Crimson Servant

What woke John up was the temperature that was different from the cold and wet floor. He opened his eyes, and the rosy dawn came into his eyes through the small window, and the halo of wonderful colors dissolved on his stiff body. John stood up, his body began to warm up, and last night's exercise did not leave any fatigue on his body. He glanced at the small bed huddled in the corner, and Barnes had disappeared.

John climbed down the stairs, breathing heavily in his throat. When he reached the first floor, he noticed that there was a new person at the front desk of the hotel. A girl with sallow complexion, rosy cheeks and braided hair stood behind the counter, her eyes timidly peeking at John through the oil-stained account books. She seemed extremely shy, her dark, shiny eyes evading John's gaze several times, until professional ethics or the intimidation of a bad boss forced her to speak up.

"Is it, is it the gentleman who sleeps in the attic?"

The voice of the timid receptionist was like a deflating balloon, growing smaller and smaller until it was almost inaudible. Her timid service attitude could easily provoke teasing from unscrupulous customers, but John was not interested and was currently irritated by something else, so he simply responded to her.

"it's me."

As if she heard a pardon, the girl relaxed her shoulders and showed an even more cheerful smile.

"Sir, your companion left you a message when he left. The gentleman said he would wait for you at the dock."

The playful and smiling Barnes flashed through John's mind. Did he misunderstand him? No, only this time he didn't run away. John didn't feel the slightest guilt in his heart, and no matter how malicious he was to doubt Barnes, it wouldn't be an exaggeration. After thanking the lovely girl, John left a tip and left the hotel.

Levipool wakes up quickly in the morning. The carnival and chaos of the night are reduced to a microcosm by the salty smell before dawn. The morning harbor is like a sleepy boatman, squinting his sleepy eyes and stepping into the ice water. inside.

The cargo volume at the dock was like never before. The boatmen handling the cargo yawned and blew out the sour air from their mouths.

John saw their ship.

It was anchored to the dock with cables and planks, the sails were furled, and the eight-pointed star pattern on the side was spotless. The Morning Star blended in with the other sailboats with a brand-new attitude. Barnes, that guy was having a lively conversation with a few sailors, and it was easy to see how proud he was by his beaming look. His clothes were almost unchanged, old and faded clothes that were starched, and he was mingling with the sailors doing rough work, but at this time the captain There was a beautiful command knife, and a beautiful stabbing sword with a pearl chain on the gleaming handle.

"Aha! Look who's here! Isn't this my most diligent and loyal wizard subordinate?! You must have prepared a magical treasure map to the mysterious island for me, right?"

Barnes opened his hands to John, and his face was squeezed at an angle that the sailors couldn't see.

John resisted the urge to kick him into the water, raised his right hand, and activated a little magic power to play a fire trick on his fingertips. Several sailors opened their eyes wide after seeing the magic trick, reluctantly took out a few silver coins and put them in Barnes's hand, and got off the ship muttering.

"Goodbye, guys, next time you will have the opportunity to join the magic hand to put Francis on his mysterious island adventure, I promise!" Barnes took out his handkerchief and waved goodbye to his friends, and smiled and put the coins Stuff it into your pocket.

"What did you do again?"

"I bet with them that I am not as impoverished as I appear to be. When they saw the sword, their eyes widened and they insisted that I had stolen it."

John looked at the weapon on his waist and empathically understood the contrast that Barnes brought to those sailors.

"So where did you steal this from?"

"Conscience of Heaven and Earth! I bought this with real money! It's at the blacksmith's shop just two corners away. I still have the receipt." Barnes kept stroking the hilt of the sword with his palm, and proudly made several appropriate gestures. The posture of a captain.

John rubbed his chin and looked at the several wooden barrels placed on the deck. Those were newly brought up and contained food supplies for sailing. They seemed to have been prepared by Barnes.

"Yesterday you were penniless...where did you get all this money?"

Barnes blinked, revealing the twisted playfulness of a middle-aged man.

"you guess."

John didn't look at him, and turned to look at the dock in an evasive manner.

The beautiful appearance of the Daystar was enough to attract attention here. John stood in a prominent place and noticed a familiar figure who was attracted to him after ten minutes.

The tall black-clad warrior rushed over like a chariot pushing away the crowd.

Raven walked to the front of the boat, his stoic face twisted with annoyance. He stared at John, looking for another person beside him with his peripheral vision.

John suddenly understood something in his mind.

"I lost my money. From last night to now, the only people who have been close to me are you two." Lei Wen's veins popped out, and his clenched fists seemed to be ready to attack at any time.

"I haven't touched your things." John replied calmly. He expected that Barnes must have been hiding, and he had absolutely no time to force him to show up before the warrior's anger broke out.

It is not appropriate to shirk the blame and cover up. John Kemp observed Raven and thought about countermeasures in his mind.

"What about him, where is that sly-looking captain?!"

Facing Raven's growl, John stood on the boat indifferently. He looked at the warrior with a calm attitude as if he was deliberately trying to stimulate his anger. John knew that he couldn't show cowardice at this moment, or show a guilty conscience to aggravate his suspicions. Experienced warriors would rely on intuition to judge the situation. From last night's contact, John had already roughly understood Raven's personality.

The loss of money would not have plunged the impassive warrior into this embarrassed attitude, and his anger was tinged with something else.

"You must have failed."

John saw Raven's eyes widen strangely and continued with a calm tone.

"Even if there is no commission, your strength is enough to be popular on any ship. It is not difficult for you to lose your coins, and it is far from making you so eager to find the lost items."

"There is no ship that can take you to the chaotic sea. You have stayed on the dock for so long, and you must have fully evaluated various possibilities, but in the end, you still found us. Because of what you said last night, you know that we are the only ones There is a chance to go to the chaotic sea."

John pinched his chin and looked at Raven's cold eyes.

"You know that we intend to recruit you, but based on the unpleasantness last night, maybe you considered various factors and finally decided to come here with this preemptive attitude. After all, warrior professionals in the eyes of ordinary people are unreasonable and arrogant guys. , most people will avoid its edge, so if you want to borrow a stereotype, it is a very clever choice."

"You have fully analyzed the characters of me and Barnes, and you know that the captain is a guy who bullies the weak and is afraid of taking advantage of the strong..."

"But I know that you are not a reckless warrior. I understand you just as you understand me, Raven." John stretched out his hand, thinking that Barnes must have understood Ray earlier than me. Wen's inner self, that's why he started so decisively.

Raven exhaled, his expression as calm as if the performance was over, he held John's hand, and the anger in his eyebrows disappeared.

Raven said: "The first time I saw you, I didn't like such a thoughtful guy like you."

John smiled and replied, "I really like companions with quick minds, which is more conducive to communication."

Raven let go of his hand and looked at the layout of the ship curiously.

"However, my money was indeed taken by Barnes, right?"

John's smile didn't change.

"you guess."

"As expected, I still don't like someone as thoughtful as you."