Chapter 784: Bustle

Banamo Port, inside the carnival bar.

The adventurer Mason changed into the loose trousers with tied legs and thick jacket that pirates loved most, looking at the unknown adventurer who was drinking strong liquor with his back to him, his spirit always a bit tense.

He wasn't worried that the other party would hurt him, but worried about when such a life would end.

Pirates were never a group that would reason or not vent their anger on others. After no one stood up to respond to the arrogant unknown adventurer, many pirates tried to vent their anger on other adventurers at Banamo Port.

That is to say, adventurers who often operated at Banamo Port had already become accustomed to a life of hiding. Usually, they wouldn't call themselves adventurers at all, but disguised themselves as other professions. Otherwise, there would definitely be people lying dead at the end of alleys or floating up from the sea outside the pier.

——In a port where pirates occupied the mainstream, adventurer was clearly a dangerous profession that couldn't be exposed. People like Mason had a legitimate identity for disguise in their daily lives, or even simply joined a pirate group, existing as members stationed at Banamo Port to help raise supplies.

Accepting missions wouldn't expose an adventurer's identity, because many pirates would also accept missions to get bounties. The simplest example was that after killing an enemy pirate and receiving his inheritance, one could also find connections to get an extra bounty. Who wouldn't want that?

Of course, the style of pirates doing missions was still somewhat different from adventurers. They would first figure out who issued the mission and weigh whether they could directly finish off the client. In fact, some adventurers were also like this; they would very naturally transform into robbers in places lacking sufficient order.

Mason had just lost his job as a merchant clerk recently, and with his appearance features different from local residents, he had to dress like a pirate to avoid being affected.

Amidst his thoughts, his gaze looked toward a position by the window of the carnival bar, where the wall was charred black, the glass was cracked, the tables and chairs were overturned, and two incomplete charred corpses lay there, as if they had been burned for a long time. Parts of the corpses were scattered nearby.

These were two pirates.

At noon, they recognized an adventurer they had met before and intended to vent the malice in their hearts on him. As a result, the unknown adventurer at the bar didn't even turn his head, creating one fire crow after another of crimson, near-white flames, directly blowing the two pirates into pieces and burning them for a long time.

This made the pirates who witnessed it truly believe that the unknown adventurer was a person who kept his word and was true to his promises.

If he said he would kill you, he would absolutely kill you. If he said that anyone who dared to cross the red line would be executed, then they would inevitably be executed, even if this was a pirate port, even if thousands of pirates and numerous Beyonders were watching him!

And the captain of those two pirates didn't dare to retaliate.

Mason witnessed the whole process at the time. He found that the two pirates had a certain understanding of the "Pyro" ability and were quite skilled. One of them was even a low-sequence Beyonder, but they still couldn't escape the tracking of a dozen or twenty fire crows even while being on guard, and were covered by flames just as they fled from the center of the bar to the window position.

This made Mason involuntarily develop a sense of yearning and longing.

When could I have such strength?

When could I become an adventurer who could deter so many pirates?

Mason wanted to "kindly" help the two pirates deal with their remains, but to his regret, the captain and first mate of that pirate group arrived quickly, and they didn't even dare to drag the bodies away, only collecting the "inheritance."

"Must try to stay near this adventurer recently, otherwise, if I'm really recognized, it's over......" Mason gulped down the dark brown beer in his glass and suddenly had a feeling, "How did a life that was still quite normal suddenly become like this?"

Although he hadn't suffered substantial harm yet, he seemed to have been affected.

This made his panic about whether he had attracted disaster to Banamo Port increasingly intense, but he also felt that this couldn't be counted as a disaster yet. It would end when that unknown adventurer left or when some pirate admiral or pirate king arrived at Banamo Port.

"In the future, rituals I don't understand well must absolutely not be done......" Mason warned himself.

He then picked up his glass and raised it to his shadow reflected on the wall to indicate that he had reached a reconciliation with himself.

In the shadow, Franca was observing the situation inside and outside the carnival bar seriously and attentively.

This was her mission.

Lu Mian was in the light. Even if he was vigilant and guarded, it was possible to be ambushed. After all, the supernatural field didn't lack strange, hidden, and difficult-to-defend abilities, rituals, and spells. Therefore, she needed to hide in the dark, examine the situation around from another angle, and intervene in time or provide a "Mirror Substitute."

When following Lu Mian around Banamo Port for the past two days, Franca first saw those pirates drinking, chatting, cursing, eating, gambling, venting, and sleeping, feeling that they were no different from ordinary people, and felt a bit unbearable for the possible plague plan. When she encountered pirate shootouts, heard about murder, kidnapping, bullying the weak, robbery, and rape, she felt from the bottom of her heart that letting these scum be infected by the plague and die was a purification of the world and an act of doing good deeds.

Franca endured her hunger and muttered about Lu Mian:

"This guy, doesn't he know it's already an hour past lunch time?

"You have food, I don't!

"According to the tacit understanding of the previous two days, shouldn't we shake off potential trackers, hide back in the hotel, and let me rest and eat something?"

Amidst the muttering, Franca still conscientiously monitored the situation around her.

At this time, several pirates came in, bringing active, joyful, and excited emotions to different tables.

*Eh*...... Franca melted into the shadow, stuck to the wall, and quietly sneaked to the side of one group of pirates, listening carefully.

"Is the 'Admiral of the Deep' really here?"

"The *Newins* is already parked at the pier!"

"Do they know about this, this adventurer's matter?"

"......"

Oh, so the "Admiral of the Deep" is here, finally here...... Franca muttered silently in a tone of having confirmed her guess with effective evidence.

Because Jenna didn't provide a warning, it meant that no pirate king had come to Banamo Port, so Franca began to look forward to what kind of reaction the "Admiral of the Deep's" side would have and what kind of things they would do.

She was certain that the "Admiral of the Deep" and his important leaders all knew about the unknown adventurer provoking the entire pirate group.

This was a very simple deduction:

Since the "Admiral of the Deep" was avoiding the "Twilight King," he must have determined the situation at Banamo Port in advance before coming over for supplies.

The most common way to do this was to dispatch pirates with no fame in the fleet to take other ships to Banamo Port to scout for intelligence in advance. If Banamo Port belonged to the kind of port they often came to, they could even directly have a few trusted subordinates disguise their identities and stay stationed here long-term to provide feedback on the situation.

Of course, they could also cooperate with local forces to have them warn them. In short, the "Admiral of the Deep" must have had enough understanding of the recent events at Banamo Port, otherwise, he wouldn't have let the *Newins* surface from the sea.

Franca sank into silence again, no longer affected by hunger.

But like those pirates, she waited for more than half an hour and still didn't see the "Admiral of the Deep" or his powerful subordinates, so she couldn't help but be a bit puzzled:

"Why haven't they come yet?

"Could it be that you, 'Admiral of the Deep,' are also a person who follows the will of the heart? That shouldn't be. Lu Mian only shows the level of a strong Sequence 6, and this insidious guy has always used crimson, near-white flames, not the scorching white flames of a 'Reaper'......"

Franca thought carefully and roughly understood the reason:

If it were her, under the circumstance of being targeted by the "Twilight King," she definitely wouldn't cause trouble just after arriving at a port. She would inevitably have to complete the supplies first and be prepared for another stealth dive before doing anything else. That way, even if an accident really happened, she could leave Banamo Port at the first opportunity, so that the main purpose of coming here wouldn't be unfulfilled.

Moreover, this unknown adventurer Lu Mian had been at Banamo Port for two or three days. He wanted to take the bounty, but he hadn't hunted the well-known pirates with quite high bounties. It looked like he was waiting for something.

This would make people suspicious of his true purpose, and the "Admiral of the Deep" would inevitably have corresponding concerns.

*Hoo*...... Franca exhaled silently.

Her gaze still wandered around the carnival bar, guarding against potential accidents.

During this process, her gaze inevitably swept across Lu Mian, who was sitting sideways to her, and saw this companion's mouth slightly raised, his mood quite good, while he held a glass of amber Rhenish with something unknown added.

Lu Mian played with the glass in his hand, relying on the "Hunter's" outstanding hearing to roughly understand the reason for the pirates' sudden excitement, joy, and anxious waiting.

His target had arrived!

Lu Mian didn't feel surprised by this, because he had known about this matter for a long time—Jenna had already come, and with the cover of shadows, placed the written note where his palm was pressing.

Guessing that the "Admiral of the Deep" wouldn't come to find him in a short time, Lu Mian sat very steadily, his expression natural, as if he hadn't noticed the movement behind him at all.

He looked at the bartender who was trying to control his expression and said with a smile:

"The wind is a bit noisy today."

The bartender didn't know how to respond and could only smile stiffly:

"Yeah."

Lu Mian didn't speak to him again, feeling the changes in his inner emotions and state.

To be honest, to deal with such a pirate admiral with his own fleet, he was still a bit uneasy, but this also made him feel his blood burning and boiling.

He had never been a person who feared challenges, especially after becoming a "Hunter," and he even tasted the seductive flavor from the challenges.

Thinking of this, Lu Mian picked up the glass of Rhenish, brought it to his mouth, tilted his head slightly, and drank it all in one breath.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 785 =====