Chapter 117

The scorching sun was blazing.

Wearing only a pair of boxers and lying spread-eagled on the aft deck, mixed with the salty sea breeze, made Dylan feel like a salted fish—a salted fish that was about to be dried out.

The Scout's mimicked backpack leaned in the shadow cast by the ship's superstructure; today, magic power was still sufficient, so it didn't drain any from Dylan.

The sound of leather shoes rubbing against the deck came, and a dark-skinned, one-eyed burly man carrying a bag arrived at the aft deck. He saw Dylan performing his performance art at a glance, though he was clearly already used to it.

"Sunbathing again, Dylan? You never seem to get a tan." Throwing the bag in his hand off the stern, the one-eyed man continued, "By the way, didn't I tell you that you could go to the foredeck to sunbathe? Some of the planks on the aft deck haven't been replaced yet."

Just as he said, one of the planks under Dylan was broken in the middle.

"Gallon, coming to the back to dump trash again?" Dylan opened his eyes to look at the first mate who had stepped over him, saying helplessly, "The foredeck is full of sailors walking back and forth. If I lie there, I'll be in their way. Even if they don't say anything, I'd feel embarrassed."

"Heh, you..." Without lingering, the first mate quickly returned to the cabin.

Dylan continued to lie down, and he stayed there until evening, finishing the charging of magic power for the next few days.

He found the ship's second mate and asked for a bucket of fresh water to take back to his room.

The second mate was a Water-element mage; relying on 30 silver coins, Dylan could get such a bucket of water from him every day.

In fact, any reliable ship would have such a person who could create fresh water, and more advanced ones would even have a priest skilled in healing, but this ship only had an ordinary ship doctor.

After leaving aside the portion for drinking, Dylan put the Puji into the water bucket. Only after the Puji had absorbed enough did Dylan use the remaining water and a towel to wipe his green body after canceling [Mimicry].

Through the window, Dylan watched the three-colored moons rising one by one, calculating the journey in his heart.

It had been over twenty days; he estimated that it would take less than a week to reach Siren Island.

Although it wasn't Dylan's final destination, Silver Sand Bay, ships traveled frequently between the islands, and it would be easy to find a ship to Silver Sand Bay from Siren Island.

Once he reached Silver Sand Bay, he would find the local information broker immediately.

Along the way, Dylan had also thought a lot about himself and his daughter. The situation on the continent was becoming increasingly tense, and war could break out any day.

After finding Bella, perhaps he should confess the current situation and take her to the dungeon to avoid the limelight, or at least stay in a rear town like Mute Wind Town, so as not to get caught up in the war one day.

With the boss as his backer, safety was guaranteed in every sense.

Of course, Dylan absolutely did not want Bella to be parasitized as well. Not to mention anything else, Bella was naturally beautiful; how could she become a monster like him, a mixture of flesh and mycelium? Turning green was even more out of the question!

Dong dong—dong dong—

The sound of a gong he had never heard before drifted in from outside the window, interrupting Dylan's thoughts.

What happened?

Strapping on his backpack, Dylan opened the room door and found that everyone else had also walked out of their rooms one after another.

"It's the Blood Shark!" As soon as he left the cabin, Dylan heard the sailor on the lookout tower shouting repeatedly.

The Blood Shark?

It sounded like a name a pirate ship would choose.

"Hard to port! Grab the westerlies! They're a lateen-rigged ship; they're much faster than us on a reach!" The captain, who was usually nowhere to be seen, was now personally shouting commands on the deck. "Rowers, get down there, get down there! Start rowing!"

Dylan ran to the side of the ship and looked around, soon discovering the lateen-rigged ship following behind them, and he could vaguely see the black flag hanging on the mast.

Unlike the Wind Feather, which was still organizing rowers under his feet, the black oars on both sides of the lateen-rigged ship opposite had long been rising and falling in the sea.

Dylan felt that, not to mention whether the Wind Feather could outrun the opponent at full speed, the opponent would probably catch up during the time it took to accelerate.

"They... how can they be so fast?" a sailor said in disbelief.

The captain also seemed to realize something: "Damn it, they must have a Wind-element mage!"

He then looked at the group of passengers, including Dylan, who had walked out of the cabin to observe the situation, and asked loudly: "Is there a Wind-element mage among you? If there is, stand out quickly! If we get caught by pirates, no one will have it easy!" The passengers looked at each other, but no one stood out.

That was true; this ship was originally a cargo ship, and the passengers were just hitching a ride. There were only eight or nine of them, and let alone a Wind-element mage, there might not even be a mage among them.

"Go back to the cabin, all of you, go back to the cabin! Don't cause trouble on the deck now!" Seeing there was no wind mage, the captain drove everyone back directly; he had no time to deal with these passengers now.

Some passengers were uneasy and refused to go back, but Dylan returned to his room.

"Would a Diamond-tier go to be a pirate?"

In the fungal network, Lin Jun asked directly.

Now that the two ships were not close enough, Lin Jun could not see the panels on the opposite ship.

Dylan analyzed immediately: "Not many, but there are. Anyone who dares to come and rob a ship alone will have at least multiple Gold-tier combatants. At the very least, the mage on the opposite side who can blow the sails must be a Gold-tier."

Multiple Gold-tiers, huh...

If the knight who was killed earlier was taken as the Gold-tier standard, the Scout could handle one very steadily, two would take some time, and three would mean falling into a bitter fight.

If you add a group of pirate cannon fodder, it would be even more troublesome.

Fortunately, the Wind Feather was not without combat power. The captain was a level 42 warrior, and the first mate also had level 35 strength; if a conflict occurred, they could share some of the pressure.

However...

"Dylan, will the pirates here kill everyone after boarding the ship?"

In Lin Jun's impression, even in the medieval period, only the most vicious pirates would leave no survivors every time.

Some pirates who had controlled an area on a large scale would even transform into the type that only collected tolls, but that was getting off-topic; the one behind them was clearly not that.

"Kill everyone? Probably not. But boss, the pirates will most likely take everyone on the ship as slaves..."

Do the big bosses of the islands not care about this kind of behavior that destroys trade?

Or can they not manage it?

There wasn't much time to think; he could already hear the pirate ship catching up from behind outside the window.

The backpack appearance was no longer suitable. If the pirates wanted to check the backpack, it would be hard to explain. Lin Jun didn't want to be the one to stick his neck out. Regardless of whether he could win, it would expose a lot of things. If the pirates were just robbing some money, Lin Jun didn't plan to interfere.

Controlling the Scout Puji to re-mimic, the backpack soon turned into a solid wooden stool, and all the tentacles were hidden inside the body.

"Quick, quick, put me in an inconspicuous place on the deck."

The reason for putting it on the deck was the fear that if he were too far from Dylan later, he wouldn't be able to react in time if something happened.

When Dylan came out holding the Scout, he suddenly felt something strange—the ship's speed seemed to have dropped?

Looking up, he saw a white flag hanging on the mast...

So the captain was so sensible that he surrendered decisively when he saw he couldn't escape?

Putting down the Scout, Dylan saw the pirate ship that was almost side-by-side.

"Stay where you are and don't move!" Following a roar with a heavy local accent, several grappling hooks had already bitten into the ship's rail. Before long, more than thirty pirates leaped onto the deck of the Wind Feather.

The scar-faced leader in the lead twirled the scimitar in his hand, smiling as he sized up the people on the deck.

And Lin Jun, at this moment, pulled up the panels of all the pirates.

Three Gold-tiers.