I, Stone Golem, only want to forge.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Siri looked at Xiaoya and asked.

"I wonder if I may ask you something?"

"Please speak," Xiaoya nodded in response.

"Most of the crew on this ship should be ordinary people, and even the slave traders in the vicinity should be at most some less capable professionals."

With your abilities, you shouldn't be caught by them, right?

This question had puzzled him for a long time, but looking at Xiaoya's dying appearance, it didn't seem like she was faking it at all.

So he waited until he felt better before asking him.

After taking a deep breath, Xiaoya only gave a vague answer.

"You should know that these slave traders have some connections with the Vatican, right?"

Sri nodded.

Upon seeing this, Xiaoya continued.

"I... am actually an undercover agent for the court."

"Wouldn't it be inappropriate for me to hear about such confidential matters?"

Srui raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

"It was considered confidential a few days ago, but it's not really anymore..."

Xiaoya puffed out her cheeks, her expression a mixture of disappointment and helplessness.

"Anyway, what needs to be done has already been done, so it doesn't matter if I say it. Originally, this mission wasn't dangerous at all."

"Who knows why a few nuns from the Holy See suddenly appeared on this ship and were dragged out by me..."

She was indeed quite upset. They said they would arrive safely and without any danger, but who knew she would almost die halfway there.

The Vatican is divided into four basic departments according to its functions.

Court of Justice, Court of Cardinals, Court of Religious Affairs, Court of Sacraments.

These correspond to law enforcement, supervision, administration, and missionary work, respectively.

Although these four are related, apart from the Cardinals, they are basically independent of each other, and the tasks they perform are naturally the same.

So even if she was exposed, she couldn't explain her papal identity.

Not to mention that she was on an undercover mission, investigating these Vatican personnel who were colluding with slave traders, so it was even less likely that she would say anything.

"Then why didn't she just kill you directly, instead of just throwing you out?"

This is what puzzled Siri the most.

The nun did this without any attempt to hide it; she did it openly and honestly.

If the seller can guarantee that they will never spread the word about the sale of these children, then it would be understandable.

Why was Xiaoya, such an obvious variable, only expelled instead of being silenced on the spot?

"Because members of the Vatican cannot kill intelligent life without cause."

Xiaoya gave a strange answer.

"She's already trafficking children, why would she care about these things?"

"Uh...maybe they've brainwashed themselves and really think there's nothing wrong with their behavior."

"That's true."

Siri nodded, recalling the old man in the priest's robe, and suddenly realized that there was some truth to what he said.

He then turned to Murphy to confirm.

"So, Mr. Murphy, what are your plans next? I might have some things to take care of here and won't be able to come with you for the time being... I'm sorry."

"Find the barge, check the boat, and then leave."

Murphy replied.

It still has outstanding debts to repay, so I'll have to go check on the situation myself later.

After that's all done, they'll need to disassemble the ship a bit more and analyze the bag of strange items they've collected.

However, the last point could be analyzed while traveling, so Murphy didn't include it in his calculations.

"And these children... I wonder what Mr. Murphy thinks is the best course of action?"

Siri looked around again, then frowned and asked.

He also wanted to simply bring these children to his base.

However, the conditions at his residence were indeed not good, and who knows what it would become during the upcoming cold wave.

So it would be much better to give it to a nearby town than to give it to him.

But what do all these random things have to do with Murphy?

"have no idea."

"Then, could you please ask the village chief if he could accept these children now or in the future?"

"Yes," Murphy said.

"Thank you very much."

After Siri finished speaking, he felt that it wasn't good to stay on the ship any longer, so he and Murphy started making arrangements to find a place for the children to stay temporarily.

However, before he could act, he suddenly felt that the warning he had set for Diaz had been triggered. He quickly told Murphy and then transformed into a phantom and rushed over.

……

"So you mean your fleet hasn't been in this business for very long?"

And because you were busy negotiating business with the dwarves, you didn't have much time to find out the specifics before and after these voyages, is that right?

After asking a few questions, Ya summarized the useful information and then read it aloud.

Diaz nodded.

"Yes, and didn't you say that if I lied, the sword over my head would fall? Now that it hasn't fallen, doesn't that prove I wasn't lying?"

Ya looked at her notes, momentarily unsure of what to say, and then casually asked a question that wasn't too big or too small.

"So what kind of business did you discuss with the dwarf?"

"The shipment was mainly divided into three batches. One batch consisted of parts needed for building a dam in the downstream village."

Another batch is needed for a mage tower.

As for the last batch... I'm not sure what they're specifically for, but it should be related to your Vatican."

Ya became interested upon hearing this.

"Is there anything you can say?"

"No, that's not true. All I know is that it's roughly an order from the Holy Relics Institute. He didn't say anything about the specifics, which involve religious matters, and I couldn't ask, right?"

"Okay, that's about all the questions."

Ya nodded, and with a wave of her hand, the short sword hanging over Diaz's head was retrieved.

"Thank you for your cooperation. I hope you will try your best not to tell anyone about what happened today."

"Before that, I'd like to ask a question."

Diaz didn't even wait for Ya to answer whether he could speak, and pointed to the corpse whose head had been twisted 180 degrees and asked.

"Did you kill all the captains, or just this one?"

If only this one is killed, then Diaz will take his place and become the new captain.

But if he kills them all, Diaz will choose to run away.

Although they were a fleet, the cargo carried by each ship was not exactly the same, and the connections they used for transporting the cargo were naturally different.

If he only had one ship, his connections and sailing experience would allow him to maintain operations temporarily.

But with so many ships suddenly thrown at his face, he couldn't guarantee that he could get a good share while keeping the cake the same.

As for giving up the cake-cutting spot to someone else...

He was confident that as long as he dared to give in, those short-sighted fools would be thwarted after they had tasted the sweetness of victory once.

Even if he killed all the previous ringleaders of the slave trade, it would be difficult to guarantee that another group of people wouldn't emerge who, due to gambling debts, illness, or other reasons, would become extremely short of money and continue to engage in the slave transport industry.

"Mr. Diaz, it seems you have some misunderstanding about the situation."

Ya gently stroked her cheek, looking at Diaz with a playful smile.

"What misunderstanding?" Diaz frowned, a bad feeling creeping over him.

"I didn't kill the captain."

"If you didn't kill him, then who did?" Diaz's pupils shrank instantly, and he asked incredulously.

"He was already dead when I first arrived here, but I don't know why, he only died completely after seeing you."

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course it's true. Oh dear, it seems a master is on their way. I'll be going now. See you another day!"

Ya shrugged, said something innocently, and then waved to Diaz.

Then her body suddenly exploded into a bunch of bats, and as the bats disappeared, she also vanished from the spot.

Not long after Ya finished speaking, Sri suddenly appeared near Diaz and then quickly looked around at the surrounding area.

His gaze then fell upon the corpse, and he immediately asked...

"What's going on? What happened here?"

Diaz shook his head, then asked a question in return.

"Mr. Sri, can you tell how this body died?"

"Hmm? It sounds like a curse?"

……

Meanwhile, Murphy was studying the various equipment and systems on the ship.

Suddenly, several bats fluttered out in front of her, and then a nun appeared in front of Xiaoya.

"Huh? A stone man?"

As soon as Ya landed, she saw a stone man staring at her, and she felt a strange sense of absurdity.