Within the last floor below deck, several streaming dragias held knives against the necks of some slaves calmly.

Earlier on, they had noticed that these Baymardians didn't seem to have any interest in killing the slaves, so they wanted to use these bastards as bargaining chips for their lives.

Provided they could leave, they didn't care who died.

The hostages were so frightened and shaken that they started shouting and begging frantically.

"Don't kill me!"

"Don't kill me!"

"Help! Help!"

"I...I don't want to die. Save me!"

Their shrivelled screams of fear made Joshi shake even more.

This was the first time he felt the real weight of someone's life in his hands.

If... If he made a mistake, wouldn't they die?

Seeing that these Baymardians weren't doing anything, a grim-faced Dragia quickly lashed out angrily: "Hurry up and let us go or ale this guy will be dead meat! I mean it! If you don't let me go, then l give him here and end it all. We want to set off now! So prepare us a boat and let us out of here honestly!"

"Yeah! You do as we say, and there won't be any problems. And while we're at it, we don't like being threatened. So drop your weapons!"

Jishi and a few others dropped their weapons on the ground calmly and stood with their hands up defenselessly.

"Alright. We've dropped everything, so let's act civilized and talk everything through.

Just release the prisoners and chat properly, okay?"

The lead dragia scoffed in disdain: "Pui! You expect me to believe that you all won't try tricking us? You slippery Baymardians are not to be trusted. How are we sure that you won't try stabbing us after we let go of the hostages? What do you think we are? Stupid?"

(*^*)

A few of the veteran marines almost rolled their eyes at them.

At times, some criminals who got scared ended up doing as they said in confusion.

So there was nothing wrong with trying their luck while negotiating peacefully.

Jishi did his best to engage with these dragias as if negotiations with them.

And the moment he heard the English word/signal given slipped in one of the conversions, he knew it was time.

He started talking animatedly, with his hands moving around a lot, calling everyone's attention to himself.

.

On the ground, a few veterans were carefully pointing at the enemies silently.

Earlier on, the moment they came in and witnessed the hostage situation, the veterans at the very back had quickly backed away, as if heading up the stairs.

But rather than going towards the deck, they only dropped to the ground and crawled at the sides, trying to blend in with the frightened slaves seated on several benches, leaning at the sides.

Some slaves did see them and even aided in hiding them.

The moment the marines came in saying they were indeed the Baymardians, the slaves were filled with hope.

Those on the grounds quickly God behind the bodies of many while pointing their pistols towards the skulls of these dragias.

And the moment they were locked in position, they wasted no time in pulling the trigger.

Of course, the dragias were still fully focused on their conversation with Jishi, who talked in a calm but overly animated way.

.

"That's right! We want a boat! And we want it now."

"No! We have to take something bigger!

We want one of your ships and the beasts inside!

That's the fastest way we can get out of here without you all double-crossing us!"

"Well, come on... Run over and tell your people that we want a ship now!

You tell them..."

~Peeup! Peeup! Peeup!~~

Eh?

The dragias had no time to react when they suddenly felt a frightening pain bore into their heads.

Their eyes opened wide in shock and panic as they struggled to fight back.

How?

How did it become like this?

Weren't they the ones with the weapons?

It was really true what they said about death.

Time seemed to move too slow, as everything froze in place.

They didn't know if it was an exaggeration or not, but they saw everything in slow motion and could even feel death's breath against their bodies.

Cold.

The room suddenly became too cold as the darkness quickly shrouded them.

It was like falling down an endless dark well, as the only source of light grew smaller and smaller.

And no matter how they struggled to climb out, they just kept falling in fear.

~Bam!!!

Their bodies dropped hard on the floor, and the slaves started crying and exclaiming gleefully in tears.

They looked at the Jishi and the rest bowed their heads and thanked them heartedly.

This... So this was the feeling of successfully saving people?

Jishi's heart was filled with honey and out for these slaves.

And as he broke the chains binding them, the slaves once again thanked him warmly.

The way they handled today's matter made a few veterans look at the rookies in satisfaction.

"You all did well. I'll be sure to award merit points when we get back."

"Thank you, sir!"

"Heh. Don't thank me yet.

We still have a battle to finish. And the most important thing is to keep your lives in check.

Now, let's go!

I just got word that there are only 3 more ships to attack."

.

Linvor, Jimosen and their most trusted men, rushed towards their chambers in disbelief at the scene before them.

What do they do now?

They thought they had a chance.

But it seems that all of this was just their wishful thinking.

The enemy will be here any moment now, and they had no thoughts of dying without warning his excellency.

Jimosen paced back and forth with his hands on his head frantically: "Old friend. You're usually smarter than me. So don't you have a plan yet? Think! What would Dragmus do?"

"Sh! I'm thinking! I'm thinking!

Dammit! I don't see how we can slip out of here without them noticing us.

I don't see it!... I...."

Linvor paused the moment he spotted a few rum barrels.

That's it!

Jimosen followed his eyes in confusion.

"Old friend. You want us to drink rum?"

"No fool! The barrels are our rides!"