"Miss, please watch your step." Foster supported Perfikot as they walked on the ice, his face full of worry: "You should have let the Alchemy Puppet come instead; this is too dangerous. Even if it concerns the lives of hundreds, it’s not worth risking yourself."
"No, Grandpa Fu, this is not a risk." At this moment, Perfikot was wearing thick winter clothes, looking like a round, plump bear, but her small face was still flushed from the cold, and she spoke with a bit of a nasal voice: "The future of this world will inevitably face situations similar to today’s, and I must consider how to solve these problems. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ n0velfire.net
As you know, the future will not be this level of child’s play, but extreme cold of minus several dozen degrees.
If machinery freezes in such environments, it won’t be as easy to handle as it is now, so I must consider how to solve problems in those situations."
"The Empire has so many talented individuals, why do you take all the responsibility upon yourself?" Foster was a bit perplexed; his lady should just focus on her survival as initially planned, right? Why think about so much more?
In Foster’s eyes, the life and death of others in the Empire were irrelevant to him; he only cared about Perfikot, the only direct descendant of the Brandlis Clan, whom he was loyal to, ensuring her safety.
However, Perfikot did not see it that way. She just sighed and then smiled self-deprecatingly: "Perhaps my conscience bothers me? After all, when capable of saving others, I simply can’t stand by and watch them die."
After speaking, Perfikot continued forward, arriving underneath the frozen Morgan’s hull.
It was already the second morning, and under the protection of Knights Samantha and Lee, she and Foster arrived on the ice where Morgan was trapped, to closely inspect the situation.
A rope ladder was also lowered from Morgan, and its captain, along with several sailors, descended to the ice to meet Perfikot and the others.
"Thank you very much for the rescue!" The captain first expressed thanks to Foster, who appeared to be the leader of the group, and then asked him: "Do you have a rescue plan? What can we do? Morgan will fully cooperate!"
"You have quite a lot to do, and indeed rescuing you requires your full cooperation." Perfikot spoke, causing the captain of Morgan to show an expression of surprise.
He looked at Perfikot speaking, not very impolitely, but somewhat curious as he asked: "Who is this lady?"
"This is Baroness Perfikot Brandelis, who is traveling on White Gem to the New Continent. After receiving your distress signal, her Ladyship rushed to rescue you." Foster introduced Perfikot to the captain, then explained: "Miss is an excellent master of alchemy; the rescue plan and method were proposed by her, and she’s here to personally see to your rescue."
Upon hearing Foster’s explanation, Morgan’s captain finally showed a look of realization, hurriedly expressing his gratitude to Perfikot: "Thank you so much, Lady Baroness! How do you plan to rescue Morgan?"
Although thinking Perfikot’s age seemed a bit unreliable, the captain had no discretionary power at the moment.
They had been frozen here for a day and night; if they hadn’t seen White Gem yesterday evening and hadn’t held onto hope due to its presence, the people on board might not have lasted.
"I’ve prepared a special alchemical potion that can quickly dissolve the ice." Perfikot had Samantha show the captain the items they brought—some orange liquid in bottles: "But using this potion is rather troublesome; I need to personally assess Morgan’s situation and ensure it won’t damage the ship’s hull.
Additionally, we need to plan a route based on Morgan’s condition; after dissolving the surrounding ice, we’ll detonate explosives to open a channel for your escape."
As she spoke, Perfikot pointed to another team busy on the distant ice, led by O’Connor—from White Gem, selected demolition experts.
Their task was to plan the location of explosive charges and plant them.
Meanwhile, on the sea in the distance, a frigate escorting White Gem had also uncovered its main cannon, aiming to ensure they could accurately blast the ice surface if necessary.
This, of course, was the last resort, a means only used in desperate circumstances.
Unless ice layer detonation failed, cannon fire would be employed, as its danger was significant, especially at sea, where naval artillery accuracy is always single-digit.
"Alright, return to your ship and heat the boiler, ready to move at any signal from me." Perfikot instructed Morgan’s captain as she herself prepared to start working: "I’ll fire a red flare; when you see it rise, move forward at full speed no matter what’s ahead, understand?"
"Understood! I will steer personally! No matter what’s ahead, Morgan will proceed full throttle as per your instructions!" Morgan’s captain understood the purpose of Perfikot’s directives and agreed firmly.
Considering that Perfikot intended to use explosives to open a route, and after the explosion, they’d have only a brief window to escape; hesitating or retreating due to the blast would waste valuable escape opportunities, even leading to worse conditions or damage.
Hence, he decided to steer personally, assuring no errors regardless of explosions closeness.
As Morgan’s captain returned to prepare, Perfikot also tapped the ice with her cane, confirming its thickness, and asked the surrounding knights to help drill holes deep enough to place bottles with alchemical potion.
Not enlisting Morgan’s sailors help was due to Extraordinary efficiency being higher.
Of course, if Perfikot wished, she could use alchemy to directly transform ice into water or something else, but since she had labor around, she naturally spared herself some effort.