A Ship’s Performance
At sunrise Weed walked east towards the Imperial Villa to meet with North Thira.
Hwaryeong, Bellotte, and Pale followed him along the beach.
Dain had left the party and gone somewhere others could not see her.
Weed turned to face the shimmering cold morning sea air.
“1,190 gold and 690 in prizes winnings went to Hwaryeong. I trailed behind by some because of drawing to the lower yen provocation. As far as I know of the current gold prices and sales market… I lost 810 gold in just a few hours?”
Weed accurately calculated the amount of money that changed hands in the few hours they played Go-Stop. Hwaryeong laughed.
“Hey, we were just playing cards, it can’t be that bad? Right?”
“No, that 1190 could have lead to a really good investment. I could have saved that money for the inheritance of my future children!”
The money lost while playing Go-Stop! Weed swallowed his grief and stopped walking east and instead headed west to the detached palace. Fortunately they were able to meet North Thira on the street.
He was standing on a hill, being buffeted by the wind while looking outwards towards the sea. With the nostalgic sea in mind Weed approached in a friendly manner.
“Mr. North Thira, are you busy? Elder, you were a great sailor were you not? You don’t have much gold but you must have a great understanding of the ocean. Would you mind teaching this young sailor who dreams of the sea how he can become a great sailor as well?”
Blatantly asking for what you want. Sometimes dancing around the topic and trickily sneaking in the question does not increase your intimacy with NPC’s.
“Hue hue, You want to know how to navigate the sea do you?”
“Yes. I heard you mastered sailing the North Sea ….”
“When we were young our fathers would take us in their boats. We practically grew up sailing the sea. ”
“The Niflheim Empire was once part of the North a long time ago, is it possible that the people there traveled in the northern sea?”
“The Niflheim Empire? That was quite some time ago. They were part of the Imperial Age if that means anything to you.”
North Thira did not know. However, Weed did not give up. Even the smallest clue could be of the greatest help.
“Are the northern isles related to the Niflheim Empire?” Coarse gray hair and thick white sea bones; North T. was filled with knowledge far richer than others!
In Royal Road, no matter how high your intimacy with a NPC was, they could only answer to the limit of their knowledge.
“The small fishing village Mocon in the North Sea is said to be the remain of Niflheim Empire. It may even still be inhabited by the descendants of the first sailors and fishermen…”
“It hasn’t been discovered by the Ipia Island fisherman?”
“Due to the tremendous cold and the monsters that inhabit most of the islands, it is hard to navigate too. Only a person who is familiar with the sea could easily find the islands today. Do you have a chart?”
“Yes.”
“Take it out, I’ll show you the harbor points I know that still remain in the Northern Sea.”
North T. marked out several places on the map, on the land and the sea.
- Position of Port of Twelve Teeth has been recorded.
*Ttiring!*
The young sailor learned the basic story navigation. If you hurry the first turn into the cays, then the ship won’t get sucked into the vortex. If you get sucked in you can never recover.
Sailing skill proficiency has increased by 25%
Effective steering level goes up by 1.2% permanently (PR Note: cays are islands, banks and reefs.)
“Ah, there is a task I want you to do. If you happen to port by Mocon village, could you tell the head blacksmith there about me? Tell him that I’m doing well in my hometown. Also tell him that I can’t go out to sea anymore.”
*Ttiring!*
Contact for Grandfather North T.
Life is running low for North T. While sailing the ocean North T. created a brotherly friendship with the blacksmith from the town of Mocon. Deliver the news of North T. to the blacksmith. It is not a difficult task but the blacksmith of Mocon village will treat it as a great favor.
Difficulty: D
Compensation: Can receive something from the blacksmith of Mocon village
Requirement: Must know the location of the Mocon village.
Weed was really happy, blacksmith related items were the most expensive. Since he had to go to Mocon village it made it all the better.
The difficulty was low but the compensation was high; it was a perfect quest.
“Okay, we will be sure to deliver the news.”
The number of quest limits has been reached. You cannot receive this quest until one of the three current quests has been completed.
North T. shook his in resignation.
“It looks like you’ve already doing lots of work. Hoarding your works leaves no space for new thing, I’ll have to leave this to somebody else . . . . .”
Bellotte was the first to notice Hwaryeong, who had been quietly watching up till this point. She reached out and grasped North T. hand with the affection of a granddaughter.
“I will do this request in Weed’s place.”
“Sweet lady, you will become a good wife for somebody. I will leave this request to you.”
*Ttiring!*
You have accepted the quest Contact for grandfather North T.
Luck stat +4.
Hwaryeong just wanted to complete the Contact for North T. purely as a favor she could clearly see how Weed saw it from his expression.
His skull was horribly stiff! Weed said.
“So you follow the trail of the loser eh. First you take 810 gold now you take my quest!”
This was an unreasonable assumption since Weed couldn’t accept the quest anyway. But such excessive stubbornness leads to unreasonable feelings. Hwaryeong said.
“Bellotte, you should take this quest too.”
“Can I?”
“Of course. Even if you don’t I will still have to do it so might as well.”
Bellotte accepted the quest with Hwaryeong. Weed mumbled words as they passed by.
“Have you also bought salt that was 200 won more expensive? I bet both of you bought salt as high as a mountain. The luxury of a sinner.”
***
After meeting with North T. Weed went to Linda port in the northern harbor to ‘prepare for departure’.
The ghost crew did not need many supplies since they did not eat.
The problem was the Geomchis.
Though fishing for their food was not an issue, excessive amounts of weight would slow the sailing speed of the boat significantly.
It was possible to double your carrying capacity if you had intermediate sailing but right now Weed was only at beginner level 4. It was impossible to use the ghost ship as a cruise ship.
Weed went up to Geomchi3 and said, “Sahyung, do you want to remain on Ipia Island?”
“Why?” Suspicion had crept into his voice. He had followed Weed to the island from Morata to help on his quest, why would he want to stay? Weed heartlessly thought.
‘You’re heavy and you eat a lot. Why can’t you understand!’
“Yesterday the beer was really good right.”
“Yeah the beer was really delicious.”
“I hear there is even finer beers here. I hear they have barbecues all throughout the day and night with tall, pretty girls in bikinis.”