Chapter 53: Boarding the Ship

For the last several days, the pier had grown even more lively.

People were lining up.

At the end of this line, a long table and stools had been set up. Tripleblade kept watch and was responsible for checking in the attracted fresh talent. Lan Zao also led a team of sailors to maintain order there.

“Next in line.” Tripleblade called out.

“What is your name?”

“A Wei” Lord, I am called A Wei.”

This person was as thin as a match and his face was emaciated, but in front of Tripleblade, he straightened his chest and did his utmost to look his best.

“What skills do you have?”

“I. I am a farmer.”

Tripleblade shook his head, “Next in line.”

Wei immediately became dismayed. He opened his mouth and wanted to say something and fight for his case. But the person behind him pushed him away.

“My turn, my turn.”

Tripleblade asked again. “What is your name?”

The same process, the same questions culled one person after the other.

Ever since the survivors posted their announcement and disseminated it through the tavern, there was an endless stream of people wanting to join the Dragon Lion Mercenaries.

Most of these people were ordinary, none met the recruitment standard.

It didn’t matter.

The survivors had anticipated that this would happen.

By proportion, as long as there were enough people, they could find the best within them.

After the survivors discussed, they decided to put Tripleblade in charge of checking them.

Tripleblade had once been a mercenary commander, and his shrewd and ruthless sight could make out the ins and outs of many people.

Next in line, next in line, next in line….

Tripleblade quickly weeded out many people, however, the line didn’t seem to shorten, as there were inevitably newcomers who wanted to try their luck.

Three fisherman came together.

“What are your names?” Tripleblade asked.

“Da Tou.”

“Xian Yu.”

“Ji Mao.”

“What do you do?”

“We are fishermen.” The eldest of the three, Da Tou, grinned.

The other two lowered their eyes submissively.

Tripleblade ran his eyes over the three, then lingered his gaze on Da Tou’s thumb and forefinger.

“Hmph.” Tripleblade coldly snorted.

Da Tou’s heart suddenly shivered, he knew his pirate identity had been discovered.

“Your past identity is unimportant, what is important is how you do in the future. Understood?” Said Tripleblade.

“Understood, understood.” Da Tou nodded at once.

“Up you go, comply with their arrangements.” Said Tripleblade, he then took three wooden identification plates from the table and gave it to the three people.

To lessen the workload and increase efficiency, the survivors employed distinct wooden plates to differentiate the level of newcomers. 

After seeing the Dragon Lion Mercenaries recruit those three, the people behind them grew restless, many of them threw envious gazes at them.

Not long after.

“Hello, my Lord.” A long bearded and candle yellow faced imperial eastern person nodded his head and bowed to Tripleblade.

Before Tripleblade could give his questions, he immediately gave his answers. “This humble one is known as Xu Ma, hehe.”

He was thin and tall, and was actually taller than Zong Ge, but gave people the impression that he was too weak to stand up to the wind.

Tripleblade’s gaze focused, and he sensed Xu Ma’s bronze level aura.

As long as they were a cultivator, they were worth recruiting.

Tripleblade examined Xu Ma thoroughly, then pursed his brows, “You are a thief?”

Xu Ma’s heart trembled with fear, and he promptly waved his hand, “A small time pickpocket, a small time pickpocket…that is all in the past, I no longer do that kind of work.”

“You can do that work, but you must listen to orders.” Tripleblade took out a bronze token and threw it to him, “Go ahead.”

“As you bid!” Xu Ma happily caught the token and walked up onto the ship.

When he boarded the ship, he waited to be sorted further.

He had been the second bronze level fighter.

As for iron levels, they still hadn’t recruited any yet.

The queue was beginning to shorten.

Next was Mu Ban’s turn.

He carried some simple and crude carpentry tools on his back. 

Tripleblade treated him as if this was the first time he had seen Mu Ban, he glanced at the carpentry tools on Mu ban’s back. “You can do carpentry?”

Naturally, Mu Ban also had the Deceptive Disguise spell and Anti-investigation and Prophecy spell on him, and his looks had changed drastically from his prior appearance.

Mu Ban promptly replied, “I can do a bit.”

“What is your name?”

“Your Lordship can call me Lao Mu Tou.” Mu Ban looked like a yes man.

“Good, our ships need a carpenter, then you can wait in the carpentry maintenance room.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

During lunch time, recruitment was suspended for a break. 

It continued in the afternoon.

The line wave even longer than it was in the morning.

One turn, one weeded out, causing many of the rejected to complain that the Dragon Lion Mercenaries’ standards were too high.

But at the same time, it also caused many others to look up to the survivors’ group.

Suddenly, the ground began to lightly rumble.

A disturbance broke out in the crowd.

A small giant took a big step forward and quickly approached.

He was gigantic, and his ugly looks caused many people to become agitated, restless, and look fearful/

“Beat it, let me through!” The small giant had a malicious aura, and wanted to sweep away the people in front of him.

“What are you doing?!” Tripleblade stood up at once, and shouted.

The small giant was not a cultivator, and upon feeling the iron level life aura, he huddled his head and stopped moving.

Order had been maintained.

The small giant shamefully growled, and glared at Tripleblade, “You won’t accept me?”

Tripleblade looked at him and hesitated, “I need to ask for instructions from the higher ups.”

He put on an act and went onto the ship, then quickly came back out.  

Zong Ge also came out with him.

“Wow, its Lord Shi Qi!”

“He is Shi Qi?”

Countless people looked up at Zong Ge, their eyes filled with adoration and curiosity.

“Lord Shi Qi, that’s him.” Tripleblade pointed at the small giant.

Zong Ge stood on the side of the ship and overlooked the scene below, then he beckoned to the small giant, “Come up.”

The small giant ecstatically howled with laughter, “Hehehe!”

Under the vigilant gazes of the fearful sailors, he took only three steps up the wooden stairs to ascend to the deck.

“Go away!” He bellowed as he chased away sailors until he had a section of deck to himself. Afterwards, he sat down, leaned against the side of the ship, and closed his eyes.

“A good performance.” In the aft room, the young captain had a panoramic view of this scene.

The small giant was the big guy.

His appearance was likewise changed. Although his height was the same, his features had been altered drastically and now had a copper horn protruding from his head. 

In order to distinguish himself from his previous rank on the Hog’s Kiss, Fei She had personally instructed him in how he should act.

After no less than a hundred training sessions, the result was worth the investment.

The deck was gradually filled with many more newcomers.

Bai Ya mixed into the line, and also climbed onto the deck. He was ordinary and didn’t garner anyone’s attention.

Soon after, Fei She also became a member, with his fat body, he claimed to be a cook.

The deck was now jam-packed with people.

Sailors were whispering in each other’s ear, the most lively of them was Xu Ma.

He was chatting to everyone and everywhere.

He noticed that Bai Ya looked uncomfortable, and decided to come by his side, “Young man, is this your first time on a boat?”

Bai Ya couldn’t help but be flabbergasted by Xu Ma, “Ah? Yes, yes, it is.”

“Hehe. Follow me, I will protect you.” Xu Ma’s eyes glittered as he roped him in.

“Ah?”

“Ah, what, ah, I can see this is the first time you’ve gotten on a ship, you don’t know the rules.” Xu Ma raised his head, “Young me who leave home to make their way in the world have to mingle to be able to eat well, find your place, and find good relationships. Those alone and excluded are very easy to bully. Look at those people over there.”

Bai Ya shifted his line of sight as Xu Ma whispered into his head, “Their leader is called Da Tou, that one with the waned face is called Xian Yu, and that one with the lush chicken nest shaped hair is Ji Mao. Those three are standing together, they are a group. They have a close relationship, and so aren’t easy to bully, and will even bully others around.”

“Pay attention to Da Tou, his hand has calluses there, that is a sign that of blade usage. His face is calm, and doesn’t sway as much as the other two either as he sizes up the masts and cannon ports. He might be a former pirate.”

“Is that so?” Bai Ya was somewhat skeptical.

Xu Ma glared back at Bai Ya, “If you don’t believe me, you can ask them yourself.”

Bai Ya was curious, and went up to quietly ask. Da Tuo coldly snorted, and didn’t deny it, nor did the other two by his side.

Bai Ya returned to his original spot, and respectfully sad to Xu Ma, “Senior, your eyes are very accurate. I didn’t expect the mercenary group to recruit such people.”

Xu Ma smiled, “Such pirates are very common. Plenty of pirates who are either injured, weary of fighting, or have enough money live on the islands for a time.” 

“After a long time, or their injures are healed, these pirates begin to loathe ordinary life or flush all of their coin away, they will go out to sea again.”

“If you board a pirate ship, you are a pirate. If you board a merchant ship, you are a sailor. If you board a mercenary ship, you are a member of a mercenary group.”

Xu Ma then asked, “Can you fight those three by yourself?”

Bai Ya shook his head again.”

“That is correct.” Xu Ma clapped Bai Ya’s shoulder and sighed, “With just a look, I knew you were an outsider, I am one as well. We should be in solidarity, so we aren’t bullied on this ship in the future and strive for more spoils of war, right?”

Bai Ya could only nod.

Xu Ma felt satisfied, he had been a thief for many years and his sharp vision had detected Bai Ya, a “good seedling” in the crowd at once. No matter how one saw it, he was a newcomer, and such a person was very obedient.

Xu Ma consoled, “Your lucky is pretty good.”

“Good?” Bai Ya didn’t understand what he was hearing.

“It’s your first ship, and turned out to be a great ship. You chanced upon two silver level fighters setting up a team, this kind of opportunity might not appear again in your life!” Xu Ma lamented, he was really emotional.

“The Dragon Lion Mercenary group is not ordinary, they were able to inflict heavy losses on Rou Zang! Recently, Shi Qi fought both the city guard commander and Hei Fei and dealt a great blow to their character. If the first mate is already that strong, then the leader is bound to be even stronger.”

“During the gold level magic beast kerfuffle, I saw Lord Long Fu fighting. Such a dashing figure! I can only say this, he is worthy of being the man above Lord Shi Qi!”

Xu Ma gave a thumbs up. 

Bai Ya adored the dragonman youngster.

His life had been saved by the young man.

When the youngster exposed the truth of being a beast knight, led them to eradicate Jia Sha, and fled Mystifying Monster Island Together, the admiration and love Bai Ya had for him grew.

“Don’t have the mentality of making quick coin, just follow them and work well.” Xu Ma clapped Bai Ya’s shoulder again.

Bai Ya was in a weird mood, he didn’t expect that a senior like him would actually be taught by a newcomer.

Bai Ya would not expose the truth.

Using new appearances, the old members snuck in and pretended to not know each other, they would slowly be promoted in the future.

Bai Yai remained unmoved, and caused Xu Man to misunderstand him somewhat, he sighed, and his tone became a little melancholy, “Smelly youngster, you really are too young, you don’t know how treasured this opportunity should be! Alas…”

The middled aged man with a yellow face had a complex expression, as if recalling his own early life, “We are people without good parents, bloodlines, aptitude, or property, this is how our lives will be.”

“Therefore, when such an opportunity appears, we must grab hold of it tightly! Otherwise, how will you stick out?”

“You are fortunate to be on this ship, and even luckier to meet me.” After rambling for a bit, he finally got to the main point. 

“Ah?” Bai Ya was confused again.

“I came to teach you, youngster, and to keep an eye on you.” In order to sooth this little brother, he began to demonstrate.

He approached Mu Ban and greeted him warmly.

Mu Ban used a ambiguous gaze to look at Bai Ya that seemed to say, “What’s up with this guy?” 

Bai Ya winked, indicating that “I also just met him”.

For Bai Ya’s face, Mu Ban said a few perfunctory things to Xu Ma.

Xu Ma returned, pleased with himself, “I have already wangled with the ship’s carpenter.”

“Did, wangled?”

“Of course.” Xu Ma clapped Bai Ya’s shoulder, “We want to build good relationships with some people, that way our lives on board will be better than the others. Don’t be fooled that I am a bronze level, while he is an ordinary person. He is actually very valuable, because he is a carpenter! Even a new ship can break. A carpenter can repair ships, he is an indispensable person. He can sleep in his own workroom, while you have to sleep in a hammock. Do you understand?”

“Oh.” Bai Ya could only nod.

“We also need a good relationship with the cook. I remember he is called Da Fei.” Xu Ma whispered.

He was very diligent.

He attentively listened to Tripleblade asking the other people questions and made some inquiries for information.

“Look at this.” Xu Ma set out again.

“Hey, Senior Brother, Da Fei.”

“Hm.”

“I am called Xu Ma, hehe.”

“Hm.”

“Hic…in the future, please take care of us.”

“Hm.”

Xu Ma returned, and grumbled to Bai Ya, “He is only an ordinary person, yet he is so arrogant.”

Bai Ya’s heart wanted to explain why Fei She was like that, he was not arrogant, he had a stutter. But to not expose this distinct trait, he had no choice but to remain silent on it.

Xu Ma continued, “Therefore, you can see that I, a bronze level expert, am humble and makes friends with ordinary people. In the future, all of them on this ship will give me face.”

“Face will not be me giving it to myself, it will be others giving it to me. This is why some people are good at mingling, and some people are bad at mingling, this is the reason.”

“Boy, if you mingle with me, you won’t be at a disadvantage.”

Bai Ya: “…...”

As Xu Ma chattered on, a commotion suddenly occurred on the ship.

A magician flew in at low altitude over the line of people, and landed directly in front of Tripleblade.

He had a bronze level life aura.

A bronze level magician!

Tripleblade stood up, and with rapt attention, sized up the cultivator cautiously.

The magician lived their hood, exposing an average looking woman.

She was Zi Di.

Through the Deceptive Disguise spell, her iron level aura had been disguised as a bronze level one.

Zi Di quickly and easily became a member.

Her arrival caused the people on board who had been reviewed to grow even more excited.

“A magician!”

“A magician actually joined us, how truly wonderful.”

Magicians were more uncommon than fighters.

If they had the same life level, magicians were more popular than fighters. This was not because magicians were stronger than fighters, but rather because magicians had more abundant methods.

When Zi Di joined, the newcomers sensed that their futures were getting brighter.

She didn’t stay to socialize on deck, instead she was called to the captain’s room to be interviewed by Captain Long Fu personally.

When she became a member, her status would not be ordinary.