Chapter 263: Super Class Danger Beasts
Sito’s News Gazette had grown at a frightening pace.
After the Hot Spring Island Incident, it was like a wild horse that had slipped its reins, charging freely through a field where no other newspaper could compete. By now, its reach had already expanded into the north.
The Empire had tried more than once to choke off its growth.
It was useless.
Sito no longer issued the paper from a fixed place. There was no office to raid, no printing point to shut down, no single road to block. Faced with that kind of distribution, the Empire could only watch the News Gazette grow wild.
And as the paper grew, so did Sito’s intelligence network.
Now, it could even reach into the Empire itself and pull out information from the upper ranks.
No one truly hated money. If someone did, then the price simply was not high enough.
Sito might not have much else, but he had plenty of money. With money clearing the way, even the military and high nobles had his people among them.
Clearly, he had taken Caelum’s request seriously.
In barely more than a year, he had actually found Dusk Island. He had even obtained a sea chart.
A chart this detailed, along with intelligence this precise, had most likely come from the Empire’s upper ranks.
At least Caelum had not really been made to wait twenty years.
Dusk Island.
Its history could be traced back to the ancient kingdom. For some unknown reason, one of the seven Divine Relics had been carried to a sea region far away from the Empire.
As history passed, Dusk Island had been renamed several times.
Because of that, trying to find Dusk Island in current documents or sea charts was impossible.
Only by starting from ancient texts could one trace it.
And when it came to the study of ancient texts, no one surpassed the Empire.
Sito had not foolishly sent news birds all over the world to search for Dusk Island.
He had gone straight for the simpler method.
He spent money and bought off scholars from the Empire’s upper ranks.
Only then did he obtain the intelligence and the sea chart.
Judging from how carelessly those people had treated this information, Caelum guessed the Empire had probably not yet discovered that a Divine Relic slept on Dusk Island.
That was good news.
At least the Empire had not beaten him to it.
Caelum studied the sea chart.
"Overseas..."
Now that he knew where Dusk Island was, he had no reason to keep staying in Walnut Town.
That same day, he set off without delay, heading straight for the nearest port.
It was not until several days later that the townspeople of Walnut Town realized Caelum had left.
The officers at the training base finally let out a deep breath.
The bounty hunters who had traveled all that way arrived to find nothing and cursed under their breath.
One bounty hunter asked around.
"Do you know where Owl went?"
"I think he headed that way."
A townsman who had seen Caelum leave pointed east.
The bounty hunter pulled out a map, traced his finger eastward, and finally stopped at the coast.
"Whale Harbor?"
By April, the weather had begun to grow hot.
The sun hung high in the sky, roasting the vast land without mercy. In the wavering heat, great sailing ships lay anchored in the harbor.
Whale Harbor.
A port city built after overseas exploration and trade began to flourish. Even across the entire Empire, its scale ranked among the largest.
Its shipbuilding industry was extremely developed, with the most advanced shipbuilding technology available.
Thanks to the opening of new sea routes, Whale Harbor grew more prosperous by the day.
On one merchant ship, a crewman tore off a slip of paper with shaking hands and handed it to Caelum.
His whole body was tense, sweat running down his face. His legs trembled beyond control.
"Dear guest... your... your ticket."
"Mm."
Caelum took the ticket.
The crewman fled as if running for his life.
The faces of the others on board were pale. No one dared look directly at Caelum.
At last, someone could no longer bear it and hurriedly shouted that he wanted to get off.
"Captain, I want off the ship!"
The captain was cursing his luck in his heart.
A new sea route had opened. He had only wanted to make some money, carry overseas specialties, and take on a few passengers along the way.
Who could have expected that a figure like this would board his ship?
This was Owl.
A wanted criminal with a bounty of 5 million gold coins.
Who knew whether he might sink the ship halfway through the journey because his mood turned bad?
Great. Going to sea had never been safe to begin with.
Now it was even less safe.
But not setting sail was worse.
The captain felt that if he told Caelum they were no longer going to sea, Caelum might sink them right here.
So he had no choice but to force himself onward.
"My ship does not support refunds!"
Once money entered the captain’s hands, no one should expect him to take it back out.
"I do not want the money!"
The ship had already left the shore, but the man jumped straight into the sea without looking back and thrashed his way toward land.
When he reached the shore, his face carried the relief of someone who had just escaped death.
Then more voices followed.
"I want off too!"
"I do not want the money either!"
Splash after splash rang out.
Passengers jumped into the sea one after another and swam back to shore.
When the crew saw this, some of them wanted to slip away as well, only for the captain to snatch them back with a dark face.
In the blink of an eye, the ship grew empty.
More than half the passengers were gone.
Before long, the merchant ship left Whale Harbor completely and entered the first half of the new route.
Those still on board could only pray that they would reach their destination safely.
Suddenly, Caelum’s face shifted with interest.
He raised his head toward the sky and asked the crewman beside him, "Do Danger Beasts appear in the first half of the new route? Especially very large ones."
"Very large?"
The crewman answered quickly, "Danger Beasts are spread across the whole ocean. It would not be strange for them to appear anywhere. But in the first half of the route, there should not be any especially large ones."
"You have not seen any?"
The crewman shook his head.
"No, I really have not."
Caelum smiled.
"Then you can see one now."
"Huh?"
The crewman looked confused.
Before he could react, a vast shadow fell over them.
Not just their ship.
The entire nearby sea region entered night in an instant.
"Roar!"
While everyone stood there blankly, a deafening roar came from above the clouds.
The air and the sea shook with it.
The terror of it pressed down on everything.
The bucket in the crewman’s hand dropped onto the deck.
He looked up at the black sky with his mouth open, shaking all over.
"What... what is that?"
"As you can see, a Danger Beast."
This was also Caelum’s first time seeing a Danger Beast of such ridiculous size.
It was truly astonishing.
He added, "A very large super class Danger Beast."
The crewman’s eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.
The others were not much better. Quite a few collapsed where they stood.
The captain lit his cigar with trembling hands and forced himself to stay steady. He exhaled smoke.
"Be grateful. That thing did not appear in the sea."
If something like that had appeared on the water’s surface, the waves alone would have flipped their ship over in an instant.
"It really is a little too large."
Caelum could not help admiring it again.
In his perception, this Danger Beast was comparable to an island.
Its full length was around 10 km.
Absurdly large.