Chapter 36: Not Clearly Stated
The banquet ended, and everyone dispersed.
After Tan Qiu personally saw his visitors out, he returned to his study.
There was someone already waiting inside.
Upon seeing Tan Qiu, the person half knelt with a respectful manner, “Lord.”
The study was illuminated by the moonlight passing through the window.
Even though this persona was naturally disposed towards hiding in shadows, a trace of aura leaked from his body.
He was an impressive silver level fighter.
“Ni, how is the investigation going?” Said Tan Qiu.
Nim who had received his orders to investigate immediately gave her report, “The traces of battle on those five ships are real and have been verified, they are really do belong to Da Zhao’s pirate group.”
“Currently, the five ships have sailors stationed on it to guard it.”
“However. These people are universally lowly. Most of them are fisherfolk from Stone Egg Island, while the rest are pirates, they should be from Da Zhao’s pirate group.”
Ni was someone Tan Qiu had deliberately hidden, an expert spy.
While Tan Qiu was entertaining the dragonman youngster and Zong Ge, he had dispatched Ni to learn the survivors’ actual state.
Tan Qiu continued to ask, “Anyone on board that is worthy of attention?”
Ni immediately responded, “There was an iron level magician who was meditating. An iron level fighter of short stature, similar to a dwarf, who wields knives.
“Apart from that, there is a senior sailor that is only of the bronze level.”
Tan Qiu assessed to himself, “Two silvers, two irons, and one bronze…”
He asked, “What about those alchemy crossbows and firearms?”
Ni hung her head, “Those alchemy weapons are not on anyone, they are all held within the ships’ armories.”
The armories not only have magic alarms, but they also have alchemy puppets guarding them.”
“Stealing them by force will likely trigger the alarm. Your Lordship warned repeatedly that stealth was everything, thus this subordinate didn’t act blindly without thinking.”
“Hm, your actions were correct.” Tan Qiu encouraged Ni, then had her withdraw.
He once again sank into deep thought.
“These people are very strong.”
“The silver levels working together are capable of repelling Rou Zang.”
“There are also those alchemy weapons, it’s quite strange…”
“Mercenaries?”
Tan Qiu sneered, of course he didn’t believe this pretense.
He already had a better idea of what the survivors true status was.
The five pirate ships were quietly anchored at port.
The night was heavy.
The dragonman youngster and Zong Ge returned to their ships.
After the sailors on watch who were dozing off were roused, they immediately shouted, “Lord Long Fu, Lord Shi Qi!”
The dragonman youngster nodded, however Zong Ge coldly snorted with annoyance, he was not pleased with these people.
When they entered the captain’s room, Cang Xu was already inside.
An alchemy device was activated, and the captain’s cabin immediately entered into a shrouded state, neither sound nor light could get out.
Of course, the thing that put them most at east was still the Deceptive Disguise on the three from the divine artifact.
“Recently, someone came, it was a silver level female thief.” Cang Xu was the first to speak.
The young captain and half beastman were not surprised.
Their true identities could not be known, and their public identities also could not be proven.
They said they had just established this mercenary group, and hadn’t even registered with the mercenary guild.
Long Fu, Shi Qi…these were pseudonyms, no such people existed in the world.
But the survivors, and especially these two, had repelled Rou Zang, and even seriously injured him. This kind of strength was a great threat as far as Snake Rat was concerned.
Zong Ge said, “If I was Snake Rat Island’s lord, I’d also would investigate us, both to prevent Rou Zang from capturing this island and to check if this was all a ruse.”
The dragonman youngster mentioned what had happened at the banquet, and mentioned how Tan Qiu looked at things.
“He is a capable and opinionated person.”
“According to him, he took the initiative to request that he come here and become lord of Snake Rat Island.”
The Sheng Ming Empire was attacking the Wilderness Continent, not only did they need to wantonly construct forts on the Wilderness Continent, but they also needed many arrangements in the ocean too.
The empire dispatched many lords to hold both large and small islands that served as strongholds.
Tan Qiu was not a templar knight, thus he didn’t have the qualifications to become a master of a Wilderness Continent castle. But he had a diligent and brave spirit, thus he chose to establish his foundation here.
Bringing up Tan Qiu’s timely aid once again, as well as his attitude towards the survivors at the banquet, the young captain did not conceal his favorable impression of Tan Qiu.
Zong Ge faintly shook his head, “Tan Qiu wants to destroy Rou Zang, this is a sound strategy.”
“But his strength is insufficient, thus he wants to call together many more allies.”
“But based on what I saw, even if they unite, their strength is bleak.”
“Tan Qi represents the nobility, while other forces come from all sorts of places, such as the Clam Cloth Merchant Alliance, the Night Devil Hunting Group, the Sheng Ming Sect, as well as bounty hunters, each with different demands.”
“Regardless of victory or defeat, it will be hard to distribute the benefits.”
“Tan Qiu does not have enough strength to control the overall situation, and when it is time to fight, it will be very difficult for the entire army to move together.”
“To say nothing of the fact that Snake Rat Island mostly has ground forces, while their naval battle strength is lacking.”
After saying that Zong Ge looked at the young captain, “To be frank, I cannot see their plan to deal with Rou Zang going well.”
Although they had beaten back Rou Zang twice, Zong Ge understood what they had relied on.
One was that Rou Zang was careless, another was that they had to expose one of their trump cards, the gold level cannon. Besides that, there was also the undeniable factor of luck.
Zong Ge continued, “We don’t need to fight Rou Zang, it is quite dangerous and will likely expose the Deep Sea Monster Fish, and even our identities.”
“We have more important objectives!”
The young captain muttered unintelligibly to himself.
Zong Ge shifted his gaze towards Cang Xu, he hoped that this cold-blooded necromancer would support his view.
Cang Xu did not respond, instead looking at the young captain.
If it was before, the necromancy would have sided with the half beastman, and declared that he did not wish to fight Rou Zang. But now he was really relying on the young captain and knew of the immense benefits the Bloodcore would provide for his future.
He was already the young captain’s man.
The young captain sighed, “You’re not wrong, Shi Qi. We have important objectives, and need to reset and retrieve things from this place.”
“Your arm injury needs to be treated.”
“If we can build an Anti-investigation and Prophecy formation, it would be for the best.”
The young captain liked Tan Qiu and loathed pirates, if he were by himself, perhaps he would have joined the allied armies. But now he was a leader, he needed to shoulder the responsibility and consider the needs of the group.
Zong Ge nodded with satisfaction.
Then Cang Xu spoke, “Then what should we do with Da Zhao and the other captives? Tan Qiu mentioned these captives during the banquet, he distinctly hinted that he wants us to turn over these people and prove which side we stand on.”
The young captain muttered to himself, “We want to stay on this island for some time, we need their trust. We will hand over Da Zhao and the other leaders, but keep the rest imprisoned.”
“Of course, hand over their heads.”
Live captives cannot be turned over, they could spill information to outsiders.
Cang Xu was pleased by this course of action, and added on, “I will use some methods to clear away their memories and even their souls.”
When Zong Ge heard Cang Xu was going to use necromancy skills, he unconsciously pursed his brows, “Is that fine? This island has a Sheng Ming church.”
Cang Xu nodded, “Be at ease, once the physical body stops breathing, the soul will leave the body. It will either dissipate or be received by the gods. I only want to use a few small abilities to speed up this process, it is unlikely to have even the tiniest weak point.”
After a short discussion, Zong Ge was to stay behind and watch over these five ships, tonight he was personally responsible for keeping watch.
The young captain and the necromancer dived into the sea and quietly left.
The Deep Sea Monster Fish did not dock at the pier, rather it was hidden on the seafloor three nautical miles away.
Upon welcoming the survivors, Tan Qiu had taken precautions by dispatching a silver level thief to spy on them, while the survivors maintained their vigilance.
After all, they had killed a Sheng Ming Sect priest and held War Merchant’s immense assets. Upon contacting imperial powers again, the survivors’ hearts were all tense bow strings.
Fortunately, the survivors were very restrained when they fought Rou Zang. Up until now, the Deep Sea Monster Fish had never been exposed. As a trump card that had been preserved, if the situation turned sour, it was their best way out.
On the dark seabed, the Deep Sea Monster Fish was motionless, it looked like a gigantic reef.
Its mimicry hull hand transformed.
The Deep Sea Monster Fish had three shapes, a magic beast ocean fish, a sail fish, and a fishman. These three shapes all depended on the mimicry hull’s ability to morph.
But the mimicry hull could also change into other appearances.
These were simple variations however, and could not perform the different functions of the other three forms.
Although the Deep Sea Monster Fish way staying very close to Snake Rat Island and could contact ships on the surface, the survivors weren’t worried.
On the one hand, the reef appearance transformation looked very realistic, it was difficult to mark it as bogus. On the other hand, the Deep Sea Monster Fish had its own preinstalled Deceptive Disguise and Anti-investigation and Prophecy formation (that only affected its hull) that used pearl bubbles with the help of the divine artifact, the Mermaid Fairy Tale.
The dragonman youngster and Cang Xu approached the reef.
A large mouth suddenly opened up in the reef, sucking in the two people and the surrounding seawater.
The reef then closed, isolating it from the outside world.
The dragonman youngster and Cang Xu entered the Deep Sea Monster Fish’s boarding cabin.
The cabin was empty and wide, nothing was inside. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made from quality metal that was unlikely to corrode from seawater.
The water level inside the boarding room quickly dropped, then the inner cabin door hissed open.
Behind the door was curled up giant, who upon seeing the dragonman youngster, immediately exclaimed, “Father, you’ve returned, hooray!”
It was the big guy, and the dragonman youngster trusted him completely.
The dragonman youngster smiled at him and patted the big guy who was squatting in the narrow corridor, “In a few days, you will be able to go up to Snake Rat Island. You will use a disguised identity and mix in with us. That way, you can stay on the ship deck.”
The Deep Sea Monster Fish was for War Merchant’s use.
War Merchant was a goblin, and had a short stature.
Although Deep Sea Monster Fish’s internal facilities had been enlarged a lot and were suitable for human use, it was too narrow for giants.
It was not good for the growing big guy.
Since the young captain had promised the old boatwright to look after the big guy, he strove to accomplish just that.
Honesty was one of the knightly traits.
“When the time comes, remember your fake identity, don’t expose yourself.” The young captain reminded.
“Father, I am scared…” The big guy was extremely worried.
“Be at ease, I am here. I will spend more time on the ship.” The young man placated.
The big guy’s worried face dispelled by a lot, “Where dad is, this young child will be too.”
“Lord Captain, please allow me to take my leave.” Cang Xu could not bear wasting time with the big guy.
He had to do many things and burdensome tasks. The main focus of this return was to deal with the important captives of Da Zhao’s pirate group.
“Ok.” The young man nodded and gave his consent, “Do it cleanly.”
“Understood.” Cang Xu replied.
Upon seeing Cang Xu leave, the big guy said, “Cleaning, I…can do that!”
He mistakenly thought Cang Xu would be cleaning something up.
Tidying up decks and cleaning living spaces, the big guy had done these things often.
“You need to be a valued person, otherwise you cannot stay on the ship.” The old boatwright’s teachings were deeply engraved into the big guy’s body, and had molded him.
These days, the big guy hadn’t been working, this made him restless.
The young captain was about to explain it to him, however when he saw the big guy’s ignorant expression, he suddenly hesitated.
The important captives of Dao Zhao’s pirate group were still alive.
Cang Xu not only wanted to kill them, but he also wanted to destroy their memories and obliterate their souls.
Did he really want to explain these things to the big guy?”
The young captain’s heart was tangled.
“That is Cang Xu’s business, you have a more important work to do.”
“Do you still remember your battle qi technique?”
“The most important thing for you is cultivating battle qi.”
“That way, your future work will be even better!”
In the end, the young captain did not explain it clearly.