Monster Hunt: Notes from a Hunter

Chapter 1332 Sea Search
The retaining ropes were released and the steam-driven engine began to turn.

With a slight "clicking" sound from the friction between the wooden hull and the cables, the large airship slowly rose into the air.

The tasks of driving, navigation, route recording, etc. were naturally the responsibility of the crew and scholars. Gordon, who had nothing to do for the time being, wandered around the ship aimlessly.

Putting aside the year of construction, judging from the time of use alone, this is an absolutely new ship.

The hull structure is very similar to the large sea vessels used by the survey team, or to be more direct, it is exactly the same.

Gordon seriously suspected that this large airship itself was also modified from the sea vessels of that time.

Come to think of it, with the manpower and resources that the investigation team had at the time, it would be impossible to build such a large airship from scratch, even if it was just the hull part. They would have forgotten about doing anything else.

When he arrived at the bow deck, Gordon saw the leader of the Third Regiment holding an unknown instrument that was constantly rotating, probably to measure the wind speed, and Alva who was following her and was responsible for recording the data.

Noticing Gordon's arrival, the leader of the Third Regiment put down his work for the time being and said in a leisurely tone, "What's the matter, Mr. Gordon?"

"Madam, the captain." Gordon greeted her in the polite way she was used to. "I just had nothing to do, so I just took a walk."

"I see. What do you think of this ship?"

Gordon asked her a lot of questions. He was a hunter, not a craftsman or engineer, so what could he think?
"It's pretty good, really?" Gordon said something that was not really a compliment. "It's quite spacious, and fairly stable."

The leader of the third group chuckled and said, "As expected of Mr. Gordon, you have high standards. Many people were shocked when they saw this ship actually fly."

Alva, who was standing by, recorded the data and said with a smile, "After all, Gordon and his team have been to the Dragon Calendar Institute. They also rode the Dragon Knowledge Ship and chased the Silver Winged Evil Star."

The leader of the third group nodded in understanding, and said with some nostalgia: "I heard the guy from the Dragon Calendar Institute talk about the idea of ​​building an 'Aerial Research Institute' a few years ago. I didn't expect that he would actually build it."

Gordon was not sure who the leader of the third group was referring to. Who could tell how many years were in the "early years" of the Dragon People?

Could it be the chief researcher?

The plan of the Dragon Identification Ship seemed to have been proposed by several scholars headed by him. They seemed to be of the same generation as the leader of the third-term group and the leader of the research class, and they were all scholars of the Dragon Clan.

Isn't there some love-hate entanglement in it?
"It seems like you are thinking about something very rude." The leader of the third group stared at Gordon and said faintly.

"Well, you're worrying too much. How long will it take us to reach that isolated island of origin?" Gordon laughed dryly and changed the subject.

Alva continued, "If everything goes well, it will take three or four days. If not, it's hard to say."

"so long?!"

Large airships have steam-driven power plants and are faster than ordinary small and medium-sized airships. Three or four days are enough to cross the Old World from south to north.

Alva shrugged. "After all, we have to search along the arc of the spiral leyline. It's not easy to find an isolated island in the vast ocean. We may have to go a long way around.

Moreover, we were flying almost entirely over the sea throughout the entire trip, which made it easy to get lost and miss the target. We needed to lower our altitude from time to time, repeatedly calibrate our course, and not fly too fast.

This is thanks to a series of previous investigations, which roughly pinpointed the location of the "Island of Origin".

Otherwise, with just the few words left by the expedition team, it might be impossible to find them even after several decades.”

"Yeah" Gordon crossed his arms.

For him, this sailing experience with great uncertainty is relatively new.

From what Alva said, it is possible that we could go to the open sea and find nothing.

"I hope this journey can be longer." The leader of the third group held his pipe and smiled, "The process of exploring the unknown is the most interesting."

Gordon smiled a little reluctantly.

In his vision, the ideal situation would be to reach the island of origin in two days in a straight line, then spend another day to solve the problem, and the last two days to return.

But now he is told that he may not be able to find the place even in five days.
"Is there any way to go faster?" Gordon asked tentatively.

"No." Alva refused bluntly, "We are looking for something, not rushing."

Five days flew by.

The situation described by Alva as "if all goes well" did not occur.

The airship searched back and forth along the predicted route, and the lookouts patrolled the sea day and night, trying to find the "isolated island of origin."

Yesterday, they discovered a lush island.

The excited hunters landed on the island happily, their swords already polished and crossbows loaded.

However, after hours of searching, the largest creature they found on the island was a mushroom pig.
Feng Ying was so angry that she almost chopped the mushroom pig into pieces. It was Ai Bo who stopped her in time and saved the innocent "Island Lord".

Bow.

Feng Ying was sitting cross-legged on the bow railing in a very dangerous posture.

The wind on the sea was very strong. She was swaying in her meditating posture and was in danger of falling at any time, but this was the way she found to relieve her boredom.

It is said that this is a special training to improve concentration and balance.

Just then, a figure approached her silently from behind.

When it was less than a meter behind her, the figure jumped up and shouted behind her ear.

“Meow——!!!”

Feng Ying, who was almost asleep, was frightened and shivered. She immediately lost her balance and fell off the bow of the boat.

Fortunately, her reaction speed was fast enough. Before she fell a few meters, she released the Kinsect and jumped back to the deck.

He glared at the culprit fiercely, and it was, as expected, Xianglan.

"Not bad, meow. Quick reaction, meow." Xianglan nodded seriously.

Feng Ying was furious, "Are you looking for death?!"

"What are you afraid of, meow? Aren't you tied with a safety rope, meow?" Xianglan licked her paws and glanced at the rope tied around Fengying's waist.

Hayata tied it for her because she was worried about her dangerous behavior, and the other end was tied to the railing.

But, is this the reason why you cheated me?!
Ah, I see. Pandan is taking revenge on me for mocking it with pork chop and fish roe.
Feng Ying stopped talking nonsense and suddenly jumped up and grabbed Xianglan before she could escape.

Xianglan was horrified and tried to struggle and resist, but unfortunately her claws scratched Fengying's armor like an itch, and she almost broke her carefully maintained claws.

Feng Ying grinned, untied the safety rope around her waist, tied Xianglan up tightly, and then threw her off the bow of the boat.

Xianglan, who was hung on the bow of the boat, screamed in fear at first, but then she realized that the rope was strong enough and she was actually safe.

So he jumped up and down and started cursing at Feng Ying, who was leaning her head over the side of the boat to watch the show.

The quarrel between the man and the cat made quite a noise, and soon attracted Gordon and the others who were also free.

Gordon came to the bow and looked down with a strange look on his face. "Are you guys playing some pirate game? Whoever loses hangs on the bow? How about hanging together for a while?"

Hayata was even more helpless. He pulled the rope and was about to pull Xianglan up.

Suddenly, Xianglan's loud scream came from below.

"I see it, meow! I see it, meow! It's an isolated island! The shape of that island is so weird, meow! We're here, meow!"

(End of this chapter)