While everyone was waiting for things to get rounded up, Josh was already explaining matters to Landon and the rest, who in turn contacted the ships again from time to time.

"Major General. Don't worry. 

As earlier on as when we spotted you, we had already contacted one of the nearby mission ships. 

So by now, the dispatch should have already docked somewhere, heading towards the boy's location."

"Hmmm."

Josh, who was all bloodied and tired, finally felt reassured and closed his eyes to rest.

The time he spent with these pirates had been truly tiring since he was given no time to rest.

It was as if they wanted information in exchange for giving him time to sleep.

They tried every possible method to crack him without physically going overboard.

But of course, he still held on hard

And all his hard work paid off.

Finally, he could sleep.

As for his comrades and the kid, they should be rescued soon enough. So he was glad.

.

Josh slept soundly while they administered first aid to him.

He was so tired that the pain couldn't even wake him up.

Like they said, earlier on when they noticed Josh, their main ship had already gotten information about where Josh was supposed to be at and what he was assigned to do there.

Following that, at the very start of the long battle, the other ship had docked very far away from here, close to another remote village.

At least from their estimation, the village should be 3 weeks of travel by horse away from the town Landon was currently in.

So it was impossible for the T.O.E.P guarding this town to know of the matter there.

And even if they spotted the Baymardian ships, they wouldn't link the matter to each other.

After all, who didn't know that King Henry had enlisted the help of the Baymardians over the past month?

Many that saw this might just assume that they were here on orders from Henry to carry out some mission.

Of course, if possible, Landon hoped that no one would see the ship.

One should know that so far, how the Baymardians moved was always a mystery to many.

And he liked to keep it that way.

The dispatching or retrieving mission ships, typically docked in desolate areas around 2 or 3 A.M when everyone was deep asleep to do their thing.

And it wasn't like they would dock directly in villages and or communities.

No... They generally chose scanty empty fields surrounded by some forest region, before connecting with the hidden carriage routes all around the place.

The chances of getting seen were very slim unless someone was out at night doing something in secret.

But from the report that just came in, it seemed that they had chosen a good place to dock.

The rescue team had already been sent out in vehicles, and the ship that dispatched them was now back in the open waters as if it was never there in the first place.

Like so, they had sent people to look for Josh's teammates.

But all this happened at the start of tonight battle

Now, with this new wave of info from Josh, they had a clearer picture of where his contacts should be hiding for the time being.

So Landon quickly sent word out to their battleship, which in turn sent word to the other ship that then relayed the message to those dispatched.

Well, it looked like it wouldn't be long before he rescued the boy named Renkin and completed his side mission.

Landon couldn't help releasing a long sigh of relief.

Soon, all battles were over, and it was time to go.

Landon quickly debt word out through his shield mic: "All team leaders, begin phase 3. I repeat, all team leaders, begin phase 3."

"Copy that. Over."

In a flash, several people began running up and down the pirate ships.

~Din! Din! Din! Din! Din! Din!

Their loud footsteps confused the frightened slaves who had no idea of what their future held for them.

What was going to happen to them?

Their hearts drummed nonstop as they closed their eyes and placed their heads between their legs, daring not to look up.

But what surprised them was that these cruel strangers didn't even bother looking at them and proceeded to head towards the last floor below deck as if they were air.

Okay?...

(°_°)

.

While things eased up with the slaves, the rowers on the other hand, were now tenser than ever.

Why? Because these foreign men with their strange language had come to them instead.

So far, they could only get a few words out of these sentences and began doing what they wanted.

"Row, Row, Row the ship."

Well, it wasn't too hard to understand, was that?

Knowing what the men wanted, they acted fast, rowing away as if their lives depended on it.

These strange men would tell them what directions to stir towards and what directions were a No-No.

Of course, these men in black weren't psychic to know where to move.

They communicated with a few others on deck using the metal pipe communicating on the ships.

The voices above echoed down below, and the voices below echoed upwards as well.

There were two iron pipes here, one for talking into and the other for listening.

Well, the rowers dared not dilly dally and used their entire force to paddle away.

And the more they listened, call it intuition, but they didn't feel all that threatened by these people.

For sure, these people were strong, and their attacks were brutal.

But for some reason, they felt no immediate danger or fear as they did with the pirates.

Just like that, the rowers paddled the ships away from the town, under the instructions of the Baymardians.

And when they were a distance into the horizon, hundreds of people slowly emerged from the surroundings with grim expressions on their faces.

They might have lost this battle, but this wasn't over yet.

This was just the beginning!