Chapter 84: Chapter 60: Coral City and the New Miracle (Please Recommend)
The Azure Duchy is an island nation with more than 12,000 islands, large and small, totaling 1.91 million square kilometers of land area, not including territorial waters.
If calculated purely by land area, it is approximately 600 to 700 times the size of Yatun Island.
In terms of population, the Azure Duchy has over 30 million citizens and slaves.
If you include foreign merchants, explorers, and mercenaries, the number might increase by another 30%.
In short, it is a very powerful, prosperous, and wealthy country.
Unlike the widespread poverty in most areas of the Iron Eagle Kingdom, the three Masters of Miracles of the Azure Duchy have equal statuses and are revered as The Three Dukes of Azure.
Although they did not use the Miracle Power for the welfare of the people, they brought stability and prosperity to the Azure Duchy.
The citizens here live in abundance and have a very high sense of belonging to their own country, which even Bailuo would find difficult to undermine.
Furthermore, unlike the Iron Eagle, there are almost no competitors to match it in the vicinity.
To the south lies a wider continent, but with current naval technology, it would take six months just to commute between the two places.
Using Miracle Power, one could easily cross over.
However, after crossing over, it is impossible to construct a trade route in between, so both the Master of Miracles from the Southern Continent and The Three Dukes of Azure chose to ignore each other’s existence.
Maintaining only diplomatic exchanges, inviting each other over every few years is considered a friendly interaction.
To the north of the Azure Duchy lies Miracle Mainland, known to the People of Yatun as the New Continent.
Miracle Mainland is about a 20-day sea journey away to the south of the Azure Duchy, but that doesn’t deter the enthusiasm of maritime merchants.
Uncle likened the Azure Duchy to a ‘sapphire,’ not just for its wealth, but also for its geographical advantage in this sea area, almost single-handedly supporting the trade across the entire ocean.
“Coral City.”
The northernmost city of the Azure Duchy is translated as ‘Coral’ in the language of Yatun.
Its name is derived from the special topography of this sea area, the ubiquitous coral reefs.
Logically speaking, such an environment should not be developed into a port city.
Yet, the Azure Duchy used mysterious Miracle Power to forcibly carve out safe passages on this endless coral sea.
Ships crossing over the blue sea surface, the clear waters, under the sunlight, radiate a beautiful blue halo.
“Wow!”
Tree Elf Anderson, out for the first time, stood by the rail, gazing into the distance.
The water was so clear that one could see schools of fish scattering swiftly due to the arrival of the ship.
The colorful coral reefs on both sides, more resplendent than rainbows in the sky, are like a flower sea in the ocean or neon lights by the roadside, leaving the People of Yatun who saw them for the first time in continuous amazement.
“So beautiful, captain.”
“Indeed, very beautiful.”
The entire Coral City is situated right in the middle of this vibrant sea of colors, dividing over thirty channels where large ships can come and go. From high above, it looks like the heart of a giant flower petal.
“It’s completely a different level from Thorn Fort.”
Bailuo had visited Thorn Fort, but the palette there was different from this place.
If one must make a comparison, it’s like the difference between a black and white photo and a color photo. It must be said that Coral City is indeed well developed by the Master of Miracles of the Azure Duchy.
And this is just one island; the Azure Duchy has at least a hundred more large- sized islands.
While they may not all be as prosperous as Coral City, the difference isn’t significant.
“This is truly a Miracle Kingdom…”
Uncle was right; Azure has tens of millions of people, blessed by miracles for more than 500 years.
Having only heard rumors before, Bailuo now understood its strength upon seeing the prosperity of Coral City with his own eyes.
Although the Azure is merely a duchy, it still holds dominion over the maritime hegemony while surrounded by four Pirate Kings (Masters of Miracles).
The strength of Azure is certainly not less than that of the Iron Eagle.
“Being its enemy would cost too much.”
Hearing Bailuo express such sentiments, Gonnia perceived the pressure in his words and said, “We have only just begun, and later, we will surely build a nation stronger than this one.”
“I’ll take your auspicious words.”
Bailuo simply smiled, not paying much attention, as he didn’t really take it to heart.
Time was on his side!
Moreover, Bailuo had three miracles just as Azure had three. No, to be correct, he was about to acquire a fourth miracle soon.
The fifth miracle was also queuing up.
“Our potential will surpass theirs.”
It’s always good to be humble, and so Bailuo wouldn’t say that his potential crushes that of Azure: “But learning earnestly from the strong is a virtue of the People of Yatun.”
“You are right,”
Gonnia said, looking at the young men and women and asked, “Captain, do we enter port now, or shall we wait?”
“Who stops in the middle of the highway to pick up passengers,” Bailuo said with a smile: “Let’s head to the harbor, moor there, and then look for slave traders on the spot.”
Slave ships are easy to find, but Bailuo wants to find a larger slave caravan, preferably one that can transport thousands of slaves at a time.
“Time for a meal, everyone.”
Yimoteer served delicious food, right there on the deck, eating while enjoying the view, truly a treat.
“The crab is so delicious.”
“The sea fish is very good too.”
“The seaweed tastes very fresh.”
Anderson didn’t eat living things, but sea vegetables, sea cucumbers, and the like, he could eat.
Bailuo thought that it must have something to do with whether there was a certain level of self-consciousness.
Tree Elves’ Descendants do not eat fish, crabs, or wild beasts, but they do eat eggs, sea cucumbers, and sea anemones.
“Tofu, my tofu!”
“You’re too slow!”
Little John snatched the tofu from Anderson and stuffed it into his mouth, laughing: “Hiss, hiss- It’s so hot, so hot!”
“Hahahahaha.”
The People of Yatun were very harmonious internally, but there would definitely be various problems once new population joined.
Fortunately, Bailuo had the undying loyalty of the People of Yatun.
The current People of Yatun consisted of three races: the Yatun Clan, the Tree Elves’ Descendants, and the Fairy Clan.
If Yatun were to establish a nation, they would become the first citizens of the Yatun Duchy.
“Rustle rustle.”
“Hmm?”
Just as Bailuo was engrossed in the wonderful prospects for Yatun, the sound of flipping pages caught his attention with a touch of subtlety, “Being so active lately, huh? I haven’t even awakened the miracles on the fourth and fifth pages, and the sixth is here already?”
Calculating the time, it had been over half a month, around 20 days or so.
“Never mind that, let’s see what it is first.”
Bailuo opened the Black Leather Book to the sixth page to check the text.
[You’ve used one, but it rebounds twice, you are fast, but you can’t escape, it is the cornerstone, the fixer of all things, yet now it’s not jade, just an ordinary stone, waiting for your discovery]
[Countdown: 30 minutes 51 seconds]
[Direction: South by West 31°]
“Looks like a Miracle Resource.”
The word ‘stone’ in the text made Bailuo think of the Iron Eagle King’s miracle magic mine: “Hmm? Wait, something’s wrong!”
Bailuo scrutinized the countdown section: “30 minutes? Why is it so short?”
The previous searches had at least one day, such as the Initial Sprout Holy Pouch.
But this miracle had only half an hour of excavation time.
Bailuo was extremely surprised and also very anxious, “Quick! Set sail!
Immediately set sail! Speed up!”
“Huh?”
“What, what’s the matter, boss?”
The People of Yatun were confused, but Bailuo’s command was supreme; everyone reflexively unfurled the sails.
“What’s all this?!”
The ships that were originally ahead of Bailuo’s yelled discontentedly, “Don’t you know how to queue?”
“Where did these idiots come from!”
“Do you understand the rules at all? Bumpkins!”
Hearing the curses from those around them, John and Anderson were very angry, but Bailuo paid them no mind—he had to find the sixth-page miracle now and had no time to fuss with these people.
“Ignore them,” said Bailuo: “Keep accelerating, hurry into the port and dock.”
“Hey, you…”
Entry into port required inspection, but Bailuo was decisive. He gave Gonnia a look, and she immediately tossed out a pouch of money.
Money talks, a rule that applied everywhere; the other party immediately gave way.
This showed that despite Coral City being well-governed, the law was not perfect, and there were too many loopholes to exploit.
At the same time, Bailuo felt the city’s confidence.
They were not afraid of any petty criminals; even if this ship were problematic, Coral City’s army had absolute confidence in suppressing it.
“Be cautious later on.”
Bailuo told everyone: “Try not to cause trouble.”
On someone else’s territory, they were confident they could challenge Coral City’s combat strength, but there was no need—Bailuo didn’t want to provoke this local snake.
“Sherri.”
As soon as the ship docked, Bailuo mounted Sherri and said to the others: “I have something to find, you all start looking for trade partners here.”
[Countdown: 10 minutes 01 seconds]
“I will be back soon.”
Bailuo trusted Gonnia’s abilities and had confidence in Anderson’s fighting power.
“Sherri, let’s go.”
And so, under the puzzled gazes of the People of Yatun, Bailuo galloped away.
“This…”
Everyone looked at each other in confusion until Gonnia quickly spoke up: “What’s this? If the captain says there’s something important, there’s something important. He told us to find merchants—it means he trusts our ability to handle matters.”
With Gonnia’s explanation, the People of Yatun suddenly realized the responsibility and eagerly decided to give Bailuo a pleasant surprise.
Meanwhile, Bailuo, riding his horse, didn’t care about any damned roads.
Following the principle that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, he pushed Sherri’s running speed to the limit without injuring anyone.
“Bang!”
“Dammit, are you blind?!”
“My stall, my, my fruit stall!”
However, before the person could say anything, Bailuo tossed a handful of silver coins at them: “I’ll compensate!”
“Rustle rustle–”
After crashing into a stall, Bailuo immediately compensated.
In fact, with Sherri’s perceptive abilities, such an incident shouldn’t have occurred.
But Bailuo said, speed was essential.
To save time, Sherri had to make choices.
However, if it involved living people, Sherri couldn’t just run over them—no matter the time wasted, Bailuo instructed her to always go around.
In this manner, after nearly ten minutes, Bailuo finally found the miracle.