The dock in Jerez is quite large. Although it is open-air and has no roof, it has three positions and can build or repair three ships at the same time, two large and one small. This is already quite large in the Twin Sails City. However, the dock is now empty and there are few people. It looks very depressed.
Heras led Crete and Catalina around for a while, and then waited anxiously for Crete's reply. However, the latter was obviously not in a hurry. He walked to a vacant lot in front of the dock, looked at the house not far away that should be the residence of the dock workers, and said: "I still need to meet your people, every one of them."
Jerez shouted to a man following him, "Jocano! Go and call all those lazy guys over so that Mr. Crete can have a good look at them."
"Boss, at this time, some people may have gone to the bar in the next town to drink. Do we really want to call those drunk guys back?" said the burly man named Chocano.
Herrez said loudly, "How could Mr. Crete not know this? But he said he wanted to see everyone, so bring everyone back to me."
"But… "
Herrez pushed him hard and said, "Go, call them back. No matter what they are doing now, if they can't stand here in half an hour, they can get out. The rest of you go and call them back."
Crete was not in a hurry. While they were looking for someone, he said to Herrez, "After we rent this dock, we will make some modifications here. In addition, the entire modification operation will be kept secret. During this period, you and your people are not allowed to go out of the area we have designated, and people outside will not be allowed to come in."
Jerez's face changed, realizing that he was involved in something very unusual. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Mr. Crete, although I want to make money, I don't want to cause trouble for those old brothers who followed me. Many of them have families to take care of, and they come here just to stay away from the dangers of the sea. I don't want to do this business anymore."
A smile appeared on Crete's face: "It's too late. Now that you have seen us and heard what I have said, there is no room for you to retreat."
"What if I don't want to?" Heres' face turned pale, and his hand was already on the handle of the scimitar at his waist.
Krit stretched out a hand, holding a ball of dark blue energy. The energy was constantly flowing, giving people a very strange feeling: "You don't want to know the result. In front of a high-level magician, you'd better cooperate. We will pay you a reward far beyond your imagination."
"Are you the mercenary they hired to deal with me?" asked Herrez.
"They? Are you talking about the other shipyard owners?" Crete laughed. "You're overthinking it. Do you think these people can persuade someone like me?"
"Okay, Crete, let's stop talking about this. Listen, we are not bad people, and we are not going to kill you after the mission is accomplished. We are the ones who represent justice. It's just that this operation involves too many things, so we have to keep it secret."
Catalina glanced at his hand and said, "Although you are a good fighter, you are still far behind me, let alone his opponent."
"Who are you?" asked Herrera.
"You'll know when you should know," said Catalina.
Not long after, Chocano and others came back with a group of drunken men. Jerez knew that everyone's life was in the hands of these two young men.
Crete counted them and found that there were sixty-two people in total. Most of them had dark complexion and rough skin, and looked like they had been weathered by the wind and rain at sea.
At this time, Crete had taken off his cloak, revealing his extremely handsome face. Catalina beside him had grown up over the years and was equally beautiful. The two of them had outstanding looks and unique temperaments, which in themselves were a kind of intimidation to the people present. In addition, a magic ball of light rose up in Crete's hand again, which frightened everyone so much that they dared not act rashly.
Crete cast a detection spell and observed all the people present, and found that none of them had strange magic fluctuations or hidden strength. Among the more than 60 people, about 20 were warriors who were good at fighting, and five of them had fighting spirit. They should all be "sea merchants" who followed Herrez to change their careers. The rest looked like ordinary craftsmen, and they should be shipbuilders recruited by Herrez.
The ball of light in Crete's hand suddenly exploded, splitting into many threads and sinking into the heads of these people. The eyes of these people suddenly became dull, as if they had entered a state of confusion.
"What are you doing!" Hez yelled.
"It's just a test. Don't panic, relax!" Crete raised his hand, and a larger magic halo hit Heres' head. Heres let out a low growl, staggered a few steps, and like everyone else, his expression became dull.
Seeing that everyone was in the right state, Crete asked, "Are there any spies from big powers among you? Kingdom, Empire, Temple of Nature, Temple of the Ancient Gods, Orcs, Sea Tribe, Elves, or other city-states?"
This magic is called Soul Interrogation, which is a unique intelligence gathering magic of the Spirit Tower. As long as the realm and mental strength have an overwhelming advantage, the caster can easily determine whether the other party is lying. Every time Krit reports a force name, he will check the soul fluctuations of everyone. After a round of inspection, no one admitted that they were spies from any major force.
So he asked again: "Then are there any of you who have been bribed by other shipyards and are their spies?"
At this time, a middle-aged craftsman began to tremble. He struggled for a while and said, "Yes, I was bribed by them to monitor the situation here. If someone wants to come here to build a ship, I will report the news and let my master grab the business at a lower price."
"So, it's you!" Heres roared. Crete slightly loosened his grip on Heres, letting him listen to everything he said.
Crete said: "Mr. Herrez, there seems to be something wrong with your employees."
Jerez gnashed his teeth in anger, rushed forward and kicked the traitor to the ground, saying hatefully, "I never thought that Old Tony, who has been with me for more than ten years, could be bought off like this! No wonder several deals that were about to be done fell through for one reason or another. It turns out that you, the traitor, are the one causing the trouble!"
"I'll leave this man to you. Now this shipyard and all the people who have passed the inspection have been requisitioned by us." Crete walked up to Heres, took out a purse from the storage ring and put it in his hand.
When the heavy purse fell into his hand, it made a crisp and fine sound. When Herrez opened it, he found that it was full of golden axes from the kingdom. Forty or fifty golden axes still emitted an alluring glow in the dim light.
"This is just a deposit. Cooperate with us and you will get more." Krete said. (To be continued)