Chapter 983: Chapter 489: Confession and the Collector
"Why don’t you ask Lorin?"
Hearing Xia Nan’s words, Ellison’s expression froze for a moment, clearly not expecting such a sudden statement.
The atmosphere in the room froze.
After three seconds of silence, he suddenly sighed.
His entire weight shifted back, leaning his body fully against the chair back.
"Did she tell you everything?"
Ellison’s expression carried a deep fatigue as he slowly spoke.
Previously, Xia Nan had inquired about his relationship with Lorin, and at that time, Ellison’s expression seemed peculiar, exhibiting signs of avoidance, as if reluctant to discuss it further.
Eventually, Xia Nan learned from Lorin that she and Ellison were siblings.
Now, seeing Xia Nan ask such a question, and considering that Xia Nan had previously mentioned temporarily joining the ’Vengeance Blade’ team, Ellison realized the other party probably already knew about their relationship from Lorin, so he chose not to hide it anymore.
Looking at the middle-aged man’s behavior before him, Xia Nan couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
Although his emotional intelligence might not be that high, and he couldn’t be described as "shrewd," he was not insensitive to changes in others’ emotions; his sharp perception ability allowed Xia Nan to clearly notice the changes in expressions whenever Lorin and Ellison spoke of each other.
Evidently, the relationship between this pair of siblings was not good.
Perhaps even... they haven’t contacted each other in a long time?
"How did your mission go this time?"
Perhaps knowing that Xia Nan had already figured out their relationship, Ellison no longer avoided the topic and suddenly asked.
"It was alright, there were some hiccups in the middle, and everyone in the team got a bit hurt," Xia Nan replied, "but our luck wasn’t too bad, we didn’t lose anyone on the ship."
"What do you think of Lorin as a person?"
Speaking whatever came to his mind, Ellison’s questions lacked coherence.
Xia Nan didn’t understand why Ellison was so secretive before, yet now he brought up the topic so casually. So he answered the question based on Ellison’s lead:
"Lorin... is experienced and reliable. If someone wants to set sail as an adventurer, joining her team would be a good choice."
Even though they only experienced one mission together, the female captain with fiery long curls made a very good impression on Xia Nan.
Perhaps her appearance, personality, and style of action were completely different from River Valley Town’s ’Green Blood’ Adeline, but as leaders of an adventurer team, both showcased a similar sense of responsibility.
Lorin viewed the members of her team as comrades to whom she could entrust her back, willing to confront dangers head-on in place of her team, willing to bear the pressure for her comrades.
She was even willing to share a large portion of her rewards as additional compensation for her crew members.
For any newbie adventurer who just entered the field and aspired to make a name on the sea, the Vengeance Blade Fleet would be a perfect starting point.
"Reliable, huh..." His lips moved, Ellison repeated this word, unable to hide the smile on his face, "She’s always been like that, like a little adult, always serious, nagging endlessly before every voyage."
"It seems like your relationship isn’t as bad as I thought?"
Listening to Ellison speak, Xia Nan couldn’t help but sense a hint of something more.
"Haha, even though we haven’t seen each other much over the years and our contact’s been scarce, we haven’t fallen to the level of enemies." Ellison laughed and shook his head, but then suddenly changed the subject, "Has she spoken to you about where the name ’Vengeance Blade’ came from?"
"She hasn’t."
But from the literal sense, Xia Nan guessed it might relate to ’revenge.’
"So, she didn’t tell you what happened on the Morton ship that time?"
"Morton!?"
Capturing the keyword in Ellison’s words, Xia Nan felt his heart race.
He had traveled all the way from River Valley Town to Suo Yu Bay precisely because of this ’Morton.’
Information from the previous Druid’s notes suggested the key to the Dream Weaving Corridor was taken to the Southern Islands by a descendant of the Molton family.
The reason Xia Nan was eager to attend the Moon Tide Banquet these days was due to the great pirate nicknamed ’Algae Scale,’ who attacked Morton and most likely took the key as a trophy back to his lair, planning to appear at the banquet.
Originally, he thought he had to wait for more than two months until the banquet began for any progress, yet unexpectedly, he heard the name from Ellison here, which felt strange, and he even wondered if there could be another person with the same name.
At the same time, seeing Xia Nan’s reaction, Ellison realized something and said in surprise:
"So she never mentioned it to you?"
"Alright then..." The middle-aged man showed a helpless expression.
It seemed to be a misunderstanding created by a series of coincidences.
Ellison, discovering that Xia Nan already knew about his relationship with Lorin, assumed his sister had shared other things with Xia Nan as well. However, it turned out he was mentioning it for the first time.
It wasn’t really a secret.
Noticing Xia Nan’s attentive attitude, patiently waiting for him to speak, Ellison adjusted his posture slightly, cupping the teacup on the table before him, and began to explain slowly:
"It happened many years ago..."
