Chapter 240 Brando's Letter
Port Tiana, inside a dimly lit tavern.
"Ha—this is life!"
Danitz grabbed a bottle of Blackland, tilted his head back, and took a big gulp. The fiery liquid slid down his throat, bringing an extreme sense of comfort.
These past two days were when the Golden Dream docked for supplies, and it was also his rare time to indulge.
Eight thousand two hundred pounds! I got a full eight thousand two hundred pounds!
As soon as he thought of this number, Danitz wanted to shout in excitement.
To be honest, he really wanted to use the alcohol to stand on the table and boast loudly to everyone in the tavern about his "heroic deeds" from a while ago. But a lingering trace of rationality stopped this dangerous thought.
Alcohol leads to trouble. He still had a bounty of nearly seven thousand pounds on his head. Although this was a stronghold of the Golden Dream, you never knew what accidents might happen.
Keep a low profile, definitely keep a low profile!
"I'm a rich man too," he said proudly, taking a sip of his drink.
The bounties for Blood Admiral Senior and several other pirates had already been successfully exchanged through an intermediary. After deducting the intermediary's commission and the handling fee Brando promised the captain, a total of more than forty-one thousand pounds was received.
And Brando had initially promised him a 20% share, which immediately gave him a huge sum of eight thousand two hundred pounds!
He instantly became the person with the most liquid funds on the Golden Dream, second only to the captain.
"Although I was chased like a dog by various forces during that time, the outcome wasn't bad," Danitz recalled the days he spent hiding with Lorne, and a bitter smile involuntarily appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"The old man always said I was useless. Next time I go back, I'll just throw the money in his face, haha!" Danitz thought excitedly, as if he could already see the old man's stunned expression.
"Sigh—" After his excitement, he suddenly sighed again, "Next time I have annual leave, I should still go back. It's been a long time since I've seen Mom and the old man."
Just as Danitz was drinking and immersing himself in fantasies of returning home in glory, the door to the tavern's private room was pushed open, and one of his Sailors quickly walked in.
"Boss, it's settled." The Sailor lowered his voice, a fawning smile on his face. "Four thousand five hundred pounds, three properties! All in the central area of Bayam!"
"No problem?" Danitz's drunkenness instantly cleared up significantly, and he leaned forward, pressing for an answer. "Don't worry, Boss! They're real estate agents we've worked with many times, their reputation is absolutely solid!" The Sailor patted his chest and guaranteed, "A businessman lost money in a deal and urgently needed cash to cover his losses. Otherwise, it wouldn't be this cheap!"
With that, he handed over several house transfer contracts.
"Good, you did well this time!" Danitz took the contracts, scanned them roughly, and the smile on his face grew even brighter. To be able to buy three houses in the central district of Bayam for four thousand five hundred pounds was simply an incredible bargain!
"Alright, I'll transfer the money to him later." Saying that, he grandly reached into his pocket, pulled out a stack of banknotes, counted out about twenty pounds, and handed it to his subordinate, "Here, for your hard work."
"Thank you, Boss!" The Sailor took the money with a beaming smile, then tactfully turned and left.
Danitz waved his hand, looking nonchalant as if to say, "It's just pocket change."
"Indeed, my luck is much better without Brando." Danitz exclaimed smugly, but then suddenly felt something was off.
"Wait a minute—without him, I probably wouldn't have gotten this money either…"
Evidently, he had completely forgotten Lorne's advice before he left, and immediately invested most of his bounty into real estate.
After all, Sequence advancement could wait, but he couldn't not buy a house! Especially such a rare opportunity, if he missed it, it would be gone forever.
"Danitz."
Just as Danitz was feeling smug, a cool female voice came from behind him.
"Captain!" Danitz jolted and quickly turned around.
The person who arrived was Iceberg Admiral Edwina Edwards. She was still wearing her signature beige cinched-waist jacket and dark knee-length skirt, her light blue eyes like frozen lakes, clear and calm.
"Supplies are almost finished, prepare to return to the ship," Edwina reminded him.
Her gaze inadvertently swept over the transaction contracts on the table, and she asked in confusion, "You bought houses again? With the bounty Brando gave you?"
"Uh, yes." Danitz knew he couldn't hide it from the Captain and nodded honestly.
"I remember Brando reminded you before he left to prioritize using your funds for Sequence advancement, not to acquire too much real estate," Edwina stated, her tone betraying no emotion.
"Uh—Brando's words aren't necessarily right, you know." Danitz scratched his head awkwardly.
"But I believe his words have great reference value."
"Why?" Danitz subconsciously asked back.
"Intuition."
Intuition… Danitz paused.
Alright, the Captain's words are not something a mere mortal like me can understand.
"This is a letter from Brando to you." Edwina took a letter from her jacket pocket and handed it to Danitz.
"From Brando to me?" Danitz took it curiously. "Did he write to you, Captain?"
…
"Did he?" Seeing the Captain not speak, Danitz asked curiously.
"…"
After a while, Edwina slowly spoke, "He consulted me on an academic question."
On the Future.
Admiral of the Stars Cattelya also received a letter from Lorne. She held the envelope and excitedly walked to her captain's cabin, intending to open it alone.
"The Captain seems very happy today?" Nina nudged Frank, who was engrossed in studying a plant specimen, with her elbow.
"Is she?" Frank looked up, bewildered. "I feel like the Captain is the same as usual?"
"How could she be the same!" Nina retorted. "The Captain is usually very calm and absolutely rational. When has she ever had such a big emotional fluctuation?"
"I think she's fine? Doesn't she just look a bit rushed?" Frank still couldn't see why. "Sigh—" Nina sighed, showing an expression that said, "You really don't understand women."
She extended her index finger and wiggled it in front of Frank: "Frank, you don't understand."
"Haven't you noticed? The Captain has been a bit different since she returned from Bayam."
"Different?" Frank stroked his chin, recalling for a moment. "It seems—she is a bit different."
"Exactly! After the Captain came back, she clearly talks more, and the expression on her face isn't so cold anymore!" Nina echoed.
"Moreover, the Captain even bought me a Sequence 6 Beyonder characteristic this time!"
"I asked her where this characteristic came from, but she didn't say."
"Is there anything special about that?" Frank was a bit puzzled. "Maybe the seller requested confidentiality—"
"No, no, no!" Nina was full of excitement, lowering her voice: "If it was the seller's request, the Captain could have just told me directly. But she didn't! She deliberately avoided the topic, as if she didn't want me to know about that person's existence at all!"
"What does this mean? It means the seller of this characteristic is definitely a special person! At least, to the Captain, very special!"
She grew more and more excited as she spoke, clasping her hands together, her face full of longing: "I didn't expect the Captain to reach this point either. Indeed—no matter how cold the ice, it will melt."
"What time? What ice? And how will it melt?" Frank rubbed his head, completely unable to keep up with Nina's thoughts.
Nina raised an eyebrow, looking at the bewildered Frank, and sighed helplessly.
"You'd better continue with your experiments. Remember to be careful and don't let those seeds leak out."
"I don't want to eat mushrooms for a week."
Inside the captain's cabin.
Cattelya carefully opened the envelope, a curve unknowingly appearing at the corner of her mouth, a curve she hadn't even noticed herself.
However, after she finished reading the contents of the letter, that smile became stiff. "So it was an academic question after all—" She sighed.
This was expected, but there was still some disappointment.
In the letter, Brando asked her about the Full Moon language and also enclosed a photo of a strange worm.
This description, and this photo—is it a Worm of Time? The records she had once seen in some material flashed through her mind.
"Forget it, at least he still knows that I am the most knowledgeable person." Cattelya sighed self-consolingly, picked up her pen, and prepared to write a reply.
However, as soon as she picked up the pen and hadn't written a few words, a thought uncontrollably popped into her mind.
He—he wouldn't have written the same letter to Iceberg Admiral Edwina, would he?
"This, surely not. I am the most knowledgeable one, there's no need to write an extra letter—"
Although she said this, the thought was like a needle, accurately piercing the softest part of her heart.
After all, this was highly probable.
As soon as she thought of someone chatting familiarly with Edwina, Cattelya felt inexplicably choked up. Even if she didn't want to admit it, Iceberg Admiral's academic level was indeed good, perfectly fitting her identity as a worshipper of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.
Earlier on the Golden Dream, she had personally experienced the other party's academic level. Although the depth of her knowledge was not as good as her own, her learning ability was certainly not inferior. Moreover, the other party seemed to be more trusted by someone.
The other party was more like his teacher, while she was just an unessential passerby.
No, rather than a passerby, she was more like a spoiler, intruding into someone else's classroom.
"No, no, that's not right, what am I thinking! Among all the Pirate Generals, I am the most knowledgeable one!" Cattelya vigorously shook her head, throwing out these messy thoughts.
It was just a simple academic discussion; there was no need to drag other things into it.
Just as she picked up her pen, preparing to finish writing the reply, her spiritual intuition was suddenly triggered.
Someone!
"Who is it!" Cattelya turned sharply.
A female figure outlined itself behind her.
When she saw who it was, her pupils suddenly contracted, and an expression of unbelievable horror appeared on her face.
"Que—Queen?!"