Chapter Ninety-Five: Great Sorrow and Great Joy

The Sea Windmill was easing into its berth at a glacial pace when several middle-aged men, confident in their vigorous builds, had already seized a rope tossed down by a sailor and were climbing up to the deck. These men were small shareholders in the whaling company that owned the Sea Windmill, and they were desperate to know how much game the voyage had brought back.

The ship had been gone for less than a week before returning to Dunkirk. Had it merely stumbled upon a migrating frenzy whale and struck gold, or had some misfortune forced it back to port? The great hole torn in the stern was no omen of good fortune. The Sea Windmill was built with extraordinary sturdiness, and anyone could imagine the terrifying force required to split its hull open like that.

Lin Qi nimbly slid down a rope to the dock. Brushing the dust from his hands, he smiled and waved up at Lucky Joe Aran aboard the ship. "Uncle Joe, make sure everything is packed away properly!"

By "packed away properly," Lin Qi naturally meant the remaining whaling harpoons. With Colonel Nawi's official document as proof, those harpoons could be struck from the Empire's list of controlled goods. On some dark night with wind and moon both absent, those treasures would quietly find their way into the Black Tiger family's secret warehouse, waiting for the day when they might erupt in a dazzling blaze of light from the chest of some mighty being.

A sweeping snowstorm rolled in, and Joe Aran, his hair and beard now gray-white, smiled as he waved the pipe in his hand at Lin Qi. Of course he would keep those lovely little things safe; they were truly marvelous instruments of great use. With them in hand, perhaps once the shipping lanes reopened in the spring, some of the Black Tiger family's men would be able to seize a few more armed merchantmen.

"Fat sheep, every one of them!" Joe Aran smacked his lips and laughed in immense satisfaction.

Enzo and Long Cheng also slipped ashore, while Lin Qi had already embraced Blackbeard with fervent enthusiasm.

Blackbeard rubbed his bristling, scratchy face against Lin Qi's, tears streaming down his own as he cried out, "Oh, Lin Qi, my boy, my Lin Qi! What possessed you to run off to sea? Were you trying to make your poor old Blackbeard father worry himself sick? It's a pity you've grown up, or I'd have given your backside a proper beating!"

Lin Qi coughed weakly a few times, then grinned smugly. "Oh, don't worry, my respected father. I only took Enzo out to see the sights at sea. All of you noble lords ought to understand one thing: for a man from inland, never having seen the ocean is a truly tragic thing."

The grandees of Dunkirk burst into laughter at once, doubling over with mirth, as though Lin Qi's teasing of Enzo, that "country bumpkin from the interior," had given them enormous satisfaction. Yes, a bumpkin who had never seen the sea before, while they themselves dealt with the ocean every single day.

Blackbeard gripped Lin Qi's shoulders hard and shouted, "Then tell your father, my little Lin Qi: you didn't cause any trouble for poor old Joe Aran, did you? Hm? You didn't cause them any trouble, did you? What did you bring back?"

The nobles and dignitaries all shut their mouths at once and obediently pricked up their ears to hear Lin Qi's answer. There was no help for it. A whaling ship's voyage always tugged at everyone's heart. Every whaling ship glittered with gold, and as long as it returned with a catch, its shareholders would reap enormous rewards.

The Sea Windmill was a brand-new whaling vessel, and the cost of building it had been astronomical. Not to mention its sturdy, iron-armored hull, the magic furnace that powered it alone had swallowed a vast sum. That furnace had cost the shareholders more than a million gold coins.

But that did not matter. As long as the Sea Windmill brought back two unicorn mad whales this time, all costs would be recovered at once. If there were a few additional spoils as well—those were practically unavoidable extras, such as hammerhead shark fins and other sea produce—then this voyage would even yield a modest profit. And the next time the Sea Windmill sailed, everything it brought back would be pure profit.

Lin Qi curled his lip in satisfaction and gestured toward the Sea Windmill with a thumb. Smiling in triumph, he said, "Ah, only one, ladies and gentlemen, only one trophy. On this voyage, Enzo and I joined hands, and together we personally took down that big fellow!"

Enzo gave the many dignitaries a slight bow, his cheeks faintly red, as though embarrassed.

The dignitaries immediately clicked their tongues in admiration. What an honest, shy young man indeed. In this day and age, truly, such a simple and sincere youth was rare. Compared with the wastrels in their own households, who wasted their days in wine, revelry, and sensual pleasure, a young man like Enzo was pure gold in the rough.

Long Cheng sneered to himself from the side. Enzo's face was red from shame, was it not? Lin Qi had shamelessly claimed Long Cheng's merit for himself again.

After a round of praise, the dignitaries suddenly let out a perfectly synchronized cry of astonishment: "Ah-wah!"

What? Had they heard wrong, or had Lin Qi misspoken? Only one trophy? Damn it, only one trophy? Even if a unicorn mad whale sold for a sky-high price, the total profit would amount to only about half the cost of building the Sea Windmill.

That meant the Sea Windmill's shareholders would not recoup their investment until this time next year, and would not see any profit until the year after that.

Some of the dignitaries smiled with a trace of schadenfreude, mocking the misfortune of certain people. The Festival of Divine Descent was nearly upon them, the great holiday marking the end of one year and the beginning of the next on the western continent. During the festival, whaling ships could not possibly put to sea. And after the festival, the weather would become especially brutal, making it impossible for whaling ships to sail.

As for going deeper into the northern sea once spring arrived, that would be no different from walking into death. The ferocious navy of the Five-Island Alliance would strip a whaling ship down to the bone.

This time, then, the Sea Windmill's shareholders were in for heartbreak.

And among those shareholders, the major investors still wore faint smiles on their faces, but the small shareholders—those who had counted on this windfall to pay for the holiday season—had all gone extremely dark in the face.

Only one unicorn mad whale? My heavens, Lin Qi, weren't you ruining people?

Dozens of small shareholders, none of them particularly wealthy, fixed blazing angry eyes on Lin Qi. It was this fellow who had suddenly made their lives tight and cramped. Damn him—how could he do this?

Just then, the several middle-aged men who had climbed aboard in a flurry of excitement rushed to the railing, and together they held high a golden horn more than four meters long.

"Unicorn whale king! Young Master Lin Qi and Mister Enzo killed a unicorn whale king together!"

The entire dock erupted in cries of astonishment.

What? A unicorn whale king?

A unicorn whale king worth a dozen or even twenty ordinary unicorn mad whales?

They were rich. This time, they were truly rich.

Damn!