"Brat? Are you home?"
Ed's excitement died down upon hearing the familiar voice of a certain old geezer who had spotted him from hundreds of meters away at sea. He spoke lazily; if not for the fact that he was holding onto this old geezer's not-so-reliable thigh to get into that treasure hunting team, he might have already run away.
"Yes, yes, I'm home."
Hearing this, Priest Pakchi walked in with a burly man wearing a black windbreaker and a cowboy hat, which seemed to be the same one he had been wearing ten days ago.
"Priest," Sigurd looked at Pakchi, folded his hands, and bowed respectfully. It seemed this poor guy didn't know this dangerous old man's true face.
Ed, not wanting to make a bad impression on his potential future boss, did the same for the sake of formality. After all, the other party was a priest; no matter how mad he was, his friend surely wouldn't be happy seeing a brat who didn't show even basic respect to 'a man of the cloth' (priest).
Priest Pakchi returned the greeting and looked at Ed with a satisfied smile. "Ed, this is the treasure hunter I was talking about, Andre."
The burly man named Andre waved a hand to interrupt the priest, took off his hat, and looked Ed up and down in the same manner Raila looked at vegetables in the market to find the best one. Ed had once had the honor of shopping with her and could relate to the experience very easily.
"My name is Andre, Andre Clegane. Captain of the Blue Fist Treasure Hunting Group. And you, what's your name?" Andre asked with a poker face.
Ed glanced at the middle-aged man in front of him, who was trying to play the role of a bad guy, and then said calmly, "Edward Darkmore," before falling silent. Well, he didn't have any honorable titles to boast about... Yet.
"Pakchi has already told me about you. I agree that you can join my treasure hunting team, but if you want to get what you want..."
Having said this, Andre took a step forward, leaned his head slightly forward, and stared at Ed with a deadly serious expression, enough to suffocate a normal young man of Ed's age under his invisible pressure alone.
"Then you have to pay a price worthy of me."
After saying that, he took out a wrapped paper from somewhere and stuffed it into Ed's hand.
"Sign it if you agree. It's still morning now, and I'll wait until dusk at the latest. Come over soon if you've made up your mind."
After saying that, he turned around without any hesitation, pushed open the gate of the yard, and walked outside.
Priest Pakchi didn't stop him but just looked at Ed quietly, and spoke gently.
"He is my friend. His credibility is worth guaranteeing, and his ability is worth recognizing. But you... Ed, are you really ready for this? The next journey is not going to be easy."
After saying that, he nodded to Ed and Sigurd and walked outside.
When he stood at the door, he nodded to the person next to him and left. That figure was none other than Aunt Marcy, who had come to check why everyone was entering Ed's courtyard. She walked in with a hesitant expression on her face.
Ed sighed helplessly and looked at Aunt Marcy and Sigurd, who were staring at him. For a moment, he didn't know what to say or where to start. Countless thoughts flooded his mind, making him a little confused; after all, getting away from people close to your family is not an easy task.
Aunt Marcy, seeming to know Ed's inner struggle, came over, put her hands on his shoulders, and stared at him with a motherly smile.
"Have you thought it through? Child, do you really want to take this path? Even if this path is full of hardship, suffering, and even death?"
Hearing this, Ed's thoughts gradually stabilized, and he nodded heavily. "I have thought about it, but that's not why I am hesitating. I just didn't know how to say goodbye to you all, after all, I have never been away from you."
Aunt Marcy seemed to have expected this and nodded with some relief, and couldn't help but chuckle, but her eyes had already become moist. Not wanting to let Ed see her tears, she pulled him into her arms and said while trying her best to suppress her crying voice, "Son, now that you have made up your mind, be brave and do it. Remember my support is always with you. I will pray to the Stone Mother for your safety... Please don't die."
Then she kissed him on his forehead and let him go.
At this time, seeing his mother finished speaking, Sigurd also wanted to give an emotional speech and approached them.
"Ed, you..."
However, the poor guy, before he could finish, was pulled out by his ear by Aunt Marcy.
"Okay, brat, come home with me. Ed needs to think for a while now. He needs to be alone."
"But I still..."
"No buts, just get out of here."
"Okay, okay, let go, Mom, my ears are going to fall off."
Watching the two walk away and hearing their conversation, Ed couldn't help but smile gently while shaking his head.
He picked up the paper in his hand and walked straight into the room. Sitting at the table, he spread out the paper.
There was densely written text on it, and Ed read it thoroughly.
It was a contract.
A contract between Ed and the Blue Fist Treasure Hunters.
It also bore the seal of the Alliance.
The general meaning of the contract was that once you sign your name, you will be deemed to have joined the Blue Fist Treasure Hunting Group and must abide by the above terms and conditions.
There are two levels of covenant members: main team members and secondary team members.
The main team members provide various indispensable assistances for the treasure hunting team or possess various strengths, enabling them to play important positions in the team.
For example, consultants, doctors, navigators, combat members, decryption members, etc., people with outstanding abilities and special skills.
There are many secondary members, including sailors, gunners, handymen, and other unimportant personnel.
This also includes trainee members like Ed, a reserve force for the main team members.
This contract is a trainee member's contract.
This contract ensures that Ed does not have to do dirty work or odd jobs on the ship, but he has to do something within his ability. When going to an island to search for treasure, he must follow the order. Secondary members do not need to do this.
At the same time, he is eligible to receive a share of the treasure from hunts he has participated in, based on his contributions, but it is definitely less than that of the main members. Secondary members usually do not have this privilege.
And if he stays on the ship for two years and still fails to meet the requirements of Captain Andre Clegane, he must be demoted to a normal secondary member or kicked out from the team.
At the same time, his salary is 1.5 silver snakes per month, a very high salary for a normal person in this world.
Looking at the contract in his hand and the very clear rules and regulations marked on it, it looked very formal, like that of a regular organization.
However, Ed had his own interpretation of this contract.
According to what is written here, if we calculate based on normal circumstances, the so-called main members should be those who possess magical powers. Secondary members are just ordinary people, but they should know of the existence of magical powers.
The so-called trainee members should serve as a buffer between the two.
It is a bit like a training method for technical personnel in an enterprise.
Thinking of this, and along with the crazy Priest's unreliable assurance, Ed hesitated for only a minute at most.
This was the only path he could find in a short period of time. If he missed it, he might never have another chance.
He picked up the feather pen on the corner of the table, dipped it in the ink, and wrote his name on it.
Just like that, the contract was signed and thrown inside his inventory. After doing that, he looked out the window at the sky. It was morning, probably around 9 o'clock; there was still a lot of time before dusk, enough for him to settle all his affairs.
With a clear goal in mind, he took out the wooden suitcase the original owner had bought a long time ago and placed some random clothes in it for formality, after all, he couldn't just go to them without any belongings at all, right?
Then he put his comfortable bed and other things placed in the wardrobe and around the house and threw everything into his Inventory along with the suitcase.
After everything was ready and he had successfully emptied out the entire house, Ed walked out of the house and closed the door. Looking at the big tree in the yard and the hole at the foot of the tree that had long been filled, he also noticed a scarecrow next to it, on which he had spent a lot of time practicing his card throwing technique.
Taking a deep breath and throwing off the feeling of nostalgia, he pushed open the gate of the yard and walked out.