Bernadette smiled at Odis's expression, which looked like she was about to vomit blood, and said, "It seems you don't know much about ships. If it's a small, ordinary ship, I can sell it to you for five or six thousand pounds."
"But if you are caught up by the navy or church ships, don't come looking for a refund."
"In addition, the ships you design will definitely use a lot of spiritual materials, as well as weapons and parts specially made by 'craftsmen'. These things are very expensive."
"This price is already at cost."
Odis scratched his head. He had just counted his savings last night, which totaled 13,522 pounds 7 sulphurs.
Even in Backlund, this is a huge sum of money.
He was confident that he would have plenty of money left over after buying the boat.
Unexpectedly, that wasn't enough; it was a full 1,500 pounds short of the "mystery queen's" asking price.
So Odis smiled and said, "Could you make it cheaper?"
"If you don't have enough money, give me whatever you have now, and I can have the shipyard build it for you first," Bernadette said. "You can pay the balance later when you've earned the money."
"But I can't go any lower; the price I'm offering will basically only cover my costs."
Odis thought for a moment before saying, "Alright, I'll bring you the money tomorrow afternoon. Here's £12,000 for you."
He planned to keep over a thousand pounds in case of any additional expenses.
Bernadette sat on the sofa in the study and asked, "What are your plans after you finish building the ship?"
"Of course, I'd like to sail my own ship and cruise the seas." Odis had long planned to do this, and now that he was finally free, he was determined to fulfill his pirate dream: "To strike back against pirates, to plunder merchant ships, and to live a carefree pirate life."
"Of course, it may be necessary to fly your pirate crew's flag, and I can hand over some of the spoils to you."
Bernadette smiled and said, "You're quite perceptive. Well, all the other captains under my command have to hand over half of their spoils to me, but I only want one-tenth from you."
"But in exchange, if the new ship encounters any technical problems, you must come back immediately to help resolve them; you cannot refuse."
Odis nodded: "No problem."
If he flew the flag of the "Mysterious Queen" pirate crew, ordinary pirates wouldn't dare to mess with him, saving him a lot of trouble. For him, this was a very worthwhile deal.
Bernadette patiently continued, "In addition, even for a small seagoing vessel, you will need to recruit a first mate, a second mate, a navigator, two helmsmen, and six sailors."
"Several gunners and gunners, as well as eight to twelve raiders who dare to climb the enemy ship, will also be required."
Odis calculated: "Even a small seagoing vessel needs more than twenty crew members?"
"This is the bare minimum," Bernadette said. "If it were a regular small sea vessel, a pirate crew of this size wouldn't even dare to rob a medium-sized armed merchant ship."
"However, the ship you designed certainly cannot be measured by the standards of a small ship."
"But because of its small size, it cannot accommodate too many combat personnel, so your so-called 'carefree pirate life' is more likely to be about hiding from other pirates and only being able to rob when the time is right."
"Oh, right, I must tell you that if you're using a small sea vessel and planning to become a pirate, it's very difficult to recruit crew members."
"Even if you tell them it's a new type of ship, no experienced adventurers or pirates will apply."
Odis pondered for a moment: "I do have a way to solve this. You should have some 'craftsmen' among your subordinates, right? I need to order a batch of special parts and items from him."
"We also need to order a large number of parts and products from the foundry on the island."
Bernadette generously replied, "I will have Aria take you to the 'Craftsmen's Guild' on the island and have the guild leader recommend the best 'craftsmen' to you."
"As for the orders to the foundry, you can clearly state the purpose, draw up the blueprints, and let Aria communicate with the foundry, or you can communicate with their designers yourself."
Odis was somewhat surprised: "You actually have a 'Craftsmen's Guild'?"
Bernadette smiled and said, "On the high seas, many wild 'craftsmen' need a certain level of protection, otherwise they can easily become high-ranking prisoners controlled by pirates."
"I can provide them with some protection and a steady stream of orders, so more and more 'craftsmen' are coming to rely on me."
"When four or five 'craftsmen' gathered here, they formed a 'guild'. Currently, this 'guild' has more than thirty members. Of course, they are not all 'craftsmen'; there are also some 'low-sequence' extraordinary individuals who are just hoping to seek the opportunity to become 'craftsmen' there."
Odis smiled to himself, thinking: I've found a new channel.
...
Backlund, Morning Street, Joewood, the new home of Hugh Deercha and Fors.
The New Year had just ended, and Hugh, dressed neatly and ready to go out to receive a mission, first glanced at his email as usual after leaving the house.
Theoretically, no one knows their new address, and no one will send them greeting cards or New Year's greetings.
But Hugh saw a thick letter. She took it out and looked at it. It was a letter to herself, but there was no sender's signature.
Back in the living room, Hugh found a small knife and cut open the envelope.
Just then, Fors, who had come out in her nightgown to get a drink of water, saw Hugh and asked groggily, "Is it already noon? You're back for lunch?"
As she said this, she yawned widely: "Why do I still feel like I haven't woken up yet? Let's go out and buy something to eat, I'll make dinner later."
Having already read a few lines, Hugh waved the letter in his hand and said, "This is a letter from the 'leader,' he gave me my first task."
"Oh?" Fors instantly snapped to attention. "What does he want you to do? It's not to keep him company through the lonely nights, is it?"
Hugh glanced at his friend with a hint of helplessness: "He wants me to be the new 'leader'."
Fors paused for two or three seconds before saying, "You...you're joking? Isn't he afraid that under your brilliant leadership, the Mysticism Research Association will only have two or three members left in a month?"
Hugh rolled her eyes in utterly unladylike fashion: "How could I be that bad? At least half of the members could stay."
Fors smiled and leaned closer to ask, "Why did the 'leader' do this?"
"He said he had to leave Backlund for some reason." Hugh continued reading: "He also told me in the letter how to keep most of the members in line at the first gathering."
"And tell me how to cultivate my intelligence acumen... My God, just these experiential things are valuable information."
"After that... well, there's also the general situation of the members. Phew... with this information, I'm really confident I can hold a gathering."
Fors looked at the thick stack of letters in Hugh's hand: "To be honest, if I hadn't met the 'leader' and known that you had already pledged your allegiance to him, I would never believe you if you still said there was nothing between you two."
Hugh smiled and said, "Do you believe me now?"
"I don't completely trust him yet." Fors scratched her messy hair. "Even if you've pledged allegiance to him, he doesn't have to take such good care of you."
Xiu raised his chin: "Maybe he saw potential in me."
Fors hummed in agreement: "'The leader' has a really good eye. He was able to detect your potential, which was hidden so deeply."
"That's right." Hugh chuckled before realizing that Fors' words seemed a little off.
However, she doesn't plan to go out to take on any missions today; she intends to stay home and study the information provided by the "leader."
As evening approached, just as Hugh and Fors were preparing dinner, there was a sudden knock on the door.
Hugh saw the carriage with the "Mechanical Holy Emblem" outside the window and knew that the contact person mentioned in the "leader's" letter had arrived, so he quickly went to open the door.
Outside the door stood Max, his face sharp and angular: "Ladies, excuse me, I believe you have already received the 'leader's' letter, haven't you?"
"Yes." Hugh stepped out the door. "Please come in."
Max entered the room and casually took off his hat: "Miss Hugh Deercha, I am your contact. If you need help, you can find me at the Backlund Mechanical Research Society or send me a telegram."
"If you have any important information, you can write to me. If it is particularly urgent, you can come to the research association to find me."
Hugh invited Max to sit down over there in the dining room: "Okay."
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Max took off his trench coat again, hung it on the hanger, sat down in the dining chair, and glanced at Fors, who was busy in the kitchen.
Hugh immediately understood what the other person meant and said, "This is my good friend, don't worry about betraying me."
Max grunted in agreement before saying, "Let's establish a code. If we meet, I'll say 'Winds of Backlund' and you'll say 'Stones of Tusk,' which will prove everything is normal and we can make contact."
"The absence of a code indicates something is amiss..."
Max then went on to explain how to leave coded messages in telegrams and letters, which Hugh carefully wrote down.
In the kitchen, Fors thought to himself: The measures taken by the church to meet with informants and verify the authenticity of information are no less than those taken by the Abraham family.
After Max finished explaining the points to note, he asked, "When do you plan to hold the first party?"
"Next week," Hugh said, following the "leader's" instructions.
Max nodded: "I'll keep an eye on the GG column in the Backlund Post, and I'll bring people to protect you at the first few gatherings."
"Thank you!" Hugh said, then asked, "Why did the 'leader' leave Backlund?"
Max paused for a moment before saying, "You'll find out later."
Then he said goodbye, and Xiu saw him to the door.
...
Lacha Island, Emerald Palace.
At eight o'clock in the morning, Odis finally stopped dressing as a local and instead wore an Indis-style shirt and trousers, carrying a tall cloth bag.
In the Kingdom of Rune, it was still the dead of winter.
However, Lacha Island, located in the tropics, has no winter, so people can wear relatively light clothing there.
Many locals wear only shorts, but those from the Northern Continent, even the unemployed, pirates, and adventurers, wear trousers and shirts in such temperatures.
Therefore, it is clear at a glance who are the colonists and who are the locals.
At the side gate of the Emerald Palace, Odis waited for Arya, who also summoned two "lifting chairs".
The so-called "chair carrying" involves attaching two wooden sticks to a chair and having two locals carry it while walking down the street.
This is a distinctive "transportation" feature of the Misty Sea Colony, because in these places, the locals are the cheapest labor force, even cheaper than cattle and horses.
The two people boarded the "lifting chair" and moved forward together.
Arya explained, "The common currencies on Lasha Island, or rather throughout the Misty Sea, are Felkin and Cope. I wonder if you knew anything about the currency of Intis before?"
"1 Felkin is 100 Copes. If you convert it to Rune currency, it is roughly 24 Felkins to 1 pound."
Odis looked at the exotic street in front of him: "So, one Felkin is worth less than one Soule, and one Cope is roughly equal to one-tenth of a penny."
He smiled and said, "That's a rather humane monetary structure, after all, in Backlund, many things cost less than a quarter of a penny."
Odis then commented, "The penny is still too expensive."
Aria nodded: "That's right."
Odis then asked, "Where should I go to exchange my gold pounds for some local currency?"
Arya pointed to a building with a golden facade and magnificent decorations and said, "That's the bank opened by the 'Queen'. You can exchange currency there, but there will be an 8% handling fee."
Odis was taken aback. In other words, for every pound he exchanged, he had to pay Bernadette a handling fee of about 1 sole and 8 pence!
This is about 3% higher than normal banks.
After calculating the fees, Odis realized, "The 'Queen' actually has a bank?"
"Yes," Arya smiled and said, "this archipelago is a small country!"
This was somewhat beyond Odis's expectations. He thought to himself: However, the economy and culture are highly similar to Intis, making it more like an Intis colony with Bernadette as its governor.
Looking at the buildings on both sides of the street, Aria said, "The buildings on Lasha Island are mostly in the Intis style, and most of the pirates and adventurers here are also of Intis nationality."
"Oh, by the way, most of the people here speak Intis. I've prepared a talisman for you that will allow you to master Intis and the Intis script over the next three months."
As she spoke, she handed Odis a brass-colored charm: "The spell is 'Knowledge'."
Odis smiled and said, "Communication is indeed a crucial issue."
He took the talisman, studied it carefully, and then said in ancient Hermes, "Knowledge!"
The talisman in Odis's hand suddenly emitted a faint brass-colored light. As the light spread, Odis felt many unfamiliar words and pronunciations appear in her mind.
Soon, these words and pronunciations combined with his previous memories, creating a resonance. Odis immediately learned how to speak Intis and also understood the Intis script.
The talisman in his hand had completely lost its luster and its original bright color, turning into an ordinary piece of scrap copper.
Odis exclaimed, "What an extraordinary convenience!"