Chapter 437: Section 224: Morning Prayer of Justice
Morning.
The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ fleet was sailing on the sea.
The bow was cutting through the waves, with the white sails billowing fully.
In the distance, the boundless deep blue sea and the pale blue sky reflected each other, and under the sea breeze, the sailors felt refreshed and delighted.
Good weather brought more than just good moods.
When sailing at sea, it meant the most important thing—navigational safety.
Two mercenaries stood at the railing, one of them throwing a wooden board into the water.
The board was tied to a rope and immediately slid toward the stern upon hitting the sea.
The rope was dragged by the board, continuously being let out.
This rope wasn’t ordinary, it had been prepared in advance with many knots, spaced evenly the distance between each was 23 feet 7.5 inches.
The other mercenary held an hourglass in his hand.
The hourglass completed its flow in 14 seconds.
Soon, 14 seconds passed, and the sand had fully streamed through.
The mercenary counted the number of knots released along the rope, finding there were 11 knots with a bit of extra distance.
With this data, they immediately ran to the captain’s cabin to report to the Dragon-man youth, “Squad leader, our current speed is 11 knots.”
The Dragon-man youth nodded, letting them leave.
He continued to bury his head in the desk work.
On the desk were laid out ordinary sea charts, a standard compass, a Star Guide Plate, and various other nautical instruments.
“11 knots…” The Dragon-man youth dipped a quill into some ink, made some calculations on parchment, and finally marked the fleet’s position and current heading on the ordinary sea chart.
The Dragon-man youth had been studying navigation skills for a while, and by now, he could proficiently use various methods and tools to calculate speed and accuracy significantly improved.
“Let’s see the correct answer.” The Dragon-man youth then took out another map.
It was a magic tool—the active sea chart.
The Dragon-man youth had bought it at an auction on Twin Eyes Island.
When he spread out the active sea chart, he saw his fleet’s marker slowly advancing in a sea area.
Whether it was heading, speed, or position, there was very little difference from what he had calculated.
“My navigation skills should be considered passable, right?” The Dragon-man youth smiled slightly.
Having something like an active map was very convenient for a fleet to clearly understand key data such as position and heading.
Cang Xu’s compass was also reliable, marking the directions like east, south, west, and north in real-time.
The Deep Sea Monster Fish was the most convenient, with its own active map and compatibility with three scouting methods, it was the survivors’ most powerful scouting unit currently.
Magic and alchemy were the world’s most advanced technologies.
But that didn’t mean the basic navigation skills the Dragon-man youth had learned were useless.
In certain special environments such as magic bans, those alchemical tools would cease to function. Against some enemy tactics that might interfere and mislead, it would be easy to lead the fleet into an ambush.
The Navy of the Holy Bright Empire was equipped with active sea charts as a standard issue, but with every navigation check, they still calculated using basic navigation skills.
The Dragon-man youth put away the active sea chart and began to eat breakfast.
The breakfast was sumptuous.
There were bread, milk, green vegetables, and so on.
Because this was only the second day out from the island.
The food on the ship was still very fresh.
In time, however, this situation would deteriorate.
It was nearly impossible to keep fresh vegetables for long.
Magic and alchemy offered many methods to preserve food, with the most popular being the Fertile Soil Sect’s specialty—a Fertile Flower Pot.
The soil in these pots was very fertile and could support the nutritional needs of vegetable growth over a long period.
So, under the Holy Bright Empire’s grand strategy of invading the Wilderness Continent, with the vast development of sailing, the Fertile Soil Sect grew substantially.
The second most popular method was creating a cold environment to extend the shelf life of food. Various Cold Air Arrays, Frost Magic Arrays, and alchemy tools like iceboxes and ice chests were this type.
One of the items the Dragon Lion Mercenary Group planned to get on Ice Sculpture Island was iceboxes and ice chests, which had received good market feedback and were a bestseller, one of the major export commodities of the Snow Elves.
However, neither method could benefit the vast majority of sailors.
There was only one reason—cost.
The cost for ordinary sailing ships had to be allocated to Transcendent Class sailors, navigational equipment, ship maintenance, etc.; having enough food to eat was enough.
Investing in these preservation methods and equipping things like Fertile Flower Pots and iceboxes would reduce profits.
No captain or ship owner would make such a choice.
This resulted in a situation where, after sailing for a while, most sailors had to deal with strangely flavored, moss-covered water, dried peas that made one feel sick, moldy bread infested with maggots from humidity. Sometimes, the rats caught in the hold were a rare treat for the sailors.
It is worth mentioning that the ships controlled overtly or covertly by the survivors did not have any such preservation methods.
Ordinary sailing vessels wouldn’t have such extravagant facilities.
Iron Lump and White Bandage, as mercenary ships active near Twin Eyes Island, fundamentally were not intended for oceanic voyages.
Even the Deep Sea Monster Fish, though at the Golden Level, lacked them.
The reason was simple.
Even if a War Merchant like Zong Ge used this ship for ocean voyages, he would have his own means of keeping fresh provisions. As a Legendary Mage, he could create water out of thin air, and hunt on-site for the freshest ingredients; he simply didn’t need such provisions.
The dragon-man youth finished his breakfast, walked out of the Captain’s quarters, descended the stairs, and arrived at the Prayer Room on the second deck.
This cabin wasn’t originally meant for praying, but it was temporarily refitted considering that both the dragon-man youth and Chi Lai were believers of the God of Justice.
This was the blinding privilege of power.
Among the crew, only the two of them were devotees of the God of Justice.
Most sailors worshipped the Sea God, Goddess of Luck, Goddess of Wealth, and so on.
Because the Holy Bright Empire lacked an orthodox Sea God, many sailors of the Human Race turned to foreign deities for their worship.
In this transcendental world, choosing the right deity to worship was a critical step in increasing one’s chances of survival and could not be taken lightly.
Apart from this Prayer Room, there were no other places dedicated to prayer throughout the entire fleet.
Sailors who wished to pray could only do so wherever they found themselves.
The only Prayer Room was exclusively for the use of the dragon-man youth and Chi Lai.
Yet no one complained or objected to this arrangement.
Such is the world of the powerful.
It is utterly natural for the strong to possess privileges.
“Captain,” Chi Lai stood at the door of the Prayer Room, having waited for a while.
The dragon-man youth smiled at him. “Sorry, calculating the course and position took a bit of time.”
Chi Lai stood at attention, exuding a soldier’s bearing. “It is a subordinate’s duty to wait upon a superior officer.”
Both pushed open the door and walked into the Prayer Room.
In the very center of the room stood a statue of the God of Justice.
The statue was half as tall as a man, hanging in a large niche on the wall.
The statue depicted the image of the God of Justice, a square-faced middle-aged man with pursed lips, a resolute face focused straight ahead.
He was clad in armor, one hand holding a shield, the other a sword.
They were the Justice Steel Armor, Justice Square Shield, and Justice Longsword, all Divine Artifacts of the God of Justice.
Before the niche was an altar table, upon which stood a candelabra.
On the wall, the Holy Emblem of the Justice Sect was painted.
Sunlight shone through the portholes, casting a mighty air upon the idol of Justice.
Both the statue and the emblem were ordinary items, uninspired and hastily crafted.
“Given the limited conditions, we had to keep things simple,” sighed the dragon-man youth to Chi Lai. “We lack a skilled Alchemist.”
“A magic ship cannot be truly converted into a Prayer Room, and with the Golden Cannon damaged, there’s no way to fix it.”
However, Chi Lai was quite satisfied. “Captain, having such an environment to pray in is already the greatest privilege I’ve had in years. I am content.”
“Let’s begin our morning prayers together.”
Both the dragon-man youth and Chi Lai slowly knelt down, their knees hitting the cold, hard planks.
If it were the Wealth Sect, devotees would have cushions to kneel on, but the Justice Sect more strongly advocated hardship.
The dragon-man youth bowed his head and closed his eyes, silently praying in his heart: “God of Justice, my Lord, Thou art a great and praiseworthy God.”
“Thou upholdeth righteousness, feareth not power, and defendeth the weak.”
“The humble believer seeks Thy divine guidance, Thy direction, please show me how to walk the path of righteousness…”
Both engaged in silent prayer.
When Chi Lai finished his morning prayer, he found that the dragon-man youth was still praying.
From his angle, Chi Lai could see the side of the dragon-man youth’s face, his furrowed brow, and lips that moved slightly as he prayed with earnest.
At that moment, Chi Lai felt a renewed sense of kinship with the dragon-man youth.
The same faith made Chi Lai feel a deep closeness to the dragon-man youth.
Even though he joined the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps later and as a slave, Chi Lai had already come to regard the dragon-man youth as the person he was closest to.
He did not doubt that the dragon-man youth was pretending or acting to earn his loyalty.
It was unnecessary.
In a world where belief is widespread, feigning faith in another deity for such a purpose was a taboo.
The cost was too great and not worth it.
Chi Lai had witnessed the strength of the dragon-man youth for himself during the melee on Twin Eyes Island and was deeply shocked by the youth’s hard fight against Zong Ge, which made him acknowledge the dragon-man youth’s power from the bottom of his heart.
Though Zong Ge’s Fighting energy had the glow of Gold, constituting him a Quasi-Gold level, Chi Lai considered the dragon-man youth’s prowess in combat as far superior.
The only thing that counted against the youth was his dragon-man identity.
The Holy Bright Empire was the world’s foremost superpower, its dominant strength a source of pride for the Human Race, who generally looked down upon other races.
Therefore, Hun Tong and Tan Mo’s recruitment efforts were more inclined toward the Human Race’s Lion Flag rather than Long Fu.
However, coming from the bottom of society and having been framed by the Empire’s nobility, the more hardships Chi Lai endured, the more he was able to break away from stubbornness and prejudices.
In this regard, Chi Lai was not significantly affected.
The dragon-man youth’s prayer finally ended.
They slowly rose to their feet.
Chi Lai took the initiative to ask, “Captain, you seem troubled. As a fellow believer, I would very much like to offer you some assistance, even if it’s unlikely to solve the problem and may be insignificant.”
It was rare for Chi Lai to offer help proactively.
He had been sold as a slave and passed from hand to hand many times.
Although his time with the dragon-man youth was short, Chi Lai felt a sense of belonging and was eager to help the young man before him.