Dawn broke.

The sun had yet to fully rise; only at the very end of the distant sea horizon could one glimpse a sliver of the thinnest golden radiance, dyeing the clouds that had lain silent all night into clusters of brilliant blossoms.

A medium-sized merchant ship was drifting leisurely on the sea, its hull rising and falling with the swells.

"It’s already more than two hours past the appointed time, isn’t it? Why is there still no movement?"

The Boatswain, a dark-skinned middle-aged man, stood on the deck gazing toward the silhouette of the island looming faintly in the morning mist, his expression slightly worried.

By contrast, the stout, broad-shouldered captain beside him, with his grizzled full beard, was clearly much calmer.

As if he had already gone through countless similar situations, he held a smoking pipe in one hand, casually pressed down the brimless cap on his head, and remained composed.

"Who knows. Maybe they were discovered by the pirates on the island, or something else happened."

"None of our business."

"When the sun is fully up, if we still haven’t seen the signal, we withdraw as planned."

This pickup vessel, disguised as a merchant ship, had only ordinary crewmen with no Level among them.

At night, they could still rely on their own sailing experience and the cover of darkness to ferry those adventurers near the island.

But come daylight, a ship like this was extremely conspicuous on the sea; if they were spotted by the pirates of Wildberry Cliff, they would be in serious trouble.

No matter how generous the mission pay was, the captain still had to think about the safety of his crew’s lives.

In fact, the very fact that they had waited until now, and were even willing to stay until full daylight before retreating, was already for the sake of their employer for this job, "Aurie Silver Heart."

Otherwise, once the appointed time had passed, he would probably have already called the sailors to raise sail and head back to Suo Yu Bay.

Just then, from the lookout on the mast overhead came an excited shout:

"Report! Something’s happening!"

"Someone’s coming from the shore!"

Hearing his lookout report this way, the Boatswain frowned and bellowed:

"Say it clearly, damn it! Who is it!?"

"Those adventurers, or the pirates on the island?"

There was no doubt this wasn’t a particularly hard question to answer; a glance toward the shore would be enough to draw a conclusion from the number and appearance of the people in sight.

Yet at this moment, the lookout with the spyglass looked especially hesitant, lips twitching, Adam’s apple bobbing, not knowing how he should answer.

The adventurer team he remembered—two Humans, a Dwarf, a Dwarf, and a Half orc—was now reduced to only the youngest, black-haired youth.

And at the same time, many ragged commoners had appeared at his side.

This was completely different from what they had expected.

In the end, after the captain thought it over carefully, the merchant ship that had been lying in wait in the nearby waters slowly drew closer.

And as the ship approached the shore, the people on deck finally saw the situation on the beach clearly and in full.

None of the adventurer team called "Iron Rock Shield" had appeared; the only familiar face was that black-haired youth who had seemed somewhat shunned by the other adventurers on the way here.

From the waist up, they could see that the strikingly designed armor he wore—originally well kept and spotless—was now caked with dried blood, as if it had been through a very fierce battle.

Yet there were no obvious wounds visible on the youth himself; he seemed in perfect condition.

At his feet were several crates, filled with weapons, armor, and other miscellaneous items.

Beside him cowered a pale-faced young man who looked as if he’d suffered some great fright.

Behind them stood many gaunt, sallow Humans; most looked weak, but their spirits seemed fairly good.

Afraid of running aground, the merchant ship did not draw too near; instead, the captain personally led a few sailors and rowed a small boat to the shore.

"Mr. Xia Nan, you’ve finally come back."

Before the dinghy had even settled, the captain called out first.

"If you hadn’t shown up soon, I was about to send sailors ashore to look for you gentlemen."

With the principal standing right before them, they naturally couldn’t candidly admit they’d originally planned to raise anchor and run.

Hearing the unspoken meaning in the words of this grizzled middle-aged man, Xia Nan didn’t mind; he dipped his head slightly and replied:

"Sorry, I was delayed a bit on the way back."

That was indeed the case.

With the intent of maximizing the gains from this mission—so he could buy the [Proof of Diligence] after returning to Suo Yu Bay—and also to locate as many of the island’s dungeons as possible, Xia Nan had searched the place thoroughly after the fighting ended, which was why it had taken so long.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he reached out and patted Hogan on the shoulder, instructing:

"Almost forgot—there’s still a small boat in that cliff cave over there. Take a few people to drag it out; that’ll be more efficient."

Unlike when Xia Nan had found him in the bushes, the little gangster from the Ebbtide Gang now looked like he’d been badly shaken, his spirit drained.

But at Xia Nan’s light pat, he nearly jumped out of his skin, gasping several times before stammering back:

"Y-yes... yes, sir."

Then he quickly picked out a few of the sturdier islanders from the crowd behind, and almost fled at a trot toward the cliff cave. He even stumbled twice on the way, nearly falling, cutting a particularly wretched figure.