met free Chapter 139 On the eve of the war
Chapter 139 On the eve of the war
"Something's wrong." A soldier riding a griffin with dark, disheveled feathers crashed onto the deck, and several pirates disguised as soldiers immediately surrounded him.
"What's going on?" The pirate leader was with the officer in charge of the group of soldiers. This middle-aged but still handsome officer frowned and shouted when he saw the scene on the deck in front of him:
"Look at you!"
"Sir! We can't go any further! An army is advancing this way! It looks like a border legion!" The soldier scrambled to his feet, kneeling on the ground as he cried out anxiously.
"Our whereabouts may have been exposed, and they may be after us!"
Border Legion? The officer pondered to himself. The legions on the border should be quite stable now, so why would they appear in the waters near the royal city without permission? Normally, there would be no orders for their deployment. The royal city has its own garrison. What would the border legion be doing back here?
But he soon realized that the young general from the Lin family, one of the husbands of Lord Jiangyu on the ship, was serving in the border legion.
Oh no, they must be after them. This young General Lin Yi is incredibly audacious; he got the news so quickly and led the border army back to the capital. Isn't he afraid of incurring the Emperor's wrath?
"Get ready immediately. In half an hour, all soldiers will return with me." The officer's face darkened. They had no chance of winning against Lin Yi's army, and they couldn't let anyone know that their pirates were colluding with him, or they would be finished.
He immediately gave the order: "Get moving quickly, put on your gear, and feed all the griffins."
"Wait a minute! We haven't reached the agreed distance yet. What will we do if you turn back now?" The pirate leader was anxious. They had heard of the Border Legion's reputation. If these soldiers withdrew on their own, how could they possibly face those battle-hardened veterans alone?
"In a crisis, we must act expediently. If we are all cornered by them, we will all die together, and it will also implicate the madam." The officer said with a deep look in his eyes.
"It seems we can't wait until we get to your territory to make our move. Make your move as soon as we leave." He looked down at the lower deck, a ruthless glint in his eyes. "Be quick, and don't cause any unnecessary trouble. We need to shut the two lords up completely."
“You’re pirates, you should know how to dispose of bodies at sea, right?” He looked at the pirate leader. “Clean up everything that needs cleaning. Even if you run into a legion, you’ll still have a chance to survive.”
"Good luck to you all." With that, he ignored the pirates and went to prepare on his own.
"Leader, what do we do?!" The pirates panicked. The characteristic of a mob is that when disaster strikes, they become like a swarm of flies, chattering and completely undisciplined.
The pirate leader gritted his teeth and made up his mind, "Once these soldiers leave, we'll act immediately, chop the two lords into pieces and throw them into the sea to feed the fish. At the next island, we'll abandon ship, take small boats in different directions, and escape as many as we can. We absolutely cannot run into them!"
He didn't believe those soldiers' lies. When pirates and legions clashed, there was only one outcome: being silenced. No one cared whether they had committed crimes or not; they were already notorious criminals, and the legion could kill them unconditionally.
"Yes!" When faced with imminent death, no one would object. What did it matter if they enjoyed the company of a noble lord or received a more substantial ransom? Nothing was more important than their own lives.
The soldiers quickly got ready and mounted their griffins, forming a superior legion entirely composed of griffin riders, even though the griffins were all low-ranking griffins with dull, mottled plumage. The officer commanding the legion rode an orange griffin; he came from a middle-class noble family and had once been a courtier of Lady Tiny.
"Remember my words, get rid of those who shouldn't be kept and clean up all traces of what needs to be cleaned up as soon as possible." The officer gave his final instructions before leading the vanguard griffins to take off from the deck. Soon after, the dozen or so griffins of the legion took off as well, and the group quickly returned towards the royal city.
Unbeknownst to anyone, several dark figures darted out from the bottom of the ship, silently summoning their sea beast mounts, and quickly departed from the seabed, chasing the procession in the sky.
In the hold, Keslan, who had been dozing with his eyes closed, opened them. His clear yellow eyes gleamed alertly in the darkness. He looked at Jiang Yu, who was sleeping beside him. The woman was sleeping peacefully against a cloth sack of grain, never complaining about the simplicity and filth of the environment.
He nudged Jiang Yu, who instantly opened her eyes and reacted quickly, leaping to the pillar and stretching out her hands, waiting for him to tie her up again.
"..." Keslan was momentarily at a loss for words to comment on Jiang Yu's timely and cooperative work.
“The situation has changed.” Meeting Jiang Yu’s puzzled gaze, Keslan said softly. “Those soldiers left, and my men followed them. They will be captured soon.”
"Are there only pirates left on the ship now? Are we almost at their lair?" Jiang Yu saw that he had no intention of tying her up, so she put her hands away and sat down against the pillar.
“Logically, it’s still early; we haven’t even left the coastal waters yet. The soldiers left too early; there must be some unforeseen situation.” Keslan smiled. “The fighting is about to begin.”
"It seems things can't go according to the old emperor's plan. Someone's much more anxious than him." Keslan seemed somewhat regretful for some reason. He stood up, his tall figure exuding a powerful aura. He took two steps forward, looking down at Jiang Yu: "We should be able to rescue you soon. Guess whose men they are?"
Jiang Yu bit her chapped lips. She had barely eaten or drunk anything in the past two days, as it was too inconvenient to relieve herself in the cabin. The pirates wouldn't care about her status as a prisoner, even though Keslan had already made things as convenient for her as possible.
"Is it Yi?" If it's not the emperor, then only my father and Lin Yi have the strength to fight the pirates. But it's most likely not my father; it can only be Lin Yi.
“I guessed so.” Keslan squatted down in front of her and unexpectedly touched Jiang Yu’s hair. Her updo had long since come undone, and her long, black, wavy hair was draped over her shoulders and down to her waist.
Like him, she also has black curly hair.
Jiang Yu turned her head away from his hand, rejecting his inappropriate gesture. Keslan rubbed his empty fingertips, smiled nonchalantly, and said, "Although you have few husbands, they are all quite capable."
"You like them a lot, don't you?"
The owl in front of her was unpredictable and capricious. Jiang Yu couldn't understand his sudden concern for her family matters.
"Isn't what you're saying obvious?"
"Are you confident you can rescue Chen Xin and me as soon as the fighting starts?" Jiang Yu didn't care about anything else; she only cared about her and her friend's safety. With Yi here, these pirates were no match for him. As long as this owl could guarantee her and Chen Xin's safety from the start, Yi would have no worries.
Qingyin and her parents were still waiting for her in the capital. She thought it over and over and felt that this way everything would be foolproof.
She looked up at Keslan and said her last concern: "Don't forget your promise to me. Keep my secret. I owe you one. Even though you owls have a bad reputation, you're all about integrity in business, aren't you? You read my letters first, and I didn't pursue it. Please keep your word."
"Tsk, so calm and ruthless." Keslan stood up with his arms crossed, looking at Jiang Yu with disdain: "I really don't understand why they all treat you like a precious gem, given your boring personality."