Part 3 The Traveler Chapter 16 The Mannequin
One of the burly men facing off wore the navy’s distinctive blue and white striped shirt, still bare-chested in the near-zero cold.
He held a dagger in his hand against the throat of the man across from him, but was himself being pointed squarely at his brow by an obsolete hand cannon capable of entering a museum.
The owner of the hand cannon was likewise a burly man over a meter eight, with solid muscles and a face that appeared oily, shaved off his hair, tattooed with a sea eagle, and cursing under his breath:
”Shit Navy!
”No one in Damir Harbor has ever dared to slander me as a pirate informant!”
The marine wasted no time in trading insults with him, both sides displaying the sea’s wealth of profanity-laden phrases to their hearts’ content.
Krynn watched for a few seconds, skirting along the edge to Captain Erland, who wore a straight sword at his waist and a concealed hand cannon, and asked calmly and casually:
”What happened?”
”A quarrel between two drunken men, and it has been rumored in Damir Harbor, and in the surrounding seas, that ‘Sea Eagle’ Logan serves the master of the ‘Black Tulip.’ That navy mentioned this just now, but it happened to be met by the ‘Sea Eagle’.”
”The owner of the Black Tulip? Wasn’t it “Admiral Hell” Ludwig? Klein turned to the high chair at the bar and tapped the wooden countertop:
”A Southwell ale.”
”Sixpence.” The bartender, with his bronze complexion and white teeth, wiped his glass and said with no enthusiasm at all.
Prices were quite a bit higher in the land specialties than in Birkeland and Tingen …… Crane pulled out a handful of copper coins and counted out sixpence to the other man.
By this time, the clash between Logan and the Navy was stopped by the bar’s guards, each saying harsh words and retreating to different corners.
Perhaps because of the loss of face, the navy left in a hurry after an interval of ten seconds or so, and the atmosphere in the bar became warm again.
”Want to play cards?” Captain Erland said, pointing to the stairs at the side of the bar.
”No.” Klein’s main purpose was to gather information.
Aerlan subconsciously wanted to tap him on the shoulder, but was prevented from doing so by his cold, sharp demeanor, and could only smooth out his dark red jacket with a word of caution:
”Don’t look for women here.”
Klein nodded, picking up the mug with the Southwell beer and taking a swig with a grunt.
”And don’t trust anyone here, only a very small part of what they say is true.” Aeran stepped onto the steps leading up to the second floor, carrying his own strong Ronzi.
Klein glanced at him sideways, his expression unchanged as he asked rhetorically:
”Including you?”
”…… Maybe.” Aeran first froze, then laughed, “At least my earlier reminder was true, well, it’s also true that I’m a man!”
That’s not necessarily the case. …… There is a magic potion in this “world” called “witch.” …… Klein retracted his eyes and slowly drank his wine while listening to the conversation around him. Slowly drinking, while listening to the surrounding drinkers bragging.
After two or three minutes, a short, thin man held his own drink and sat down next to Klein.
”Man, you look like an adventurer.” He said with a slight sideways smile.
The man who greeted him had black hair and blue eyes, his features were old and his aura was rather lewd.
”You could say that.” Klein responded coldly.
”I can see that you are a hunter, chasing after bounties and wealth.” The short man glanced from side to side, lowered his head, and pressed his voice, “Ever heard of the ‘Ghost Empire’?”
I’ve heard of Amway, and I’ve also heard of the Father and Savior …… Klein, who is sealed at the bottom of the sea, using the power of the “Faceless Man” to send out signals not to come near me:
”Know, a huge, ancient, treasure-laden ghost ship.”
”We have a lead on it!” The short man said in an infectious tone, “We found some information on where it will appear next! We don’t want to be cheap to pirates and navies, we don’t want to be robbed of our wealth by others, so, we decided to hire our own armed merchant ship to go to that sea and wait for it, it will cost us about 1,000 pounds, and I’ve already found fifteen companions to raise 720 pounds, would you be interested in joining us?”
Without waiting for Klein to say anything, he fumbled with a stack of tawny ephemera:
”I know you won’t believe this easily, in fact, no one will, but those 15 friends in front of us, after reading this information, have all decided to join our program.”
…… Do I have an easily fooled face? Or is it just that no one can escape this kind of thing as long as they’re an Outlander? Klein was contemplating whether or not to authenticate the letters, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw “Sea Eagle” Logan, who he had been arguing with earlier, approaching.
”Woody, you’re lying again! You damn rat in the sewage!” Logan lifted the short man by the hand and threw him to the open space in the center of the bar, dropping him on all fours.
The burly man with the green tattoo on his head smoothly sat down where Woody had just been and laughed bashfully:
”I’m sorry, but this is our rat from Damir Harbor, always doing things to ruin our reputation.
”As a matter of fact, we are all very friendly, if you have anything you want to inquire about, just look me up.
”Oh, don’t believe those guys’ false accusations, I’m an honorable man and have nothing to do with the ‘Admiral from Hell’!”
The more you emphasize it, the more you make people suspicious …… Klein thought a little, his expression was unchanged, and he said in a flat tone:
”I want to know the recent rumors.”
”No questions.” “Sea Eagle,” Logan tapped the bar top and said to the bartender, “Have a plate of special cured meat, and I’ll treat this fellow to a taste of our Damir’s most famous cuisine.”
The bartender, still with that cold face, pushed the door into the kitchen at the back and quickly brought out a plate of red and white, finely textured sliced cured meat.
”Five pounds.” He didn’t look at Logan the Sea Eagle, but directly at Klein.
”Five pounds.” “Sea Eagle” Logan turned his head sideways and smiled warmly while lifting his arm to show his muscles, “Everyone heard just now, you want to treat me to special cured meat to thank me.”
Klein didn’t even react to what had happened to him for a moment, and it was only when the bartender prodded him a second time that he realized that he was being blackmailed, and that the other party’s ruse was quite deep.
First use a very easy to recognize the deception to make the “sea eagle” Logan appearance, smooth to obtain the target’s goodwill, and then to treat the reason, order a price tag expensive special cured meat, and finally turn the other cheek, reversing black and white, forcibly buy and sell …… no wonder! None of the drunks were up in arms when Woody “The Rat” was thrown out …… They were all afraid of Logan, who supposedly serves the “Admiral from Hell”… …How do I react? My current persona is Germaine Sparrow, a slightly deranged adventurer and bounty hunter …… Klein lifted his mug, took a sip of his wheat-flavored ale, and asked in his usual tone:
”Why don’t you just rob it?”
”Why don’t you just grab it?” Logan froze a bit at the question.
Immediately afterward, he saw a fist getting bigger and bigger.
Thud!
Klein swung his left hand and smashed “Sea Eagle” Logan’s jaw, knocking him over toward the bar.
With his right palm, Klein nimbly left his chair and moved closer to Logan’s falling body.
His thighs tightened and his knee jerked upward, hitting Logan in the lower abdomen.
Pfft! Logan lifted backward, his eyes bulging out and his mouth half-open.
Crane drew his gun in one smooth motion and shoved the revolver into his opponent’s mouth, pulling back on the hammer.
”I’m …… I’m ……,” Logan shouted vaguely.
Crane gazed into his eyes and suddenly drew his revolver and took a sharp swing, connecting the gun handle with his fist in the side of Logan’s face.
Logan’s teeth instantly fell out one by one and his mouth was covered in blood.
Facing such a heavy blow and pain beyond his limit, his eyes rolled over and he directly fainted.
Klein propped up his body and found a handful of fragmented bills and coins from within his coat pocket.
Since there was no more than five pounds by visual estimation, Klein directly threw them onto the bar and calmly said:
”Keep the change.”
The bartender, his bronzed face a little white, shouted in panic:
”My boss is ‘White Shark’!”
Crane didn’t even look at him, letting go of his hand and letting “Sea Eagle” Logan fall to the ground, then he sat down again, forked up a piece of cured meat, stuffed it into his mouth and tasted it, only to find that the flavor was quite unique, with the flavor of the spices spreading out in strands, scratching his stomach and throat.
He ate two slices in a row before he looked up and asked:
”Does your boss know you’re colluding with the ‘Sea Eagles’?”
”No, he, doesn’t ……” the bartender mumbled his reply.
Seeing that Klein had no inclination to continue his attack and paid his money readily, the few guards who had leaned in close silently backed away again.
Klein took a sip of his drink, glanced at the “sea eagle” Logan on the ground, and calmly said to the bartender:
”How much bounty can he collect for being Ludwell’s informant?”
”No, he’s not.” The bartender shook his head, “He spread the news all by himself, and that Navy guy just now was paid by him! It’s the only way to make the people here afraid of him ……”
Upon hearing this answer, the people drinking at the bar put down their glasses in shock, and even a drunk staggered over to Logan and spat in his face.
Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Many of the drinkers followed suit.
Klein reared his head down and said as he ate his special cured meat:
”Tell us about the latest rumors.”
The bartender sighed in relief and wiped his glass as he intermittently described the rumors of the past two months, some of which Klein had heard of and some of which he had just learned about.
The Royal Navy’s ironclad “Pritz” destroyed a passing pirate group during a regular training session …… The fear of the giant ship’s cannons has begun to spread among some small and medium-sized pirate forces …… Some of them want to take advantage of the ironclad fleet has not yet formed the opportunity, crazy crime, take a sum of money to quit this business …… the next half a year to a year, the sea is not quiet ah …… “blood on top of the generals,” Sainiole and “twilight. Sainier and Dusk Lieutenant General Bratov Ivan clashed in the southern waters of the island of Sunia and fought a big battle, sinking two ships each……. Klein only listened without asking questions, and gradually filled up his stomach.
Seeing that the plate containing the special cured meat was emptied, he drank the rest of his beer and stood up slowly.
”Remember today’s lesson.” Klein handed the plate to the bartender.
The bartender was about to reach for it when he suddenly grabbed the hair at the back of his head with a probing palm.
Bang!
With a hard press, Klein smashed the bartender’s head on the bar, sending wood chips flying and blood flowing out, smashing the drinkers into hiding and the guards arriving at high speed.
With that done, Klein clapped his hands together and picked up his own glass, attempting to pour the remaining remnants of the wine inside over the bartender’s head.
One drop, two drops, three drops ……
Giving up, Klein turned, bent over, grabbed Logan the Sea Eagle, and threw him at the arriving guards.
Taking advantage of the guards to avoid, the bar confusion, Klein quickly run, agile around, easily left the “Flying Fish and Wine”.
He pressed his hat, walked quickly, and turned into the next street.
After a series of changes in direction, he suddenly slowed down his pace, and in his hand there was an extra gold coin.
The gold coin kept jumping between his fingers, seemingly scouting for something.