"Uh, that..." The novelist took a deep breath, fished out a hefty book from his side, and handed it over to Richard, "I thought about it, I really can’t stand other people’s charity, but I truly need your money. How about this: I give you this book of mine as collateral, and borrow a Gold Coin from you. If I can’t pay you back the Gold Coin before we disembark, this book, which contains all the novels I’ve ever written, will be yours, including the stories within. But if by some chance, I do pay you back the Gold Coin, then you’ll return the book to me. What do you say?"
"Alright then." Richard didn’t bother with small talk, handed the Gold Coin to the novelist, and casually took the hefty book.
"That settles it then." The novelist said earnestly to Richard, his eyes lighting up as he clutched the Gold Coin in his hand. The next moment he turned and dashed towards the dining hall below deck, his whole body exhibiting a craving for food.
Richard wanted to remind the man that the dining hall wasn’t open at this time, but seeing his retreating figure, he ultimately shook his head and said nothing.
Flipping through the hefty book in his hands, he took a cursory glance and saw that it was indeed a collection of novels. Perhaps because it had been kept for so long, every page was greasy and rigid.
After a few glances, Richard lost interest. Regardless of how brilliant the novelist’s writing might be, he had many things to do and no spare time for such entertainment.
He’d look at it when he really had some free time.
Thinking this, Richard didn’t feel the man would likely redeem his book and simply tossed it into the Space Iron Ring and went back to his cabin.
After returning to his cabin, over an hour passed before he finally adapted to the Main Continent’s high density of Free Energy Elements. Lying in bed, he began to truly rest.
The night passed without words.
Richard didn’t dwell on the events of the night. In the following days, after having completely adapted to the Main Continent’s even higher density of Free Energy Elements, he maintained his own pace, working and resting as usual.
And so, before long, the voyage was coming to an end. News had spread that in five days’ time, they would reach the endpoint of their journey.
Many aboard the ship were energized by this news, having grown bored from the extended stay on board. No one wanted to be confined to a ship’s cabin for a lifetime. The vast expanse of the Main Continent was far more appealing. However, their excitement didn’t last long before bad news arrived.
For unknown reasons, speculated to be due to a sudden change in strong winds, the mainmast of the Queen Victoria snapped, significantly slowing down the ship’s speed, necessitating repairs.
Thus, the remaining five-day journey was delayed by a day, turning into six days.
After finally repairing the mast, before they could even celebrate, the Queen Victoria encountered another issue. It struck an uncharted reef in the shipping lane, causing damage to the hull.
The damage wasn’t severe, but considering safety, the Queen Victoria still stopped for repairs.
As a result, the journey was once again delayed by a day, making it seven days.
After spending a day repairing the hull, the Queen Victoria set sail once more. Everyone felt that their bout of bad luck should end, but new trouble soon came calling.
This trouble was first discovered by Richard.
The sun hung high as the Queen Victoria, with its newly repaired hull, was making its way northwestward.
On the deck, Richard came up after a busy session of work, preparing to take a short rest. Stretching lazily and moving his joints, Richard relaxed his eyes and gazed towards the sea behind the large ship. The next moment, his eyebrows raised suddenly, spotting two black dots abruptly appearing in his field of vision.
Richard’s brows knit together slightly as he watched intently for a while, swiftly assessing the situation of the black dots. He didn’t make a big deal about it, calmly waiting for the other people to notice. He had great confidence in the strength of the Queen Victoria, believing that she could easily handle the two black dots that were catching up from behind.
Before long, other passengers on deck saw the two chasing black dots, pointing and discussing animatedly.
When the two black dots drew close enough, everyone could clearly see that they were two pirate ships.
Two Skull flags were being hoisted up the masts, a signal for plunder and also a threat: threatening the Queen Victoria to stop immediately and surrender without resistance, or else suffer brutal retaliation upon being caught.
The passengers were in an uproar, being mostly well-off commonfolk who naturally grew nervous at the sight of pirates. At this time, a Magic Knight hearing the commotion came over.
Reaching the stern, the Magic Knight took a good look at the pirate ships, treated it seriously with an earnest expression, then ran toward the Captain’s Room at the bow of the ship.
The Captain’s Room was built slightly to the rear of the bow, situated above the helm, on the second story. It was the tallest structure on the ship, aside from the masts and the crow’s nest.
Richard looked over and saw the Magic Knight taking the stairs swiftly, reaching the cabin door, and knocking vigorously.
With a creak, the door opened, and a woman with red hair and medium height came out. She wasn’t very beautiful but possessed a commanding presence that made her seem not to be trifled with.
The woman who emerged was evidently the Captain of this ship—Victoria Eliza—with a frosty face and a hint of displeasure as she looked towards the Magic Knight.
The Magic Knight quickly reported the situation, and to add weight to his words, he gestured toward the stern.
Victoria followed the Magic Knight’s direction and saw the pirate ships; small and fast, they had almost caught up to the tail of Queen Victoria.
But Victoria seemed not to care after seeing this, snorting coldly, "Pirates, eh? They fly the plainest Skull flags, and nothing that suggests they belong to a Wizard Organization. Seems like they’re just ordinary pirates. In that case, don’t mind them; let them chase all they want."
"But Captain..." the Magic Knight hesitated slightly, "are we really not going to do anything?"
"When they catch up, we’ll deal with them all at once; it saves trouble," Victoria said.
"Yes," the Magic Knight responded, understanding. He turned his head and looked at the two pirate ships as if they were already dead.
The pirate ships had no idea of the terrifying entity they sought to plunder and were still accelerating. The faster ship managed to catch up, paralleling Queen Victoria while trying to get closer to her hull, clearly revealing the pirates on deck brimming with bloodthirsty excitement, ready to pounce.
The distance between the pirate ship and Queen Victoria was closing.
Fifty meters, thirty meters, ten meters, five meters!
The pirates on the ship let out collective howls, and the next moment they swung their grappling hooks fiercely towards Queen Victoria’s deck, thwack, thwack, thwack—the hooks landed with precision.