Mystery: I Married the Queen of Mystery

Bernadette smiled at Odyss's expression, which looked as if he were about to vomit blood. "It seems you don't know much about sea ships. If it's an ordinary small sea ship, I can sell you one for five or six thousand pounds.

But if you're chased by the navy or the church's ships, don't come back to me for a refund.

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Also, the sea ship you designed will definitely use a large number of spiritual materials, as well as weapons and parts specially customized by 'artisans'. The cost of these things is very high.

Giving you this price is already the cost price."

Odyss scratched his head. Last night, he had just counted his savings, which totaled 13,522 pounds and 7 soli.

Even in Backlund, this was a huge sum of money.

He confidently thought that after buying the ship, he would still have a lot left over.

He didn't expect it to be not enough, short of 1,500 pounds from the "Mysterious Queen's" asking price.

So Odyss smiled and said, "Can it be cheaper?"

"If you don't have enough money, give me as much as you have now, and I can have the shipyard start building it for you." Bernadette said, "After you earn the money, you can make up the balance.

"But it can't be cheaper, the price I quoted can basically only recover the cost."

Odyss pondered for a moment before saying, "Okay, I'll bring you the money tomorrow afternoon, 12,000 pounds first."

He planned to keep more than a thousand pounds in case of any extra expenses.

Bernadette sat on the sofa in the study and asked, "What are your plans after the ship is built?"

"Of course, it's to sail my own ship and travel the sea." Odyss had already planned this. Now that he was finally free, he definitely wanted to fulfill his previous pirate dream: "Encounter pirates and strike them, encounter merchant ships and plunder them, living a carefree pirate life.

"Of course, it may be necessary to hang the flag of your pirate group, and I can turn over a portion of the spoils to you."

Bernadette smiled: "You are very aware, well, the other captains under my command have to turn over half of the spoils to me, I only want one-tenth from you.

"But as an exchange condition, if there are any technical problems with the new ship, you must come back immediately to help solve them, and you cannot refuse."

Odyss nodded: "No problem."

If he hung the flag of the "Mysterious Queen" pirate group, ordinary pirates would not dare to attack him, which would save him a lot of trouble. For him, this was a very cost-effective deal.

Bernadette patiently added: "Also, even for a small sea ship, you need to recruit a first mate, a second mate, a navigator, two helmsmen, and six sailors.

"You also need to equip several gunners and riflemen, as well as eight to twelve looters who dare to climb enemy ships."

Odyss calculated: "A small sea ship also needs more than twenty crew members?"

"This is the minimum configuration." Bernadette said, "If it's an ordinary small sea ship, a pirate group of this size wouldn't dare to rob even a medium-sized armed merchant ship.

"However, the ship you designed definitely cannot be measured by the standards of a small ship.

"But because of its small size, it cannot accommodate too many combat personnel, so your so-called 'carefree pirate life' is more likely to be constantly avoiding other pirates, and only able to rob when the time is right.

"Oh, right, I must tell you that if you plan to be a pirate with a small sea ship, it will be difficult to recruit crew members.

"Even if you tell them it's a new type of ship, no experienced adventurers or pirates will apply."

Odyss pondered for a moment: "I do have a way to solve this. You should have 'artisans' among your subordinates, right? I need to order a batch of special parts and items from him.

"I also need to order a large batch of parts and products from the foundry on the island."

Bernadette said generously: "I will have Elia take you to the 'Artisans' Guild' on the island, and have the president recommend the best 'artisans' to you.

"As for the order to the foundry, you can write clearly the purpose, draw the drawings, and let Elia communicate with the foundry, or you can communicate with their designers yourself."

Odyss was a little surprised: "You actually have an 'Artisans' Guild'?"

Bernadette smiled: "At sea, many wild 'artisans' need some protection, otherwise they can easily become high-level prisoners controlled by pirates.

"I can provide them with some protection, and I can give them a steady stream of orders, so more and more 'artisans' come to me.

"When four or five 'artisans' gather here, they form a 'guild'. Currently, this 'guild' has more than thirty members. Of course, they are not all 'artisans'. There are also some 'low-sequence' Beyonders among them, who are just hoping to find an opportunity to become 'artisans' there."

Odyss smiled and thought: I have mastered a new channel.

… …

Backlund, Cherwood Borough, Moming Street, Hugh Dilys and Forsi’s new residence.

The New Year has just passed, and Hugh, who was preparing to go out to take on a mission, habitually glanced at the mailbox after dressing neatly and going out.

In theory, no one knows their new address, and no one will send greeting cards or letters of New Year's blessings.

But Hugh saw a thick letter. She took it out and looked at it. It was a letter for herself, but there was no sender's signature.

Returning to the living room, Hugh found a small knife and cut open the envelope.

At this time, Forsi, who came out in her nightgown to get a drink of water, saw Hugh and asked drowsily: "Is it noon already? Are you back for lunch?"

Saying this, she yawned greatly: "Why do I still feel like I haven't woken up? Let's go out and buy something to eat, and I'll cook dinner tonight."

Hugh, who had already read a few lines, raised the letter in her hand and said: "This is a letter from the 'Leader', he gave me my first mission."

"Oh?" Forsi felt awake instantly: "What does he want you to do? It's not to accompany him through lonely nights, is it?"

Hugh looked at her friend helplessly: "He wants me to be the new 'Leader'."

Forsi was stunned for two or three seconds before saying: "You… are you kidding me? Isn't he afraid that under your wise leadership, the Esoteric Research Society will only have two or three members left after a month?"

Hugh rolled her eyes without any ladylike demeanor: "Am I that bad? At least half of the members can be left."

Forsi smiled, leaned over and asked: "Why does the 'Leader' want to do this?"

"He said he had to leave Backlund because of some things." Hugh continued to read: "He also told me in the letter how to stabilize most of the members at the first gathering.

"And tell me how to cultivate my sensitivity to information… Goodness, just these experiential things are very valuable information.

"Behind… Well, behind is also the general situation of the members, phew… With this information, I really have the confidence to hold a meeting."

Forsi looked at the thick letter in Hugh's hand: "To be honest, if I hadn't seen the 'Leader' and knew that you had already sworn allegiance to him, I wouldn't believe you if you still said there was nothing between you."

Hugh smiled: "Do you believe it now?"

"Not completely." Forsi scratched her messy hair: "Even if you swore allegiance to him, he doesn't have to take care of you so much."

Hugh raised her chin: "Maybe he saw the potential in me."

Forsi "Hmm" said: "The 'Leader' has really good eyesight. Your potential is hidden so deeply, but he was able to notice it."

"That's right." Hugh smiled before feeling that Forsi's words seemed a little off.

But today she didn't plan to go out to take on a mission, and prepared to study the information provided by the "Leader" carefully at home.

In the evening, just as Hugh and Forsi were preparing dinner, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Hugh saw a carriage with the "Mechanical Holy Emblem" outside the window, and knew that the contact person mentioned in the "Leader's" letter had arrived, so she hurried to open the door.

Outside the door was Max, with hard facial lines: "Ladies, sorry to bother you, I believe you have received the 'Leader's' letter, right?"

"Yes." Hugh gave way at the door: "Please come in."

Max entered the house, took off his hat casually: "Miss Hugh Dilys, I am your contact person. If you need help, you can go to the Backlund Mechanical Research Society to find me, or send me a telegram.

"If you have important information, you can write a letter to inform me. If it is particularly urgent, you can go to the Research Society to find me."

Hugh invited Max to sit down at the dining table: "Okay."

Without a single mistake, one first one hair, one inner one content, one in one look!

Max took off his windbreaker again, hung it on the hanger, came to the dining chair and sat down, glanced at Forsi who was busy in the kitchen.

Hugh immediately understood what the other party meant, and said: "This is my good friend, don't worry about her betraying me."

Max "Hmm" said before saying: "Let's determine a code. If we meet, I say 'The wind of Backlund', you say 'The stone in the Tussock River', it proves that everything is normal and we can make contact.

"If there is no code, it proves that it is abnormal…"

Then Max talked about how to leave codes in telegrams and letters, and Hugh wrote them down carefully one by one.

Forsi in the kitchen thought: The church's measures to contact the line and verify the authenticity of the information are no less than those of the Abraham family.

After Max finished talking about the precautions, he asked: "When do you plan to hold the first gathering?"

"Next week." Hugh said according to the "Leader's" instructions.

Max nodded: "I will pay attention to the GG column of the , and I will bring people to protect you at the first few gatherings."

"Thank you!" Hugh thanked him and then asked, "Why did 'Chief' leave Backlund?"

Max paused for a moment before saying, "You'll find out later."

Then he bid farewell, and Hugh saw him to the door.

......

Lasha Island, Emerald Palace.

Eight o'clock in the morning, Odyss finally stopped dressing like a local and instead wore an Intis-style shirt and trousers, with a large cloth bag on his back.

In the Kingdom of Loen, it was still the dead of winter.

But Lasha Island, in the tropics, never had a winter, so the clothing worn here could be relatively thin.

Many locals even wore only shorts, but people from the Northern Continent, even the unemployed, pirates, and adventurers, wore trousers and tops in this temperature.

So it was immediately obvious who were the colonists and who were the locals.

At the side door of the Emerald Palace, Odyss waited for Ailiya, who had also brought two "sedan chairs."

The so-called "sedan chair" was a chair with two wooden poles attached, carried by two locals walking through the streets.

This was a characteristic "transportation tool" of the Misty Sea colonies, because in these places, the locals were the cheapest labor, even cheaper than cattle and horses.

The two of them got into the "sedan chairs" and moved forward together.

Ailiya introduced, "The circulating currencies on Lasha Island, or rather, throughout the Misty Sea, are Feilkins and Coppers. I don't know if you had any understanding of Intis currency before?

"1 Feilkin is 100 Coppers. Converting it to Loen currency, approximately 24 Feilkins equals 1 pound."

Odyss looked at the exotic street in front of him: "So, the value of 1 Feilkin is less than 1 sol, and 1 Copper is roughly equal to one-tenth of a penny."

He smiled and said, "This is a more humane currency structure. After all, in Backlund, the price of many things is less than a quarter of a penny."

Then Odyss commented, "The value of a penny is still too high."

Ailiya nodded: "That's right."

Odyss then asked, "Where should I go to exchange some local currency for gold pounds?"

Ailiya pointed to a building with a golden facade and luxurious decorations: "That's a bank opened by 'Queen'. You can exchange currency there, but there's an 8% handling fee."

Odyss was taken aback. That meant that for every 1 pound he exchanged, he would have to pay Bernadette about 1 sol and 8 pence in handling fees!

This was about 3% higher than normal banks.

After calculating the handling fee, Odyss realized, "'Queen' even has a bank?"

"Yes." Ailiya smiled and said, "This archipelago is a small country!"

This was a little beyond Odyss's expectations. He thought to himself: But the economy and culture are highly overlapping with Intis, more like an Intis colony with Bernadette as the governor.

Ailiya looked at the buildings on both sides of the street and added, "The architecture of Lasha Island is basically dominated by the Intis style. Most of the pirates and adventurers here are also of Intis nationality."

"Oh, right, people here basically speak Intis. I've prepared a talisman for you that will allow you to master Intis language and Intis writing in the next three months."

As she spoke, she handed Odyss a bronze talisman: "The incantation is 'Knowledge'."

Odyss smiled and said, "Communication is indeed a very crucial issue."

He took the talisman, studied it carefully, and then said in Ancient Hermes, "Knowledge!"

The talisman in Odyss's hand suddenly emitted a faint bronze light. The light rippled out, and Odyss felt that many unfamiliar words and pronunciations had appeared in his mind.

Soon, these words and pronunciations combined with his original memories, forming a resonance. Odyss immediately understood how to speak Intis and also understood Intis writing.

The talisman in his hand completely lost its luster, without its original bright color, and became an ordinary piece of scrap copper.

Odyss exclaimed, "This is extraordinary convenience."