"No! I still have things to do! I'll come back tonight!"
Leilin stood up and refused, ignoring the resentful look on Madam Tiren's face behind him.
"Master! Where are we going now?"
Hulk and the giant stood even further back, like two loyal guards.
"Grab a few people — we're going to recruit some sailors!"
Leilin said. In truth, whether it was the Crimson Tiger or the Mermaid, both ships were severely short on crew, so they needed to hire a large batch of hands as soon as possible.
At Pirate's Port, there was never a shortage of such people — you just had to sift through them carefully.
"Whip and Rum"!
Leilin looked at the bar's name and couldn't help but feel a bit exasperated, but he still pushed open the thick wooden door.
Although it was still morning, the bar already had plenty of business, and — unsurprisingly — quite a few hungover drunks as well.
"Chief! We found some people last night, and they're all waiting here for you!"
The giant grinned with simple honesty and slammed his fist on the U-shaped countertop, sending all the hanging glasses rattling and clinking with a pleasant jingle.
"Oh, it's you — the kid from yesterday! Hurry up and settle their tab!"
A bleary-eyed old drunkard emerged from a small door behind the bar. He glanced at the giant with dismissive contempt, but when his gaze fell on Leilin, his eyes immediately lit up.
Perhaps it was the luxurious attire Leilin wore. This was the big spender who could actually settle these outstanding debts!
"Welcome, honored guest!" The old man bowed deeply, his eyes nearly disappearing into slits.
Compared to how the giant had been treated, Leilin was getting treatment eight streets ahead. But the giant merely grumbled under his breath and didn't dare say anything more.
After all, he had learned firsthand what Leilin was capable of.
"What does the guest desire?"
"A glass of rum! The rest of you, help yourselves!"
Leilin waved his hand and sat down at the bar. "Where are they? Bring them out for me to see!"
His standards weren't particularly high at this point — as long as they were functional pirates, that would do.
"Wait a moment, Chief!"
The giant scratched his head, then charged like a hurricane into several sofa booths nearby, delivering punches and kicks. Occasional strings of profanity could be heard erupting from within.
After a few minutes, over a dozen battered and bruised pirate sailors were driven out by the giant.
Though they bore injuries, each of them carried an air of sharp competence that far exceeded Leilin's expectations.
"Giant, were these the people you got into a fight with last night?"
A sudden premonition arose in Leilin's mind.
"Yes, Chief!" The giant smiled with guileless simplicity. "These guys have tough hands — they could hold their own against me for a while. I'm sure they'd do well in a fighting crew…"
The giant possessed supernatural strength and was a fifth-rank warrior-class combatant. In reality, he could hold his own against even sixth- or seventh-rank fighters without coming out at a disadvantage. To earn his praise, this group's combat ability was genuinely impressive.
By now, they understood that Leilin might become their future employer, so their eyes held a mix of nervousness and anticipation as they glanced toward the burly man in their center.
"Hmm? Your name?"
Leilin looked at the man who was clearly their leader. He sported a full beard, and his eyes were half-lidded as if dozing, only occasionally flashing with a sharp glint.
"This one has quite a story behind him!"
Just from that first glance, Leilin had already reached this judgment.
"Ronald! My name is Ronald, sir!" The bearded man spoke with respectful yet proper diction, as though he had studied some aristocratic etiquette.
"Can you read?" This subtle distinction immediately piqued Leilin's interest.
"I once spent some time studying letters in the household of a Tairyn scholar!" Ronald kept his manner very humble. Though their contact had been brief, he had already sensed something extraordinary about this young man.
Not only could he command a subordinate like the giant, but there was also a particular bearing about him.
It was the kind of dignified presence — or noble temperament — that could only be cultivated through a life of privilege combined with long years of etiquette and cultural training.
In this age, a person like that represented hope!
"Very well! Ronald, would you swear loyalty to me?" Leilin smiled, changing the proposition from simple employment to an oath of loyalty. This distinctly aristocratic invitation caught Ronald off guard.
But he only hesitated for a moment before gritting his teeth. "I must ask, young sir — are you from the Louis family? If so, I'm afraid I cannot comply."
"Why? Do you have a grudge against them?"
Leilin asked with keen interest, and from Ronald's eyes he caught a flash of desolation and a thread of hatred.
Those complex emotions flickered for only an instant, but they were impossible to hide from his scrutiny.
"Yes!" Ronald gritted his teeth and took the gamble. After all, if this young master before him hailed from the Louis family, his own fate would surely not end well.
At that moment, the atmosphere grew quite delicate. The dozen or so pirates following Ronald glared at Leilin's group with hostility, as though they would swarm the instant an unfavorable move was made.
The bar owner had long since ducked behind the counter — clearly a veteran of such tense situations.
"Haha… haha…" Just when the tension had stretched nearly to the breaking point, Leilin's clear, bright laughter rang out, like a massive boulder hurled into a still lake.
"I am not one of Marquis Louis's men. On the contrary, my family bears a grudge against him as well!"
Leilin spoke slowly. "After all, even if he needed manpower, he wouldn't very well come to Pirate's Port to recruit, would he?"
"Then Ronald is willing to accept your employment, sir!"
The man cleverly sidestepped Leilin's earlier question about loyalty, making it clear his allegiance was not yet given — but that was only natural.
Leilin was far from delusional enough to believe that a single display of charisma would have everyone immediately pledging their undying fealty.
In all likelihood, he would only earn Ronald's genuine loyalty when he led the man into open conflict against Marquis Louis — or perhaps only after he had destroyed Marquis Louis altogether would Ronald willingly lay down his life.
"But for now, this result is already quite satisfactory!"
"Very well! From this moment on, you are all sailors aboard the Crimson Tiger. Ronald, you are my second mate!"
There were plenty of vacant positions to fill — they needed all the manpower they could get.
"Haha… now we're all one big family! Boss, bring out the drinks!"
The giant clapped Ronald on the shoulder with a resounding slap that nearly sent the man stumbling.
"No problem!" The old man who had hidden behind the counter earlier immediately emerged, rubbing his hands together with a grin like an old fox. "It's just… before we start drinking, perhaps we should settle the outstanding tab first? Since you've all found employment, money should be coming in soon, yes? Poor old Fader can barely hold on much longer…"
As he spoke, he cast meaningful glances toward Leilin and even managed to squeeze out a few tears.
Hearing this, Ronald and the others immediately lowered their heads. A few even showed traces of shame on their faces.
"So it seems these people were locked up here last night purely because they didn't have enough gold coins to pay their tab."
Leilin sighed with helpless resignation. "Tell me — how much do they owe you in total…?"
After leaving the bar, Leilin now had a group of people trailing behind him, their faces still carrying traces of guilt.
"I've already taught you the criteria for recruitment. Now it's up to you to find more people. I need a hundred!"
After walking for a stretch, Leilin addressed Hulk, who was behind him.
"Rest assured, young sir!" As a guard of the Faolan family, Hulk's loyalty to Leilin was quite high.
"Good! Go about your business — no need to follow me!" Leilin waved them off without looking back.
"Master!" Karen followed close behind Leilin, worry evident on her face.
"Relax. The promises I make have never gone unfulfilled!" Though Leilin's voice remained as gentle as ever, Karen's body involuntarily shivered.
"Please… do be careful. Pirate's Port is very dangerous…"
"Mm, I know."
Leilin nodded and disappeared into a narrow side alley off the street.
Pirate's Port was riddled with complex, cramped alleyways — some so narrow that only a single person could pass through at a time, choked and cluttered, the ground strewn with gutter slop and other filth, reeking with a foul stench.
But in the corner of one alley, Leilin's eyes caught a distinctive mark — two crossed daggers, subtly pointing in a specific direction.
"The Thieves' Guild!"
Leilin smiled and headed straight in the direction the daggers indicated.
In the World of the
More often than not, these three headquarters also doubled as quest-giving institutions, providing enormous convenience to countless adventuring parties.
Indeed, whether a city possessed all three guilds along with a certain number of temples was a key indicator and standard for judging whether it qualified as a prosperous metropolis in the World of the Gods.
Pirate's Port naturally had no Mages' Guild, but Leilin had already seen the Warriors' Guild — its insignia was unmistakable.
As for the Thieves' Guild, it was a vast network hidden in the shadows. Its quests were predominantly dark in nature — mostly assassinations and thefts.
Yet this shadowy web stretched across virtually the entire continent, and rumor held that numerous gods offered it their divine protection.
Yes — behind all three great guilds, there stood more than one god's patronage!