Castle of Black Iron

On the tranquil sea with tender waves an old wooden trawler longer than 30 m was wobbling harshly.

The lacquer on the body of the trawler below the drafting line almost faded away. The earsplitting sound of the steam engines in the engine room also indicated that the working condition of the most important machine in the trawler had been much worse than before, like an old ox who was still pulling an oxcart and climbing the slope.

A flock of jagers was following after this trawler. Having been living in the sea area for a long time, these jagers knew that when sailors hauled their nets, they would throw small-sized sardines and parwns back into the sea. Those jagers would enjoy their meal at that moment.

If sailors had a nice mood they would even throw the fish and prawns into the air. Seeing this, those jagers would directly bite them in the air as if performing acrobatic stunts.

The jagers had already followed after this obsolete trawler for a whole morning, during which periold, the sailors cast their net 6 times, 2 of which had nice gains which the jagers also enjoyed.

At this moment, a greater part of the fishhold had been filled with fish and prawns. With tons more weight, the old-ox like engine uttered a more jarring sound.

Besides, even the jagers in the sky started to tweet loudly.

”Boss, just cast the net. Even those jagers can’t wait any more!” A sailor shouted loudly.

Beside the shipboard, a middle-aged tough man whose face had been full of wrinkles due to the long-term effect of sea wind was holding a tobacco pipe in the mouth. He was gazing at the seawater attentatively, wanting to see through the sea water.

After hearing the sailor’s scream, he raised his eyes towards the sky before waving his robust arm forcefully and sent the order loudly, ”Cast the net! After hauling this net, we will go back home!”

Seeing his gesture, all the sailors started to cast the well-arranged net into the sea by sections from the stern of the trawler.

The man being called boss then came to the cab from the shipboard and told to the helmsman, ”Maund, starboard the helm! I feel ocean currents under the sea. Those silver-headed spotted fish always like to follow ocean currents!”

”Yes, sir!” The helmsman then turned around to check whether those sailors had finished casting their net. The moment they finished doing that, the helmsman had started to starboard the helm to steer the trawler towards the right.

The boss then came onto the deck to watch the buoys on the net together with the sailors.

”Boss, Pike[1] is too old. It has almost run for 10 years. Why not get a new one for us...”

”Yes, it’s such an unprecedented good market recently. Any seafood would be sold out the moment they reach the market. Those purchasers from canning factories in the downtown are squatting in the wharf every day. As long as they see us, they would charge at us like that we were beauties. We begged them before, but now, it’s the complete opposite!”

”I was told that those canning factories really had good business nowadays. They work overtime every day. There are so many orders that they just can’t deal with them all!”

”When I was in the tavern, I was told by a sailor that it was pretty chaotic on the continent recently. It seems like war will break out soon. A city might have been destroyed by demons while all the commoners inside had been killed...”

”So what! We have money to make!”

”But 2 months later when the sea freezes, we will not able to head out any more, otherwise, we would make more money!”

The sailors talked before hauling the net. By contrast, the boss still held his tobacco pipe in the mouth with his eyes fixed on the stern. He was imagining a beautiful new steel trawler.

Of course, he had also thought about buying a new trawler like what those sailors had suggested. He had ordered a new trawler from Minsk Shipyard. He found an old friend who could help him get his new trawler in September without having to queue up.

Now, shipyards also had a good business. Additionally, the prices of the fishers manufactured by those shipyards also rose up like those canned fish.

Thinking of the 1800-odd gold coins, the price of the new trawler that he had paid for in advance, the boss felt heartache for a while. 1 month ago, the price of another steel trawler longer than 50 m and weighing 460 tons was only 1500-odd gold coins. He had been considering changing trawlers at that time. However, he hesitated and decided to change next year. Therefore, he missed the best purchasing opportunity.

As a result, he had to pay 20% more this time.

...

After he finished his smoke, the boss knocked his tobacco pipe which was made of whale’s bone on the shipboard and sent another order, ”Now, haul the net!”

Receiving the order, the sailors immediately started to rotate the capstan at the stern to haul the net out of the sea. This time, the boss’s face turned gloomy.

The easier the sailors rotate the capstan, the fewer they gained.

Finally, they got no fish at all, even a prawn. What was more, they found a tidy hole whose diameter was greater than 2 m at the bottom of the net.

Squatting around the net, the boss and those sailors started to check the mysterious hole carefully.

”Is it a magical beast in the sea?” A sailor asked while his teeth started to quiver.

”Impossible. If it’s a magical beast, it would take a great strength for it to make such a hole and we should have sensed that!” Another more experienced sailor waved his head.

The boss then rubbed the broken net and took the broken fish lines and started to observe them carefully. The end of the lines was tidy just like having been cut by a sharp weapon, making it very mysterious. Not only the boss had noticed that even those sailors had found it.

What could cause such damage in the sea? What if that thing targets at this trawler...Thinking of this, everybody felt a chill inside while those sailors moved their eyes onto the boss.

”As we’ve gained a lot today, it’s time to go back!”

Hearing this, everybody felt they’d been relieved of a heavy burden...

The Pike then turned around and drove towards the north. After sailing for half a day, the trawler finally drove into a boisterous fish pier on Kaja Island which was filled with fishers at dusk.

After ensuring they were safe on the wharf, everybody let out a sigh.

When they landed, their haul was soon sold out. After one day’s work, Pike brought over 90 silver coins to the boss, which was much higher than that 1 month ago. After receving their salaries, those sailors left jubilantly.

The boss directly called a trailer to carry away that broken net to mend it up overnight; otherwise, they would not able to set sail tomorrow.

Several hours later, as those fishers had come back consecutively and sold out their fishes and prawns, few people were left on the pier. When the last purchasers from canning factories left after midnight, the whole fish pier became quiet, except for the surging sea waves.

At this moment, a black figure showed his head above the sea at the stern of the Pike like a legendary water ghost. Without making any sound, he then grabed the shipboard and jumped on board the trawler.

After that, the shadow came outside the door of the crew modules on the trawler. With a slight twist, he had broken the tiny lock, causing a light sound, ”Ka”.

3 minutes later, that shadow changed into a tidy set of sailor’s clothes and left the fish pier quickly.

Although there were no roadside lamps on the streets in this city, it didn’t influence Zhang Tie’s actions at all as he had night vision. Walking on the streets, Zhang Tie glanced here and there out of curiosity...

There were no tall buildings in this city. Almost all the buildings were lower than 6 stories with pinnacles or slopes on top. Most of their exterior walls were white, beige or a light wood color. Additionally, the most original textures of the woods and stones which were used to build buildings were preserved, making them natural, concise, firm and massive.

Almost no tall chimneys like those in Blackhot City could be seen in the city. No traces left by trolley vehicles on the ground either. Only a few buses were parking on two sides of the streets. All this indicated that this was a city with poor industry.

For Zhang Tie, this was absolutely a strange place...

After arranging everything in Huaiyuan Prefecture and Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie had left Hidden Dragon Island 3 days ago.

Nobody knew where he was heading. Even Zhang Tie was not sure where to go. He only had one general target in his mind——the sea area in the north of Waii Sub-Continent.