Chapter 204 - Fearsome Beaat
"What did you say?!" Nero asked the captain with an annoyed look on his face.
"We will be stopping at a nearby island to get supply. And then proceed to our destination in the morning," Captain replied.
Nero and his girls were traveling on the ship with 200 other people to go to the other side of the world.
At first, they wanted to get a private ship to travel from Olympus to the other continent. However, Arnold and the rest told Nero that they couldn't enter the other continents in the same way.
To enter the other side of the world, they needed to pass through 68 gates; 40 on the sea and 28 on the barricades of the ships where everyone needed to submit their belongings and guildcard, and take them back when they reached their destination.
In the meantime, the officials from the guilds inspected and confirmed if the details were correct or not.
If any traveler was caught without their guild card, they were imprisoned until their friends or family bailed them out after submitting the official documents..
Nero found that system awfully familiar to his past world, but he had already predicted something like that to happen in the future as humans were getting more and more advanced in both magic and knowledge.
After all, they were surviving without any grace and blessings from the gods.
Nero could have easily dodged all those security measures if he wanted, but as he had to travel from town to town and kingdom to kingdoms, he thought it would be a pain in the arse to keep hiding and running from every gate. So he decided to take an official ship to travel.
However, he didn't want to spend his time with other mortals, so he had paid 20000 gold coins to the captain and booked a half ship for himself.
No one on the ship was allowed to enter the boundary Nero had created, and those who entered, let it be on purpose or by mistake, were thrown out of the ship on Nero's command.
"No way! Just take this ship to the continent already," Nero asserted.
"I am the captain of this ship, and I decide where the ship will go and stop," the captain replied.
Nero furrowed his brows and uttered, "I will give you crystals worth 50000 gold coins if you take the ship directly to the continent— without stopping on any island."
"Even if you give me 100000 good coins, we will still stop at the island and continue the next day."
"Why is that?" Nero asked curiously.
The captain sighed and said, "It's better if you don't know."
Nero's face twitched in anger, but he controlled himself for the sake of traveling.
"How far is the continent from here?" Nero asked.
"180 miles," the captain replied honestly.
"So about 10 hours travel, huh?" Nero muttered.
"And how far is the island you are talking about?"
"It's on the way, and it's 50 miles away from here."
Nero raised his brows and asked, "If we continue the ship without stopping at the island, then we can reach the continent before morning."
"Perhaps."
"Why are we stopping at the island anyway? There is no need to get supplies as the continent is only 7 hours from there?"
Nero couldn't comprehend the reason why the ship needed to stop at the island. He found it awfully shady and weird, so he wanted to get as much information as he could.
"The supply is supposed to be delivered to the continent," the captain answered.
"So, we can simply make a quick stop at the island and continue the journey, right? So why is there any need to stop the night on the island?" Nero wondered with a curious look on his face.
The captain sighed and groaned, "Fine, I will tell you the reason why."
"Heh!" Nero smirked as he sensed his victory and finally managed to convince the captain.
"By the time we reach the island, it will already be midnight. And traveling at night in that area is dangerous," the captain uttered in a low voice.
"Bullshit! That's no valid reason," Nero retorted.
"There is a Kraken hunting the ships traveling in that arena during the night."
"More bullshit! Krakens only attack the ship that has the smell of blood and rum." Nero argued and continued, "And this ship has neither of those."
The captain stared at Nero with a surprised look on his face and wondered, 'That is a military secret; how does this man know about it?'
'Just who the hell is this man? He is rich, and he looks powerful. His way of talking is unique, and when I talk to him, I feel like I am standing in front of the king.'
The captain was bewildered from the time he first laid his eyes on Nero, but he had to do his job as a captain.
"Oi. Oi!" Nero called out to bring the captain back to his senses.
The captain nodded and said in a calm voice, "You are indeed correct. But this Kraken is rouge. It attacks each and every ship that travels at night."
After a brief pause, he said, "Just last week, a ship carrying 850 people was attacked by the Kraken, and none of them made it out alive."
Nero squinted his eyes and asked, "If no one made it out alive, then who spread the news?"
"I knew you would ask that question," the captain chuckled. "The wreckage of the ships gets flooded to the island, and that's how they know about the shipwreck."
Nero took a deep breath and let out a deep sigh as he uttered, "Alright, fine~. Let's go to the fucking island."
It wasn't as though Nero was in a hurry to reach the continent as he knew that he would get there sooner or later.
The captain smiled and said, "I am sure you will like the island. It's one of a kind."