Chapter 1205 - 593: The Unusually Efficient Governor Mansion (2)

"Looks like I’ll have to wait until we’re back in Suo Yu Bay to find proper training partners."

Xia Nan thought to himself.

His gaze swept over the goblin corpses before him, then as if something had suddenly come to mind, a hint of oddness flickered in his eyes.

Stodd Island is a proper island, surrounded on all sides by ocean, and lately it’s been blockaded by Fishmen—nobody can get out, and nobody can get in.

Yet the goblin settlement in front of him was clearly newborn; all the adult individuals together numbered only five.

"Did they really just grow out of the ground?"

He hadn’t seen any other intelligent creatures’ corpses in the cave, which Xia Nan found quietly strange.

His mind instinctively recalled what Barbarian Fugang had once told him, the secrets regarding the goblin race’s Main God; combined with what he’d found here, he couldn’t help making connections.

But he didn’t dig deeper—no matter how bizarre this race’s mode of birth might be in the wake of the great Transformation, it wasn’t something he could meddle in, much less solve, right now.

Compared to that, figuring out how to get off this island was a lot more practical.

By now, it had been three days since Xia Nan woke from his coma.

With his own physical constitution and the Daily Healing Spell effect of the Tear of Spring Breath, he had long since recovered from his former state of grave injury.

He wasn’t completely back to normal yet, but in terms of combat strength he’d already regained roughly seventy to eighty percent of his peak, and his daily activities were unaffected.

As for the other adventurers on the island who’d taken severe wounds in the battle, they were all experienced individuals and carried healing Tools on them.

So long as they weren’t killed outright in the fight, even those gravely injured had still held onto their lives by a thread, and now they were gathering by adventurer team in the town on Stodd Island to rest.

Thanks to the brief experience of fighting shoulder-to-shoulder and the short duration of their stay, as well as the town’s relatively ample living supplies, the adventurers hadn’t had any serious incidents among themselves these past few days; relations were still fairly harmonious.

It was just that the Sha Hua Fishmen in the surrounding seas made it hard to leave the island, so the mood had been steadily worsening.

Xia Nan, however, wasn’t particularly worried about that.

In his view, Stodd Island was already one of the key nodes along the Southern Islands shipping route; merchant ships and travelers passed through frequently.

Given how many days it’d been since the Fishmen blockade started, there had to be more than one foreign vessel stuck out in the surrounding waters.

There was no way news could be fully contained.

He figured the authorities must already be aware of the situation on the island by now; reinforcements might well be on their way.

All they had to do was wait patiently.

Even if they really couldn’t wait any longer, in a few more days, once he’d fully restored his fighting strength, he wouldn’t necessarily be stuck on the island—he could just dive into the Water himself to check things out.

Stumbling onto the goblin nest had eased the pressure in his heart for the first time in a while.

Xia Nan stepped lightly as he walked out of the goblin cave, roughly oriented himself in the forest, and was about to leave.

Suddenly, a familiar shouting voice came from within the trees.

"Xia Nan! Xia Nan!"

With a violent rustling of brush, the short Half orc Alton squeezed out, brimming with excitement. Spotting Xia Nan at the cave entrance, his face broke into a bright grin.

He rose up on his toes, waving from afar:

"Come on, come on! There’s a ship at the docks!"

...

...

By the time Xia Nan followed the little fellow back to the harbor, the docks were already filled with the noisy clamor of adventurers—some excited, some pissed off.

A three-masted sailing ship far larger than any other vessel at the pier, its masthead flying a flag with a silver barracuda emblem, its whole hull a pale Blue, was quietly moored at the harbor.

He could vaguely make out, on the deck, rows of disciplined soldiers holding weapons and clad in standard-issue armor.

His gaze swept over that flag, and Xia Nan immediately understood.

Silver barracuda...

So it really was the Governor Mansion?

At the same time, he also felt something strange about it.

Based on his impression of the Swordfish Bay Governor’s Mansion, they weren’t known for moving this fast.

Unless it was an extremely important special case, from the moment the higher-ups discovered a situation, to assembling relevant personnel for study and reporting, to confirming details and issuing orders, then down to implementation on the lower level—

Even at top speed, the process wouldn’t be done in less than four or five days.

Let alone the many days’ journey from the Governor Mansion in Suo Yu Bay to Stodd Island.

Xia Nan had even mentally prepared himself to be stuck on the island for a month or so.

Yet unexpectedly...

Looking at the huge wooden ship from the Governor Mansion in front of him, he couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved, yet he also couldn’t help wondering about this oddly efficient response from the Governor Mansion.

And on the Water Iron Wood platform a short distance below the ship—

Captain Lorin of the Sword of Vengeance, along with several other leaders who’d survived the battle, were gathered with their people in a tight circle.

Surrounded by adventurers was a young blond man who looked three or four years older than Xia Nan, but still quite young.

"Everyone!" The man’s finely-crafted leather boots rested on a wooden post as he ran a hand through his neatly slicked-back pale-gold hair, slightly raising his voice. "I’ve already explained the Governor Mansion’s handling plan for this incident."

"If anyone still has questions, you can bring them up right here. I, Orixi, will do my best to answer them."

"Cut the crap!" As soon as he finished, a Human Warrior from one of the heavily hit adventurer teams squeezed out of the crowd, his scar-riddled upper body bare and a cold-glinting Hand Axe hanging at his waist.

"What the hell is this recovery ordinance supposed to mean?"

"I’ve been stuck on this island for days, damn near lost my life to those Fishmen, finally scraped together some spoils to take back and sell, and now you’re saying we gotta hand them over to your Governor Mansion?!"

He’d obviously nailed the core of the dispute.

The Human Warrior hadn’t even finished speaking before the crowd erupted into a wave of voices in support.

On one side was a large group of vicious adventurers, their hands gripping deadly weapons, residual killing intent clinging to their bodies from the recent brutal battle;

On the other was a slim young man in his early twenties who looked like he might have been born a noble.

Being surrounded by a crowd of adventurers like this, the pressure on him couldn’t be called small.

You could see that the two Governor Mansion guards behind him already had their hands resting on the hilts of their weapons at their waists.

But unexpectedly, the young man called "Orixi" remained remarkably composed; the polite smile on his face didn’t shift in the slightest.

He simply waited quietly until the commotion in the crowd died down a bit, then spoke again in a calm tone:

"Regarding the war spoils recovery ordinance for this incident, I’ll now give a complete explanation. If there are still any problems afterwards, you can ask one by one—I won’t dodge anything."

As he spoke, the blond man took a piece of parchment from his breast, its end bearing the official Governor Mansion seal, unfolded it in front of him, and read:

"First, the scope of items targeted by the ordinance is the Sha Hua Fishmen’s corpses and remaining possessions. Your personal Equipment and currency are not subject to recovery."

"Second, the recovery prices will follow the standard market rates in Suo Yu Bay. With how familiar you all are with those prices, I clearly don’t need to say much; whether the Governor Mansion is skimming off anything is obvious at a glance."

"If it’s later discovered that any item’s recovery price doesn’t match the market rate, point it out—we will compensate at double."

The Swordfish Bay Governor’s Mansion’s demand was very straightforward: they wanted to buy up all the adventurers’ Fishman-related war spoils from Stodd Island.

And the prices offered, taking into account the impact on the market of a large inflow of Fishman spoils, as well as the fact that Suo Yu Bay’s prices were already higher than those of other settlements in the Southern Islands, could even be called generous.

But...

"Even if the price is fair, so what?" Amid the whispering, another sharp voice rang out from the crowd.

"These are spoils I risked my own damn life to earn—why the hell do I have to sell them to you?"

"What if I just want to take them home and leave them on my shelf to look at, huh?"