Chapter 60: No One Wins Forever
The wind direction of Control Winds is not completely consistent with the sea breeze, which will waste some wind power, but there’s no way around it; under the condition of no one handling the sails, changing the wind direction is indeed much easier.
Tonight the sea breeze is gentle, which is good news. 【Conch】 just slightly speeds up and leaves the opponent behind, with the distance visibly pulling away.
Nearly two minutes pass, the ship speed just picks up, but the wind gradually weakens.
The base duration of Control Winds is one minute. Anse has higher charisma, but he can only control it for less than two minutes.
However, spells are not so rigid. He doesn’t need to cast again; as long as he maintains concentration, he can sustain the spell while injecting mana. A little mana can extend Control Winds by several minutes, with high cost-performance.
This time he tries to weaken the wind power to extend the duration. Although it requires appropriate adjustment of the wind direction, the effect is much stronger than the first time.
However, after a few minutes, Tich doesn’t see even a shadow of the expected support.
Ragna’s face becomes very ugly. This was personally arranged by her, with executors being trusted guards, but unexpectedly they got backstabbed.
“Maybe it was just an accident.” Tich comforted.
Ragna said nothing. As long as she returns, those people will definitely prepare a bunch of sufficiently plausible reasons, but whether it’s really an accident or an excuse, who can say clearly.
“Find a berth and drop anchor!” Anse looks at a row of dock lights not far away, thinking that berthing is better; waiting for ship support might get them blocked.
“Good, go there.” Tich points to a large sailing ship on the dock. This ship is sixty or seventy meters long, with three decks and towering masts, quite massive.
The entire Silver Scale Bay has only two sailing ships this large, showing its rarity.
【Conch】 cuts through the water. A few minutes later, the dock berths and the big ship details become clearly visible.
The big ship’s on-duty sailors see the rapidly approaching sailing ship and are scared out of their wits, immediately ringing the alarm bell. The urgent bell rings throughout the dock.
“Too fast, too fast…” Tich is a bit panicked.
He has no berthing experience, but he knows that when approaching the dock, the ship speed must drop to nearly zero and drift over by inertia.
At this current speed, it will inevitably end in ship destruction and human death.
Anse certainly knows, but he can brake.
He first slowly reduces the wind power, then reverses the wind direction. The sails billow in reverse, the sailing ship speed drops sharply, straining the mast with creaking sounds.
However, due to sail angle issues, the hull doesn’t decelerate straight but tilts, forming an angle with the dock.
Tich breathes a sigh of relief and hurriedly turns the helm to adjust direction.
Once the bow is close to the berth and the hull forms an acute angle with the dock, he decisively has Ragna drop anchor. Accompanied by the anchor chain entering the water, the bow jerks to a halt, the stern swings toward the dock, drifting into the bumper pads.
Canisa jumps onto the dock, takes the thick cable tossed by Matthew, and struggles to loop it onto the bollard.
First the stern, then the bow. As the cables tighten, the sailing ship steadily rests at the berth.
Meanwhile, the pursuing slave ship just circles far away and soon disappears into the night.
They gave up!
“Just left like that?” Ragna spreads her hands, face puzzled.
“What else? Start a war? Look whose ship is next to us.” Tich lifts his chin, gesturing forward.
Anse looks up. At the top of the big ship’s sterncastle hang two flags. The top one depicts a blue shield pattern in the center with a silver crescent and its reflection, surrounded below by several silver stars.
‘Waterdeep!’
Waterdeep is the largest city on the Sword Coast, renowned for its unique political system, prosperous trade, and rich legends. It is hailed as the “City of Splendors” and “Crown of the North,” possessing a powerful navy and famous griffon cavalry.
“This is a transport ship of Waterdeep’s noble Magaster Family, modified from a decommissioned naval warship. Those slavers wouldn’t dare fire even if given ten guts.” Tich’s mouth curves up, expression very confident.
“You used their ship; you’ll probably have to give a reasonable explanation.” Anse nudges his mouth toward him.
Lights come on one by one on the big ship, and teams of crew swarm toward the 【Conch】 full of corpses.
“Don’t worry, I have acquaintances.” Tich jumps onto the dock and proactively negotiates with a man wearing a luxurious robe.
A few minutes pass, and those crew start boarding, clearing corpses and rescuing commoners in the cabin.
Anse is somewhat surprised but not too unexpected. The Harpers’ network is quite extensive, with good reputation, often able to call in various aid.
“I guessed it was you.” Ragna walks to his side, face playful. “Why disguise as me.”
Anse’s disguise effect has worn off. He puts on his hood and brushes it off: “Your reputation precedes you; others lose courage at the sight of you in a fight.”
“Haha…” Ragna suddenly laughs nonstop, as if she really believed it.
Hearing the laughter, warrior Matthew and rogue Canisa also come over.
“Hey, I just overheard. Tich sold the ship, so that…” Canisa makes a small money gesture, grinning sleazily.
He isn’t wearing a hood. Anse sees his appearance for the first time: very ordinary features, yellow skin, yellow hair and pupils too—probably some minority ethnicity or mixed race.
“What does it have to do with you?” Ragna drops her smile, face somewhat cold. “Who was it that wanted to run just now? Turn a few crank handles and expect a cut of the money?”
“Heh heh heh…” Matthew unleashes ruthless mockery, smirking with raised eyebrow, his broad face expressing it perfectly.
“Hmph, anyway, I want my share.” Canisa is unconvinced. “This isn’t what we agreed on. I took extra risk and nearly perished at sea.”
“You took shit risk. Want it? Go tell my axe.” Ragna is unmoved.
Canisa immediately shuts up. They’ve cooperated multiple times and know her personality well; if he keeps talking, she might really swing the axe at him.
Ragna looks at Anse, expression thawing, even her tone much milder: “You take the lion’s share.”
“Thanks.” Anse feels a bit uneasy. This woman’s daytime and nighttime attitudes are completely different.
“I live in Moon Shadow Kui Ling. Send my share there.” He waves his hand, picks up the bundle, and jumps onto the dock in a few steps.
No point staying longer. Better go home and sleep soundly, and avoid Tich too—his gaze toward him is somewhat ambiguous; what if he tries to recruit him.
After all, his purpose is purely utilitarian, while the Harpers’ ideology is selfless and noble; they’re not on the same path.
But this trip wasn’t in vain—double harvest of experience and money.
But 【Conch】 is a black ship; others won’t dare take it, sale price definitely much lower than normal. Split among several people, who knows how much each gets.
Nighttime Silver Scale Bay is very quiet; even Moon Shadow Kui Ling has lights out, only the garden and entrance hall with a few lamps lit.
Anse passes through the garden and sees the treehouse top floor in darkness from afar, inwardly relieved.
‘Wait, no, I’m not some husband sneaking back from a midnight affair; what am I afraid of her for.’
Mainly Gweneth keeps staring at him, making him somewhat unadapted.
Entering the mushroom house, no one at the counter. His gaze sweeps the small hall, expression instantly stiffening.
On the window lounger, a girl lies basking in moonlight, head turned sideways, a pair of shining eyes gazing at him.
“Uh… sunbathing in the moonlight?”
Gweneth rises and comes before him, sniffs him, expression cold: “No one can win forever. Lose once, and everything becomes meaningless.”
She bumps past Anse and leaves quickly.
Watching her back, Anse is speechless for a long time.
Wanting to master one’s own destiny—how can it be done without taking some risks? Seeking ease now means paying the bill later.
