Chapter 533 Raging Tide Warband

"Lorraine never told me you were coming."

Fishing rod in hand, Xia Nan found a spot and sat down beside Ellison.

Though inwardly surprised by the man's appearance, he kept it off his face, greeting him in the casual tone of an old friend.

"Of course she doesn't know." Ellison adjusted his fishing line, only glancing at Xia Nan before looking away again. "You've been with the Blade of Vengeance long enough. Don't you know what she's like?"

"If she knew I was coming to the island, I'm afraid you wouldn't have had a moment's peace on the way here."

Xia Nan had shared information about her older brother with Lorraine on multiple occasions, but her reaction...

She hadn't shown any particular reaction at the time, appearing exceptionally calm and rational.

Looking back on it later, however, he could faintly sense that she had actually been harboring some resentment.

Xia Nan could understand why.

When Lyle Morton was attacked by Algae Scale Dodd, Lorraine had been very young. She had set her sights on revenge early and fought relentlessly for it.

Through years of hard work, she had not only raised her Class Level to a relatively high point but had also built her own faction, making a name for herself across the Southern Archipelagos.

In contrast, her older brother seemed to have accomplished nothing.

Even though she knew he hadn't given up entirely, but was instead working from another angle to find some hope that their father might still be alive...

After so many years, it was perfectly normal for Lorraine to carry some grievances.

"You wouldn't mind if I mention you to her when I get back, would you?"

Xia Nan carefully observed the man's expression, a teasing lilt in his voice.

Clearly, for Ellison to show up on Stodd Island, he was already prepared for Lorraine to find out.

Though he remained silent rather than answering directly, it was a tacit admission.

"Aren't you going to drop by the ship to say hello?"

Truth be told, Xia Nan was genuinely looking forward to seeing them meet.

But considering their personalities and ages, he figured there wouldn't be any overly emotional reactions.

Hearing this, Ellison paused visibly at that.

He hesitated for a moment before giving his reply. "Give it another two days. Right before the banquet starts."

No matter what, he was Lorraine's biological brother.

Even if they had drifted apart in recent years due to differing ideals, there was no actual hatred or hostility between them—they were simply forging their own paths.

Now, with the Lunar Tide Banquet approaching and Lorraine about to face her final battle, how could Ellison turn a blind eye?

On the other hand, even though Ellison hadn't focused his energy on Algae Scale Dodd in the past, it didn't mean he lacked a thirst for vengeance against the pirate who had attacked his father.

Now that the opportunity was right in front of him, it was indeed time to put an end to everything.

"Cast your line. We've chummed the water enough."

Seeming unwilling to discuss it further, Ellison gripped his fishing rod with both hands and cast his line forcefully toward the rolling surface of the sea.

"Plop."

The sound of the hook hitting the water interrupted Xia Nan's urge to press further.

'This is family business between him and Lorraine anyway,' Xia Nan thought.

Since Ellison didn't want to talk about it, he wasn't going to make a fool of himself by prying.

Focusing his attention, he whipped his own rod toward the fishing spot he had picked out earlier.

Facts proved that the accumulation of fishing skills and knowledge often had little to do with the final catch.

Xia Nan considered his casting posture, spot selection, and bait choice to be at least above average, if not the best, among all the adventurers participating in the event.

Yet his fish bucket was completely empty. Inside floated only a few strands of seaweed that had tangled around his hook in the churning currents, tricking him into thinking he'd had a bite earlier.

"Something isn't right. Not right at all," he muttered.

Nearly an hour into the competition, one thing was certain: Ellison, sitting right next to him, had already pulled in three arm-length, medium-sized fish and one massive fish half the size of a person.

Applying the control variable method.

They were casting into the exact same spot, their techniques didn't differ much, and both were even relying on the [Tide-Surge Lure Pole] to chum the water.

Therefore, he could deduce that the gap in their harvest was due to—

Fishing gear!

The bone-white rod in Ellison's hands wasn't enchanted equipment, but its design was incredibly refined. Xia Nan had never seen anything like it and guessed it was a custom model made for professional angling.

Meanwhile, the [Albatross Type III] in his own hands might have been a bit pricey, but at the end of the day, it was still just a commercial product pulled off a tackle shop shelf.

But still, with the event having gone on for so long, surely he shouldn't be completely empty-handed?

A ripple of frustration went through Xia Nan's heart, but he quickly calmed down.

He had always been steady-minded and full of patience.

It was just a few fish. If push came to shove, he still had a backup plan—

Xia Nan wasn't the only adventurer facing frustration across the fishing grounds.

Perhaps due to poor luck, terrible technique, or some other factor, nearly a third of the allotted time had already passed. An increasing number of adventurers were realizing that if things continued like this, they would likely fail to qualify unless their luck suddenly exploded.

So, they slowly began to entertain crooked ideas.

Sidor was one of these many frustrated adventurers.

As a Level 1 Professional Warrior, he didn't have a fixed Adventurer Squad. Instead, he operated as a sort of "mercenary" among various low-tier adventuring parties.

Taking on occasional gray-market private jobs kept him living comfortably.

With his minuscule reputation in the Southern Archipelagos, it was naturally impossible for him to receive an invitation to the Lunar Tide Banquet. But it was a major festival held once every three years. Even if he couldn't attend the banquet three days from now, he still wanted to visit the island for the festivities. He figured he might make some useful connections or stumble upon an unexpected windfall.

Eighty percent of the adventurers here currently shared the same thought.

Obviously, the lottery event planned by the organizers was one of those anticipated "windfalls."

If he could actually draw a combat technique or some enchanted gear, his entire life's trajectory might be rewritten.

Therefore, Sidor was dead set on clearing the five required activities for the draw.

He wasn't particularly skilled at fishing, but over the years he had picked up a few basics. Combined with a rather lucky choice of location, he had actually reeled in a decent haul early on.

If that trend had kept up, he estimated that with another hour and a half, he could have caught the one gold coin's worth of fish required by the event.

But infuriatingly, the spot he had claimed was quickly coveted by other adventurers.

Without a fixed team, Sidor didn't even dare to resist the numerically superior Adventurer Squad. He was simply shoved and driven away.

Fortunately, the other party hadn't gone to extremes and had at least let him keep the fish he'd already caught.

Even so, having lost his precious spot, Sidor's heart burned with indignation.

'Damn Raging Tide Warband. Once I make it big, I'll kill every last one of you!'

As cowardly and subservient as he had just been toward the professional adventurers of the Raging Tide Warband, the vicious words in his heart right now were equally fierce and toxic.

Of course, for now, Sidor could only think such things to himself.

The captain of the Raging Tide Warband's squad was an illustrious veteran Class Holder in the Southern Archipelagos, said to have reached Class Level 7, bearing the title "Raging Tide."

Due to the man's half-dwarf, half-Barbarian heritage, his appearance was highly recognizable.

As a solo adventurer, the well-informed and sharp-eyed Sidor had instantly recognized his identity and proactively shown weakness, allowing him to retreat in one piece.

With his own meager strength, there would be no chance for revenge anytime soon.

He could only hope that an Adventurer Squad of the same caliber—like the Blade of Vengeance or the Windforged—would clash with them and extinguish those bastards' arrogance.

Carrying a fish bucket in one hand and his rod over his shoulder, Sidor cursed the Raging Tide Warband for stealing his spot. Refusing to give up hope, he walked along the shore looking for another suitable location.

As he ventured deeper into the fishery, the number of adventurers around him grew sparse, and the Water-Iron Wood Piles jutting from the sea thinned out. Sidor's heart slowly sank in dismay.

Just then, an unusual phenomenon in the water a short distance ahead caught his attention.

He noticed the seawater in that area was exceptionally murky. Beneath the rolling waves, it seemed as if some invisible entity was churning the water, kicking up mud and sand.

Fish from the surrounding areas were gathering in droves, forcibly turning a patch of water that should have been below average into a prime fishing location.

"Goddess Umberlee, thank you for your blessing!"

Sidor was ecstatic.

Though he didn't know the cause, it was clear that his bleak prospects had just found a turning point through this stroke of fortune.

Unwilling to waste another second, he grabbed his bucket and hurried forward.

But after taking only a few steps, two figures occupying the optimal shore spot for that stretch of water entered his sight.

He didn't recognize the middle-aged man holding the bone-white rod.

But the other person—a sharp-featured, black-haired young man—made Sidor stop dead in his tracks.

"Sea Fang!?"

He felt a sudden chill rise from his stomach.

Having survived as a solo adventurer in the Southern Archipelagos for so many years, Sidor's eye for people went without saying. He frequently loitered in taverns, gathering and updating his intelligence on the seas.

Because of this, the moment he laid eyes on Xia Nan's features—black hair, sharp facial contours, twin swords on his back, and peculiar armor—it took only a moment of recollection to recognize him as Sea Fang.

This was a ruthless character capable of wiping out the Horned Shark Gang and the Ebb Tide Gang. Obviously, a small fry like him couldn't handle someone of that caliber.

The wicked intentions he had harbored for the spot due to the gathering fish vanished the instant he saw Xia Nan.

As if sensing Sidor's gaze, Xia Nan, who had been focused on his bobber in the distance, turned his head and looked over.

Sidor's body couldn't help but stiffen.

A rigid smile, heavy with groveling flattery, instinctively squeezed onto his face.

Simultaneously, his feet pivoted ninety degrees in a flawlessly natural motion that no onlooker would ever catch, making it look as though he really were just a passing adventurer.

Thankfully, Sidor had reacted quickly enough to avoid provoking him.

He walked briskly for nearly five minutes without looking back. Only when he saw no one pursuing him did he let out a heavy sigh of relief.

Before the post-adrenaline fear could settle in, he suddenly realized that, without noticing, he had arrived in a remote area with surprisingly decent resources and not a single other adventurer in sight.

He thanked the Goddess of the Ocean once again, then happily found a place to sit, ready to chum the water and cast his line.

What Sidor failed to notice, however, was a few unusual bubbles popping up from under the water's surface just off the shore nearby.

Xia Nan finally figured out the reason behind his low catch rate.

Ultimately, the fish attracted by the [Tide-Surge Lure Pole] were already full.

This fishing ground was already rich in food resources thanks to the Water-Iron Wood Piles, so the schools of fish here were never short of meals.

With the [Tide-Surge Lure Pole] stirring up the water on top of that, the nearby shallows had turned into a thick soup. The fish didn't even need to forage; they just swam around, opened their mouths, and drank until they were stuffed.

The reason Ellison was having such a great harvest was that the artificial bait he chose was designed to target medium and large predatory fish higher up the food chain.

Such an environment was the perfect hunting ground for those predators.

As for Xia Nan, though his chosen lure could also hook large fish, it was primarily meant for small and medium-sized species.

Right now, those schools were basically stuffed and naturally had no interest in biting the bait. Coupled with a slight lack of fishing luck, the combination resulted in his current predicament.

"I can't keep going like this!"

Xia Nan decisively reeled in his line.

After thinking it over for a moment, he decided against initiating Plan B for the sake of the fishing experience.

The tackle shop at the entrance was quite a distance away, and a round trip would waste a lot of time; at the same time, he couldn't bear to abandon the large fish drawn in by the [Tide-Surge Lure Pole]'s chumming.

It wasn't entirely hopeless, however.

Ellison beside him hadn't brought extra lures, but just earlier, Xia Nan had seen a passing adventurer carrying a heavy fish bucket. The man's haul looked good, and his line had been equipped with two lures perfectly suited for large predatory fish.

He wondered if he could borrow one from the guy, willing to offer a reasonable reward in exchange.

Yet, when he followed his Perception in the direction the man had left and arrived at another stretch of the shore, all he saw was a snapped fishing rod on the ground, a tipped-over bucket, and the fish that had spilled from it, thrashing and struggling on the dirt.

As for the adventurer, he had already vanished without a trace.