Lukey looked around in utter confusion at the sight before him.

  Before entering this vessel, he had seen captured Luxen women, merchants, and all sorts of stolen goods. He thought he clearly understood how the Zaurian Dominion worked; they enslaved other people from around the world, probably to be used as labor or entertainment. That was the impression he had, anyway.

  Before Lukey, however, cages were filled with groups of strangely shaped Zaurian people. All of them had various shades of blue-scale skin and human-like faces. These traits were combined with sea green hair, clawed hands and feet, horns, and mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth.

  The men had bulky arms and legs and larger horns, whereas the women were lither with hair in greater volumes. Every one of them was clothed in either tanned reptile skin or fish scales, each in their own variety of colors. The cells were largely composed of warrior men, but Lukey could see some families and workers mixed in too.

  In one cage, a mother was holding her kids in fear, probably dreading whoever was about to step through the door. In another cage some burly men, likely warriors, were holding the bars and staring down the fishermen’s crew. Within dozens of cages, zaurians were looking at the newcomers that had just entered the cargo hold, and the newcomers had nothing to show except stunned silence.

  This is certainly not what I was expecting.

  Lukey looked to Triton for some semblance of reassurance, but when he looked up, he saw a face he never expected to see. Triton was left slack-jawed at the sight, staring around the room in confusion. Lukey then began tapping Triton’s back, trying to snap the elderly fisherman out of his confusion. After Triton finally reacted, he leaned close enough to make sure no one else could hear and whispered.

  “Um, what are we going to do about this? Aren’t the Zaurians our enemies?” Lukey quietly asked.

  That was the assumption, of course. Lukey heard many stories about how the Zaurians made attempts to enslave the people on his island and how they were obsessed with being more powerful than everyone around them. From all the stories, he expected the Zaurians to at least treat their own kind with some sort of decency. Clearly, however, this wasn’t the case.

  “Who are you?”

  “What happened to the Dominators?”

  “Are they all dead?”

  A slew of questions was hurled at Triton and Lukey as they tried to process how to deal with this situation. Fortunately, Adran was there to nudge Lukey, signaling that he wished to talk, giving him the perfect excuse to extract himself from the room. The two walked back out the door to continue the conversation in secret. After they were sure nobody was focused on them, Adran spoke.

  “Um… I can’t be sure, but I don’t think they’re with the Dominion.”

  Lukey stared at Adran with skepticism, then glanced out the door at the surly Zaurians, and returned with even greater skepticism.

  “They’re Zaurians, aren’t they? If we let them go, they could kill us!” Lukey warned. “Besides, how can you even be sure they’re not with the Dominion? They could just be putting up an act.”

  “Their skin color,” Adran answered. “I’ve never seen anyone in the dominion with blue scales and green hair. On top of that, the Zaurians in the dominion all have more monstrous features, and instead these ones look a lot more human.”

  Lukey looked at Adran with even greater confusion. “You mean there are different kinds of zaurians?” he asked. Lukey had never met any Zaurians until today, but everything he heard indicated that the Dominion was a unified empire. He never got the sense that there could be multiple types of zaurians.

  “The village I lived in was a protected village. The Zaurians respected our privacy, and we never bothered them,” Adran clarified. “I’ve never really associated with them, so I don’t know much about their internal strife.”

  Lukey contemplated everything he just heard. Then moved back into the room with Triton and the captured Zaurians. A few light taps on Triton’s shoulder brought him down low enough to relay everything Adran told Lukey. Triton nodded in understanding, then looked over the room once more and measured his next words.

  “My name is Triton. I am a member of Ocean’s Bounty, the guild that now claims ownership over this vessel.” As Triton spoke, his voice silenced everyone around him and demanded their attention. After waiting a moment for them to calm down, he continued. “Is there anyone among you who can grant us an explanation as to what happened here?”

  There was a moment of silence, then shrill, haughty laughter erupted from the back of the ship. All the zaurians’ eyes were drawn towards the very back of the cargo hold, but none of them gave a hint of surprise. It was almost like they were used to this, for some strange reason.

  “You’re telling me a bunch of fishermen killed the Dominators! This is the greatest day of my life!” The voice in the back chortled. Lukey could hear the rattling of chains in-between the fits of hilarity. “Do you hear that, everyone! The sovereigns haven’t left us! There is justice in this world!"

  With that, the entire makeshift prison erupted in cheers. The blue-skinned zaurians didn’t seem to even care that they were still bound by shackles as they began throwing their hands up in cheers. Their boisterous attitude only made Lukey and Triton even more wary of their situation. Thus, with caution, they decided to investigate the rattling chains in the back.

  A long walk down rows of cells led them down to the back wall, where a blue-scale girl was throwing her back against the wall in hilarity. Her arms and legs were bound in tight shackles that raised her body up high above the ground. Lithe arms with hints of muscle followed small hands. Tracing his gaze further down revealed a skinny body ending in thin legs.

  Looking up again, Lukey noticed her small face along with a long ponytail of sea green hair. Around her body, she wore a short skirt and a top that stopped above her belly button, all made of green reptile skin. Around her neck was a necklace made of shells, with a similar shell band tying up her hair to the side.

  Compared to all the other zaurians they were currently surrounded with, she stood out the most. If he compared the ages of the zaurians he saw around the room, he would probably guess that she was roughly a teenager around Lukey’s age. If she were on the ground, Lukey would’ve guessed she stood a head above him in height.

  Weird… Judging by how they look at her, I would say she’s their leader, but…how?

  Lukey used [Insight] to try and determine the answer, but after doing so, he was only left with even more questions.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  [??? [Bestial Hunter] Lv. 53]

  She hasn’t even reached the first threshold! How could anyone think of this crazy girl as a leader? She couldn’t even hold her own against an average barbarian, let alone an army!

  That was when Lukey began looking around the room, using [Insight] on each of the zaurians in the cages. It was only by doing this that he arrived at a second realization.

  These people… Most of them don’t have classes. The ones that do all look like fighters, though their titles are strange. What in the abyss is an Advanced Primalist?

  Lukey pulled himself out of his confusion to focus on Triton as he began to speak.

  “Are you the leader of these people?” He asked.

  The zaurian girl slowly stilled her laughing fits, then focused on Triton with a haughty smile.

  “Their leader? No. His most prized daughter? Yes.” The young woman replied.

  Triton made to speak, but before he could, the Zaurian before them announced her name.

  “I am Saphina Aquamarrow, only daughter of Chieftain Aquamarrow, leader of the Ryugu Clan.”

  Lukey’s face didn’t show a hint of recognition, but Triton immediately lit up with excitement upon hearing the name.

  “Ryugu clan? I’ve heard the legends, but I never thought they could have any merit. Tell me, are you by any chance related to the serpents that ruled the sea so long ago?” Triton asked with a hint of excitement.

  The young woman immediately lifted her face up in pride at the recognition. “What you’re describing is the namesake of our clan, the ancient Ryugu that we originally evolved from,” he explained. Triton’s fascination increased, whereas Lukey was gradually becoming more repulsed by the girl’s prideful attitude.

  “And what’s your connection to the dominion?” Lukey intercepted. Triton was getting a bit too friendly with her, so he felt it was up to him to ask serious questions. “How did you end up on this ship?” Triton was slightly peeved at the interruption but relented as he understood Lukey’s intent.

  “We are enemies of the Dominators, or the ‘dominion,’ as you call them. As for how we were captured…” Saphina growled, growing increasingly irritated. “We can discuss that later. Now, I demand that you free me and my people, human, and I’d appreciate it if you were quick about it.”

  “Not a chance,” Lukey said. “C’mon, Triton, let’s go tell Caldoon to throw this ship back out to sea.” He immediately turned to walk away, but before he could take even two steps, he heard a plea from Saphina.

  “Hey, come back here, you ingrate! Aren’t you enemies of the Dominators too!? What’s with the hostility!?” Saphina ranted.

  “Zaurians have given us nothing but trouble! Why should we help you if you're no different from the Dominion!?” Lukey spat out in fury.

  “No different!?” Saphina said, enraged. “You take that back, you little bastard!”

  “ENOUGH!” Triton bellowed.

  Silence finally fell over the room, and Triton waited for the two youths to calm down before speaking again.

  “Okay, you two. Since we can’t come to a decision over this, let’s make a compromise. Saphina, I will take you to the emperor of the island to explain your situation. It will be up to him whether your people are freed or not.”

  Saphina grimaced but nodded her head. After that, Triton freed her from his bindings and walked her out of the ship, with Lukey and Adran in tow.

  …

  On the harbor of Tranquil Waters, hundreds of people were disembarking from cargo ships onto wooden docks that extended outward from the town walls. Greeting the refugees were groups of islanders with clothes and fruit, each giving directions to the people and telling them where to go. Standing someways behind them all was Caldoon, who was overseeing the whole operation.

  “Emperor Caldoon, you asked for us?”

  A group of people who were called from another village were approaching Caldoon from behind. He only gave them a short glance before returning to oversee the crowd of newcomers.

  “I did. Tell me, do you recall the storm shelters I prioritized some time ago?” Caldoon asked.

  “I do. Those are meant for the yearly Aether storms, right?” The villager questioned.

  “Right.” Caldoon confirmed. “Well, Matron Chrysanthia and the rest of the luxe will need a place to stay temporarily until a ship can return them to their homeland. On top of that, we need to provide temporary accommodation for the merchants and the people captured on their ships. Divide them into those two groups and have the shelters prepared for them.”

  “Of course, emperor!” The man said with slight trepidation, then ran off with his group to begin preparing the shelters.

  “Emperor!” The local importer, Lucia, yelled from behind. “I apologize, but some of the merchants have been wondering if their cargo will be returned to them.”

  “First, make a manifest of all the goods on the ship. Then, ask the merchants and everyone else to confirm what was taken from them. Tell them, We’ll do our best to return their belongings, but there are no guarantees.”

  “Yes, sir!” Then, she scurried off.

  “Being emperor is a giant pain in the rear. I can’t believe there are people that envy this position.” Caldoon lamented with a sigh.

  “EEEK!

  “Barbarian!”

  “Monster!”

  Caldoon immediately became alert when he overheard several screams in the distance. He quickly looked over the crowd to see who it was, only to see Triton, Lukey, and Adran returning from the last ship. Then his eyes widened at the sight of a blue-scaled Zaurian girl walking directly behind them.

  “I ask that you do not make trouble while you’re here.” He heard Triton say.

  “Do I really have a choice?” The Zaurian girl said with frustration.

  Caldoon almost ran out to deal with the situation but calmed down when he noticed they were walking directly towards him. Thus, instead of hurrying forward, Caldoon decided to wait in place and give a dignifying display for the people around him to witness. After a few dozen or so seconds of patiently waiting, Triton and Lukey pulled up to him with the Zaurian in tow.

  “Well, this is a surprise,” Caldoon exclaimed. “Tell me what exactly you found in that ship, and how does it involve her?”

  At first, Triton opened his mouth to speak, but the blue-scaled Zaurian interjected before anything could be said.

  “Ahem… I am Saphina Aquamarrow, only daughter of Chief Aquamarrow, the leader of the Ryugu Clan.” The young lady announced with a haughty attitude. “We were captured by the dominion and stowed on a boat to be sent to their capital and executed. I humbly ask that you release my people from the ship.”

  A couple of moments passed by with Caldoon giving the young lady a dull look. He decided to let the silence sit for a while to calm the Zaurian down. This seemed to have had the opposite effect, however, as she was now looking expectantly at Caldoon.

  “Alright, Saphina,” he calmly said. He then began a list of arguments, raising each finger as he did. “First: you should realize that nobody here has a favorable opinion of the Zaurians, especially after the most recent attack. Second: we are already nearly at maximum capacity when it comes to taking refugees, so it will be difficult to accommodate your people. Third: I would risk what little trust my people have left in me if I decided to help you.”

  As Caldoon calmly explained his position, Saphina’s face gradually fell, sinking deeper into despair. “So, now that you know what type of position I’m in as a leader of my people, what exactly do you have to say that would make me jeopardize all that?”

  Caldoon could see Saphina’s face scrunching up as she tried to think of what to say. The Zaurian turned her head left and right, and he could practically see the thoughts racing within her head. In the end, however, Saphina let out a deep sigh as he faced Caldoon with a face laced with defeat.

  “I apologize for putting this burden on you,” she spoke, this time adopting a far more humbled tone. “But at least let me tell my story.”

  Caldoon nodded his head forward, giving her the go-ahead. Everyone around them went dead silent as they all leaned in closer to listen in on the conversation. Caldoon himself was also interested, but he made sure not to show it on his face.

  “Not three months ago the village I was visiting was attacked in a Dominator raid. Their goal was to capture everyone there, including a bone carver that was instrumental in creating sovereign icons for our people. Before you saved us, we were either going to be executed in their homeland or enslaved for their amusement.”

  A long silence broke out as Saphina let the words weigh upon the minds of the crowd.

  “So, if you can find it in your hearts to please help us, we would be eternally grateful.” Saphina said with a bow.

  Caldoon then fell deep into thought, considering every word the young lady had said. As a ruler, he had a responsibility for his people first, which is why he was so standoffish about freeing the Zaurians and letting them onto the island. The young lady’s plea wrenched his heart, but he would’ve ruined this island if he caved to every sob story he heard. Still, there was one thing that piqued his interest within the Zaurian girl’s story.

  “That bone carver… Are they on the boat too?” The emperor asked.

  Saphina gave a confused look, then slowly nodded her head to confirm that the individual was indeed on the vessel.

  “Alright then… Saphina, come with me. I think we can make a deal.” He grinned. “Triton! Lukey! Go back and free the rest of them, then bring the last boat here!”