Upon seeing the gigantic black sailboat, Klein's first reaction was fear and wariness. He suspected that the demigod, King of the Five Seas Nast, was here for him.
But he quickly refuted that guess. This was because, apart from using the Dark Emperor card in the spirit world, he had nearly never made the Card of Blasphemy appear in the real world ever since he came out to sea. There were only two or three times when they appeared due to a summoning before it quickly entered the spirit world.
With the gray fog's screening abilities and the Card of Blasphemy's anti-divination and anti-prophecy traits, it's impossible for Nast to lock onto me! Klein calmed down as he got up to walk towards the window. Together with Danitz, he looked at the Dark Emperor which defied sailboat logic.
The gigantic ship slowly approached in the massive shadows as the scene on the deck became increasingly clear. The sailors were either washing the deck or bragging on the shipboard. None of them had drawn their cutlasses or guns. There was no sign of them planning to plunder the ship.
Near the cabin, there was a mottled stone chair that was two to three meters high. On it sat a colossal man that was comparable to a giant.
Before he could take in Nast's appearance, Danitz couldn't help but lower his head as his body became numb and trembled, to the point of prostrating himself.
Klein also sensed the inexplicable sense of might and awe.
He didn't forcibly resist it to keep his head up and continue looking at Nast. This had a high chance of attracting his attention, bringing him unwanted trouble.
As a person with many secrets, he had to bow his head when required!
Klein retracted his gaze as he admired the rugs on the deck.
After an unknown period of time, he saw the sunlight illuminate the area again as the shadow vanished.
He looked up and could no longer see the gigantic pitch-black sailboat. The wind and seas were calm, and the skies were clear.
"Why would he suddenly be here? Wasn't it said that he was still at the Fog Sea recently?" Danitz frowned as he muttered to himself in puzzlement.
That Dark Emperor can cruise through the spirit world, so it's very normal for it to come all the way from the Fog Sea in a span of a few days... This is also probably one of the reasons why Nast is the greatest of the Four Kings... Klein thought to himself.
He believed that Nast was lured by the Dark Emperor card, but it was likely that Nast could only determine a vague area.
Klein retracted his gaze and sat back down as though nothing had happened.
The straight line distance between Bayam and Dilynius wasn't great, but a sufficiently safe sea route was filled with twists and turns, so it took the liner until sunset before it reached the dock.
After that, Klein changed his appearance and used a fake identity to buy two early tickets and set off before it got dark. They arrived at Gargas at dawn.
Danitz didn't enter the city and instead brought Klein on a detour to a private harbor. They then took a simple fishing boat and set off to sea.
After nearly two hours, Klein saw a sailboat which was dozens of meters long. It was clean and produced a golden luster from the sunlight reflected on it.
Compared to similar sailboats, it appeared extremely special. Along the central axis was the main cannon which was stacked with symbols and patterns. Faint but pure light swirled around it.
"That's the Cannon of Purification. It can only be used ten times before six Priests of Light are needed to hold a ritual. They will pray to the corresponding deity to fill it up with spirituality," Danitz introduced smugly.
A gigantic version of a charm? After a certain period of time, it will likely automatically lose its spirituality... Backing Vice Admiral Iceberg is the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun? Or one that can nurture Priests of Light? Klein's remained stoic as he mumbled inwardly.
Back when he first saw the Golden Dream in Danitz's dream, he wasn't too surprised by the main cannon. After all, dreams didn't need to adhere to logic. Perhaps Danitz had seen an ironclad warship and its main cannon had left a deep impression on him, causing him to reproduce it in his dream.
To Klein's surprise, the Golden Dream really had something that required extremely copious amounts of knowledge in mysticism—it wasn't something an ordinary faction could produce.
Soon, the Golden Dream dispatched a dinghy and quickly steered towards the fishing boat.
Danitz spread his hands open before clenching them tightly. He then jumped down and landed in the dinghy without causing it to shake.
He whistled and struck palms with the pirate who was steering. He found the former feeling of ruling over the ocean again.
However, this excitement didn't last long as the dinghy behind him suddenly dipped a little. One more person had joined them.
... I forgot about that madman...
Danitz wiped away his smile and sat down.
Klein observed the pirates and pressed down his hat. He sat down calmly without a word.
Before long, he landed on the deck of the Golden Dream and saw Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina Edwards standing in silence.
This pirate admiral was nearly identical to how she looked when they met in the dream. There weren't any changes to her hair or looks; she now wore dark trousers with a pair of leather boots instead of wearing a dress. She also had a valiant bearing to her wisdom and beauty.
She's more like a pirate this time than a teacher... Klein nodded gently and smiled politely.
"Good morning, Ma'am Captain."
"Good morning, Mr. Gehrman," Edwina replied with a smile.
She turned around and walked to a spot where fishing nets were being hung out to dry. She signaled the pirates to walk away and get busy with their own work.
Fishing nets... As expected of a pirate crew that's more like treasure hunters... This is in preparation to improve their meals? Klein followed in silence. Danitz very naturally found a few of his companions he was most familiar with to have drinks and to brag to.
Of course, he didn't let down his guard. From time to time, he would glance over, afraid that his captain would end up exchanging blows with Gehrman Sparrow. He was ready to get his companions to join the brawl at any moment.
This time, Klein didn't wait for Edwina to explain why she had invited him. After two seconds of silence, he asked, "What do you know of Tracy?"
He planned on asking all his questions before listening to Edwina's motives. He wanted to prevent himself from being embarrassed to ask further after rejecting a request he couldn't agree to.
"Tracy?" Edwina's eyes quivered a little. "She's a Demoness, a Sequence 5 Demoness of Affliction."
Demoness? Klein nearly lost it. He felt that his fate seemed to be intertwined with Demonesses. First, it was Witch Trissy, and then there was Demoness of Pleasure Madam Sharon, and then there was Demoness of Pleasure Trissy Cheek, and a high-ranking Demoness he only heard the voice of. Now, there was another Demoness of Affliction, Tracy.
Edwina didn't sense the upheavals he was going through and continued, "She's different from the typical Demoness. She has her own ideals and pursuits. She's quite an oddity in the Demoness Sect. However, she would still work for the organization doing work such as human trafficking or something else."
Different from the typical Demoness? She doesn't give up on herself and chooses to give pleasure to women? Klein suddenly thought of red-haired Helene.
However, he couldn't be certain because not every Demoness was the result of a man changing into a woman. There were real women who wished to become an Assassin.
After asking for the details, Klein deliberated and asked, "We met Nast and his Dark Emperor on the way here.
"In the recent months, matters involving you, Senor, Tracy, and Nast have happened in this area of the sea. This is rather abnormal."
Four out of the Four Kings and Seven Admirals had involved themselves in the Rorsted sea in a short span of time. This wasn't even including the recently recruited Tarot Club member, Admiral of Stars Cattleya. In terms of probability, this was indeed quite abnormal.
Of course, Klein had some theories, but he wished to see if Vice Admiral Iceberg was able to provide some fresh insight.
Edwina listened without saying a word. She pulled the edge of a fishing net and held it in front of her.
She took out a fountain pen, a brass dagger, metallic bottles, and other things from her pockets and the inner section of her belt and placed them on the spread out net.
They latched on firmly without moving. It didn't seem like there would be any interaction between them.
At this moment, Edwina bent over and picked up a rock used to press down the net, and she placed it in the middle of the open net.
The net immediately depressed, causing the surroundings to contract. The fountain pen, dagger, and bottles tumbled towards the center and gathered beside the rock.
"It's probably something like this. Some unknown existence has appeared in the net of fate and is pulling us towards it," Edwina explained simply.
This is like an actual model of the law of convergence for Beyonder characteristics... Klein thought as he nodded.
With regards to this, he was both enlightened but puzzled as well. He was enlightened because Edwina's explanation was nearly the same as his guess, but he was puzzled because it couldn't be used to analyze the problems.
The King of the Five Seas Nast appeared because of me... Vice Admiral Ailment Tracy can also be barely explained, since I did come into contact with Trissy Cheek... As for Vice Admiral Iceberg and Admiral of Blood, I can't find a reason... Perhaps it's purely a coincidence? Besides, it's the latter that attracted the former out... Klein retracted his gaze and asked about something else.
Then, he said, "Ma'am Captain, is there a reason for inviting me here?"
Edwina gave him a deep look and said, "Your identity indicates that you came from Backlund. According to what I know, this identity isn't authentic enough. There's no powerful bounty hunter named Gehrman Sparrow from there."
The faction backing you is very powerful. Furthermore, it has quite an extensive network in Backlund. You managed to so quickly notice a problem with my identity... Klein didn't panic as he smiled calmly.
"Everyone will have some secrets."
Edwina remained silent for a few seconds without pressing the issue. She then said, "Not long before Kalvetua died, you sacrificed something to it."
Klein turned his head slightly and swept his gaze across Danitz, who was drinking beer.
Cough! Cough! Alarmed, Danitz spewed the beer all over himself.
Klein retracted his gaze and didn't deny or admit it as he looked at Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina.
Edwina continued without a change in expression, "After Kalvetua died, the ‘Sea God' is still replying to its believers."
