Yellow Swan

The third day after the pirates attacked the city.

The time for farewell had finally come.

Evan boarded the merchant ship Yellow Swan, which was temporarily docked in Leopold for supplies, all by himself.

Destination: Gabreid, the third-largest military port on Faletis's West Coast.

Standing at the stern, Evan listened to seabirds crying and circling overhead as the faintly salty Sea Breeze blew gently against his face. White sprays of foam vanished behind the ship, and Leopold, the place where he had lived for five years, gradually disappeared from view as well.

Before leaving, Evan had not notified anyone and slipped away without a sound. But he believed that when he returned here next time, everything would be different!

"Mister Evan, I'll take you to your cabin. The weather has been good these past few days, and the waves aren't high. The captain said that if we sail at full speed, we can reach Gabreid in less than two days." A very young sailor approached Evan and enthusiastically introduced the voyage.

After all, Evan had been personally sent aboard by someone acting on Viscount Andrea's orders, with a place already reserved for him. Unable to guess Evan's identity, the crew naturally did their utmost to take care of him.

Evan nodded lightly and followed the young sailor into the cabin.

He had unknowingly incurred another favor from the old man, yet Evan felt rather at ease about it. As the saying went, one debt more made little difference. Finding a ship bound for Gabreid on short notice would not have been easy anyway.

The Yellow Swan was forty-two meters long, had a capacity of two hundred people, and was a highly mature three-masted sailing ship.

Though Evan was about to join the navy, this Yellow Swan was, strictly speaking, the first true seagoing vessel he had ever boarded. The little skiffs and fishing boats he had ridden before were barely better than planks of wood compared to it.

So after putting down his luggage, Evan could not resist returning to the deck to look around the massive vessel.

Knowing that this passenger had a special identity, even the most dutiful crewmen did not interfere with him.

Standing in a corner where he would not hinder the crew's work, Evan looked up at the sailing ship's magnificent sails. There were three masts at the bow, center, and stern. The Main Mast in particular was nearly four stories tall, and looking up at it from the deck was enough to make one dizzy.

The four layers of white canvas—the mainsail, topsail, topgallant sail, and royal sail—were already filled with wind, providing the Sea vessel with an endless stream of power.

The Sail Master, a man with a grizzled beard, directed his crew in constantly making fine adjustments to the sails, striving to maintain the ship's stability as much as possible without sacrificing speed. Evan had encountered related knowledge since childhood, but seeing it in person for the first time still left him with a profound sense of awe.

The bearded man glanced several times at this fellow staring at him with a curious expression, unable to figure out what the guest's deal was.

It was as if nails had been driven into his feet. Keeping his balance was as easy as eating and drinking, and he stood even steadier on the rolling deck than the old sailors, as though he had lived at sea since childhood.

Yet he was curious about everything aboard the ship. From a plank to a rope, even the pulley lines on the mast could hold his attention for ages. If the Sail Master had not kept an eye on him, the fellow looked as though he wanted to climb up and try handling the rigging himself.

From that perspective, he seemed like a complete novice. It was truly strange.

Remembering the captain's specific instructions, the bearded Sail Master told his sailors to watch the sails, then walked over to Evan, who was watching with great interest, and asked, "Are you interested in sailing, sir?"

"Uh... yes. I'm going to Gabreid to join the navy, so I wanted to learn about life aboard a ship in advance. Am I disturbing you?" Evan hesitated briefly, but there was no need to hide his purpose.

"No, no, not at all. If you're interested, I can introduce you to this beautiful big fellow beneath our feet!" The Sail Master was unexpectedly understanding and took the initiative to offer Evan a tour of the sailing ship.

Evan gladly accepted.

He also understood that the exceptional treatment he received was entirely due to Viscount Andrea's influence.

What he did not know was that Viscount Andrea actually owned a share in the Yellow Swan. After loading part of its cargo in Leopold and filling its hold again in Gabreid, it would set out with the larger fleet for the New Continent, beginning its ocean voyage.

"Our Yellow Swan was launched just four years ago. It's in its prime right now..."

The pleasant conversation continued for half an hour. During the tour, Evan's Data Vision openly created a data model of the entire Yellow Swan. It could even be said that Evan now knew the ship better than many old sailors who had worked aboard it for years.

The thing that surprised Evan most was that the Yellow Swan was not an ordinary cargo merchant ship, but a genuine Armed Merchant Ship.

According to the Sail Master, the ship's hull had undergone special modifications, and one could not tell from its appearance where the gunports were. But As long as the concealed armor panels were opened, the ship would immediately reveal its ferocious side and give any attacking pirate ship a nasty surprise!

Evan nodded repeatedly on the surface, but he did not believe a single word of it.

Guarding against pirates? More likely, they would disguise themselves as an ordinary merchant ship, approach other merchant vessels, then transform into raiders and plunder them!

Privateering was common at sea now, though. As long as one had a letter of marque and only targeted enemy nations, there was no problem. Evan was not foolish enough to expose them to their faces.

It was not until Captain Joseph warmly invited Evan to lunch at noon that he discovered he was the only passenger aboard the ship.

After probing indirectly, he learned that Viscount Andrea was also one of the ship's shareholders. Under his arrangements, the Yellow Swan had specially prepared a private cabin for Evan. Evan could not help but marvel inwardly at how capable that old man was!

Moreover, Evan believed that what he had seen was only the tip of the iceberg. The Viscount was definitely one of those deeply hidden Old Foxes.

Since they were still sailing Nearshore and supplies were plentiful, lunch was also exceptionally lavish. Unfortunately, today was not Evan's lucky day. He was destined to miss this meal.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

Just as he took a sip of the pre-meal soup delivered by a sailor moonlighting as a waiter, a continuous Alarm bell suddenly Sounded aboard the ship. It was a warning issued by the sailor on the Main Mast after spotting danger.

On an otherwise empty established trade route, such an alarm usually meant only one thing: pirates!

Slowly wiping his mouth with a napkin, the curly-haired, red-faced man sitting opposite Evan said calmly, "A minor incident. I'll handle it. Mister Evan, just stay in this room and wait."

With that, he picked up the saber beside the table and strode out. Before long, his steady voice issuing commands could be heard outside. The sounds of crewmen running back and forth had a distinct rhythm—tense, but not panicked.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

Soon, cannon fire rang out in rapid succession. Though none of the shots struck the Yellow Swan, enormous sprays of water erupted nearby and crashed down onto the deck, creating an atmosphere of extreme tension.

"Pirates incoming! All non-combat personnel return to the cabins immediately! Combat personnel, take your positions! Anyone daring to set their sights on the Yellow Swan—I'll blow their jaws apart!" Captain Joseph's calm voice gave the crew tremendous encouragement.

Looking out through the porthole, Evan saw a single-masted fast sailing ship racing toward them, its black sail emblazoned with a Blood-Red anchor.

As it sailed, the vessel gradually adjusted its position, bringing the ten cannons along its side to bear and firing continuously. It was clearly trying to force this apparently well-laden fat sheep to stop.

In the era of sailing ships and cannon warfare, the odds of directly sinking an enemy ship through gunfire in a battle between vessels of the Same Level were very low. In the end, a Boarding Battle was unavoidable. This was especially true of pirate raids, which aimed to capture the opposing ship.

Otherwise, sinking a merchant ship would bring them no benefit at all. Why bother?

Thus, when the Blood Anchor Pirates were nearly sailing parallel to the Yellow Swan, most of the gunports facing the Yellow Swan remained closed. Only a handful of cannons fired sporadically to intimidate the merchant ship.

Clearly, the Yellow Swan's disguise had successfully deceived the pirates, and they had not noticed At All the threat hidden within this ordinary merchant ship.

Blood Anchor Zack lowered the spyglass in his hand.

Though he felt that the number of sailors aboard the other ship slightly exceeded his own and might prove troublesome, it was only a minor problem. With the ferocity of his pirates, Even if they faced ordinary merchant sailors at two against one, they could still win cleanly.

Pulling out an amulet made of crossed black wings from around his neck, Zack silently prayed, "Black Wing God, bless me!"