Bounty Order (Second Update)

This patrol had been uneventful. After sailing at sea for more than half a month, the Silver Wing returned safely to Gabreid Military Port.

A sailing warship relied solely on wind for power, so its speed could not be guaranteed. Nearshore patrols were already among the less time-consuming and relatively safer assignments.

According to the old seamen, it was perfectly normal for long-range escort missions, such as voyages to the New Continent, to last several months. Of course, those were tasks only battleships of at least the fourth rate could undertake. The Silver Wing was no longer qualified for them.

After disembarking, the other crewmen went off to relax and have fun, while Evan and Gary returned to their seaside residence to continue training. They understood clearly that self-discipline was even more important than an Extraordinary Inheritance. If they wanted to shine before others, they had to suffer behind the scenes.

However, they had barely joined forces to clean the house, which had stood empty for over half a month, when a sailor who had remained aboard came running over with news. Gasping for breath, he shouted, "Warrant Officer, there's an urgent mission! The captain has issued a recall order. All personnel are to return to the ship immediately!"

"Understood."

Back aboard the Silver Wing, Evan saw First Mate Perry working overtime to replenish the ship's depleted supplies. After greeting him, Evan headed straight for the captain's cabin.

"One-Eyed Beck? A bounty of one thousand Gold Lions?!"

"Is this guy really that brazen? He actually dared sink a warship?"

"I heard he's the Vice Captain of the Shark Tooth Pirate Gang, and he already possesses the combat power of a Senior Knight."

By the time Evan reached the captain's cabin, the Silver Wing's officers had already gathered there in a circle, discussing the matter heatedly.

A Bounty Order freshly brought back from fleet headquarters lay on the desk in the center, along with a brief dossier on the wanted criminal.

At the sight of the bounty amount, not only Evan but all the officers present had their eyes turn red.

What did one thousand Gold Lions mean?

It was roughly equivalent to a navy soldier's wages accumulated over a hundred years without eating or drinking. It was equivalent to ten fine warhorses, or one-fifth of a sixth-rate single-masted fast sailboat.

And the money would be paid in full directly by Third Fleet headquarters, unrestricted by the rules governing the division of spoils. Whoever took down this man would get all one thousand Gold Lions!

Together with whatever loot they might seize after striking the pirates, a single operation could leave everyone rolling in riches.

Evan was startled as well. What kind of man was worth so much money? After greeting Uncle Gell and his fellow officers, he picked up the dossier from the desk and began reading it.

He did not care much about the man's status as Vice Captain of the Shark Tooth Pirate Gang. What pirate force on the sea could possibly be stronger than Various Countries' Navy? The terrifying powers ordinary people dared not provoke were nothing before the Kingdom Navy.

Yet the confirmed intelligence stated that One-Eyed Beck himself possessed the extraordinary rank of a Senior Formal Knight and had a record of killing opponents of the same level. Not long ago, his pirate ship had even sunk a sixth-rate Navy Dispatch Vessel in a head-on battle.

That left Evan no choice but to marvel at the man's madness and strength.

It was not as though no pirates dared exchange fire with the navy. Many Great Pirates who roamed the four seas had records of sinking warships.

But there were prerequisites.

First, one needed enough strength to make even the navy wary—enough that they would have to weigh whether it was worth hunting you across the entire sea. That strength had to be at least equivalent to the third tier and a Grand Knight. Second, do not let anyone see it, do not boast about it everywhere, and certainly do not make it known to everyone.

Yet although this One-Eyed Beck seemed to possess Knight Tier strength and was beyond the reach of most navy personnel, he was still nowhere near powerful enough to make the authorities wary.

After sinking a warship, he had not fled immediately. Instead, he continued prowling through Third Fleet territory. He was practically slapping every officer and soldier in the Third Fleet across the face. If they did not make an example of him, who would they make an example of?

Evan did not think the man could remain free for long. Now it was simply a matter of who got lucky enough to catch his trail. Once the warships closed in around him, unless he could fly into the sky or dive into the sea, his fate was sealed.

"Captain, resupply is complete!"

After a while, First Mate Perry returned and reported to Captain Gell that the supplies were ready and the crew had all returned.

Scanning the eager looks in everyone's eyes, Gell nodded. Their morale was commendable. With a sweep of his hand, he ordered, "Set sail! By headquarters' order, we are to rendezvous with the Warrior near Taro Island and search for One-Eyed Beck.

"Gentlemen, the navy's dignity shall not be sullied. We will wash away this disgrace with One-Eyed Beck's blood!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Upon the azure sea, with gentle waves and fair weather, two similarly sized Fifth-Rate Cruisers sailed in a patrol formation, one ahead to the right and the other behind to the left.

"Caw, caw, caw... Caw, caw, caw..."

Even the cries of seabirds no longer sounded familiar and pleasant. Instead, they were somehow irritating.

The Silver Wing and the Warrior had spent eight days searching the sea in pursuit of One-Eyed Beck.

They had not seen even a hair of One-Eyed Beck, let alone any other minor pirates. The well-informed pirates had received word long ago and been frightened off by the massive operation mounted by the Third Fleet.

It could be said that nearly every warship without an urgent assignment had joined the hunt. Such force and numbers had been rare even in the past decade.

If Fast Dispatch Vessels and terns had not continually delivered the latest intelligence, confirming that One-Eyed Beck had neither gone ashore nor left Third Fleet territory, they would have assumed he had slipped away long ago.

By now, the officers and sailors aboard both the Silver Wing and the Warrior were gradually growing anxious. Even with the Third Fleet's power, they could not maintain such a large-scale blockade of the sea indefinitely. The longer it dragged on, the more likely everyone would end up empty-handed.

The ocean was simply too vast for humanity. Even searching for the man within this small stretch of the Black Sea's western coast was scarcely any easier than finding a needle in the sea.

Evan, however, remained in good spirits. Even if they failed to find their target, he would simply treat it as training.

But because sudden combat could break out at any moment during this period, his special training had been temporarily postponed. Evan spent most of his time beneath the mast.

Evan learned the Sail Control Technique quickly and had already reached the point where he could assist Sail Master Jab. The only thing separating him from becoming a qualified Sail Master was experience.

Having served aboard for over a month, Evan had completely adapted to life on the ship. By now, he even felt like a fish in water.

He even smugly thought, I really was born to conquer the sea. Heh heh.

Standing on the lookout post, Evan faced the faintly salty sea breeze and surveyed the distance. With the help of Data Vision, he would not miss even the slightest clue.

"Huh? The Warrior is signaling?"

Evan keenly noticed the flag signals raised by the Warrior. After deciphering them, he learned that they had discovered a small island ahead with fresh water resources and were inviting the Silver Wing to replenish its water supplies.

Every drop of fresh water aboard a sea vessel was a precious resource, because water stored for long periods would spoil and stink. Thus, after being at sea for some time, seamen drank cane liquor—rum, which appeared in many Western novels and stories—instead of fresh water. Those who lived on land found it difficult to understand what life without water aboard a ship was like.

As the part-time Captain's Herald, Evan immediately slid down the mast to report to Gell.

Moments later, as flags rose aboard the Silver Wing, the two warships turned together and headed for the Unnamed Small Island.

"This island's scenery is rather nice. If it were nearshore, plenty of people would probably come here for vacations."

Sunshine, a white sandy beach, and several gracefully shaped coconut trees. While the first mate organized the sailors to replenish their fresh water, Evan leisurely took a small boat near the island and dropped his hook to fish.

"Oh, another one bit!"

It had to be said that fish in such uninhabited places had never seen a fishhook before. They were adorably innocent. Though Evan's fishing skills were merely average, he had caught two full buckets of large fish whose names he did not know in a short time.

The seamen of this era could not be bothered to name every strange-looking sea fish. That was work for scholars. In their eyes, sea creatures came in only two kinds: edible and inedible.

After sending the fish back to the ship and seeing that the sailors had not yet finished their work, Evan ran straight to the mouth of the island's freshwater river and took a thoroughly satisfying bath.

"Wonderful!"

Even though officers enjoyed better conditions aboard ship, Evan found it difficult to endure being unable to bathe often. Since he had the chance, naturally he did not intend to let it slip away.

He returned to the ship while drying his hair with a towel. The cook was grilling food on deck: sea fish Evan had brought back, all kinds of shellfish the crew had found on the beach, and cured meat from the storeroom. Smoke curled upward, making the food look immensely appetizing.

Life at sea was harsh, and seamen had long learned to find joy amid hardship. Gatherings and good food were only part of it.

Evan found himself eager to try as well. Being a single man in both lives had given him quite respectable cooking skills, and his hands were itching.

He casually fished a large red-striped fish, resembling tuna, from the bucket. Picking up a kitchen knife from nearby, he casually spun it through a flourish. With two swift flashes, he carved the fish apart as effortlessly as a butcher disassembling an ox, turning it into two large pieces of crystal-clear, succulent flesh.

The kitchen knife in his hand turned into a sheet of silver light. Like something from an anime, thin, glistening slices of fish, each as delicate as cicada wings, flew out on their own and landed on the clean plates prepared beside him.

Evan's skill with blades was now far beyond that of even the finest chefs from his previous life—precise, swift, and pleasing to the eye.

Such dazzling knife work quickly drew a crowd around Evan, most of them crewmen of relatively high standing aboard the ship. Even the lowest-ranked among them held indispensable technical posts.

"This kid has too many ideas, doesn't he?" Neither Gell nor Evan was the sort of sword fanatic who regarded swordsmanship as life itself, so Gell did not think there was anything wrong with Evan using his skills this way.

They already knew that he had invented the vegetable called bean sprouts and taught the ship doctor several foods and drinks that could prevent illness. Now he had come up with another new way to eat sea fish. They truly could not understand where he got so many strange and ingenious ideas.

After slicing the fish, Evan mixed a sauce from the ingredients at hand. He dipped a slice and tasted it. Though it lacked some of the flavor of the specialized dipping sauce from his previous life, the freshly caught fish seemed as though it might come alive in his mouth, making up for every deficiency in taste.

"Not bad. Fresh!"