Chapter 161 Pearl of the Sea (Monthly Pass 2750 Additional Update)
——The beginning of each plot is always the most difficult to write, this chapter wrote me for more than four hours, and the 2850 in the evening may be later, and the subsequent additions will probably have to be made up tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, but it will definitely not be added.
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Alto, in a room on the lowest floor of the monastery.
There was darkness here, and there was no movement except for the sound it made.
Natasha, who was sitting in the room, seemed to have adapted to this, and the hot blood veins that had bulged on her hands and face had faded a lot.
With dark vision, she looked at the thick stack of letters in her hand, humming the melody silently from time to time, even if there was no sound, she looked light and lively.
Seeing the last page of the envelope, Natasha suddenly laughed and clapped her right hand: "Hmph, bless in advance? Lucian, you must be learning from me, I'm waiting for the July 30th "Music Review"."
"It feels so good to have a friend, otherwise I would be bored and go crazy."
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The slightly fishy cool breeze on the sea dispels the sultry heat of October, the waves hit the embankment from time to time, splashing countless snow-white foam, the sea and sky in the distance, birds linger, and the sharp boats pass through nearby, arching bridges.
The "Pearl of the Sea" Sturk is partly similar to the Venice Lucian saw in the film in his previous life, built on more than 100 small islands in the sea, with countless canals densely packed like spider webs, and only a long seawall connected to the mainland.
Sitting on Sturk's unique pointed boat, Lucian watched the various buildings on both sides of the canal slowly move back, feeling like he was shopping.
"Hehe, dear guest, in fact, every canal in Sturk is equivalent to the streets of other cities." The half-old boatman rowing the pointed boat saw that Lucian had been constantly looking left and right, and understood that he was a traveler who had just arrived in Sturk, so he enthusiastically introduced: "There is the Church of St. Mayo, there is the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Sturk, there is the bell tower of truth, and there is the prayer minaret......"
Lucian leisurely blew the sea breeze and was very satisfied with the boatman's introduction: "This should be the temple area of Sturk?"
Although in every urban area and every town, no matter how big or small the church is, there is a church. But there will always be an area where church buildings are concentrated, such as the area near the Golden Cathedral to the east of the Aalto noble district.
"Yes, so it's not crowded here. When you enter the business district, you will see countless pointed boats and merchants and travelers from different countries." The boatman replied with a smile as he steered the pointed boat through a magnificent stone arch bridge.
Suddenly, the surrounding environment became noisy and noisy, and the sharp boats either docked next to a certain building or drove directly into the ground floor of a large building with a waterway entrance.
Words such as "copperfell", "silvernar", "kintale", "bank", "loan", "ten grams", "sturgeon", "carp", "orange fish", "steel", "wood", "slave", and "delivery" came to Lucian's ears from time to time, and the scenes of bargaining transactions came into view, many times more lively than the market area of Aalto.
The whole city is pulsating with vigorous vitality, and even the sea breeze seems to have the smell of money.
"Sturk is more prosperous and has a more commercial atmosphere than I imagined." Lucian sincerely admired that he, who came from a modern city on Earth, seemed to prefer such a warm scene, and seemed to enjoy the silence set off by the hustle and bustle.
The boatman said with strong pride: "Our Sturk City is on the edge of the Storm Strait, connecting north, south, east, and west, and has a natural deep-water port, so it is the best transit place for countless goods, the most ideal free city, and we Sturk people are born with business acumen, the first goldsmiths association, the first bank, and the first certificate transaction were born here."
"Communicate something?" Lucian heard something wrong with the boatman's introduction. When Sturk mentioned East, it obviously referred to Holm and other countries across the Storm Strait. Can you communicate directly?
The boatman, who often deals with travelers and merchants, is curious about Lucian's doubts and talks about it eloquently: "Guest, you should have heard of the 'nightingale' yarn and unique jewelry of the Kingdom of Holm, the 'gold' porcelain of the Kingdom of Colette, the various spices of the Duchy of Calais, and the top tobacco of the Kingdom of Briana, right?"
"Of course, they are things that only true aristocrats can enjoy." Lucian echoed the boatman's statement, although the information he heard from the mouth of his profession was not even half true and half false, but it was better than nothing.
The boatman received Lucian's response, and the nature of the conversation was even more intense: "These four countries are just across the strait, but because these goods are very profitable, they are monopolized by the church, and only the nine noble merchants authorized by the church can organize a fleet to go. Tsk, so the wealth of their nine families can buy Sturk together."
"Uh, which are the nine?" Lucian asked curiously, could it be that Graneuf would be one of these nine families, able to openly use trade as an excuse to send magicians to the other side of the Storm Strait.
"Viscount Wright's family, Baron Cap, Baron Moncage......" the boatmen counted one by one, but unfortunately there was no name on Graneuve.
Lucian's interest gradually faded, and he smiled and said, "Why don't you continue to introduce me to the buildings on both sides?"
"Okay, that's Wright Bank, that's Moncage-Hawthorne Bank." The boatman pointed to the splendid buildings on the left, "That's the 'Epic Gallery', that's the 'Mitchell Sculpture Museum', that's the 'Chanjin' Bank ......."
Lucian kept looking in the direction the boatman was pointing, and successfully saw the three-story building that looked like it was inlaid with gold leaf. Many pointed boats came and went at its door.
Approaching Graneuf's bank so closely, Lucian didn't ask a word, quietly watching the crowds and buildings near it, and letting the sharp boat pass in front of the building with the three words "Canjin Bank".
Lucian was cautious, since he already knew the identity of the Sturk City liaison, there was no need to rush to take risks, it was best to observe Graneuf and his bank first to see what other magicians were doing, to prevent him from being discovered by the church and catching people through his fishing.
In the soul, he built "Horror Technique", "Silent Phantom", "Burning Hand", "Mage Armor", "Steel Lung", "Enduring Elemental Damage", and "Out-of-Control Circle".
But Lucian found that even if he had a formal meditation method, with his spiritual talent, it was estimated that it would take a year to advance to the second ring, even if he had already been able to analyze the magic of the second ring, as for wanting to become an intermediate level, it would take at least ten years! This made Lucian yearn for the Magic Council even more, especially the highly effective meditation methods that Felipe had mentioned.
While the boatman chattered, the sharp boat sailed away from the commercial area.
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More than half a month later, in a famous seafood restaurant "Shark" in Sturk.
Lucian sat down at a table covered with white tablecloths under the guidance of the waiter, and while ordering, he watched the fat man with sparse brown hair and a thick black cigarette in his mouth.
He was exactly Lucian's target Graneuf.
After a long period of secret observation, Lucian was basically sure that he was not exposed, and now the only question was how to contact him.
Graneuf is always accompanied by guards, and there may even be a dark knight, his own strength seems to be very strong, and a person like him will definitely guard against the church's night watch pretending to be a magician to test himself, a guy like Lucian is really a bit of a headache how to win his trust, it is impossible to use the identity of a professor anymore!
So when he accidentally inquired that Graneuve was going to entertain guests on the second floor of the "Shark" restaurant tonight, Lucian's heart moved, and he came over in advance to wait to see if he could find an opportunity. Because for a rich man and an underground giant like Graneuf, the best and most convenient way to entertain guests is always in the lobby of his villa, even if guests like seafood, they can invite the chef of the "Shark" restaurant back, there is no need to come here directly. This made Lucian smell a little weird.
Listening to the creaking sound of the stairs under Graneuve's heavy body, Lucian saw the waiter in the restaurant walking up with a stack of newspapers: "Dear guest, this is today's "Sturk Daily" and the past few issues of "Music Review" and other famous newspapers. Next, our pianist will perform the "Moonlight Sonata" and "Canon in D Major" by the famous musician Mr. Lucian Evans, wishing you a wonderful enjoyment before dinner begins."
Lucian smiled and nodded, as expected of one of the top restaurants in Sturk, the atmosphere and service were very good, these newspapers were not something you could buy casually. After not using his identity as a musician, he could not afford money in a country that was getting farther and farther away from Aalto.
The familiar soothing and beautiful melody resonates with the pianist's playing, making the entire restaurant elegant and serene.
Lucian opened the newspaper, first read "Music Review", etc., and learned from the above article that Victor was touring the Holy Helz Empire, and Phyllis finally wrote a barely good piano sketch.
However, since Natasha commented on the latter part of "Moonlight" in early August, she has not made any more comments, which made Lucian a little worried: "Her blood burning syndrome should be over, is there any other problem? When Alinge arrives, he will send a letter back through the agreed secret channel to ask."
After reading several newspapers that were valuable to him, Lucian saw that the dinner had not yet been served, and the guests invited by Graneuf had not yet arrived, so he casually opened the "Sturk Daily" and looked at the content on it to pass the time:
"A batch of timber from the Principality of Djibouti is in urgent need of disposal, if you are interested, please contact ......" This newspaper is full of similar news except for some anecdotes.
Looking around, Lucian suddenly saw a report: "Ms. Grace, a student of the famous musician Lucian Evans, will hold a concert with her friends at the Crystal Concert Hall in Sturk."
"My student?" Lucian looked at it inexplicably, probably because these "musicians" met themselves at the Aalto Music Festival and received their own guidance, and then created many fantasy works, and Grace among them also got her own private piano professor and became her own student.
With such fame, they quickly became musicians sought after by aristocrats and businessmen after returning to Sturk, and became popular.
Lucian, who has a good memory, recalled a little that these names corresponded to specific characters, and was a little funny for a while: "I did communicate with them about the creation of Fantasia, but they are too good at taking advantage of the situation, right?!"
It's funny, Lucian didn't think about exposing his identity to expose them. But at this time, the waiter at the door introduced a plump and beautiful girl in a black evening dress, she had a good appearance and a faint taste of maturity.
"Grace...... What a coincidence." Lucian covered his face with a newspaper, and then saw Grace walking towards the VIP restaurant on the second floor, "What a coincidence...... She is the guest invited by Granneuve?"
(End of this chapter)