Swords, magic, and martial arts

As the morning sun rose, the dockworkers began another day of hard work.

Rhodes, who had been training all night, was pulled onto the dock by Baron and began asking around which ship was going to Gulfstream City.

"Don't just think about sleeping all day. Young people should get up early. Once we're on the ship, you'll be so bored you'll only be able to sleep all day," Baron said earnestly to Rhodes, who was yawning. "Come out with me now, see the world, it'll do you good. Learn how I bargain with others."

Rod recalled Baron flexing his muscles while haggling with others, and felt that he couldn't possibly emulate that.

He suddenly remembered that the axe that looked like a logging axe that he had just transmigrated with was bought by Baron when he was drunk. Originally, the axe had an iron handle, but when Baron was bargaining with the blacksmith, he said that although the axe had an iron handle, the iron handle was actually crudely made.

The blacksmith was furious that Baron had questioned his skills, so in front of the blacksmith, Baron bent the iron handle of the axe with both hands.

Finally, the dumbfounded blacksmith removed the iron handle of the axe and replaced it with a wooden handle. Not only did he not charge him, but he also gave him some money and told Baron not to tell anyone about it.

Baron returned the money to the blacksmith, feeling embarrassed, but took the battle axe that looked like a logging axe and gave it to Rod.

Baron led Rod to a man who was directing porters to move goods.

The man saw Baron walking towards him, stopped what he was doing and shouting, looked Baron up and down and asked, "What's up? Looking for a job?"

Baron shook his head. "We want to take a boat to Gulfstream City."

"Go ask over there, they seem to be leaving soon. We just got here, and we haven't even finished unloading the goods yet." The man pointed in a direction to Baron.

Baron thanked him and led Rod in the direction he pointed.

"Are you going to take a boat to Gulfstream City?" A thin man emerged from behind a box next to him.

Baron sized him up and asked, "What? Do you have a boat?"

"I don't have any, but I can introduce you," the skinny man replied. "I've been around this dock for years, 'Mad Rat,' and I have a wide network of connections, but I'll take a cut."

"Your name is 'Junkrat'? Don't you have a friend named 'Roadhog'?" Rhodes asked from the side.

Junkrat shook his head and replied, "I don't know 'Roadhog,' you've probably heard of a different Junkrat."

Rhodes nodded. "Then please introduce yourself to us."

"I remember three ships were setting sail for Gulfstream City today: the 'Brilliant Coin,' the 'Flyer,' and the 'Sleeping Beauty,'" Junkrat said, counting on his fingers. "But it seems only the Flyer and the Sleeping Beauty have extra seats available for rent."

"So what are their prices?" Baron asked.

"They should be about the same. I can take you to ask now, but you'll have to give me a silver coin later," Junkrat said.

Rhodes glanced at Baron, who nodded and said, "Lead the way."

Junkrat led Rhodes and the others to a medium-sized merchant ship, pointed at the ship, and said, "This is Sleeping Beauty."

Baron walked over to a crew member resting on a crate and asked, "How much does it cost per person to take your ship to Gulfstream?"

"Fifty silver coins per person," the crew member replied.

"How's the price?" Rhodes asked the Junkrat next to him.

"That's a normal price. The cost per person to Bayview City is usually between twenty and sixty silver coins," Mad Rat replied.

"You'd better make a decision quickly, we're about to depart," a crew member said impatiently from the side.

"Let's go ask the Flying Ones first," Baron said after hearing Junkrat's words.

He probably thought the price was too high, Rod guessed to himself.

Junkrat then led them to another ship, which was far less attractive than Sleeping Beauty's, and its hull looked very old.

"I think the ship we just saw was better," Rod whispered to Baron.

The smell inside this old ship must be awful. It's probably moldy everywhere in the cabins, and maybe even infested with rats and cockroaches. The thought of possibly having to live inside for a few days made Rod feel uneasy.

"I'll go ask," Baron replied.

He went up to the sailors on the ship and asked, "How much does it cost to take your ship to Gulfstream?"

The sailor, dressed in tattered linen, replied, "You'll have to ask our captain."

"Where is your captain now?" Baron asked again.

"You can look for him in the ditch next to every tavern entrance, if he hasn't been beaten to death and sent to the Hall of the Dead yet," the crewman shouted, eliciting laughter from the other sailors nearby.

"Let's go, let's go take that ship called Sleeping Beauty, if they haven't left yet," Rod said to Baron. Everyone says that the captain is the king of his own ship, but this captain probably isn't very reliable.

No sooner had he finished speaking than he saw Sleeping Beauty sail away from the port.

"It seems that if we want to set off today, we have no choice but to take this ship," Baron said, watching the merchant ship sail away.

"Let's go back and discuss it with them first. We can leave a day later," Rhodes said.

Baron nodded, and after paying Mad Rat a silver coin, they were about to head back when a drunken, burly man was dragged to the side of the boat and thrown to the ground by two men dressed as bartenders.

"He says he's the captain of this ship. Who can pay for his drinks?" a bartender asked loudly. "It's a little over a gold coin, but I'll only charge you one gold coin."

"Look, our valiant captain has been thrown back again," a sailor laughed. "I bet he wasn't beaten to death on the spot."

"One of you can pay for his drinks. I'm not going to pay him a single penny more until he pays back what he owes me," said another fierce-looking sailor.

"Shouldn't you stop acting now? You were awake and talking to us on the way here, but now that we're on the boat, you're pretending to be drunk," the bartender said helplessly to the drunken captain beside him.

The captain struggled to sit up and shouted, "You heartless bunch! None of you are willing to pay for my things! And who stole my wallet before I went out for drinks?"

"I only took your wallet because I was afraid someone would steal it if you got drunk, Uncle," a young sailor replied with a grin. "You can ask the two men downstairs to pay for it. They want to take our ship to Gulfstream City, so the fare can be used as payment for your drinks."

"Are you two the only ones going?" the captain asked, looking up.

"It's not just the two of us, there are four people and a horse in total," Rod replied.

"Then you can pay for that damn gold coin for the wine, consider it the fare," the captain replied.

Baron tossed a gold coin to the two bartenders and asked, "When can we set off?"

"Let's talk about it this afternoon, after I take a nap..." After saying that, the captain lay down on the ground and fell fast asleep.

……