"Thank you so much for finding us in time, if you had been here any later I'm afraid Arsan might not have survived." The four people sat in the cramped cabin and took advantage of the temporary rest to chat.
"Did you guys run into pirates or any intense winds and waves?" Avril asked.
"Neither." The man shook his head, "This area is still under naval surveillance and it's rare to see pirates. As for the wind and waves, I'm an old fisherman too, I still have a knack for reading the sky."
"Then you are saying..."
"We've encountered an underwater monster."
Raine's ears pricked up, though he didn't really have any ears either.
"How did you encounter a monster here?" Avril said in amazement.
"Yes, it's because this is a safe area that I came here to catch fish. But who would have thought that our boat would have been attacked just as we got here? Wait, the boat was still the one we rented from the trading market, I don't know how much money we'll have to pay now."
"It's good to hear that you guys are alright, by the way, what rank of monster did you encounter?"
"We didn't see it, but our ship was instantly destroyed when it hit us. I reckon it was at least F-rank."
"F-rank! You're lucky to be alive."
Raine was now itching like crazy, what level was F-rank anyway? Why wasn't it made clear?
"By the way, you should be able to get some reward for reporting the discovery of an F-rank sea monster to the navy, which will somewhat reduce your losses."
"That's the only way."
Finding sea monsters and getting paid for it? Raine exclaimed in his mind, how many other ways of making money in this damn world were there that he didn't know about!?
Then again, the fishing boat this family was using probably wasn't any worse than his. That sea monster had crashed into and broken it apart in one go, so he's afraid he wouldn't be in for much better if he came across it.
This money is probably not much either, it's better to stay steady and to develop a ship so obscenely strong so that he can carry the whole game back!
"Thank you so much for saving us Miss. Armin, Arsan, hurry up and bow to our benefactor!" After the man finished speaking, he urged his two daughters and was about to perform a big salute with them.
Avril hurriedly stopped them, "No, no, no, we're just here on a search and rescue mission."
"Even so, if you hadn't been so efficient, we wouldn't have lasted much longer. We've been drifting here for two days and two nights, even if we weren't eaten by big fish or sharks, we would have frozen to death or lost our strength... We still want to thank you."
Avril was a little embarrassed that she could only take a small part of the credit for this, the captain was the first to take credit. But it was better not to mention the captain in front of strangers.
After an hour or so of rest, the man volunteered to drive the boat and leave Avril to rest. It was the next day that they finally returned to the trading market.
"All three are still alive?" Goldwell looked on in amazement at the four people walking up to him, "Can your rickety little ship really be so efficient?"
Avril looked at Goldwell with a deadpan stare, "You're not blind, can't you see for yourself?"
There had been boats looking for them before, but they had only found the wreckage of the boat, not a single person. This little boat had saved everyone!
"How lucky!" Goldwell shook his head, "Come up with me to take the pearls! And you three, come with me too."
Not long after, Avril came back cheerfully. With a small cloth bag in her hand, she jumped off the dock and onto the boat and said in a lowered voice, "Boss, we got them! Three white pearls!"
"Ho ho ho!" As soon as Raine made the sound, people looked around in surprise and Avril could only imitate his laugh in a thick throat, "Ho ho ho, cough cough, ho ho ho..."
There were no suitable tasks today, so Raine stopped at the corner of the market to see if there were any suitable tasks for tomorrow. Anyway, he would earn three or four more pearls and he would be upgraded. He was in no hurry.
In the evening, everyone in the market went back to their ships and the lights on the various boats faded out. Except for the big navy guy in the distance, whose lights covered the market.
"Captain, there were no good missions today."
"It's all right, no hurry."
He was a ship anyway, and no one was behind him with a whip.
"We can take a bit of simple transport duty," Raine said.
"Eh, I'll grab it as soon as I can."
The two were still whispering when a line of people hurried over to his side.
"Hush! Captain, someone's coming!" Avril was alert and warned him.
Of the four people who came, Raine knew three, the same family they had saved yesterday.
"Ma'am, thank you for saving my husband and my daughter. Can we come to your boat for a chat?" A middle-aged woman looked at Avril excitedly.
"Eh... that... sure, you guys can come up."
Raine was suddenly boarded by four people.
"These are some seagull eggs. Please take it, madam." The woman said as she opened the basket on her arm.
White looked at the basket of eggs with an excited look on his face and his tongue out, his mouth watering. He hadn't eaten anything else except the dried fish.
"This, you don't need to be so polite. We were just on a mission, we've already received the pearls, there's no need to give us anything extra." Avril said.
After a few polite words, the women placed the basket on the boat.
"Madam, that, you'd better take these eggs." The woman said as she did so, but with a feeling of wanting to say something.
"What exactly do you want to say?" Avril asked directly.
The woman gritted her teeth and said, "Ma'am, our previous savings plus the bounty we got from reporting on the sea monsters have all gone to pay compensation and mission bounties. Now we don't have any savings left at home, and we can't even afford to pay the deposit for renting the boat. I can help with crafts at the market but my husband and two children can't go to sea and can't take work from others on behalf of them, so they will soon be thrown out of the trading market."
Avril looked at the women sympathetically, "So what are you going to do?"
"Ma'am, I-I want to beg you to take the three of them in." The woman said with red eyes, "I can't let them go, but I can't help it, I'll get them back when I've made enough money, do you think that's okay?"
Avril was in a bit of a bind, it wasn't up to her to decide.
"Ma'am, I know it's hard for you too, but ... you just need to provide them with food and water, they're very experienced at sea, if it wasn't for the sea monsters, they would never have capsized!"
"My husband can help you steer the boat, my husband is a man at least, he's got the strength! And Armin and Arsan, they both know how to fish and dive and mend boats, they can do everything."
"Madam, I beg you, my two daughters are still young, I don't trust the other men on the boats, and my husband has a leg problem, you are the only one left who is trustworthy. I assure you, you can rest assured that my husband is a man of integrity."
The man finally spoke up too, "Madam, you are the savior of our family. I swear to the gods of the sea that I will not harm a hair on your head, and if anyone harms you, I will protect you to the death!"
"Just please take us in, if we are driven away and we don't even have a boat, then we will only die!"
Avril was quite sympathetic to them, except... she subtly knocked on the side panel of the boat.
Raine had been hesitating to this point, should he let these three be taken in?