Setting out again

Kronos was stunned. Didn't he say he was willing to sign a contract? Why is he acting like this now?

Just as he was about to "speak out in anger," Kronos sensed the power of the contract from an unknown location—a cold, lifeless force.

Kronos guessed that this must have come from the Underworld; the Messenger Lady had directly implanted the contract into the Underworld, making the agreement a success.

Since Kronos actively provided his aura, the Concealment of Time had no effect.

Their pact is not limited by the number of times the Spirit Harmonica be played, because the pact has nothing to do with the harmonica anymore.

However, there was one crucial point: Kronos did not see Lady Messenger's name. He even suspected that the Messenger was acting on purpose, as she might be someone of considerable importance.

But what could Kronos do? He was powerless against the odds.

"If... you... need... anything... you... can... summon... me... anytime... with... the... harmonica... or... use... spirit... to... draw... my... aura...," the Messenger Lady explained considerately.

But Kronos thought to himself, "Thank you, sister, but you've probably been in a high position for too long and forgotten that only Demigod and above can do this. After all, you're not within Fifty Meters of me; you're in the Spirit World, in the Underworld."

Of course, he wouldn't dare say it aloud; he could only indulge in it in his heart.

"Yes, Messenger, Lady, we'll definitely have a pleasant working relationship." Kronos smiled "sincerely."

The Lady Messenger seemed oblivious to the feigned expression, nodded, then tore open the barrier and disappeared back into the Spirit World.

Only after she disappeared from sight did Kronos breathe a sigh of relief.

At this moment, Kronos deeply felt that ignorance is bliss.

If he didn't know so much, he would be very happy now, after all, he has recruited a Messenger with considerable strength.

But at this moment, he had no reason to be happy. The Gift of Fate had already secretly come with a price, and he always had to pay it.

But since things had already come to this, Kronos had no other choice. He would have to pay a price later, so he might as well use it all up now. That was all he could do.

With that in mind, Kronos altered the Ritual on the ground and summoned Sharf's Messenger, sending Sharf the method for summoning his Messenger.

Then he went downstairs and headed straight to the Telegraph to Telegraph home.

In his Telegraph, Kronos wrote down everything that had happened in the past few days, excluding the Tudor Ruins, and then focused on describing Amyrius's attitude.

Finally, Kronos included the method for summoning his Messenger and told his family that they could now contact him through the Messenger.

In fact, every location in the Real World has a corresponding location in the Spirit World, so you can just tell the Messenger Lady the address and let her find it herself.

However, there is a problem here: the address of the Argel Manor is not easy to describe because it does not have a definite Door Card, and there are no landmark buildings around it.

Besides, the Manor is so big that describing the room's location to the Messenger would be even more troublesome, so it's better to have a family member summon the Messenger once, and then let the Messenger find it on its own.

This Telegraph contained a lot of Information that was not meant to be known to outsiders, so Kronos did not use the Telegraph's common cipher, but instead used a family-specific cipher.

Therefore, his workload increased significantly. After writing his letter, he had to translate it into code bit by bit before handing it over to the telegraph operator.

By the time I finished all that and returned to my room, it was already afternoon.

Kronos, who hadn't fully recovered, felt extremely tired and was planning to take a nap when there was a knock on the door.

Kronos had no choice but to get out of bed again and go Door Opening.

It was Gner; he had gone out to gather Message and only now had some free time.

At this moment, Kronos had no interest in this Message, but considering how much effort Gner had put in, he felt he should respect the fruits of their labor, so he had no choice but to listen attentively.

But in reality, Gner only brought some routine Message, and they would only stay in Bayam for another two or three days, so most of this Message was really useless.

What Kronos was really looking forward to was hearing about the Pirate ' land gathering, but unfortunately, although it was going to start tomorrow, they hadn't found any connection with them.

Furthermore, Gner also mentioned that there shouldn't be any Pirate at this gathering; it would mostly be friends or informants of the Pirate in Bayam, so it's more likely that the transactions would involve Message or similar items.

After Gner finished recounting all the Message, he heard Kronos say, "We'll be leaving in two or three days, so this Message isn't very useful anymore. You can do more of what you enjoy now and don't need to waste so much energy here."

"Haha, you're overthinking it. I personally enjoy drinking and making friends, and I'm doing the same thing right now. How could I not like it?" Gner said.

Kronos thought for a moment, then said, "Alright, if you like it, then keep doing it. I just don't want you to keep doing things you don't enjoy."

Seeing that Gner was about to leave, Kronos said, "Wait a while before you go. I'll help you recruit a Messenger, which will make future communication much easier."

Although Gner lacked knowledge of the mystical, he was clear about what Messenger was, so naturally he had no reason to disagree.

However, Kronos did not help Gner set up the Ritual directly, but instead taught him how to complete it.

Since Gner will need to summon his own and others' Messenger in the future, he can't possibly never perform Ritual.

The Ritual wasn't very complicated, so Gner quickly Replication it.

The process of recruiting Messenger by Gner went smoothly, and he successfully recruited a Messenger whose combat strength was not great, but whose speed was very fast.

Gner left satisfied; the Spirit Harmonica had only been used twice so far.

The next morning, Benjamin came to the Inn to find the two of them, in order to find out the departure time of the Fleet.

Benjamin brought a large book of purchase orders and sales slips, all evidence of the Fleet's cargo movements during the Bayam period.

Although Kronos wasn't particularly fond of business matters, that didn't mean he couldn't understand these documents.

After thoroughly auditing these documents from beginning to end, Kronos used the Eye of Time to observe for a while the process by which these documents came into being.

Although Kronos did see some underhanded dealings by Benjamin, it was nothing more than him taking kickbacks; the goods were all in good condition, so he didn't pursue the matter further.

"That's fine, Benjamin. So is there anything else I need to know?" Kronos handed the notebook of receipts back to Benjamin.

"I wanted to ask if there's anything else you need? I can buy some more, and if not, I can talk to the Harbor, and we can set off tomorrow." Benjamin hadn't expected Kronos to be able to understand those documents; that was his real purpose.

Kronos thought for a moment, then said, "How many Heart of Life do you have now, as I asked you to acquire them before?"

"It weighs seventy pounds in total. I've already sent it to be ground into flour, and I was planning to pick it up later. I'm wondering if that's enough?"

Kronos calculated for a moment, "That's enough, that's fine. I can't think of anything else we need, so let's get ready to set off."

Benjamin nodded. "Alright, I'll go back and retrieve the powder, then I'll go talk to the Harbor about shipping."

After saying this, Benjamin stood up, bowed slightly to Kronos, and left the room.

After Benjamin left, Kronos looked around. He really didn't want to leave this spacious room after living here for so long, mainly because he didn't want to go back to his small room on the ship.

But since the decision had already been made, and they would be moving back there tomorrow, Kronos began packing up his belongings.

He didn't actually have that much stuff. After throwing away a batch of clothes, he bought another batch. He also bought quite a few other things, but most of them were interesting little items that didn't take up much space.

After everything was packed, the luggage was basically the same as when he checked in, except that the suitcase was a little heavier.

Gner came to see Kronos midway through the journey, intending to ask Benjamin why he had come.

Upon entering the house and seeing the situation inside, I was pretty much right about what had happened.

The next morning, after checking out, the two loaded their luggage onto the Inn's carriage and headed to the Harbor.

As soon as we entered the Harbor, we could see the Fleet that had already finished resting and repairing in the distance.

After returning to his original ship, Kronos's journey began once again.

The next destination is the Southern Continent; the entire fleet will dock at Gulai in the colony of the Kingdom of Rune in the Southern Continent.

This will be a week-long sea voyage with no stops for resupply or rest.

Furthermore, in pursuit of maximizing profits, the entire Fleet did not replenish much of its fresh supplies at Bayam.

So, for the following week, while resources weren't exactly scarce, it was certainly impossible to get a balanced diet in time.

Benjamin had reminded them of this when they first arrived in Bayam, hoping that Kronos could stockpile some supplies himself.

Kronos didn't really take this to heart, so he didn't pay much attention to it during his days in Bayam.

But Gner remembered, so when he returned to the ship, he had several more boxes filled with things he had specially prepared: canned food of all kinds, meat, vegetables, and fruits—everything imaginable.