Chapter 1 Aboard

A high-speed exploration vessel with a pristine white hull suddenly surfaced from the sea—its gunwale almost scraped the stern of the Sea Mist, and the violent undulation of the seawater caused both ships to rock violently.

Even the Undying sailors cried out in alarm.

Tirion rushed to the deck and immediately saw his men running towards the stern, First Mate Aiden's bald head particularly conspicuous among them. At the very end of the deck was the "uninvited guest" almost touching the Sea Mist.

"What's going on?"

Tirion rushed to Aiden's side, grabbed his shoulder, and asked loudly.

"I don't know, a ship suddenly appeared—I almost subconsciously ordered them to be fired upon," Aiden said quickly. "Everyone's still on edge; everyone's hypersensitive to 'things that pop up from the sea,' and then that thing just… appeared."

Tirion released the first mate and ran towards the stern. By the time he got there, dozens of people had gathered on the deck, hypersensitive sailors pointing their muskets and short cannons at the opposite ship, and several sailors had already taken their positions near the close-in defense guns at the stern, the atmosphere so tense it felt like sparks would fly.

Tirion looked across the railing and saw a large group of sailors running out on the other ship as well. Their clothes and appearance suggested they were ordinary seamen from a civilian vessel. Someone was waving a flag on the stern platform. The other side looked just as flustered as the Sea Mist.

Tirion frowned. He was about to discern the identity of the other ship when he heard the screech of a loudspeaker being activated. Then a robust voice came from the broadcast on the opposite ship:

"Apologies, this is the White Oak, belonging to the Vanished. Our ship is performing a Spirit Realm surfacing operation for the first time, and an operational error nearly caused us to collide with your ship… Repeat, this is the White Oak, belonging to the Vanished…"

Hearing the broadcast, Tirion's expression instantly froze. Aiden, who had just run up from behind, almost slipped. The bald giant seemed to be sweating profusely, and his voice was a little off-key: "Captain, what… what did they say? Who did they say they were?"

Tirion didn't speak. The first thing that came to his mind was the strange reminder his father had given him before their communication was cut off, and the bizarre smile before the illusion in the mirror dissipated.

His expression subtly changed a couple of times, then the corner of his eye caught something, and he went to the edge of the deck and looked down.

The reflection of the "White Oak" was mirrored in the sea, but the reflection showed a ghost ship enveloped in shadows and smoke.

He finally remembered where he had seen this somewhat familiar ship before.

During that misty battle, it was the squall ship that swept across the battlefield like the wind, whose origin no one could figure out—now they met again.

At this moment, the sailors on the ship also noticed the peculiar reflection of the strange ship in the water. Aiden also recalled where the other ship came from. He looked up at Tirion with suspicion and uncertainty: "Captain, they're the Old Captain's…"

"...Father always has his plans," Tirion's eyes twitched obviously, but he tried to keep his expression calm as he spoke. "To be honest, I never expected that in this day and age, someone would openly announce on the radio that they were a member of the 'Vanished'… Where did Father find these guys?"

"Perhaps they know the origin of the Sea Mist?" Aiden said uncertainly. "What should we do? Greet them? Invite them aboard? We have to figure out what they want…"

Tirion suddenly felt a toothache.

"Use the radio to make a public call. Ask them to send a representative over, and tell them not to shout about the Vanished over the radio anymore. There's more than just our ship in the port area," the "great pirate" who was about to become the city-state's governor said helplessly, then added, "Oh, and tell the port that everything's alright—they must have seen the White Oak suddenly appear from the sea too."

At this critical moment, something suddenly popping out of the sea was really too frightening.

"Yes, Captain."

Aiden left to carry out his orders.

After a while, the Sea Mist finally established normal communication with the strange "White Oak." After briefly exchanging opinions and explaining the situation, the other party agreed to send a representative aboard for talks.

Soon, Tirion met the representative sent by the other party—a middle-aged man wearing a sailor's uniform, tall and thin, with short, curly brown hair, and a shrewd, capable look, who came to the Sea Mist with a young priest.

"Hello, Captain Tirion—I've heard of your deeds for a long time," the middle-aged man stepped onto the deck with a bright and friendly smile, and extended his hand to Tirion. "I'm Gus, the first mate of the White Oak. This is our ship's chaplain, Mr. Jansen."

Tirion was a little dazed, because he never expected that the person who came down from that eerie "twin phantom ship" that could travel through various abnormal sea areas such as mirror images and spirit realms would be such a person.

A cheerful smile, flesh and blood, friendly and enthusiastic, a healthy and normal person.

Neither crazy nor insane, with intact limbs, and no signs of mental problems or physical mutations—these were the new members of the Vanished? People favored by his father?

Despite the many doubts that popped up in his mind in an instant, Tirion subconsciously reached out and shook hands with First Mate Gus.

"Tirion Abnormaal, captain of the Sea Mist, needs no further introduction," he looked at the "sunshine and cheerful normal person" who claimed to be the first mate of the White Oak, his eyes still suspicious, "You say you are… members of the Vanished?"

"Yes, new members," First Mate Gus said with a smile, while also sizing up the famous "great pirate" in front of him, feeling some doubts in his heart.

Although the one eye was a little scary, he was generally friendly, his eyes were calm and rational, and his body didn't show the terrible disfigurement of the surrounding Undying, not at all like a crazy person with mental problems or a madman contaminated by the Ancient Gods.

This was Captain Duncan's eldest son? Why didn't he look like he had any mental problems?

The two "Vanished members" in the broad sense met for the first time, simultaneously doubting each other's mental state, and then tacitly put away their unfriendly thoughts and smiled at each other.

"I've seen you on the battlefield before," Tirion took the initiative to break the somewhat awkward silence. "You roared through the fog at the time, making a deep impression."

"We were carrying out orders to go to Mirror Frost at the time," First Mate Gus explained. "We couldn't delay the important matters, after all."

"Father's orders?" Tirion said casually, then his eyes fell on the young priest named Jansen, and his eyes became a little subtle. "You even have a ship's chaplain on board… Has the Deep Sea Church become so tolerant?"

Chaplain Jansen looked a little embarrassed and shrugged with a wry smile: "At least so far, the Goddess has not sent down any punishment."

"Don't you also have a small chapel on board?" First Mate Gus looked up at the conspicuous shipborne chapel at the stern.

"...That's true."

Tirion choked for a moment, and smiled awkwardly. At the same time, what he thought of was something else—

On the Vanishing, there also seemed to be a "priestess" from the church of a righteous god.

Since his father had even brought a Plandic Inquisitor on board, it didn't seem strange that there were some ship's chaplains in the "Vanished"?

Realizing that he'd better not delve too deeply into the secrets of the "divine" realm, Tirion quickly extinguished his associations in this regard, then straightened his expression and asked curiously: "Do you have another mission that made you 'surface' here in such a hurry?"

"Oh, we're here to pick up our captain," First Mate Gus quickly explained.

"Your captain?"

"Captain Lawrence previously led a marine squad into the Mirror World to fight, and then returned to the city-state in the real world with the Gatekeeper of Frost. We just received news that he is returning to the ship," First Mate Gus explained patiently, "It's just that he seems to have encountered a little trouble over there. Ms. Martha ordered us to surface and pick him up…"

"Encountered trouble?" Tirion frowned subconsciously. He was about to ask for some details when he saw his boatswain walking quickly from the side.

The boatswain came to his side and reported in a low and fast voice.

The expression on Tirion's face gradually became subtle.

First Mate Gus noticed this and couldn't help but ask: "Excuse me, did something…"

"Is your captain an old man wearing a white coat, about fifty or sixty years old, who looks like a ghost?"

First Mate Gus was stunned for a moment, and hesitated: "He… doesn't normally look like a ghost, but the rest is right."

"That's right," Tirion spread his hands. "Your captain is running around the Upper City with a dozen fully armed ghost sailors and a loud-mouthed ghoul, and has now been 'invited' into the Bureau of Security. If I'm not mistaken, they're lost, and they don't seem to know how to 'turn off' the spectral flames on their bodies, so they caused public panic."

Gus: "Ah…"

"But don't worry, the Bureau of Security knows they aren't enemies, because witnesses saw them fighting monsters in the city-state and covering the city-state guard. They won't have any trouble."

"Uh…"

"Also, the Gatekeeper and Archbishop Agatha has gone to meet them. With the Cathedral guaranteeing them, your captain should be back soon."

"Oh…"

"In the future, try not to publicly announce that you are a 'Vanished member.' Mainly… this identity is very sensitive."

"...Okay."

(End of Chapter)