Chapter 26: Wanted
These crew members did not let Raine down, and his previous depressed mood was cleared away at once.
"By the way, Captain, it turns out that there are missions on the Navy side as well." Avril leaned over the side of the ship and said mysteriously, "They don't call them missions, Lieutenant Shobe said they are called Wanted Bounties."
"Wanted? As in Wanted Luffy?"
"Ah? Who is Luffy?"
Luffy is the protagonist in an anime that Raine used to watch, but more than 300 years have passed since the anime came out so Avril naturally doesn't know who Luffy is.
"Oh, I'm just kidding. You go on, what exactly are wanted bounties?"
"Captain, I saw two wanted posters. One is a wanted G-class pirate group 'Wild Wine Pirates', the bounty is 1,000 white pearls. The other one is a wanted G-class sea monster 'Medusa', the bounty is 1,500 white pearls."
Raine was shocked to hear the amount of the bounties.
It took them several days to make a round trip to earn a few pearls, but a wanted job reward amounted more than running the ship themselves for a few years!
"Avril, what level is the G-class pirate group, and the G-class sea monster anyway?" Raine couldn't help but pry.
"Well, how do I explain it... The main ship of the G-class pirate group is at least a G-class battleship. Do you see that naval warship? It is a G-class warship."
Raine almost sprayed out a mouthful of blood. That battleship is at least 40 meters long and 20 meters high! And the ship is equipped with at least 30 guns and crewed by at least 100 people!
This is only G-class? G-class seems to be the lowest level Raine has ever heard of. Terry said the sea monster they encountered might be F-rank. The level is higher than G-class, and it turns out that G-class is still an unattainable level for him!
"In addition to the main ship, the G-class pirate group probably has four to eight warship escorts. The level of the frigates don't have much of a requirement, even a small ship like Biao's boat can count as one."
Even a small ship like Biao's boat? Raine's heart took tens of thousands of tons of blows.
Biao's ship seemed to be stronger than his, but it's comparable to the most insignificant existence in the G-class pirate group!
Avril felt Raine turn silent. She guessed what Raine was thinking and said with a smile, "Captain, don't put yourself down. Think about it, if the pirate group didn't have some strength, what would make the general ships be afraid of them? There are even some pirate groups strong enough to go head-to-head with the Navy!"
"Eh? That seems to make some sense."
After all, Raine has only evolved a few times so far. There is no need to compare himself with the pirate group.
Besides, as long as he is given enough time, it is not certain who will need to escape if they ever encounter each other in the future.
Raine finally relaxed after some consideration.
"There are also G-rank sea monsters. Well, to put it bluntly, sea monsters are the mutants of undersea species. The Navy has a test apparatus that can be used to grade the sea monster based on various parameters, and then deducing the strength of the sea monster."
"But we are not the Navy and don't know how the specific grading works. But captain you can understand it this way. A G-class sea monster can clash head-on with a G-class pirate group, or a naval squadron, and have a certain chance of winning!"
"Holy shit!" Raine couldn't help but let out a gasp.
"In that case, it's a miracle that Terry and the others survived."
"Yeah, no wonder no one else would have taken the time to find them. After all, the chances of them surviving are almost zero, their fishing boat just shattered as soon as it touched that monster."
"En, so that's why a single whole piece of wood was not fished out..."
After Avril's logical explanations, Raine has now made up in his mind that he will never touch the pirate groups or sea monsters at this point in time.
"We'd better take some transport tasks instead for now. I think the most important priority is the safety of the crew." Raine said righteously, "Anyways we should not think about that stuff right now. By the way, just now you said you guys wanted to buy some good food. Go ahead, but control your budget to within 1 pearl!"
Avril had known Raine would be like this. And she heard that the stingy Raine actually agreed to give out a pearl as a treat for everyone. She said excitedly and mischievously, "Great, Captain! I'll be on my way then."
......
While Avril, Arsan's family, and White were eating, Raine began to plan his future strategy.
The next evolution would require 500 pieces of wood and 100 kg of iron, with wood costing 10 units for one pearl that would amount to 50 pearls in total.
Iron is an even rarer material and so it is even more expensive. A white pearl can only be exchanged for 1 kg of iron ingots!
'I still have to earn 121 pearls!' Raine thought indignantly, 'If I'm lucky, I can get an iron ore transport mission to the Sicily market every time. But it's only 3 pearls for one trip! And it takes 14 days to get there and back. That adds up to 560 days!... If I don't get it, or if I encounter an obstacle at sea, it will take even longer!'
'It will take at least two years to evolve! Holy shit, that's terrible!'
However, Raine also has no better way to make money. If a steady and consistent transporter can complete the evolution, it is possible to spend two years on this objective.
Thinking of this, Raine still decided to continue to engage in transportation, while seeing if there were any other good missions, such as rescue missions, or anything else he had not seen or thought of yet.
After that, Raine began to continue his career as a transporter.
During this time, it was the happiest for Arsan's family. Whenever they were free after running missions, Armin and Arsan could visit their mother Arhui. At times, Avril would also invite Arhui to be a guest on the ship.
Although Lieutenant Shobe did not recruit the two crew members he wanted, it seems that he has not given up. He not only helped to search Biao's home in person but also offered a messenger seagull to Avril.
Seeing that Shobe always showed himself as friendly to Arsan and Avril, Raine always had the feeling like someone else was chasing his girlfriend, which is odd. If not for Raine knowing it was his own illusion, and Shobe seemed to be a decent guy, Raine would have thrown him off the ship!
During Lt. Shobe's interactions with Arsan, he soon learned that Arsan's mother was working as a handyman in the market. And it so happened that the Navy kitchen lacked a person to wash dishes, so he recruited Arhui to come over to work for him.
This was great news for Terry's family.
This means that Arhui will have a stable and lucrative income in the future, and her status has also been raised.
Every day went by without a care in the world.
One day, Shobe came uninvited to talk to Avril about maritime tactics. Suddenly, seven navy soldiers came rushing from the navy battleship.
"Lieutenant Shobe, quick! There's been an emergency!"
"Why are you so panicked? Don't make yourself look like a clown." Shobe shook his head and smoked his cigar leisurely, "Speak your mind, what is it."
"Lieutenant Shobe, 300 nautical miles from here, a G-class sea monster has been spotted!" The soldier said anxiously, "Thirteen ships coming from the Mississippi trading market have been destroyed, and the navy there is requesting support!"
Avril only felt a blue shadow flicker before her eyes, and then she realized that Shobe was no longer on board.
In the distance, Shobe's tall back walked quickly towards the navy warship, "Inform all personnel, gather for battle!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone