...
When the wind detector on the Oxin Silver Flame first picked up that faint signal source, the crew did not immediately realize that they had hit the jackpot.
The skies over the nearby Sky Sea were filled with airships searching for those people. Yesterday, they had encountered ships of the Descendants of Flor twice, and ships from other guilds three times. There was even a ship from the Rainbow Alliance.
The one hundred twenty thousand points were supposed to account for most of the guild's remaining points for tasks this fourth quarter. It seemed that at least this year, the alliance wouldn't have to worry about point expenditures before the end of the season. However, it remained uncertain whether they would be short of points for any sudden tasks later on.
This was why the local guilds in Nogness were acting so crazily; at current market prices, about fifty thousand points could buy a ticket to the Second World.
Of course, a guild with average strength wouldn't recklessly train a few Invokers to go to the Second World, but one hundred twenty thousand points were enough to do many things.
For example, it could significantly boost a guild's ranking within the alliance, greatly increasing its power.
The captain of the Oxin Silver Flame was named Elan Dravir, a native. However, this ship did not belong to him nor any native power; it was owned by a nearby Summoners' Guild. He was merely employed to serve as the ship's captain. Using contemporary parlance, it was called 'selling one's life.'
An airship required an experienced professional to serve as the captain. Ordinary guilds lacked the power to train their own Invoker captains, so hiring a reliable local became a popular choice.
Elan had twelve years of experience sailing over the Sky Sea, and his experience prior to becoming a captain was even longer. The Holy Choosers offered a price he couldn't refuse to recruit him onto this ship; that's why he was there.
He estimated that there were at least seven other ships in this part of the Sky Sea with the same mission as the Oxin Silver Flame, including a large ship belonging to the Descendants of Flor. Expanding the search to the entirety of the overseas area of Orlenze, there were even more search fleets, with the Orlenze people alone sending out two fleets comprising twelve ships.
Thus, when setting out to sea, he didn't have high hopes of finding those people. The Oxin Silver Flame was a decent ship, but it was far inferior to the ships of the Descendants of Flor and even the one they had seen from the Rainbow Alliance.
Especially since the ship's wind detector was very old, which was crucial for the search operations; the Sky Sea was vast, and relying on visual search was akin to finding a needle in a haystack. But their wind detector was not much better than visual distance.
So when an Invoker informed him of a faint signal on the detector, Elan's first thought was that they had encountered another ship. That Invoker thought so too, but based on experiences in the Sky Sea, they had to first rule out whether it was a creature of the Sky Sea.
This was simple; much like with the Seven Seas Traveler, due to the unreliability of the wind detector, when something was detected, it usually meant it was almost visually detectable. Although the detector on the Oxin Silver Flame was slightly better, it was similar; about ten minutes later, Elan and others used a telescope to identify the source of the signal.
Then everyone stared wide-eyed in shock.
"It's them!"
Someone was the first to shout.
The ship almost instantly descended into chaos, but fortunately, Elan's experience kicked in. He immediately ordered the Oxin Silver Flame to retreat behind the cloud cover.
Though the other party might have already seen them, from such a great distance, they might not immediately recognize their ship model. He had heard that the wanted individuals were just a group of young people. Young people, and Holy Choosers at that, likely lacked extensive Sky Sea navigation experience.
If the other side hesitated even slightly, it would give them an opportunity to approach. Even if the other side was alert, hiding behind the clouds could mask their intentions, buying them plenty of time.
The chairman of the guild to which the Oxin Silver Flame belonged immediately sought out Elan, somewhat excitedly saying to him: "Mr. Elan, you are definitely the most outstanding captain we have hired. Our choice at the time was almost certainly a wise decision. But can you now tell us what we should do next?"
Elan Dravir was also somewhat excited, because they had long agreed that they would not claim the Colin Royal Family's bounty; as long as they captured those people, the bounty would be his.
"The other ship is small and reportedly has almost no armaments," he took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and maintain a cautious mindset as he analyzed: "They shouldn't be able to outrun us; the only thing to guard against is them fleeing into the Cloud Wall."
"Can we manage that?"
"The problem isn't major; our ship is larger and well-armed. We can open fire to force them to a stop, but we need to get within a certain range," he explained confidently: "For now, have the Magic Guided Conductors take off; we're behind the clouds and can't see them, and they can't see us either. We need spies."
Though the chairman knew nothing about sea battles on the Sky Sea, he wasn't a rookie. He immediately replied: "I've already sent the Magic Guided Conductors into the air, captain, but we've just received news that the other party is heading towards the north side of Cloud Island."
"North?"
"Yes, north."
"Then they must be trying to use Cloud Island for cover, descend below the cloud layer, and then enter the Cloud Wall," Elan spoke with some excitement: "But they made a mistake," because of the wind direction, the Cloud Wall would shift to the northeast. They were wasting their time, and we would definitely catch up to them!
The chairman's eyes lit up, "Captain, you are the most experienced person on this ship, so you've got the lead here. Just be sure to capture them alive; we'll prepare for boarding combat."
Elan thought for a moment, nodded, but reminded his collaborators: "While I'm an expert on the Sky Sea, you know more about combat than I do. However, I've heard that those people aren't easy to deal with, that they fought with a dragon in Dolifen."
"It was just a Dragon's Shadow, and they were lucky then," the chairman laughed: "Half a year ago, their average Level was only about Level 20. We can handle it easily. Rest assured, as you said, captain, in this area, we are the experts."
The Holy Choosers had been in this world for many years, and Elan roughly understood what the level of around Level 20 meant. He knew the general level of the other guild members, so he nodded reassuringly.
Little did they know, as the Oxin Silver Flame passed through the cloud layer, a silver spindle-shaped object was silently matching its speed above the ship, its crystalline eyes silently watching everything happening below.
...