Second World

When Billy Pants and Rough Criminal came out of the tavern, they were surprised to find a large group of players waiting outside. All of those players were members of the Everlasting Heavenly Legends. John had picked a hundred players for this hunt for their second guild guardian.

Although he didn’t join when Jack and Jeanny went hunting for the first guardian, he had read the report and understood what he should do. He originally wanted to bring more members than during the hunt for their first guild guardian, at around three hundred players. But since the issue of defending Wicked Witches’ headquarters appeared, he had to let go of a lot of combatants.

The ones he brought here were the ones who were the best swimmers. These players had practiced a lot in fighting aquatic monsters under the lake next to their headquarters.

“These are the two clowns who will guide us?” Jet, who was among the group, asked.

“It is not nice to say that to people we have just met,” Bowler, who was also there, said to Jet.

“Why? Are they going to be angry? With so many of us here?”

“Well then, when you say it like that, I guess it’s okay to be a bit overbearing.”

The two grinned yet showed menacing expressions to Billy and Rough Criminal.

“Stop it, you two! We are not bullies who intimidate others with our numbers!” John scolded. He then turned to Billy and Rough Criminal. “Now that you see we are not people you can afford to offend. I believe we can discuss a discount?”

Billy and Rough Criminal were fighting the urge to spit at John. They forced themselves to smile. “Well… I guess since this is our first time working, we can give a ten percent discount…”

“Thirty percent? You are very generous, my friend. Here is the down payment! You will get the rest when we are done. Do well, and I might throw in a bonus as well,” John uttered.

Billy looked at the six gold coins in his hands. The deal was twenty gold coins. With the one-sided forced discount, it was reduced to fourteen gold coins. The previous agreement was half for the deposit and half after the job was done, but now these six gold coins were not even the full half. He looked at Rough Criminal next to him, who just shrugged. He turned to the front again and saw the stare of one hundred players. Except for John who was smiling, none of those other players were displaying friendly expressions.

He gulped. “Fo… Follow me to the port, please.”

“Uh… My share,” Rough Criminal’s hand went to the coins in Billy’s hand. Billy retracted his hand and said, “Yours is later when we got the rest of the payment!”

The group walked down the street following their two guides. The place was bustling with natives and was rather messy. After players could traverse the wilderness, many had also come here as it was the only city with a port inside the Themisphere Kingdom. Many guilds had sent their members here to check out the place, including Everlasting Heavenly Legends. That’s how John contacted Billy for an offer of a job.

As they walked, John said to Weird Trap who was walking beside him, “As we have talked before, go and meet with the members we have stationed in this town. Together with them, learn more about the shipbuilding native experts and sailors in this city. Recruit them if possible.”

“All right,” Trap said and separated from the group.

After their guild leveled up to level 4 and because they had a lake within their territory, there was an option to build a port and a ship-building factory. These two structures were currently being constructed. John believed these structures were needed for them to build their naval power. Thus, the order for Trap was to find and recruit native ship-builder experts. Just like Kirsi, the blacksmith who now worked in their guild, it was possible to hire other native experts. They had also hired a few natives who specialized in alchemy and scroll-making.

John had also started searching for players who were actual sailors and shipbuilders in the real life through Florence, who ran the Missing Outworlders Coordination Center. The shipbuilders were to work and learn from the natives in the ship-building factory and the sailors were for operating the ships later.

After a decent walk, they arrived at the port. They could see the sea. This was not the first time these players saw a sea, but it was the first time for them to see one in this game world. They couldn’t help but stop for a bit to take in the view.

Many ships were lining the port. Some were big, many were small. A majority were fishing boats.

“Uh… Exactly what kind of ship are you looking for? Are all of you going on the ship?” Billy asked.

“Of course! What a stupid question. I wouldn’t have brought them here if I don’t intend to take them with me, would I?” John answered.

Billy took a deep breath to cool himself before saying, “In that case, you will need a carrack. Or do you prefer to rent two to three caravels? A caravel would have better mobility.”

“Which will be cheaper?” John asked back.

“Um… Renting a small carrack should be cheaper compared to renting three standard caravels or two large caravels,” Billy answered. “A large caravel will cost you 30 gold coins each for one week of usage. A standard one is around 20 to 25 gold coins. You can get a small carrack that can hold a hundred people with 50 gold coins.”

“Carrack it is then. We don’t need speed. We just need the ship to take us to our destination,” John replied.

Billy nodded. He planned to bring them to a place where he was familiar with the native owners. Because they were a large group, it took them quite some time as they had to weave through the messy mass in the port.

On the way, they heard a commotion. They saw everyone crowding at the edge of the port and looking at the sea. Curious, they also went over and tried to see what had caused the commotion.

Out in the distance, they saw something on the sea. It was drawing near. Not long after, they could identify the thing. It was a person swimming. The person was occasionally fighting with the sea monsters as he continued swimming to the port.

“Hey, Pants. When exactly do you die in that tale you told in the tavern?” John asked.

“Call me Billy, please,” Billy said with annoyance. “It’s two days ago. I only managed to swim for half a day. I was the last of the two who were still swimming. The last one remaining when I died was Will.”

“I will be damned, so this guy had been swimming for two days non-stop?”

“Huh?” Billy looked at the person swimming in the distance. His expression turned into astonishment. “Holy shit! Is that Will? That motherf*cker is still alive and swimming?”

“For one who used a class that only excels in a team, it was impressive that he alone managed to stay alive,” John commented.

They noticed that Will’s swimming became more rapid after getting close to the port. Billy explained to everyone, “The aquatic monsters are not that crowded after coming to a certain distance to the port.”

When Will climbed onto one of the piers around the port, everyone who was watching started applauding. John, Billy, and Rough Criminals applauded louder since they knew the extent of the struggle Will had gone through compared to these other people.

Will himself dropped flat on the pier’s floor once he was safe. He was completely exhausted.

Billy ran to the man. “You crazy son of a b*tch! You do know there are closer shores than swimming all the way to this port, don’t you?”

“Billy, matey…!” Will called with a laugh. “Well, I wasn’t exactly thinking straight at the time. Now, if you can excuse me. I need to take a little nap.”

Will then went into slumber without delay. He even produced very loud snores.

“Very interesting fellow,” John remarked. “Hey, Pants.”

“It’s Billy.”

“Yeah, sure. Tell me, Pants. Is this Will Corner a good sailor?”

“If you don’t mind a sailor with a few screws loose in his head. Yeah, he is pretty good.”

“What are you thinking?” Bowler asked.

“We are looking for sailors, aren’t we?” John asked. “This here is one. Plus, he is a good swimmer and a good fighter. Not to mention, incredible determination to survive that journey back.”

“He also got a few screws loose in the head, remember?”

“We can deal with that. Change of plan! We will rent the ship tomorrow. Here, you and Jet go shop for a few things on this list,” John said and handed him a paper and some coins. He then pointed to a member who was a Berserker. “You, pick this guy up. We are going to give him a comfy bed to sleep on. Everyone else, you can just do what you want until tomorrow morning. We will gather here and depart tomorrow. Pants and Criminal, you two come with me to the Seasick Inn, I am going to rent a room there. I need you to describe to me in detail the undersea landscape of this gulf.”

After giving his instructions, John left with Billy Pants, Rough Criminal, and the berserker who carried Will Corner on his shoulder.