Audrey and the others briefly discussed their plan. They would have Xio go out first to attract attention, while Fors would be responsible for rescuing Xio at any moment in case something unexpected happened. Audrey would handle the sneak attack, while Susie would circle around to the rear.
By the time they finished discussing their plan, the two ships carrying the pirates had also drawn alongside the Hope and begun boarding. Their brazen actions without the slightest hesitation made Xio hold little hope for this group of pirates.
She estimated that there probably wasn't even a single person among them who had made it onto a wanted list.
The cook and maid stood some distance away, calmly watching without any intention of stepping forward.
Xio's appearance immediately attracted the attention of the pirates boarding the Hope.
Soon, quite a few pirates began commenting on her appearance and height.
When someone mentioned that her height was a bit of a pity, Xio could no longer suppress her anger. She let out a low shout, and the mental worlds of all the pirates present seemed to be struck by a heavy hammer. Unable to control themselves, they dropped to their knees. Some pirates with weaker endurance already had tears streaming from their eyes as they began confessing all the sins they had committed throughout their lives.
When it came to interrogation, the Arbiter pathway possessed a natural advantage. Even a simple low shout possessed power comparable to a Lion's Roar, genuinely capable of making people bare their hearts and turn over a new leaf.
"You bunch of crooked freaks actually dare comment on my height!"
Xio snorted coldly and drew the long whip wrapped around her waist. First, she joined the two ends together and pulled hard twice, producing sharp cracking sounds, then lashed it toward the pirate closest to her.
Crack!
A vivid red whip mark appeared across the pirate's face. He clutched his bleeding cheek in agony and let out repeated cries of pain.
Xio deftly pulled back the whip and lashed it toward the other pirates, quickly causing a chorus of painful wails.
These pirates were all ordinary people. After Xio's low shout frightened them out of their wits, they had already lost their ability to fight.
Someone tried to rush forward and grab Xio, attempting to use the natural difference in strength between men and women to suppress the long whip in her hand.
Unfortunately, before he could even touch Xio's clothes, a whip strike sent him sprawling to the ground.
"To think there's actually an Arbiter aboard a ship like this…"
A figure walked out from behind the pirates. Judging from the respect and deference shown to him by the surrounding pirates, it wasn't difficult to tell that he was the captain of the pirate crew.
Before he could finish speaking, he and the more than twenty other pirates who had boarded the Hope had their minds controlled in an instant. They stood frozen in place without moving.
"Controlling so many people in one go, Miss Audrey, you're amazing!" Xio couldn't help cheering for Miss Audrey inwardly.
"…" Seeing that the situation was already completely under control, Fors, who was still hiding in the shadows, was speechless. It seemed like she hadn't contributed in the slightest.
If this continued, how were they supposed to split the bounty later?
What made her feel even more ashamed was that Susie, who had still been within her sight just moments ago, had already disappeared. She had probably gone to carry out their earlier plan of circling around to launch a surprise attack from the rear.
"It's too dangerous for Susie to act alone. I have to go help her!"
"Yes, exactly!" Having made up her mind, Fors secretly slipped off the Hope and boarded the two pirate ships.
This was only a small pirate crew, numbering fewer than fifty people in total, including more than a dozen noncombatants responsible for miscellaneous chores and kitchen work.
After everyone aboard the Hope had been wiped out in one fell swoop, the pirates left behind on the ships posed no real threat.
After Xio and Audrey dealt with all the pirates who had boarded their ship and tied them up, Xio held her bloodstained whip and revealed a kindly smile. It didn't take long before she had extorted every last bit of private savings from the pirates.
"Where are Fors and Susie?"
"They should be finishing things up."
Xio and Audrey headed over to the pirate ships together. On one of the ships, every crew member had fallen asleep. When they reached the end of the ship, they could faintly hear Susie's voice.
At that moment, she was lying on the sofa in the captain's cabin. Two mentally controlled crew members beside her were attending to her as if she were a deity, bringing out the best food aboard the ship to serve Susie. One person was even kneeling in front of the sofa, devoutly giving her a massage.
"…She really knows how to enjoy herself."
Xio sighed with emotion. Susie had actually managed to deal with everyone aboard this ship so easily. Her strength was pretty impressive too. She wondered how Miss Audrey had trained her.
When they reached the other ship, Fors was standing absentmindedly at the stern.
She had carefully searched the entire ship just now but hadn't found anything particularly valuable.
When the three women and one dog returned to their ship, aside from approximately 200 gold coins in cash and 100 pounds, they had only found some goods that weren't worth much.
Xio took out all the pirate wanted notices she had collected and began comparing them one by one. She really did find a bounty related to this pirate crew.
Gerok, captain of the Nightwing Pirate Crew. Bounty: 500 pounds. He had repeatedly plundered merchant ships, employed ruthless methods, and had seven or eight lives on his hands.
"The name isn't bad, but the bounty is a little low." Xio sighed regretfully.
Audrey didn't care much about that. She was simply thinking about how enormous the difference between ordinary people and Beyonders truly was.
She had barely exerted herself, yet these pirates' mental worlds had already been unable to withstand it. An adventure like this was far too easy.
"What should we do with these pirates?" Xio asked.
"Hand them over to the official organizations," Audrey answered naturally.
Fors coughed lightly and said, "Miss Audrey, we're at sea. We can't just dock whenever we want."
In truth, the best solution was to kill all these pirates. There were basically no innocent people among them. But in front of Miss Audrey, Fors certainly wouldn't voice such a bloody suggestion.
Audrey also fell silent after realizing this, but in the end, she still decided that they would hand the pirates over to the official organizations when they reached the next port.
She still couldn't bring herself to choose any of the other options.
Seeing their hesitation, the pirates began competing with one another in acting skills, all describing how helpless their circumstances had been and how they had no choice but to join the pirate crew.
One claimed he had an elderly mother at home who needed looking after. Another claimed he had a seriously ill, bedridden father. Others said they had several children at home who needed to be supported…
Truth and lies intertwined as they attempted to confuse Audrey and the others.
Unfortunately, trying to lie in front of a Beyonder of the Spectator pathway was extremely difficult.
Xio merely snorted coldly and beheaded the captain of their pirate crew. The blood that sprayed out immediately silenced every pirate. None of them dared to casually put on another pitiful act.
Hastur merely watched from the Hall of Stars and had no intention of helping them clean up the situation. He would treat this as Audrey's first lesson in her career as an adventurer.
…
Gambling was an extremely tempting form of entertainment, especially for pirates who spent years living with their heads hanging from their belts.
Drinking, lust, and gambling were the best ways for them to relax whenever they returned from a successful raid at sea.
In order to earn the heavy gold pounds filling the pockets of pirates returning from successful raids, some ports had deliberately built extravagant dens devoted entirely to gambling, entertainment, and pleasure.
Port Poole was precisely such a port, specializing in providing pirates with all kinds of high-quality services. One side made money while the other sought pleasure. It was a match made in heaven.
Here, a woman could very well be the lover of dozens of pirates at the same time. As long as her lovers weren't members of the same pirate crew, few pirates would make too much of an issue over it.
After all, they might also have other temporary lovers in other ports. At sea, not many people cared about such things.
There had indeed been plenty of pirates who cared at first, even leading to duel after duel. But after more than a dozen rounds of duels filtered them out, the pirates who remained naturally stopped caring.
Of course, there were also quite a few girls who became devoted to a particular pirate and eventually married and had children with him. Perhaps they had been deceived, or perhaps they simply liked him.
But one thing never changed: how to extract fistfuls of glittering gold coins from a pirate's pocket.
Tenur was one such pirate who loved spending huge amounts of gold coins here.
He wasn't an ordinary pirate. He was the second mate of the famous Fire Fox Pirate Crew, whose captain was Granam, known as the Swift Fire Fox.
But two days ago, their captain, the Swift Fire Fox, had been nailed to a mast by a pirate hunter. His flamboyant red hair had ultimately turned dull and lifeless.
Whenever Tenur thought about the vicious appearance of that pirate hunter, he couldn't stop himself from trembling in fear. He often woke up in the middle of the night because of it.
That was the legendary pirate hunter known as the Bane of Pirates, Gehrman Sparrow.
Forget the captain of their Fire Fox Pirate Crew; even a Pirate Admiral could be hunted down by him if they weren't careful. He could be considered the most active pirate hunter in recent times.
Fortunately, Tenur had sensed that something was wrong at the time and hurriedly fled aboard a small boat while taking part of the captain's wealth with him.
Once he had money, the only place he could think of going was here.
After all, having lost the protection of his pirate crew, he could easily become tempting prey in the eyes of other pirates. Death might come more easily than finishing a bowl of noodles.
He might as well enjoy himself properly before he died.
He spent three days and two nights indulging himself at the hotel. After finding it somewhat dull and boring, he headed to the casino instead.
By the time he emerged from the casino several days later, the gold coins in his pockets had shrunk considerably.
Even so, he still had enough left to live a rather extravagant life.
Late at night, he held a bottle of rum gifted by the casino in one hand, drinking from it while dancing lightly along the road. His heels clicked against the stone-paved seaside street.
Just as he was wondering where he should go to have fun tomorrow, a figure dressed in tattered yellow robes appeared before him.
With just one glance, half his drunkenness vanished, and his hazy eyes immediately became solemn.
Having repeatedly walked the boundary between life and death, he felt a fear rising from the depths of his heart at the appearance of this tattered yellow-robed figure.
The figure simply stood there quietly with his back toward him, yet somehow seemed extraordinarily tall and imposing. Even the light of the crimson moon in the sky seemed dimmer because of his presence.
Tattered yellow robes, a mysterious existence wandering through the depths of night… Or was someone merely pretending to be something supernatural?