The black sun hangs high

Chapter 310 A Feast of Wine
The banquet hall was of limited size, yet this short stretch of road felt like it was about to completely drain one's energy.

Fortunately, as the representative of the Dawn Society, Hugh, who was walking at the front of the group, showed an unusually vigorous energy at this moment. He skillfully and appropriately dealt with almost everyone here and successfully led the rest of the Dawn Society members to their own table.

The slightly tense atmosphere quickly eased at this moment, and as the members of the Dawn Society took their seats, the waiters who had been waiting nearby came forward and began their work.

The welcome dinner on the night the cruise ship set sail was nothing special, and the captain and others did not actually participate in the banquet.

They made a token appearance, had a couple of drinks and a little something, said a few words to the passengers on behalf of the Legal Committee, and then left, leaving the banquet time to the passengers themselves.

This is a very important time for Hugh.

As he approached the passengers who came to greet him, the Ernst family's magical rats, which had already spread throughout the entire Windless cruise ship, began to move, with the passengers' cabins naturally becoming their primary target.

Although these cabins are now mostly guarded by attendants and bodyguards, or protected by various protective magic spells, the magical rat swarms, which have become part of the ancient power, are not really restricted by the inherent magic system. In other words, these rats, manipulated by high intelligence, can easily bypass the established protective measures and infiltrate silently through the loopholes.

Hugh doesn't need these rats to steal anything for him; they have only one goal: everything, clues, and information related to the Black Sun Society and the ancient gods.

He didn't think he could find the hidden Black Sun Society members on the Windless through such a crude and simple method, but such an action would allow him to gain a deeper understanding of the current political and academic situation.

Furthermore, Hugh could use this to further investigate the specific attitudes and opinions of these elites within Vaan regarding the future developments.

This had important guiding and reference significance for his own future decisions and those of the entire Dawn Society.

During his in-depth conversations with the passengers, Hugh deliberately left the scholars to Verine, which was precisely her area of ​​expertise. While Hugh skillfully chatted with the officials of the various duchies, Verine cautiously began to make contact with the magical scholars.

If officials always act based on self-interest, then the primary driving force influencing the actions of these scholars is curiosity.

Whether it's the strange black sun, the magical shifts throughout Vaan, or the secrets surrounding the terrifying rifts in the rugged hills... these kinds of questions are troubling these clever spellcasters.

As a mage who witnessed the destruction of Seren City firsthand and was very close to the Highland Council, Vilin was perfectly suited to satisfy their thirst for knowledge.

As for the other members of the Dawn Society, they also dispersed. Some sought out targets for brief contact and conversation, while others followed Hugh and his companion, helping them take notes and acting as their assistants...

While the members of the Dawn Society were constantly trying to obtain information and intelligence, the astute conversationalists were also probing time and time again. They were filled with curiosity and wariness towards this newly formed large society. Just as Hugh had mentioned in his previous discussion with Mayer and others, in the eyes of a considerable number of people, the nature of the Dawn Society was still unclear. They might even mistakenly believe that it was a mage society that had emerged after the Law Committee and the Council.

Explaining these things to such a group of people is not so easy.

Although they were all incredibly shrewd, their thinking was easily influenced by established frameworks. In their eyes, the Scions of Dawn could be a wild mage society being unified, a branch secretly established by Merlinle, or an organization supported by certain major powers... But they could not understand, nor were they willing to believe, that the Scions of Dawn was a large group purely dedicated to fighting against the Black Sun Society.

Of course, Hugh didn't intend to waste any more words on this matter.

He knew very well that although these guys in front of him were now behaving extremely cautiously, restrainedly, and politely, and always coming up with witty remarks when talking to him, they had their own scales in their hearts to weigh the importance of things.

At this stage, rather than exhausting ourselves explaining the Akatsuki Society's platform, goals, and ideals to these people, it would be better to maintain a certain degree of mystery surrounding the Akatsuki Society and thereby increase its presence and deterrent power.

After all, sometimes, a successful conversation doesn't rely on words and etiquette.

Body size and fist size are also among the evaluation criteria.

Thus, after Hugh had dealt with most of the politicians, the rats that had conducted the first rough search and inspection of the passenger cabins had basically completed their task, and a large amount of information had been successfully gathered.

Having hunted the Dark Abyss offspring multiple times before, Hugh had gained ample experience in dealing with this situation. He remained outwardly calm, but his mental energy surged in an orderly fashion. As the metal disc rotated and magic was released, the chaotic information was quickly categorized and organized, and neatly "stacking" in a clean corner, waiting for Hugh to review it at any time.

Meanwhile, the magical rat swarm responsible for monitoring and observing the sailors on board has also reached preliminary conclusions.

General Bernhardt and other experienced military personnel stated that the soldiers on board were fairly disciplined, and all their actions adhered to the standards of professional soldiers. The vast majority of them were competent and dutifully performing their duties. Actions such as daydreaming, dozing off, or engaging in casual conversation were all within reasonable limits.

As for the captain and other important personnel, they behaved perfectly normally. After leaving the banquet hall, they returned to their original posts. Now, the entire Windless is steadily moving forward along the established course under the escort of the other warships.

In Hugh's conjecture, even if the Black Sun Society had designs on the cruise ship, they would most likely not take action shortly after the ship left port. The Windless's voyage was long, giving them ample time to make various moves.

Hugh's gaze swept quickly across the banquet hall.

By this time, the passengers had finished their tedious socializing, and most of them had obtained the information they wanted. Apart from the group of monks who were still engaged in rigorous academic exchanges, the rest had begun their meals.

The ship's waiters finally began their work, bustling around the tables and delivering the prepared food to each one.

Vera finally finished her conversation. Seeing that she seemed a little tired, Hugh brought her a chilled dessert: "What's wrong? Didn't the conversation go well?"

"Not really."

Vera shook her head and picked up the small spoon next to the dessert: "It's just that everyone has some disagreements on some issues, and it's not easy to persuade them." After saying that, her gaze fell and focused on the dessert that was sprinkled with a little icing sugar and decorated with a cream iris.

Having entered this state, Vera clearly didn't want to continue talking.

So Hugh stopped asking questions and began to focus on his meal. The other members of the Hourglass did the same, but they were more reserved when eating—not everyone possessed magic, nor had everyone traveled on a large ship.

For a considerable number of people, seasickness remains a significant problem. Although the Windless is currently sailing quite smoothly, no one knows what the weather and sea conditions will be like in the future... They are just ordinary people, lacking both the ability to directly address physiological reactions using magic and the basic physical conditions to take those magical potions.

And so, this simple welcome dinner came to a close.

Although the passengers were still eager to get more useful secrets and intelligence from the young "legendary figure" Hugh Ernst, they also understood that such things could not be rushed. The Windless One still had more than ten days to go, and they had plenty of time.

……

After dinner, the Windless, which had been sailing smoothly, finally started to feel some turbulence.

The so-called "Windless One" was ultimately just a name for the ship that carried connotations of blessing and prayer; it could not truly prevent the arrival of wind and waves. As the turbulence intensified, those who had indulged in unrestrained eating and drinking at the banquet paid the price.

Fortunately, Hugh had anticipated this situation, so he specifically instructed his team to rest early, which naturally included Vera.

In this regard, Verine didn't insist much, so she returned to her cabin early, washed up, took the alchemical potion she had prepared in advance, and began to rest. As for tasks such as guarding, they were all taken care of by Hugh's rat swarm.

"Damn it, these plainsmen not only eat a lot, but they also vomit like crazy! Oh, it smells awful."

The Ernst family's will, which held a clear prejudice against the inhabitants of the plains, gagged twice in Hugh's mind.

It's easy to guess from his description that he must have just witnessed a duchy official or nobleman suffering from seasickness.

Hugh ignored the conversations that gathered in the rat hole, since their daily chatter was utterly pointless and would be of no interest to anyone but the frantic rats.

Hugh quickly blocked out these useless sounds. After quickly taking precautions, he took out a new water bottle from his luggage and unscrewed the cap.

Almost instantly, a soft and translucent shadow darted out from inside the brand-new kettle and fell onto the table beside it.

Justine quickly changed her shape, eventually acquiring a rounded silhouette.

The next second, at the top of the translucent sphere, two small triangles struggled to "pop" out, forming two ears that had no practical function.

This makes it look like a translucent sphere with cat ears.

Hugh found it interesting and was about to reach out to touch it when a series of emotions representing complaints, dissatisfaction, grievances, and boredom came over. At the same time, "Justina" on the table gently swayed her body and made a very faint, high-pitched sound.

This makes it look more like some kind of weird pet.

However, Hugh could understand Justine's emotions. She had already woken up after boarding the ship. Judging from her current state, she had completely digested the "color of life" that Hugh had fed her. As a creature with rich emotions and ample intelligence, being trapped in a small water bottle would indeed be very uncomfortable and suffocating.

As a rather incompetent "father," Hugh decided to make up for his absence, so he sat down in front of "Justine" and once again extended his hand.

After venting its frustrations, the soft shadow returned to its docile state, puffing up its body and arching its head upwards to make it easier for Hugh to touch it.

After gently patting Justine's head a few times, Hugh took out his magic crystals and carefully placed a few pieces on the table.

Justine was clearly hungry again, so several tiny, soft limbs immediately emerged from its round, transparent body and quickly gathered the crystals to its side, stuffing them into its body.

Then Hugh saw that the magic power within the crystals that had just been taken out began to dissipate at an alarming rate. This rate was so fast that the color and luster of the first two crystals became dull and gray within a dozen seconds.

A few minutes later, Justine's body trembled slightly, and then she took out the crystal that had been completely "drained" and placed it neatly on the table.

This process was repeated twice until it began to absorb the magic from the third crystal, at which point it slowed down.

The effects of the magic power from these two high-purity magic crystals were also very obvious. Hugh saw that Justine's body began to slowly change color. Unlike the previous gray-black, it was now turning into a clean azure blue.

The moment the colors were basically set, its body trembled once again, and then Hugh heard a sharp, faint but extremely clear sound.

Although it was only one word, he still managed to capture it successfully.

"Hungry!"

(End of this chapter)