Brent’s Expedition Team

"I can count myself in."

Just as Yinsen declared his intention to join, another person in the room stood up. Compared to the previous man, this one was utterly unremarkable, the sort of face that would vanish into a crowd.

His height was ordinary too, about the same as Yinsen’s. Nothing about him stood out in any way, yet the fact that he had received Brent’s invitation and was standing here proved that he was a capable adventurer. Yinsen did not underestimate him. Out of curiosity, he studied the man a little longer, hoping to spot something unusual about this adventurer.

When the other man noticed Yinsen’s gaze, he showed no displeasure. Instead, he returned a friendly smile before continuing his conversation with Brent.

"I need to go back and make arrangements for my crew as well. I don’t know how many of them will be willing to stay."

Making arrangements for the crew meant screening out those unwilling to undertake this adventure, then giving them severance pay or something similar.

In truth, captains held enough authority within Adventure Teams that, most of the time, they could decide on the next adventure by themselves.

But when facing something with such clearly enormous risks, some more considerate captains would warn their subordinates in advance, explain the dangers involved, and let their crew choose whether to continue following the captain or leave immediately.

Those who chose to leave were effectively withdrawing from the team. Since Adventure Teams in this world settled their gains on the spot after every return, whether the captain gave severance pay was entirely a matter of personal preference, not any established rule.

The fact that these two had specifically gone to make arrangements made it clear that they were the more decent sort of captains, the kind who treated their subordinates well.

"If this puts you in too difficult a position, you don’t actually have to agree."

"I simply feel that someone needs to handle these matters. If it really is a huge problem, and we stand by until it turns into an even greater one, that would not be good for any adventurer in these waters."

The plain-looking middle-aged captain offered one final suggestion.

"It would be best to report this to the guild. If we cannot deal with this problem, the guild should take it seriously and step in to gather powerful adventurers to solve it."

"Thank you very much for the reminder, Captain Bruno." Bruno had actually assumed that Brent had already filed a report, but Brent did not deliberately put on an air of having considered it all long ago.

Bruno nodded to Brent, then bid Yinsen farewell before leaving directly.

The remaining people made their decisions one after another. In the end, they did not agree to join Brent’s temporary Expedition Team, and they truly had their own difficulties.

For instance, one man’s ship had suffered severe damage during his last adventure. It had barely made it back before being completely scrapped. He had now spent everything he had on a fine new ship, but it would still be a long time before he received it. Naturally, Brent could not waste so much time waiting for his new ship to launch.

Brent expressed his understanding. That truly was an unavoidable circumstance; the man did not simply refuse to help.

Others had recently suffered heavy manpower losses. He did not dare undertake such a dangerous operation with newly recruited crewmen. Taking a group of unfamiliar subordinates to do something like this would introduce far too many variables.

Not only did that captain himself hesitate, but Brent did not dare let him go either. They could only wish each other well and say goodbye.

Gradually, everyone left. In the end, only Yinsen remained. He chatted with Brent for a few more minutes, learning in detail what Brent knew.

"The currents and waves in that area have become far more dangerous, almost like those in the later sections of the sea route. My ship had already suffered fairly serious damage after sailing for some time. In that kind of environment, I didn’t dare venture too deeply and could only observe from the outskirts for a while."

"Did you find anything?"

"There may be an island."

"May be?"

That word, "may," did not sound good. Could Brent not tell whether it was an island?

"Because it was so large. When I observed it from afar, I even suspected that I was looking at Endless Land."

The answer startled Yinsen. How large would an island have to be for someone to mistake it for a continent from a distance? At any rate, it would certainly be much larger than Central Island. For such an island to suddenly appear along the sea route…

"Has the entire sea route been blocked?"

"I can’t be sure, but I tried to sail around it and ultimately failed."

"You failed? Were you attacked?"

"No, my ship simply wasn’t in very good condition at the time." Brent shook his head, carefully recalling the details. "And the sea conditions had become especially terrible, so I could only retreat."

After asking a few more questions, Yinsen bade Brent farewell as well.

He already knew that Brent would be staying for quite some time. Besides meeting with the captains who responded to his call, he also had to give them time to think and prepare.

Many people, like Yinsen, had only just returned to the island. Their ships needed maintenance, their supplies needed replenishing, and they might even need to recruit new crewmen. Without sufficient preparation time, they could not possibly set sail again.

After leaving the residence Brent had rented, Yinsen deliberately looked over the street again. The scattered adventurers from earlier had all gone. He was the last captain to emerge, and only Selene was waiting for him.

"Where’s Logan?"

"Since you hadn’t come out for so long, he took Laura back first."

Yinsen looked up at the sky. By then, the entire sky had turned dusky yellow, and nightfall was not far away.

"Let’s go back."

Selene did not ask how the conversation had gone. She was enjoying her new life now and did not care what they would be doing next.

"Have you eaten?"

"I drank some of that Artificial Blood you prepared this morning."

It was obvious that Selene disliked the stuff. She even frowned when mentioning it. If she did not need it to sustain her life, she probably would not even want to look at it.

"I said I’d find a way to make your body stop rejecting normal food, so bear with it for now. I’ll try to solve this problem during this time."

Selene had not expected Yinsen’s earlier words to be more than casual remarks. He was actually going to do it. But could something like that really be done?

"It can be done. It isn’t very difficult."

As if he could sense what Selene was thinking, Yinsen was practically about to beat his chest to emphasize his words.

"Thank you."

The two did not continue with any other topics and quietly walked back to their residence.

The place Yinsen had rented was not large, but every room came with complete facilities. There was also a separate courtyard. For their small group, it was more than enough.

Yinsen, who had not yet eaten dinner, casually bought something on the way to fill his stomach before returning to his room.

What he needed to do was, naturally, fill a tub with warm water, add a drop of Enhancement Potion, and soak in it overnight.

While Yinsen was making preparations, someone knocked on his door.

"Logan?"

Everyone living in this building was one of his own people. Anyone coming to find him could only be someone from his ship, so Logan’s appearance was not surprising. Logan had come to guard the door for him.

"Everything ready?"

After Diana left, Logan had voluntarily taken on the responsibility of standing guard, just to be safe. He was also the only suitable person on the ship at present.

Laura was still a child; Loki was someone they had to guard against; and setting aside the fact that Selene had only just joined the ship and whether she could be trusted with such an important duty, this sort of guard duty did not suit her anyway.

If Loki wanted to harm Yinsen, Selene would be unable to stop him—Logan could not stop him either, but he could use his Undying Body to delay Loki and buy Yinsen time.

"I knew you’d be coming soon."

Logan nodded, then brought over a chair and placed it at the junction between the bathroom door and the room’s entrance. From there, he could watch both directions at once.

He could have stayed at the bathroom door, but he had no interest whatsoever in Yinsen’s body, much less in watching the whole process. As for whether something might happen to Yinsen?

After so many consecutive days of enhancement, the chances of anything going wrong had fallen to a very low level. So his main task here was to guard the front door.

"You don’t mind if I smoke a cigar, do you?"

"Do whatever you like."

In truth, whether Yinsen minded or not, Logan had already taken out a cigar. He leaned back in the chair, propped his feet on a cabinet beside him, and fully displayed the advantage of his height.

Logan’s behavior made it seem as if he did not care about Yinsen’s safety at all. If someone unfamiliar with him saw that casual attitude, they would certainly be displeased with him.

But Yinsen knew that if something truly happened, Logan was far more trustworthy than those bodyguards who merely looked professional. It was not simply that he had an Undying Body and could therefore recklessly take risks. Every time he was beaten into a severely injured or near-death state, Logan suffered no less pain. Other than not taking his final breath, he truly experienced the agony of dying.

Yinsen had never experienced that feeling himself, but no normal person could enjoy it. Logan was mentally normal, so he definitely did not enjoy experiencing death again and again.

"I only have one request."

Just as Yinsen was about to lie down in the tub, Logan’s voice came from outside.

"What?"

"When you come out, make sure you get dressed first."

"…" Yinsen lay down in the tub speechlessly. Before submerging his head beneath the water, he gave Logan a very definite answer. "Don’t worry about that. I don’t have a habit of showing off my body to people."

Especially when the other person was a man.