Chapter 408: Morton

Qiaoyan Village is relatively poor and basically in a state of self-sufficiency under normal circumstances.

But just like Green-Wheat Village is to the Mist Forest, and Emerald Village is to River Valley Town.

Its distance of only a five-day voyage from Shoal Islands, and the rich fish catches in the ocean, make the lives of the villagers here, to some extent, much more affluent than the residents of those remote inland villages where Colin was born.

At least there is something to look forward to.

If one day they happen to catch a few rare fish species while fishing at sea, the rations for the whole family for a whole year might be secured.

With this as a premise, the residents on Qiaoyan Island all make a living by fishing, and sometimes they really have a bit of spare money, having the conditions to improve their quality of life.

Therefore, Qiaoyan Village basically concentrates on counting the materials needed every quarter or every half a year under the leadership of the village chief, and raises funds together to entrust a reliable fleet for purchasing and transportation.

It is not an isolated place; this small island maintains communication with the outside world.

It's just that because the island itself really has nothing outstanding, coupled with the fact that the interval between each purchase is too long, it has led to the Adventurers in Shoal Islands having no impression of this remote village, and very few people have the leisure to take the initiative to contact the local residents to understand the detailed information about this island after the goods are delivered.

If the person Xia Nan inquired from at the time was not those Adventurers drinking drunkenly in the tavern, but changed to a fishmonger setting up a stall by the harbor, maybe he could have gained some intelligence about Qiaoyan Village.

Regarding the "Flying Fish Oil Barrel" pirate ship currently docked at the pier, Steven indeed had some guesses in his heart.

As the village chief of Qiaoyan Village, he knew very clearly about the quantity of goods purchased this time.

He knew that a medium-sized cargo ship was completely enough to hold it, and no extra ship was needed for transportation.

And judging from the low and slender appearance of that wooden ship, it didn't look like what a normal cargo ship should look like at all, but rather more like some kind of...

"Pirate ship."

It wasn't any intelligence worth hiding. Facing the cautious probing of the man in front of him, Xia Nan answered quite directly.

"We encountered a group of blind pirates on the road here."

"Fortunately, their strength was relatively average, and they didn't cause any losses to our fleet."

Seeing Steven's thoughtful look, Xia Nan's tone lowered slightly, staring into the other party's eyes, and the conversation turned:

"I heard that your village is suspected to have monsters appearing nearby?"

Hearing this, Steven's eyes suddenly lit up, and his body leaned forward subconsciously.

"Yes, you've heard of it too?"

"The first time was two months ago, Old Harvey, who lived at the very north of the village, was on his way home after parking his boat alone..."

As if misunderstanding Xia Nan's meaning, the village chief began to tell the whole story of the incident in a continuous stream.

Out of politeness, and also for the sake of safety in the next two days, Xia Nan listened to the other party's introduction very patiently.

He knew that this monster attacking the village was huge, cunning, and cruel, often leaving behind extremely tragic scenes, but no one had ever witnessed its true form.

The closest time was a deep, dark shadow with a fish fin on its back reflected on the ground, seen by a child hiding in the bushes.

After the village chief finished the introduction, Xia Nan asked slowly again:

"I understand the situation, but as far as I know, you seem to have already issued a commission at the Adventurer Association?"

"That's right." Steven nodded repeatedly. "Calculating the release time, if it goes well, maybe Adventurers have already taken the mission and are rushing toward us. Maybe before you lords leave..."

He only said half of his words before suddenly realizing something.

He suddenly turned his head and looked at the "pirate ship" on the pier.

Seeing the reaction, it was clear that Steven had guessed it. Xia Nan didn't intend to lie and answered:

"I'm sorry, it seems you need to wait for another period of time."

"We also discovered their sailing chart and mission commission when cleaning the pirate ship's cabin."

"But please rest assured, I have already told Gregory that the first time we return to Shoal Islands, he will report the relevant intelligence to the Association."

"Your commission will soon be hung on the Association's lower-level mission panel again."

This is also one of the operational processes related to Adventurer Association commissions.

Adventurers have different strengths, and there are all kinds of unexpected situations in missions.

Even those high-level Adventurers who have reached the "Transcendence" level cannot guarantee that they will complete the commissions they have taken 100%.

In this situation, except for some bounty-type missions, many investigation and hunting-type commissions have an implicit time limit that changes flexibly according to mission difficulty after being taken.

This time is usually relatively generous, enough to carry out the mission two or three times.

But if the Adventurer who took the commission still hasn't returned to deliver it before the deadline, the Association will determine that the Adventurer has encountered danger during the mission and there is no possibility of continuing, and will re-list the commission.

Of course, there are many relevant detailed rules behind this rule, such as how the mission reward should be distributed for Adventurers who return to complete the mission after the deadline, compensation for squads that discover the commission has been completed after taking the mission, the detailed formulation standards for time limits...

But regardless, in this situation, if Xia Nan and others said nothing and just delivered the goods and returned, the people of Qiaoyan Village would probably have to wait for another long period of time until the time limit on the Association's side ended before they could wait for new Adventurers to take the mission.

But if Xia Nan and others, who killed the "Flying Fish Oil Barrel" Adventurer squad, took the initiative to explain the situation to the Association after returning, they could save a long period of time for the residents of Qiaoyan Village.

"Thank you, thank you very much, Mr. Xia Nan!"

Steven's expression was sincere, and there was no resentment at all.

Perhaps deep down, he harbored a little resentment that the Adventurers who helped investigate the monsters around his village were solved by the *Black Gull* party along the way.

But at least on the surface, his performance was very decent.

Steven knew clearly in his heart.

The reason why this powerful young Adventurer said so was also to indicate that the *Black Gull* fleet would not help Qiaoyan Village investigate the monsters nearby.

Regarding this, the village chief also expressed understanding in his heart.

After all, one is an escort helping to transport goods, and the other is an investigation and hunting that needs to go deep into danger. The nature of the missions is different.

The former only needs to do a normal travel plan, while the latter needs to make targeted preparations according to the specific situation of the destination environment and the detailed information of the monsters to be dealt with.

As long as it is a relatively professional senior Adventurer with a certain amount of experience, it is absolutely impossible to temporarily accept their commission.

This is very dangerous.

Therefore, Steven very sensibly bypassed this topic and didn't take the initiative to mention some requests that he knew would be rejected.

To some extent, even if it was just a verbal guarantee, an Adventurer like this black-haired young man named "Xia Nan" who was willing to explain the specific situation to him and guarantee to pass on the information after returning was already rare.

It would be good if they didn't ask them to pay the "loss fee" for encountering pirates on the road here, so how could he dare to ask for more.

The time was still early, behind was the clamor of the crew clinking glasses and laughing, and ahead on the pier, one could vaguely see a few villagers counting cargo under the leadership of the remaining crew members. ===== CHAPTER 409 =====