Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 445 - 13 Floating Ship_1

Chapter 445: Chapter 13 Floating Ship_1

"Swoosh," the large gates slowly closed in front of the five individuals, separating the two squares again.

"Let’s go." Catherine turned around, her long black hair fluttering in the wind, "Our journey is about to begin, everyone. Let’s pull together."

"Let’s pull together!" The four girls put their hands in the middle, full of vitality, cheered, "For the new mission!"

"Excuse me, respectable professionals." Behind the four girls, a weak female voice asked, "Are you all travellers as well? If so, please board the ship as soon as possible. We are about to depart."

"Ah, I apologize for the wait." Catherine lifted her head to reveal an apologetic smile, "We’ll board right away. And you are....?"

Before them stood a human girl of about sixteen or seventeen. She was not particularly pretty, but she was refreshing and cute. Dressed in a unique maid’s outfit, she stood with her hands crossed below her navel, maintaining a standard posture. However, she was always shy, keeping her head low and unable to meet anyone’s gaze. Spotting Catherine’s gaze, she blushed even more intensely and lowered her head even further. In a tiny voice, she said, "I, my, my name is Maggie, I, I, I will be your dedicated attendant on this voyage. I, I, I’ll be responsible for serving the lot of you over these next few days."

"Oh, we really appreciate it." Catherine gave Maggie a reassuring smile, "We’ll be counting on you for the next ten days or so, little sister Maggie. Now, could you please show us the way?"

"Ye, yes, please follow me." Maggie shyly turned around, leading the group half turned away, "This way please, the boarding entrance is here."

Following Maggie, the group quickly found their destination’s entrance. Before them was a ship around four hundred meters in length and nearly two hundred meters wide at its widest point. Yes, it was a large ship docked on land. The entrance they were heading towards was at the fold near the bottom of the ship.

"Eh, where has Mr. Pannis gone?" It wasn’t until then that Freya realized that her wish of catching a glimpse of Pannis hadn’t come true, so she couldn’t help asking, "I could still see him when I first arrived, how come he’s nowhere to be seen now?"

"You scared him off." Lina held a thick novel in her arms, a pair of ordinary glasses perched on her nose. She pushed her glasses up her nose slightly and said somewhat gloomily, "Look at you, you scared him so much he doesn’t even dare to participate in the mission anymore. What an awe-inspiring deterrence, you should be proud."

"Who would believe such nonsense," Freya dismissed with a shrug, but she was still searching every corner, "Strange, where on earth could he have gone to?"

"Right up there." Catherine pointed to the sky, "Look there."

"But how did he get up there?" Despite being twenty meters high, Pannis managed to poke his head out from the side of the ship above, waving a greeting to the girls below. Freya was taken aback, "I remember the tickets still being in your hands, right? It’s surprisingly sneaky of him to sneak in undetected."

"You’ll get used to it the more time you spend with him." Catherine said with a bitter smile, "I no longer find his ability to slip into any place at any time surprising. You’ll get used to it eventually too."

"It feels like a sort of sad perspective to get used to, though I’d rather never get used to it." Freya intertwined both her hands on her chest, her eyes shining with a profound sentiment, "Don’t you think it’s interesting? The chance to bump into him anywhere, anytime, to meet him whenever... During an autumn afternoon, a summer night, the blossoming of spring, the snowfall of winter... Always hoping for an unexpected encounter, anytime..."

"Bang." Vivian’s magic staff was always the perfect way to cut Freya off: "You’re such a chatterbox. Just walk."

Mr. Pannis, onboard the ship, waved his hands in greeting. He burglariously vaulted down the ship with sheer nerve, his landing from the twenty-meter height softened into a roll by his momentum. He wouldn’t be injured as a high-ranking professional. Emerging from his roll, he greeted the girls with a big grin, "Yo, it’s about time. I almost got impatient and took a nap."

"Sir, sir." Maggie gathered her courage and said, the firm but timid lilt in her voice denoting her dissatisfaction, "It’s forbidden to jump from up there. The association guarantees the safety of every ticket-bearing passenger. Please don’t make things difficult for us."

"No problem, no problem." Mr. Pannis waved his hand dismissively, "I didn’t have a ticket when I was on board, so I’m not a passenger, and you don’t have to worry about my safety, haha."

"Isn’t that even worse? Boarding without a ticket is strictly prohibited, sir. You should reflect on that." Maggie blushed, waving her hands and whispering, "The number of people boarding is calculated very precisely, along with the weight they bring. Any unauthorised boarding could pose danger to everyone on the ship. Please never do it again."

"Don’t worry." Mr. Pannis chuckled, "So, look, I got off now, right? If I board again with a ticket, it won’t count as boarding without a ticket, right?"

"But, but..." Maggie felt something was off, but she was too flustered to put it into words. She pouted silently.

"Alright, if we don’t get on board now, the ship will leave." Mr. Pannis pointed at the cabin entrance, "I apologize, let’s hurry."

"Oh, whatever." Maggie looked helpless. Her embarrassment faded a little, but it was completely replaced by frustration. She led the way, grumbling, "There are five passengers in total, and the luggage weight is... huh, is this a mistake? 800 kilograms?"

"Yes, that’s the number." Catherine confirmed, "Our luggage is pretty heavyweight, um, even heavier than us."

"Oh, as long as the number is correct." Maggie scratched her head in confusion, then continued in a murmur, "Now that all the passengers have arrived, I am responsible for leading you all on board. During the boarding process, I will give a brief introduction of this journey."

"Our association, formally known as the Flying Transport Association, is a collaborative creation between the Business Federation and the Goblin Business Association." Maggie beamed with pride when she introduced her association, and her voice grew louder, "Our Association operates the world’s only four skyboats. Operating for a century now, we’ve been highly acclaimed by our clients."

"Look here, this is one amongst the four skyboats. Worth ten million gold coins, this ten-year-old ship is known as Jeff. Every skyboat is made of rare special metal, and there are 127,000 magic arrays engraved on it. Thirty Lower Rank mages and over a thousand medium-capacity crystals are responsible for energizing. The maximum capacity can be up to 160 passengers. Ah, here we are, this is the boarding gate, here are your tickets, please keep them safe."

"Welcome aboard the Jeff, dear passengers. You’ll be spending a delightful 10 to 15 days with us." As they entered the cabin, Maggie greeted cheerfully, though still bashful, "First, I will take you to look at your rooms for the journey. According to the record, the five of you have purchased the highest class service, which costs ten thousand gold coins per person. Wow, it’s quite impressive that such young individuals have achieved so much."

"Oh, stop it." Catherine said, displeased, "We thought of going by land, but then some meddlesome person insisted... Anyway, it’s not us who are paying."

Actually, just as Catherine said, they initially decided to travel to Lantern Fish City by land to meet with Lanna, but the day after Lanna’s departure, Catherine’s creditor, Marquis Snape, suddenly appeared in the City of Knowledge. According to Marquis Snape’s explanation, he was going to inspect Grand Highland City, which adjoins with Mountain and Sea Country in the south, and going by skyboat from the City of Knowledge was the quickest method. When Marquis Snape learned of Catherine’s promotion through Mr.Pannis, whom he had invited for a secret meeting, he was overjoyed to the point of madness. After breaking a dozen or so crystal objects in his excitement and keeping his personal caretaker busy for a while, he hired their adventure team to protect him on his journey by skyboat. The invitation to safeguard was merely a pretext to treat them to a luxurious airborne voyage and leisure for around fifteen days. Catherine was helpless, aware of Marquis Snape’s intentions. Although she initially didn’t want to accept his generosity, Marquis Snape brought up the reason of her security, leaving Catherine no choice but to agree to his arrangements and take this unexpected vacation.

Maggie was taken aback by Catherine’s reaction and awkwardly changed the subject. "Since you’ve bought the highest class ticket, your rooms are on the second floor, closest to the deck, and one of the most luxurious suites on this ship. Offering the best service and comfort, I am sure you’ll love them."

"This floor is the top level, where the deck is located. This is the dining hall, where ten chefs will be at your service round the clock. Whether you choose to have your meals in the dining hall, your room, or on deck, the servants will do everything possible to accommodate your requests."

"Here’s the ballroom where dances are held every night. The roof can open and become a transparent crystal ceiling. Bathed in moonlight and stars every night, everyone can enjoy the thrill of the open-air dance parties."

"Here’s the casino, the music room, and a tavern, game rooms, a botanical garden...in fact, you can pretty much find any entertainment you want on this floor. Now, let’s go down these stairs, and there are endless rooms below. The topmost floor only has eight suites, of which four are pre-booked this trip. Your neighbor is...let me see...

"It’s Marquis Snape, I don’t have to look to know." Catherine sighed, "Let’s go check out our rooms now. Thank you."

"Alright." Maggie led everyone farther down the hall and opened a large door, "Here is your room. I hope you like it." (To be continued. If you enjoy this story, please vote for it on ’qidian.com’. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read more.)