After that, Richard and Nancy followed Macbeth back to the port city of Lisburn, boarded a huge ship, and began a new voyage.

In a flash, it was the more than ten days since the giant ship set sail again, and according to rumors, it was already very close to the mainland.

The hotter the weather gets, the cabin gets hotter and humid. Out of anticipation for the mainland and the unbearable conditions in the cabin, basically as soon as dawn came, the deck was full of ordinary students who ran up to breathe and blow the wind.

It was the morning of this day.

The deck was bustling with activity, with ordinary students gathering in groups and talking in twos and threes. Suddenly, the door to the cabin on the deck "creaked" open, and the wizard Demps and the wizard Macbeth walked out, followed by several wizarding apprentices such as Potter, Demy, and Luther.

This time, it attracted the attention of many students, and also aroused the curiosity of many students, but no one dared to come forward to ask. Just watched as the two wizards walked to the edge of the deck with their apprentices and looked ahead of the giant ship.

When they looked at the sea, they saw that the sea in front of them was still endless, and they did not see anything appear.

That......

Everyone looked at it in confusion for a while, and finally someone found something in their sharp eyes: "Look there!"

Everyone's eyes flashed, and they saw a small black dot on the sea, then a second small black dot, and a third small black dot......

In the blink of an eye, a neat row of nine small black dots appeared.

When they got closer, everyone could tell that it was a whole nine imposing, azure warships, coming in the wind and waves.

Everyone was slightly stunned at first, and then glanced at the person next to them, revealing a puzzled look.

Nine warships, what are they here for?

Anyway, since Macbeth joined the giant ship, there are two wizards in charge, and it has been a long time since a new pirate - the sea tax collector dared to come to harass him, is it a surprise this time?

It seems that the other side is well prepared - a full nine warships!

It stands to reason that even if there are nine warships, Demps and Macbeth on the giant ship can handle it, after all, Macbeth alone easily destroyed three warships.

But the question is, what if there are a wizard on the warship that arrives, and if so, things are a little more difficult.

Everyone guessed wildly that the nine warships were already in the vicinity. Eight of the nine warships were divided into two parts, one on the left and one on the right, arranged like wings to form a semi-encirclement. The rest of the nine warships, the largest of them, approached the giant ship straight and straight, and the giant ship seemed to be frightened and stopped directly in place.

Everyone was a little nervous, thinking that there would be another twist and turn in the last few days of the voyage, and Richard's eyes flashed in the corner of the deck, looking at the expressions of the two wizards, but there were different guesses.

At this time, the expressions of Demps and Macbeth were calm, even smiling slightly, and they did not look vigilant or hostile in the face of the azure warship that was getting closer and closer.

What about that......

"Bang bang bang", the sea ripples, the warship is getting closer and closer, and there are strange sounds wafting from the deck of the warship.

"Tick-tock-ulla-drip!"

"Knock-buzz-buzz!"

Everyone was surprised, but Richard quickly distinguished several instruments from the sound, and said to himself: "Harp, clarinet, trumpet, um...... This should be a bagpipe......"

Closer, closer, everyone could clearly see the situation on the deck of the warship, and saw a team of gorgeously dressed musicians, holding various instruments in their hands, playing hard.

Then a group of soldiers in snow-white uniforms walked out, followed by a dignified officer in his forties, and next to the officer was a man who looked like a wizard in a black robe.

The warship continued to approach, and finally stopped only a few meters away from the giant ship, and a gangplank was lowered and hitched between the warship and the giant ship.

The music stopped, and a dignified officer in his forties, a wizard in a black robe, and a soldier holding a wooden box walked to the deck of the giant ship.

The dignified officer glanced at Macbeth, then looked at Demps, bowed slightly, and said, "Hello Master Demps of the White Stone Tower, Zoro Duke of the Aegean Kingdom greets you." ”

Demps said lightly: "Count Zorro is polite. ”

"It should. Zorro said this, but he didn't have much politeness, and the next moment he said straight to the point, "I'm here this time, mainly about taxes." ”

"You say. Demps raised his hand and spoke.

Zorro said: "In the last month, the ore and the various materials on the list have been prepared and sent to the mainland, and now it should have reached the White Stone Tower. However, the crystal coins have just been collected a few days ago, and they have not yet had time to be delivered.

Considering the value of the crystal coin, it is easy to be targeted, and my Aegean Kingdom is weak, and there are only a few wizards, so it will be dangerous to escort. So, I'm waiting at sea for Master Demps to arrive and deliver the crystals to the White Rock Tower for me. ”

"Yes. Demps nodded in agreement.

"There is labor. Zorro bowed in thanks, meticulously, and waved his hand.

A soldier who had followed him to the deck of the giant ship ran up and handed a box to Demps.

After Demps took it, he didn't look at it, and directly handed it to the third-level apprentice Potter next to him.

Zorro raised his eyebrows and said stiffly: "Won't Lord Demps check it, just put it in the box, don't make a mistake, otherwise our Aegean Kingdom will not have the energy to raise taxes again this year." After all, collecting taxes at sea is not so easy to collect, especially the ships of several wizard organizations, which must be handled carefully. We're still waiting for the White Rock Tower to fulfill its promise, in case anything goes wrong......"

Demps shook his head and said, "No need to check, whether it is the Aegean Kingdom or you, Count Zorro, our White Stone Tower can be trusted." As for the difficulty of collecting taxes, we at the White Stone Tower also understand, so we will allow the extension. As for the promise, as long as the Aegean Kingdom does what it should do, we will naturally fulfill all the promises in the White Stone Tower, so we don't have to worry about anything. ”

"Then ......" Zorro hesitated, then nodded, "Well, there's Lord Lawtenps, goodbye." ”

After speaking, Zorro did not hesitate, turned around, took the wizard and soldiers, returned to the warship along the springboard, and quickly led the fleet away.

Demps and Macbeth didn't say anything and quickly returned to the cabin with the apprentice.

The giant ship set sail and continued to sail as if nothing had happened.

Everyone on the deck looked at each other, extremely puzzled: in the past, it was some fleets that collected the transit fees of the giant ship, but now why is there a more powerful fleet, but in turn they have to pay the giant ship?

In the corner, Gro looked at Richard with questions and asked the question: "Your Excellency Richard, what's going on?"

Richard's eyes flickered.

If he hadn't followed Macbeth on the mission, he might not have understood. But after following Macbeth on the task, I connected with some of the words that Macbeth said during the mission, but there was some speculation about the current situation.

It seems that there is a difference between the wizarding countries on this sea: some are supported by the White Stone Tower and are close to the White Stone Tower, and some are supported by other wizard organizations and are hostile to the White Stone Tower.

The wizard kingdom hostile to the White Rock Tower naturally found a way to collect taxes on the giant ship of the White Stone Tower. If there are a lot of wizards on the giant ship and their strength is relatively strong, for example, now, the collection of taxes will be temporarily stopped. If the number of wizards on the giant ship is scarce, especially if they are injured, such as some time ago, they will naturally be frequently taxed.

This is like a certain revival country on the modern earth, sending a warship to patrol the high seas near a small island country, because of its strength, the island country does not dare to squeak and pretend to be dumb and blind. But if it is not a warship, but a fishing boat, then a small island country may have a black hand - bullying the fishing boat, or even seizing the fishing boat.

The reason why the small island countries did this was naturally not that they really dared to provoke the revival country, but completely because they had the support of powerful countries hostile to the revival country behind it.

And the revival country naturally understands this, and will not start a war against the small island country because the fishing boat is seized, so that it may be relieved but it will not solve the fundamental problem at all - the fundamental problem is to defeat the hostile power - otherwise it will destroy a small island country, and another small island country will jump out.

Richard thought about this, and explained it briefly in words that Gro could understand.

Gro suddenly realized when he heard this, and muttered, "I see. ”

Nancy on the side heard Richard's same words and showed a thoughtful expression. For this matter, because she had done a mission with Macbeth like Richard, she had some guesses on her own, but it was not as in-depth and thorough as Richard.

Thinking about Richard's words, for a moment, Nancy looked at Richard and asked, "By the way, what kind of place is the White Rock Tower? What is the continent where the White Stone Tower is located? It looks like it's very complicated." ”

"I don't know. Richard shrugged, "This question can only be answered when you actually get to the mainland and the White Stone Tower." ”

"But when will you get to the mainland, to the White Rock Tower?" Nancy frowned.

"Perhaps...... It won't be long. Richard said, gesturing into the distance.

Nancy and Gro looked down where Richard was pointing, and saw a black line appear in the bright sunlight, in the distance where the sea and the sky met.