On the "Black Throne," after Miss Gwen had comforted her crew who had just survived a great ordeal, she returned to the captain's cabin and expressed her gratitude to Ebner, who was waiting there reading.
Perhaps feeling that words alone lacked sincerity, Miss Gwen walked to the bed, pulled out a folded piece of parchment from a hidden compartment under the mattress, and handed it to Ebner. She said solemnly, "This is the only thing I can offer right now. Please don't despise it."
Ebner accepted the parchment with some surprise. When he unfolded it, he found it was actually a map. He couldn't help but ask, "What is this?"
"This might be the most valuable thing left here by Emperor Roselle, besides the 'Black Throne' itself!" Miss Gwen first teased a little, then asked, "Do you know of the 'Sunken Laurel'?"
"I do. Among the many rumored treasures at sea, that's the one most likely to be real.
"They say that over a hundred years ago, the 'Sunken Laurel' was carrying gold, jewels, and other precious items that the Loen Kingdom had acquired from East Balam. It deviated from its course and sank somewhere between the Furious Sea and the Sonia Sea. To this day, it hasn't been found.
"And the total value of the items on board was said to be several million pounds!" Ebner nodded. Whether in his previous life or this one, he had heard of this treasure. He paused, then asked naturally, "So, this map points to the 'Sunken Laurel'?"
Miss Gwen gave a slight nod and said, "Together with this map was a stone sealed with a message from Emperor Roselle, giving a brief explanation of what it pointed to… Unfortunately, that stone turned to powder and vanished after the message was released."
I recall that the Laurel sank around the same time Roselle was assassinated… So in his last few years, while scouring the world for traces of other 'Travelers,' he happened to find it, then deliberately drew a map, turning it into the 'Golden Serpent Treasure' as a joke? That would make sense. At that time, Roselle probably no longer cared about wealth at all. Several million pounds would have been no different from wastepaper to him… After all, he owned an industrialized nation. Money? Just have the banks print more. As for the resulting inflation, he could always force other countries to 'foot the bill'…
But Lilith once said that before Miss Gwen and her people found this ship, Lady Helen had already 'cleaned it out' once—even taking away the second half of Roselle's translation of Feast of Blood that was kept here…
With Lady Helen's greedy nature, how could she not have taken this map? Something feels wrong…
Did she not notice it at the time? Or was Roselle's arrangement conditional? Thinking of this, Ebner asked, "Where exactly on the 'Black Throne' did you find this parchment?"
"You might not believe this…" Miss Gwen hesitated, then answered somewhat embarrassed, "It was when I combined the ship's accessory with my 'Golden Serpent Sword' for the first time, and borrowed the power of the 'Black Throne' to 'transform' into the 'ship-girl' described by Emperor Roselle, that this parchment and stone suddenly appeared out of nowhere…"
After all, the armor Roselle designed for those transformations, while powerful, was rather… embarrassing.
So 'ship-girl' was the real name of that armored warrior… Roselle, you really knew how to have fun! Ebner mocked inwardly while also resolving his earlier doubts.
Lady Helen's advance sweep of the "Black Throne" had only been to prevent the spread of its "pollution." She had no intention of taking it away. So she didn't care about things that combined with the Golden Serpent Sword to enable transformation, and naturally never tried. That was why the "Laurel" information was left behind.
Having thought it through, Ebner shook his head and told Miss Gwen, "Something worth several million pounds is far too valuable. I can't accept it."
"Ebner, I don't mean to be arrogant… but in my eyes, my crew's lives and mine are worth no less than several million pounds. So please, take it!" Miss Gwen looked at Ebner stubbornly, her expression solemn.
Seeing her so determined, Ebner thought for a moment before nodding. "Alright, I'll accept it."
Hearing this, Miss Gwen seemed to let out a breath of relief. Her tone grew lighter, and she smiled. "Actually, you might still be at a loss. The map is real, but after more than a hundred years, the treasure could already have been found and secretly taken away."
"Something hidden by Roselle isn't so easily found!" Ebner chuckled, shaking his head. Though he had only glanced briefly, he had already noticed that the place marked on the map was connected to a treacherous area of the Furious Sea. Without guidance, it would be nearly impossible to find.
At this point, Ebner took out a card and drew from it a sealed Beyonder characteristic.
Gwen gazed at the characteristic and felt a strange attraction toward it. Coupled with what she had read in the mysticism texts left on the "Black Throne," she blurted out, "Aggregation of characteristics… This is the 'Dawn Paladin's' Beyonder characteristic!"
This characteristic had come from the fleet commander, the "Gray Giant" Gravina, whom Ebner had killed when intercepting the "Undying King's" squadron.
At the time, he had thought of selling it to Gwen…
But first, Gwen had just advanced to "Weapons Master" back then, with neither the funds nor the need.
Second, if Ebner had immediately brought out a "Dawn Paladin" characteristic right after the Gray Giant's death, it would have seemed far too suspicious.
So only now did Ebner take it out. Smiling after hearing Gwen's words, he asked, "You should have fully digested your 'Weapons Master' potion by now, right?"
Even if her progress had been slow before, after using the "ship-girl" armor to fight across sequences so many times, her advancement must have been astonishing.
"I've digested it…" Gwen nodded, then said helplessly, "But I can't afford it now…"
"That's fine. Consider it a loan from me. Pay me back when you can. Of course, I can also accept you completing a task for me in exchange… Don't refuse. In my eyes, our friendship is worth far more than a single characteristic." Ebner used wording almost identical to Gwen's earlier words, blocking her refusal in advance.
The reason he so generously gave the characteristic in advance was because the "Laurel's" value was indeed immense. Without giving Gwen something in return, he would feel uneasy.
After all, if no one else knew, he at least knew just how much of that "rescue" earlier had been his own arrangement…
Miss Gwen was silent for a long while after hearing this. In the end, she accepted the characteristic, sealed it with spirituality inside a container, and stored it.
Her gaze toward Ebner now carried a subtle change—gratitude mixed with something indescribable. She then asked, "What's the task?"
"Help me keep watch on Lady D in Corsica… Don't approach her, and don't try to investigate her. Just attend her gatherings regularly and confirm that she's still on Corsica Island." Ebner explained.
For Gwen, this task wasn't very difficult, but it wasn't entirely without danger either… Compared to a Sequence 6 characteristic, however, the danger was trivial.
"No problem." Gwen agreed readily, and inwardly resolved to complete the task for Ebner—and also to repay the money later.
After that, the two of them chatted idly until Ebner sensed an inexplicable fluctuation of spirituality coming from the deck. Only then did he stop and leave the captain's cabin.
As soon as Ebner stepped onto the deck, he saw a handsome young man emerge from the void, led by a powerful spirit.
That man was none other than Viscount Cullen, long unseen… and the spirit was Tajik, the "bodyguard" Mr. Azik had given him, one who took lifespan as payment.
No, now he should be called Count Cullen! Nearly two months earlier, the demigod vampire hunted by Ebner, Helen, and Closfia in Groselle's Travels had clearly served as Cullen's advancement material.
"Ebner, thank you for saving my sister." Cullen first gave Ebner a solemn bow. Then he pulled Lydia and Tran over and said sternly, "We need to talk."
At that moment, he glanced at Tran again and added, "Your strength is still too weak… No wonder Lydia was worried about you…"
Hearing this, Ebner almost burst out laughing.
Because whether in tone or in choice of words, this was exactly the same as when Mr. Azik had spoken to Cullen in front of Silica!
He wondered if Cullen would also take something out to give Tran for protection.
...
(End of this chapter)