Goblin Dependency

Sure, here is the translated text:

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Even with the level of recognition he currently held in the team, saying a few words wouldn’t matter much, and he would even get the attention of his teammates. However, to be cautious, he still tried to avoid directly participating in the entire fleet’s decision-making process.

Throughout Lorin and Aude’s negotiation process, he just silently planned for the worst, carefully observing the personnel configuration on the opposite deck, and contemplating how to respond in case a battle broke out.

"The number of professionals, seven people can be seen on the deck, slightly more than what we have on the Vengeance Blade without Alton and myself."

"But the average professional level is obviously lower than ours. At least two of the professionals are newcomers who just recently completed their promotion, and their aura is not stable."

"Hmm, no spellcasters."

"Apart from ’Whale Anchor’ Aude, attention also needs to be paid to a dwarf warrior, a half-orc, and a..."

The pitch-black eyes reflected the wooden ship and the sea ahead, his gaze swept over the crowd on the other side, quietly pausing at a certain place.

Just like Druid Hai Yin, who was currently standing behind him, Akken, and Sasha, there was also a figure on the deck of the Black Tide Hunter, vaguely being protected by others.

— A female human ranger.

Tall and slender, her head almost reached the shoulder of the half-orc next to her, estimating her height to be around 1.85 meters, significantly taller than many ordinary human males.

Her platinum blonde hair was meticulously braided into a neat single ponytail trailing behind, reaching between her shoulder blades, gently swaying with the sea breeze; her features were well-defined, and her skin was a rare pale white for the local natives.

Her eyes, different from ordinary humans, were an amber yellow that refracted golden light, and glimpses of vertically slit pupils, akin to a beast, could be seen.

Regarding this, Xia Nan was not particularly concerned.

In this world, there are indeed too many mixed races among humans: half-orcs, half-elves, even half-dwarves, without any concept like reproductive isolation between races, everything seems to mix together.

Encountering those that look human but have goat horns on their heads or a furry tail behind them is nothing unusual.

What truly caught Xia Nan’s attention was the weapon used by this ranger:

— A longbow that was completely made of metal, presenting a matte silver appearance.

Previously, Xia Nan had encountered numerous professional rangers from various races.

However, most of their weapons were made mainly of wood, at most embedded with some metal materials in certain structures.

Like the one in the hands of the woman in front, entirely lacking any wooden material and completely made of metal, was something Xia Nan had seen for the first time.

Moreover, Xia Nan’s extremely keen perception allowed him to capture the oddity of this metal longbow the first time his sight swept over it.

It had no bowstring!

Between the extending and unfolding limbs of the bow, there was no trace of a bowstring connection, only a piece of air.

Moreover, if observed closely, not only the bowstring, even a quiver for storing arrows was absent from this ranger.

Only holding an iron bow with one hand, her waist and back were completely empty.

This sparked some interest in Xia Nan, even leading to speculation in his mind about the weapon’s functional attack method.

It’s just a pity that the distance between them was too far, making it impossible to call out the attribute panel of this weapon by concentrating. Otherwise, he really wanted to take a good look.

While contemplating, the sound coming into his ear suddenly brought him back to reality.

"This one, should be ’Haiya’ Xia Nan?"

Instinctively directing his gaze towards the source of the voice, he saw ’Whale Anchor’ Aude with a friendly smile on his face, looking his way.

The exchange of goods took time, and as the requesting party, the Black Tide Hunter naturally wouldn’t just watch. Thus, its leader Aude casually chatted with Lorin during this time.

The name of the "Vengeance Blade" fleet was already quite significant in Suo Yu Bay, and lately, its mention frequency among adventurers in various taverns around the town was increasing.

The reason, naturally, was the newly joined temporary member "Haiya" Xia Nan.

The similar encounters of the Corner Shark Gang and the Ebbtide Gang had already proven that this rumored, notably young black-haired adventurer possessed an impressive strength that even veteran experts found hard to reach.

The horrifying post-battle scenes depicted insistently by the witnesses added to the terrifying color of the "Haiya" name, making people instinctively feel that it wasn’t something to be trifled with.

Moreover, Xia Nan’s image with dual swords, black hair, and black eyes wasn’t hard to recognize on the Vengeance Blade.

Upon seeing this recent celebrity at a glance, Aude nodded politely in response.

Seeing that this young adventurer had no intention to continue the conversation, Aude didn’t pursue it further and instead redirected his topic, turning to look at Lorin in front of Xia Nan and asked:

"You all are going to participate in the Moon Tide Banquet, right?"

"Why?" Lorin nodded with a somewhat curious tone. "Didn’t you receive the invitation?"

Although the Black Tide Hunter wasn’t as famous as the Vengeance Blade in the Southern Islands, it had been in operation at sea for many years and had a bit of a reputation, possessing full qualification to attend the Moon Tide Banquet.

And at the moment, based on the information disclosed by the other party, they were still in the middle of a mission with no signs of heading to the banquet.

"Indeed, we received the invitation, but..."

Aude scratched his mouth, displaying a wry smile, and raised the whaling spear in his hand towards the female captain opposite him.

"The current commission encountered some unexpected situations, and the prey proved to be quite tricky, pushing the expected task duration significantly back. From last month until now, we haven’t even returned to Suo Yu Bay once."

"We definitely won’t make it to the Moon Tide Banquet, only hoping to finish the task soon and head back for a nice rest and give the brothers on the ship a long holiday."

Lorin didn’t doubt Aude’s explanation too much.

After all, according to the typical tendencies of commissions taken by the Black Tide Hunter, their targets were likely to be some powerful demon located deep in the ocean, often requiring a significant amount of time to track and gather information, so delays were quite normal.

Following the unspoken rule of the adventurer industry, she didn’t probe into the specific task situation of the Black Tide Hunter fleet, merely casually engaging with a few off-topic sentences while remaining vigilant.

With some intermittent chat, within only a few minutes, the two sides had completed the exchange of supplies.

"Thanks to all of you for your help. When you return from the Moon Tide Banquet, I’ll treat you, and we’ll have a meal together at the Three-legged Sea Dog Tavern."

Briefly putting down his weapon, Aude placed his right hand over his heart, performed an old-fashioned captain’s salute, and expressed his gratitude.

Knowing that those from the Vengeance Blade hadn’t completely dropped their guard against him, he didn’t prolong the conversation, decisively bid farewell.

As the sails bulged, their ship left the proximity of the Vengeance Blade and sailed towards the distant horizon.

Standing on the deck, gazing at the "Black Tide Hunter" that was becoming smaller as the distance increased.

Xia Nan felt an oddity in his heart.

With the delay from the other side, the storm that was just a small gray spot on the horizon had now covered nearly half the sky.

The howling sea winds grew more fierce, and the waves surged and rolled.

Faced with the might of nature, adventurers of their level had no ability to resist.

They could only obediently reef their sails and prepare for the natural disaster.

Yet, the "Black Tide Hunter" seemed completely unafraid of the impending violent storm.

At present, they were directly heading into the storm.

Such a counter-intuitive action inevitably aroused Xia Nan’s suspicion and triggered some associations in his mind.

But since the transaction was completed, regardless of the Black Tide Hunter’s purpose in heading towards the storm, whether they survive or perish in the disaster had nothing to do with Xia Nan and those on the Vengeance Blade anymore.

Without much time to dwell on these thoughts, the shouts from passing sailors beside him interrupted his stream of consciousness.

Turning around, he helped up a crewmate who accidentally fell, exerting his arm to lift the cargo box that had dropped onto the deck and moved it towards the direction of the cabin.