Douluo: The Adventures of King Skin

Give me the bow of burning gold! /Give me the arrow of desire! /Give me the spear!Clouds, dissipate! /Give me the chariot of fire!

——William Blake, "Jerusalem"

The white-gold sunshine at noon.

Under the green shade of the grape trellis, a middle-aged man was leaning on the bed with his belly open, watching with wan interest as his butler was frothing and arguing loudly with a Gauls.

The Gaul just kept shaking his head.

In the sunfield next to them, a Greek young man watched them argue. He wanted to open his mouth several times and was sweating profusely.

The Gauls no longer paid attention to the steward, but nodded to the middle-aged man:

"Sir, given the current situation of your manor, there is no need to purchase our barrels, because - with all due respect, the value of the wine is not even as good as the barrels containing the wine."

The middle-aged man sighed and sat up:

"Thank you for your candor."

Then he waved to the butler and said:

"Let our guests go down and have some refreshment - of course, the best Cretan wine..."

After seeing the two people off, the middle-aged man couldn't help but smile when he saw the young man getting angry in a hurry:

"Aminsta, what made you so anxious?"

The young man replied: "Father, a guest from afar came to visit you and sent many gifts, and there was also a special gift that he said he wanted to give to you personally."

Then the young man frowned and began to complain: "It turns out that you have been busy messing with wine - give up, father! Our family has no talent for winemaking! - Besides, compared to this, the guest has been drinking for half a day to relieve the heat. Drinks' - good Cretan wine, of course!"

The middle-aged man was not annoyed after hearing this. Instead, he couldn't help laughing and said, "Okay, let me go and apologize to that guest in person."

The young man said helplessly: "Then please wear some decent clothes."

"Okay, okay, I'll go right away..."

"I've brought it."

"..."

Aminsta helped his father straighten his clothes along the way.

When they walked to the living room door and checked their appearance for the last time under his son's nagging, the middle-aged man cleared his throat:

"Dear guest, please forgive me..."

As soon as I saw the visitor, I couldn't help but apologize in my throat. I just stared at the visitor with my mouth half open.

"Please forgive me for being rude, but..." The middle-aged man apologized and stepped forward even more rudely to stare at the guest's face at close range. Aminsta behind him showed a helpless grimace upon seeing this.

The guest guide was not surprised. He still had a decent smile on his face and stood up to greet the host.

"I've been to many places, but I've never seen someone like you..."

The guest just smiled and motioned for the middle-aged man to continue.

"Your skin color is darker than that of Nubians, but your facial features are like ours," the middle-aged man said while thinking:

"If I'm not mistaken, you should be coming from somewhere between Nubia and Babylonia...and going south of Canada!"

"You are indeed knowledgeable," the visitor said with admiration:

"I am an Aksumite, a descendant of the ancient Judean and Sabaean kings, but I have never seen my homeland, for I was born a slave...but now serve my lord as a free man."

Lord?

The middle-aged man thought for a moment:

"So you are a king's envoy?"

The envoy did not pursue the indifference in his tone. After all, the Lord had specifically reminded these "citizens of the city" of their possible attitudes before coming, so he always maintained a humble smile on his face.

But before he could say anything, the owner once again acted impolitely - his attention was completely attracted to a wooden box next to him.

The wooden box was filled with straw, and in the center was a gleaming metal object.

It was a boat made of tin.

"This is……"

The middle-aged man walked over and squatted in front of him to observe carefully.

He had never seen a ship like this.The hull is slender, the freeboard is very high, and it is equipped with many sails, and the sails are not the usual square shape, but look like curved leaves, as well as the curved oars, the arc-shaped bow...

He was completely mesmerized.

When the messenger saw this, his smile became even bigger:

"This is a gift specially prepared for you by my Lord. Please allow me to demonstrate to you -" he waved to his entourage, "This is a boat, but it is more than just a boat."

The attendant brought a large basin.

"I took the liberty of asking your servant to prepare some water for me." The messenger picked up the boat with both hands, gently put it into the water, and then said in a show-off tone:

"Look!"

I saw the metal boat floating leisurely on the water, and then began to slowly rotate until the bow pointed in a certain direction.

The envoy turned the basin with his own hands, but the bow of the boat always pointed in the same direction;

Then the messenger turned the bow of the boat to one side, but the boat slowly turned back again!

Both father and son were shocked!

"This... this..." Aminsta was already incoherent and turned to look at his father——

His father's brows were furrowed and his eyes were sharp, staring at the boat.All the boredom was gone from his face, and he seemed to have become the unsmiling captain again.

Such a father is feared, but he is a real hero in his heart.

…………

…………

Maribus felt a sense of pleasure.

From the time I came in until now, I was first left here to hang out by that barbarian kid for a long time - although the wine was good - and then the barbarian father came and was rude several times, and he still hasn't had time to introduce his name!

The ability to maintain this elegant smile until now is all due to his noble sentiments of being loyal to his mission and his honed personal cultivation.

Seeing the father and son immersed in wonder, all Malibus' unhappiness disappeared.

He coughed lightly and followed the master's instructions to perform further demonstrations.

Malibus picked up the boat and carefully pulled it, and the part above the deck was separated from the cabin, revealing the mystery inside.

A long black stone lies directly at the bottom of the cabin, with the bow end painted red.

The father and son looked at each other:

That's it?

The messenger didn't explain. He took an iron needle from his entourage, scraped it back and forth on the black stone, and then inserted the long needle into a small leaf.

The next scene made young Aminstad feel lightning and thunder in his heart——

I saw that the leaf with thin needles also gained the magical ability of a boat and could point in a fixed direction in the water!

This is amazing!

"This tool is called the 'North Compass', invented by my lord. As you two can see, the 'North Compass' always points north without interference."

"interference?"

"Correct."

The messenger removed the black stone from the boat and demonstrated to the father and son how the magnet interfered with the compass.

"The 'Compass' derives its entire power from this stone, and therefore will be disturbed by the same power."

The middle-aged man frowned deeper. He was still confused about the principle, but it did not prevent him from realizing the huge application value of this magical device in navigation.

He saluted the envoy with a solemn face: "Who is your lord who I haven't asked yet?"

Maribus also put away his smile and said with a proud expression:

“My lord is King Pyrrhus, the commander-in-chief of Epirus and the king of Molossia.

"Your Majesty has specially asked me to come to visit you, hoping to invite you to Epirus to help you continue your exploration."

Hearing this, Aminsta on the side couldn't help but breathed quickly, and subconsciously wanted to persuade his father to agree quickly——

"Not anymore."

?

Neither Maribus nor Aminstad knew why.

"The news brought by the caravan two days ago - you should still be at sea at that time - is that there has been unrest in Epirus, and the current ruler is Neoptolemus."

Now it was the messenger's turn to be stunned.

"However," the middle-aged man said, "Your Majesty was not in the country at the time, and it is said that no bloodshed occurred."

There was silence in the hall for a moment.

Not to mention that Maribus was in a state of confusion; Aminsta's face turned pale, and the young man was particularly affected.

His father has not been at home very much since he can remember, but he grew up hearing about his father's great achievements in navigation, so he dreamed of going out to sea with his father to explore together one day since he was a child.

You can even become part of the legend together!

Unfortunately, my father's greatest voyage also ended his exploration career. Because the commission was not completed, the city-state was unwilling to continue to provide funding.

My father said nothing, but his actions showed the loss in his heart.Like a ship lost in the sea, drifting with the current and being noncommittal about everything around it; and often wandering around, but in his 40s, he is like an old man who is spending his old age peacefully - especially after writing that travelogue, it really feels like An old man who finished writing his memoirs was completely decadent, and his remaining enthusiasm was used to toss the unlucky wine...

Now it seems that there is finally a turning point in fate. A mysterious king invites his father to explore the sea again——

As a result, the spark of hope was dashed in an instant. How could he not be devastated!

**

Aminsta's father, however, acted much calmer, without even a trace of regret on his face, as if he didn't care at all about the twists and turns of fate.

His attention returned to the unique gift.

The "Compass" is indeed magical, but it is just an additional auxiliary means for him.

Even without this kind of tool, he had relied on his knowledge of astronomy and stars and many years of sailing experience to sail to distant places that ordinary people could not imagine.

What he really focused on was the strange little boat - who has ever gone to sea without fantasizing about an ideal, unprecedented new type of sailing ship?

He raised the two halves of the hull to his eyes for closer inspection, and suddenly asked:

"Is this the 'rudder oar' at the back?"

Maribus was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then heard a series of questions——

Why are the side paddles curved?

Why are the sails so close?

What is the actual size of this ship?

……

The messenger said helplessly:

"I'm afraid all your questions about this ship can only be answered by my Lord himself."

The middle-aged man was silent.

He carefully reassembled the tin boat and returned it to the water.

Watching and admiring:

"It's so beautiful! Does she have a name?"

Malibus leaned down and said softly:

"Her name is 'Pythias'."