Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 146 Pirate Treasure
After a series of purchases, the team's equipment was upgraded, but someone's cash reserves plummeted to 2474 gold, a number that once seemed like an astronomical figure but now felt like it could slip through their fingers at any moment.

Fortunately, there was still a batch of jewelry in the storage bag, which could be sold off when the opportunity arose, bringing in another sum of money.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yuan finally recovered from his earlier heartache. Then, considering that most of these jewels came from the collection of his own sea monsters, he felt a surge of satisfaction, realizing that his efforts in cultivating those three little ones had not been in vain.

However, the shameless fellow was brought back to reality just as he was getting lost in his own self-admiration by Bard and Münster, who had come out of the blacksmith's shop together.

"Boss, we only have eight days left. Are we just going to wait around in this town?" Bud asked, stroking his long beard.

Seeing that both of his generals were looking at him expectantly for advice, Zhang Yuan didn't keep them in suspense any longer:
"Don't worry, we won't waste our precious time on boring waiting. Your captain has just discovered a pirate's treasure trove, located in a rocky cave on Sword Coast. We've got something to do."

Bard was truly astonished. He had heard Kegan boast about finding the shipwreck treasure back at the base, but such a windfall was rare, and making a fortune so easily was an exceptional case among exceptional cases.

But what's going on right now? Is our captain some kind of magical treasure-hunting rat from those legendary tales of the strange and supernatural? How come he's finding one treasure after another?
The person who pulled out the Sword Bay map from his pocket was unaware of the dwarf brother's inner thoughts. He pointed his finger directly to a crescent-shaped indentation on the coastline, where a circle had already been drawn with ink: "It's in this area. Let's set off now."

The reason Zhang was able to pinpoint the treasure's location was largely thanks to Sir's help.

In fact, ever since he learned that the sirens had lived in a coastal cave before they made the shipwreck their new home, someone had started to have his own plans.

Upon further inquiry into the details of the cave, Syl revealed that they had only lived on the outer perimeter of the cave, while the deeper parts were guarded by golems, making it an unknown territory for the sirens.

Based on the back-and-forth plot of the game from the previous life, it can be basically confirmed that the "former residence" of the three Sylve sisters was likely the pirates' treasure cave, and the sirens were actually guarding the gate during that period.

Although he couldn't pinpoint the exact location of the cave, the clever Sir used his memory and sense of direction to indicate its approximate location on the map, which is the circle in front of him.

Zhang Yuan had his own reasons for delaying the handling of this treasure until now, instead of immediately taking Kegan and the sirens to search for it.

At that time, Kegan had already made a fortune by receiving dividends from both the bandits' treasure and the shipwrecked treasure, and receiving another treasure would only bring him the same unexpected joy.

Moreover, while making a fortune once is a pleasant surprise, doing it a few more times might spoil one's appetite and could potentially turn one into a troublesome element within the team in the future.

Besides, fortunes change, and not all the benefits have to be enjoyed by one person alone. Since the two generals have just joined, we might as well bring them along to share in the good fortune, so that everyone can benefit from it.

The word "treasure hunting" can easily attract people's attention and eager gaze at any time. Even ordinary people who may never have left their homes for more than 30 miles in their entire lives cannot stop them from talking about it with great interest.

As a professional adventurer, Bard had naturally fantasized about joining a thrilling adventure, overcoming various traps and obstacles, and finally discovering a treasure, becoming rich overnight—a sudden windfall. Unfortunately, in Bard's relatively short adventure career, only the occasional raids on bandit hideouts barely touched upon the concept of treasure; as for real treasure, he never encountered even a glimpse of it.

After joining the Flame Fist, I had even less opportunity to engage in treasure hunting and adventure activities, but I never expected that my long-cherished wish would come true today.

Overjoyed, Bard didn't need Zhang Yuan to urge him on. With his short legs, he rushed straight to the front and was the first to board the carriage. He kept waving to his two companions, signaling them to hurry up and get on the carriage and set off.

“What’s the rush? It’s almost two days’ journey from Belgost to the coast. You don’t need to eat, but we do. You can stay in the car, and Münster and I will go buy some food and dry rations.”

After restraining the impatient Bud, Zhang Yuan led the big guy back into the Happy Street Performers area.

This inn, which caters to adventurers and mercenaries, naturally has no shortage of portable and storable food and marching rations. So they bought a batch of food enough for the three of them to eat for two weeks. The two of them carried the large and small bags on their shoulders and in their hands as they walked out. If they weren't strong enough, they probably wouldn't have made it to the door before they were overwhelmed.

Bud got out of the car to help put the food into the compartment, and then someone jumped into the car, pulled down the curtain, and used the compartment as a barrier to put the food into the storage bag one by one.

"Let's go!" Zhang Yuan said to his personal coachman as he reached out and pulled the dwarf brother onto the carriage.

Under Münster's control, a carriage slowly drove out of town, accompanied by the clatter of hooves, heading west in a cloud of dust towards the Sword Coast.

The group of people traveling along the main road did not encounter any danger or monsters. However, with three people in the two-horse carriage, two of whom were fully armed warriors, their speed was inevitably somewhat unsatisfactory.

It was fine before, since it was just delivering the insect shell, so a slower pace was fine. But now, Bard, who was filled with endless longing for the pirate treasure, was far from satisfied with this speed.

Less than half an hour after leaving Belgost, the mage, driven to desperation by the endless chatter of the dwarf in the same carriage, stopped the carriage and used two level-two spells to summon the Chaos Knight.

Then he took out two magical ropes from his bag and tied them to the carriage and the two knights' nightmare horses. As a result, the two-horse carriage was transformed into a four-horse luxury carriage, and the two horsepower was upgraded to four horsepower.

The upgraded carriage did indeed have an immediate and noticeable speed improvement; by dusk that day, the coastline could be seen in the distance.

Considering the inevitable battle during the treasure hunt the next day, the group didn't force themselves to travel through the night. Instead, they stopped to set up camp, fetched water, cooked, and after dinner, listened to Bard ramble on about some old stories of dubious veracity before preparing to return to their respective tents.

With more than enough spell slots, Zhang Yuan summoned several chess pieces to keep watch at night and skillfully set up magical traps around the camp before falling asleep peacefully.

(End of this chapter)