Early the next morning, everyone dispersed and began to move according to their objectives.
First, Baraz took Jason to the homes of the individuals from whom he had previously obtained intelligence.
They showed no signs of impatience when Baraz, once again questioning them about events from decades ago, returned.
After all, they were paying him.
He then dispatched his deputy to lead Sofia to collect the maps, though funding was essential.
With Baraz, the local tyrant, at their side, the operation went relatively smoothly.
As night fell, everyone returned to the ship.
They gathered once again in the captain's cabin.
This time, however, it was an internal meeting.
Sofia first pulled out a large collection of various maps from his pocket ring.
It was clear from the maps that most were hand-drawn.
However, due to the artist's technical limitations, these maps are somewhat uneven.
At worst, you wouldn't even recognize them as maps, instead mistaken for a child's doodles.
Can these truly be called maps? What kind of audacity could someone pull off such a feat?
Alka felt that even his newly arrived self could draw better than theirs.
"These are the maps I can find. They're all from around here. Some are years old, and some are duplicates."
"Most of these maps are drawn for inhabited islands in the surrounding area.
Islands with small populations and no special resources don't even have maps."
At this point, Sofia expressed frustration.
"And the island chain system doesn't seem to be what we imagined."
"Why?" Alka asked curiously.
"The islands linked by an island chain aren't fixed at all. Over time, some islands, especially those on the edge, will permanently leave.
New islands will also connect with the signpost islands to form new island chains, becoming part of the Broken Sea."
"It's just that this process takes a long time, typically a century or more. Fortunately, at least in the past 20 years, no new islands have joined, and no old ones have left."
Hearing this, Alka nodded. This was at least good news.
Otherwise, what if the place they were heading to happened to be separated from it because the island chain broke apart? Wouldn't that be disastrous?
But didn't I expect the island chain to have such a property?
It's more like the signpost islands have some kind of property that drags along passing islands.
But it was just a random guess.
Alka withdrew his thoughts and focused on the pile of various maps in his hand. As he flipped through them, Alka removed at least half of the maps from the pile.
These maps were either damaged, of poor quality, or simply too old.
Damaged and poor-quality maps were not recognized by the system.
The usability of extremely old maps depended on how significantly the area depicted had changed. If the changes were significant enough, they would be unusable.
If only a few houses had been renovated, or a settlement had expanded, there would be no impact.
But if a town became a city, settlements moved en masse, and a new city sprang up, the changes in topography would affect the original map and render it unusable.
However, when drawing a map, it was not necessary to plan these areas at all.
Just a simple outline of the island, some woodland vegetation within it, and mountains and rivers would be enough to create a map.
Thus, the simpler and more accurate the map, the longer it could be used. A map that's too perfect won't last long in Alka's eyes.
‐‐These are the experiences Alka has gained from using the system over the years.
‐‐After eliminating the unusable ones, only four maps remain.
‐‐Compared to the entire island chain, that only accounts for a quarter.
‐‐Two of them are duplicates, differing only in the clarity and technique used.
‐‐there's no fundamental difference.
‐‐In Alka's view, the islands represented by the two duplicate maps only have a single white dot.
‐‐Judging from the maps, the island is not small, roughly one-third the size of Broken Isles.
‐‐However, the island only has one small town with a population of less than 3,000, and the map is actually decades old.
‐‐The changes are minor, so it's still usable.
Sofia, standing nearby, began sharing some information about the islands represented on the maps Alka was examining.
"This island once had a mine. The population was actually migrated there by miners from Southern Cross Island, but the mines dried up and many things were evacuated.
The town above is inhabited by the descendants of those miners, but now there's nothing special about it."
Alka looked at the map and nodded.
Then he looked at the next one.
This island was different. A small town and several villages were clearly visible.
In addition to the two blue dots, there were several white dots, all of moderate size, smaller than the mining island in the previous image.
But it was clearly much more habitable.
However, it wasn't the island Alka was looking for.
Xadaiti had compared the map before handing it to Alka, and she found no similarities. She could also easily distinguish the maps that looked like graffiti.
After listening to Sofia's introduction, she set the map aside.
She looked at the last map.
"This is the island closest to Southern Cross Island. It has a population of approximately 20,000 and is home to a small town. It has abundant timber resources.
This island is completely controlled by the island's royal family and specializes in providing materials for shipbuilding."
In this world dominated by oceans, the importance of ships is self-evident.
Although this magical world allows wood to grow exceptionally well, there are still differences between the types of wood used for shipbuilding.
The wood on this island is of a superior quality, ideal for warships.
Alka looked at the blue dot and several white dots on the map. Although the island was large, it wasn't the one they were looking for.
She shook her head regretfully.
"These shouldn't be them."
Hearing this, Sofia's hand appeared with the same rough-hewn nautical chart that Baraz had used earlier.
He then drew a few crosses on it.
You could see that it already had some markings; Sofia had already prioritized the selection.
Looking at it, more than half of the map was marked.
There were still one or two ticks.
"Then, besides the islands represented by these maps, the others are those far from the Southern Cross Island.
The sailing time to them would usually take between 10 and 40 days and nights."
"And these two are deserted islands, completely uninhabited. These three are abandoned islands, desolate and extremely small."
Deserted islands are islands with few special resources. The land on them may not be fertile, but there are still some plants, trees, and animals.
If you really want to live there, you'll have to start from scratch, but it's not impossible to survive. Ruins are simply collections of rocks. Few people venture to these islands, and they're incredibly small.
There's virtually no chance of survival there.
"There's an island that might hold his treasure," Jason suddenly said.
Hearing this, Alka looked up at him.
Since Jason said so, he must be certain.
After all, this wasn't the time to joke.
"After today's intelligence inquiries, one of the elderly men was very likely a former companion of this pirate.
My inquiries suggest he was most likely an insider on the island, responsible for passing intelligence to Kylian."
"Through some special means, I got him to reveal some of the information he'd been hiding, which was very useful."
"He said that when the scumbag pirate first operated, he rotated around the three islands and seemed to be very familiar with their locations.
He could even accurately predict the approximate time it would take for an island to reach a certain location. It was thanks to this familiarity that they were able to make a fortune through plundering with a single small boat, expanding their business and successfully earning their first pot of gold."
"One of the islands appears to be his hometown. He hasn't told anyone about this, and no navy has searched the island."
"Of these three islands, one is abandoned, one is deserted, and the only remaining one is inhabited."
So, which island is most likely the pirate's hometown is now obvious.
Upon hearing this information, Juanlu frowned and said, "His treasure is probably well-known in this area. It's impossible that no one has searched for it."
And the navy surrounding him would certainly not miss this opportunity and would absolutely turn the island upside down.
After all, this pirate had been plundering for a long time.
"Because no one knew about it except those who initially joined him in the robbery, their initial strategy was to kill all those robbed.
This meant that during their early operations, their message was never passed on.
After all, this is sailing in the vast ocean. It's not uncommon for a ship to lose contact and never return."
Hearing this, everyone nodded, confirming the truth.
Jason continued.
"Although some of them survived and spread their reputation, they were no longer active in that area by then, and had even moved to several other areas."
"And of the pirates who initially followed him, he's the only one still alive. I suspect he very likely betrayed the pirate in the end."
"Why do you say that?" Simon beside him was curious.
It would be fine if they knew the pirates' intelligence, but why did they even investigate the person who provided the information, and then even uncover something?
Hearing this, Jason smiled and said, "Because, although this man is over 60, he actually just retired. He was previously the tax collector for this town."
"Interesting, isn't it? I later contacted Balazs and did some quick research, and he confirmed my information.
It's said that he became the tax collector because his former superior played a key role in the expedition, using intelligence to accurately surround the pirate ship."
At this point, everyone understood.
"Then he didn't look for it? It's impossible for him not to be tempted."
"He must have looked, but obviously he didn't find it, otherwise he would have quit his job and become a millionaire long ago."
At Jason's words, Alka nodded.
But he looked at Jason with a hint of surprise and said, "You've disrupted his peaceful life. Now that you know his secret, he can't remain indifferent, right?"
After all, he's a pirate, and this information isn't guaranteed to be authentic; it could just be a hoax.
Hearing this, Jason smiled mysteriously.
Magic energy condensed in his hand, and a small, transparent diamond appeared.
"This is a power acquired by a crystal dragon as it matures. By allowing this crystal material to enter someone's body, it can read their mind for a short period of time.
It's very basic, but sometimes very useful."
Looking at Jason's smile, it was clear that he was extremely satisfied with this relatively useless ability.
This ability might not be very useful to the dragon, but it's incredibly useful to an intelligence collector like Jason.
"So, actually, I read all that information through his mind. I was just guiding him to recall it."
Alka couldn't help but clap his hands.
"That's impressive, Jason."
Jason smiled and stroked the crystal dragon in his arms.
Sofia looked at Jason and asked, "You've been bragging for so long. So, what's the name of that island?"
Hearing this, he slapped his head. He hadn't even said the director's name.
He quickly said, "Border Island."
"So that's the island?" Sofia nodded in understanding, then looked at the others and shared his knowledge of the island.
"According to what we learned during the day, that island is the farthest from the Southern Cross, and it's also the farthest island ever recorded.
Originally, it was a deserted island, once used to exile criminals. Later, the exiled criminals settled there and renamed it Border Island."
"There's basically nothing special on the island, and it's not very large. It's said to be just one village."
It certainly seems like an unremarkable island.
"Okay, now that our target is set, let's get ready and set off tomorrow."
After saying this, Alka stood up, ready to discuss tomorrow's itinerary with Balazs.
Balazs was currently staying aboard his large merchant ship, which was also in port, just farther away from Alka and the others.
"Wait a minute, Yiyi told me something today, and I thought I'd share it with you," Lucilia suddenly said.
Hearing this, the group that was about to leave sat back down. "Yi Yi said someone seemed to be deliberately observing us, the Voice of Dawn, during the day today, but they were well hidden and only observed us for a moment.
I'm not sure who was watching, or whether they were just curious or something else."
Hearing this, Alka frowned.
After all, this was their first time on the island, so it wasn't surprising that they were attracting attention.
When they first arrived, people were constantly watching them.
But what was strange was why they only started noticing them today?
They'd been on the island for a week, a full seven days and nights.
It was a bit strange that they were only noticing now.
But after all, it was only a moment's notice.
After a moment's thought, he said, "Everyone, please be more careful when on duty lately."
He warned everyone to be vigilant and maintain the necessary level of alertness.
Then everyone left.
A moment later, Alka arrived aboard the Golden Trout.
He had been on this ship before.
He glanced at the people aboard; their numbers had indeed dwindled considerably.
"Alka? What brings you to me so late at night?"
Balazs sat at the table, looking at Alka and asking.
"We've already determined which island it is and will be leaving tomorrow. You should get ready and we'll go together," Alka said quietly.
"What! So fast?"
Balaz suddenly stood up, somewhat surprised.
He rubbed his head, making sure his perception of time wasn't misinterpreted.
It seemed he had just taken Jason to gather intelligence during the day, and he had also helped collect the maps during the day.
They had already identified their target in just one night.
Isn't that too fast?
Is it really that impressive?
He found it a little hard to understand. After all, he had seen those maps before.
Furthermore, he had been by Jason's side the entire time he was gathering information, and the information he asked about was identical to what he already knew.
Although he couldn't understand the speed, perhaps it was just professionalism.
He couldn't help but look at Alka and exclaim, "You guys are truly amazing."
Alka smiled but said nothing.
"Okay, now that we've determined the target, which island is it?"
"Border Island."
"Border Island? Which one is Border Island?"
He looked puzzled, then glanced at the assistant following behind him.
This was the ship's first mate, and he had met Alka and the others several times.
Seeing his captain's puzzled look, he frowned and thought for a moment.
"Oh, I remember. Exile Island seems to be called Border Island."
"Oh, so that's the island. I didn't expect the treasure to be hidden on that island."
Alka looked at the two men's reactions, somewhat puzzled. Even Sofia knew why they seemed unfamiliar with each other.
Seeing Alka's puzzled look, Balazs gave an awkward smile and said, "That island is too far away. Almost no one goes there, and I've never heard of its residents visiting Southern Cross Island."
"It's only a little known because criminals were exiled there in the past, but that was many years ago.
Ever since the law was changed, changing the punishments of exile to forced labor or death, no one has paid attention to the island anymore, so I haven't thought about it for a while."
After saying this, Balazs thought for a moment and said, "Have you seen when the island will return to the island chain?"
Alka nodded.
He had decided to set sail tomorrow because, according to calculations, it was a relatively good time for them to do so.
As long as there were no accidents along the way, they would be able to land on the outlying island when it returned to the island chain.
He wouldn't miss it.
"Okay, I'll get started right away. Do you need us to get you some supplies?
After all, this ship is quite large, so we don't need to load it full of goods for this trade."
Alka shook his head at Baraz's suggestion.
"That's very kind. We don't have many people on board, so we're more than self-sufficient."
Alka nodded, not insisting.
Because Alka and his crew were indeed small, no matter how you looked at it, the ship's current size would definitely provide them with more than enough supplies.
If they needed more, they could still provide assistance.
"Okay, see you tomorrow."
Alka said goodbye to Baraz and returned to his ship.
He and the others began to prepare.