When the distant undulating horizon appeared in the sight of the voyagers, the people on the Virgo couldn't help but cheer excitedly.
Although the Maiden had barely sailed after a simple repair after the battle with Erzumat, they would have sunk in the rough waves if it weren't for Masrae, a "super tinkerer", who was caulking and plugging leaks.
Along the way, the whole ship has been sailing with trepidation, whether it is raising and lowering the sails, or changing the rudder and changing direction, every movement of the sailors is cautious, like walking on thin ice, lest the action be a little bigger, and the Maiden will be tossed and scattered.
Now that these days of fear and fear have finally come to an end, how can they not let them cheer and dance?
At first, they passed through some uninhabited islands and reefs, and gradually, the outline of the horizon began to become clearer.
At the end of a large expanse of sharply jutting out of the island, a medium-sized island connected to the land by a large stone bridge appeared before them.
Minethil Harbour is located on this island.
The port occupies almost every inch of the island, and except for the pier facing the sea, the other three directions of the port are encased in thick walls, like a fortified fortress.
In the middle of the city, a human-style rock fortress rises tall above the surrounding buildings and the surrounding walls.
At the four corners of the castle are four square watchtowers, and in the middle of the roof of the castle stands an even taller bell tower, a faithful record of the long time that has passed since its completion.
Built during the Second Orc War as the landing site of the Lordaeron Human Alliance in the wetlands, Minethil Harbor is a typical military port.
At the end of the war, it was thanks to the transfer of supplies from the port of Minethir that the Alliance forces were able to defeat the orc forces at Kazmodan and free the Orc siege of Ironforge, so the dwarves later named the port after King Terenus of Lordaeron in gratitude to the humans.
However, in terms of jurisdiction, the port is still under the rule of the Dwarven kingdom Ironforge, and Captain Stopphy, the Copperbeard Dwarf, is tasked with running the city.
About a nautical mile from the port, a pilot boarded the Virgo in a dinghy.
Under his guidance, the Virgin slowly approached the shore along the channel between the trestle bridges.
The pier was crowded with people watching the excitement at this time.
The days have not been peaceful lately, and the port of Minethil has not been visited by ships for more than a week, which was simply unthinkable before.
Just last month, the wharves were packed, and many merchant ships waiting to enter the port had to drop anchor in the open sea to wait for berths to be vacated.
The Virgin gradually approached the docks.
There was a sudden commotion among the crowd, for they had all seen the ship's miserable appearance—it had now only pulled up a mainsail and a spinnaker, for its foremast and trail mast had been broken, leaving only a man tall; Its handrails were broken in many places, and some of the protruding parts, such as the lights, the bow statue, and the stern porch, had disappeared, as if they had been wrung off by a large hand.
What is even more shocking is that from the bow to the stern, the hull of this boat is imprinted with four huge uneven strangulation marks, as if it had been severely tightened by a huge rope.
Those on the shore instinctively had a premonition that something unfortunate was coming, and they looked at the bruised Virgin and guessed what had happened to the ship.
However, the connoisseurs could tell at a glance that the ship had not encountered pirates, for by all means there was no sign that the ship had been bombarded by artillery or ballista, but they could not explain the huge dent in the hull by the storm.
"Attention all!
Get ready to break down!
As he glided past the last channel buoy, Captain Aubrey shouted.
The sailors immediately acted as ordered.
Some of them ran to the anchor winch, some to the halyard of the spinnaker and mainsail, and some to control the swivel and winding halyard.
"Attention, prepare to collect the mainsail, spinnaker!"
The captain methodically commanded, just when it comes to sailing skills, Aubrey can be called a master, but in the ever-changing endless sea, it does not mean that sailing skills alone can run rampant, luck and force are equally important.
"Collect the sails!
Roll the sails!
When the final order was given, all the sails were retracted, and the ship was gliding forward slowly by inertia, barely imperceptibly moving forward.
With an inaudible crash, the Maiden finally docked at the pier.
The sailors shouted trumpets and threw the heavy cables far away to the trestle.
One of the large group of dock workers immediately picked up the end of the rope and tied it firmly to the bollard.
He looked like their leader.
"Sorry guys, I think you can tell that it's not easy for this ship to make it this far, and you can't expect any cargo on it to help carry it."
Goblin First Officer Nizlix poked his head out of the side of the ship—his big head was only visible to the docks because of his height—and explained to the workers.
The porters let out a sigh of disappointment, and scattered in twos and threes into the distance.
They haven't started work for more than a week, and the mothers-in-law at home are still waiting for the rice to be cooked.
"What the hell is going on with this damn world?"
More than one shook their heads and cursed dissatisfiedly.
Because the Virgin had to rush to the dockyard north of the city to make repairs, Diego had to wait in the harbor for a while—the docks were so empty that he couldn't even leave on any other boat.
Along the erected gangway, the passengers of the Virgin disembarked.
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As a result of the long voyage, even after disembarking, they still felt as if they were still standing on the deck, as if the whole ground was undulating and shaking.
Some veteran sailors refer to this phenomenon as "land sickness".
They staggered north along the main road leading to the city, but halfway through they were stopped by a patrol of soldiers, a mixed squad, about twenty or so.
Most of them are humans, but there are a few dwarves as well, and as a dependency of Ironforge, dwarves are not uncommon here.
Diego and his party stopped.
This is quite normal, more than a hundred heavily armed men, if they are taken by surprise, can take a small town, and no city defender will turn a blind eye to them.
They were greeted by an officer-like human, his youthful face not showing much hostility.
Truth be told, this vast wetland is full of robbers and murderers, fishmen, gnolls, black iron dwarves, and dragonroar orcs, but humans are not on the list to be guarded against.
"Praise the Light!"
More than ten paces away, the officer raised his right hand.
"Praise forever!"
Huffman raised his hand in response.
"I'm Timonsi?
Lieutenant Clark, travelers from afar, may I know your name and what you are here for?
” "Of course, this is Diego from the Kingdom of Stormwind?
Viscount Asnar, we are on our way back to the realm from the Arathi Highlands on the Virgin.
Huffman greeted him, pulling out Diego's noble coat of arms and identity papers to introduce them to the lieutenant.
Because Diego did not have an attendant by his side, he had already taken the initiative to take on the role of butler.
"Wow, you guys got off the Virgin?"
Lieutenant Clark said with some surprise, his age is a bit too young for his rank, but due to years of war, the countries of the alliance lack experienced veterans, this kind of young officer has become very common everywhere, although passionate, but relatively less steady, "I heard about the tragic condition of that ship, and if you want me to say, it is a miracle that you survived!"
” "You're so right, it's been a tough one."
Huffman echoed, and he turned his head and glanced at Diego, "Holy Light, we're in luck!"
” "It's true, it's a bad year, and you need a lot of luck to do anything."
The lieutenant nodded, and then ended the interrogation, "Well, my work is done, you can leave, and I wish you all a nice stay in Minethil Harbor!"
”