AWB Chapter 502 Standoff
Chapter 502 Standoff
Chapter 502 Standoff
"Fishman?"
Xia Nan's heart stirred, and a look of understanding flashed in his eyes.
Just as he had guessed.
As soon as Xia Nan landed on Wildberry Cliff Island, he sensed a faint, familiar aura in the air.
However, since there is no conclusive evidence, it cannot be confirmed; one can only remain vigilant in one's mind.
Hearing this from the wounded young villager, he immediately connected it to the Shahua fish people he had encountered before.
But... why are they here?
Out of caution—perhaps the "fishmen" they spoke of were of another kind—and out of curiosity about the presence of these strange intelligent beings at Wild Berry Cliff, Xia Nan reached out to support the young villager, whose body was on the verge of collapse due to excessive excitement. He helped the villager to sit down against the railing and asked:
"Where did you see these fish-men, and what did they look like?"
"It's in this dungeon, sir!"
"Its whole body was covered in scales, which were blue-green."
"They are as tall as a person, and some have four arms."
"I was brought here by those pirates a few days ago, and they were really fierce!"
Xia Nan's act of breaking through the iron bars seemed to give hope to the villagers imprisoned in the dungeon. Even though their thinking had become sluggish due to long-term abuse and imprisonment, they were able to react now.
Before the young villager could reply, those around who still had the energy to speak answered him in a series of sentences.
The villagers' descriptions of the fish-men's appearance—with their adult human-sized bodies, blue-green scales, and some having two pairs of arms—confirmed that the "fish-men" they were referring to were the same Shahua fish-men he had encountered before.
But "had been to the dungeon with pirates..."
Does this mean that the pirates of the Tidefall Gang have become entangled with the Shahua fishmen?
This is unusual.
After all, the Shahua fish-men are inherently hostile to other races, and regard the islanders at sea as invaders who have taken over their territories, often slaughtering and plundering merchant ships and villages they encounter.
The Tide Retreat Gang was just a small to medium-sized gang in Suyu Bay.
These two forces should never be linked together under normal circumstances.
Xia Nan pondered to himself.
The members of the Iron Shield squad nearby, while also surprised by the presence of the Sawa fishmen, seemed to have no particular thoughts about the villagers in the dungeon.
Sensing this, Xia Nan turned to ask Sally beside him, but the answer he received made him pause.
"You mean, they were kidnapped slaves who were brought in for sale?"
"I reckon it's a new revenue stream developed by the Tide Receding Gang." The female ranger nodded, unsurprised. "These pirates are quite bold, daring to lock these people up near Fish Bay without fear of being discovered by the governor's guards patrolling the sea."
In the Kingdom of Serbia, slavery had been abolished for many years.
The buying and selling of slaves was strictly prohibited, and any citizen who violated this law would be subject to the most severe penalties.
Of course, this is only what's on the surface.
In secret, in order to maintain their exploitation, the nobles had already developed a variety of clever ways to exploit loopholes in the laws over the years after their implementation, thus perpetuating de facto enslavement.
With land at its core, the peasants were bound to it. They might have families and meager property, but they were required to perform unpaid labor for the lord and contribute almost all of their income.
Manipulating debt, using usury traps and territorial justice, to burden free citizens with unpayable debts that can only be repaid through a lifetime of labor;
In addition, there are apprenticeship contracts that can last for twenty or thirty years, the adoption of orphans to force them into hard labor for life, and the false accusation of being a heretic...
Even worse, some transported vagrants and debtors from the Kingdom of Servia to neighboring countries where slavery still existed, enslaved them there, and then brought them back to be used as foreign servants, forcibly using the law to create conflict.
Power, wealth, and strength—if one possesses any one of these three things to a sufficient degree, then any prohibition becomes nothing more than a piece of waste paper.
The abolished slaves simply changed their names and continued to exist.
Barracuda Bay is the core town of the Southern Islands and an important port city of the kingdom. It is a melting pot of people, and you can often see foreigners from other regions.
Once you leave the port, you can face the vast and unregulated ocean.
In such circumstances, it is natural that some greedy individuals, driven by profit, would abduct citizens of remote kingdoms and sell them abroad as slaves.
The Tide Receding Gang's development within Cockerel Bay was limited, and they urgently needed financial support. Since they also had the identity of pirates as "black gloves," they naturally set their sights on this lucrative path.
Having traveled to this point and spent so much time in the Kingdom of Servia, Xia Nan had a general understanding of the country's situation and some of its unspoken rules. After hearing what Sally said, he understood why the Tide Receding Gang had imprisoned these villagers here.
However... the appearance of the Shahua fish-men inevitably made some connections to him, even though he was a fairly meticulous person.
Xia Nan's previous encounters with these strange sea creatures gave him a general idea of what these fish-men were planning: to massacre islanders in large numbers and hold sacrificial rituals.
Now, for no apparent reason, they've gotten mixed up with the Tide Receding Gang.
Based on what he was seeing, he couldn't help but suspect that the buyers of these islanders who had been forcibly taken away and were about to be enslaved were the Shahua fish people.
The purpose, however, was precisely to perform a sacrifice.
Unconsciously recalling those ferocious shark beasts with powerful bodies and exaggerated combat strength, Xia Nan couldn't help but feel troubled.
After a moment's thought, he succinctly recounted his previous encounters with the Shahua fishmen during his missions, along with his own speculations, to his teammates beside him.
Upon hearing that there might be a dangerous monster that even an adventurer team of the "Blade of Vengeance" level would find difficult to deal with, the members of the Iron Rock Squad were no longer as indifferent as before.
Of course, what they cared about was not the innocent civilians who were about to be sacrificed and tortured, but their own safety.
As long as they weren't inside, it didn't matter how many people died, especially since they were ordinary people whom they wouldn't normally give a second glance to.
They had absolutely no intention of getting involved, and even the original mission of teaching the Tidebreakers a lesson was forgotten. They were only thinking about finding the stolen goods from the collector as soon as possible to report back.
Adventurers are always like this: cowardly yet greedy.
The truly cautious ones would probably have already planned to retreat and abandon the mission the moment they learned of the existence of the Sawa fishmen; the truly brave ones would probably not even spare the fishmen on the island, wiping them out along with the pirates of the Tidecaller Gang.
Iron Rock Squad was caught in the middle, unwilling to give up the mission reward, yet worried about the potential risks.
“If there really are a large number of Sawa fishmen on the island, or even the shark beasts you mentioned... I think the most urgent thing is to find the location of the Oriye collection, and then leave as soon as possible, trying to avoid direct contact with these water rats.”
Squad leader Habik suggested.
"What about these people, Captain?"
Upon hearing what the dwarf said, the orc Howl suddenly spoke up.
A pair of fierce, round eyes, filled with murderous intent, stared at the ordinary islanders inside the cage.
"What should they do?"
Time was of the essence, and returning to call for the merchant ships anchored at sea to come and meet them was no longer feasible. Allowing these imprisoned civilians to escape would undoubtedly attract the attention of the fish-men and pirates on the island. At that point, the adventurers who had secretly infiltrated the camp would also be exposed.
Before they even find the target artifact, they may face a massive attack from a large number of enemies.
Although Haoge used a questioning tone, his meaning was actually very clear.
The orcs wanted to silence these humans forever.
Although it was unclear how the seemingly foolish and reckless Haggard came up with this idea, Habik realized it after hearing it.
He fell silent, seemingly genuinely considering the feasibility of wiping out the islanders on the field.
Just then, Xia Nan suddenly spoke up and asked the frail young villager in front of him:
Do you know the shift change times for the guards at the dungeon entrance?
"No one will come until dawn, sir," the young man replied weakly.
This means that the group still has the entire second half of the night to complete their mission.
At least from the perspective of the remaining time, this is more than enough.
“I have other tasks to complete here, but if it’s just something I can do along the way, I don’t mind helping you out.”
"The situation on the island is complicated right now, and I cannot guarantee that I will be able to get you out."
"If we encounter an enemy that is too dangerous and difficult to deal with, I will choose to retreat on my own and I will not be able to take you with me."
With an attitude of equality that is almost impossible for ordinary adventurers in this world, Xia Nan frankly explained the current situation to the most ordinary and lowest-level commoner in front of him.
"It must be made clear that even if you get out of the dungeon now, you will not be rescued at all. The pirates who discovered your presence will just recapture you, or even kill you outright."
"Therefore, if you want to live, you need to wait."
"Just like always, don't make a sound, just stay here and wait for me to come back when I'm done."
"Can you understand me?"
The situation is now very clear: it is virtually impossible for these civilians imprisoned in the dungeon to leave Wildberry Cliff without being discovered by the Tide Receding Gang pirates.
And once discovered, they will most likely face death.
Their only hope lay with the few adventurers before them.
Having figured this out, the villagers in the dungeon who still possessed some capacity for thought nodded in agreement.
Xia Nan was not lying.
He's not some saint; how could he possibly risk his life for a group of complete strangers?
If you encounter a dangerous enemy that is difficult to deal with, it is not shameful to run away or retreat temporarily.
In this situation, he naturally couldn't care less about anyone else.
However, if the enemy's strength is within his control, he wouldn't mind taking these civilians with him and leaving the place after eliminating the danger.
Frankly speaking, if one were to act purely rationally from the perspective of their own safety, the easiest and safest approach would be to kill all the villagers in front of them, as the orc Howl had planned.
This way, we no longer need to worry about them running off randomly and exposing our presence.
But Xia Nan possesses the normal conscience of a human being.
He may be selfish, occasionally paranoid, and even brutal towards alien creatures, but at least for now, he cannot bring himself to slaughter innocent fellow human beings for some possible, not fatal, risks.
What do you think?
Xia Nan turned around and asked his teammates for their opinions.
His deep, dark eyes were so calm as his gaze swept over the Iron Rock Squad ahead, lingering briefly on the restless orc Howl.
The air froze for a moment, and the already tense atmosphere became even more oppressive in the deathly silence.
silence.
You can see the orc's chest heaving faster and faster, and the dwarf in the shadows gripping his short dagger, adjusting its angle silently.
"Haha, of course, no problem."
The laughter of the dwarf Hapik broke the tense atmosphere that was about to erupt.
Having heard of Xia Nan's reputation and achievements in Sucker Bay, he did not want to become enemies with the Blade of Vengeance team.
It's not worth pushing this young adventurer to the opposite side for the lives of a few lowly commoners, adding another unstable factor to an already increasingly dangerous mission.
Habik made his choice in a matter of seconds.
“I’m just afraid they’ll expose our presence.”
"Since we can ensure that we don't make any noise and stay quietly in the dungeon, then there's nothing to worry about."
He was speaking to Xia Nan, but also to show his team members his attitude.
Sure enough, that's what Habik said.
The wanderer in the shadows returned his dagger to his waist, and Howl's muscles, which had been bulging from gripping the axe handle, quietly relaxed. He glared at Xia Nan without any attempt to hide it, then turned his head away with heavy breathing, no longer looking at him.
Beside her, Sally's face showed no extra expression. Whether Xia Nan was questioning the villagers or her teammates were showing hostility, she maintained a seemingly indifferent attitude.
However, Xia Nan still keenly noticed that in the instant the atmosphere on the field froze, the muscles in the opponent's arm quietly tensed up, and the hand was slightly twisted backward, with the palm facing the longbow behind him.
Clearly, as the only human in the entire group besides Xia Nan, she didn't care at all about the lives of her fellow humans in the surrounding dungeons.
Her identity as an adventurer and the extraordinary power she possessed had long since led her to subconsciously regard herself as a superior being who should trample the common people under her feet.
They might not directly intervene, but when orcs and rogues slaughter human civilians right before their eyes, they probably wouldn't even blink an eye.
"Let's not talk about this anymore."
Habik then changed the subject.
"Let's talk about the next action plan."
"Perhaps we should find a few more pirates and see if we can get the location of the Aurelius collection out of them?"
(End of this chapter)