Hearing this, the slightly petite Amazon woman’s expression darkened with displeasure. "Are you suspecting me? I put the thing in there myself!"
One-Eye quickly soothed her. "Not at all. It’s just that I won’t feel at ease until I see it with my own eyes."
"Darling, you wouldn’t want me worrying the whole way back, would you?"
The Amazon woman pursed her lips, still unhappy. "Fine, dig through it then. Don’t complain about the stench."
One-Eye gave the order. "Search it!"
After a pause, he added, "You’ll all be rewarded for the trouble. Once we’re back, drinks are on me at the Muse District—pretty girls included!"
The Muse District—the city’s hub of entertainment. In its early days, the area was dominated by grand theaters and concert halls, catering to refined arts. But now, with foreign conglomerates moving in, it had become overrun with casinos and brothels.
The Amazon woman pinched One-Eye’s hip, and he merely chuckled, offering no resistance. The gangsters, however, brightened at the promise and stepped forward to flip aside the top layers of fish.
Immediately, a wave of putrid stench rolled out, nearly knocking them unconscious.
One-Eye only frowned and urged, "Continue Searching it!"
Left with no choice, the men steeled themselves and kept rummaging through the rotting fish. Yet even when they reached the bottom—several of them retching from the smell—they found nothing!
In an instant, the Amazon woman’s face paled. "Impossible! I put it in there myself. It has to be in this crate!"
Realizing the possibility, her expression turned ashen.
The only one who could override her permissions and tamper with the crate without her knowledge was her superior—the ship’s captain!
One-Eye’s face darkened as well. His eyes swept across the port, sharp and calculating, his mind racing.
Just as he’d feared—something had gone wrong. The item had been stolen right from under their noses, still aboard the ship!
"Anna, has anyone left on a lifeboat these past few days?" he demanded urgently, his palms slick with sweat. The Amazon woman shook her head vehemently. "I can swear on that—absolutely not!"
Good. That meant the thief couldn’t have escaped by sea after stealing the cargo. The goods couldn’t have gone far!
They must have been moved to another crate, still hidden somewhere in the port!
"Alert the commander!" One-Eye growled. "Lock down the port—no one leaves!"
Yet before the words fully left his mouth, a woman’s voice cut through the air behind him.
"Since when does Xanathar’s Guild dare to detain an Amazon ship?"
One-Eye whirled around, his face draining of color. Towering before him was a formidable figure clad in a simple leather breastplate and shorts, a round shield strapped to her left arm and a short spear gripped in her right. Behind her marched a contingent of fully armed Amazon warriors.
The insignia on her breastplate left no doubt—she was a high-ranking executive of Amazon Fisheries Company.
This was none other than Gale Porter.
After concluding her dealings with Zhentarim, she had immediately used a sending stone to alert the ship’s captain.
Setting aside her thoughts, Gale’s piercing gaze locked onto the scene ahead. "Seize them all!" she commanded. "Not a single Xanathar’s Guild rat walks free!"
At her order, over a hundred Amazon warriors advanced, encircling One-Eye and his men with lethal precision. Their fierce eyes promised violence, freezing the gangsters in place.
One-Eye seethed inwardly. This was a trap—it had to be! No executive would coincidentally appear at the port with an entire war party unless it was planned!
Yet resistance was futile. Amazon warriors were raised through brutal training with staggering mortality rates—but those who survived emerged as at least first-level warriors.
To ordinary men, even a single classed warrior meant certain defeat. Among One-Eye’s forces, only six could claim that distinction.
And this executive? Her strength was beyond measure.
Their only hope was Commander Kendrz’s intervention.
As One-Eye silently prayed for rescue, Gale barked another order. "Move the cargo to our cold storage—now!"
An Amazon warrior snapped to attention, then began driving the male laborers to unload the ship.
"Laborers" was a charitable term—they were slaves. In Amazon society, all heavy labor fell to captured men from other races. But since Liberl Port didn’t recognize slavery, the Amazons simply gave them a different name.
Crate after crate of sea fish came ashore as One-Eye watched, sweat dripping down his back. Then—a miracle. A booming voice echoed across the docks:
"Amazons! By what right do you detain my men?"
The Amazon executive whirled to face the man she’d sworn to kill—Kendrz. He marched toward them at the head of a hundred-strong force, steel knives and light crossbows gleaming in their hands.
He looked just as she remembered: tall and powerfully built, with pale skin and a thick beard. One glance at him sent murderous rage coursing through Gale’s veins. She longed to drive her spear straight through his chest.
"Your men dared to seize our ship," she sneered. "Did you think Amazons would tolerate such disrespect?"
"Sisters, ignore them. Keep moving the cargo to cold storage!"
Kendrz’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t yet realize this woman had personal reasons to hate him—that the Amazon warrior he’d raped and murdered years ago had been her mother.
He was still weighing his words when one of his thugs suddenly shouted:
"That one’s trying to run!"
All heads turned. A dockworker in a bulky windbreaker was sneaking away.
Caught, the man broke into a sprint toward the slums.
Civil servants, bouncers, even Amazon "laborers"—four or five figures in total—were suddenly fleeing in different directions, clutching suspicious bundles.
Commander Kendrz’s heart lurched. "Two squads—after them!"
Ahead, the Amazon executive’s eyebrows shot up. "Oh no you don’t!"
She leveled her spear.
"Kendrz! Your life ends today!"