6kv Chapter 31 Raven
Chapter 31 Raven
Fafner looked up, and what lay before him was no longer a river, but a vast expanse of water.
—The grey-blue sea stretches to the horizon, merging with the grey-white sky.
A few fishing boats were scattered on the sea, their masts swaying gently in the waves.
"Outside Ryan Harbor," Tobias said, "east of here lies the shipping route between the Holy Kingdom and the Narns Empire."
The "Anvil" has sailed out of the harbor, the coastline shrinking into a blurry line behind it.
"Fafner, come here." Victor stood on the deck below the bridge and waved to him. Fafner said goodbye to Tobias and walked over quickly.
“We’re heading southeast now,” Victor said, bending down to look at him. “All merchant ships coming from the Nunns Empire have to take this route to enter the Ryan River.”
……
The "Anvil" cleaved through the greyish-blue sea, its speed much greater than before.
Fafner wasn't used to the jolting and felt a little nauseous.
Mr. Victor asked Captain Campbell to fetch him a piece of gingerbread, which Fafnir took and took a small bite of; the spiciness suppressed his nausea.
"That wool-producing cargo ship, the one we seized the day before yesterday," Kingsley said.
"The ship owner's registration information is fake, and the crew members are all from the Nunns Empire. They are currently being held in the inspectors' dungeon."
But the interrogation yielded nothing; they claimed they didn't know anything else was mixed in with the raw wool, they only knew to ship the goods to Ryan and then wait for further instructions.
Captain Campbell asked, "What are the next instructions?"
“I don’t know,” Kingsley shook his head. “They insist they’re just deliverymen and know nothing.”
"In this kind of smuggling, the true intentions are not revealed to the crew," Mr. Victor said. "The real mastermind is behind the scenes, and the decoy doesn't need to know that he is the decoy."
"You mean those twenty spirit ambers were deliberately seized by the inspection team?" Campbell asked.
"They deliberately got caught so we'd think it was nothing special," Victor continued.
"With everyone busy investigating this ship, writing reports, conducting interrogations, and inventorying the stolen goods, there's no energy left to keep an eye on other ships."
The real cargo should be at sea.
Campbell said, "If there is a ship following behind, and it's a distance of one or two days, then based on the speed..."
—But we can't confirm exactly where they are, whether they'll be in this area of the sea, who knows where they've anchored their ship…”
"As long as we guess they're at sea, that's fine. Of course, if they're not there, there's nothing we can do."
"Our church is prepared, and we have come to the surface to confirm this more precisely," Victor replied.
Kingsley glanced at Victor: "Victor, it's about time. As for Bishop Zere—"
"Contact them immediately." Victor gently closed his eyes and pulled out a silver badge from inside his robe.
A subtle spiritual energy emanated from Victor, extending in a very distant direction.
"Hehe, little guy, this is a communicator made by the church, unique in the Holy Kingdom," Kingsley explained to Fafnir with a smile.
"Serve the church well, and maybe one day you'll get one too. It's a really good thing."
About two minutes later, Victor opened his eyes.
"Professor Zero said it's okay," Mr. Victor said.
"Using the seized amber as an anchor, I can detect fluctuations in the spirit world based on my location on the sea surface."
We were very lucky; the ship was still at sea. He used the array's core beneath the grammar school to perform spirit divination and had already pinpointed the ship's location.
Due east, forty nautical miles.
Mr. Victor paused for a moment: "There were five spiritual responses on that ship. Four were at the peak of the second tier, and the other was perhaps at the third tier, but his condition was unstable."
Furthermore, the ship's cargo hold contained a large quantity of spiritual materials, their surfaces covered with concealing spells, making them undetectable by ordinary spiritual perception.
"Bishop Zero's divination skills are truly among the best in the entire church, they're amazing!" Kingsley was overjoyed; now he could finally get his hands on them all.
Captain Campbell's expression changed: "Five people? Four peak Enlightened Ones, and there's even a suspected third-tier one! What should we do? Turn back?"
Mr. Victor ignored Campbell's words and said to himself, "Are they testing?"
Perhaps this ship is also bait; they are testing the Holy Kingdom's spiritual monitoring capabilities, or perhaps... it's a provocation.
"So what should we do now? Send the ship at full speed to catch up? But there are so many peak Enlightened Ones on the other side, and some even seem to be at the third tier."
"We only have Bishop Zaitsev, a third-ranked one, on our side—" Campbell's tone was full of worry.
"Captain, it's alright, I'll go scout ahead," Victor said.
"You're alone? How are you going to get there, especially since there are five of you—"
"I'm enough on my own, and it's just reconnaissance, I won't be discovered," Victor calmly interrupted the captain's worries.
Mr. Victor took off his brand-new black bishop's robe, folded it neatly, and handed it to Fafnir.
"Little Fafnir, could you please keep this for me? Thank you. This garment is dirty and difficult to clean."
Fafnir took it; the fabric was heavy. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but Mr. Victor had already turned and walked toward the bow of the ship.
Captain Campbell took two steps behind him and said, "Are you sure? It's their home turf, and what if we're discovered—"
"Hey, Campbell, you don't know him. Don't worry!" Kingsley interjected. "This assistant bishop of Lorraine, our church's third-level bishop, is no ordinary person. Just watch."
Fafnir, clutching the priest's robe, hurried to the ship's side.
Mr. Victor stood at the very front of the ship, facing east. The sea breeze was strong, making his shirt cling to his body and outlining his lean but muscular figure.
"Little Fafnir, activate your spiritual vision and let me help you sense the third-tier spell."
Fafnir activated his spiritual vision.
He saw the dazzling spiritual glow emanating from Victor's body, and the golden hue unique to elven blood beneath.
The spiritual radiance was bright and calm, like a flame compressed to its limit, burning quietly.
Then the gold began to fade.
Fafner thought he had misread it.
He glanced at it again.
Pure black
It wasn't the hollow black of the Rat People, but a thick black, like ink slowly spreading after being dropped into clear water.
The blackness surged from the depths of Victor's body, engulfing the gold and turning his spiritual radiance into a pure darkness.
The black spiritual light began to gather and compress around Victor.
Mr. Victor has disappeared.
A raven was standing where Mr. Victor had just been.
Twice the size of a common raven, its feathers are jet black, appearing iridescently black in the sunlight.
It glanced at Fafnir.