Timon was an ordinary fisherman from Torr City; of course, that 'ordinary' was his own claim. But to most people in Torr City, Timon was definitely the biggest seafood merchant, because no ordinary fisherman could own fourteen flat-bottomed fishing boats.
Actually, a year ago, he was just an ordinary fishmonger working in the dock area of Torr City, but he had a bit more foresight than others and seized the great opportunity presented by Miracle Port.
When the people of Torr City viewed Miracle Port with hostility due to conflicts in the Dorne Sea, he secretly transported large quantities of various seafood produced along the southern coastline of the Dorne Sea to Miracle Port for sale, quickly accumulating a large fortune.
Afterward, he used his accumulated wealth to purchase new fishing boats, forming a fleet dedicated to seafood trade. And because of the relationships he had built with the people in Miracle Port over the past year, he became a distinguished guest of the powerful figures in Torr City.
However, recently, rumors of sea dragons appearing in the Dorne Sea have become quite widespread, even causing trouble for the fortress warships of Miracle Port. This has made fishermen along the southern coastline afraid to go out to sea, and Timon's own men are no exception.
Without catches, there was no income. Timon also supported a large number of people who helped him control the fish market in Torr City. Without income for a long time, the funds he had accumulated would probably not last much longer.
Therefore, he had no choice but to risk taking a group of impoverished, death-defying fishermen to his fishing grounds near God's Grace Cape to catch seafood.
God's Grace Cape is located to the east of Torr City, a cape that juts out into the sea. It is part of the Godgrace Mountains, so its coastline has no beaches, only towering cliffs that extend all the way to the coastline near Soul Hill.
A year ago, when Timon went fishing, he accidentally discovered that the fish and shrimp in this area were more abundant and larger than anywhere else, so for a long time, this was his secret fishing ground.
He later learned a method of crabbing with traps from the Summer Isles people in Miracle Port, so he specialized in catching sea crabs in this area, exclusively for the people of Miracle Port. It is said that Lord Lynd, the Chosen One, particularly enjoyed eating crabs and even invented a special set of utensils for eating them. This also led to people in Summerhall and its surrounding areas flocking to eat sea crabs, which they previously didn't consume much, and the prices remained high, making them one of the most valuable seafood products.
"Boss, this area seems to be where the sea dragon lurks," a subordinate whispered, approaching Timon after they found the first crab pot beacon and Timon ordered them to start hauling up the pots.
Hearing this, Timon couldn't help but shiver, his eyes scanning the surrounding sea. Because it was early morning, there was a heavy sea fog, making it impossible to see the surroundings clearly.
"Shut up, and do your work honestly. Finish hauling up the crab pots quickly, and let's leave quickly," Timon glared fiercely at his subordinate and ordered.
Under Timon's supervision, the first underwater crab pot was quickly pulled up.
The crab pots were woven from a special oily vine found in the Godgrace Mountains. This oily vine was extremely waterproof and very tough, not easily rotting. In the past, it was used to weave fishing nets.
However, no matter how waterproof or rot-resistant the oily vine was, it was still a land plant. Submerged in seawater for over ten days, even the toughest oily vine would rot completely.
Just as Timon feared, the first crab pot had already fallen apart due to rot.
Timon didn't say much, instead ordering his subordinates and the other fishing boats to continue hauling up crab pots. Fortunately, his luck was not bad. After several damaged crab pots, intact ones gradually began to be brought up, along with large sea crabs.
The sea crabs in this area were much larger than those from other places, and they had an extra pair of crab legs, with more delicious meat. The purchase price in Miracle Port was three times that of other crab species, making it one of Timon's most important sources of income.
As each boat pulled up a dozen crab pots filled with sea crabs, the deck was already piled high with them. Timon's perpetually tense face finally broke into a smile. He roughly calculated that he had already earned a substantial amount on this trip.
Perhaps it was due to his relaxed mood, or the effect of his subordinate's earlier words, but Timon, standing on the deck, suddenly felt as if something in the thick sea fog was watching him.
However, this feeling quickly disappeared, but his tension did not ease.
"Should I stop now and go back? I've already earned a lot anyway." Timon's mind began to waver, but when he heard cheers from other boats as another crab pot full of crabs was pulled up, his hesitation was immediately overcome by money.
Some time later, as the thick fog on the sea gradually thinned, and each boat pulled up three or four more crab pots, the decks were already full of crabs, and the sailors had no room to stand.
"Blow the horn, knock off!" A satisfied Timon immediately ordered his subordinate.
Timon's subordinate immediately picked up the horn from his waist and blew it forcefully.
Upon hearing the horn, everyone put down their fishing work. Some went to hoist the sails, while others went to raise the anchors.
As the anchor and sails of the last ship were raised, the fleet began to sail back towards Torr City.
"Boss, something seems off!" Timon's subordinate suddenly came over and whispered.
"What's wrong?" Timon asked, puzzled.
"I just counted, and we're missing one ship," the subordinate said.
"Missing a ship?" Timon was startled, quickly stood on a high point of the ship's deck, looked around, and quickly counted the number of ships. Soon his face became incredibly grim, and he said, "Damn it, it's not one, but two! We're missing two ships!"
"Two?" The subordinate was stunned but didn't doubt Timon's count, instead thinking he might have miscounted earlier.
"Who are the captains of those two ships?" Timon immediately asked his subordinate.
"I'm not sure yet, we need to gather everyone to find out." The subordinate shook his head and said, "You suspect they stole the ships."
"Stop the ships immediately, and have all ships moor together," Timon ordered with a grim expression.
As a series of horn blasts sounded, all the fishing boats on the sea gathered towards Timon's ship, quickly coming together.
At this moment, Timon again noticed something was amiss, because he had just recounted the surrounding fishing boats and found that this time, there were two fewer than when he had counted earlier; he only had ten ships left.
"Damn it! Seven Gods above! Something's happened!" No matter how slow-witted, Timon knew something was wrong. He no longer intended to investigate the reason for his ships' disappearance or lecture his subordinates. He immediately turned to the helmsman and shouted, filled with panic, "Full sails, escape quickly!"
Almost as Timon's words fell, a massive current surged from beneath the ship, causing the entire vessel to sway. Immediately after, a huge mouth emerged from the water and swallowed the entire fishing boat in one gulp. As the mouth closed, Timon on the fishing boat could only hear the screams of his surrounding crew, and then he was completely plunged into darkness.
Time came to midday, and the thick fog on the sea had completely dissipated. The calm of this sea area was once again broken by the arrival of over a dozen warships.
After three days of sailing, Lynd's fleet arrived in the waters near God's Grace Cape. This area was also recorded as the most frequent location for sea dragon appearances.
"My Lord, we have arrived at the God's Grace Cape waters." Horth came to the bow and asked Lynd, "Should we cast the bait now?"
"Wait a moment." Lynd looked at the sea below and shook his head. Then he heard the noisy chatter behind him, turned to look at the merchant guild managers and their guards who had been invited aboard, and said, "Tell those fools still wearing armor to take it off. If a sea dragon appears and sinks the ship, they'll sink to the bottom like stones and never rise again."
"Yes, My Lord." Horth also turned to look at the ten fools in metal armor among the crowd, rolled his eyes, and replied.
After Horth left, Lynd carefully observed the situation on the sea. Soon, he noticed an anomaly and then gestured to the helmsman to steer towards the anomalous area he had found.
Soon the ship sailed to that area of the sea. Lynd walked to the ship's rail and looked out at the sea, while others also gathered around, curiously looking at the water.
They saw only some rotten wooden planks floating on the surface, appearing to be nothing noteworthy.
"Retrieve those planks," Lynd ordered with a serious expression.
Upon hearing the order, the sailors immediately found a fishing net, then lowered a small boat to retrieve all the visible planks from that area of the sea.
Lynd spread all the planks out on the deck and carefully examined the condition of the broken edges.
"These should be fishing boats from Dorne. Fishing boats here really like to use this white mountain wood for their vessels. This wood is very light and buoyant, making it the most suitable material for flat-bottomed boats in the area." Among the merchant guild managers, one person familiar with timber and its uses quickly provided his analysis.
Lynd nodded in agreement after hearing this.
Someone said dismissively, "This is just a fishing boat that ran into trouble. A small storm is enough to tear such a fishing boat to shreds."
"Storm? Are you an idiot? Did you see a storm on the sea today?" Another person retorted, seemingly having some conflict between them.
Before the previous person could speak, a middle-aged man who had started as a sailor and become a merchant guild manager also spoke: "It's indeed not caused by a storm. The damage to these planks shows crushing and impact injuries, which is completely different from the tearing of a hull caused by a storm. I've seen similar plank damage on ships that were struck by Ironborn ramming longships."
Saying this, he looked at Lynd, knowing that currently, the largest Ironborn pirate group in the inner and outer seas of the Dorne Sea was the Three Sea Monster Alliance, secretly controlled by Lynd.
"It wasn't caused by Ironborn ramming longships." Horth immediately interjected, saying, "Firstly, there are absolutely no Ironborn pirates in the Dorne Sea. Secondly, ramming longships are designed for medium-sized vessels; the ram of a longship is useless and cannot hit this type of flat-bottomed fishing boat."
"You don't need to guess anymore; this was done by a sea dragon, and not just to one ship." Lynd interrupted their analysis and discussion, saying to Horth, "Begin casting the bait according to the plan."
"Yes, My Lord." Horth quickly responded and then began to give orders to the horn-blower.
As a series of horn blasts carrying command meanings spread across the sea, all the ships began to spread out at fixed distances, centered around the flagship Arrow, occupying the entire sea area.
After dropping anchor and securing their positions, the captains on each ship began to pour the bait stored in wooden barrels into the sea.
All these baits were dead fish soaked in ox blood. When they were poured into the sea, the ox blood quickly spread out with the waves, covering the entire sea area, and a pungent, foul smell began to spread across the surface.
This smell was indeed very pungent to humans, but to the carnivorous animals in the water, it was incredibly sweet.
Soon, some carnivorous sharks and other fish began to patrol this area, devouring the still-fresh dead fish.
Everyone nervously leaned over the ship's rail, craning their heads out to carefully watch the movements on the sea, as if their gaze could penetrate the thick layer of blood beneath the hull and clearly see the movements in the deep sea.
In contrast, Lynd appeared leisurely and relaxed. He sat cross-legged on the deck, leaning his back against the base of the sail mast, closing his eyes to rest, and remained motionless for a long time, almost leading people to believe he had fallen asleep.
Time passed bit by bit. As dusk fell, oil lamps were lit on each ship. The bloody and fishy smell on the sea gradually weakened as large numbers of dead fish were devoured by carnivorous aquatic creatures, and the bait was gone, but the desired bait still hadn't appeared.
Not only did everyone on the ship feel that this baiting attempt might have failed, but even Lynd felt that the sea dragon might not appear, so he stood up from the ground, ready to instruct Horth to move the ship to other waters and continue baiting.
However, the sudden sway of the ship beneath his feet caught Lynd's attention. Others merely thought it was caused by waves, but Lynd keenly felt that the frequency of this sway was vastly different from the wave-induced sway a moment ago, more like a sudden strong current hitting the hull.
Sensing the anomaly, Lynd immediately rushed to the bow, standing on the Arrow's figurehead, looking down at the dark sea. At the same time, he activated the power of the Dragon Rune, forming circles of sonar-like ripple power that enveloped the entire sea area.
This method of using the Dragon Rune's power was something he mastered after completing the second Dragon Feast Ritual, and it was also a special method used by Lost Country Knight to track down enemies.
It is said that extremely powerful Lost Country Knight can spread the Dragon Rune ripples to a radius of ten kilometers. Within this range, any enemy attacking the Lost Country Knight can be sensed and their position determined. Coupled with the extreme movement buff of the Storm Dragon Rune, a Lost Country Knight can completely appear beside the attacker and counterattack the moment they are attacked.
At this moment, although Lynd could not achieve the wide sensing range of a Lost Country Knight, he could still cover the sea where his ships were located and the seabed beneath them.
And as soon as his Dragon Rune ripples spread out, they immediately provided feedback.
"Sea dragon! All hands, prepare for battle!" The moment he received the sensory feedback, Lynd shouted a warning.
Following Lynd's warning, the sea dragon, lurking in the deep, rapidly ascended, rushing towards its chosen first target.
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