chapter 43

The days quickly passed, and it was finally time to leave the capital. The wood for our ship was ready, and the Nitti family was in a mess with most of their leadership dead, arrested, or on the run as the Ballywood kingdom's authorities capitalized on our defeat of the mob's boss and started a witch hunt against them.

An official of the kingdom even came to visit us at the inn during this time, stating that the royal family had invited us to reward us for our efforts. But I refused to go, and when the official seemed like he still had something to say, I told him that I wasn't from this country, and so I had no obligation to answer the summons of its royal family.

The official, however, didn't want to give up, and just when things were about to get complicated, one of Wilson's infamous dirty looks saved me, as he only needed to scoff at the official's persistence to scare him away.

King Ham Burger seemed like a decent man in the anime, but he was still a king, and he wouldn't bother with bounty hunters unless he had something to gain. I, of course, wanted nothing to do with that, as involving ourselves with royalty would bring us nothing but trouble that we didn't need right now.

"it's time to go, captain," Laffite said, forcing me to stop thinking about the events of last week. "They already loaded the wood into the train, and I just bought us train tickets," he concluded with a smile, and I merely nodded my head as I stood up and picked up my backpack.

"what about the rest of the crew?" I asked as I suddenly noticed their absence.

"Elly and bob went to visit her father's grave one last time before leaving, and Wilson went out a while earlier saying he'll meet us at the train station," said Laffite while checking his on his baggage.

"Then there's no reason to wait any longer. Let's go," I stated as I put on my hat and made my way outside the inn, and Laffite hastily followed me after taking several seconds to finish checking his belongings.

We passed the shop where I helped the elderly man before, and it just so happens that the little girl, his granddaughter, was standing outside the shop. She smiled and waved at me when we passed through, and I smiled and waved back without halting my steps.

There were also some stall owners who offered us food and other items with warm smiles on their faces as we passed through the streets where they did business.

I politely refused to accept their generosity, and we continued marching towards the train station.

I will not lie. The acknowledgment and the warm, welcoming looks that the people sent our way didn't feel bad at all, but I couldn't let myself get used to it. I knew for a fact that for every person liking me, there will be ten or more hating me by the time I made a name for myself and started working on my goals for real.

And so we kept walking while smiling and waving back or politely declining some people who tried to give us some food or other things until we reached the train station and found the wood merchant waiting for us at its entrance.

"Hello, sir. The wood you've ordered has already been double-checked and fully loaded onto the train. You merely have to board the train, and there will be people in shipwright town who will unload it and transport it to the best shipyard there," the shifty merchant remarked while eyeing me with barely concealed greed as he tried to fawn on me.

I looked at his shifty expression and felt the urge to spit at his face as I remembered he must have scammed me somehow when I purchased the wood from him, but I refrained and turned to look questioningly at Laffite instead.

"it's as this gentleman said, everything was accounted for, and it all checks out," He answered my unsaid question with a smile without needing me to say the words.

"That's good," I nodded with a smile and walked past the shifty merchant saying nothing to him while Laffite exchanged a few more words with him before following me.

When we were finally inside, we found Elly and Bob sitting at one bench waiting for us, but Wilson was still nowhere to be seen.

"You guys are early," I said as I sat down next to them. "How did it go? Were you able to properly bid farewell to your dad, Elly?" I asked as I put my hand on her shoulder.

"yes, I bid both him and my mother farewell," she said and continued when she noticed me looking worriedly at her. "Bob already told me about mom two days ago, and while learning that my mother is also dead made me sad, it wouldn't bring me down, especially since I have a new family now," She said with a smile as she put her hand above mine that was lying on her shoulder.

I just smiled at her and said nothing. Bob and Laffite also did the same, and comfortable silence continued for five minutes until Wilson showed up with a large bag and sat down on the ground in front of the bench.

"It took me three days and half of my money," Wilson said as he began taking out bottles of alcohol from the bag he was carrying. "Behold, this bag contains two of every type of alcohol available in this city," he proclaimed with a proud smile.

"Why am I not surprised that this is the reason you're late," I said with a smirk as I snatched an expensive-looking bottle of wine from his hand. "looks fancy," I stated as I opened the bottle and started drinking from its mouth.

"you uncultured swine, what the hell are you doing?!" he shouted as he tried to get the bottle back. "You're ruining the wine by drinking it like that. Didn't anybody teach you how to drink wine properly?" he asked in outrage as he pointed his index finger at me as if I was some kind of great sinner.

"I don't want to hear that from a gorilla,' I said with a smirk after I emptied the contents of the bottle into my mouth. "This stuff is too sophisticated for your primitive taste buds, burp. Why don't you find yourself some banana juice or something instead?" I said with a disdain-filled smirk as I reached out to take another bottle.

Wilson, however, was having none of it as he planted his fist into my face to try stopping me from taking any more of his precious alcohol.

"You goddamned gorilla, you wanna go at it?!" I said as I recovered from his punch, suffering absolutely no damage, and rolled up my sleeves.

"That's exactly what I want. You goddamned alcohol thief," Wilson replied as he began rolling his own sleeves.

Just as we were about to fight in the middle of the train station while the rest of the crew were sweating and trying to figure out a way to stop us before we wreck the place, we heard the words we've all been waiting for:

"The train heading for Shipwright town will depart shortly. Please make your way to the designated platform for boarding."