855 Shock (1/2)
”Dream and Armament Master!”
Orlando repeated it a few times, as though he wanted to engrave the name into his mind.
”Please!”
The merchant opened the door and gestured for him to enter.
Orlando took a deep breath and walked into the living room.
”Captain Orlando?”
The hall was very spacious. It had a black bear hide hung on the opposite wall and even two tanned deer head mounts.
A green-haired, middle-aged man clad in a robe was leisurely adding sugar and milk to his coffee.
He raised his head and smiled brightly at Orlando. ”Would you like a cup of Schland's specialty coffee?”
”Thanks, Mr. Donald!”
Orlando unceremoniously picked up the coffee cup and sat on a chair straight away, gazing at Donald and sizing him up.
The two of them exchanged glances, feeling that they were somewhat similar.
After all, they were not only spell casters, but they also had close relationships with the Dream and Armament Master, Fang Yuan.
”You should address me as Sir Donald now…” Donald corrected Orlando's small mistake. ”The Queen has just conferred me with the title of lord. Of course, the news hasn't really been spread yet.”
”All right… Sir Donald, so you'll be the middleman between the navy and me?”
Orlando continued to look at Donald closely.
Of course, he wanted to ask more about the Dream and Armament Master, but he held back.
”Yes, currently, in order to maintain our kingdom's maritime supremacy, there's an urgent need for talents like you to join…” Donald was very straightforward. ”We need you to block the countries in the Opher Continent from exploring the oceans, especially Cecil, which is developing too quickly! Of course, when necessary, we'll also need you to assist the navy in annihilating some pirates such as Blackbeard!”
”Blackbeard, haha… Did I mishear? Is today the God of Lies's festival?” Orlando jumped up exaggeratedly. Shortly after, he unceremoniously grabbed an apple from a basket and took a bite. ”Do you know Blackbeard's true strength? He's the Nightmare Ocean's pirate governor and has an army of over ten thousand pirates under him. Three island nations are directly under his control. He's the largest slave trader in coastal waters, and he even owns the legendary pirate ship Monster! Even if Ettoman's Royal Navy attacks him, they might not necessarily be Blackbeard's match in Nightmare Ocean!”
”Thank you for your explanation, Mr. Orlando. You seem to know a lot about Blackbeard?” Donald laughed scornfully. ”However, your understanding of the royal navy is too shallow, even stuck at five years ago. Come… let me show you some things!”
He stood up, put on his coat, and brought Orlando to the other side of the dock.
It was filled with docked warships and had numerous naval soldiers conducting checks. If Donald had not displayed his identity, Orlando reckoned that he would not be able to infiltrate this place at all.
Hiss hiss…
When he saw multiple giant steel warships, Orlando could only gasp in astonishment.
In front of him were several extremely enormous steel ships. They cast enormous shadows and covered the skies; they resembled hills and oppressed all living beings.
”Such huge… ships made entirely from steel. How do they not sink to the bottom of the sea, are they magical ships? No… that's wrong… they don't have the slightest trace of magic…” Orlando mumbled with an infatuated gaze, yet he had very complicated feelings.
Presently, for the ships on the ocean, apart from legendary warships, the largest first-level warships were only a hundred meters long, had three thousand tons of displacement, and a speed of no more than twenty knots.
Such standards were already large seven-masted ships and the current limits for ordinary wooden sailing ships.
But here? Any ship was easily over a hundred and fifty meters long and had more than twenty thousand tons of displacement. Furthermore, these ships' hulls were significantly larger than wooden sailing ships.
Taking any for comparison would be like comparing a muscular man to a child.
”Impossible… even if a ship made from steel doesn't sink, what about its motive power…”
Orlando was indeed an experienced pirate, seeing yet another practical problem.
In a naval battle, a ship's speed was extremely important. As long as its speed was superior, it could firmly grasp the initiative to fight or escape.
Otherwise, it would be sending oneself into the enemy's hands for nothing.
”Have you… heard of steam engines?” Donald laughed. ”In order to cope with the colonies' growing production demand, Ettoman's research in steam engines is definitely the top in the continent. As for the warships' motive power, I can describe it to you like this—when they start running, they don't need sailors to paddle at all. Of course, you may understand it better if I phrase it differently… That is, their speed is generally above twenty knots, and twenty-five knots is not unusual either! Perhaps they can't catch up with the Pirate Prince's Wanderer, but Monster would definitely be unable to escape…” Donald explained confidently.
Orlando closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Solely from looking at the armor covering these ships, he already knew the result of naval battles with ordinary pirates. If their speed was also fast, there was no doubt that there would soon be a huge shuffle in the ocean forces.
And the initiative was in Ettoman's hands!
The emergence of ironclad warships was this supreme maritime power displaying its might to the new world!
The pirates had been leading carefree lives for too long. A brand new era was about to arrive!