The sky was clear, waves stretched endlessly beneath the azure sky.

On such a sunny day, Grid's three steamships sailed steadily on the surface of the Sinking Sun Ocean.

After the sea beast attack incident that day.

Conflict soon erupted among the casters in Capon.

And Claudia, the leader on Grid's side, evidently understood what needed to be done.

While it was natural and necessary to offer aid when defending against sea beasts and saving civilians, such pure internal strife… it's best to stay as far away as possible, unless intending to interfere in internal affairs.

Thus, once the ships completed their resupply and repairs, the fleet continued towards their expedition's target.

The next task for the fleet was to confirm a precise and safe sea route, reposition themselves with the nation known as the Neeks Empire, and reestablish stable communication and trade.

The geographical position of Neeks was quite advantageous.

If you need an example, it's like the connecting area between North and South America on Earth, occupying the critical traffic junction linking the two continents, while also sitting centrally between the western Sinking Sun Ocean and the eastern Yagao Sea.

Under usual circumstances——

Any transportation business that shortens travel routes will reap profits like a money tree cascading with wealth.

The Neeks, having occupied such a geographical position, clearly realized the benefits of canal construction.

Moreover, due to the presence of casters' power in this world.

Thus, hundreds of years ago, Neeks consolidated national strength to construct a massive canal that cuts across the northern and southern continents while also connecting the western and eastern seas.

Any activity in this vicinity cannot escape the influence of this nation and its famous canal.

Therefore, when the world order was stable in the past, Neeks was always an extremely important partner to Grid, even though there was a clear disparity in national strength between the two, Neeks always held significant weight due to the canal.

Speaking of which, Ronald had some interactions with people from this country.

Back in Springs, the countess Leticia he tried to approach was from there, and their relationship was actually quite good.

...

Time continued to pass like this.

The three steamships sailed forward on the ocean, opening up routes with the aid of many casters.

Perhaps due to rescuing many residents in Capon, Grid's journey over the past days had been quite smooth.

Until one morning in early June.

When the people in the fleet thought they were about to successfully reach Neeks and accomplish the first significant milestone of this voyage.

A clear and bright sound suddenly blared from the steamship at the center of the fleet

Toot, toot toot—— 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

At this moment, Ronald was lying on the deck, flipping through books borrowed from the Capon library.

Startled by the horn, he immediately jumped up from the deck chair.

"This horn… I remember it's a notification that the fleet encountered a special situation, but it's unclear whether there's a danger?"

With a slightly puzzled expression, Ronald carefully put away the books, placing them inside his coat. Then he chanted a spell, soaring into the sky, using the altitude advantage to survey the surroundings.

He didn't need to activate detection spells.

With his naked eyes alone, Ronald saw from the direction the steamship came from, a uniquely designed, yet fast enough to catch up with the steamship, multi-track wooden sailboat approaching Grid's fleet.

Moreover, it seemed the other side wasn't trying to hide it much either.

The striking magic fluctuations enveloped the entire sailboat, indicating that it was a powerful magic ship meticulously crafted by casters.

"..."

Looking at the ship behind, Ronald's expression in the sky turned peculiar.

During the few months of recuperation in Kurpis, he also subscribed to newspapers over there in Black Mountain Town, thus he kept abreast of some relatively famous international news.

And the flag hoisted on this sailboat fast approaching.

It was the flag of the Entrode Democratic Republic, a newly founded nation built by people after the original country of Entrode fell, which Ronald had seen on the newspaper before!

So it's a ship from Entrode?

Sedir's subordinates?

Honestly, Ronald was puzzled by the purpose of this ship appearing on the sea at such a moment and couldn't comprehend why they were tailing Grid's fleet.

A strong curiosity urged Ronald to want to see the situation on the other ship.

But remembering his identity now among Grid's fleet, he suppressed his curiosity and descended back to the deck.

Soon, noticing Ronald's return.

Some casters unaware of the situation immediately surrounded him:

"Mr. Ronald, did you discover anything?"

Ronald naturally explained frankly:

"It's a ship, we have a multi-track sailboat tailing behind us."

"They are from Entrode… judging by the flag on the ship, it's a ship from the Entrode Republic, I'm not quite sure about the specifics."

"..."

"Entrode Republic?"

"Their sailboat?"

"What are these guys trailing for? It can't be they're here to make trouble for us, right?"

So, discussions spread across the deck.

The brief sea surface could hardly impede the communication among the casters, and within a few hours, all passengers on the three steamships became aware of this situation.

In face of this situation, Claudia also ordered the fleet to decelerate.

Once the ship from Entrode caught up, both sides immediately sent people to communicate the situation, and everyone thereby learned about the specifics.

This magic sailboat had indeed been trailing the Grid fleet.

The reason being——due to the newly established country, Entrode was eager to express its position internationally and also prove the power held by their country.

So upon learning about Grid's preparation for an expedition against the remnants of the Nine Commandments. Entrode's restructured residual intelligence agency quickly relayed the message back home.

Receiving the news, the leader of Entrode immediately decided to organize his ship to join this expedition against the Nine Commandments.

However, since the country just calmed down from chaos, it was impossible to assemble a luxurious fleet like Grid's.

They only gathered a small number of elite young casters then set sail chasing Grid's fleet aboard this historically preserved magic sailboat.

Faced with such a situation, the fleet leader Claudia had no objections.

——Yet, it brought trouble for Ronald!

That night, after the two ships met, an investigator knocked on Ronald's cabin door.

After opening the door, the other party spoke with considerable respect, but there was something odd in his tone:

"Mr. Ronald, the envoy from Entrode heard you were on board and expressed their hope that you could join tonight's banquet."

"It seems… they are very eager to meet you?"