Seeing all the enemies had left, Victoria glanced at Cesar, her expression complex, but ultimately said nothing and headed toward the captain’s room. The previous battle had indeed left her wounded, albeit with Cesar going easy on her, and she urgently needed to recover.
Unexpectedly, Cesar suddenly fell from the sky, landing on the deck of the Queen Victoria.
The Magic Knights on deck were very cautious, watching Cesar tensely, but they were well aware of Cesar’s daunting strength, and they did not act rashly.
Cesar spoke up to the Magic Knights, saying, "There’s no need to be so tense. I’ve already said, I won’t interfere in this matter again, and I definitely won’t. So now, my role is not as your enemy, but as your ally—yes, an ally who will protect you."
The Magic Knights remained vigilant.
Unable to help himself, Cesar shook his head and, turning to Victoria, who was almost at the captain’s room, pulled out a metal tube from his pocket and threw it to her.
With a sound, Victoria caught it, her eyebrows furrowed and a puzzled look towards Cesar.
Cesar flashed a smile, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, and said casually, "There’s nothing to be nervous about, Miss Victoria. This is a healing potion; drink it and it will speed up your recovery."
Victoria, without a word, silently accepted the potion and gave Cesar a strange look before turning and walking into the cabin.
Cesar shrugged his shoulders, watched Victoria enter the cabin, and then looked toward the people on the deck and said, "Hey, you really don’t need to see me as an enemy. After all, I haven’t harmed you. Even though I injured your captain, I just gave him a potion, right? I’m planning to stay on your ship for a few days and protect you until we reach the port. You can’t keep treating me as a threat, right? How about... we have a chat?"
When he finished, Cesar suddenly pointed to one person; "How about you, do you want to chat with me?"
On the deck, Richard looked at the hand Cesar had pointed with, raising an eyebrow. But he didn’t get too excited and kept his composure, slightly turning to look behind him.
He saw Sherlock, who had appeared behind him at some point, staring at Cesar, confirming with a point to himself, "Me?"
"Yes," Cesar nodded, addressing Sherlock, "You’re from the Melrose family, aren’t you?"
"Eh? How did you know?" Sherlock was surprised.
"Simple, because I’ve met someone who looks a lot like you, and they were from the Melrose family."
"I see," Sherlock realized.
"Actually, it turns out I have some connections with your family..." Cesar said, naturally starting a conversation with Sherlock.
Richard watched the two engaged in a lively chat, quietly turned, and walked down from the deck, returning to the cabin.
The Queen Victoria resumed her course, heading towards the destination.
Over the following days.
Cesar, possessing formidable strength, really did as he said, staying on the Queen Victoria, ensuring the safety of the ship until the last day when he finally left.
When leaving, Cesar specifically bid farewell to Captain Victoria, seemingly reluctant to part.
However, Victoria merely exchanged a few words of thanks with Cesar, and even that was through the door of the captain’s room—her reason being that her injuries had not healed and it was not appropriate for her to come out.
Richard noticed Cesar harbored some slight feelings for Captain Victoria, whereas Victoria herself probably had... no feelings whatsoever for Cesar.
Of course, this was none of his concern.
His observations on the ship had given him a clearer understanding of the wizard organizations on the Main Continent, wizard strength, and wizard combat, with no other effects.
His concern was solely his work and the voyage of the Queen Victoria.
With Cesar’s departure, the Queen Victoria was less than a day’s journey from the Main Continent. He continued with his work, sometimes chatting with Sherlock in his spare moments.
On the final day of the voyage, during the daytime on the deck of the Queen Victoria.
Richard and Sherlock stood, with Sherlock speaking rapidly. These past few days, he had interacted a lot with Cesar, who was on the ship, and thus learned many new things, eager to express them.
Richard, gazing at the distant sea, quietly listened to him. He occasionally responded, although most of his focus remained on his work, pondering over how to solve a minor problem he had encountered.
Suddenly, Sherlock spoke, "Hey, Richard, did you know that many people on the ship are furious about something?"
"They’re angry at the person who brought the treasure aboard and caused all this trouble, yet continues to hide their identity. Honestly, they haven’t shown themselves yet, and we still don’t know who they are; they’re really being cautious."
"That’s reasonable." Richard glanced at Sherlock and said softly, "The person knows the value of that treasure, and even if they didn’t initially, after all that has happened, they must understand it now. Naturally, they wouldn’t dare to reveal themselves, especially since no one can guarantee there aren’t others on board with ulterior motives. At this point, they’re probably continuously moving the treasure to prevent it from being discovered."
Sherlock nodded slightly after hearing this, "That does make sense. Honestly, if it were a book, it would indeed be hard to hide."
"A book?" Richard’s eyes flashed.
"Yes, the treasure is actually a book, supposedly containing some prohibited content, which is why it has attracted so many people to fight over it. Cesar told me this," Sherlock said.
"So it’s a book." Richard murmured thoughtfully.
"What’s wrong?" Sherlock asked.
"Um, nothing, just my mind wandered off to something else," Richard replied. "By the way, according to our current pace, the ship should be arriving at the port of the Main Continent tomorrow morning, right?"
"So, it’s about time."
"Yes, time to pack our bags," Sherlock said.
Richard: "..." They were clearly not talking about the same thing.
Inside the cabin where Richard was staying.
Under the glow of an oil lamp, Richard took out a heavy book from the Space Iron Ring—a book that a down-and-out novelist had given him many days ago.
To be precise, it wasn’t a gift, but a pledge.
He had given the novelist a Gold Coin, and the novelist had pledged the book to him. If the novelist couldn’t return the Gold Coin before disembarking, the book would be his. And if the novelist managed to return the Gold Coin before disembarking, he could reclaim the book; thus, the book was simply in his custody for now.
Thinking about these, Richard recalled many details of his encounters with the down-and-out novelist:
For example, the timing of the novelist’s appearance—not having seen him when the Consciousness disembodied, but seeing him on the deck immediately afterward and never seeing him again after giving him the Gold Coin. Was it a coincidence?
Furthermore, the novelist’s clothing—it seemed somewhat familiar, like...
As Richard thought deeply, his eyes gradually narrowed, and he looked down at the book in his hands, talking to himself, "Am I overthinking it, or could there really be an issue?"
With that said, Richard opened the book. A thought triggered, and stray Energy Elements surged from the Magic Origin, tentatively flowing into the book.
The moment they were injected, a strange phenomenon occurred.
The book shook violently, emitting a faint glow, and the scrappy writings originally on the pages quickly vanished. New, neat, and dense text appeared.
Eyeing the newly-revealed content, Richard quickly skimmed it, his eyes widening. Just as he was about to continue reading, a knock sounded at the door.
Richard’s motion froze, and he turned his head towards the door. His eyes flashed with a pale blue light as he used the Eye of Gaze, seeing through to identify the visitor.
It was none other than the down-and-out novelist.
Richard pursed his lips, no longer surprised that the other could find him. After pondering seriously for a while, he took a deep breath and stood up.