Sailing to Valgoore-1

"What would you like to have this fine evening." A boy with a gloomy expression asked David who was sitting at the table. The boy looked like he was an 11-12-year-old kid doing a part-time job in the pub….

"I want the biggest and the meanest slab of meat that you guys have," David said.

"Understood." The boy said and then went off somewhere.

David then sat there idly for a few minutes. As David was sitting, he started thinking about his life. He was grateful that he got a second chance to live his life once again. But he did not appreciate the fact that his second chance was given to him with a slavery contract. It was unfortunate but it is what it is….

David then started thinking about what should he do next. He has 2.5 years worth of time with him. And in that time he had to either find a broken shard or a marked being to increase his time. Or he would have to start from zero. And he did not want to do that.

David had no clue about what broken shards did or which beings were marked. Also, he doesn't have any idea, where or how should he start his search. This world is so huge. So how could he even know where to start looking in the first place.

The other thing that was bothering David was the inability to recognize the marked man. From what he had seen so far, the Wild Hunt System gave him a warning about the broken shard when he came in contact with it.

If he applies the same logic to marked beings as well, then he would have to touch every type of person out there, to know whether they are marked or not. And that was not possible.

If he just only knew some kind of difference between a normal being and a marked being then his life would become much easier…

As David was thinking about what he should do about his situation, the boy from earlier came back with David's food…

"Here is your meanest steak," the boy said with the same gloomy expression.

"Oh, thanks, what do I owe you?" David asked

"30 coppers." The boy said after looking at David's clothes.

"30? That is very expensive." David said.

"You said to bring our meanest steak. That is what it is…" the boy said.

"I am not paying 30 coppers for a steak. Take it back." David said while glaring at the boy.

"Okay fine! You have to pay 3 coppers." The boy said reluctantly. David knew that boy had jacked up the price of the steak, because of his clothes. And he even knew that 3 coppers are also not the fair price for this steak. But then David got an idea. He fished out 5 copper from his pocket and gave it to the young man…

"5 copper?" the boy asked as he looked at the money in his hands.

"I need some information about the city, so take 2 coppers extra as a consultation fee," David said. Hearing this, a smile appeared on the boy's face.

"What do you want to know?" the boy asked.

"I want to go to Valgoore. Who could get me there" David asked.

"There is a man called Captain Duffy. He owns a cargo ship that also takes travelers from here to Valgoore. You can get to Valgoore in his ship." The boy said.

"Okay… Where can I find this Captain Duffy?" David asked.

"He is the old man that is sitting right over there, reading the newspaper." The boy said while pointing at the farthest corner of the room.

David then turned around and sure enough, he saw the person the boy was pointing at. That man was sitting at the furthest end of the bar. When looking at the man, David was intrigued by the presence of newspapers in this world. David then looked at the boy and asked…

"What kind of person is he?" David asked the boy.

"He is… um… madman. He was in the military. So he is kind of grumpy old man," The boy said.

"Military man huh? So do I need to talk to that man over my place at the ship?" David asked.

"Well, you can also talk to his first mate as well. But he is currently at the docks loading the ship. That is why currently you can talk to him for now." The boy said.

"Loading the ship? When do they leave to Valgoore?" David asked.

"In in a few hours. Captain Duffey tends to leave very early in the morning." The boy said.

"So he will be here for some hours or he will go back to his ship?" David asked.

"He will be here. He would only leave after he had read the whole damn thing." The boy said.

"Alright… Thank you." David then shooed away the boy.

The meat that David had was not very tender nor was juicy. David didn't like the meat that much, but he didn't like to waste food. So he gobbled up the meat as fast as he could. After he was done, David then jumped up and started walking toward the man reading the newspaper.

As David's got near Captain Duffy's table, he saw that Captain Duffy was busy reading the newspaper. So he quietly sat down in front of him. To gather his attention David then coughed two times…

COUGH COUGH

But Captain Duffey didn't even bother to look at him and kept reading his newspaper. David knew that Captain Duffy had sensed that he was sitting in front of him. As well as he coughed two times to make his presence known, but he didn't bat an eye to it. Seeing this David suddenly remembered his sergeant when he was training to be a soldier.

His Sergeant was a very very angry man who would always yell at other cadets for one reason or another. But he was the best in what he did. But the most peculiar thing, about the Sergeant, was that he didn't like to be disturbed when he was going through some paperwork or was reading the newspaper. He would get very mad when someone would disturb him at those times and he would then brutally lash out at them.

Remembering the times of his training, David looked at the man that was reading the newspaper in front of him. He needed this man's approval to board his ship if he wants to leave for Valgoore tomorrow. So, David then patiently sat there and waited for the moment when the man would finish reading…

*****

After 45 min of a long wait, Captain Duffy finally put down his newspaper. Till that time, David sat there like a statue, not saying a word or doing anything. When Captain finally put down his paper, David was finally able to see the face of that man. Captain Duffy looked like he was in his 50s. He had a very bushy beard which was not very long. His hair was tied up to his back in a form of a ponytail. One could see wrinkles on his face that made him look like an old man.

"So you are still here?" Captain Duffy said as he looked at David who was still sitting in front of him.

"Yes sir," David said.

"Well, let's see then… A teenage boy from a wealthy household who know a thing or two about manners… Who the hell are you boy?" Captain Duffy asked. Hearing Captain's words, David looked at his clothes once more. His clothes were of better quality than the ones that he had before. But they were still very bad clothes. So why the hell was this old man saying that he was wealthy?

"My name is David sir," David said.

"Sir? Woah, you really want something from me huh? What do you want?" Captain asked.

"I want your permission to board your ship tomorrow, sir. I need to get to Valgoore very urgently." David asked.

"Is that so? Well sorry for your trouble young man, but there is no room left for any passenger on my ship. You have to wait for a week for me to take a round trip and then I would have a seat for you on my ship." Captain Duffy said.

David on the other hand started thinking about what he should do? If he waits for a week then there is a high chance that by that time, Gupalo would have sent a lot of dogs to hunt him down. And he had no confidence whether he would be able to handle an assault. So waiting for a week is a no-go…

"Sir, I really need to go to Valgoore as soon as possible. I cannot wait for a week. Is there nothing that you can do? I have to reach Valgoore as soon as possible." David pleaded.

"You are wasting your time boy. You will never be able to succeed. Not with your power." Captain said.

"With my power?" David asked. He didn't what this old man was trying to say to him.

"Listen to me boy, you have a gift. But when you will reach Valgoore you will find out that there are tons of people who have a gift the same as yours. And your gift is not that special. So don't waste your parent's money and just forget about it. You could go next week and try next week." Captain said.

Hearing Captain's words, David understood that this old man was misunderstanding something. David didn't know what this old man was talking about, but he thought that he could use this as an advantage.

"Can I ask you something?" David said.

"What?" Captain asked

"If you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything that you ever wanted in one moment. Would you capture it? Or let it slip?" David asked.

"Ah… I will capture it." Captain said.

"Similarly my trip to Valgoore is my only chance to seize everything that I ever wanted. I may fail, but failure wouldn't be a worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario would be not trying at all." David said.

"This guy…" Captain Duffy said with a smirk on his face…