Chapter 884 (2/2)
With gritted teeth, Randidly wandered deeper into Scant, following the scent of dead fish and human filth toward the docks.
*****
Kerrar Minnow flashed his gap-toothed smile. ”You wish to hire my boat? It can be done, but... the amount I make in a day fishing is not small, sir. I am very good. So your pay on a daily basis will need to be higher than that.”
The young man sighed and pressed his eyes closed. Which wasn't a no.
Kerrar eyed the young man’s equipment skeptically. He was wearing rather worn leathers, but on his chest was a strange charcoal colored piece of armor. There was also a strange plant necklace that sometimes seemed to move. An Elementalist then? Although Kerrar hadn’t met any himself, he knew of them.
That would mean this boy had wandered down here from the East End. Quite a far way from home.
An easy mark. And the fact that he was thinking about this amount of money meant that he could pay.
”In addition,” Kerrar continued smoothly. ”LIfe on the sea is dangerous. We will require guards, and those do not come cheap. If we pay them per day-”
”Unnecessary.” The man opened his eyes and spoke with definitive confidence. And those eyes… they were so green and piercing that Kerrar's breath caught in his throat.
Well it’s not like I thought it would be easy… If he came from the North, there is no doubt he has some grit… Kerrar thought. The young man smiled, and Kerrar's Dangerous Depths Skill tingled.
That fact slid into Kerrar’s back like a spike of ice.
”I'll be more than enough to keep monsters away. So, the price...? Give me a number.”
Kerrar rubbed his sweaty hands on his leather pants as his mind scrambled to process this information. Although Kerrar planned on robbing this Northern fool blind, it was true that Kerrar would have kept him safe during the voyage. The Long Minnow, Kerrar's ship, might not be as fast or comfortable as some others, but it boasted the greatest track record for safety amongst the vessels. Most of the money Kerrar made was from kickbacks from guards; everyone was willing to take a little less pay to run with Kerrar's ship.
The Long Minnow might run afoul of weather, but never of monsters. Because Kerrar was always able to steer his way out of the worst of it.
That was due to his signature Skill, Dangerous Depths. It was twinge whenever the boat was heading toward an area where an extremely powerful monster lay below the shifting currents of the sea.
This was, as far as Kerrar knew, the first time the Skill had ever activated on land. The man in front of him looked at Kerrar with his luminous emerald eyes and a small smile on his face, as though he knew exactly what Kerrar was thinking right now. And somehow… the young man looked profoundly pleased.
Suppressing a shiver, Kerrar tried a different tactic. “Well then, that just leaves the matter of the guide. Because of the unpredictable nature of the currents, we will need someone will a deep familiarity with your destination. If you could just tell me-”
“Honestly, why am I hiring you if there are so many things you can’t do?” The man asked in amusement.
Kerrar scowled to discourage this sort of behavior immediately. As time passed, Kerrar began to wonder if he was overreacting. Even now, that strange sensation of danger from this man was fading into his memory. It was becoming difficult to be sure that he didn’t just imagine it. “Well then, if my boat isn’t fit for you, I’m sure you can find others in the harbor.”
“I asked for someone fast. Yours was the name that came up.” The man grinned, and his face was that of a hungry predator eyeing its next meal. “I want fast. And I can pay. I don’t need anything but a crew to run the ship. And a captain to point it in the direction that I indicate. The rest… I don’t need it.”
“It will be expensive, even with no extra personal. No, maybe more expensive because we go with so few. The sailing will be difficult.” Kerrar said slowly.
The man tilted his head to the side. “Do you take Donnyton Coins?”
Money, Kerrar reflected. Makes men do foolish things.