Danitz opened his mouth and instinctively uttered a word in Intis: "Hotel."
The air seemed to freeze for a moment. Danitz glanced at the coachman's dark brown skin, disheveled black hair, softer facial features, and equally confused expression. He silently sighed, accepted his bad luck, and picked up his luggage to walk toward the other end of the street.
"Shit! I actually ran into a coachman who doesn't know Intis! Shouldn't coachmen near the docks know a few Northern Continent words? There are so many Intis, Loen, and Feysac people coming and going!" Danitz muttered as he looked ahead, searching for a passerby who seemed to be from the Northern Continent or had the corresponding bloodline, so that he could check into a hotel and fill his stomach.
From what he knew, there were quite a few Intis immigrants in Port Berens, as well as some Loen, Feysac, and Feynapotter people. If he could find one or two, communication wouldn't be a problem.
However, Danitz felt that all this had a prerequisite: that he didn't get heatstroke and faint during the process.
"This damn weather!" He looked up at the azure sky, pure white clouds, and the not-so-scorching sun, wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand, and cursed with a somewhat twisted expression.
Curse as he might, Danitz actually knew very well that the temperature in the Southern Continent this season was moderate, even a bit low. The reason he was so hot was because he was wearing that "Sun Brooch." But having just arrived and not yet having a grasp of the situation, he didn't dare to take off the brooch and stash it in his suitcase—if he accidentally lost this item, he could fully imagine Gehrman Sparrow's cold and crazy expression.
"Let some Northern Continent men come, any country is fine. I'm a multilingual pirate..." Danitz kept muttering under his breath, his mind filled with images of ice-cold beer and an ocean dotted with icebergs.
As he muttered, he suddenly raised his hand and rubbed his eyes.
He finally spotted someone who was clearly of Northern Continent descent!
And it seemed, probably, a familiar face!
At the street corner bathed in warm sunlight, a young man with short blond hair combed into a side part was leaning against a wall, playing a silver harmonica.
He had emerald eyes, wearing a white shirt with the top two buttons undone, a completely open black vest, and dark trousers, with a single black glove. It was the strongest hunter of the Misty Sea, Anderson Hood!
"So coincidental? This guy actually came to West Balam..." Danitz's heart leaped with joy, feeling like he had finally caught a piece of driftwood in the vast sea of people. Without bothering to recall Anderson's behavior on the Golden Dream, he approached and greeted him in a hunter's standard tone:
"What? Can't make it as a treasure hunter, so you started performing on the streets?"
He noticed that in front of Anderson, a top hat was placed upside down, containing twenty or thirty copper coins—a few were Intis "Kopeks", most were local "Delici".
— "Delici" means copper coin in Intis.
Anderson stopped playing, glanced at Danitz, and said:
"That's not my hat.
"I happened to pass by here, saw this hat fall on the ground, and no one noticed. I felt a bit emotional, so I took out my harmonica and casually played. Who knew, quite a few people stopped by and dropped some money in.
"A rough pirate like you probably can't appreciate the charm of music. It has no boundaries, I tell you. Your captain especially likes..."
"Stop!" Danitz's forehead twitched as he interrupted Anderson, who was about to stray off in some direction. Instead, he asked, "How did you get here?"
Anderson held the harmonica and thought seriously:
"That's a good question.
"I don't know how I ended up in West Balam either. I can't remember anything about what happened in the past two months."
Danitz was about to say "stop joking", but Anderson's serious expression made him involuntarily believe it a bit. He hesitated and asked:
"You don't remember anything?"
Anderson put away the silver harmonica, bent down to pick up the top hat with the coins, brushed off the dust, and said:
"My last memory is in Bayam. After parting ways with Gehrman Sparrow, I seemed to be going to a designated place to meet someone. Then, when I woke up, I was in West Balam...
"Haha, don't worry about it. It's good to be alive. Ah, it's almost noon. Come on, let's find a place to eat. I heard the pork knuckles in Berens are especially famous."
As he spoke, Anderson placed the top hat and coins next to a nearby homeless person.
Danitz was hot, hungry, and tired. Hearing this, he perked up and said:
"Do you know the local Dutan language?"
Anderson chuckled and said:
"Haven't you heard of my treasure-hunting adventures in West Balam?"
Right, I was thinking of asking you for information about West Balam... The situation here is chaotic and dangerous. If I can tag along with Anderson, it'll definitely be safer, and I'll have a translator! I can't say I'm hiring him—I can't afford his fee... Danitz slowly broke into a smile:
"Then I'm relieved. Let's go."
He picked up his luggage and, along with Anderson, walked around to the nearby street and found a restaurant.