After the four pirates were all killed, Huiye finally let out a sigh of relief.
Despite his decisive and ruthless actions earlier, this was his first real battle.
As the adrenaline faded, his hands began to tremble slightly.
Huiye took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
He found the handcuff key on the Scar-faced Man’s body and tucked the flintlock pistol into his chest.
He searched the four pirates but didn’t find a single Berrie.
After cursing under his breath, Huiye finally approached the imprisoned Boy.
The Boy was curled up under a tree, looking at Huiye with fear in his eyes.
Huiye crouched down and unlocked the Boy’s handcuffs.
“It’s okay now.”
The Boy’s lips trembled, and it took him a while to squeeze out a sentence.
“Thank you…
I will repay my benefactor.”
“Can you still walk?”
Huiye asked softly.
The Boy gritted his teeth and staggered to his feet.
“I’ll take you to a place where you can seek help.”
Although Huiye had saved the Boy’s life, he had no intention of keeping him by his side or sending him home.
At most, Huiye could take him to that seaside village.
Despite how easily he had just killed the four pirates, Huiye was well aware of his own strength.
He was only slightly stronger than an ordinary person and had a clear mind.
The reason those four were so easily killed by Huiye was because they weren’t strong to begin with, and having drunk heavily, what little strength they had was reduced to almost nothing.
After three months of training, without sufficient energy intake, Huiye’s body wasn’t robust.
In fact, he looked quite thin.
Compared to the Boy in front of him, he only had less bloodstains and fewer wounds.
So, taking this burden with him was absolutely out of the question.
Huiye led the Boy slowly toward the village.
Because the Boy was injured, what would have taken Huiye only two hours to walk ended up taking most of the day.
By the time they reached the village entrance, it was nearly dusk.
The villagers in the village noticed them as soon as they appeared.
Seeing Huiye holding a long knife and accompanied by a battered Boy, the villagers grabbed whatever tools they had at hand and surrounded them.
“Who are you!”
A Burly Man shouted sternly.
“Don’t misunderstand, we’re not pirates.”
“I’m a sailor who survived a shipwreck, and this Boy is someone I rescued from a group of pirates.”
“A sailor?”
The Burly Man looked at Huiye’s thin frame.
“With a build like yours, you can be a sailor?”
“Aren’t you just a spy sent by the pirates!”
The villagers murmured among themselves, their eyes filled with suspicion.
Huiye smiled bitterly to himself but remained calm.
“If you don’t believe me, you can send someone with me to see the pirates’ bodies.
The four bodies are in the woods to the east.
If you go now, you’ll find them.”
The Burly Man gave Huiye a deep look, then glanced at the Boy beside him.
“No matter who you are, tell us why you’re here.”
Huiye looked at the Boy beside him and spoke.
“I don’t know where this child’s home is, and I didn’t ask.”
“Because with my abilities, I can’t send him back.”
“I brought him here simply because I didn’t want him to starve to death in the wilderness after I just saved him.”
“At the same time, I have another purpose.”
“I hope you can send a few people to help me sail the ship and take me to Shells Town.”
“As payment, the ship will be yours.”
“Shells Town?”
The Burly Man repeated the name, looking confused.
“What, don’t tell me none of you know Shells Town?”
Huiye had a bad feeling.
The Burly Man scratched his head awkwardly and said,
“I’ve heard the name.”
“But we’ve never left this island in our lives.
We only learn about the outside world through the News Coo.”
“So we’ve never actually been to Shells Town.”
The other villagers nodded in agreement.
“This…”
“Um…
benefactor, I’ve been to Shells Town.”
Just as Huiye was at a loss, the Boy spoke up.
“You’ve been to Shells Town?”
Huiye looked at the Boy suspiciously.
The Boy nodded.
“Shells Town isn’t far from here.
After those pirates captured me, I worked as a laborer on their ship.”
“We resupplied in Shells Town a few days ago.”
“So I still remember the direction.”
“That’s great.
Lead the way and take me to Shells Town, and that will be your repayment for saving your life.”
Huiye was overjoyed.
“That’s absolutely not acceptable.
A life-saving debt can’t be repaid just by showing the way.”
The Boy waved his hands repeatedly.
“Enough nonsense.
I never intended for you to repay me in the first place.”
Seeing this, the Burly Man said, “This child is badly injured.
If you’re not in a hurry, he can rest in the village for a few days.
You can leave once he’s healed.”
Huiye thought about it.
Since he wasn’t in any hurry, he nodded in agreement.
“Brother, could you send a few people with me to search that pirate ship?”
“Whatever supplies we find can cover my food and lodging for these few days.”
Huiye suggested to the Burly Man.
The Burly Man readily agreed, and he also wanted to see what the ship was like.
If it was good, it could serve as the village’s merchant ship.
Then they could travel to more distant places in the future.
The Burly Man waved his hand and called out two villagers.
Led by Huiye, the three of them headed toward the eastern beach.
The rescued Boy was taken back to the village by kind-hearted villagers.
When they reached the beach, the Burly Man saw the single-masted sailboat in the distance.
“Let’s go.
We’ll row these small boats over.”
Huiye said.
Earlier, the Burly Man and the other two villagers had already seen the four pirate bodies under Huiye’s guidance.
The three simple villagers now completely believed Huiye’s words.
The four of them rowed the small boats closer to the sailboat.
For safety, Huiye boarded the sailboat first.
The other three followed closely behind.
The sailboat was quiet.
Huiye signaled for the three to stay silent.
He then gripped Tsukikage and began checking if anyone was left on board.
He had forgotten to ask the Boy about this earlier and only remembered when they got close to the sailboat.
Fortunately, the sailboat wasn’t large, and there weren’t many places to hide.
In one of the cabins, Huiye found two pirates who were dead drunk.
“As expected, alcohol leads to trouble.”
Without hesitation, Huiye swiftly ended the two pirates’ lives.
After a thorough search, he confirmed there were no other pirates.
Huiye and the three others threw the two pirate bodies into the sea.
“I just checked.
There isn’t much food left, but it’s still fresh.”
“There’s a total of 100,000 Berries left in valuables.”
“There are also some weapons and ammunition.”
“I’ll keep 10,000 Berries and the flintlock pistol ammunition.
The rest is yours, as payment for my food and lodging these days.”
Huiye said to the Burly Man.
The Burly Man waved his hands repeatedly and said, “We don’t want the Berries.
We can’t use them back in the village.”
“Besides, if you hadn’t killed these pirates, they might have caused damage to the village.”
“So, you’re also a benefactor to the village.”
Huiye looked at the Burly Man and, seeing his sincere expression, nodded.
“Then I won’t stand on ceremony.”
100,000 Berries wasn’t actually much, but Huiye would need a place to stay in Shells Town too.
He couldn’t keep living in the wild.
This money would be just enough to find an inn in Shells Town.