Chapter 1 A Sudden Appearance

A high-speed exploration vessel with a clean white hull suddenly surfaced from the sea – its gunwale almost scraping the stern of the *Sea Fog*, the violent turbulence from the seawater causing both ships to rock violently.

Even the Undying sailors cried out in alarm.

Tiree sprinted to the deck, immediately seeing his men running towards the stern, First Mate Aiden's bald head particularly conspicuous among them. At the end of the deck was the uninvited guest almost touching the *Sea Fog*.

"What the hell is going on?"

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

"I don't know, a ship suddenly appeared – I almost ordered them to be fired upon," Aiden said quickly. "Everyone's on edge, hyper-sensitive about anything 'coming out of the sea', and then that thing just popped up..."

Tiree released the first mate and ran towards the stern. Dozens of men had already gathered on the deck, the jumpy sailors pointing their muskets and short cannons at the other ship. Several soldiers were already at their posts near the close-in defense guns at the stern, the atmosphere so tense it felt like sparks were about to fly.

Tiree looked over the railing and saw a large group of sailors running out onto the deck of the other ship. Judging by their clothing, they were just ordinary sailors from a civilian vessel. Someone was waving a flag on the stern platform; they looked as flustered as the crew of the *Sea Fog*.

Tiree frowned, just about to identify the other ship when he heard the screeching noise of a loudspeaker starting up. Then, a strong, resonant voice came from the speaker on the other ship.

"My sincerest apologies. This is the *White Oak*, of the Forsaken Fleet. This is our first time performing an Ethereal Ascend operation, and an operational error nearly caused us to collide with your vessel… Repeat, this is the *White Oak*, belonging to the Forsaken Fleet…"

Hearing the broadcast, the expression on Tiree's face instantly froze. Aiden, who had just run up from behind, almost slipped. The bald giant’s head seemed to be oozing glistening beads of sweat, his voice slightly off-key, "Captain, what… what did they say? Who did they say they were?"

Tiree didn't answer. His mind immediately flashed back to the inexplicable reminder his father had given him before their communication was interrupted, and that strange smile before the mirror image vanished.

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

The reflection of the *White Oak* was visible in the water, but the reflection showed a ghost ship shrouded in shadows and smoke.

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

It was the ship that had swept across the battlefield like a gust of wind during the previous battle in the mist, the one whose origin no one could figure out – now they had met again.

At this point, the sailors on the ship also noticed the strange reflection of the strange ship in the seawater. Aiden also recalled the origin of the other ship, and he looked up at Tiree with suspicion, "Captain, are they the old captain's…"

"... Father always has his reasons," Tiree's eyes twitched noticeably, but he tried to keep his expression as calm as possible. "To be honest, I really didn't expect anyone to openly announce that they were a member of the 'Forsaken Fleet' on the radio in this day and age… Where did Father find these guys?"

"Maybe they know the origin of the *Sea Fog*?" Aiden suggested uncertainly. "What should we do? Greet them? Invite them aboard? We have to figure out what they want…"

Tiree suddenly felt a twinge of toothache.

"Use the radio to call them openly, ask them to send a representative over, and tell them to stop shouting about the Forsaken Fleet on the radio. There's more than just our ship in the harbor area," the soon-to-be City-State Governor and "Great Pirate" said helplessly, then added, "Oh, and tell the port authorities not to be nervous – they must have seen the *White Oak* suddenly emerge from the sea too."

At this critical moment, anything suddenly emerging from the sea was just too scary.

"Yes, Captain."

Aiden left to carry out the order.

After a while, the *Sea Fog* finally established normal communication with the strange *White Oak*. After a brief exchange of views and an explanation of the situation, the other side agreed to send a representative to board the ship for talks.

Before long, Tiree met the representative sent by the other side – a middle-aged man in a sailor's uniform, tall and thin, with short, curly brown hair, who looked shrewd and capable, accompanied by a young priest.

"Hello, Captain Tiree – I've heard of your exploits for a long time," the middle-aged man said as he stepped onto the deck, his face beaming with a bright and friendly smile as he extended his hand to Tiree. "I'm Gus, the first mate of the *White Oak*. This next to me is our ship's chaplain, Mr. Jansen."

Tiree was a little dazed because he never expected that the person who would step off the eerie "Twin Phantom Ship," which could travel through the mirror realm and other anomalous seas, would be someone like this.

A normal person with a bright smile, flesh and blood, friendly and enthusiastic, healthy in body and mind.

Neither mad nor deranged, with intact limbs, showing no signs of mental problems or physical mutations – these were the new members of the Forsaken Fleet? The people favored by his father?

Although many doubts arose in his mind for a moment, Tiree subconsciously reached out and shook the hand of the first mate Gus.

"Tiree Abnormaal, captain of the *Sea Fog*, needs no introduction," he said, looking at the "sunny 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 Forsaken Fleet?"

"Yes, new members," First Mate Gus said with a smile, while also sizing up the famous "Great Pirate" in front of him, feeling a bit puzzled.

Although the monocle was a little scary, his attitude was generally friendly, his eyes were calm and rational, and his body didn't show the terrifying disfigurement of the Undying around him. He didn't seem like a crazy person with mental problems or a madman contaminated by the Ancient Gods.

Was this Captain Duncan's eldest son? Why didn't he look mentally ill?

The two, in a broad sense, "Forsaken Fleet members" met for the first time, simultaneously wondering about each other's mental state, then tacitly abandoned their somewhat unfriendly thoughts and smiled at each other.

"I saw you on the battlefield before," Tiree said, breaking the somewhat awkward silence. "You roared through the fog, leaving a deep impression."

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

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

Chaplain Jansen's expression was a little awkward, and he shrugged with a wry smile, "At least so far, the Goddess has not sent down any punishment."

"Don't you have a small chapel on your ship too?" First Mate Gus looked up at the eye-catching shipboard chapel at the stern of the ship.

"... That's true."

Tiree choked for a moment and smiled somewhat awkwardly. At the same time, what came to his mind was something else –

On the *Forsaken*, there also seemed to be a "priestess" from a righteous god's church.

His father had even brought an Inquisitor of Prland aboard, so it didn't seem strange that there were some ship's chaplains in the "Forsaken Fleet," did it?

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

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

"Your captain?"

"Captain Lawrence led a squad of marines 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. "But it seems they've run into a little trouble. Ms. Martha ordered us to surface and pick them up..."

"Run into trouble?" Tiree frowned subconsciously, just 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 rapid voice.

The expression on Tiree's face gradually became subtle.

First Mate Gus noticed this and couldn't help but ask, "Has something happened..."

"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, a little hesitant, "He… doesn't normally look like a ghost, but the rest is right."

"That's right," Tiree spread his hands. "Your captain is leading a dozen fully armed ghost sailors and a loud-mouthed dry corpse running around the Upper City District and has now been 'invited' into the Security Bureau. 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've caused public panic."

Gus: "Ah..."

"But don't worry, the Security Bureau knows they're not enemies because witnesses saw them fighting monsters in the City-State and protecting the City-State Guard. They won't be in trouble."

"Um..."

"In addition, Gatekeeper and Archbishop Agatha has gone to pick them up. With the Cathedral as a guarantor, your captain should be back soon."

"Oh..."

"In the future, try not to publicly announce that you are 'members of the Forsaken Fleet'. Mainly… this identity is very sensitive."

"... Okay."

(End of Chapter)