sea Viceroy" failed to successfully hold the Sea-Praying Ceremony, suffered the backlash of supernatural power, and lost his life!

This also matched the situation revealed by the son of Solo Hotel owner Ota Guillaume, who was a small clerk in a government department, regarding the increase in shipwrecks, decrease in fish catches, and poor trade.

The fake "Sea Viceroy" wrote rapidly, as if someone might chase him at any time:

"I was chosen by Juan Oro and that bunch of people from the Fishery Guild to impersonate the 'Sea Viceroy' for a year because I looked relatively similar to the real 'Sea Viceroy,' so as not to let the fishermen and maritime merchants know that they had made a big mistake, resulting in a leak and causing the Sea-Praying Ceremony to fail. This is something that hasn't happened in the last few hundred years."

"I learned this secret, and they definitely won't let me leave alive. Once the 'Sea Viceroy' handover ceremony is completed and the vigil segment is entered, I will definitely be killed."

"I didn't want to impersonate the 'Sea Viceroy' at all; this is a blasphemy against the sea. But they pointed guns at me and told me they had already killed one person who was unwilling to cooperate with them."

"Neither the Church nor the government is willing to manage the Fishery Guild's affairs. You are the only one who dared to break into the 'Sea Viceroy's' mansion and threaten Juan Oro with a gun. I can only ask you for help. In this year, I have also saved quite a bit of money, which I can give to you—100,000 gold Risos!"

"In the past few days, I have heard of your deeds, and I believe you have this strength. I beg you to help me!"

Not a low level of education... Lu Mian looked at the three sheets of memo paper that had been written and felt that the fake "Sea Viceroy," whether in grammar or word choice, was not like an ordinary fisherman, peddler, or worker.

Hu... After writing his request and the reason, the fake "Sea Viceroy" put down the fountain pen and pushed the three sheets of memo paper filled with Highland words to Lu Mian.

Lu Mian only glanced at it, then deliberated and used Highland words plus body language to say:

"Help?"

"You, family?"

The fake "Sea Viceroy" quickly wrote down the answer:

"My parents passed away a few years ago, and I have no other relatives. I was originally an employee of a fishery company."

No wonder Juan Oro and the others dared to "kidnap" this person to be the "Sea Viceroy." The Church of the Mother Goddess of Earth just doesn't manage the internal affairs of the Fishery Guild. If it really affected other citizens, they would still deal with it... Lu Mian put on a posture of asking first and finding someone to translate the answer later, saying:

"Maids, pregnant?"

He was asking what was going on with those maids in the "Sea Viceroy's" mansion and why some were pregnant.

The fake "Sea Viceroy" wore a blue veil and didn't reveal any change in expression. His right hand wrote with a slight tremor:

"The 'Sea Viceroy' receives the same treatment as the ruler of Santa Harbor. He can arbitrarily designate anyone from Milo Village, the Fishery Guild, and those maritime merchant families as his maids and guards, do whatever he wants, and can also go to their homes directly to enjoy the treatment of a master."

"I couldn't hold back."

Seeing this, Lu Mian almost laughed out loud.

In a state similar to a prisoner, still thinking about doing that kind of thing? Or, feeling that he couldn't escape and would definitely die, so he should enjoy it while he could?

The fake "Sea Viceroy" wrote again:

"I can also collect taxes from those people and forcibly distribute their market shares. They all listen to me, but I don't dare to go too far. Otherwise, Juan Oro will beat me with a cane in private and threaten to kill me."

The money you saved was deducted from this? Hmm, no part about controlling the weather and sea tides; after all, he is a fake viceroy... After Lu Mian took the memo paper newly written by the fake "Sea Viceroy," he thought for a moment and said in a clumsy and awkward way:

"Originally, Viceroy, where?"

This was asking about the whereabouts of the previous "Sea Viceroys."

—Battle nun Noelia of the Life Sect hadn't mentioned the relevant situation before. He didn't know if she thought it wasn't important, didn't want to talk about it based on certain reasons, or perhaps they hadn't mastered the corresponding information either.

The fake "Sea Viceroy" wrote:

"I don't know."

"I just heard a maid from Milo Village mention a sentence. She is Juan Oro's granddaughter. She said that all 'Sea Viceroys' eventually return to the sea."

Return to the sea... This doesn't sound like a good thing... Hehe, you actually designated Juan Oro's granddaughter as your maid. Is this trying to take revenge on the granddaughter for the intimidation and oppression received from the grandfather? And Juan Oro actually agreed—not agreeing to his face, but wanting her back in private and beating you up by the way? Juan Oro and his sons all married "Sea Maidens," and his granddaughter has a certain probability of being a humanoid lizard monster... If you knew you were sleeping with such a humanoid lizard, how would you feel? Lu Mian slandered this fake "Sea Viceroy" in his heart.

He deliberated for a moment, as if he couldn't understand what the other party had written at all, and changed the question again:

"Juan Oro, powerful?"

The fake "Sea Viceroy" suddenly shivered.

He wrote rapidly:

"He is very strong; he is a monster! He can make people suffocate to death, die in pain!"

After writing this, the fake "Sea Viceroy" raised his head to look at the sunlight outside the window, put down the fountain pen, stood up, and bowed to Lu Mian.

Then, he turned his body, swayed his vibrant long dress, walked toward the back door of this cafe, and left here.

He seemed to be worried that if he "disappeared" for too long while shopping, he would be suspected by his bodyguards.

Lu Mian watched his back, crumpled the memo paper into a ball, and held it in his palm.

Crimson flames seeped out from between his fingers and quickly disappeared.

After sprinkling the ashes into the vase containing the bouquet, Lu Mian picked up the Tolier coffee he hadn't finished and took a light sip.

His thoughts turned rapidly, analyzing the information he cared about most:

"Is everything that fake guy said true? As an ordinary person, can he find an opportunity to get rid of his 'bodyguards' and slip to me? Could there be private instructions from Juan Oro and others to set a trap for me to jump into?"

"In the 'April Fool's' prank, the custom-made gold ring without supernatural power was hidden inside a lamb, and the latter was brought onto the 'Sea Viceroy's' ship as a sacrifice..."

"'April Fool's' should be trying to replace something with this ring. Is there a sacrificial ring the same as it?"

"The reason why that candidate 'Sea Viceroy' failed last year was because the key sacrificial ring became a fake and couldn't exert its effect?"

"This shows that there were core members of 'April Fool's' or their subordinates on that specially made ship. Otherwise, it would be impossible to deceive the Fishery Guild commissioners and replace important items without anyone knowing..."

"According to the intelligence harvested so far, there aren't many sailors on that ship, and the passengers are only the 'Sea Viceroy,' four 'Sea Maidens,' and a few people responsible for guiding them to hold the ceremony. Among them, who would be related to 'April Fool's'?"

"The Fishery Guild definitely did a screening afterward, but I don't know if there was a conclusion..."

"It cannot be ruled out that the dead 'Sea Viceroy' was related to 'April Fool's' because he might have been thoroughly fooled, thinking that replacing the ring and letting the ceremony fail would mean he wouldn't have to return to the sea like the previous 'Sea Viceroys.' As a result, 'Bard,' 'Crazy Woman,' and 'Salted Egg Superman' didn't want to care about his life or death at all..."

"What is the purpose of 'April Fool's' doing this? Just a prank to please themselves, or is there a deeper intention?"

"Ordinary 'April Fool's' members might just be looking for things to amuse themselves, but those core few, truth and falsehood are always mixed together..."

Sitting in the cafe until the sun was about to fall below the horizon, Lu Mian put on the straw hat and returned to the Solo Hotel slowly.

Late at night, Lu Jianuo returned from the bar, smelling of alcohol, leaned toward Lu Mian, and said:

"I asked those adventurers and bounty hunters about Bartner and his lover. They all said they hadn't seen the two of them in the past few days."

"As soon as they arrived in Santa Harbor, they seemed to have disappeared."

Disappeared? As the child of a "Sea Maiden," if Norfi just returned to Santa Harbor and returned to the Fishery Guild, she wouldn't be so secretive... She wanted to do something about the Sea-Praying Ceremony and convinced Bartner? As a result, she was targeted as soon as she returned? She might know quite a bit... I can't come forward to find them myself right now; the great adventurer identity needs to show up more often... Lu Jianuo isn't too reliable... What about Noelia, this nun? A series of speculations flashed through Lu Mian's mind.

As his thoughts turned, he suddenly knew what help he should ask that "Knight of Swords" for.

PS: Requesting double monthly votes at the beginning of the month~

(End of chapter)