In the distance of his view, indeed appeared a familiar single-masted sailboat. With his powerful vision, he could clearly see the two familiar figures on board the sailboat—
It was Anna and Old Jack!
"Follow me."
Colin felt a slight relief in his heart, turned his head to Ante and instructed.
Employing the Soaring and Flying Technique, he leaped down with Ante from the edge of the reef, delved into the sea, and started closing in on the single-masted sailboat carrying Anna and the other.
He hadn't told Anna and the other their exact meeting point, only a general direction, so he needed to go and proactively meet them.
Of course, before meeting up, he needed to check whether Anna and the other had any tails following them.
Under the combination of Invisible Shadow and the Soaring and Flying Technique, he was like a mysterious fish, with only an almost imperceptible outline visible.
Over the course of using it, the Invisible Shadow, an Apprentice Level spell, was about to be pushed to its limit by him.
The effectiveness of its use also became somewhat enhanced.
Meanwhile, on the single-masted sailboat.
As they moved away from the Pahama Islands, the sorrowful expressions that Anna and Old Jack had feigned gradually disappeared, replaced by an uncontrollable sense of surprise.
The process of acquiring the Lightning Pendant went smoother than they had imagined.
That servant of Lian was just a frail common woman; before Old Jack, who was a Great Knight, dealing with her was as easy as dusting off a speck of dirt.
The whole process took less than a second, and without creating any extra disturbance, Old Jack tidily sent her into eternal slumber.
Afterward, while Old Jack was dealing with the body, Anna easily found the Lightning Pendant that their father had worn in life, in the drawer of a desk in Lian's bedroom...
All in all, everything went very smoothly, without a single hitch!
"I wonder where the Wizard would be waiting for us..." Old Jack suddenly mumbled in a low voice.
Anna glanced around and responded in a hushed tone,
"Perhaps he's already nearby, just making sure there are no tails following us... without showing himself."
Old Jack nodded.
Though he didn't believe they were being pursued, Colin didn't know their exact circumstances on the island, so it was natural to need to be sure.
They waited in silence, sailing in the direction they had previously agreed upon.
But time flew swiftly, and in the blink of an eye, over two hours had passed.
Anna and her companion had sailed to the location where the fishing boat had sunk the previous day, yet Colin's figure still hadn't appeared.
"Miss Anna, what shall we do now...?" Old Jack asked in a low voice, looking at Anna beneath the grey-white sail.
"Sail according to the plan," Anna replied after a moment of silence.
If they sailed to the location of the fishing boat's wreck and Colin hadn't met them, then they were to alter course towards the island with the Transmission Array.
"Yes." Old Jack nodded in agreement, standing up to adjust the sail behind him.
Whoosh.
The sea breeze blew, billowing the grey-white sail and gradually veering the small boat off to the left a bit.
The boat continued sailing, but the atmosphere on board had noticeably lost its earlier joy.
A shadow hung over the hearts of Anna and Old Jack.
"Anna sis!"
But just then, from a piece of brown driftwood not too far away, came a voice they hadn't expected.
"Ante?!"
Anna looked in the direction of the voice, murmuring in shock.
On that piece of driftwood was none other than her brother Ante!
They adjusted the sails and quickly sailed towards Ante, who was floating on the sea's surface.
"Get on board quickly." Old Jack pulled Ante onto the boat.
"Ante, how did you end up here? And that..." Anna instinctively started to ask.
"Anna sis, the fishing boat sank, and I was lucky to grab onto a piece of the deck, which allowed me to survive."
But Ante, who was beside her, abruptly interrupted her, his expression a bit agitated as he hugged her.
Then in a whisper like a mosquito's hum into Anna's ear:
"Wizard Leonard has noticed something unusual; you might have someone tailing you."
Anna's pupils suddenly shrank, and then quickly she switched to an excited demeanor, loudly patting Ante's back as she exclaimed:
"Thank goodness you're alive, thank goodness you're alive..."
Old Jack, standing by, watched the scene unfold. Although he was puzzled, he guessed a bit of what was happening and used the Great Knight's ability to control his body to force a few tears, then he raised his arm to wipe them away and patted Ante's shoulder.
Thus, the three of them had an emotional reunion for a moment before sitting down together.
"Daddy, where are we going now?" Anna asked loudly, ruffling her hair, seemingly still caught up in the excitement, her voice was somewhat loud.
"We'll keep moving forward; I've stored many Divine Coins on a certain island, that's the capital we'll need for our comeback!" Old Jack also declared loudly.
This was the instruction that Ante had shared with them during their recent embrace.
Although they didn't understand why, the Official Wizard must have had his reasons. Right now, the best thing to do was to follow orders and not overthink it.
So the three of them continued to steer the small boat forward.
"Sister Anna, did everything go smoothly on the island? Why did you end up with someone on your tail?"
During the continuous conversation, Ante suddenly interjected in a barely audible whisper.
His expression didn't change at all. To an outsider, it looked like he was just casually chatting with Anna.
"Everything went smoothly, and we didn't encounter anyone. Old Jack didn't make a sound when dealing with the maid," Anna nodded with a smile, "And to be cautious, we didn't leave the maid alive, her body has also been dealt with."
"As for the Lightning Pendant... it was placed in the most noticeable drawer of Lian's bedroom, even left slightly open, not fully closed, so it was pretty easy to find."
"It's fair to say that aside from the Lightning Pendant, there wasn't a single thing missing from Lian's house, nor any sign that anything else had been tampered with."
Ante was slightly startled by how smoothly things had gone.
Smoothly...
A flash of Spiritual Light struck him, and a chill ran down his spine as he considered a possibility—
The ease of acquiring the Lightning Pendant...
Could it be that someone had deliberately made the process smooth and easy?
Was someone using the Lightning Pendant as bait?
Once this line of thinking opened up, his mind was suddenly flooded with more thoughts and information.
Lian... this ordinary scoundrel who had become a Monk was because he unexpectedly became associated with a Priest named Hanfley.
Could it be that Hanfley was the one behind this fishing scheme?
Although this speculation came without basis, Ante's intuition told him that it was likely the correct answer.
He restrained the urge to convey this information to Colin and managed his expression as he first shared his suspicions with Anna and the others.
Meanwhile,
below the nearby sea surface, Colin was quietly following the small boat.
His peripheral vision occasionally swept across the space about a hundred meters directly behind the small boat.
There, under his Supersensitive Vision, a figure emitting a faint glow was quietly following Anna and the others.
Undoubtedly—
That glowing figure was definitely a Divine Believer, and it seemed that the figure hadn't expected an Official Wizard to be spying in secret; the disguise was quite crude.
However, judging by the strength of the glow on their body, they must be at least a Priest.
Retracting his gaze, Colin continued on his voyage, waiting for the right moment.
This was the judgment he made after comprehensive consideration.
If the Priest was indeed coming for Anna and the others, combat was unavoidable.
What he needed to do was, after dealing with the Priest, to make a quick escape.
After all, in the Divine-controlled Sea Domain, the death of a Priest would definitely be noticed by the Divine.
Therefore, he also needed to approach the Deserted Island that might have a Transmission Array and even wait for the Priest to show himself, confirming no other believers were nearby... only then would it make sense for him to act.
As for the worst-case scenario—if the Priest behind them had already informed other believers, and more believers were hidden in the shadows...
'Then I might have to abandon Anna and the others…'
Colin pursed his lips.