Claire watched Sules pack her luggage, her eyes full of worry.
Sules wasn’t a fighter, and although hiring a captain meant being under the protection of the Sea God—making it impossible for crew members to harm her—if the master chose to turn a blind eye, Sules would definitely have no chance of coming out unscathed.
She was a girl, inherently in a weak position in this world, and there were no laws protecting anyone in the East Sea.
If something went wrong, there would be no way to hold anyone accountable.
Moreover, this time she was heading to the mysterious sea; even if she stayed only on the outskirts, danger was highly likely.
Dying at sea was always considered reasonable and justified in the East Sea, and no one would care.
“Sules… maybe we should still…”
Before Claire could finish, Sules, who had long anticipated what she was about to say, interrupted: “The ocean is dangerous by nature. I can’t avoid danger forever.”
She hugged Claire tightly and warned, “This trip of mine is supposed to broaden my horizons, but since there’s a high chance I’ll enter a secret realm, it’s very dangerous. If I don’t come back after two months, once the rainy season passes, you should go to the dock at the agreed time and keep them here for one week.
“If after a week I’m still not back, then let them go.”
Hearing her speak as if she were preparing for the worst, Claire couldn’t stop the tears streaming down her face.
She knew she couldn’t persuade Sules otherwise, so she said nothing and just held her silently, tears falling.
Sules had indeed prepared herself for the possibility of death on this journey.
Though she was a transmigrator, she fully understood the dangers of this world and had no confidence she could return unscathed.
But she also knew herself well—she was a typical adventurous soul.
If she weren’t, she wouldn’t have decisively thrown herself into the financial stock market with the little savings left by her parents after driving off her vampiric relatives.
She was naturally not the type to settle for the status quo or go with the flow.
Sules wasn’t particularly interested in money or power.
What truly captivated her was personal growth and the thrill of adventure.
That was the real reason she insisted on becoming a mercenary captain to explore.
In her original world, she dared not take reckless risks and didn’t want her parents’ efforts to go to waste.
But here in Mercury, she could fulfill that lifelong wish.
How could Sules possibly miss the chance?
She let go of Claire, thought for a moment, then said proudly, “When I come back from this trip, I’ll have improved a lot. If you don’t have the strength of at least a fourth-level Martial Artist by then, don’t even bother coming to see me.”
Sules knew her current level was close to Level 3, about to upgrade.
She deliberately set her target high because she knew Claire would push herself to the limit to reach it.
With a goal in sight, Claire wouldn’t dwell on worries.
Sure enough, Claire’s eyes brightened with determination.
She wiped her tears, her eyes red, and said, “Sules, don’t worry. I won’t hold you back!”
The next morning, Sules took her packed belongings and headed to the dock.
She didn’t have much luggage—only money shells, clothes, toiletries, and tools for disguising herself as an older woman.
Since wages were paid weekly, she would quickly become well off, so she only brought two silver shells.
Besides that, she carried the indispensable Sailing Atlas every captain must have.
It recorded all known sea monsters and plants so far, essentially an all-in-one encyclopedia—very useful for a newbie like her.
Old Jack was still squatting at the dock recruiting, just like yesterday.
Seeing Sules arrive so early, he was pleased.
“Captain Su, good morning. I’m really glad to see you this early.”
Sules knew it was still early, so she wasn’t in a rush.
She picked up her suitcase and went over to chat with him.
“Jack… may I call you that?”
“Oh, of course. Just call me Old Jack. That’s what everyone calls me,” he answered kindly.
Sules nodded.
“If I may be so bold, what’s your profession? Let me guess—you must be a mechanic?”
Suddenly asking someone’s job was a bit rude, so Sules softened it by calling it a guess.
Whether she was right or wrong, she’d have something to say.
Of course, she wasn’t guessing blindly.
Sure enough, Old Jack raised his eyebrows, interested. “How did you guess that?”
Sules smiled.
“Every sailor on the ship knows you well, so you must move around the ships a lot. That means you’re probably either a medic or a mechanic.”
Only those two roles were allowed to freely move between ships.
“Your hands are rough, with many cracks. A medic should take better care of their hands, so I boldly guess you’re a mechanic.”
Old Jack looked at her appreciatively.
“You’re quite observant. Save some money while you’re young, and you’ll surely become a great captain in the future.”
Sules smiled brightly.
“I’ll take that as a blessing.”
Then her expression turned serious.
“I’m not worried about much else, but I am afraid I’m too young to manage these crew members.”
Old Jack immediately knew who she meant—it had to be Fornis Taylor.
Usually, even a mercenary captain wouldn’t have trouble with the crew, but Fornis Taylor was different—he just liked causing trouble.
He sighed helplessly, not wanting to say too much about the master but gave a veiled warning: “The master is quite protective, but only as long as it doesn’t affect his interests.”
Sules’s eyes flickered with understanding.
Old Jack’s words implied two things: don’t go head-to-head with Taylor; the master would always side with his relative.
But if Taylor harmed the master’s interests, the master wouldn’t tolerate it.
Though simple, this was a valuable reminder to Sules.
She gratefully bowed to Old Jack.
“I’ll count on your support on the ship.”
Once aboard, she immediately headed to the bridge.
Mercenary captains usually lived there for two reasons: first, to quickly execute the master’s orders, and second, because only the captain could enter, which guaranteed the captain’s property safety.
Her personal safety wasn’t a worry; even mercenary captains couldn’t be harmed by their crew.
Compared to a Level 2 ship, the bridge on a Level 4 ship was much larger, easily accommodating a bed and a cabinet.
After putting her things away, Sules went to find the second officer.
She had met him the day before.
His name was Wal Ord. Seeing the new captain approach, he immediately stood to greet her.
“Good morning, Captain. Didn’t expect you to come so early.”
Sules nodded.
“Just getting familiar with the ship ahead of time. Could you show me around and help me put names to faces? It was too rushed and dark last time; I haven’t properly met many of the crew yet.”
Ord wasn’t surprised and led her toward the rear of the ship while glancing at her sideways, apparently assessing what kind of person the new captain was.
Ord had been on this ship for some time and had seen more captains than he could count.
But honestly, this was the first female captain he had encountered.
Sules was undeniably beautiful.
Though she tried hard to conceal her age and appearance, she was young and pretty—no amount of disguising could hide that.
Ignoring gender, Ord had seen many young captains—either timid and clumsy or blindly confident and reckless.
That was to be expected; being so young and facing such dangers, commanding a crew could easily lead to unstable mentalities.
After a few years at sea and some hardship, most of these young captains settled down.
But Sules was different.
From the moment they met until now, Ord hadn’t detected any obvious flaws in her.
She showed only politeness and a maturity beyond her years.
He silently thought that working under her wouldn’t be too burdensome.
He didn’t expect her to be exceptional—just competent and obedient would suffice.
That was the low bar for a seasoned officer.
They first inspected the gun deck.
It was Sules’s first time seeing the cannons, and she was quite surprised. They looked like ancient cannons, with three gunports cut into the ship’s side.
Ord explained, “These three cannons can fire simultaneously. We currently have twelve cannonballs in stock. Once they’re used up, we need to apply to the master for more.”
“How are the gunners?”
Sules asked, a critical question.
The cannons and ammunition were standard, and since they had a mechanic, the cannons should be well maintained and not prone to failure.
But if the gunners were incompetent, the firepower would be severely reduced.
Ord was slightly embarrassed that Sules had immediately hit the key point but knew from experience with many captains that this was a serious matter.
Sometimes falsifying crew information could lead to the destruction of an entire fleet.
So he honestly replied, “Our gunners… their accuracy might not be great.”
Sules pursed her lips in confusion.
“Then why doesn’t the master replace the gunners? How much of the cannon’s power can a low-accuracy gunner actually unleash?”
Ord smiled wryly.
“You might not understand. Gunners are a scarce profession and highly polarized.”
“Polarized?”
Sules frowned.
She really didn’t know much about gunners.
She understood their rarity but in the game, pulling a gunner was just luck and didn’t involve real-world issues.
Ord explained, “The required skills for gunners aren’t high. As long as you pay enough upfront, you can learn. This results in a batch of basic gunners who can fire but only fire—the ones like on our ship.”
“And what about the highly accurate, advanced gunners?”
Sules asked.
“Advanced gunners, of course, go to higher-class, bigger ships. Those ships have at least a dozen gunports and are in greater need of gunners. Only the master’s ship has two advanced gunners; the rest have to make do with basic ones.”
Sules was silent, knowing there was no solution here.
Poor gunners were a big problem, and she had to think carefully about how to handle it.
If danger really came, she couldn’t count on a gunner who aimed in the wrong direction.
As she pondered, a sharp, sarcastic voice cut through: “Well, well, who do we have here? So this is our new captain! Why didn’t you come to me, the first officer, but went to see the second officer first? What’s that about?”