Chapter 528: Return Voyage

In the sky, the dark clouds that covered the entire sky released the rainstorm as they gradually lowered under the pressure of the intense wind, as though the sea would be crushed immediately.

On the sea, the tumbling waves were like the hands of the devil, throwing around the cargo ships that weighed thousands of tons like a toy. The screams of many unfortunate crews who have fallen into the sea were faintly audible in the rain.

When lightning struck through the night sky and illuminated the distorted faces of those people who were drowning, everyone in the caravan could clearly feel despair.

“Toss off the goods, we must drop the goods to reduce the weight of the ship, or otherwise we will all die…” At the last moment, the desire for human survival finally defeated the order of greed and social dignity. The few young sailors on the flagship of the fleet tied themselves with cables and could not suppress the terror in their hearts as the shouted the most direct and straightforward way to save the ship in this desperate situation.

When those words left their mouth, the cold rain rushed into the mouths of these sailors, causing to choke and cough heart-wrenchingly. However, now that somebody had already taken the lead, the senior sailors, and those few top fleet guards who had several years of sailing experience, immediately shouted, “They’re right! We need to toss the goods into the sea if we want to survive…”

Opening the cargo door, they began to throw the priceless Hellfire specialties into the sea.

When Vitas saw the maniacal actions of the sailors and the fleet guards, he shuddered and opened the door to scream out in infuriation, “Do you guys want to die? This is the goods of the Golden Velvet Flower Trading! How dare any of you toss it in the sea…”

Nonetheless, both of his hands clung to the door handle in the cabin, not daring to go to the deck.

In such a situation of life and death, the middle-aged merchant’s cowardly and helpless hinder couldn’t have any effects. Perhaps it was a mere illusion, or that it really worked, after some of the goods were tossed off, the flagship crew and guards of the caravan began to feel that the wooden ship beneath their feet began to be more stabilized than before.

For this reason, they began to throw more goods in the warehouse that could be thrown away by their manpower into the sea, as though their hope of survival would increase with every kilogram of weight that was reduced.

An entire night of exertion in exchange for that significant lifeline. When the rain cloud gradually dissipated, the sea surface slowly returned to its calm state. When the warm sunshine shone through the clouds onto the deck, everyone was stunned at first before slumping onto the ground shouting on the top of their lungs ecstatically, “We’ve won! We survived! Hooray! We’ve won…”;

“I survived! I actually managed to survive! Haha! I’ve been wandering for twenty years at sea but have never heard of such a big storm before. To think that I actually survived! Haha…”;

“This must be the protection of the sea goddess Tiinaros. If it hadn’t been for the help from the god, we would have been buried in the sea yesterday! Dear Great Goddess Tiinaros, I’ll pray more piously to you in the future…”

Upon hearing the noisy cheers outside the cabin, especially when someone began to pray to the gods of their faith, Zhang Lisheng curled his lips and sealed a substantial animal skin bag properly. After hanging it on his waist, he turned and strode out of the door.

Wet rain still drizzled from the sky, the sea breeze was no longer the suffocating frenzy of the storm but had become refreshing and pleasant.

Walking around the deck looking out at the sea surface, from hundreds of cargo ships, less than 20 tattered vessels survived. The reasons these survivors were not destroyed in the terrible storm last night was only because the young man had consumed three faith gems and secretly saved them.

Actually, Zhang Lisheng did not have to rely on the energy given by burning the power of faith to save the fleet flagship. On top of that, he could also keep two to three more cargo ships to pull the wool over other people’s eyes, but doing so would quickly reveal himself.

To be cautious, he pondered over it and, in the end, still used his ‘strategic reserve’ of gems. When he recalled how he used up three faith stones for no reason, he could not help but touch the animal pouch at his waist and secretly sighed.

Fortunately, Zhang Lisheng was very satisfied with the effect of using the gems of faith. That feeling of having control within his grasp could be said as confirming the goal of his first step. When the young man was relishing over this, he suddenly heard a hoarse, sharp shout. “No, it’s gone. Other than the woods in the warehouse, all of the goods have actually been thrown out by you guys. Do any of you know how much gold coins these things are worth? An entire city! The wealth that can buy a small city has just been thrown into the sea like that! According to the Maritime Law, all of you must pay! Must pay…”

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“Mr. Vitas, it was Anuki and Sandro who first threw the goods to save their lives, we were only copying what they were doing! And besides, I saw the other cargo ships of the caravans also threw the goods into the sea, so I’m afraid those cargo ships who have managed to survive the storm only have wood in their warehouse just like us. Everyone’s the same! Besides, you didn’t come up to the deck to stop us from throwing the goods into the sea during the storm last night. This is all the reason why everyone managed to survive, but you actually want us to pay? Even though I’m just an old ordinary sailor and is not well-versed in this Maritime Law or something, I’m afraid the Mariners’ Guild would not agree too if you insisted on pinning this crime on us. I’m afraid your trading company and your own reputations would be damaged for no reason by that time.”

“Exactly, Mr. Vitas! Less than 20 ships remained out of 109 ships so everyone can see just how dangerous the storm was yesterday. I don’t believe the judge will plead us guilty for throwing the goods to save our lives in such a situation.”

“True! True! The Guild will usually not step in, but I don’t believe people will just leave this matter at rest…”

The sailors kept arguing one by one, rendering the middle-aged merchant speechless. Especially when he heard the word ‘reputation,’ he felt as though the strength of his body seemed to be slowly disappearing as though it was being sucked away. Like puddle of mudd, he slowly slumped onto the deck.

Vitas knew that he would be able to easily overpower the other party if it was only one sailor, but when there were thousands of sailors together, his position was not enough to confuse the right or wrong.

When the middle-aged merchant thought of the losses of this trip, he felt a little despair. However, after he calmed down and carefully calculated it, he realized that he could actually afford the losses. Even though the Hellfire specialties had high value, they were all exchanged using slaves, so if he was lucky, he could cancel it using the remaining woods on the cargo ships. At most, it would just render this risky trip as vain.

However, the value of the large cargo ships belonging to the powerful family he was acting as an agent for was difficult to calculate, especially when he combined them all. Now that so many of them fell, although the storm was an irresistible natural disasters, how could he escape from this punishment?

When the middle-aged merchant was worried about his unpredictable future, some sailors by the side casually looked around and suddenly shouted out loud with their mouth agape, “A-Am I having an illusion or is that really a harbor? Is that a mirage, perhaps? Don’t tell me that I’m looking at a mirage?!”

When a bearded, burly man who was sitting beside the sailor who exclaimed with surprise heard what he said, he stood up in shock and rushed to the bow of the ship. Placing his hand above his eyes to shield himself from the sun, he carefully looked for a while before turning around to shout in delight, “That is the wall of the Sea Haines City and not some picture scroll drawn by the devil in the sky! Our ships have returned to the Sea Haines City!”

There are indeed many legends which told of how winds and waves in the wake of a storm could carry ships over thousands of miles overnight. However, it was unheard of for a vessel that had kept sailing towards the east to directly return from whence they came.

Right now, even the sailors who did not believe in the supernatural began to mutter under their breaths. By the time the fleet docked at the harbor outside the city, everybody was whispering their gratitude towards the Sea Goddess Tiinaros’ grace.

A caravan that consisted of over ten large-sized and giant cargo ships could not be said as eye-catching in the harbor of the Sea Haines City, which was the second capital of the Kattaman City State. However, all of the ships were tattered as though they were going to break down soon anytime, appearing to be particularly conspicuous.

Soon, a bunch of idlers gathered under the enormous ships at the shop burying their heads, discussing with each other as they looked up at the vessel. Most of these people were reliable laborers waiting to load and unload the goods at the port. The rest of them were trading companies’ workers and bosses who just so happened to have come to the seaport standing by the side watching the commotion.

“M-Mr. Vitas, i-is this your Golden Seagull?” Under the watchful eyes of the crowds, the survivors who escaped the calamity lifted their spirits and disembarked from the ships one by one along the suspension ladder—in the case where the suspension ladder was broken, they just relied on thick ropes to disembark. When it was finally Vitas’ turn, a voice could be heard shouting from among the crowds, “Y-You’ve encountered a storm?”

“Yes, Mr. Savik,” Turning his head to look at the unrecognized giant ships, Vitas secretly took a deep breath and regained his pretentious posture before looking in the direction of the sound. With a smile, he said towards a little old man with sparse hair wearing bright, luxurious silk clothes and said, “A terrible storm that only comes by once in several hundred years. Out of over 100 ships, only these are remained. It’s all because of the blessing of Tiinaros that I’m able to stand here talking to you.”

“Oh, my God, out of over 100 large cargo ships, only 16 have returned? The Golden Velvet Flower Trading has really suffered a great loss!”

“The lost cargo ships are not entirely ours. Besides, the returning ships have all been filled with wood from the Hellfire, so the losses are still within the acceptable range,” Vitas said pretentiously.

“The woods from the Hellfire Sea? Oh, those are hot items. You can always find good things. If possible, I wish to book two ships. Just name me the price!” Upon hearing that there was something that he could profit from, the little old man’s eyes lit up right away. No longer consoling his unlucky fellow merchant, he chuckled and said.

“25 gold coins for one volume. You can inspect the goods first before you pay. I’ve newly discovered a trade route and got the trading rights of a big Hellfire tribe so I can get however many I want of such woods,” The middle-aged merchant said forthrightly, “Alright, Mr. Savik. Let’s call it a day. I need to go back to the trading company first. We’ve suffered a great loss in this trade. I need to report this to my master as soon as possible.”

After saying so, he strode away from the harbor.

The harbor was enormous. From time to time, Vitas would take off his hat to salute the familiar merchants, not showing any sign of panic or anxiousness that he showed on the ship. However, the instant he turned into a remote area, the middle-aged merchant immediately became dispirited as he flashed a wry smile that was even uglier than his crying face to the black-haired young man who had been following beside him.