The group entered the island's interior, which turned out to be a city. However, the atmosphere here was a bit off. The streets were eerily quiet, and aside from pirates, no one else could be seen.
The houses on the island were quite tidy, and there were plenty of farm fields. But the fields looked like they hadn't been tended in a long time, overgrown with weeds.
Next to the houses were livestock pens, but now they were completely empty, with only traces of slaughtered animals. A cow's skull lay not far from the pen.
"Why is this island full of nothing but pirates? They don't look like farmers at all. Where are all the island's people?"
Anna looked at the surrounding scene and asked a question.
With Anna's intelligence, she had certainly already guessed what happened here. But she deliberately asked anyway, while carefully observing Paqina's reaction.
She was also trying to find a way to help Paqina come to terms with all of this sooner. Loren understood her intention and explained:
"This should have been just an ordinary town. Quite a few ordinary people live in the Endless Ocean.
"The ocean itself is crazy, but the islands are still tolerable. Many people don't even need to believe in any god to survive here.
"The God of Bountiful Harvest can't interfere here, so Bountifulness still exists on this island. It might not be a bumper harvest every time, but self-sufficiency is still achievable."
"..."
Paqina didn't respond. She also understood what Loren meant.
"In an agricultural civilization, cattle are extremely important. So the villagers would never kill a cow.
"Then the conclusion is obvious. The pirates discovered this place, occupied it, captured or killed everyone... or simply ate them. The residents' livestock were also slaughtered."
Cannibalism among pirates wasn't anything unusual. Most of the fish in the Endless Ocean carried pollution, so eating fish was worse than just eating people.
They had also figured out methods for eating people. As long as they didn't eat the head, the chances of something going wrong were much smaller.
"Alright, let's just find someplace to rest. Anyway, all the people here are already dead. We can just pick any house and stay there."
Loren led the group toward a house. This place was completely isolated from the outside world. There weren't even locks or anything like that. Iron tools were the highest form of technology here.
The furniture was all made of wood or pottery, just like ancient times.
Loren casually pushed open the door of an empty room. There were many signs of destruction inside. Even the bed had been overturned, and there were drag marks underneath.
Seeing this, Loren easily guessed what had happened back then: a group of pirates had directly shoved the door open and captured this family. Their resistance was useless against the pirates, as many of them had dabbled in the supernatural.
After taking the husband and wife of this household, the pirates discovered a child hiding under the bed. So they overturned the bed and took the child away too.
"Well, looks like we can't stay here.
"I'm going to investigate for clues first. Anyone want to come with me?"
"Me!"
Paqina raised her hand first this time. Even though she hadn't seen any gruesome scenes, she understood what had happened here.
Gradually, she was becoming more and more aligned with Loren's philosophy. From understanding to identification.
"Then let's go. A tavern is a good place to investigate clues.
"Pirates don't have any real loyalty. It's easy to extract information from their mouths..."
...
The group found the tavern. It had originally been a tavern, but now it was occupied by pirates.
From the tavern's decor, it was clear that the owner had been meticulous. Everything was very neat. It was just a pity that the pirates had made a complete mess of it.
Before coming here, Paqina had asked Loren for a gun. Her mindset had already shifted.
She had killed people before, but the psychological burden of killing with different methods was not the same.
The psychological burden of killing with magic was lighter than with a gun, and with a gun was lighter than with a knife.
She wanted to train herself.
"As long as we kill them, we can prevent more tragedies from happening."
Before entering, Paqina murmured to herself.
She was a smart person. She had already figured it out.
"Let's go in."
Loren pushed open the tavern door. The noisy tavern instantly fell silent. They recognized Loren and his group, especially the large scythe on Anna's shoulder.
Many people had witnessed what happened on the beach earlier. Even if they hadn't, they would have heard about it.
One group of pirates had clearly seen Anna kill someone with their own eyes. They were already trembling.
"Excuse me, make way."
Loren had a smile on his face, his tone very polite. Then he kicked a pirate sitting at the bar counter aside.
"Looking for death!"
This pirate clearly had no idea what had happened before. Before he even got up from the ground, he aimed his gun at Loren.
Firearms were still the pirates' main means of combat. Not many people could use magic, and the destructive power of low-level magic might not even match that of firearms.
He seemed to be the captain of a pirate crew, with his men standing beside him. He felt he had lost face, and momentarily forgot the gap in strength.
Before he could fire his gun, Anna cut off both his arms.
He stared blankly at his severed hands. After a moment, he came to his senses and began screaming in agony.
Paqina raised her gun. Her hand was shaking a little, but she finally pulled the trigger, successfully silencing that pirate.
"What are you all standing around for? Order something!"
"What would you like to drink, sir?"
The bartender quickly hugged a bottle and came over to ask.
From the scars on his body and the gun at his waist, he was also a pirate.
There was even a tattoo of the Sea God's emblem on his arm: a snake coiled around a trident.
"Give me a plate of fried noodles."
"We don't have fried noodles..."
"You dare to open a tavern without fried noodles?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Loren grabbed a bottle and smashed it over the bartender's head. Liquor mixed with blood flowed down.
"S-Sorry..."
The bartender was a big, burly man, but right now he looked servile and meek.
He had just heard Anna and Paqina's conversation. Anna was talking about something like "accidental casualties," telling Paqina to kill all the crew members of the pirate she had just shot.
Any crew members who tried to escape were cleaved in two by Anna with a single stroke. The ones who stayed rooted to the spot were shot dead by Paqina, one by one.
The other pirates were terrified too. Those who had only heard of Loren's infamous reputation finally witnessed firsthand what Loren and his people were capable of.
So, for the sake of his own and his crew's safety, he decided to grin and bear it.
"Never mind, I've lost my appetite. I'll ask you a few questions, and you'd better answer honestly."
Seeing that the effect of establishing authority had been achieved, Loren finally began his interrogation:
"What's the purpose of you all gathering on this island?"
"The Sea God has urgently demanded sacrifices from us. As long as we offer enough, we can receive His blessing..."
The bartender quickly answered, afraid that even a second's delay would get him killed by Loren.
"What about the original inhabitants of the island?"
"They're locked up. We were planning to sacrifice them tonight."
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