Prison

Beneath the starry sky, at Castleton Harbour's docks,

There were still people working on the docks at night.

Everyone had long grown used to the occasional shout or two coming from the ships.

Whether it was horseplay or punishment, it was not part of the Elf Rangers' public security duties, and no regulation prohibited sailors from shouting and yelling aboard a sea vessel.

If it truly caused an extremely bad impact on the docks, at most the ship would be expelled from the harbour.

With such a Great Sea Ship docked at the pier, sailors came out every day to buy supplies in bulk. What Castleton elf living off the harbour docks would not welcome that?

As for all that noisy clamor, couldn't they simply turn their heads and stop listening?

Several sailors poked their heads over the railing.

When they saw the two elves caught in the anti-fall net hung with fishhooks, everyone burst into laughter.

Clearly, they were all used to this sort of sight. No one flew into a rage, no one cursed them out, and no one grabbed a long pole to give the pair a beating.

They worked together to haul Jasper and Roy from the Fishing Net onto the deck. As long as the two did not shout for help, the sailors had no intention of laying hands on them.

Roy was tangled in the net, which was covered in countless small fishhooks. Many of them had pierced through his clothes and sunk into his flesh as he struggled restlessly. Every movement tugged at his skin... and hurt terribly.

Though he groaned in pain, he still kept his mouth shut and did not scream.

Jasper beside him was not so fortunate. The moment he had landed in the net, he had begun crying for help. A Sailor immediately jabbed him in the lower abdomen with a wooden pole over five meters long. Even now, his body was bent like a shrimp, cold sweat streaming down his entire body.

Some sailors helped remove the net from them. They did not care whether the two were in pain, simply pinching the small hooks and pulling them out backward with practiced movements...

Jasper cried out in pain again and again because of it.

Fortunately, Jasper was not foolish enough to sit on the deck and continue shouting for help.

Never mind whether those Rangers could even hear them; the two of them would probably be slaughtered outright by these sailors.

They were pirates who killed without batting an eye.

Roy sat on the deck with blood all over his face. Once the net binding him had been removed, the sailors took everything he had and tied his hands and feet with hemp rope.

Roy felt that falling into the hands of these pirates probably meant certain death...

As the fear of death slowly wound around his heart, it left his whole body weak. He felt as though he could not even stand on his own feet.

His heart began pounding rapidly, and even his breathing grew hurried. He had not even had the chance to properly enjoy life after coming to this world, yet he was about to die at the hands of these pirates. There was regret, and there was also remorse.

Lights had come on throughout Castleton Harbour.

He looked toward Brown Street from afar. It was a pity he could not even give Ms. Belinda a proper farewell.

Thinking that he would soon be thrown into the sea, Roy noticed that the noble seaside estate beside the harbour docks was lit with brilliant lights, with the faint sound of music drifting over...

Roy regretted coming to this world when he had not even gotten the chance to hold hands with a soft elf girl and stroll through the streets together.

The second mate's burly body blocked the ship's lights as he squatted before them, his enormous shadow enveloping the two.

He glanced at Roy, then pinched Jasper's chin and lifted his head.

"I told you long ago, you'd better not wander around and look at things. Now look at this... what a damned nuisance! I thought elves were supposed to be smarter."

The second mate considered Roy nothing more than a little follower. Seeing him lying obediently on the deck, he could not even be bothered to look at him.

Their hands and feet were bound tightly.

Roy had thought they would slit their throats, tie stones to their feet, and throw them straight into the sea. Instead, the second mate said, "Lock them in the Bottom Cabin. Tie them securely. Be careful not to let them escape."

Four broad-shouldered sailors grabbed the two by their heads and feet and carried them down the stairs beneath the deck.

Roy counted carefully. There were actually three levels beneath the deck of this Great Sea Ship...

There should have been another sealed compartment at the very bottom, but the corridor on the second level was already flooded with seawater nearly thigh-deep. The four sailors had to wade through it as they walked.

When they opened the cabin door ahead, the Bottom Cabin was also filled with waist-deep seawater. There was no light anywhere, only a thick fishy stench, and the air inside was extremely foul.

Before Roy could take a closer look, two sailors roughly tossed him into the seawater in the Bottom Cabin.

Roy's body was covered in small wounds left by the fishhooks. When he fell into the seawater, the pain made him howl...

The two sailors hurriedly fished Roy out of the water. One of them, whose arm was nearly as thick as Roy's thigh, raised his palm to strike him, only for his companion to grab it.

The two exchanged a few words Roy could not understand...

"Don't hit him in the mouth. We still need to take them out to sea. Nerev needs the two of them to purify the resentful spirits on the ship."

"Then stuff his mouth!"

"Use their socks..."

"Hahaha..."

Thus, the unlucky Jasper and Roy were stripped of their boots by the four sailors. Their socks were pulled off, rolled into balls, and stuffed back into their mouths, then bandages were tied over their mouths to keep them from spitting the socks out.

Even the bandages had been removed from Roy's arm...

Afterward, they were hung like slabs of pork from iron hooks dangling from the main keel. They hung there in the Bottom Cabin, their thighs still submerged in seawater.

After confirming that the two were tied securely, the four sailors waded around the Bottom Cabin for another inspection before leaving...

When the cabin door shut with a dull thud amid the seawater, the entire Bottom Cabin fell into darkness once more.

In fact, when Roy was being hung up, he had already realized that Jasper and he were not the only ones imprisoned in this Bottom Cabin. There were faint sounds of breathing, panting, moaning, and crying...

The sound of the cabin door closing seemed like a signal that unleashed every sound.

Roy even heard splashing. Enduring the pain throughout his body, he struggled and twisted, turning halfway around on the hook.

Though there was not a trace of light in the Bottom Cabin, he had holy light. When he channeled it into his palm, a ball of Light Flame immediately illuminated the Bottom Cabin, half-filled with seawater.

Jasper hung not far from him. The iron hooks dangled from a keel at the center of the ship and caught the ropes between their hands. This made the ropes tighten more and more, while also making escape difficult.

Roy and Jasper's legs were both soaked in foul-smelling seawater. Jasper had been roughed up by the sailors on deck. When they dragged him out of the Fishing Net, they had also rammed a pole hard into his lower abdomen. He looked miserable now, his right eye swollen shut and his face smeared with blood.

Then Roy looked toward the rear of the Bottom Cabin and discovered that many Naga mermaids were hanging there as well.

These Naga mermaids were much longer than Roy and Jasper, thanks to their beautiful fish tails. Their hands were bound and suspended from iron hooks, while the lower halves of their bodies were submerged in water, which at least kept them from dying of dehydration.

There were at least a hundred Naga mermaids bound like this throughout the Bottom Cabin, and nearly all of them were young mermaid girls. Their bodies were covered in a layer of pale blue scales, most distinct on their shoulders, upper arms, and ribs, while their chests and bellies were exceptionally pale and delicate.

Like elves, Naga mermaids possessed pure, innocent faces due to their bloodline gifts.

The lines of their abdomens were especially alluring, paired with the sleek curves of their fish tails below.

Roy nearly cried out, "Nami!"

Of course, his mouth was stuffed with a sock.

In stark contrast to the ugliness of Naga men, the Naga mermaid girls were almost all remarkably beautiful. That was probably the main reason Slave Ships dared to risk venturing out to sea to capture them.

The lowest cabin was about half-filled with seawater. The Naga mermaids' hands were bound behind their backs, and chains attached to the collars around their necks hung down from the ceiling.

Their situation was far worse than Roy and Jasper's.

The Bottom Cabin was filled with the stench of rot and fish, accompanied now and then by the soft sound of water splashing.

The Naga mermaids were also quite surprised to see Roy and Jasper hanging in the Bottom Cabin...

But Roy soon realized that these Naga mermaids were already in terrible condition. Some had completely fainted, some were barely breathing and looked close to death, while others watched the two of them warily.

Especially when a glimmer of holy light appeared in Roy's palm, some Naga mermaids shyly wished they could bury their heads in the seawater, while others stared at the ball of light with reverence.

Roy was a little dumbfounded and hurriedly dimmed the holy light in his palm.

Only then did Jasper and Roy truly understand that this Great Sea Ship was indeed a slave ship.

Yet there were no elves aboard, only Naga mermaids.

And that explained why the Naga Assassin had appeared on the beach at Castleton Harbour and specifically targeted human sailors...

Roy suddenly thought of something. The Naga Assassin had already infiltrated the ship and was in the storeroom behind the kitchen on the first deck.

The sock stuffed into his mouth made breathing difficult.

There was nowhere on his body that did not hurt. His hands were suspended from the iron hook. At first, it had not seemed so bad, but after hanging there for fifteen minutes, Roy finally understood how unbearable it was.

The muscles in his arms began to ache and cramp, but if he did not exert force, it felt as though the joints in his arms were about to snap apart.

Roy felt that the ligaments in his arms had been completely strained. If he was not taken down from the hook soon, both arms would be ruined for good.

Roy tried struggling, but unfortunately, he could not break free...

Just then, a series of clicking sounds came from the entrance to the Bottom Cabin, as though someone were prying open the door's heavy lock.

Before long, there was a clatter as the iron lock and chain fell into the water.

Then the cabin door was pushed open by a large hand covered in scales. A familiar figure slipped into the Bottom Cabin, and Roy saw clearly the instant he entered—it was the Naga Assassin he had encountered on the street that morning...