The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

Just as there is no single common name for the New World, so there is no single common name for the ocean between the Old and New World.

In fact, the issue of the name had been proposed as early as the completion of the first phase of the Great Migration. It has been hundreds of years ago, but the name has not been settled after hundreds of discussions until now. The meeting to discuss this ocean name has become an international meeting held regularly every year, so now it seems that countries and churches are no longer eager to finalize this name.

The reason why this name is so difficult to decide is mainly due to the interests of all parties involved. Everyone wants to name this ocean according to their own ideas, so that at least in name they have the ownership of this sea area.

This is true of the country, and so is the church, because for the church, the naming of a certain area means the expansion of the theocracy and the expansion of the church's power. No one is willing to give up such a large interest.

For the folks, it doesn't matter whether this ocean has a name or not. Through time and various stories, this ocean has long been divided into areas by the folks, and a place that will not be recorded in any public documents has been set up. , It is just a customary name passed down by word of mouth among the people.

Although there are various folk names for different sea areas of this ocean, there are three names that remain unchanged. The sea areas represented by these three names also divide this ocean into three, and the folk names This division is also recognized.

Among them, the sea area close to the coastline of the New World and the island chain of the Pirate Bay is called the Sea of ​​Freedom, also known as the Sea of ​​Pirates. Almost 80% of pirates haunt this sea area. This sea area is also the freest place in the entire world. There are no legal constraints here, and some only have their own strength.

It's just that, with the replacement of steam-powered warships by the sea power countries along the coast of the New World, it is difficult for the pirates in this sea area to sail in this sea area as arrogantly as before, except for a very small number of pirates who still maintain plunder. Most of the pirates have transformed into various part-time smuggling ships like the Hailesa of the Beloved.

On the other side of the ocean, the vast expanse of sea from the coastline to the island chain of Slaver's Bay is known as the Prisoner's Sea.

In the early and mid-term of the Great Migration, the New World needed a lot of labor, and the wages and follow-up benefits that hired laborers needed to pay were too expensive, so slavery began to be re-implemented in various parts of the New World, and the source of slaves was various countries after the wars in the Old World. prisoner of war.

If some countries do not redeem their prisoners of war in time after the war, these prisoners of war will be transported to some islands in the outer island chain by the enemy country, and sold to slave traders who have been squatting here all year round. Hard labor, only a small number of slaves can finally obtain the status of free people, and the rest all died of fatigue and illness. The island chain composed of islands specializing in slave trading is called the slave bay island chain by the people, which corresponds to The Pirate Bay chain of islands.

The sea area between the Slave Bay island chain and the coastline of the Old World is called the Sea of ​​Prisoners, because most of the slaves who were sold were prisoners and prisoners of war of the Old World.

Now the slave bay island chain no longer engages in the slave trade, but has formed several island countries, and these island countries have spared no effort to combat the slave trade industry, even offending some powerful countries in the old continent.

The reason for this is mainly because the island countries established by the Slave Bay island chain were all formed by the slave rebellion in those days. The initial citizens of the country were almost all slaves, so the hatred of the whole country for slave trade has been integrated into the flesh and blood. Among them, slave trade is basically involved, and these countries will not give any possibility of negotiation at all.

The real ocean between the Slave Bay island chain and the Pirate Bay island chain is called the Sea of ​​the Gods by the folks, because there are a lot of mysterious beings as powerful as gods inhabiting this ocean, among them there are people like Daru. Moreover, the adventurers and navigators of the whole world have always only explored the ocean around the front line, and their understanding of this ocean is only superficial, just like human beings understand the gods.

There are now three routes connecting the old and new continents. One is to take the northernmost sea area of ​​the two continents. Because this route can often see icebergs floating on the sea, it is also called the iceberg route. This route is usually not What kind of danger will you encounter? As long as you carefully avoid the icebergs on the water surface and the bottom of the water, and you can reach the safe haven in time when the northern blizzard blows, usually there will be no problems. Generally, as long as the schedule is not too urgent, you will choose to go here routes.

Another route is directly from Golden Island, the easternmost island of the Pirate Bay island chain, across the ocean, and arrives at Liberator Island, the westernmost part of the Slave Bay island chain. This route is also the shortest route, usually as long as the direction is correct, in After sailing at sea for about ten days, you can cross the sea of ​​God's Domain in the middle.

Although this route is still on the edge of the Sea of ​​God's Domain, unlike the iceberg route in the north, this route is already within the scope of the Sea of ​​God's Domain. When sailing in this sea area, you will often encounter some unpredictable things. Dangers, such as dense fog that can cause disorientation, mysterious presences that are terrifyingly powerful, and ghost ships that have sunk in this sea area in the past.

However, although these dangers are terrifying, they can be avoided as long as they are handled carefully. For ships sailing in this sea area, the real danger is the huge storms that ravage the sea. When it comes to storms, unless it is rescued by a god like Daru, there is almost no possibility of survival.

The storms in this sea area are completely different from the storms that appeared in the Sea of ​​Freedom and the Sea of ​​Prisoners. The difference in power between the two is like the difference in combat power between a newly born fragile baby and a battle-tested veteran. , In such a powerful storm, a hundred-meter wave is just normal, is it true that a thousand-meter wave sweeps down, no matter how hard the ship is, it will be smashed into pieces.

Therefore, almost all ships that take this route will choose to go before the storm season and after the storm season is over, because only during this time, there will be no storms on this route, and it is the safest.

As for the last route, it is the newly opened route, which is located at the southern end of the old and new continents. This route is not a public route, but belongs to the largest churches in the world, because this route is made by their gods.

The sea area where this route is located originally did not have any islands, and the route distance is very long. It usually takes about 60 days to complete the voyage. There are many accidents and dangers that may be encountered in the middle. At first, it was just some desperadoes who hoped to make a fortune through smuggling And some fugitives choose to take such a dangerous route in order to avoid being chased and killed, and these people rarely reach the other end of the route alive, and most of them sink to the bottom of the sea accidentally.

Until later, the world's largest churches borrowed the power of the gods through ceremonies such as the descent of the gods, and abruptly pulled out a dozen islands from the bottom of the sea at a dozen key locations on this route. By building these islands into transfer stations and supply points, the danger of this route can be plummeted, and it has also become the exclusive route of these churches.

Most of the ships that take this route are the exclusive fleets of several churches, and there are also some noble cruise ships that are willing to pay high navigation taxes in order to obtain the protection of the church fleets.

The route chosen by Leo's Beloved is not the shortest route in the middle, but the longest route of the Southern Church.

The reason for this choice is not because the storm period is approaching and the intermediate route is unsafe. In fact, there is still about a month before the storm period in the Sea of ​​Gods, which is long enough for the Beloved to go back and forth.

The real reason is that the noble family from a certain country in the Middle Kingdom traveled to the New World with their servants and bodyguards. They asked the ship to take the church route in the south.

If Hailesa had encountered such a situation before, he would not have listened to the passengers' requests. No matter how reasonable the passengers' requests were, he would not change the route he had set before sailing.

But this time he quickly gave up his insistence and chose to obey the passenger's request, all because the passenger produced a toll certificate issued by the church line, and it was the highest level of toll certificate.

With this certificate, the passenger can sail back and forth on the church route without restriction this year, and all the cargo carried does not need to be taxed and inspected separately, and can also request a ship when taking this route. A warship loaded with Church armed forces escorted them.

Undoubtedly, for Hailesa, this toll certificate can make him no longer have to worry about being inspected by anti-smuggling ships. He can freely stop at church routes and those in the Old Continent that are closely related to several major churches. Harbor, which would undoubtedly make his task as easy as playing in the back garden.

So just half a day after the Beloved set off from St. Paulia Port, Hairesa changed the previously planned route, along the Pirate Bay island chain, lost Trident Island, the starting port of the church route in the south, and He changed course without even considering what the other passengers on board might think.

When Beloved changed its course, Leo already knew about it, and even the whole process happened under the surveillance of Leo's spiritual network, and Leo also knew the reason for Hailesa's change of course. A combination lock box that is completely sealed in the mezzanine of the passenger compartment and will never be taken out until it reaches the location.

"Take that box away and teach him a lesson!" Sylvia, who also knew about the change in route, was a little annoyed at the captain's lack of notification and consultation, so she suggested.

Sylvia also knew about such a box from Leo. She was curious about the contents of the box, but the box was made by a special method, and the metal used in the box should be mixed with some metals with special power. The metal makes the outer shell of the box have a very strong interference force, and Leo's mental net cannot penetrate it.

Although, Leo also has other methods to forcibly break open the box, such as the spiritual net fused with the power of the crystal serpent, which is extremely corrosive and permeable, but he did not do this, because he felt that the things in the box should not be anything Good things, if you touch them rashly, you may cause some troubles.

Regarding Sylvia's suggestion, Leo just shook his head with a smile, and said, "Don't you think this pass came too coincidentally? It just so happens that the captain of this ship needs such a pass the most to guarantee the items he smuggled You can avoid the inspection, and this pass appears in front of him, and he can use it at will."

Sylvia couldn't help shaking her head, and said: "How could such a strange coincidence not be noticed, I'm afraid not only us two bystanders could see it, even the captain of this ship should be able to see it, but This matter is not a bad thing for him, so he is more willing to pretend to be deaf and dumb, as if he doesn’t know anything.” Then, she looked at the waves outside the window and said, “What should we do now? Change the boat or... ..."

"We're not in a hurry." Leo responded, "If this route is really created by several gods as the church said, then there must still be traces of those gods on the islands where the gods pulled up from the bottom of the sea. The power, even after so many years, will definitely not dissipate completely, and we can just feel in advance how strong the gods believed by the largest churches are."

Sylvia nodded, this was also the decision she wanted.

In this way, neither Leo nor Sylvia pursued Hai Leisa's unauthorized change of route, and Hai Lei Sa was lucky to escape.

In the evening, Hairessa didn't know whether he was worried that Leo and Sylvia would be held accountable afterwards, or he felt that it was inappropriate for him to change the route without authorization. Someone explained the reason for the route change, and also said that if Leo and the others do not want to take this route, he can also find an ocean-going route for Leo and the others that meets their status requirements and takes the Sea of ​​Gods route when they arrive at the next port. vessel.

Facing Hailesa's voluntary apology, Leo didn't show any emotion, but said very indifferently that he understood, and let the smuggling captain who looked like an honest fisherman leave.

Afterwards, Leo and the others stayed in the cabin and did not come out, but the family in the cabin next door seemed to relax. When the weather was fine, they would run to the deck to enjoy the soft sea breeze and warm sunshine. And some seafood that is difficult to eat inland, just like an ordinary traveler.

It’s just that when the two children of the family were playing, an accident caused the cable buckle on the sail to fall off and hit the top of the two children’s heads. The sailors also did not notice what was going on overhead.

Just when the cable buckle was about to hit the child, an invisible force pushed the cable buckle away and let it fall beside the child, and this invisible force came from the gentleman and nobleman.