Before long, Ken and Jeremiah appeared in the cabin, panting heavily.
Jeremiah carried a lantern and had not forgotten to bring a crowbar.
The cabin was empty. The Black Pearl had never carried much cargo to begin with, and this time there were not even many crewmen aboard. It had arrived almost as an empty ship.
After searching through the pile of miscellaneous items for a while, the two found the wooden crate.
The crate had been floating on the sea near Castel. Jeremiah had been in a hurry to investigate, so after having it salvaged, he had not paid it much attention.
Crates like this occasionally appeared at sea, usually containing worthless things. Crates holding truly valuable goods had generally sunk long ago; only empty crates were likely to float on the ocean.
This crate was battered and worn, its outer wooden slats swollen from soaking in seawater. At the time, they had merely assumed it had been casually discarded by a passing ship.
If it had not been near Castel, Jeremiah would not even have sent anyone to salvage it.
But on second thought, Castel had never been on any shipping route, nor would any merchant ship come here to trade.
That was why Theus had specifically sent them to open up a sea route.
So where had this crate come from?
Jeremiah quickly pried open the somewhat rotten outer slats. The inside was packed with straw, and after clearing it away, they found a smaller crate within.
This crate had also been directly submerged in seawater, yet there was not the slightest sign of seawater having seeped inside. Jeremiah studied it carefully for a while, then sucked in a sharp breath.
"This crate is made from extremely valuable wood. I've seen them in the treasury at Gem