Mystery: The Last Shepherd.

Chapter 554 Pirate Tournament

Chapter 554 Pirate Tournament

Deep within the Misty Sea, shrouded in fog, a black three-masted sailing ship stood silently amidst the ethereal grayness. On the deck of this large, dark ship, a man and a woman sat facing each other. They reached out their hands to each other and finally clasped them together.

"!"

The moment the skin touched, Antia's body suddenly trembled slightly.

After a moment, she smiled with a complicated expression and said, "It's so warm..."

Opposite her, Luze felt as if he were holding a piece of soft ice. After 152 years of sailing in this frigid sea, the angelic ship spirit's body was completely cold inside and out.

As if greedily seeking this warmth, Antia tightened her grip on Luze, increasing the pressure.

"Splash..."

A metallic clang rang out, and from Lu Ze's palm, a chain formed from a black key automatically emerged, climbing forward along his wrist. Conversely, the black chain around Antia's neck also began to extend.

The two chains met in mid-air.

"boom!"

Lu Ze immediately felt an indescribable connection, and the two resonated on a spiritual level.

"Let me reintroduce myself, Antia Troliss, who will become your flagship, sailing the seas for your victory and glory."

The black-haired woman spoke softly.

"I am Luze Rondor. Thank you for your trust. I will be the responsible owner of this ship."

Lu Ze replied seriously.

Antia's beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Your name is Luzer Rondor? Then you just said your name was Alexander Gascoigne..."

"The one I introduced at the beginning was my identity at sea, and the one I just mentioned is my real name."

Lu Ze replied.

Antia looked at him, then suddenly tightened her grip on Lu Ze's fingers, making them crack.

"So, you weren't originally planning to tell me your real name?"

An invisible pressure spread across the deck. Her previous forlorn and sighing expression had vanished, replaced by a clearly disgruntled sneer. "Even after I've shared my experiences with you?"

"Feel sorry."

The pain in his finger was nothing to Luze. He said calmly, "I need to protect myself, which is a reasonable choice. Besides, that name is my official identity, and my crew doesn't know my real name."

"Then I hope that, as my ally, you can be more honest in the future and stop lying to me."

Antia loosened her grip on his fingers slightly and looked directly at him, her crimson eyes meeting Lu Ze's azure eyes.

"I see."

Lu Ze nodded, thinking it was a good thing that the other party was willing to communicate, so he simply asked again, "Are there any other requirements? It would be best to make them clear at the beginning."

"Don't hurt each other, don't force me to do things against my will... these basic things go without saying," Antia said. "Besides that, I only have one request—to stay by my side."

In the cold sea breeze, she sighed and said, "I don't want to be this lonely anymore."

Sunia Sea, Black Lake Island.

The shores of the large black lake in the center of the island were teeming with people, and stalls lined both sides of the automatically constructed streets along the lake. A cacophony of noise rose from time to time, and chaos erupted everywhere. Every few steps, you could see stall owners and customers arguing with flushed faces, and a few more steps later, you could witness a chaotic scene of people wrestling.

Unlike the elegant decor of shops in big cities, these stalls were filled with rows of dirty canvases spread out on the ground, laden with a dazzling array of goods—all looted by pirates. These included handicrafts of various countries with distinct styles, chests of tea, salt, minerals… or simply gold jewelry and other strange, mysterious items exuding an peculiar aura. The last two types of stalls were often guarded by pirates coldly armed with steam-powered rifles.

Philia was standing in front of a stall, arguing with the stall owner.

"This is a scam!"

He shouted, "Give me back my money!"

In his hand was a talisman carved with strange patterns. The patterns were glowing, but they appeared intermittent and were fading more and more.

"Refund? Are you dreaming?"

The stall owner poked his ear with his filthy fingers, then blew on his fingers. "The pirate convention has never had such a rule. Blame your own poor eyesight for not noticing the problem."

Pirates have always relied on their fists to settle disputes. The young man opposite him looked like he had only recently set sail and was quite inexperienced. Pirates didn't take him seriously at all.

"It's clearly you, the liar, who's to blame, yet you're criticizing me!"

Philia shouted angrily, but the pirates passing by just watched the spectacle with amusement.

Guided by the reception staff, the two ships of their fleet docked, and most of the crew, except for a few who remained behind, went ashore. Apart from Bosun Walter and a few veteran pirates, the rest were attending this gathering for the first time and were very interested in it. The captain and first mate went deeper into the island, while the rest dispersed, wandering through the pirates' spontaneously organized market.

After his recent sea adventures, Philia greatly admired extraordinary individuals like the captain or first mate, dreaming of becoming one of them. So, upon landing on the island, he decided to use the money he had saved to try and acquire something that would allow him to become an extraordinary individual.

Unsurprisingly, he was scammed.

The pirate stall owner had confidently claimed that the emblem he was selling could unleash a mysterious power within him, but in reality, it was just a piece of glowing scrap metal. Having spent most of his savings—a full twenty pounds—on this piece of metal, he was naturally furious and demanded an explanation.

"You've already used it, so of course you can't return it."

The pirate stall owner ignored his anger and just kept talking.

"I said, I want a refund!"

Philia grew increasingly angry and with a "whoosh," she drew her knife from her waist.

"What, you want to fight?"

The pirate stall owner, seeing the knife, wasn't afraid at all. Instead, he immediately jumped up and calmly reached for his lower back. The pirates watching didn't try to stop the fight; instead, they started clamoring excitedly—it would be more interesting to see someone die!

Just as the atmosphere was becoming very tense, a man pushed through the crowd and walked in.

He had messy blue hair, dark skin, and deep-set eyes.

"What's wrong?"

Alger Wilson, exuding the imposing presence of an extraordinary being, immediately brought the situation to a standstill. Glancing around, he spotted Philia and quickly recognized her as one of the crew members from Luzer's ship, whom he had just met at the port.

This might be a good opportunity to extract information... he thought to himself.