Chapter 376 – Reflections

Chapter 376 – Reflection
Eddie boarded the boat to the Sea Mist, and the ghastly-faced undead sailors looked him up and down around him like he was a rare animal.

It made this Mr. Machine Secretary squirm and even a little bit creepy.

“I’m surprised you asked to come alone,” the swollen-bodied undead sailor spoke up, a sigh in his tone, “Our captain could have said that three people were allowed on board.”

“There’s no difference between three and one,” Eddie shook his head, “If General Tirion had allowed me to take the whole team with me, of course I would have gone with all my advisors and assistants, but he only allowed three people …… that’s no different than if I had going by myself is no different.”

“You can bring two soldiers for courage.” An undead sailor laughed beside him, a hissing sound coming from his leaky throat.

“I don’t need bravery, soldiers don’t help.” Eddie shook his head in a serious manner.

His attitude made the undead sailors feel rather bored, and someone muttered from the boat, “…… posturing officer.”

A few moments later, Tirian met the emissary from the city-state – a man in his thirties or forties wearing a tuxedo, gold-rimmed glasses, and meticulously combed hair, looking as if he had been sipping tea in his office a second before.

Oily and greasy, and he had come alone.

This made the big pirate, who had prepared himself for this, quite surprised, and even had a twisted feeling of having no place to go with his strength – he had thought that the first person to board the Sea Mist would at least be a member of the military.

But soon, he could probably guess the intention of this arrangement by the Frost Authorities:
The relationship between the Sea Mist Fleet and the city-state was already tense enough, with the two sides facing each other over a powder keg for fifty years, and at today’s sensitive point in time, it didn’t make much sense to send a few more officers over to deal with them – sending a clerk over would at least show a hint of friendliness.

This Mr. Clerk was obviously a little nervous.

On the deck of the Sea Mist, Tirian looked up and down at the “city-state diplomat” in front of him, he could clearly distinguish the other party’s calm eyes and the rhythm of his breathing – this gentleman’s calmness is already very good, but unfortunately this is his skill. Unfortunately, he was able to deal with ordinary people, but not with a captain who was in charge of an army of undead.

Tirion could even hear every beat of the diplomat’s heart.

Eddie was also observing the great pirate in front of him-observing the man who had once defended the city-state, but was now the source of horrific legends in the hearts of almost all Frostbite people.

Tall, strong, silent, majestic, with a scrutinizing and overlooking look in his one eye, every glance seemed like a judgment.

In front of this big pirate, it seems that even breathing has become a very laborious thing.

“Admiral Tirion,” Eddie tried to take two deep breaths to make himself stand up straight and meet the big pirate’s scrutinizing gaze, “On behalf of the Frost City State, I would like to send you greetings – it is a pleasure to be aboard this legendary warship! .”

“After half a century,” Tirian gazed calmly at the man in front of him, who was a head shorter than himself, “Frost has finally worked up the courage to speak to me?”

Eddie didn’t care about the provocative meaning in the other party’s words, he just continued to speak, “I came here with a mission – the entanglement between Frost and the Sea Mist Fleet does exist, but that’s not what we’re going to talk about today, you should be aware of the trouble that the city-state is experiencing right now, and we just want to know what the Sea Mist Fleet’s intentions are! –Admiral Tirian, what do you want, and what do you want to do?”

“Admiral …… put away that title, it doesn’t please me,” Tirian gave Eddie a faint look and slowly walked towards the edge of the ship’s side not far away, “As for what I want to do… . isn’t it obvious enough? I’m blockading the city-state that’s just about to fall – preventing your woes from spreading out and harming my ‘trading partners’ on the cold, cold sea.”

“Trading partners?”

“I see no problem with that designation – they pay the price, and the Sea Mist Fleet protects them on the Cold Sea,” Tirian turned back, “don’t you think that’s a very good trade relationship? ”

The corners of Eddie’s mouth twitched slightly, but he quickly hid that change, he glanced around at the undead sailors, before he slowly stepped to Tirian’s side, “You mean …… you just want to help Frost control this crisis?”

“A bit self-serving to understand, but it doesn’t matter if you guys would like to think so,” Tirian said casually, “I don’t really need you guys to do anything, as long as you don’t mess things up for me.”

Eddie was silent for a couple seconds before finally speaking cautiously, “…… Can I know why you’re stepping in to help?”

Tirion braced his hands on the guardrail at the edge of the ship’s side and didn’t look back, “The reason is important?”

“I need a reason that will put my superiors and coworkers at ease.”

“Ah, Mr. Eddy, so you actually need a reason that will put people’s minds at ease,” Tirian smiled as he turned his head and gazed into Eddy’s eyes, “I’ll tell you the reason then – it’s just father’s orders. ”

Eddie froze.

After a few moments, his expression fleshed out in horror.

“It looks like you thought of it, yes, my father’s orders, just pretend he sent them from subspace, he told me to send troops to surround your poor little city-state – so go back to your superiors and tell them that the Sea Mist Fleet is carrying out the will of the people from subspace,” Ti Ryan’s tone was rather pleasant, “and then they can have their baby sleep.”

The pleasant expression on the great pirate’s face was so obvious that Eddie finally reacted – or thought he did – with a sudden sigh of relief, raising a hand to wipe the fine sweat from his forehead, “That’s not a very good joke you’re making at all, Tirian will . …Captain, I see what you mean, and since you don’t want to explain much, I can stop asking.”

Tirion looked steadily at the Frost Ambassador in front of him for a moment, then tsked. No one believes the truth these days.

But he was still in a very happy mood.

It was always a pleasant thing to watch this serious senior Frost official make a fuss in front of himself.

“You may leave, Mr. Eddy,” he said rather politely, “there is no dinner prepared for you on board.”

Eddie visibly froze, “Huh? Wait, I’m still ……”

“You still have a lot of things you want to ask, such as the next plan of the Sea Mist Fleet, such as about the Dagger Island, such as the Queen and the Subterranean plan back then, but unfortunately I don’t have too much to say to Frost,” Tirian had a calm face, “You’ve already achieved your goal and accomplished your mission, go back and Tell your superiors that if anything comes up after that, you can contact them directly by wireless telegraphy, so you don’t have to send someone – any of the open bands and we’ll be able to receive it.”

Eddie was stunned, followed by an immediate response, a hint of joy spreading across his face, “Ah, yes, Captain Tirian, thank you very much for your understanding ……”

Saying this he paused for a moment, as if suddenly remembering something, and spoke again in a panic, “Ah, wait, there’s one more question, one last question!”

Tirian raised his eyebrows, “Oh?”

“About …… the mysterious light signal you made to our scout boat earlier,” Eddie said with a slightly embarrassed expression while weighing his words, “we deciphered it for a long time after we returned to ……”

Tirion gazed silently at Mr. Messenger in front of him until the other man’s expression grew more and more awkward under his gaze, and then he suddenly smiled.

“The sailors were negligent in their maintenance, and the signaling was just malfunctioning.”

Eddie: “……?”

Tirion finally bursts out laughing pleasantly.

The expression on Eddie’s face changed several times as his hand brushed against the buttons on his tuxedo, but gradually, he smiled back, laughing along with Tirian.

Tirian, however, suddenly stopped smiling.

He reached out and patted the Frost Ambassador on the shoulder.

“They’ve sent a very nice man, Mr. Eddy – I’m almost tempted to invite you to stay on board for dinner.”

“But I must return to the ship in time,” Eddie stopped laughing as well, and shook his head slowly, “too many people’s nerves are on edge, and we can’t afford to continue to focus all our energies on being wary of each other and second-guessing each other.”

Tirian said nothing, but with a slight nod, he extended his hand to the side in a gesture of farewell.

With the same slight nod, Eddie straightened his gown and bowtie and prepared to walk to the ladder on the other side of the deck.

But just then, out of the corner of his eye, he seemed to see something, and his steps stopped for a moment.

This Frost Messenger came to the side of the ship in surprise and looked at the sea below, “…… Captain Tirian, what is that thing?”

“Hmm?” Tirian frowned and also looked at the direction of Eddie’s finger in confusion.

He saw the thing – it was a shadow.

Below the surface of the sea, where it was impossible to judge the depths, a hazy shadow was crossing the vast area between the Sea Mist and several frigates, moving at a very fast speed into the distance.

The shadow was illusory and transparent, like the reflection of a ship cast in the water, yet it was impossible to see any structure on the ship, and Tirian stared at the thing for half a day, but only felt that it seemed like the bottom of …… a ship.

It was as if there was a ship upside down in the water that was sailing below the surface.

Tirion raised his head and looked in the direction the shadow was sailing.

It was the direction where Dagger Island once stood.

(End of chapter)