Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 136 Arrival at Windmill Island

In the waters surrounding Windmill Island, the last two ghost ships gradually lost control due to the increasing number of poisonous mushrooms growing on them, and were firmly imprisoned in place by the bridle thrown by the Fog Shadow child on the Valkyrie.

The cores of these two ghost ships did not explode, because the undead sailors on board were still alive, "living" in an exceptionally peaceful state.

"rub!"

With a mirror strapped to his back, Vanhart couldn't wait to jump from the deck of the Valkyrie onto one of the ghost ships, and skillfully slipped into the ship's center chamber to start his straw boat.

Meanwhile, the magic mirror that appeared on the ship also began collecting the green spores from the corpse mushrooms as requested by Yafso, and also repeatedly affixed loyalty tombstones to the foreheads of the corpses.

Perhaps due to the powerful calming effect of these corpse mushrooms on the dead, these corpses did not need to have their lips smeared with Poseidon's blood before they were obediently placed into the tombstones.

The Magic Mirror wasn't the only one busy; the two-faced undead were also working hard, dragging those who had become apathetic back to the medium channel to undergo Lord Night's transformation.

In addition, this two-faced undead is also tasked with finding loot.

Unfortunately, as the ship's core withered into a piece of candied fruit that crumbled at the slightest touch, the cannons and cannonballs with human heads on these ghost ships also turned into crispy jerky, and the consumable supplies such as food and drink became inedible because they were covered with poisonous mushrooms.

Fortunately, some valuable items were always found in the captain's cabin and on the captain's body.

As they cleared the ships one by one, they found less than a thousand gold coins, a cup of Poseidon's blood, and a well-hidden piece of armor.

Of course, this was only the harvest of the five ships at sea; there were still six other ships on shore.

"What should we do with these ships?" Yun Ji asked the most important question. "Captain, should we notify the Brotherhood to come and take over these ships?"

"Pirate City won't give us that much time."

Cheng Lang made a particularly cautious assessment: "Magic Mirror, are these ghost ships with withered cores still of any use?"

"I don't know either"

The Magic Mirror replied, "However, esteemed captain, our Void Dock is large enough to accommodate all these ships, as well as those on the island. We can return to retrieve them when we have enough captains and sailors."

"makes sense"

Cheng Lang nodded. "Notify the Thorn to bring over those ships on the shore as well. Let's get those ships into the dock first before we talk about anything else."

Upon receiving the signal, the Thorn immediately rushed to the shore of Windmill Island. With Gerta as captain, he directed the surviving islanders on the shore to help drag the six sailboats, whose cores were not yet polluted, into the water one by one, and into the thick fog.

Under the cover of the thick fog, Cheng Lang had already opened the Void Dock, and the two ships were making round trips, sending in five ghost ships that had not exploded and six sailboats that had been pulled from the shore.

The spoils on these six ships were also meager, consisting of only six cups of Poseidon's blood and six pieces of armor.

After settling the 11 ships, the Valkyrie and Thorn immediately left the Void Shipyard. They then dropped and detonated numerous gunpowder barrels to disperse the thick sea fog and docked at the Windmill Island pier in the night.

At this moment, the windmills on Windmill Island were still turning slowly, and most of them had lights on inside.

On the open ground near the dock, bonfires were lit. Besides the drag marks left by the sailboats that came ashore, there were also piles of pirate corpses on the ground. Around them were about a hundred islanders who had survived the ordeal but remained vigilant.

"Distinguished gentlemen and ladies"

An elderly man, who looked to be around sixty years old and had a goatee, walked over with a hunched back. He spoke cautiously, his tone filled with gratitude and fear, "I am Heller, the village chief of Windmill Island. On behalf of myself and all the islanders of Windmill Island, I thank you for saving us."

"This is no big deal. We just destroyed those ghost ships."

At Cheng Lang's instruction, Uncle Gerta, who was playing the role of fleet captain, began to reassure them in a simple and honest manner, "Brother Heller, you are safe now. Is anyone injured on the island?"

"Thanks to everyone's timely arrival."

Village Chief Heller breathed a slight sigh of relief. "The sacrificial ceremony hasn't started yet, otherwise we would probably all have become the sacrifices."

Upon hearing this, Uncle Gerta started a conversation with the other party, while Cheng Lang and the others secretly observed the village chief and the surrounding villagers who were still in shock.

These people were all normal humans; there were no mixed-race individuals, no elves, and certainly no orcs. Of course, there weren't many young people either; at a glance, it was mostly elderly people, children, and a few young women.

Although the only source of light was the campfires, thanks to the Dark Elf's excellent vision, Cheng Lang could clearly see that these people either had windmill-shaped tattoos or windmill-shaped earrings, and without exception, they all had a grafting knife at their waist that seemed to be made from the bones of some kind of sea beast.

Captain Gerta

Village Chief Heller raised his voice slightly and said, "We are very willing to provide your fleet with plenty of fresh fruit and fresh water."

"Our demand for freshwater is very large."

Gerta couldn't help but remind him that he knew the water bottle on the boiler in the lower deck of the Valkyrie was a ship bottle. Although the fresh water supplied in Pirate City hadn't been used up yet, the amount of fresh water consumed in that ship bottle after such a long voyage was not small.

There's no need to worry about that.

Village Chief Heller proudly stated, "Windmill Island has wells, and we not only provide fresh fruit for passing pirate ships, but also plenty of fresh water."

Ladies and gentlemen, please come with me first, let me find you a place to rest. Windmill Island will provide you with ample supplies as a token of our appreciation.

"Then we won't stand on ceremony."

Uncle Gerta performed a gesture of removing his hat and placing his hand on his chest, a gesture he had learned from Yun Lan, and then said as planned, "The sailors will carry the pirates' bodies onto the ship. Once we arrive in Murphyta, we can exchange them for some bounties."

"Yes!"

Shenba responded loudly, and then led the vine demons, who were allowed to disembark because the mast was flying a pirate flag, to carry the pirates' corpses back to the ship and into the cabin. They smeared Poseidon's blood on the lips of the corpses and finally placed them all in the Tombstone of Loyalty.

In the eyes of the islanders of Windmill Island, the Valkyrie perfectly fulfilled their conventional impression of pirate ships, also because of the existence of that pirate flag. In their eyes, those gorillas were the same kind of people as Shenba, who wore a mask of hypocrisy—brainless muscle men.

Of course, the only strange thing was that the pirate flag flying on the ship was really too ugly. Although they were an affiliated pirate group that made a living by growing fruit, they still found it too unbelievable to see pirates selling vegetables at sea.

When Cheng Lang stepped into a windmill, he also found it incredible.

This two-story windmill has a rather complex gear system inside. In particular, the lighting system is made by using the windmill to drive a millstone the size of a washbasin to rub against several rough metal rods.

It was obvious that the grinding discs were made of a special material, or that the metal rods were special. The friction between the two generated a lot of sparks, which were blocked by the glass cover over the metal rods, and thus provided bright enough light for the rooms on the first floor.

These windmills are distributed almost along the coastline of the island, with orchards stretching as far as the eye can see in the middle of them.

With the help of the light, everyone noticed that in the very center of the orchard, there seemed to be another windmill, which was taller and had brighter lights than the one they had entered from.

"Does that windmill also use this magical method to provide light?" Cheng Lang asked, pointing to the windmill located far away in the heart of the orchard.

"That's right"

Heller replied, "It is said that the windmill was already there when the island was discovered by adventurers."

"Was that strange lighting system there back then?" Cheng Lang asked curiously. "Of course."

Heller nodded with great pride, “Everyone who comes to Windmill Island for the first time is full of curiosity about our lighting system.”

Those stones were collected from the seabed near Windmill Island, and carrying them did not provide more illumination time than carrying the same volume and weight of fish oil.

These strange stones are extremely fragile and become unusable if they get even slightly damp; they can't even function as flint.

Clearly, this explanation had been given more than once, so after introducing the unique lighting system, Chief Heller led them up to the second floor.

There are several rooms on the second floor of this windmill, and in the middle there is a living room that is spacious enough for them all to sit down comfortably.

"This is a windmill we use to entertain our guests. Please rest here for a while."

Village Chief Heller said, "We will be able to prepare a welcome dinner for you a little later, and I will immediately organize the villagers to pick fruit for you after dawn."

"Before that, could we replenish our ship with fresh water?" Shenba asked, prompted by his sister Yunji.

"This"

Village Chief Heller said with some difficulty, "I'm afraid we'll have to wait until daytime, as the only well on Windmill Island is located in the very center of the island."

The water level in that well drops significantly after dark and only rises again at dawn, allowing the water to be pumped up using a winch.

"It's alright, let's wait until dawn then," Shenba quickly agreed.

Just then, villagers brought over various fruits grown on Fengmo Island, as well as their homemade fruit wine.

Through conversations with Gerta, the village chief, and some of the accompanying villagers, Cheng Lang and his group learned that most of the villagers on Windmill Island were "retired pirates," as well as some prisoners who had "converted to the pirate city," and of course, some retired dancers.

In general, although the island is large enough, the permanent population is not large. In order to make full use of the constant sea breeze throughout the year, they have not formed a cluster of villages, but are scattered in various places along the island's coastline.

Of course, even so, Windmill Island has its usual gathering place—the windmill in the center of the island.

That four-sided windmill has been there for a long time.

Heller proudly explained, "When people appeared on Windmill Island, Poseidon had just been killed. That windmill was already there then. My dear friends, you must go and see it after dawn. I dare say that even the Star Sea Continent doesn't have such a beautiful windmill."

"We'll go check it out after daybreak," Gerta, now in the public eye, readily agreed while eating the various fruits cut from the fruit platter.

During this casual conversation, one after another, sumptuous dishes made with various fruits, fish, and even the meat of marine animals were served on the second floor of the windmill.

Outside the windmill, the villagers also drove their horse-drawn carriages one after another, rushing along the paths between the orchards to various parts of the island, eager to get home as soon as possible.

In their attempt to drive the farmers together, the pirates destroyed many windmills belonging to different families. On this island, windmills were not only essential tools for orchards but also the homes of the fruit growers, who had to rush back to minimize their losses before the sea winds blew away anything that might survive.

After enjoying a delicious dinner with the village chief and others, Cheng Lang and his companions did not stay overnight in the beautiful and spacious windmill house. Instead, they cautiously chose to return to the ship.

"Gerta, tomorrow you will take the Shenba and the Tengxiao to be in charge of replenishing the fruit and vegetable supplies."

In the conference room of the Valkyrie, Cheng Lang assigned tasks to everyone, "Yun Ji, you and Yun Lan are responsible for replenishing the ship's water supply. Also, take Wu Ying to the island for a stroll. Once we arrive at the Star Sea Continent, she won't have a chance to go ashore."

"Leave it to us," the people who had just been called upon agreed in unison, accepting their respective tasks.

"Captain, it's me."

"What's the deal with your poisonous mushrooms?"

Before Yafso could finish speaking, Cheng Lang asked the question she least wanted to face. Of course, Yafso had no idea that Cheng Lang's attitude had already changed 180 degrees. The reason was simply that those spores and nutrient solution were too good to be true.

"I gave her my consent to the breeding program."

Before Yavso could speak, Yun Lan said, "The Thorn needs to be combat-ready as soon as possible. First Mate Yavso's poisonous mushrooms are just right, no, they're unexpectedly good."

"Is it difficult to train them?" Cheng Lang asked.

Yafso's eyes lit up. The clever little girl had already realized something and quickly said, "It is indeed quite difficult. These corpse mushrooms were cultivated by me using the last few spores that I secretly saved."

They have very demanding environmental requirements and can currently only be cultivated within the cabins of the Thorn Ship. If the environment were changed, they would experience a major outbreak.

At this point, Yavso shook his head regretfully, "The spores produced after the outbreak will turn green. Although they look very scary, unfortunately, according to my experiment just now, these spores have no ability to reproduce at all."

"Yafso, how is the yield of these spores?" Yun Ji asked another crucial question.

"Production was extremely low"

Yafso said with a bitter face, "The battle just now consumed a total of two units of spores. Just to cultivate these two units of spores, we consumed one gold healing potion and 20 green healing potions, as well as a cup of Poseidon's Blood."

This doesn't even include the cost of the nutrient solution created using the Thorn's core blood to activate them.

"Find ways to increase production"

Cheng Lang said, "As the number of ghost ships in the Star Sea and the Sea of ​​Despair increases, these spores will play an increasingly powerful role."

"I've already started working on this."

Yavso responded, "So tomorrow I plan to go to the island to select some plants to transplant onto the Thorn. In addition, I need more fungal life to hybridize with the Corpse Mushroom."

"In that case, you, Yun Ji, and Yun Lan will travel together tomorrow," Cheng Lang immediately made the arrangement.

Yafso naturally had no objection to this, but Yun Lan asked curiously, "Captain, what are you doing tomorrow?"

“I plan to study Vanhart properly tomorrow,” Cheng Lang said, summoning Vanhart from his ring.

As his form gradually solidified, everyone noticed that Vanhart seemed to be in great pain. His ancient dwarf-like body was hunched over, with his eight lower body hands and four upper body hands twisting together, tightly hugging his body and head, while the sea cucumber on his head was exposed.

Unfortunately, the problem arose with this sea cucumber that had repeatedly poked several of the ship's cores into pieces, turning them into dried fruit.

The sea cucumber was flashing various colors frequently, and its spines would suddenly twitch and then limp down, as if all its strength had been drained.

After briefly recounting the glorious deeds of this strange life form, Cheng Lang continued, "Ever since he punctured the cores of the last two ships controlled by the poisonous mushrooms, he's looked like this. Yafso, do you think he's been poisoned? Poisoned by those mushrooms?"

“I don’t know,” Yavso replied blankly. “I’ve never encountered this situation before.”

"Hopefully he won't cause us any trouble," Cheng Lang said, putting the item back into the ring.

(End of this chapter)