Might as Well

The Anchor Away Inn was like any other inn that was ever found in a harbor. It had a rustic charm that was hard to deny, but it also looked like it was in dire need of renovation and only the salt deposited by the sea winds was holding it together.

It was illuminated by candles sparsely placed along the walls and on some tables, increasing the mysterious atmosphere of the building.

And then there were the people…

As soon as Sam stepped in a lot of people looked up and then returned to their conversation, disinterested. Seeing as he was dressed as a regular adventurer, without any guild or organization markings, nobody deemed him interesting enough, though Sam expected that at least several people made note of him. After all, a lot of people made money by selling information in a harbor town such as Deepanchor.

As he looked around he saw grizzled sailors drinking themselves to stupor, fresh-faced adventurers bragging about their conquests, knights silently observing others, merchants haggling over papers while gesticulating with their cups, and shifty-looking individuals looking for their next marks. And amidst all this were the waitresses flittering about in short skirts and low-cut dresses, as they delivered alcohol and food to the tables, while a stereotypical old man stood behind the counter, with a scar over both of his eyes, slowly and methodically cleaning a glass with an old cloth.

Sam calmly walked in, and without prompting took a seat and one of the small circular tables. Not even a second later, one of the waitresses appeared at his table with a well-practiced customer service smile. She was older than him, but the makeup and dress (and the low lighting) covered this up. She had brown hair, ending around her shoulders, falling in waves, and her dress showcased her well-exercised body.

Taking a peek, he looked up into her laughing eyes as she smiled at him mischievously. “What’ll it be, hun?”

Sam cleared his throat, wishing to hide his blush, and answered. “A cup of ale, please!”

“Alright, hun. Anything else?” the waitress answered. Sam just shook his head.

“Alrighty! Be right back!” came the cheerful answer, and Sam could only watch as the waitress flounced away.

‘That skirt is really short…’ he mused.

A minute later the pretty waitress returned with a cup of ale and Sam paid her with a silver. Her eyes widened when he placed the coin in her palm and Sam quickly closed her hand over it.

She gave him a big smile, but before she could answer another patron raised their hand and called out to her.

“Oi! Waitress! Another cup!”

She gave him another smile, then turned around and answered the man.

“Coming right up!”

Sam watched her hurry away and raised the cup to his lips. He pretended to take a sip of the not-that-cold, almost tepid ale and began thinking.

A city like Deepanchor was ruled by merchants, that was a fact. The city may have a mayor as the representative of the crown, but everybody with at least a minimal awareness about how the world worked knew that the real power was in the pockets of the merchants who owned the warehouses, ships that brought in products and the caravans that distributed said products to the wider country and beyond.

Thus the only way one could acquire business property was with the ‘permission’ of these hidden rulers. That was the reason why Lucy had no luck getting anything done from Ironwood. These merchants wouldn’t move unless they would make a profit from the action.

He had several ways to circumvent this.

There were several quests that would make it so that the mayor would come into some political power (if executed properly) or he could simply assassinate several merchants and have Lucy make a move in the chaos.

Or, he could offer one of the merchants something irresistible. Something that would make sure they would cooperate with his company for a long while.

It was a conundrum… He had ideas for both but for now, he was undecided.

‘Also, are there any people in Deepanchor I could poach?’ he mused as he went over his inherited memories.

Deepanchor was near Ironwood so the other Sam had heard a lot of things about the city. Mostly about pirate treasures, pirate attacks, pirate dramas and everything else pirate.

One would think there were a lot of pirates and they would be right. Most players who arrived in the city only had one goal. Get a ship and go to the high seas to plunder booty.

Thus, since the start of the game, the presence of pirates had increased exponentially in the surroundings of Deepanchor.

He knew about several famous pirate captains as well as people who made it their job to hunt down said pirates. Sam even looked up a few streamers who streamed their efforts. Sadly, none of them were in a situation where Sam could help to gain their trust and poach them.

There were a few who would be amenable to starting a new merchant company that could work with his own, but he was pretty sure that the moment he founded said company, the other merchants would do everything to destroy it, or if it was profitable, to acquire it.

For now, he would need to be satisfied by annoying the Steel Lions and getting some properties for Lucy to play around with.

But seeing the man approaching him with a confident grin, he knew he had some time to decide. Who knows, maybe he will come across some once-in-a-lifetime opportunity…

The man was clearly an NPC, with a sleazy smile, a rumpled shirt, stained with wine and past meals, and a cup of ale in his hand. On his belt was a knife and a side bag. And based on his mana, a very average water mana affinity.

‘A sailor, either here to scam me or try to sell my organs after knocking me out…’ he mused as he eyed the man as he walked up to his table.

“Is this seat taken?” the man asked pointing at the other chair at Sam’s table. And before Sam could answer, he pulled it out and sat down, plunking the cup on the table, spilling a few drops on it. “Great! Name is Herbert! And you?”

Sam smiled and answered. ‘After all, it was Sun Tzu that said to never interrupt your enemy when they were making a mistake.’ This man clearly thought that Sam was a fresh-faced adventurer naïve to how the world worked. ‘Or just very confident in his scamming skills…’

“Tom’s the name, Herbert.”

The man grinned, took a swig of his drink, then used the hem of his dirty shirt to clean his face before continuing. “Saw you moping here, all alone. And I thought to myself, Herbert, ol’ pal, that guy there needs something to do with his life!”

“Oh? How did you know I didn’t have a job?”

The man’s grin widened as Sam ‘inadvertently’ let out the fact he was without a job. A small hook to see what the other man wanted.

“Well, my young friend, if you become as experienced as me,” he thrust a thumb toward himself with a sly grin, then continued. “Then you’ll just have the eye for these kinds of things.”

“Alright,” Sam nodded, playing up that he was impressed by the other man. “I assume you’ve got a job for me?”

Herbert nodded. “Of course! Ol’ Herbert is here to help today’s youth! Including you! Why when I was your age…”

‘Wow, that is creepy…’ Sam thought as he listened. Behind Herbert’s back, he saw the busty waitress give Herbert a scared look and began bustling towards them but Sam sent her a subtle shake of his head and a cheeky wink while the scammer was waxing poetically about his obviously fake past. The waitress’ eyes went wide, then she grinned and after a thumbs-up, returned to her duties. And he refocused on the man trying to make Sam believe that he was all about honest work.

“… and then they said, Herbert my friend, you saved the day!”

“Wow! Amazing!” Sam couldn’t help but let out a bit of sarcasm. Thankfully, the other man was so enthralled by his own story that he didn’t even notice it.

“Yep, yep! Ol’ Herbert is a big hero! And this hero is here to offer you a job! All to help the next generation get started!”

“Really? What kind?” Sam asked, leaning forward, pretending to be interested.

Clearly, this was a hook for some kind of quest. And, well he needed a quest to get started with the locals.

Herbert grinned, showcasing that a few of his teeth were missing. He leaned closer, lowered the volume of his voice, and motioned to Sam to also get closer. Sam did so.

“Listen here, young man. I have a crew, we do work around the city. And well, recently the work increased but the hands stayed the same. Maybe you could drop by and give us a hand, eh?”

He finished his spiel with an exaggerated wink.

Sam leaned back and pretended to think about the offer. Herbert watched him with hawk-like eyes. No doubt wanting to see if Sam swallowed the tall tale the man spun. Finally, after a minute of thinking Sam spoke up.

“Weeell, it sounds nice but how much does it pay?”

Herbert chuckled and made a so-so gesture with the hand that wasn’t clutching his cup. “Depends on how hard you work, young Tim!”

“Tom…” he corrected the man.

“Sorry,” said the other man insincerely. “Now, the most important thing. Are you in or not?”

“I do need the money,” he ‘admitted’, appearing a little vulnerable. Finally, after a few seconds of hesitation, he nodded. “Alright, sounds great.”

“Excellent!” came the small cheer from the man. Herbert thrust his hand forward, ready to shake. Sam reached out and accepted it. The other man shook it a few times then with a sudden movement stood up, and finished his drink.

“Well, then, young Terry! Let’s meet later!” and with that the man hurriedly left the establishment, leaving Sam alone at his table with a small slip of paper in his palm with an address on it. He pocketed the paper and then finished his drink. He took a quick glance at the notification and then dismissed it.

[New quest acquired!]

[Seaside opportunity]

[A very helpful gentleman informed you of an opportunity where you may be able to make some money. Go to the address that was provided and do your best to impress your new friend!]

[Time Limit: 24 hours]

[Penalty: Your new friend will be disappointed in you and may seek you out to discuss it with you!]

However, before he could stand up to leave the inn, the pretty waitress returned to his table.

“Young man, I hope you are not planning to go with that man?” she asked anxiously, biting her lip.

Sam smiled at her reassuringly but instead of saying anything he just pointed down at his legs. Where Lucky’s head emerged, grinning from ear to ear, showing enough teeth that a shark would become jealous.

The waitress let out a little eep, and Lucky remerged with Sam’s shadow.

“I’m not as defenseless as that man thinks…” he said with an impish smile.

Before going to the address he dropped by the bounty office to check out the available bounties, as he had a very strange feeling he would need it. Surprisingly, Herbert’s face wasn’t among the pictures on the bounty board.

Still, he took one for everyone and bought a few restraining artifacts from the shop inside the building.

Then he returned to walking around the city, but now instead of meandering around, he had a specific purpose. He wanted to know what the Steel Lions were doing in the city.

It didn’t take long to find the Steel Lion’s headquarters in a building not far from one of the merchant princes’ office buildings. ‘So they allied with the… White Albatross Company… good to know!’

The building was protected by several Steel Lion players in heavy armor while a few players and NPCs entered through the door after showing some kind of identification. Following a few workers dressed with the guild’s logo, he found several warehouses near each other that were also protected by stationary and patrolling guild players. Apparently, the guild didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

Though as Sam observed the patrols and guards, he could see several blind spots as well as holes in the protection setup. However, based on what Katie told him about her father and what he knew about people like that, he was pretty sure he had some security expert working on him.

And that security expert probably left those holes there on purpose to see who would take advantage of them.

For a moment he contemplated walking into the trap and wreaking havoc, but then he had a genius idea. Instead, he dug around his inventory and retrieved a few pieces of paper and a writing implement, and began scribbling down information about the patrols and the holes in them.

‘After all, it is pretty rude to show up without a gift…’ he thought with a chuckle as he continued to write.