Backlund, Seventh Avenue.
Karen, the captain of the "Night Watch," entered the "Old Captain's Bar" in the middle of the street with mixed feelings.
This morning, the Night Watch team received a letter signed by the wizard Gandalf, inviting them to meet at the Old Captain's Tavern, saying that he was returning something very important to the Church of the Night Goddess.
The Night Watchers have received intelligence that Odis Garr was involved in a high-level incident on December 28th and left Backlund. Currently, both the Mechanical Heart and MI9 are looking for him.
But strangely, none of them issued a bounty for Odis.
At this moment, Odis's other identity, "Gandalf the Wizard," suddenly appeared at her door, which was quite unexpected. Karen immediately reported the matter.
To Karen's surprise, "Red Gloves" took over the case.
Generally, this kind of thing happens to the "Night Watcher," so the "Night Watcher" should assign a senior deacon to handle the matter.
Karen realized that this was unusual because of her superiors' handling of the situation.
Actually, he had a pretty good impression of Odis. He was very learned at a young age and cared about ordinary people. However, they weren't very familiar with each other and he didn't know why Odis had approached him.
Upon entering the "Old Captain's Bar," Karen saw Daly Simone, the captain of the "Red Gloves," sitting alone in a corner, drinking by herself.
This time, it was Daly's team that was ordered to protect Karen.
She wore light eyeshadow and was dressed very fashionably today, but it still couldn't hide her alluring beauty.
At this moment, Dai Li resembled a woman who had come to drown her sorrows during the day due to emotional problems, sitting quietly in a corner drinking her wine.
Karen pretended not to know Daly, went to the bar and ordered a beer. She had just taken a sip when she heard a child's voice from the doorway: "I'm looking for Mr. Karen. Which one of you is Mr. Karen?"
A little boy, dressed in rags, with long, messy hair and carrying a large cloth bag, broke free from the waiter blocking the door and shouted into the bar, "Gandalf sent me..."
Karen immediately stood up and said to the thugs who were about to grab the little boy, "I am Karen, let him in."
The little boy breathed a sigh of relief and took off the cloth bag: "Mr. Cullen, this is what Mr. Gandalf asked me to give to you."
After handing the cloth bag to Karen, the little boy turned and ran away.
Dai Li immediately gave one of her subordinates a signal, and the subordinate followed the little boy.
The cloth bag contained two wooden boxes, one large and one small, as well as a letter.
Karen opened the letter, glanced at it, and then said to Daly, "Let's go, he's not coming."
The two of them got into the carriage of the "Night Watchers" team parked outside, and Karen handed the letter to Daly.
Dai Li saw that the letter read:
Mr. Karen:
I apologize for asking you to come out, but there are two things I need to return to the Church of the Goddess of Night.
On December 28th, by sheer coincidence, the "Mysterious Queen" and I encountered Slant Will, a demigod of your religion, who has been steadfastly holding his post for over two hundred years!
Guided by the goddess, we worked together to solve the problem, and he no longer needed to stay.
After completing his mission, Slant returned to the goddess's kingdom without regret. He left a last wish that his ashes be returned to the church and buried.
As for his extraordinary characteristics, after discussions with the "Mysterious Queen," we have returned them to your esteemed religion as a gesture of goodwill.
If I have the opportunity, I will visit the Church of the Goddess of Night in Bayam, and I hope we can re-establish some contact.
The signature below reads, "Gandalf, or you may call me Odysseus."
After reading the letter, Daly looked at the two boxes in the bag. Karen opened the larger box first; inside were ashes.
Both of them drew a full moon and stars on their chests, hoping that the demigod could finally rest in peace.
Inside that small box was a black, seemingly intangible object. Inside, there were tiny stars, reflecting a soft, peaceful starlight.
This extraordinary property was simply sealed, otherwise it would never be so harmless.
Karen closed the two boxes again, and Daly said, "So, Odis wants to see you to express his goodwill towards the 'Mysterious Queen'?"
Both of them had noticed the description in the letter that "by chance, I met a demigod of your church," but they both realized that it might involve church secrets, so they avoided discussing the topic.
Karen didn't answer immediately, but paused for two or three seconds before saying, "Ms. Daly, what are your thoughts on Odis?"
"I know that both 'Mechanical Heart' and 'MI9' are looking for him," Daly shrugged. "I have no opinion on this, because I don't know him at all."
"I don't know him very well, but he thwarted the 'Witch Cult's' plot a few days ago and saved many people," Karen said. "I think we can't forget what he did."
Before Dai Li could say anything, her subordinate, whom she had just sent out, returned.
He boarded the carriage and reported to Daly: "The little boy did not go back to report, nor did he see anyone, and the passersby he encountered did not seem suspicious."
He hurriedly went to the bakery, bought a loaf of bread, and then found a secluded spot to eat it.
"After I put him to sleep, I entered his dream and found that this person had given him a whole pound in change and asked him to deliver the cloth bag to Captain Karen."
As he spoke, he took out a hand-drawn portrait, which depicted a young man who looked to be smiling brightly.
Upon seeing Odis's true face, Karen immediately said, "This is Odis."
Daisy then asked her subordinate, "You mean, Odis gave that little boy some change?"
"Yes."
The little boy could only avoid being targeted and robbed if he used a 5p or 1p coin to buy things.
"We should go back," Daly said. "I think the higher-ups will inform Bayam's church and have them prepare to meet with Odis."
Although she didn't know Odis, she had a very good impression of the young man after today's interaction.
...
8 PM, Bayam.
After putting on some simple makeup, Odis strolled around for a while and then came to a grilled fish restaurant.
Now he spends his mornings at the shipyard, his afternoons teaching about magic arrays, and his evenings are his own time.
Sometimes I would dine and chat with the "Mysterious Queen," but most of the time the "Mysterious Queen" was quite busy and not at the Emerald Palace.
At this point, Odis used the sealed artifact he had just obtained, which had the ability to "travel," to take a trip to the raging sea.
His first stop was, of course, Bayam, the largest and most prosperous colonial city at sea, to experience the colonial atmosphere.
He named the sealed artifact with the ability to "travel" the "Travel Ring." With this sealed artifact, his range of activities suddenly expanded considerably.
In addition to the ability to "travel," the "Travel Ring" also has the ability to "record," but it can only record the extraordinary abilities of the "Thief" and "Diviner" pathways.
Moreover, each pathway can only record one ability; abilities from other pathways cannot be "recorded".
The extraordinary ability to "steal ideas" is "recorded" in the current "travel ring," which was obviously "recorded" by Selt before.
It only has about 60% of its original power, which means that it can be almost 100% successful against enemies at Sequence 6 level.
However, if facing an enemy at Sequence 5 level, the success rate is only 50%.
For Odis, the greatest benefit of this ability is that it helps him better study the "record" ability. In the past two days, he has used this ring to conduct many experiments in the "wilderness of knowledge" and has made considerable breakthroughs. In the near future, the power of Odis's magic circle will be even greater.
The negative effect of this sealed item is that there is a certain probability that you will not be able to find your way to the destination. Even if you reach the entrance of the destination, you will miss it. Removing the sealed item will not help, and divination cannot solve this problem. You can only wait for the negative effect to disappear after two hours before you can find the destination you need to go to.
For Odis, this negative effect was acceptable, since it only meant getting lost, not encountering any dangerous situations.
He has tried it in the last few days and the probability of getting lost is very small. He has used the "Traveler's Ring" ten times and no negative effects have occurred.
After the experiment, his spiritual sense indicated that the probability should be between 2% and 3%.
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
At this moment, Bayam's specially made grilled fish was served, and Odis ordered a glass of local specialty fruit wine and began to enjoy the food.
After taking a few bites, Odis nodded slightly. The grilled fish tasted pretty good; there was almost no fishy smell, but the freshness of the fish meat was well preserved.
The key is that there aren't many fish bones. For a northerner, removing fish bones is quite a challenge.
I ate a plate of grilled fish and drank two glasses of fruit wine.
Odis patted his belly, then got up and strolled around the street, quite satisfied.
Bayam's architectural style is based on the style of the Loen, with some colonial elements added.
Blue Mountain Island, where Bayam is located, is different from Shara Island, where Odis currently lives. This island is very large and is surrounded by a sea area densely populated with islands.
Before the colonial era began, there were already kingdoms here, which developed unique cultures.
Even after the colonial era, these cultures have survived to some extent.
While the Misty Sea, where Shara Island is located, also has many colonies, the islands are generally far apart, and only large tribes or tribal alliances have formed civilizations.
Under the impact of the advanced status of the Republic of Intis, these island cultures quickly and largely disappeared.
More than a century after the colonial era, they have been completely assimilated by the Intis. Wearing Intis-style clothing is considered respectable attire, and drinking Intis wine, smoking Intis cigarettes, and eating Intis bread is considered the proper way to live.
Just as Odis was thinking this, he suddenly heard a commotion outside. It turned out that two adventurers were fighting over a beautiful streetwalker.
They are called adventurers because they bring their own money and spend it in the city.
They were actually pirates.
Odis bought some local mango candy from a street vendor and ate it while watching the two men fight.
After watching for a while, he shook his head repeatedly, feeling that these two people didn't understand fighting at all.
Police officers arrived quickly, and under their reprimands and "dissuade" with sticks, the two pirates finally parted ways after exchanging threats.
In order to make more money from pirates, Bayam did put some effort into maintaining order. For example, he would investigate every murder case thoroughly, and some of the murderers were caught and executed.
This will give most pirates a sense of security, and they will come back here to spend their money next time they make it.
Odis, with candy in his mouth, was about to visit the famous "Red Theater" when he suddenly noticed one of the pirates who had been fighting earlier glancing at him.
This made Odis immediately realize that the other party must have recognized him.
Although he wasn't a wanted criminal, he was someone that MI9 was looking for, and many people must have seen his portrait.
That's why Odis put on makeup before coming to Bayam.
Odis did not continue forward, but moved closer to the side of the street and chatted idly with a drunk man holding a bottle of wine, while keeping an eye on the pirate out of the corner of his eye.
He was a man who looked to be in his thirties, wearing a locally styled jacket, with a long beard, grumbling as he entered a semi-open-air restaurant.
Odis immediately realized that although the other party recognized him, he was not the target.
Odis bid farewell to the talkative drunkard and sat down at an open-air bar not far from the restaurant. He ordered a light beer and chatted with the drunkard next to him while secretly keeping an eye on the long-bearded pirate.
The semi-open-air restaurant, like the bar where Odis was, had only one canopy, with seats placed under it.
One advantage of this is that when the sea breeze blows, diners can feel the coolness of the sea.
The long-bearded pirate entered the restaurant and loudly ordered some food and drinks. As soon as the drinks were served, he picked up a glass and gulped down half of it, seemingly annoyed that the fight had been stopped halfway through.
At this moment, a diner at another table in the restaurant said, "Friend, if your second punch had been a little lower, you would have definitely knocked him down."
There were four guests at the table. The one speaking was a man in his forties who was missing half a nose, which made him look somewhat ferocious. Judging from his posture, he was probably a pirate as well.
The long-bearded pirate, who was being watched by Odis, glanced at the man with the missing nose and said, "You talk as if you're a good fighter."
The man missing half a nose laughed and said, "I'm not very good at it either, but I'm probably better than you."
A flash of anger crossed the long-bearded pirate's eyes. He raised his wine glass as if to smash it, but upon seeing that there were four of them, he gently put the glass down.
This action made the table of men with half a nose burst into laughter.
Their unrestrained laughter infuriated the long-bearded pirate, but he only dared to vent his anger on the waiter: "Why hasn't my food arrived yet? Hurry up! Hurry up!"
He got angrier and angrier as he spoke, and then stood up and slapped the waiter across the face.
The man, missing half a nose, shook his head, picked up his drink, and was about to continue drinking when suddenly his expression froze, and he jumped up from the spot.
The long-bearded pirate, who had just been lashing out at the waiter, was now calm and was launching a sneak attack with a punch.
However, the man with half a nose dodged the punch, which landed on the dining table with a loud crash, sending the solid wood table flying everywhere.
The flying log knocked the other three people sitting around it to the ground.
Odis took a sip of his wine: This was definitely a premeditated assassination.