Captain – Chapter 117 – Reward

News spread like a raging flood throughout Yadris in just half a day, and was trending to expand across the entire Southern Islands. The captain conducting this recruitment drive, with Cecilia’s help, was dissatisfied with both the quantity and quality of personnel and planned to triple the crew’s compensation to attract more vicious pirates and skilled craftsmen.

Even ordinary sailors were offered a salary of one hundred and twenty silver coins, plus profit-sharing percentages higher than most pirate ships provided. This drove unemployed pirates across the Southern Islands mad with desire, and even crew members who had worked diligently under other captains for many years were going crazy.

The next day, countless people with red eyes and burning hearts rushed to Yadris, blocking the entrance to the Banshee’s Eye completely, desperately trying to participate in this recruitment drive.

Of course, among these people were those who came to gather intelligence, hoping to find some way to take advantage of this fat sheep. However, after learning many details about the conflict from a few days ago, these dark thoughts naturally disappeared.

The captain had personally killed the Fighting Squad leader from the Constantine along with more than a dozen of his men, yet hadn’t suffered any retaliation from the Black Emperor. What this implied couldn’t be clearer to them.

Seeing the proprietress of the Banshee’s Eye so devoted to this recruitment drive inevitably led people to think in certain sensitive directions.

Perhaps this never-before-seen new captain was Miss Joyce’s chosen supporter to counter the oppression from Richi and Solomon?

Just as people blocked outside the tavern were idly speculating about the captain’s identity, the tightly closed doors of the Banshee’s Eye suddenly opened, immediately attracting most people’s attention.

Emerging from behind the dark red wooden doors were a dejected burly man, a small but wiry middle-aged man, and Andre, the tavern’s chief guard.

The burly man and the middle-aged man were obviously unfortunate applicants who had failed their interviews. People’s gazes lingered on their faces only briefly before leaving behind a wave of low laughter and then shifting their attention to Andre.

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Feeling the eager stares of the mob, even the chief guard who had seen many dangerous people couldn’t help feeling anxious. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, summoned his courage, and shouted: “Miss Joyce has a message for everyone! Quiet down!”

At Andre’s roar, the discussions, clamoring, the dull thuds of fists colliding with faces from several brawls, and the enthusiastic cheers of onlookers gradually diminished and soon disappeared completely.

Recalling the words that the proprietress had spoken with a gloomy expression, Andre swallowed hard, then mustering his courage, fiercely cursed: “You damned bastards, fools with brains full of rum and women, are you trying to turn Horn of Plenty into a pigsty?”

His undisguised curses spread throughout the street. The pirates looked at each other, but none dared to curse back.

They knew that if they angered the proprietress, not only would they lose their chance to join the crew, but they would also be denied entry to the tavern altogether.

Seeing that people hadn’t become rowdy as he had imagined, Andre breathed a sigh of relief, then announced loudly: “Miss Joyce says today’s recruitment is over.”

“Tomorrow, if anyone still doesn’t follow the rules, whether it’s cutting in line, making noise, fighting, or disrupting business elsewhere in Horn of Plenty, don’t even think about setting foot in the Banshee’s Eye!”

“Now, get lost!”

The tavern’s first-floor hall was much livelier than yesterday, with over forty people drinking and celebrating.

After organizing today’s contracts, Caine handed a thick stack of parchment to Roy for review: “Today we recruited forty-two people, plus the eleven from yesterday, making a total of fifty-three.”

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“Among them are thirty-one sailors, thirteen Fighting Squad trainees, one carpenter, one cook, one tailor, and the remaining six are their apprentices.”

The captain took the stack of parchment and tucked it at her waist without looking through it, seemingly having complete trust in her First Mate’s report and judgment.

Glancing at the crew members who were raising their glasses in celebration of their successful applications, a hint of nostalgia flickered in Roy’s eyes.

In the past, when she had just taken command of the Mermaid and was preparing to form a crew, she and Richi had also recruited sailors here, with considerable help from a relative of Captain Red Beard.

Recalling the skinny boy who sat at the round wooden table, counting contracts and reporting personnel assignments, the young woman sighed softly, suppressing the sudden irritation that arose, and looked at the slightly tired young man with a smile: “Well done, here, let me reward you.”

As she spoke, she reached out toward Caine as if intending to mess up his neat silver-white short hair, much like an owner petting a beloved pet.

The First Mate tilted his head slightly, avoiding the captain’s hand, clearly displeased with the young woman’s seemingly rewarding but actually advantage-taking mischievous behavior.

“Captain, can you be serious for once?”

Seeing Caine’s displeased expression, Roy withdrew her hand with a mischievous grin: “What, you don’t like this reward?”

“What do you think?”

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“Fine, I’ll change it. Surely you’ll be satisfied with this… How about patting this captain’s head?” As she spoke, the young woman actually lowered herself, bringing her head closer to the First Mate.

Golden-blonde hair brushed across the back of his hand, feeling somewhat ticklish. Caine looked at the strands of hair within reach, hesitated for a moment, and slowly reached out.

As it turned out, this was just a joke.

The moment the First Mate’s fingertips touched her hair, Roy straightened up again, perfectly avoiding his hand.

“You actually tried to touch me? Look around at how many people are here. Where are your manners?”

The captain started speaking with a straight face, but as she continued, the smile at the corners of her mouth became increasingly difficult to suppress. Since revealing her secret that night, her teasing of the First Mate had become more frequent and unrestrained.

Seeing the young woman’s sly smile after her successful prank, Caine lowered his eyelids and began tidying up the mountain of materials on the table, seemingly unwilling to engage further with the mischievous troublemaker.

“Really? Are you angry now?”

Roy nudged his arm with her elbow, and seeing that the First Mate truly seemed to be ignoring her, she finally leaned down and whispered with a light laugh near his ear: “Alright, alright, we’ll talk more tonight.”

The captain’s voice was very low, and those crew members who were currently reveling certainly couldn’t hear clearly, but the young man beside her couldn’t possibly miss it.

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“Tsk, tsk, tsk, such an acidic atmosphere.”

Anderson leaned back in his chair, with similar documents and contracts spread on the table before him. He shook his head with obvious disgust, clearly having witnessed such scenes quite often over the past two days: “I must say, I’ve been busy all day too. Shouldn’t the captain give me some reward as well?”

Today’s recruitment efficiency had greatly improved compared to yesterday. Apart from the powerful attraction of gold and silver, this young master’s participation was also an important factor. In screening personnel, the merchant’s son’s talent far exceeded Caine’s.

Moreover, Anderson seemed to have a unique enthusiasm for the tedious task of recruiting pirates, perhaps related to the novelty of interacting with such straightforward or sly characters that he had never encountered before.

Hearing the ship’s doctor demanding a reward, Roy stood up straight and was about to respond when the First Mate beat her to it.

Caine stood up, walked over to the ship’s doctor, and under the other’s bewildered gaze, vigorously ruffled his rare purple-gold short hair, saying expressionlessly: “Reward.”

“You bastard, do you know how much time I spend styling my hair every day?!”

Caine dusted off his hands, watching the nearly bristling Anderson with an utterly impassive face.

“Don’t know, don’t care.”