Morning. Faint light slipped through the cracks in the window and fell across the old wooden floor.
Aiden slowly opened his eyes. He was not in a hurry to get up.
He felt something warm over his body. He did not need to look to know it was a blanket.
In fact, when Tia approached earlier, his years of fighting had already woken him from his light sleep. He had heard her nervous heartbeat and the careful way she moved, trying not to wake him.
But considering how easily embarrassed she was, if he had opened his eyes suddenly, the moment would have turned awkward right away.
So he wisely chose to pretend to sleep. He let her clumsily cover him with the blanket and sneak back to bed as if she had done something wrong.
Thinking of this, Aiden smiled to himself. He sat up straight on the hard wooden chair, and the blanket fell off.
He picked up the blanket. He looked at Tia, who had her back to him and was pretending to look out the window, and smiled.
"Morning."
"Morning."
Tia did not turn around. Her voice was calm, but her ears were a little red.
Aiden did not point out the blanket. He just folded it and put it aside.
"Did you sleep well last night?"
"I... I slept okay."
Tia said vaguely. As if to hide her embarrassment, she quickly changed the subject.
"Since you're awake, let's get to work. Let's go to the port and see if there are any ships heading southeast."
"Together?" Aiden raised an eyebrow.
"Of course."
Tia said, as if it were obvious.
"Splitting up would waste time, and something could happen. Besides..."
She looked at Aiden and said confidently:
"You are a bodyguard. What kind of bodyguard isn't by my side?"
"Alright, alright, whatever you say."
Aiden shrugged. He picked up Shusui and hung it on his waist.
They left the inn and joined the busy crowd in Karkas Port.
Although this place was known as a "neutral zone" free trade port, the war was still close enough to be felt.
On the street, aside from the passing merchant caravans, they could also see many refugees hurrying along with their families. Most of them came from nearby small countries affected by the war. They carried bags, held their children close, and looked tired and lost.
Near the main docks, teams of soldiers wearing the uniforms of the Allied 20 Nations were moving heavy metal supply crates. The symbols on the crates made passing pedestrians avoid them as soon as they saw them.
"Even though the war hasn't reached here directly, this atmosphere... is really not good."
Aiden walked and casually looked around, but he was thinking to himself.
Along the way, he had seen too many things that felt out of place.
There were black market merchants by the road selling "civilian devices" that came from the Great Kingdom. Those finely made automatons were advanced even compared to the future Aiden knew.
In the crowd, he could occasionally see races that would be pushed to the edges of the world in the future.
Three-Eye Tribe merchants with a third eye on their foreheads, Fish-Man sailors, Buccaneer travelers carrying huge bags, and agile Mink scouts.
"Their technology is hundreds of years ahead of the future I know..."
The more Aiden saw, the less it made sense.
"And their people can fight too."
"Fish-Men, Buccaneers, Minks... These races seem to be allies or citizens of the Great Kingdom in this era, and many of them can fight."
"There are even Lunarians."
Thinking of this, Aiden couldn't help but look at the [Lunarian Bloodline] still waiting to be selected on his system panel.
That was a powerful bloodline that even the system described as a race once treated like gods.
The scene of his fight with "King the Conflagration" came to Aiden's mind.
Although that battle ended quickly, Aiden had to admit that the Lunarians, who could survive in extreme environments and were born with flames and bodies hard to damage, were a race with unfair advantages.
"They had better technology, stronger races, and more reason to stand together..."
Aiden frowned.
"With all that on their side, why did the Great Kingdom retreat step by step and finally get destroyed by the alliance of twenty nations?"
"Is that Imu... really that strong?"
But this was not something Aiden should worry about right now, because they ran into a bigger problem.
For an entire morning, the two of them went to almost all the merchant offices and docks in Karkas Port.
Every answer was a rejection.
"Sorry, not going. That place is a war zone now. I wouldn't go no matter how much you pay."
"Going southeast? Girl, are you crazy? The currents in the Chasm Strait are a mess right now. Add in the Allied forces' blockade, and going there is a death wish!"
"No pass? Then don't even think about it. Right now, all ships heading southeast are carrying things that kill people. They don't take living passengers."
After being roughly rejected once again, Tia stopped at a street corner, her shoulders low.
Even though she held enough gold coins in her hand to buy a whole ship, in this situation, gold was not enough.
"Looks like money isn't everything sometimes."
Aiden leaned against the wall. He looked at the busy port in the distance, where everyone avoided the berths for the southeast route, and said casually:
"Unless you pay enough... well, judging from those captains, they are scared enough that more money won't help."
"But then again."
Aiden looked at her anxious profile and suddenly asked:
"Judging by the captains' reactions, that place is really dangerous. Why do you insist on going to that hellhole? Got a death wish?"
"I..."
Tia opened her mouth, then stopped.
She couldn't tell him her real purpose. The fewer people who knew about this, the better. Aizen was a good person, and there was no need to drag him into this.
Tia opened her mouth again but didn't know how to explain. In the end, she just snorted, turned her head, and glared at Aiden.
"Hmph, aren't you also insisting on going? You have no right to talk about me."
"Alright, alright, my bad."
Aiden spread his hands.
"So what do we do now?"
Tia bit her lip and subconsciously looked at Aiden.
"If we can't find a ship, we can only go by land. But that means going around the Chasm Strait, and who knows how long that will take. By then... I'm afraid it will be too late."
She glanced at the few black warships anchored in the deep water area in the distance.
Then she had a reckless idea.
"Um... Mr. Aizen."
Tia lowered her voice and asked carefully:
"If nothing else works... why don't you go steal a ship?"
"Huh?"
Aiden paused, doubting his own ears for a moment.
"What did you say?"
"Steal a ship!"
Tia pointed at the warships in the distance and spoke quickly:
"Since merchant ships won't go, let's steal an Allied ship! Anyway... anyway, you are so strong. You killed that desert monster in one strike. Stealing a ship shouldn't be hard for you, right?"
Aiden looked at her in silence for a second.
Was this really the same reserved woman who had been embarrassed just pretending to be his wife?
"Are you serious?" Aiden raised an eyebrow. "I couldn't tell. You actually have the potential to be a pirate?"
"I..."
As soon as she said it, Tia realized it too.
Hijack a warship? How much noise would that make?
"No... no, no."
Before Aiden could speak, she shook her head and rejected this absurd proposal herself.
"Stealing a ship would cause too much of a scene, and the two of us can't sail a ship anyway."
Tia grabbed her hair in frustration, clearly annoyed at herself for coming up with such a bad idea.
The two fell silent.
No merchant ships, couldn't steal a ship, were they supposed to swim over?
"Right..."
Tia seemed to remember something and hesitated.
"When I was asking for information at that chamber of commerce just now, I heard a drunk old sailor mention something."
"He said that in the abandoned dock on the far west side of the port, there's a group of weirdos."
"Weirdos?" Aiden raised an eyebrow.
He had been wondering how the Great Kingdom managed to lose the war despite having such a huge advantage, so he had not paid much attention to what Tia and the old sailor were saying earlier.
"Yes." Tia nodded. "They said it's a ship that looks battered, and the captain is a weirdo who claims all day that he wants to go to the end of the world."
"Even though it sounds unreliable, the old sailor said the ship's hull seems extremely sturdy. The hull might survive the turbulent currents of the Chasm Strait. And if the captain is that strange, he probably won't care about the Allied forces' blockade or war zone warnings."
"I guess this is the only ship right now that might meet our needs."
Aiden stood up and clapped his hands.
"Then let's go take a look."
"As long as it can move, it's a good ship. As for whether the captain is a weirdo..."
Aiden grinned.
"In this era, how many people who dare to go out to sea aren't crazy?"
The west district of the port.
This place felt like a different world from the bustling central trade district.
Rotten abandoned wood, rusty iron anchors, and dead fish and shrimp lay everywhere, giving off a foul smell. Occasionally, a few skinny wild dogs ran by, staring warily at the two well-dressed strangers.
"Is there really a ship in this kind of place?"
Aiden stepped on and broke a rotten wooden board, wondering if Tia had been fooled by that drunk.
However.
Just as the two turned a corner piled with junk, cheerful tambourine and violin music suddenly reached their ears.
In this ruined place, the cheerful music felt out of place, but alive.
"Over there."
Aiden turned toward the sound and strode over.
At the end of the dock, a round two-masted sailboat was anchored. Although the hull looked old and had patches all over it, it had been kept clean.
The sea breeze blew, and the flag at the top of the mast flapped loudly.
That flag did not have a skull on it. Instead, it showed two clinking wine glasses, as if inviting the whole world to toast together.
The deck was full of noise and laughter.
Seven or eight crew members were throwing a party.
A Longarm with extra-long arms was playing the violin, a blue Fish-Man was grilling fish, and a Mink was dancing to the beat.
Everyone was smiling, laughing, or singing.
Sitting at the bow was a tall, burly man.
He had the broad upper body of a Buccaneer, with dark skin and thick muscles.
He wore a somewhat worn-out captain's hat and an ill-fitting floral shirt whose buttons looked ready to burst.
He held a giant wooden cup in his hand and had a wide, infectious smile on his face.
"Yo! Friends over there!"
Seeing Aiden and Tia approach, the man did not ask "Who are you?" like most people at the port would. Instead, he walked right over, raised his giant cup, and called out:
"Want a drink?"
"Captain Banks! Don't just yell out to anyone. What if they are here to collect taxes?" a crew member nearby joked with a laugh.
"Who cares! Tax collectors have to drink too!"
"Besides, we are the Fine Liquor Pirates! We drink, we sail, and we do what we want!"
The man called Captain Banks laughed loudly.
Hearing this, Aiden, who had been standing behind Tia, paused.
"So pirates already existed 800 years ago?"
Aiden was surprised inwardly as he looked at this group of people calling themselves pirates.
"Piracy really is an ancient profession."
Tia looked at this strange crew. She frowned slightly, but she had to try her luck anyway.
She adjusted her cloak, stepped forward, and got straight to the point.
"We are going southeast. Are you heading that way?"
"Southeast?"
Captain Banks took a gulp of liquor, wiped the stains from the corner of his mouth, slapped his thigh, and laughed.
"Sure am! Of course I am!"
"As long as there's liquor, even going to hell is on the way!"
Tia breathed a sigh of relief.
Although this captain looked unreliable, at least he was willing to go.
She gritted her teeth, reached into the inner lining of her clothes, fumbled for a moment, and took out a dozen heavy gold coins. She held them out in her open palm.
"This is the deposit. As long as you can get us there, I will give you double this amount when we arrive."
It was enough money to make most captains agree at once. After all, the sailboat in front of them looked like it had been through a lot, and the hull was full of patches. Just the deposit in her hand, plus the promised final payment, was more than enough to order a brand-new large ship.
Captain Banks did not even look closely at how many gold coins Tia held. He just glanced at them.
"Gold, huh..."
He muttered, then shook his head and waved his hand.
"Sorry, we don't take that."
Tia froze. She thought he was being greedy.
"Is it too little? I can add more..."
She took out a few more gold coins, placed them in her hand, and offered them.
"It's not about the money."
This time, Captain Banks directly pushed Tia's hand back.
"Girl, put that away."
He shook his head and touched his exaggerated mustache.
"Girl, money is a good thing, but it depends on the place."
"Here, it's not even worth this half cup of liquor in my hand!"
"Then what do you want?"
Tia got a little anxious. She tightened her grip around the coins and did not know what else to say.
"We really have urgent business there."
"What do I want?"
Captain Banks touched his exaggerated mustache and laughed out loud.
"That depends on what you have. But looking at how serious you two are, you probably didn't bring anything interesting besides money."
Seeing Tia look disappointed, he laughed loudly again and waved enthusiastically.
"But hey, even if we don't do business, we can still be friends! It's not easy for you to come all the way here. Want to come up and have a drink? We have plenty of rum today! Let's just make friends!"
Tia was completely stunned.
He refused a huge sum of money that could buy this ship, but invited strangers aboard to join a party just to "make friends"?
In this era of war, where everyone chased profit, Tia could not understand him at all.
"What a... weirdo."
Just as Tia was at a loss, not knowing whether to accept this sudden kindness, a hand rested on her shoulder and gently pulled her back.
"Leave it to me."
Aiden stepped forward.
He reached out and stopped Tia, who still wanted to argue.
Aiden had been observing.
These people did not feel hostile. They were not pirates who went to sea for treasure. They were more like people who just wanted to drink and sail.
Talking about money with this kind of people really was useless.
"Looks like we need to give them what they like."
With a thought, Aiden flipped his wrist, and a clear glass bottle appeared in his hand.
As an experienced drinker, although he did not hoard much food in the system's storage space, he never ran out of good liquor.
While walking around Karkas Port earlier, he had passed many places selling alcohol.
Aiden realized that although the technology of this era far exceeded the future, eight hundred years had clearly improved brewing. Future brewing techniques, in both strength and flavor, were far beyond this era.
Aiden didn't waste words. He pulled out the cork.
"Pop."
With a soft sound, a rich smell of liquor spread through the fishy-smelling dock.
The noisy crew went quiet for a second, then sniffed the air.
Everyone turned toward the bottle in Aiden's hand.
Captain Banks rushed over faster than his size suggested.
"This is..."
Aiden shook the bottle in his hand. The amber liquid inside shone in the sunlight.
"Is this enough for the fare?"
Saying that, he casually tossed the bottle over.
Captain Banks hurriedly caught it as if holding some rare treasure. He carefully smelled it first. Then he could not hold back anymore, tilted his head back, and took a big gulp.
"Gulp!"
The liquor went down his throat.
It went down smooth, then burned hot in his stomach. The large man, who had been drinking all his life, froze completely.
Three seconds later.
"Hah—!!!"
Captain Banks let out a long sigh. He shuddered as if the drink had kicked him awake.
"Good liquor!! That's got a kick!!"
"This taste... so complex! So mellow! It's a hundred times better than any liquor I've ever had!"
He stared at Aiden like he had found a brother.
"Just for this bottle! You two get on the ship!"
"Even if it's to the end of the world, I'll take you there!"
Hearing this, Tia stared at the bottle, then at Aiden.
Her gold coins were rejected, yet Aiden solved the problem with just one bottle of liquor?
"Let's go."
Aiden patted the stunned Tia and stepped onto the gangplank first.
"Looks like we can head out."
Tia snapped out of it. Although she felt this crazy group was not very reliable, this seemed to be their only choice right now.
...
Half an hour later.
Along with the shout of "Weigh anchor!" and the cheerful tambourine beat, the Fine Liquor Pirates' two-masted sailboat slowly left the dock and headed toward the southeast sea, a place few dared to enter now.
The sea breeze blew, carrying a salty smell.
Aiden stood on the deck, looking at the guys around him singing, dancing, and toasting to the sea.
Captain Banks was beating the tambourine, humming an upbeat but slightly out-of-tune song.
Aiden had never had a good impression of pirates. When he met scum who burned, killed, and looted, he cut them down without mercy.
But this group was different.
They felt less like raiders and more like people chasing the sea itself.