Chapter 346.
Chapter 346 – Landing
The “Haiyan” has stopped.
When this terrible rusher stopped, it had almost turned into a pile of debris under the continuous bombardment of artillery fire, the original hull structure has long been gone, not even a piece of intact deck or building wreckage, the torn hull and internal material like a splash of the sea surface, floating between the broken wreckage slowly spreading black mud, the remnants of the unextinguished flames burned between these fragments, dirty smoke rolling up. The remaining unextinguished flames burned between these fragments, and the filthy smoke rose.
In the path where the Sea Sparrow had charged, there were all those strange substances that looked like mud – the ominous black color outlined a band of more than ten nautical miles in the sea water, as if some kind of soft-bodied creatures had left behind disgusting mucus when they came to shore and crawled, and slowly drifted with the wind and waves on the sea surface, and did not persist for a long time.
The hissing of the coast defense guns stopped, and the strong smell of smoke filled the entire coastline, Lister stared fixedly at the burning wreckage on the distant sea for a long time before he dared to be sure that the thing had really come to a complete stop, and broke the silence hesitantly, “It’s over?”
“…… Or maybe it’s just the beginning,” Agatha’s voice was slightly raspy, a pale shimmering light flickered under her eyes from time to time, and despite the fact that the Sea Petrel had ceased its activities, she was still unsettlingly Even though the “Sea Petrel” has stopped moving, she is still uneasily observing the scene in the spirit world to make sure that there is still something in the wreckage moving towards the city-state, “Don’t forget, the Sea Petrel is the one that has problems after returning from the Dagger Island.”
Lister’s expression became very ugly.
“When was the last time a message came back from that island?”
“Just a few hours ago, the telegraphic transmission indicated that everything was normal on the island,” Lister’s brow furrowed, “and there was never any problem with the church’s spirit world communication.”
“…… Blockade Dagger Island, Mr. Colonel, and from now on, don’t believe anything that comes out of that island,” Agatha exhaled a soft, cloudy breath, “I’ll return to the cathedral now, and I’m sure further blockade orders will be issued soon.”
“Thank you for your help, Ms. Agatha.”
“All for the peace of the city-state,” Agatha said softly, reciting a short motto from the Death Canon, “All things in order.”
……
Half an hour ago.
From a great distance came thunderous sounds, one after another, even one more dense than the other, which, judging from the direction in which they came, seemed to be near the coast on the eastern side of the city-state.
Duncan raised his head and looked at the sky in the direction from which the sound came, and vaguely could see what seemed to be clouds rising up over there.
“What is that sound?” Alice held her head a little nervously and looked at Duncan bemusedly, “Is it thunder?”
“It sounds like the movement of a giant cannon,” Vanna on the other side of the room but paled slightly, “A shore defense cannon? What’s happening, why are there shore defense guns firing in unison ……”
Duncan, on the other hand, wore a thoughtful expression on his face, his first thought was the letter of report he had handed over to the old caretaker, and the next thing that came to mind was the direction of Dagger Island – had he really been right?
The sound of wings suddenly rang out from nearby, and a fat, unimpressive-looking pigeon flapped its wings and rose up from the shadows of a nearby building, quickly flying into the distance.
“No need to worry, I sent Aye to check on the situation,” Duncan said, then looked up at the house in front of him, which seemed to be slightly older, “Go on about the house.”
Immediately, Maurice, who was off to the side, coughed lightly twice and continued the introduction that had been interrupted a moment ago – although the faint roar from the distance was still going on, there was clearly nothing to worry about since the Captain was so calm, “This house was chosen by Vanna and I from four rental houses –The other three were either in places too close to the center of the city for easy movement, or the houses themselves were in too poor a condition to be habitable, right now this one, although it’s also a bit older, the landlord has taken good care of the house, and it’s quite clean inside.
“This house is 44 Oak Street, next door is Fireplace Street, the landlord has another residence over on Fireplace Street, and will not be disturbed on weekdays, there are paths connecting the two blocks, and the chapel is located in a small square between the two blocks, some distance away from here ……
“We’re on a short-term lease, the average daily rent is a bit more expensive than a long term lease, but we can check out at any time, and we’ve paid half a month’s rent so far – Vanna and I have already met the landlord, who is a rather nice, cultured lady, and who, after learning of my status as a traveling scholar, graciously sent over some of the necessities of life over ……”
Duncan listened to the old gentleman’s careful introduction while he surveyed the temporary landing in front of him.
It was a single building with the typical features of a northern city-state, its grayish-white facade was slightly rough and coated with a porous mortar that kept it warm, the house had two floors with narrow windows, wall sconces and mailbox openings next to the black front door, its roof was high and steep, covered in black shingles to allow for the snow to melt and fall off, and the steam and gas lines ran from the thick pipes over the block and were fed along the walls of the hill into the the interior of the building.
Not much of a luxurious abode, but more than adequate as a temporary stopping place – even a little more spacious than Prender’s small, two-story building that functioned as both store and housing.
Arranging for Maurice and Vanna to take care of the landing problem was the right choice – no one else on the ship would be able to handle it.
Maurice stepped forward and fished the key out of his pocket to open the door, followed by Duncan with Alice. Entering the door is the entrance to take off shoes and change clothes, and then there is a fairly spacious living room, the walls are plastered with slightly yellowed light pattern wallpaper, the dining room is connected to the living room, there is another bedroom is located next to the dining room, the staircase leading to the second floor is facing the door, it seems that most of the bedrooms are placed on the second floor.
The floor was slightly loose, emitting a slight creaking sound that symbolized the passage of time, the simple tables and chairs glowed in the sunlight, not much dust could be seen, and on the table in the dining room could be seen a bouquet of brightly colored flowers – obviously fake flowers made of cloth or plastic.
“It’s also from the landlord, and it’s said to be a rule on this side of the Frost that landlords give new tenants a bouquet of flowers that won’t wither in the winter as a sign of health and safety.”
“…… Rather every place has marvelous rules,” Duncan said with a slight smile, “This place isn’t bad …… and it’s far from the main road. It should usually be a bit quieter, too.”
As he said that, he raised his head and looked up to the second floor, “Seems like a good place to pick up Nina and Shirley for homework, they’re already complaining about being bored on the ship.”
The corners of Vanna’s mouth twitched for a moment, “…… Shirley may indeed be complaining of boredom, but I’m guessing her purpose isn’t to come to town and do her homework.”
Duncan waved his hand, “Doesn’t matter, it’s about time she put in some effort – now that Dog can even roughly read a newspaper, and Shirley is still wrestling with the spelling of twelve common vegetables, I’m deeply worried about her future, she won’t be able to catch up with even Alice at this rate.”
Alice, who wasn’t really any better than Shirley on the side, scratched her hair and revealed a harmless smile, “Hey ……”
Duncan grimaced, “I’m not complimenting you – the fact that you and Shirley combined know more words than a dog isn’t something to be proud of.”
Alice was stuck for a moment, seeming to think hard about whether or not she and Shirley combined knew more words than a dog, and just as this was happening, the faint roar that kept coming from the distance finally tapered off.
“The sound has stopped ……,” said Vanna, listening sideways to the movement in the distance.
Duncan didn’t say anything, but only sensed what Aye had detected in the distance through the vague mental connection.
After such a long time of bonding and adapting, the connection between him and Aey was now far tighter and clearer than it had been at the very beginning, and when focused enough, he could even share Aey’s vision as well as some of his other perceptions, as well as use Aey as a jumping-off point to transfer some of his power without his own body going out of its way.
In the eastern harbor area of Frost, the chubby white dove was standing on a tower, her small round eyes looking one at the smoke-filled sea and one at the harbor.
The soldiers running around in the harbor and the black “oil” on the surface of the sea were reflected in its eyes, which were slightly jumping with green firelight.
“No need to worry for now,” Duncan said, withdrawing his ‘sight’ into the distance and nodding gently to Maurice and Vanna, “an invasion, but one that has been stopped by the Frosts.”
Vanna blushed slightly, “An invasion?!”
“From Dagger Island, if I’m not mistaken – the Frostbite should have realized the seriousness of the problem by now, and it shouldn’t be that easy to get anything out of that island again,” Duncan’s tone was rather calm, however, ” Now that Tirion has also arrived near Dagger Island, his Sea Mist fleet will tighten the mood of the Frost authorities even further – in any case, when the whole city is under martial law, the Annihilists hiding in the city will definitely make a move, and it will be much easier to find them out then.”
Just then, a knock on the door suddenly sounded, interrupting the conversation in the living room.
Duncan looked at the door with some surprise.
A guest just moved in?
“I’ll get it,” Maurice said, striding to the door and opening it only to let out a surprised voice, “You’re ……”
A little girl in a thick white coat and woolen hat was standing in the doorway.
(Mom yeah!)
(End of chapter)