The Great Worm Lich

After giving a long lecture in one breath, Hanoo poured a third glass of fruit wine for himself. This time, he did not finish it all in one gulp but kept sipping it bit by bit in a drunken state.

Upon seeing this,Zhang Lisheng blurted out, “I understand now, Hanoo. You must be the latter, that’s why you’re so melancholic now and is trying to drown your own sorrow in drinks…”

“It’s not important what type of person I am. The important thing is that since you’ve planned to recruit captains and navigators, you have to understand that between the two completely different navigators that I mentioned just now, you should never consider the first type as they would either already have their own ships or that they have already sought the patronage of those giant joint business establishments. They would never work for a small business owner like you; You can only recruit the second navigators. And, even in these type of voyages, you must know how to use some small tricks if you really want to find those qualified captains and navigators, otherwise, the ones that you get will be those who have been eliminated from the Institute of Navigation, or those professional liars. Just because you have a ship, it doesn’t mean that you can become a sea merchant,” Hanoo replied drunkenly.

“Then what should I do now?” Zhang Lisheng asked.

“Two methods. First, rent your ship to others and spend a few years to learn navigating or try your luck to train a few navigators. Second, go find those old fellows who have been ‘skinned’, and have completed their contract with their employers and have finally obtained their freedom. They would usually be at least 60 years old and though they would look useless, would ask for a great pay and would usually be eccentric, these are the real good navigators,” Hanoo answered.

“To me, the first method is just a complete joke. I don’t have the extra time and energy to learn about navigation or train some navigators!” Now that the confusion that had been entangled in his mind for many days had finally been solved, Zhang Lisheng felt relaxed right away.

Cutting a piece of meat and placing it into his mouth, he breathed a long sigh of relief in satisfaction. “Hanoo, tell me directly, where can I go find those old fellows that you said?”

“In the eyes of ordinary people, those people seem to have changed their poor and lowly destiny and have earned both fame and fortune but in truth, they’re just a group of miserable wretches who had been exploited by society for their entire life. These people are unsociable and could only get together during their leisure time. Well if it’s in Venis City, you can find them only in ‘River Duck Club’, the ‘Navigator Club’ or the ‘Smart Sea Chess Club’.”

“‘River Duck Club’, the ‘Navigator Club’ or the ‘Smart Sea Chess Club’?” Now that Zhang Lisheng had managed to get hands on these three names, he could no longer suppress a smile from creeping up onto the corner of his mouth. He quickly asked again, “Are these private clubs? What are the addresses?”

“Of course they are private clubs. Not only that, they’re private clubs that only the captain and the navigators can enter. Of course, those navigators born from a noble family will not enter at all. They have their own circles of big wooden ship clubs, navigator clubs and so on…” After drinking a whole pot of fruit wine on an empty stomach, Hanoo, who was already very drunk, began to speak incoherently, “Actually, I was a member in the Wisdom Sea Chess Club for 20 years and I could have taken you in but now, unfortunately, my name has been removed already. This is because I’m a disgraceful person! A disgraceful person… So, you have to find another way! But you have three ships and are the VIP of the Bailile and Tantorn Families so it should not be hard for you to get a good navigator after knowing about this ‘doorway’. Oh yeah, address! You asked me for the address right? Haha! I-In order to thank you for your food and wine, I, I will tell you the address of the three clubs! they are all in secret places actually. The River Duck Club is at No. 187 of Golden Sail Road…”

By the time Hanoo had finished telling the addresses with many pauses in between, Zhang Lisheng suddenly asked again, “Then where is your house, Hanoo? You’re getting drunk. I’ll ask somebody to send you home later.”

“I live at No. 70 Bay Road. It’s a big comfortable apartment, but I’ll have to move soon… I won’t get drunk with this bit of wine, but you can, can send the steaks back to my apartment first and tell the concierge to send it to Hanoo’s house. My son loves sautéed beef the most! He loves the…” As he was speaking, his head fell and he fell asleep on the table.

“Born poor but with a very rich sailing experience. Leaving a powerful employer with great dissatisfaction and anger after being exploited for several decades and completing the contract. This is the most perfect prey!” Zhang Lisheng looked at the sleeping fallen man and muttered before standing up.

After leaving behind two bright gold coins on the table, he waved a hand at the gorgeous waitress, “Send this gentleman to Hanoo’s house on 70th Bay Road, please. Then, can you please send the three most delicious steaks and a jug of fine wine as well?

“Sure, oh generous and handsome young man. Just tell me if you need anything more.” The waitress’ eyes caught the golden coin and immediately lit up. Seductively moving her chests around, she asked but the young man shook his head with a smile before leaving the restaurant with his umbrella.

The cold wind blew across his face and the cold rain poured down. When Zhang Lisheng stepped out from the door, he immediately became alerted and without warning, he sighed and muttered to himself, “Looks like my brain is not working well recently. An outstanding navigator would definitely have a high status in this city dominated by ocean trade so how could they possibly come to this kind of restaurant? It’s a good thing that it’s still not too late…”

Opening his umbrella, he strolled back on the road he came just now and disappeared into the wind and rain.

Time passed by without mercy. In just a blink of an eye, three weeks had already passed. Today, when the sun had just begun to rise, in the bustling port outside Venis City, a group of young youthful sailors dressed in white shirts and black pants boarded one large and two small brand new ships, under the leadership of three young men wearing captain uniforms whose faces were obviously flushed with excitement but still needed to compose themselves and put on.

Looking from far away at the young captains who began to personally lead the sailors to scrub the deck, a slightly fat tax officer in the port shook his companion and said in shock, “Oh dear Lord! Doby, look! Those quacks are beginning to scrub the deck already! It’s a ‘new ship ceremony’! This is clearly a simple new ship sailing ceremony! Don’t tell me that the lucky guy from some other continent really wants these quack captains who have been driven out of the Institute of Navigation to be in charge of his ships? And to think that one of them is a large merchant ship too!”

The fat tax officer’s companion was obviously much thinner than him, with a smarter-looking face too. Standing on the deck, he replied nonchalantly, “Pisten, a large ship and medium-sized ship look almost the same in the eyes of those Frosty Mainlanders. They are just some huge and unimaginable things that can float on the sea. Besides, that lucky one can only get a nautical chart of the territory of the Kattaman City State and the goods that he stocked are ordinary products from the city. He didn’t even hire a navigator so it’s obvious in one glance that he plans to make a few rounds around the southern coast and earn some hard cash. To him, it’s already enough hiring these quack captains.”

“You have a point. But, what kind of future he’ll have doing such a business? He’d be considered as lucked out if he doesn’t make any losses. He might as well just rent the ships out, don’t you think so?”

“These are free ships so of course he has to enjoy to his heart’s content first before renting them out right? The reason why Bailile and Tantorn Family don’t give any damn after repaying their gratitude is because I think they’re waiting for this lucky outlander to ‘play’ to his heart’s content first. By the time he can no longer maintain it and has to shut down his business, these two families will naturally… hehe.”

“Doby, you’re such a sinister person! To think that you can actually think of all these! Then again, the situation seems to be so…”

The two port tax officers were prophesying Zhang Lisheng’s failure in green, while meanwhile, the young man was leading the only employee from his trading company to the port.

Facing the bright rising sun, he commanded, “Romon, after I leave, you’ll continue to open at 9:00 in the morning and watch the business until 6:00 in the afternoon. I have already paid for the rent up to two years and I have already entrusted the bank to pay your monthly salary. You only have to keep your mind at work, understood?”

“Understood, Sir! You can be rest assured! I’ll definitely sweep the firm clean as though you were here. I’ll also polish the table spick and span as well…” Romon answered loudly.

“Very good, Romon, I need an employee like you!” Upon seeing Romon’s slightly dumb and ignorant personality but was completely loyal, Zhang Lisheng nodded with satisfaction and strode to his three ships. Casually waving his hand, he said, “I’m going onboard now. Go back to the firm and polish the tables and chairs. See you, Romon.”

“See you, Sir! Y-You must remain safe! Y-You’re the best person ever! You’ll be safe…” Romon’s voice suddenly became a little teary as he nodded his head while talking incoherently. Acting in accordance to Zhang Lisheng’s instructions, he turned around and exited the port and gradually disappearing, not before quietly turning his head around every few steps that he took.

Zhang Lisheng, on the other hand, squat down like a monkey and abruptly leapt up high. He placed his palms on the ship’s hull in the air and as though they had some suction energy, he gently jumped onto the deck.

The young captain, who was pretending to scrub the deck, suddenly felt something flashing across his eyes and without warning, his employer was already standing in front of him. He hurriedly dropped the long handled wooden brush and said loudly, “S-Sir! You’ve come! Good morning!”

“Good morning Captain Fitch. Can we set sail now?” Looking far into the vast sea on the deck, Zhang Lisheng suddenly felt a sense of impatience and asked aloud.

“Set sail?” The young captain was stunned. Then, he looked at the weather vane tied on the watchtower and nodded as he answered, “Of course, everything is ready, Sir! The wind is good now! We only need to hang the sails on the mast and then we can start sailing already.”

“Hang up the sails then.”

“Yes!” Fitch answered his employer and turned around to shout at the sailors loudly, “Sailors, you’ve heard what the boss said! Hang the sails! We’re setting sail!”

“Aye aye, Captain!” Even though the young sailors were excited, they still shouted out loud, not uniformed. They began to raise the sails and at once, when the two medium-sized ships by the side saw them hanging the sails, they also hastily prepared to set sail.

Not long after, the three sea-going vessels slowly left the port one by one and sailed through the waves into the unknown.