Chapter 97: Hostile Islanders!

If this were in his previous life, Gervas's sea vessel reaching this position would have counted as an intrusion into another noble's territory.

Territorial rights automatically include maritime rights, especially in coastal waters.

But the oceans of this world had long been abandoned by the minor nobles.

Therefore, beyond the coastline, everything could be regarded as terra nullius.

Since it was terra nullius, anything found there was ownerless.

"Begin sailing east for fifty li!"

"Yes, turn the rudder right, proceed east for fifty li!" Old Jack quickly changed direction.

With the help of the sea breeze, about an hour later, the lookout above shouted again.

"My lord, a new island has been spotted to the southeast, but there is cooking smoke on that island; it is very likely inhabited!"

"People living on an island? How is that possible?" Knight Mi Gen and others widened their eyes upon hearing this.

"Knight Mi Gen, the residents on the island likely arrived there later; some are refugees, while others were probably shipwrecked and washed ashore!" Old Jack had some knowledge in this area and immediately provided an explanation.

"So that is how it is!"

Immediately, everyone looked expectantly toward the southeast, wanting to see what people living on an island looked like.

More than ten minutes later, the outline of the island came into view.

It was also a relatively large island; a rough estimate showed it was only half the size of Sugarcane Island.

"My lord, look, there really is cooking smoke!"

At this moment, the cooking smoke in the middle of the island came into everyone's view.

Gervas knew perfectly well, "Approach first and take a look!"

Afterwards, the sea vessel continued forward; when it finally approached to within about one li of the shore, it quickly discovered a tower on the island's coastline ahead.

Furthermore, the people on the distant tower had obviously spotted them and were frantically shouting something toward the interior of the island.

"My lord, those really are people; they have seen us too!" Mi Gen and others were extremely excited.

Seeing islanders at sea was as incredible to them as encountering a village and villagers in the Death Mountains.

"My lord, should we go ashore?" Mi Gen and others wanted to get closer to take a look.

"My lord, the people in that watchtower are acting very panicked; this shows they harbor great caution toward us and likely hold hostility!" Knight Lei Meng was much more cautious and immediately issued a warning.

"Knight Lei Meng, we have fifty guards on our ship, not to mention so many knights; surely we need not fear them?" Mi Gen was not too worried.

The facts were indeed so; with their martial power, leveling a village without defensive facilities was as easy as turning over one's hand.

But Gervas knew there were craftsmen among these villagers, so he could not form a blood feud; at least, it was not yet time for that.

"First lower the raft and approach to take a look!"

Of course, Gervas also needed to try whether communication was possible, so the raft still had to be lowered.

When the Storm lowered its raft, more figures gradually appeared along the island's coastline.

The final count exceeded one hundred people; although there were old and young among them, they were all men, without exception.

Moreover, these men held weapons such as bows, spears, and forks in their hands.

"My lord, they really do not welcome us!" This time, even Mi Gen clearly realized the problem.

"Approach to the one hundred and twenty-meter position and take a look!"

The reason for setting the distance at one hundred and twenty meters was that any closer would enter the effective range of the longbow.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Indeed, as soon as the raft reached the designated position, two crooked arrows landed in the seawater more than ten meters ahead.

"Damn it, you bastards, how dare you attack a noble? Do you know what crime that is? You will all be sent to the gallows!"

Mi Gen flew into a rage and roared toward the coastline.

Unfortunately, what greeted him were yet another few whooshing arrows.

Of course, Mi Gen's roar was likely inaudible to the other side, as it would be drowned out by the waves.

But the other side shooting arrows to drive them away without hesitation was enough proof that they had no intention of communicating.

"Return to the Storm first!"

With the situation clarified, Gervas did not linger any longer.

"My lord, this humble one is willing to lead the charge and deal with these lowly bastards who dared to offend you!"

As soon as they returned to the Storm, Mi Gen immediately volunteered and spoke up.

"No rush; the Storm Domain will also face a kobold attack this afternoon? Although the threat is not great, it is absolutely unsuitable for two battles to occur in a single day!"

Mi Gen then remembered the matter of the kobolds and cursed the distant islanders viciously: "Consider these bastards lucky; they offended my lord but will live two more days!"

Immediately, Gervas did not stay long either; regarding this outcome, he had actually been prepared when he came.

After all, the intelligence system had already made it clear, stating that these islanders were unfriendly.

Of course, before returning, Gervas specifically had Old Jack circle the island once to prepare for the next visit.

Based on the observations, this island had two landing beaches, one large and one small; all other areas were steep reefs or rock faces, unsuitable for landing.

The place where Gervas and his party had just attempted to land was the island's large beach, with a length of one hundred meters.

On the north side of the island, there was also a short beach of twenty to thirty meters.

However, although that northern beach was shorter, the water depth along its coastline was deeper than on the west side, allowing the sea vessel to approach even closer.

After recording the observed situation of the island, the Storm began its return voyage to Huoshandao.

With favorable winds all the way, one and a half hours later, the sea vessel arrived in the waters of Huoshandao.

Just when the distance to Huoshandao was less than ten minutes of travel, a guard suddenly discovered a situation.

"My lord, it is bad; there are sirens on both sides of our sea vessel!"

"Sirens?"

The guards instantly grew tense, and Gervas, accompanied by a host of knights, swiftly arrived at the ship's railing.

Looking down, they indeed discovered hundreds of densely packed figures in the seabed following the sea vessel forward.

"It's merfolk! My lord!" Lei Meng immediately recognized the species of these figures.

"What are these fellows doing following us? Do they intend to attack us?"

Merfolk attacks on sea vessels occur frequently, but that is without the Sea God Stone.

Logically, given the power of the Sea God Stone on the Storm, sea beasts and sea demons below the fourth tier would basically not approach or attack.

Therefore, seeing so many merfolk instantly made the subordinates even more tense.

But Gervas recalled the system's intelligence: Waga was the offspring of the Bua clan chief.

Upon learning that he had saved Waga, the Bua clan chief had led the merfolk here to express gratitude.

So, these are probably the Bua clan merfolk?

Moreover, they were merely accompanying the sea vessel forward like dolphins, without climbing aboard to chip away the hull, which explained everything.

"No need to be tense; these are Waga's merfolk kin. They are certainly here to thank us for saving Waga. Therefore, before receiving orders, no one is to launch an attack on their own!"

"Waga's kin?!"

Hearing this, the guards' hanging hearts finally settled.

With fear dispelled, Knight Mi Gen and others were instead filled with excitement. "My lord, do merfolk actually thank us? If this gets out, it's probably the first time the human race has encountered such a thing!"