Chapter 189 - 188: Deep in the Reeds

Chapter 189: Chapter 188: Deep in the Reeds

"Thanks, friends!" Theo’s voice was rough, filled with the relief of a survivor. "I’m Theo, and these are my men. Damn, I didn’t think there’d be so many more Frogmen around here than a few days ago. We almost bought the farm."

Hayley gave a polite nod. "It’s only right to help each other. I’m Hayley. We’re from Rose Town."

"Rose Town? No wonder I haven’t seen you before." Theo sized up Hayley and the team members behind her, his gaze lingering on Hesia and Hughes for a moment. "Your squad... looks pretty solid. Especially you, sir Mage. Damn impressive!"

He gave Hesia a thumbs-up, then glanced awkwardly at the mess on the ground. "Uh... we agreed to split the loot fifty-fifty. We’ll get on that right now."

Hom chimed in from the side, "Theo, what are you guys doing out this deep? I thought most Adventurers were sticking to the trade route these days."

While signaling for his team to start cutting off the webbed feet, Theo sighed, a look of resignation on his face. "Don’t get me started! The area around the trade route is getting more and more crowded. Adventurers from all over have rushed in."

"The second there’s a whisper of activity, a half-dozen squads pounce like cats that smell fish. People almost start fighting each other just to get a few scattered Frogmen!"

He spat on the ground. "Damn it all. Rather than backstabbing each other over there, we figured we’d try our luck out here. It’s more dangerous, sure, but at least the rewards are real."

"Still, I’ve run into a fair few Adventurers in the shallows these past couple of days. Looks like a lot of people had the same idea as us and are starting to push this way."

"I just didn’t expect... to run into so many at once. Looks like they were probably heading for the trade route."

Another member of the Loach squad, who was in the middle of processing a Frogman corpse, looked up and complained, "Yeah, and this bunch of Frogmen were way craftier than the others we’ve run into. They were hiding in the reeds, waiting to ambush us!"

Hesia listened quietly to their complaints, lost in thought.

’The competition near the trade route is fierce, and the number of Frogmen at the swamp’s edge seems to be growing. This just further confirms the intel from the Stone Crow Madmen Squad—the problem probably isn’t just confined to the fringes.’

Theo observed the deft movements and composed attitude of Hayley’s squad. He hesitated for a moment before asking tentatively, "Uh... Captain Hayley, is it? Your team is clearly very strong. How about... we travel together? There’s strength in numbers, and we could watch each other’s backs."

Hayley didn’t answer right away, looking to Hesia instead.

Hesia gave a slight shake of his head.

’Cooperating would lower the risk, but it would also mean splitting the loot and having our movements restricted.’

’Given our squad’s efficiency, we’d profit more by working alone.’

Understanding Hesia’s signal, Hayley politely declined. "Thank you for the kind offer, Theo. But we have our own exploration plans, so it’s probably best we don’t team up."

A flicker of disappointment crossed Theo’s face, but he didn’t press the issue. He let out a laugh. "I get it, I get it! Well, you all be careful. It gets more dangerous the deeper you go. We saw two dead Adventurers in a shallow further in just yesterday. Once we’re done here, we’re planning to head back too."

With that, he handed over their share: six Frogman webbed feet.

Hayley accepted the loot. "We appreciate it."

"Of course."

After watching the Loach squad depart toward Trout Town, their relief mingled with exhaustion, Hesia and his party re-boarded Hom’s small boat and continued on, heading into the deeper reed beds.

...

「On a shallow in a deeper stretch of the reed beds.」

Four figures darted like phantoms through the withered yellow reed stalks.

A slender man wielding two daggers moved like a ghost among the Frogmen. With every flash of his blades, a Frogman fell, clutching its throat.

A brawny Warrior with a brutish face swung a heavy Nail Head Hammer, each blow landing with the sickening CRUNCH of shattering bone.

Another was a woman in faded Leather Armor, her rapier striking like a viper’s tongue, precisely targeting the Frogmen’s joints and eyes.

Their leader was a grim-faced, middle-aged man with two distinct, protruding front teeth.

He wielded a thick-backed chopper, his style vicious and cunning. With a single slash, he cleaved through the Frogman before him, severing its weapon and limb in one go.

In a matter of moments, eight Frogmen lay dead on the mudflat.

The last Frogman tried to flee, but the buck-toothed man quickly caught up, plunging his blade into its back up to the hilt. The brief slaughter was over.

"Pah." The middle-aged man flicked the viscous blood and mud from his blade and spat on the Frogman’s corpse. "Get a move on. Collect all these stinking webbed feet."

The brawny Warrior grumbled in a deep, muffled voice as he used a dagger to cut off the webbed feet, "Boss, we’ve been searching all day and only found this handful of Frogmen. This won’t even cover a few rounds for the boys at the Gasp River Pufferfish."

The slender thief gave a dry laugh, revealing a mouth full of yellow teeth. "What’s the rush? Yesterday’s score was pretty fat, wasn’t it? Two out-of-towners who didn’t know any better. We didn’t even have to lift a finger to get their webbed feet, and they were even carrying Healing Potions. Two of them!"

The grim-faced man shot them a cold glare. "Less talk, more work. Those morons at the merchant guild jacked up the reward so high it’s brought every scavenger out of the woodwork. We need to use the chaos to grab as much as we can."

"Remember, whether it’s a Frogman’s webbed feet or some clueless Adventurer, in my eyes, it’s all just money."

Just then, the reeds rustled. An agile man carrying a longbow emerged and hurried over to the grim-faced leader, lowering his voice.

"Boss, I just saw a boat pass by in the pond to the northwest. It was poled by Hom, that Mudfoot. There were a few strangers on board—didn’t look like locals."

"Hom?" The grim-faced man’s brow furrowed. "That useless piece of trash. Guiding another bunch of greenhorns from out of town?"

The archer nodded. "Yep, that’s him. Looks like they’re heading deeper in."

The brawny Warrior’s eyes lit up, his tongue darting across his dry lips. "Out-of-towners? Perfect! Boss, a fat sheep delivered right to our doorstep! Just in time, too. Those two paupers yesterday barely gave the boys a good time."

A vicious glint appeared in the grim-faced man’s eyes. He was clearly tempted to kill.

But then the brawny Warrior seemed to recall something and hesitated. "But... doesn’t that Hom fellow know us?"

"He probably does," the slender thief chimed in. "The town’s only so big. He’s always hanging around the taverns and the docks. We don’t show our faces much, but it’s inevitable we’ve crossed paths."

The grim-faced man scoffed, looking at his subordinate as if he were an idiot. "Do you even need to ask? Of course we take them all out. Saves us the trouble of leaving witnesses. He’s just a worthless guide with no skills. Killing him is no big deal."

He scanned his men, his voice chilling. "Finish up and get after them. We’re going to add some feed for next season’s red salmon."

The men quickly finished carving off the webbed feet. Then, they slipped silently into the dense reeds, heading northwest in pursuit.