Chapter 53 My World (Part 4) tushumi.cc

Number Thirty-Three has become a paper doll! Everything on his face has become exaggerated: huge eyes, huge eyebrows, huge nose, and huge mouth! It's as if someone else's head has been transplanted onto this body.

The tall hat he wore on his head was exaggerated, resembling a black birdcage. His style of dress was that of a true gentleman: a lace-trimmed coat with a large collar and an intricately embroidered knit lining. The top-heavy, bottom-light inverted triangle outfit accentuated his lower limbs perfectly.

As for Billis, apart from the improved clarity, he doesn't seem to have changed much, so he appears quite imposing in front of the slender number 33.

The airship was traveling at an altitude of about one thousand meters. Behind the deck, there was a protruding building that looked like a ship's cabin. Inside, there were soft sofas and purple coffee tables, where distinguished guests were seated.

These guests were all as thin as paper, with exaggerated faces, big eyes and big noses, and flawless white faces.

At this moment, another paper figure appeared on the deck: a middle-aged man with a stubble beard wearing a captain's uniform, followed by several young sailors.

The captain, assuming that Billy was the squire of number thirty-three, went straight to the bard.

"I am the captain of this ship. Please show me your tickets."

"Boat tickets?" Number Thirty-Three couldn't contain his wide eyes and suddenly revealed a musician's voice, "Sorry, this is our first time in this world, and we didn't know there were ships that could fly in the sky."

“Don’t lie, I know how you got here.” The captain looked up at the sky. “Just now, you descended from the sky. This is a common tactic used by sky pirates.”

Upon hearing the word "pirates," Number Thirty-Three couldn't help but snort: "You're saying we're pirates? That's a huge misunderstanding! We're just travelers who happened to land on a ship."

"Then please provide evidence of the traveler's identity."

"I can play the piano. Can you bring me a harp? Any instrument will do. You've never seen a pirate who can play the piano, have you?"

The captain fell silent, trying to figure out who the other person was. The one who had spoken had the air of an artist, while the other looked like a follower.

"My crew will take good care of you two. I'll go get you your instruments now."

As soon as the captain turned around, the airship seemed to be slapped by the airflow, and its speed was reduced by half.

The airship was clearly heading east. The clouds in the east were thinner than those in the north. The closer it got to the coast, the heavier the fog became on the ship's feathers. Looking up from the land, it looked like seeing a hazy whale swimming in the sea.

The captain sensed something was wrong, so he quickly called the first mate out of the steam room, asked him a few questions, and the first mate shrugged and left.

In the next few minutes, the captain ignored the two travelers and summoned all the crew to the deck, as if holding an emergency meeting. He ordered everyone to check every corner of the airship.

In less than a minute, the ship shook violently more than a dozen times, and the passengers on board vaguely realized that something was wrong.

The nobles in the ship's cabins were terrified. Some ran to the passenger cabins, while others ran out onto the deck and started arguing with the captain.

The captain ordered the crew to evacuate the passengers who remained on deck.

At that moment, a dark cloud loomed over from the east.

"Everyone was fine just now, what happened?" Number Thirty-Three asked Billis.

While the captain was distracted, Billy climbed up the mast, put his hand to his forehead, and looked into the distance like a lookout: "I see a dark cloud."

"A dark cloud?" Number Thirty-Three was stunned for a moment. "Why would everyone be afraid of a dark cloud?"

"That dark cloud, it's moving so fast."

The black cloud that Billis had mentioned was now right in front of them, but it wasn't a black cloud at all; it was just a cloud of black steam.

Suddenly, a spear-shaped bow emerged from the steam, followed by a sturdy hull riddled with serrated gun ports, and a rat-shaped flag bearing a dagger pierced the 'dark cloud'.

Someone screamed, "We're doomed! They're aerial pirates!"

Two iron hooks with ropes pierced the deck like cannonballs, and then two more hooks tore through the hull and hooked onto the mainmast. The two airships maintained a constant speed and position, moving forward at a distance of several meters.

A dozen or so men with headscarves slid down the rope with the skill of acrobats. Each of them carried a sailor's scimitar, wore wrinkled cotton and linen shirts with the lapels open, and had wide belts around their waists.

When the first pirate landed on the deck, he raised his scimitar like a conqueror and shouted, "This ship is ours!"

However, he was quickly kicked by the second pirate who landed, apparently because this person stole his lines.

The pirates who arrived later also had beards, were blind in one eye, and had several deep scars on their faces, making them smell foul, as if they had lived in a slaughterhouse for three days and three nights without bathing.

The bearded pirate tossed the pirate he had kicked aside and occupied the most prominent spot on the deck.

"Now, I am the captain here! If anyone dares to stand up and resist, you know what the consequences will be!" He stuck out his tongue and licked the back of his knife to prove how terrifying he was.

To create a menacing atmosphere, several pirates volunteered to cut the ropes of the foremast, thinking that this would slow down the airship. Their barbaric act proved that this was an organized raid.

The pirate captain walked around the deck twice, very dissatisfied with the current situation. The wealthy people had already retreated to the cabins under the captain's arrangement, leaving only a few crew members lingering on the deck.

"Damn it! Where have all the rich people gone?" He licked the back of the knife again, almost cleaning off all the rust.

Billis came to the middle of the deck.

The pirate captain stared at this troublemaker for a long time, then grinned as if he had won a war: "Oh, you look pretty good in a fight. Want to be a hero?"

“I just wanted to clarify something.” Billy took a few steps forward. “Just now, my friend and I were mistaken by the captain here for being with you, so…”

Before Billis could finish speaking, a burst of laughter erupted from the deck.

The pirate captain ordered everyone to be quiet. He raised his sailor's dagger and commanded, "This ship is full of fools and madmen, and all I want is gold! Since you like to provoke me, none of you will live today!"

The pirates swarmed forward, their blood-stained scimitars gleaming red in the sunlight, all falling on Beris.

A strange thing happened: none of the many blades managed to hit a tall, adult man.

Like an eel, Billy moved freely through the filthy thicket of thieves, even managing to steal three knives from his opponent while dodging them.

A pirate was bumped on the shoulder by Billy and was thrown several meters away as if he had been hit by a carriage.

Another pirate managed to slash an opponent's arm during the melee, but when he recovered, he realized he had actually slashed his companion's arm. Beris had somehow gotten behind him and pinched the pirate's nose with his crab-claw-like fingers. The unfortunate fellow suddenly lay face up on the deck.

Dealing with these flimsy paper figures is so easy.

The pirate captain felt as if a mountain was pressing down on him, and he quickly jumped back: "My God! Who are you?"

“A passing bard, and his retinue.”

"Attendants!"

The pirate captain whistled, and the pirates all threw away their scimitars, swung back down the ropes, and retreated in a sorry state.

After defeating the pirates, Number Thirty-Three and his entourage immediately became the focus of attention. Everyone had just witnessed how this tall and strong entourage dealt with the dozen or so pirates wielding curved swords.

To express his gratitude to the travelers, the captain specially invited No. 33 to the first class cabin. As for the attendants, they should follow the rules for attendants. Billy was arranged to stay in the cabin and have dinner with the ordinary crew members.

That night, they learned the name of the airship, the Duke. This airship had been in service since Gear 225 and was the third-generation improved airship of the Drakensburg Works. It had incorporated feather functionality and steam turbine power, but while enhancing safety, it sacrificed its speed advantage.

Therefore, it was often used for aerial sightseeing and became the most luxurious sightseeing boat at the time.

Until the year 240 of the Gear, the Empire prohibited the Drakensburg Works from researching and improving new transport ships, forcing the Duke to be upgraded from a sightseeing ship to a shipping ship.

In addition, they learned that this was a steam-powered nation that developed on the back of gears, and that the heart of the gear was the core energy source for all the improved new transport ships.

This energy source was originally locked in the building that later became the Draken City Hall, but it was recently looted by sky pirates, and someone stole the Heart of the Gear.

Since then, sky pirates have repeatedly hijacked shipping vessels and sightseeing boats.

Some believe this is an attempt by the Empire to collude with pirates to sell the Heart of the Gear to a neighboring country and weaken the power of the Steam Nation.

The captain of the Duke served on this airship for three years, and every time he returned safely, except for this time.

That night, the bard and his entourage became the captain's most important guests.

The next morning, the airship landed in the suburbs east of Drakeng, near Bolit, the most important transit city in the neighboring country.