Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 23 Cargo Ship Brokers

   Four days later, at a pier on the main island of Taniria Archipelago, Winters, Andre, and Bud were bored and stood on the top floor of the stern to see who could throw the stone farther.

   "You two are blatantly bullying the wounded." Because of the injury to his hand, Winters can only use his left hand to compete, and he currently ranks last.

   "You are allowed to admit defeat, admit it?" Andre swiped vigorously, and a small pebble slid through a graceful arc and landed on the far water.

  Bud didn't say a word. He flipped the stone in his hand, stood on his side, and used the strength of his waist and abdomen to drive his arm to throw it violently. The stone fell on the golden water in the distance, and he couldn't even see where it fell.

   Seeing Bud's new record, Winters began to think about it. He felt that he had to find some materials to make a simple sling to have a chance to make a comeback.

   "Didn't you come out of the monastery? The monk also lost the shot put?" Andre's character was rough, and he thought of what to say.

   "The monk doesn't drop the shot." Bud said with a smile, "But I let the monk let go of the animals."

   Winters sighed, there wasn't that kind of cord that would fit around.

   Warrant Officer Winters is now basically a half-crippled man: the position where Ike smashed his left shoulder has changed from blue to purple, and it hurts when he touches it;

   A hole was pierced by an iron bristle on the sole of his right foot. Since he has not had a fever yet, it is not a big problem. After cleaning the wound, wrap it with a clean cotton cloth to solve it;

   The most frightening thing is the stab wound on the right arm that was left by a lunatic woman from nowhere. After several attempts to stop the bleeding and break away, the wound could not be closed. The flesh was turned outward, bleeding all the time.

  The officers all knew that the wound should be sutured with needles and thread, but no one dared to do it. In the end, it was Major Moritz who ate a bottle of rum and sewed Winters a dozen stitches with a hook and cotton thread.

   The phantom limb pain from the "third hand" eased a lot, but it started to itch again. And itching is worse than pain.

   And Winters still can't use magic, a little concentration will cause a strong phantom limb pain, making him unable to maintain the spellcasting state.

   In one day, Winters went from cadet to warrant officer, plus three wounds and temporary loss of magical abilities.

   "How long has this ship been parked here? Why hasn't it set off yet?" Winters just wanted to hurry home and get some sleep.

  Andre lost his usual energy, and hugged the guardrail dejectedly.

   The ship they boarded was called "Skua", a communication ship under the establishment of the Navy's Inner Sea Fleet. Instead of taking the midshipmen directly home, the Skua carried them eastward across the Gulf of Cenas to the Taniria Islands.

   After arriving at the Taniria Islands, the Skua first waited overnight at the anchorage outside the port. Docked at this pier the next morning. Moreover, it stopped for a day, and there was no movement from the captain.

   Because Rear Admiral Layton strictly prohibited any officers from disembarking, the three Winters could only look at the flowery world on the shore, but could not go down for a stroll. In the end, I was so bored that I stood on the **** and threw rocks.

   "It's fast, it's fast, the freight forwarder will be here soon." The first mate of the Skua climbed to the **** and walked to the three of Winters with a smile.

  The three of Winters looked at each other for a while, wondering if they should salute him. When Winters racked his brains to recall the rank system of the Navy, Bud opened up first: "Who are the cargo brokers you are talking about? Whoever leaves the port and who enters the port is in charge of the cargo broker?"

  The first mate did not answer the question first, but turned a few yellow fruits and handed them to the three of Winters: "Tast it, the specialty of Taniria."

  The three of Winters had never seen this thing before, and took the fruit suspiciously. I dare not eat it, and I don't know how to eat it.

   "You can eat it directly, or peel it and eat it." The first officer took out another fruit and showed the three little warrant officers how to eat it. He peeled off the outer skin of the fruit, revealing the yellow flesh, and it was gone after a few bites.

   Winters also learned to peel off the skin of the first mate and took a tentative bite of the pulp. Sweet, juicy and delicious. He ate a fruit in a few bites, and wanted to eat another.

   "What's this fruit called? I've never eaten it." Winters saw this fruit for the first time.

   "Without a name, the locals call it 'Sweet Water', a berry from the island."

   "I've never eaten it, and I've never seen it before." Andre added, and Bud nodded. Apparently the two of them also liked the fruit.

   "It's hard to store, and it will rot in less than a day after being picked from the tree." The first mate said lightly: "So except for the locals on the island, only us sailors can eat it."

"What were you asking just now? What does a cargo ship broker do?" The first officer took out some fruits from his back pocket and distributed it to the three of them, explaining seriously: "The cargo ship broker helps ship owners sell or buy goods. We don't have time to sell the cargo in the cabin bit by bit, and we don't have time to buy it slowly, so we go to the cargo ship broker. They are all related and can empty a ship or fill a ship in one go. ship."

   "Wait..." Winters was keenly aware of the conflict of the information he had obtained: "Aren't you a warship of the Inner Sea Navy? Why do you still need to find a freight broker to sell and buy goods?"

   "Hahahaha" Winters' question made the first officer laugh: "How can we be the Navy, look at me, like a naval officer? Look at the Skua, like a warship?"

   "Isn't the Skull a naval communication ship?"

   "It's just a name, the Navy is the small ship owner of the Skua."

   "Then why did the Skua take us home?"

   "For the work entrusted by the navy, we usually do some passenger work in addition to cargo. Just like this time, aren't we carrying a few other people besides you?"

   Winters finally understood what those men aboard the Skua who were neither army nor sailors were doing. Those few had little communication with the trainee officers. He originally thought that those people were the shipowners, but he didn't expect that they were just passengers.

   "No wonder." Winters sighed: "I wonder why the Navy's warships are so small?"

   In Winters' opinion, the Skua is indeed not that big. Winters has seen many merchant ships that are much larger than the Skua.

  The Skua has only two decks, the top one is the open deck, there is a deck in the hull, and then it goes down to the bottom of the boat.

   And because the freeboard of the Skua is not high, the second deck is already below the waterline, so the cabin under the open deck can leave a small vent at most, and there is no way to open the window, and naturally it is impossible to erect artillery.

   Not only did this little ship not have a dedicated artillery deck, it also had no artillery. Winters wandered around the boat for a few laps, not to mention the cannons, not even seeing the cannonballs, and now he finally understood what was going on.

"The Navy didn't have a few real warships. They were all commercial ships like the Skua." The first officer was a little unhappy when others said the Skua was not good. He tried his best to cite the advantages of the Skua: "The Skua The Gull is actually not that small, is it small enough to hold a hundred or ten tons of cargo? And the Skua's cables are well designed and easy to handle, and a dozen sailors can handle it."

   "A dozen sailors will be able to serve them well, so if you squeeze more than 30 people, you will be squeezed to death." Andre fired another shot.

  The cabin of the Skua is used to carry cargo, and theoretically it can also live in people, but it is not ventilated, the lighting is poor, and the living conditions are extremely bad.

  Because of this, another layer of the bow and two layers of the stern were built on the open deck to improve the living environment of the sailors.

  The second floor of the stern building is an independent small room, which was originally the captain's, but the highest position on the ship is obviously Major General Layton, and the major admiral naturally occupies the best single cabin unceremoniously;

  The first floor of the stern of the ship is a large room for Winters, the wounded casters;

  Major Moritz and the captain shared accommodation in the forecastle;

  Other apprentice officers could only squeeze in the cabin with the sailors. After leaving the rainy area, the warrant officers simply learned from the sailors to sleep on the open deck.

  Because of the hard life at sea, when Hailan students went home, they always traveled by land and never took a boat. Taking a boat is not only risky, but the journey experience is also poor. If you walk by land, you can stay at the turnover station and eat and drink all the way to get home.

   As a result, this year, he actually told the students that "the road is not easy to walk" and let the students go back by boat. The fun trip has turned into a torment trip, and every time I think about it, all the trainee officers are enraged.

   "Although the place is a little smaller, the Skua is very fast." The first mate was still insisting.

   "No matter how fast the speed is, what's the use of going in the wrong direction?" Andrei insisted.

The first mate was defeated: "No way, you can't make any money by running the direct route between Hailan City and Guitu City. Merchant ships in the Senas Sea are all running on the triangle route. Don't worry, you can directly pull anchor from here. I went to Hailan City."

   "Pu, u, u" Major Moritz also climbed up the poop. He was here to ask the mate to help buy wine. Major Moritz was also unable to disembark because of Major General Layton's restraining order. Drinking it on his own plus "medicinal use" for the spellcaster trainee, his rum stock was emptied two days ago.

  Without the water of life, the major's spirit was obviously sluggish these days.

"Mr. Mate, by the way, can you replace the fresh water bucket on your ship with a new one? The walls of the bucket are all green and hairy. I feel slippery and greasy. Is drinking this kind of water not afraid of getting sick?" Major Moritz has not been for two days. He can't drink any liquid, without wine, he can't drink the fresh water reserved on the ship.

   Hearing the major's description, Winters felt a chill, because he was drinking fresh water from the ship these days.

   "Okay, okay, I'll let the sailor brush the bucket." The first officer hurried away.

   On the water near the pier, there were many vendors with small rafts selling local fruits and vegetables to the sailors. The major whistled and greeted a small raft.

Major    made a gesture, indicating that he had to. No one could see where he took out a small silver coin, but when he flicked it lightly, the silver coin accurately fell into the hands of the merchant.

   "Go down and bring him food and drink, and give everyone a point." The major obviously had some withdrawal reaction: "I'm going to rest for a while, and wake me up after I buy the wine."

   He threw out a silver coin just now, but at this time the major had another silver coin in his hand. He played with the silver coin unconsciously and left the poop.

   "Conjurer?" Andre stuck his head out and glanced at the hawker, then looked back at the major: "The silver coins he gave out won't be changed by him, right?"

   "How could that be? It's just another one, but I think throwing a coin into someone's arms is very powerful."

   Later that day, the Skua emptied the iron and leather from Guito, refilled with sugar and tobacco in the Thane Islands, and sailed for the sea blue.

   (end of this chapter)