Finding an information broker was easy.

  One simply needed to find the shadiest tavern that one could, avoid getting robbed in the process, and from there, you just needed to ask the right people, and climb up the chain to find the nearest establishment that hosted information brokers.

  And as for this purpose, Aurelius entered the tavern named ‘Funky Fish’.

  While Aurelius had not slept over the course of the last 12 to 13 hours, the sun was just now gently touching down onto the horizon, a result of the time zone difference between the central and western continents.

  Aurelius was indeed starting to get tired, but he had already dozed off a few times on the ship, and with his decent progress as a martial artist, Aurelius wasn’t yet feeling the pinch of fatigue yet.

  After all, he had mostly been relaxed during his journey on the submarine…

  As he entered the tavern, it didn’t take long for him to realise the reason that its owner had given it the crude, and unattractive name of ‘Funky Fish’.

  The immediate thing that one would notice in entering the establishment was the fact that it held a stench of rotting fish, full of sulphurous and devilish smells that invaded and resonated into pain within one’s nostrils.

  The origin of this deadly smell was a local delicacy in coastal cities in the lower Atltepetl regions, the fermented Star Rays, or locally referred to as the Stink Ray.

  “Ah, that smell feels almost wonderful after a century or two.” Pultris quipped wisely.

  Aurelius suppressed his gag reflex, wondering if he should find himself another tavern that didn’t carry such a horrifying dish.

  Bearing through the smell, he finally forced himself to take a seat at the barstool, and ordered a point of sweetened beer in order to force his senses to calm.

  The atmosphere of the tavern was rather drab, and shabby, but in a less charming way as compared to the Crooked Cafe.

  The soft music that played from the radio through the magic speakers were rather muted against the backdrop of roaring and rowdy sailors getting drunk all around them.

  And once you got past the smell of rotting fish, it seemed that the smell of pungent smoke from tobacco was next to follow.

  Fortunately, Aurelius had long been trained to tolerate such smells given Mr. Tona and his absolutely abhorrent chain-smoking habits…

  “It seems you haven’t discovered the sweetness of liquor, I see.” The bartender chuckled, passing the young, and dishevelled man a glass of frothy, golden liquid with practiced ease.

  The man was in his early 30s, with a few wrinkles weathering his face alongside a small scar on his cheeks. And much to Aurelius’s curiosity, he had a unique keychain, made from coloured feathers that poked down from his breastpocket.

  “No. I usually don’t drink too much.” Aurelius replied, smiling awkwardly as he mused on this fact.

  While he was technically 21 by this point, he had always been in the body of an 18 year old. Given that the legal drinking age across the continents had been standardised as 18, Aurelius, who had always been a rather law-abiding citizen, had indeed not interacted all too much with alcohol.

  Even with 3 years in the timeloop, Aurelius had only partaken in alcohol on the last days of each loop at most, finding it a slightly depressing way to enjoy the feeling of intoxication without suffering from the consequence of a hangover.

  After all, hangover charms were rather expensive…

  “You’re a tourist? You seem rather young to be travelling on your own.” The bartender asked, sizing Aurelius up as he prepared another round of beverages on the other side of the counter.

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  It was quite clear to Aurelius that the man was likely fishing for tips by engaging in conversation with the ‘easy prey’.

  This was a rather understandable conclusion given that the majority of the individuals who had crowded the taverns near the ports at this hour were actually sailors who had docked temporarily. The few out of place individuals in such establishments were often lost tourists or those who sought the thrill of… experience or such things.

  “Haha, not exactly. I’m an adventurer, and I’ve come to find myself a few interested crew members to sail along the coast of lower Atltepetl.” Aurelius replied smoothly, which was rather easy given that he had already come up with the idea during his long journey over to the continent.

  The bartender frowned a little, the business of his hands slowing down slightly… Then, his expression lit up, understanding the underlying idea of what was being insinuated.

  His customer clearly looked too young, and too ‘clean’ in his appearance to be an experienced adventurer!

  If such a man was recruiting a crew in such a smelly, weird place, the bartender came to the conclusion that Aurelius was likely a naive, spoiled son of a wealthy family who wanted to play ‘adventurer’ at sea for their ego.

  In short, a gold mine ready to be exploited!

  …Is this fellow into me? He’s been staring a little too intently… Aurelius thought to himself as he continued to smile awkwardly.

  “How interesting!” The bartender started, wondering what he could potentially sell this strange, naive pile of cash sitting in front of him… Perhaps he could even jump this ridiculous young man and take his money…

  “Koff, koff. Like I said, I’m recruiting a crew for some exploration into some ruins along the coast… That means I would very much like to talk to an information broker…” Aurelius said, finally breaking the bartender out of his trance.

  The smile on the bartender’s face faltered a little.

  “Are you related to the knights or the commission?” He ventured with a small frown.

  “No. It’s not like the knights would send someone like me to perform some sting operation on information brokers.” Aurelius replied reasonably.

  “Rather, it’s on the pirates.” Pultris added helpfully, sarcasm lining his voice along with a sprinkle of amusement.

  With a slightly disgruntled face, the bartender pointed wordlessly to the corner of the bar.

  Aurelius, with a silent nod, reached into his pocket and pulled out 10 Confederate Pounds. A 2 Pound tip… Very reasonable…

  ???

  “Information on sea ruins?” The information broker asked suspiciously, glancing over at the bar to find a disgruntled and pissed off barkeep.

  The man’s voice was hoarse and deep, which complemented his gray and grizzled hair to form the perfect caricature of a sailor.

  Much to Aurelius’s horror, this man, apparently called Wise Coot, used his bare hands to lift up a chunk of the Stink Ray and placed it into his mouth.

  Aurelius took much of his mental capacity then to suppress the bubbling amount of disgust that he was currently fighting against…

  “Information on the sea ruins… Can you not find them in the libraries?” Wise Coot asked hoarsely, letting out an incredible, foul breath that could knock a horse unconscious.

  “I need to set sail rather quickly… And I also require information on a few other related queries that cannot be answered at the library.” Aurelius replied pleasantly.

  “I require information on monsters in the area and pirate activity to avoid getting myself tangled in such unfortunate situations…” He continued, garnering a raised eyebrow for a moment.

  “Ruins along the coast… Looking out for pirates is indeed a decent decision.” Old Coot responded after a while, sizing up Aurelius curiously.

  “How much are you willing to pay for the information?” Old Coot asked.

  Aurelius paused momentarily, feeling a deep, horrible pain in his heart for the money that he was about to let go of…

  While Aurelius had strolled into this bar with little mind to his youth and unblemished features due to his inability to really disguise himself, as well as his ‘limited funds’, he had also done this to play up his naivety for a specific purpose.

  “Ah… Um… how does 5000 pounds sound…” Aurelius replied nervously, tearfully parting with half of his life savings in one go.

  Old Coot was stunned for a second at the quoted price.

  “HAHAHA!” He laughed, wiping a tear from his eyes.

  “That is enough to buy quite a large batch of information, young man.” He continued, chuckling heartily to himself.

  “Are you still willing to pay 5000 pounds?” He asked curiously.

  Aurelius fidgeted nervously on the spot, acting as if he was unsure how to respond.

  “I-I don’t mind paying the amount as long as you can give me enough information, especially about the pirates in the area! My father, who had once been an adventurer, told me horror stories about an incident where his friend got shot in his face by one of them!” Aurelius blurted out, dumping a whole bunch of unimportant, and rather irrelevant information in the broker’s face. He even started to simulate some sort of panic attack on the spot!

  Of course, it was all… bullshit.

  Old Coot hid his delight at this rant behind a mask of feigned sympathy.

  Nodding along, the man promised Aurelius the most important thing hoarsely and amusedly.

  “Alright, alright… I will certainly find as much information about the pirates in the area… Come back within a day…” He consoled, hiding his chuckles with his fish breath held…

  Yeah, you better not waste my bloody money! Aurelius cursed.

  And with the guidance of his apparent assistant, Aurelius managed to leave the tavern without incident…

  As he set foot into the setting sun of the beautiful coastal city, Aurelius smiled to himself.

  “You know what. I admit that was quite smart.” Pultris conceded…