Aboard the Nightglow, in the Dining Hall.
"Ha ha! Luo De, Brother Zhang Yao, come on over! The food will be here any moment!"
As soon as Zhang Yao entered the Dining Hall with Luo De leading the way, Doreze stood up and greeted them with a hearty laugh.
"Thank you, Captain Doreze." Only after thanking Doreze did Zhang Yao pull out a chair and sit down. Luo De, however, said nothing before pulling out his chair and sitting down. He shouted at Doreze, "You fat bastard, hurry up and have them serve the food! I'm so hungry I can barely stand it!"
"Were you a starving ghost in your last life, you brat? You already ate so much earlier, so how are you hungry again? Have you gotten hooked on eating here because it doesn't cost you anything? Boys, hurry up and bring out the food!" Doreze raised his eyebrows and glared hard at Luo De, looking as though he wanted to strangle him. But no matter how fierce Doreze made himself look, Luo De still appeared half-dead and ready to collapse from hunger. After glaring for ages without any effect, Doreze had no choice but to call for the food.
"That's more like it. Why not just have them bring the food out in the first place? Why waste all those facial expressions? What a waste of my precious time!" Seeing that Doreze had finally ordered the food served, Luo De curled his lip and pretended to mutter under his breath. Yet his voice was pitched just loud enough for both Doreze and Zhang Yao at the table to hear.
"What? You damned bastard! I'm going to kill you today!" The veins on Doreze's forehead throbbed. He grabbed a table knife and hurled it at Luo De.
"Heh heh, missed me! Missed me!"
Luo De tilted his head aside, dodging the knife, then turned back toward Doreze with a snicker and pulled a face.
"Ah! Bastard! Bastard!" Doreze swore loudly, throwing forks, plates, and bowls at Luo De. Luo De gave as good as he got, dodging Doreze's attacks while grabbing the tableware beside him to return fire. In an instant, tableware was flying all over the Dining Hall.
When Luo De and Doreze went to war, Zhang Yao had already slipped away to one side of the Dining Hall. Seeing how unfazed the sailors around the room were, he guessed that Luo De and Doreze must do this often. Rather than stopping them, he folded his arms and watched their "battle" with a smile.
Before long, the sailors came in carrying trays of food. The moment Luo De spotted the trays, he leaped out of the fray, covered the black eye Doreze had given him, and shouted, "Truce first! We'll fight again after we eat!"
"Fine! A truce!" Doreze wiped his nose, which was still bleeding, and walked toward the table.
"Brother Zhang Yao, come on! Come over and eat!" Seeing Zhang Yao still standing some distance away, Doreze hurriedly waved him over.
"Heh heh, sorry you had to see that, Zhang Yao! This fat bastard always picks a fight with me and leaves me without a shred of dignity! Ow, you fat bastard, no hitting the face next time! My handsome face!" Luo De covered his bruised eyes and complained.
"Hmph! You old pretty boy!" Doreze snorted disdainfully.
"You're jealous! Purely jealous!" Luo De shouted.
"Who's jealous of you?"
"You are!"
Dinner passed amid Luo De and Doreze's bickering. Zhang Yao ate while watching them argue, feeling as though he were back home eating dinner in front of the television. As he watched the two mock and undermine each other, he thought, If only Luo De and Doreze had been born back home. These two are born crosstalk comedians!
"Mmph, Brother Zhang Yao, these are for you." With his mouth stuffed full of food, Doreze placed two items in front of Zhang Yao and spoke indistinctly.
"What are these?" Looking at the two daggers before him, Zhang Yao glanced questioningly at Doreze and Luo De.
"These were the Plachy Brothers' weapons. I searched them for ages, and these two daggers were the only things worth anything. Everything else was junk, so I disposed of that along with their bodies. Brother Zhang Yao, keep these two remaining daggers," Doreze explained.
Zhang Yao picked up the two daggers and examined them.
Sharp Dagger ×2: High-grade white equipment. Damage: 5-12. Description: Daggers forged from fine refined steel. Requirement: Strength 5. Can be exchanged for 30 gold coins.
"Heh, Captain Doreze, there's no need. You should keep them! Consider them my fare for the voyage." Zhang Yao smiled and pushed the daggers back.
Acquiring items and equipment in Rodos World followed its own special rules. Something did not become yours simply because you picked it up; you needed the proper authorization. Otherwise, even if you picked it up, it would be nothing more than a decoration, unable to perform its actual function. There were three ways to obtain authorization to use items and equipment. The first was to kill someone and have their items drop, in which case the Chosen One would directly gain the right to use those items or equipment. The second was to receive them from a native of Rodos World.
Aside from those two methods, there was also picking up ownerless objects, such as these two daggers. When Zhang Yao killed the Plachy Brothers earlier, the daggers had fallen to the ground. Their owners' deaths had made them ownerless, and if Zhang Yao had picked them up then, the right to use them would instantly have become his. However, the sight of blood had left him on the verge of vomiting at the time, so he had been in no state to bother with the daggers.
Seeing Zhang Yao push the daggers back, Doreze grew anxious. "What fare? That's bullshit! I consider you a friend, and now you're pulling the rug right out from under me! Hurry up and take these daggers, or don't blame me for no longer treating you as a friend!"
"Heh, all right, I'll take the daggers! Since you consider me a friend, Captain Doreze, I'll just call you Doreze from now on, and you can call me Zhang Yao! Let's drop the 'captain' and 'brother'! And take this as a token of our friendship!" Seeing Doreze react this way, Zhang Yao smiled faintly, picked up the two daggers, tucked them inside his clothes, and then put them into his Spatial Ring. Next, he took a gem he had previously obtained from Sea Wolf out of the Spatial Ring and placed it in front of Doreze. He had not put the daggers straight into the Spatial Ring because he feared drawing too much attention. From the overview of Rodos, Zhang Yao had learned that, to the natives of Rodos, a Spatial Ring was an exceptionally precious magic item that ordinary people could not afford to use.
"Wh-what are you doing? This gem is very valuable. I can't accept it!" Doreze said blankly.
"This gem represents our friendship. If you refuse it, does that mean you don't consider me, Zhang Yao, a friend?" Zhang Yao handed Doreze's own words right back to him.
"Uh, then I'll... accept it." With a wry smile, Doreze put the gem away.
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