Chapter 405 Setting Sail

Compared to the average 5 points in physical attributes for ordinary people in this world, Xia Nan's Perception of 12 was so absurdly high it bordered on something out of a fantasy novel from his past life.

Take the current situation, for example.

If an ordinary person were standing in Xia Nan's shoes, facing the Silver Claw Osprey squad in front of him—excluding the reckless half-orc whose every thought was written on his face—they likely wouldn't have noticed the negative emotions hidden beneath the other two members' expressions.

Someone less sensitive, seeing Captain Nick step forward to greet them with a smiling face, might have actually thought the man was welcoming them.

But for Xia Nan, his extremely sharp Perception allowed him to pick up on a massive amount of minute details that were normally impossible to notice: the slight stiffness of cheek muscles during a smile, the subtle positioning of the three facing him, the slight forward shift in their center of gravity that betrayed a defensive posture when they greeted him...

Through these, he detected the invisible, intangible, yet very real trace of hostility permeating the air.

His expression remained unchanged as he politely returned their greeting, looking completely normal, but he secretly etched their behavior into his mind.

Xia Nan didn't know where the hostility of this so-called Silver Claw Osprey squad came from. He had no memory of these three at all and was certain this was their first meeting.

Working off that premise, and considering the roles and financial interests tied to this voyage, he guessed their animosity likely stemmed from him and Alton suddenly joining right before departure.

As an adventurer, Xia Nan never feared competition, so naturally, he wasn't too worried about the squad's attitude toward him.

His combat techniques, equipment, and overpowered physical attributes gave him plenty of confidence to face any difficulty.

With stats that basically belonged to an elite boss—where his Class Level could practically function as a Challenge Rating—he didn't think these three adventurers would be any harder to deal with than that crystallized Cleric back in Sheep Horn Town.

Of course, this also stemmed from the caution and defensive instincts he had gradually developed after transmigrating.

The moment Xia Nan sensed their hostility, he had already classified these three adventurers as potential enemies, running mental simulations of a fight with them.

'That half-elf archer should be the only backline in their squad. She needs to be dealt with first.'

'Her build leans toward the slender side, so her movement speed is probably quite fast. Just to be safe, I can use [Gravity Control] to weigh her down. Her Constitution should be relatively average, so taking off her head will do.'

'But the deck doesn't have much space. When I dash in using [Fang Hunt], I need to be careful not to accidentally charge straight into the ocean. I'll have to hold back a little.'

'The human captain named Nick uses two short swords as his weapons. Looking at his studded leather armor, he should also lean more toward offense than defense. He might be hiding something, so I need to observe him a bit more.'

'As for this half-orc... I should just chop his head off first. A Class Holder of this level shouldn't be able to survive a fatal wound like that. But after striking, I need to get as far away as possible. These barbarians from the Wilderness might have dirty tricks like "Self-Destruct" or "Final Strike." I need to be careful.'

In a frontal confrontation, assuming he struck first...

...and comparing it to the average strength of Level 2 to 3 Class Holders in this world, if Xia Nan went all out, he could probably end the fight within five seconds if things went smoothly.

These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

Nick would never know what was going through the mind of the calm, black-haired young man shaking his hand so politely.

All he felt was a sudden, hallucination-like chill in the ocean breeze and a heart rate that quietly accelerated for no apparent reason.

"Cough! Cough!"

A fit of violent coughing accompanied by dry heaving suddenly came from behind him.

Turning his head, he saw Leda—the half-elf archer who had just been brimming with energy and holding her head high—now doubled over in discomfort. With her hands resting on her knees, she coughed and heaved dryly toward an empty spot on the side deck.

Her delicate face, which always carried a trace of arrogance stemming from her bloodline, was now filled with an indescribable agony.

"What's wrong? Why the sudden reaction?"

Nick frowned deeply, his eyes fixed on his team member.

"I'm... urk... fine..." the half-elf replied with difficulty, not even lifting her head as she waved her hand forcefully to signal that she was okay.

She leaned against the railing at the edge of the deck, panting for a long while before finally catching her breath.

"Weren't you perfectly fine last night? Did you go back to your room and drink by yourself?"

Not knowing why the half-elf was suddenly acting like this right as they were about to depart, Nick showed an anxious expression, though a hint of reproach crept into his tone.

"I-I don't know."

As for Leda herself, she genuinely had no idea what had just happened.

She had just been standing behind Captain Nick, letting her mind wander, when she inexplicably felt a chill—like the cold wind of a late night—rise from the bottom of her heart and spread upward, all the way until...

Her slender fingers unconsciously rose to gently stroke her fair, swan-like neck—a trait born of her racial bloodline.

At some point, a layer of goosebumps had broken out across her skin.

"Get a good rest tonight. Although this mission is relatively easy and shouldn't have much danger, you've been in this line of work for years. You know we can never let our guard down, no matter the situation."

Seeing the half-elf gradually recovering, Captain Nick still felt a bit worried, but he also breathed a sigh of relief.

They were teammates who had worked together for years and understood each other perfectly; he didn't want to suffer any losses on such an ordinary mission.

Meanwhile, compared to Nick's momentary chill and the half-elf Leda's dry heaving, the burly half-orc in the squad seemed entirely unaffected.

He merely stared at the distant backs of Xia Nan and Alton with deep resentment in his muddy, dim-witted eyes.

"Black-haired brat... shorty..."

With a pair of tusks protruding from his lower lip, he didn't bother lowering his voice, mumbling indistinctly and stuttering in heavily accented Common.

"Tavern woman, playing dirty."

This was exactly why the Silver Claw Osprey squad was hostile toward Xia Nan and Alton.

From Xia Nan's perspective, he wanted to secure a way into the Lunar Tide Banquet from Hera so he could search for clues left in the Southern Archipelagos by the [Dream Weaving Corridor] encryption key.

The price for that was taking on this cargo escort mission she had assigned him.

In the end, it was nothing more than the most common exchange of benefits among adventurers. He didn't see any problem with it.

But from the Silver Claw Osprey squad's point of view...

Hera—as the owner of the Three-Legged Sea Dog and a renowned information broker in Barracuda Bay—had worked with their squad many times before.

She knew Nick and the others inside and out.

This current escort commission had been finalized half a month ago. She had signed a contract with them, entrusting the guard duties to the Silver Claw Osprey squad, and had even paid the deposit.

Yet, just three days before departure, she had suddenly hired two more guards to come aboard.

What was that supposed to mean?

Did she not trust them? Did she think the Silver Claw Osprey squad couldn't even handle a run-of-the-mill escort mission?

It was only because Xia Nan and Alton didn't impact the squad's payout for this mission; otherwise, the atmosphere between them just now would have been much worse.

To adventurers, who valued gold coins as much as their own lives, if their profits were threatened, they wouldn't have even bothered forcing a fake smile to greet them; they wouldn't have given them the time of day.

"Don't be rash. Calm down, Guka."

As the squad captain, although Nick harbored some resentment of his own, he still reached out and patted the half-orc's arm, comforting his impulsive and hot-tempered teammate.

"Once we get back from this mission, we'll go find Hera and demand an explanation. We'll get to the bottom of this."

In truth, he knew clearly that the focal point of the conflict—the target of their indignation—was actually Hera, the owner of the Three-Legged Sea Dog Tavern.

To some extent, Xia Nan and Alton were just the collateral targets of their unvented frustration.

Because of this, whether it was Nick himself or his two teammates, they all exercised relative restraint when face-to-face with the two.

They hadn't completely torn off all pretense of civility.

"However..."

They were all adventurers who had spent years mingling among the various islands of the Southern Archipelagos. Lacking the oversight of any sufficiently powerful authority, out on the boundless ocean—which was even vaster than the Misty Forest—the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, was carried out to its absolute extreme.

Pirates, fugitives, cultists...

In the vast majority of cases, adventurers tended to solve their problems with their fists.

Words like "restraint" and "politeness" only appeared in these adventurers' vocabularies when they realized the other party's "fists" might be harder than their own.

Actually, before they even set out this morning, Nick had already planned to show Xia Nan and Alton who was boss.

They might not necessarily need to fight directly, but throwing around the Silver Claw Osprey name and relying on their numerical advantage to thoroughly intimidate these two outsiders who had suddenly boarded the ship was perfectly viable.

It would also serve as a way to help the half-orc Guka vent his frustrations.

But the moment he stood on the deck and watched Captain Gregory lead the two out from the cabin with his own eyes, those plans slammed to a screeching halt in his mind.

He couldn't get a read on the short halfling beside him, so he ignored him for the moment.

But the tall, black-haired young man on the other side... didn't seem to be the ordinary adventurer Nick had initially assumed he was.

To survive in this line of work for so many years, especially in a place where there was a motley mix of fish and dragons like Barracuda Bay, Nick's strength might not have been outstanding, but his ability to read people was quite good.

The condensed aura he exuded with every movement, the Fine-grade equipment he wore from head to toe... even the slightly damaged armor on his upper body wasn't some ordinary stock one could just buy off the rack at a blacksmith's shop.

Perhaps this black-haired youth's strength was much greater than he'd imagined?

So, during the short walk from the cabin to where Nick stood, following behind Captain Gregory, the deliberately dark and aggressive expression Nick had put on melted from his face along with the cancellation of his plans.

It was replaced by a smile that appeared somewhat stiff due to the sudden shift.

His teammates had also displayed confusion and dissatisfaction at this—mainly the half-orc, Guka; on the other side, the half-elf Leda was still in a daze, having just caught her breath, her eyes entirely unfocused.

"Boss Nick, why smile at black hair?"

"Should make him scared! Frighten shorty, show our strength!"

Guka panted heavily, awkwardly spitting out short phrases to express his dissatisfaction with Nick.

Having spent a long time together, Nick knew clearly that with the half-orc's dim-witted personality, he wouldn't listen to reason while in a fit of anger like this.

So he kept a straight face and deliberately adopted a cold tone as he scolded, "The problem here lies mostly with Hera. We're about to set sail, so don't you dare cause trouble for me. Do you understand!?"

"Have you forgotten what I told you when I first brought you out of the tribe?"

"Think about the gold coins. Think about your old flame over at the Coral Courtyard. Behave..."

The classic "carrot and stick" approach took effect immediately.

In just a few short sentences, the indignation on the half-orc's face faded, even making him look a bit wronged.

He lowered his head and nodded silently, not saying another word.

Standing on the other side of the deck in the distance...

Xia Nan seemed to be gazing out at the distant ocean alongside the short halfling next to him, but in reality, he was using his peripheral vision in a nearly imperceptible way to keep tabs on the Silver Claw Osprey squad, where the atmosphere had grown a little strange.

Captain Nick seemed to have a good eye; he shifted his expressions and actions quickly, and he knew how to manage his team members' emotions.

The half-orc fit his exact stereotype of a human-orc hybrid—dim-witted and seemingly low on intelligence, but he still showed a decent amount of restraint in practice.

On the other hand, the half-elf in their team—who held her head high and looked quite haughty—had an unexpectedly high Perception.

It was just a fleeting flash of killing intent from him, yet she had subconsciously picked up on it and reacted violently on pure instinct.

'That works too.'

Xia Nan thought to himself.

As long as their explicitly displayed hostility didn't cross a certain line, revealing a bit of strength would help this commission go smoothly and avoid a lot of trouble.

While Xia Nan's duo and the Silver Claw Osprey squad were having this silent interaction, the crew members who had been busy all over the Black Gull had gathered on the deck without anyone noticing.

Captain Gregory stood at the very front near the figurehead, holding a flapping, yellow-feathered chicken in his hand.

His fingers tightened slightly. As the chicken's clucking came to an abrupt halt, the noise on the deck vanished in an instant, the crew shutting their mouths one after another.

"Shhk..."

A cold light flashed.

Hot, scarlet blood sprayed from the yellow-feathered chicken's neck.

It flowed over the surface of that calloused, dark hand, seeped into the gaps between the wooden deck planks, and splattered onto the black seagull statue soaring with spread wings at the bow.

"Caw!"

A seagull circling overhead let out a sharp cry. The timing was so perfect that it sounded as if it had come from the figurehead symbolizing the soul of the Black Gull.

At almost the exact same time, Gregory violently hurled the now-motionless chicken corpse high into the air, tossing it into the sea.

His loud, ringing shout echoed through the air:

"Set sail!"