Cao Mei was surprised at the extremely handsome man accompanied by such beauties, and when Ye Ling and Luo Mingyu came to join them she was completely gobsmacked at how many beauties were around him. She herself was always considered a heavenly beauty, but none of the women at Wu Long’s side lost to her even a little. Luo Mingyu wore her usual veil that masked the natural charm of her physique when she was in public, but it could still be seen that she was extremely beautiful as well.
‘A ladies’ man huh’
She inwardly thought as she met someone like that before, of course, not with the same level of beauties around them, and they also could not match Wu Long’s handsome appearance, but she was familiar with the type of behavior that pursued a lot of women, as it was quite common in the southern sea.
“You don’t seem surprised that a group of strangers helped you”
Wu Long noted that while she was looking at them with curiosity because of their appearances, the situation of her being helped did not surprise her as much.
“Most of the people in this country support us, after all. And even if you are not from here, if you are a decent person you would not support this rotten royal family either”
She shrugged her shoulders, as she did not find anything unusual in someone’s aversion toward the direction this country took its policies.
“And I guess you are not strictly pirates, since we are a little bit far from the sea”
“That is the propaganda of the royal family. Since we fled to the southern archipelago after the revolt. But it is not exactly wrong as we rarely come out to the continent”
The southern sea was not completely bare of land, as there were hundreds of small and medium-sized islands sprinkled through a particular area, with six large islands and one giant island almost in the center. This area, commonly known as the Southern Archipelago was now the domain of ‘pirates’ as the Liugwei Kingdom called them.
“Revolt?”
Shen Min asked as they walked.
“The previous king of this country was killed nearly 130 years ago by poisoning, but it was later revealed that the plot to poison him was hatched by the Crown Prince, as he was about to be stripped of his right to the throne. The rumors of the Pirate Queen have started appearing a few years after that”
Wei Lan explained from the side, as she knew quite a bit of this country’s history as the person who lived in the neighboring one. It was not as easy to erase and rewrite when there were people who lived longer like her, after all.
“Then, your mother is somehow related to the previous king?”
“She was his trusted aid, who managed civil affairs in his court, as well as the one who exposed the current king, former crown prince, of killing his father. The previous king hired her despite her humble origins as a commoner, and she was a close friend of the late queen”
As Luo Mingyu asked, Cao Mei replied with a note of pride in her voice.
“But is it not dangerous for you to be here in the depths of the kingdom separately from your mother?”
Hua Ziyan asked as naturally the risk of being captured was higher for her if she was not only on land but also away from the Pirate Queen.
“Until recently, it was the contrary, she was distracting them with frequent naval attacks on the port city troops and forts, and we were making attacks on the slave trade routes.
But it seems that they finally caught up and are starting to concentrate on the land attacks since they cannot do much about the sea”
She shook her head, as it seemed that this plan was working well until recently.
“It looks like we will have to return after this raid”
She might have been able to escape since she did not reveal all of her cards in the fight earlier, but the people she led could have been nearly wiped out. So she was not able to risk getting ambushed again, since it was not guaranteed that they would receive anyone’s help the next time.
As they talked they arrived at the inner parts of the fort, and Cao Mei’s people started to free the people detained there and provide quick aid for those who needed it. They had to be on the move soon and escort these people to safety, so they worked fast. It could be seen from their expressions that did not show as much astonishment at the conditions these people were kept in as well as the trained and fast movements that these people were doing this many times before.
“Are you just freeing them and then letting them go wherever their eyes look?”
Wei Lan asked as that seemed like a wasted effort since it would not be long before they were captured again.
“Of course not, but I cannot tell you where they are going…”
Cao Mei answered a little guiltily. She was of course grateful for their help. But she could not freely expose where they were sending the freed people, as that could potentially compromise their safety.
“That is reasonable, I am not prying where, as long as they are not abandoned after rescue”
Wei Lan shook her head in understanding motion.
“What about you? Where are you coming from? It seems you are not from these parts…”
Cao Mei asked as she saw that their clothing was made of thicker fabric, which would quickly become too hot to wear in these parts of the continent.
“We are traveling from up north to the Wood Spirit Continent”
Wu Long replied as Wei Lan hesitated to expose their destination.
“Wood Spirit Continent? You want to cross the sea?”
Cao Mei asked, and a smile appeared on her face.
“It seems I know how to express my gratitude for your help after all”
After Wu Long and the others nodded she said with a chuckle.
“Eh? So… no good meal?”
Wei Lan said with a slightly regretful face, as the gratitude from the Pirate Princess seemed to have changed.
“Hahaha, I will still treat you to a Southern Feast, no worries”
Cao Mei as well as the others laughed and she replied as she noticed the easily discernible disappointment in Wei Lan’s voice and her almost sorrowful face.
The Liugwei Kingdom was the only one with access to a safe sea in the southern part of the continent, so the fishing boats would roam the sea and bring back seafood, which was the specialty of the kingdom. This was why Wei Lan was so excited about a good meal as a reward despite not knowing the details of said meal.
They finished up freeing the captives and moved at a moderate pace the saved people could walk at, with dedicated people masking and covering their tracks, and after half a day of travel split into two groups. The larger one, which was, apparently part of the rebellion camps, went with the refugees while the smaller one included Cao Mei’s personal crew from her ship, as well as Wu Long’s group, as they went to one of the small villages that they used as a temporary stop from time to time when they were on land.
Cao Mei treated them to a feast once they were there, which delighted not only Wei Lan but the others as well as they enjoyed their time.
“Captain, are you certain these people are trustworthy?”
One of Cao Mei’s trusted crew members asked her in the evening as they stood and looked into the distance, while Wu Long and the others still were enjoying the feast.
“Not really, you can see since I did not lead them to our base of operations on land”
She replied with a serious look.
“But, if you get them on our ship…”
“Did you not see? They have two Foundation Building Realm practitioners… they are not someone we could go against even if we were suspicious. Not to mention, such a powerful group is unlikely to be bribed by those rats on the throne”
“If you say so, Captain. It is just a little strange… this attack went awry in a manner as if they knew when and where we were going to strike…”
“You think this was a set-up to ingratiate them with us and get us to trust them?”
Cao Mei raised her eyebrow. If this was so, it was a very costly operation, as the kingdom lost three officers at Qi Manifestation Realm, a large number of troops, and a large slave shipment.
“If the reward is figuring out where our Queen has set up her base, they will be getting a good return…” 𝑜𝘷𝑙.𝘰𝑟𝑔
The man answered, with a narrowed gaze at the setting sun.
“Hmm, I will think about it… but it is not like we are going to lead them to our base, if we just drop them off on one of the islands that has free access to the sea past our blockade, we will express our gratitude without offending them”
She replied after pondering for some time, as she truly could not trust them completely, but if it was only to send them past the area the pirate fleet of her mother was not letting ships through, it was sufficient help to their travel.