Mysterious, but Naruto

Louis had no idea what the Hall family was talking about; he only received a message from Audrey early the next morning.

The message was simple: Count Hall, the Countess, and Audrey's older brother, Hilbert Hall, decided to join the Akatsuki organization as apprentices.

As for Viscount Grelint, there's a ball at Earl Wolf's house tonight, and Audrey plans to try inviting him then.

In addition, there was another matter: Audrey was preparing to buy Chakra Fruits for her three relatives so that they could master the power of Chakra as soon as possible.

You need to teach them how to refine chakra and how to use chakra first. Otherwise, even if they eat the fruit, they still won't learn how to refine chakra and will only waste most of the fruit's power.

If you're planning to exchange the fruits now, that's fine too. I can open a passage to the storeroom for you. You can take the three boxes containing the fruits yourself, and then just put the Jin soldiers directly in the storeroom. —Gou Chen

The Hall family took Louis's advice very seriously and decided to first refine their own chakra according to Audrey's teachings.

Following Louis's example, Audrey also personally taught others how to refine chakra.

In addition, Earl Hall instructed his old butler to bring a detailed list of the family treasury and a catalog of the family's books.

Earl Hall was preparing to organize his household belongings so that he could hand them all over to the organization.

Louis had previously posted a list of mission details on the wall, which mainly consisted of long-term missions such as gathering intelligence, collecting potions, and collecting extraordinary items and traits.

Putting everything else aside, if all the items in Earl Hall's storeroom that are related to the extraordinary were handed over, not only would the apprentice assessment be completed instantly, but all three of them could accumulate enough merit to be promoted to Chunin.

It's important to understand that this only represents the Hall family's inventory in this mansion in the capital, and does not include items from their ancestral home in their fiefdom in East Chestershire.

If you include the things in their ancestral home, it wouldn't be a problem for them to accumulate enough merit to advance to the rank of Jonin.

At that time, the only thing that will limit them will be the minimum strength requirement. However, with their family's wealth, they can easily choose to exchange magic potions or materials for Chakra Fruits and boost their strength in one go.

Even if this kind of power, which has not been honed in actual combat and is entirely infused by external forces, is somewhat superficial, it can still exert considerable combat power by relying on abundant chakra to overpower others.

Indeed, that very afternoon, Audrey handed over five potions to Louis, earning five chances to exchange for Chakra Fruits.

Louis wasn't a heartless person. He would pay his organization members for the potions he collected, and the price was quite fair: 400 gold pounds plus a C-level contribution.

In Louis's plan, the lowest level is D-level missions and the highest level is Super S-level missions. One Super S-level contribution is equal to 10 S-level contributions, one S-level contribution is equal to 10 A-level contributions, and so on.

All task contributions can only be split downwards, not merged. After all, the merit of picking up 10 roadside leaves cannot be equated with the destruction of a country.

These contributions, in addition to being used by members to advance their own status, can also be exchanged for supplies.

For example, if an organization member is short of money, they can exchange their contributions for gold pounds. A C-level contribution can be exchanged for 100 gold pounds.

So, if you calculate it that selling a potion to Louis would actually yield a profit of 500 gold pounds, which is definitely higher than the market price.

Of course, Louis himself wouldn't lose money either. The potion he bought for 500 gold pounds could be broken down into a Chakra Fruit and an Extraordinary Crystal, which together could be sold for 1000 gold pounds.

For Louis, who wasn't looking to exploit his subordinates but rather to foster healthy growth within the organization, a 50% profit margin was quite substantial.

Audrey took the five potions and 500 gold pounds and exchanged them for five Chakra Fruits from Louis.

Although it's not yet suitable for her family, Earl Hall advised Audrey to improve her own strength as soon as possible.

After confirming with Louis that it would not affect her, Audrey set herself a short-term task: to consume the five fruits as soon as possible.

Aside from digesting the fruit, Audrey spent the rest of her time in the library, learning the Three Body Techniques and three ninjutsu she had chosen herself.

As for Louis, he temporarily shifted his attention from Backlund to the sea.

Meanwhile, the boat driven by the man in the other boat had docked and was resupplying.

Previously, the other party's ship had been floating on the sea, so he didn't have a good excuse to get closer. But things were different once they got to shore. All the sailors started to get restless even before the ship had stopped.

As soon as the ship docked, the sailors couldn't wait to go ashore, even though the ship had only been sailing for a few days and it was just a short voyage; it had become a habit for them.

All the sailors, shouting obscene words, walked toward the tavern in groups of three or five.

All the sailors on this ship, except for those unlucky enough to be assigned to guards, were bound to suffer from a hangover on their first night ashore.

As for how many days they would get drunk, that would depend on how much money the sailors had and how many days the ships would need to resupply in port.

Louis had already arranged for his accomplice to wait in the tavern after confirming that the ship was about to enter the port.

To make it seem more realistic, there was more than one clone lying in wait here. Three clones came to the tavern together, each ordering a large pot of wine and a large plate of stewed meat, and deliberately found a seat near the door to eat.

"Hahaha, kid, want to make a bet? How many people are coming in next?"

"Okay, I bet there are three people. The loser buys drinks for the winner!"

"Haha, okay, I'll bet five."

"I'll bet four."

The three clones deliberately raised their voices, acting as if they were already drunk.

Their actions were not unusual; in fact, betting like this was commonplace in taverns.

Ninety percent of the patrons in this tavern are sailors, and the rest are dockworkers.

They spend their days drinking or gambling, and if they have a little extra money, they go looking for girls.

Upon hearing about the bet involving three clones, some of the surrounding drinkers became interested.

"Count me in, and I'll bet on three people."

"Okay, count me in too. I think there should be five people!"

……

After the commotion, about a third of the people in the tavern had joined the betting game.

Faced with the decision of everyone in the tavern, the clone laughed and pulled out a handful of coins from his pocket.

"Haha, great! Whoever wins, this money will be used to buy them drinks!"

The composition of this bundle of coins is quite complex.

There's Penny from Rune, Gobi from Fussack, Cope from Intis, and Degen from Fenneport.

There's no way around it; this place is located on the shipping route between the northern and southern continents. Although it belongs to Rune, the ships coming and going come from various countries.

Therefore, the currency used here is quite complex.

However, overall, the currencies used are still mainly those of Rune and Intis.

It's normal to use Rune currency, after all, this place is now a Rune colony, but it was colonized by Intis before that.

The Intis, who colonized the area at the time, built many structures and established rudimentary markets and supply systems.

Due to customary practices, even after Rune seized the colony, he was unable to completely unify the currency system there.

Because there are many different types of currencies and their exchange rates vary, this large sum of money may seem like a lot, but in reality, it may only amount to a dozen or so pence.

Louis pulled out a wad of cash, which made the atmosphere in the tavern even noisier.

Boom!

The tavern's wooden door was violently pushed open from the outside, an action that immediately attracted the attention of 99% of the people inside.

Even those who didn't participate in the betting were the same; after all, not participating didn't stop them from enjoying the spectacle, right? Everyone wanted to know who won.

「1、2、3、4……11！

Damn it, there were 11 people! Who the hell won? How the hell are we supposed to guess?

"Hahaha, John, if you can't guess, just say you can't guess. Why all the nonsense? What did I tell you? I told you before that it would be 11 people, but you didn't believe me!"

Although the number of people in this group was unusual, it wasn't entirely unexpected.

Most of the people in the tavern were willing to accept their bets and ordered drinks or food for the three people who guessed correctly.

While everyone's attention was focused on the Hanged Man and his companions, the Hanged Man had already nervously placed his hand on his waist, ready to make his move.

In fact, it wasn't just him; his crew members were in a similar situation.

After all, although they were all dressed as pirates, they were actually members of the Church of the Lord of Storms.

They are the official extraordinary beings of the Church of the Lord of Storms, known as the Punishers.

The Church of the Seven Gods holds a superior position on the North Road, and all its members are non-taxpaying believers.

Therefore, they were not short of money at all, and naturally had no reason to deliberately arrange for their men to become pirates, as that would only tarnish their reputation.

The reason the Church of the Lord of Storms made this arrangement is mainly because this sea area is quite special.

The Rosede Sea beneath our feet is the stronghold of the "Sea God" Kavituwa. Even after the Church of the Lord of Storms has swept through it for so many years, there are still many believers of the "Sea God".

The Hanged Man's real name is Alger Wilson, and one of his current missions is to sail these waters as a pirate.

Search for possible resistance fighters or followers of "Sea God".

In fact, the oppression of the locals by foreign colonists actually deepened the belief of some local indigenous people in the "sea god".

The main force of those rebel groups roaming the nearby waters consisted of followers of the "Sea God".

The Church of the Lord of Storms deeply abhors these heretics and has even dispatched high-ranking experts to oversee their extermination.

Under the leadership of the extraordinary figures in the church, they were able to capture a group of "Sea God" believers every one or two months.

The Lord of Storms would execute these heretics, and would hold public executions regularly to intimidate the islanders.

In reality, however, this action was ineffective, and the "Sea God" believers remained active.

Just a moment ago, Alger thought his identity had been exposed and that the people in the tavern were followers of the "Sea God" who had come to ambush them.

But later, everyone's behavior made him realize that he had overthought things; it was just a bet by alcoholics.

Although the misunderstanding was cleared up, Alger was still a little wary. He would either toast people loudly, tilt his head back quickly when drinking, or squat down forcefully when putting down his glass.

In short, Alger spilled about half of the glass of wine, and he only drank part of the remaining half, making it look as if he had drunk most of the glass.

In fact, it wasn't just Alger himself; his sailors were in a similar situation, all vigilant about their surroundings.

The situation on Alger's ship was rather complicated. Besides Alger himself being an intelligence agent for the Church of the Storm Lord, disguised as a pirate operating at sea, the people around him were also believers of the Church of the Storm Lord.

However, on his ship, there was only one extraordinary being, Alger; the rest were ordinary people.

Among these ordinary people, a small portion were believers who facilitated his communication and cover-up. These believers were unaware of Alger's specific mission and simply followed orders.

As for the rest of the sailors, they were ordinary sailors recruited by Alger himself.

These ordinary sailors, no longer wary of Alger and his crew, were all completely drunk and didn't even know who their captain was.

The clones were in the tavern, using the act of drinking to secretly watch Alger.

Because of the seating arrangement, Alger didn't notice the clone's movements at first, but as time went on, he also noticed the difference.

Especially after learning from conversations with others that it was the clones who set up the bet that drew everyone's attention to them, Alger immediately concluded that the clones were suspicious.

However, he didn't make a fuss and continued to pretend that he knew nothing.

Having confirmed that Alger had noticed him, one of his three clones suddenly stood up from his seat and hurriedly left the tavern.

This sudden turn of events immediately caught Alger's attention. When he noticed that the remaining two clones were staring at him almost without blinking, he didn't hesitate at all to pull the crew members beside him away from the tavern.

As for the few ordinary sailors who were already drunk, he abandoned them without hesitation.

Alger kept a close eye on what was behind him, and only when he saw that his two clones hadn't caught up with him by the time they boarded the ship did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Faced with this suspicious situation, Alger did not act rashly. He was worried that it was a conspiracy by the enemy, and that they were waiting for him to find their superior so that they could follow behind him and strike at the Church of the Storm Lord.