The Pirate's Port!
In the rumors, this was the holy land of pirates from the outer seas. Even the most troublesome goods could be successfully unloaded here and exchanged for a mountain of gold coins or anything else you might desire.
Here, there were the finest women and the strongest spirits—of course, the prerequisite was that you had enough gold kro.
If you dared cause trouble here, the pirate enforcers would teach you a brutal lesson, one that would make you regret ever being born!
Pirates enforced the law? Absolutely. Even those who lived by plunder needed a certain degree of order, and at times they valued the rules even more strictly than ordinary people.
As the most mixed and chaotic place in the outer seas, the port also held the richest and most abundant intelligence.
Whenever a fat target passed through, you could witness the spectacular sight of a thousand sails departing from the Pirate's Port all at once.
It was a privateering operation organized spontaneously by countless pirates. Among the innumerable sailing vessels, there were terrifying warships clad in magical armor, ships blessed by the Sea God that could never sink, and of course, small canoes barely larger than models, capable of holding only a dozen or even just a few pirates.
This phenomenon of the "Pirate Tide" had occurred only once, over fifty years ago, and had directly crippled a duchy's navy while seizing enormous wealth. It became the perfect tale to lure one ignorant fisherman's child after another into becoming a pirate.
However, ever since Marquis Louis's Bodie Archipelago rose to dominance in the outer seas, the Pirate's Port's status had been declining day by day. Particularly after two large pirate crews were recruited by the other side, the entire Pirate's Port had lost its former prosperity, gradually becoming nothing more than an ordinary large-scale fencing den for pirates.
Even so, the port's foundation was still considerable. Not only had a proper town been established, but several temples had also set up shop—even pirates needed divine healing and the comfort of priests.
And the evil-aligned gods would not refuse the pirates' faith either. Perhaps some of them had already been plotting to claim a divine domain of their own, one belonging to the pirates.
On this very morning, a pirate ship flying a peculiar pirate flag sailed into the docks of the Pirate's Port.
This ship was quite large even among its kind, and it appeared to have been through several fierce battles. On its hull, one could still see numerous signs of combat—slashes from blades and gashes from axes.
"A pirate ship like this could serve as the flagship of any crew… So why is that flag so unfamiliar?"
A clerk responsible for dock registration rubbed his eyes. He could confirm that the pirate flag hanging from the ship's mast was one he had never seen in his entire career—vivid blood-red as its base, with a fearsome skull and cross-daggers design rendered in lifelike detail.
At that moment, a band of pirates descended directly from the ship. The clerk stepped forward to greet them, a professional smile on his face. "Gentlemen, welcome to the Pirate's Port. We have—"
Before he could finish, the young man at the front waved a hand, and a gold coin landed squarely in the clerk's arms.
That ancient pattern, combined with its heavy weight, immediately made the clerk's eyes light up.
The young pirate was not using Danbres gold coins, but the far more valuable gold kro!
"So this young man is the leader of this band? A dangerous character…"
The pirates standing behind the young man all radiated a fierce killing intent. One of them, a giant standing over two meters tall, was practically a small mountain.
Yet these most vicious of brutes all seemed like little white rabbits standing behind the young man, making the clerk's heart skip a beat as he realized that the person before him was likely someone truly extraordinary.
"I already know the rules here. The docking fee is five silver coins per day, correct?"
Leilin regarded the clerk before him and found a look of awe in the man's eyes.
The clerk had evidently once been a pirate himself, unconsciously carrying the habit of sizing up relative strength. He even bore hidden wounds that had forced him into early retirement, taking up clerical work instead.
In truth, Leilin found the man rather interesting.
In the world of the
But Leilin had no interest in chatting with the man right now. The long voyage, combined with several storms and ambushes by other races, had left even him feeling a trace of fatigue.
"Recommend the best inn in this port to me. And where can I hire sailors? Also, did you see the ship behind me? I need a major overhaul done on it…"
Leilin rattled off several tasks. Before the clerk could show any dissatisfaction, he immediately added, "If your recommendations prove good, then this will be yours…"
In his hand, another gold kro gleamed with a dazzling luster.
The clerk swallowed involuntarily, his Adam's apple bobbing. "No problem, honored Captain. There is no one in the entire Pirate's Port who knows the layout better than I do…"
At the same time, his eyes flickered to the signature Leilin had left behind. That elegant calligraphy immediately gave him a start, and only then did he read the details: "Crimson Tiger Pirate
In these waters, the rise and fall of small pirate crews was far too frequent. Some were so insignificant that they normally survived by fishing, only turning to piracy when they could no longer make ends meet.
These crews of negligible strength naturally perished like ants in great swarms, but come the next year, even more crews would emerge to take their place.
The treasures of the outer seas, combined with the frequent wars on the mainland and persecution by politics and the churches, drove a flood of adventurers, faithless, and even worshippers of demons and devils into the outer seas.
This was a zone where the influence of the good-aligned gods was thin, and several powerful evil gods did not mind the pirates' presence at all.
All of this made the situation in the outer seas all the more intricate and complex…
Of course, Danbres was merely a small part of the outer seas, and its development was relatively recent, so no particularly powerful local force had emerged. Marquis Louis, backed by a kingdom, was already the strongest power around.
"If you want inn recommendations, the ones run by the barbarians are absolutely the best choice!"
Hearing Leilin's question, the clerk answered without a moment's hesitation.
"Barbarians…" A faint smile touched Leilin's lips. He thought of the Barbarian Pirate Crew, one of the three great pirate crews.
Unlike the other two, the Barbarian Pirate Crew was a purely racial faction, composed entirely of barbarian warriors and priests—and the only one that had not been subdued by Marquis Louis.
In fact, the Barbarian Pirate Crew had deep blood feuds with both the Black Skull and the Tiger Shark crews, and large-scale naval battles erupted between them nearly every few years.
And this Pirate's Port was currently protected by the Dark Realm, a coalition of the Barbarian Pirate Crew and other free pirate factions.
Calling this port the headquarters of the resistance against Marquis Louis's forces would not be an exaggeration in the slightest.
An inn established by the Pirate's Port's shadow proprietors would naturally be the safest place in the entire port.
"As for hiring sailors? Just shout out in any tavern and ten or eight pirates will come looking to sign on. How you pick them is up to you, of course. You might want to settle the bar tabs for any of the ones you've taken a fancy to…"
The clerk was indeed thoroughly familiar with the Pirate's Port. In the end, he enthusiastically recommended a shipyard to Leilin—or perhaps calling it a proper shipyard was a stretch, but at least they could be trusted to handle a major pirate vessel overhaul.
Leilin silently committed the shipyard's address to memory and did not head there directly. Instead, he led his men to the Barbarian Inn the clerk had mentioned.
Along the way, Leilin quietly observed the people around him.
Those who could survive in the Pirate's Port were mostly retired pirates and the like. They might look frail—even disabled—but each possessed some extraordinary skill to keep them going.
Of course, there were far more women of the night, scantily clad and soliciting customers directly. Leilin had no interest in them, but the pack of brutes behind him were clearly struggling to contain themselves. If not for Leilin's strict orders, more than half of them would likely have deserted.
"There's even a Thieves' Guild!"
Leilin spotted the crossed-daggers emblem on a street corner, and a thoughtful expression surfaced on his face. But he was in no hurry—his time was still fairly ample, and he had a whole group of subordinates to settle in first.
The Barbarian Inn was located in the port's prime district. Two barbarian warriors clad in iron armor stood guard at the entrance, giving an overwhelming sense of security.
Leilin had no faith in the Pirate's Port's law and order, nor did he want to attract unnecessary trouble. Even if it cost a bit more, staying here was clearly not a bad choice.
"Using two fifth-rank professionals as doormen? This pirate crew has real strength… No wonder they can hold their own against the two large crews backed by the Marquis…"
Leilin studied the two barbarians at the entrance with interest.
Barbarians! In the world of the Gods, they were a people scattered across the globe, generally possessing height beyond that of ordinary humans, pale greenish-blue skin, and muscles as hard as granite. Both men and women alike were fanatical about building muscle.
But it was said they suffered from intellectual deficiencies—some even claimed they were no smarter than certain half-beasts. As a result, only a few barbarian deities favored them, and they occupied a weak position throughout the civilized world.
In many places, clearing out barbarian robbers and tribes was a task routinely issued by mercenary guilds.