"As you wish, Miss. Now, I have a favor to ask of you." Ming paused.

Anastasia raised an eyebrow at the sudden shift in topic, and Ming gave her a charming smile.

"I think it's only fair that if I supply you with my expertise, that you provide me with your..."

Ming made a subtle gesture towards her chest,

"Talent."

Anastasia's eyes widened but she quickly regained her composure. She held back her emotions, and with a cold face, she met Ming's gaze.

A cold wind blew as Ana was about to answer the man's bold request. She cleared her throat and spoke,

"You mean to say that you want...."

"My body."

There was a pregnant pause between the both of them. The man's audacious request made her pause for a moment. His words shocked her, but she held her poker face,

"Excuse me, Mr. Ming, I don't remember hiring you as a prostitute."

Ana raised an eyebrow at the man's statement, her expression as sharp as ever.

"Oh, but perhaps I worded myself wrong then. I want more than just that."

Ming's smile was still charming, though his words would make anyone uncomfortable.

"I believe I have the right to a small reward for my efforts as you yourself have said. If I am to be working with you on dangerous missions in Roanapur, then I would expect some form of compensation."

Anastasia's eyes narrowed as she listened carefully to the man's words.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Ming's lips curled into a smirk, his expression revealing the confidence and cockiness that he found from an unknown source,

"My dear, I'm not going to beat around the bush."

The man raised his gaze towards the young woman.

Anastasia raised an eyebrow, her face still as cold as ever.

"I have a simple request."

Ming leaned forward, his eyes fixed on Anastasia.

"I want to sleep with you."

Anastasia contemplated the words he had just said and with a face as cold as the ice in her drink, she replied,

"Five grand a month, additional 'monetary' reward for completing missions, and someone would be supervising all your operations with direct command over your life and death. And the next time you ask for something like this, I will strangle you with your own guts."

Ming's expression narrowed with a flicker of anger and annoyance as one of his eyebrows rose,

"So it's fine for you to take advantage of my skills and expertise yet it's not okay for me to request the same? Sounds hypocritical."

He took another sip from his drink, glancing at her chest once more before adding,

"I thought we could have a mutually beneficial relationship where we both get what we want. Is that not the case, Miss?"

His tone of voice revealed that he was offended in some way by her response, though why that is, was beyond anyone's guess.

"Do you know what's the difference here?"

Anastasia stared blankly at Ming, her expression unchanging.

"If you refuse to do your job, I can always get another one to do it for me. It may not be as satisfactory as someone with training but it would be done nonetheless."

She pointed at the door behind him,

"The door is that way, Mr. Ming, I do hope you make it to your hotel in one piece."

A few tense seconds passed as Anastasia's gaze bored into Ming's soul. Ming was left speechless, unsure how to respond.

He took a breath and swallowed hard, his tone remaining confident but with a hint of uneasiness,

"Well, now that's a reply I honestly wasn't expecting."

Ming replied with a chuckle, his tone filled with a false sense of security and a deep-seated uneasiness. 

"It's quite evident that you take your job seriously, so I'll cut you some slack. I'll accept your terms as they are."

With a smile, he extended his hand out towards Ana.

"Shall we shake on it?"

Anastasia swept his hand with a cold look,

"I am afraid I would have to decline, I prefer not to touch every roadside dreg that crosses my way."

"Well, I suppose that's that."

Ming let out a sigh, taking the rejection with relative composure.

"I will work under these conditions, but..."

The man paused for a moment, his expression hardening.

"If at any point your mind changes, you know where to find me."

He said calmly, giving Anastasia a cold glance before taking out a business card and handing it to her.

"Take my card if you change your mind."

His cockiness returned a bit as he added,

"My room number is on the back of the card."

Anastasia raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in Ming's behavior, her expression becoming harder as she stared back at the man. 

After a moment, she sighed before turning to the barman,

"Howard, now that I think about it, you have been pestering me about the bar's renovation for quite a while now. Guess we might as well begin with disinfecting the place first. And maybe enjoy a bonfire while we are at it."

She glanced at the card in disgust before giving Ming the same look and making a shooing gesture towards him.

With a resigned sigh, Ming picked up the card and tucked the card back into his jacket pocket, then looked back at Anastasia with a cold expression.

"I suppose this means my offer was rejected,"

he said, turning his head slightly to see Anastasia nodding in response.

"Fair enough,"

Ming continued,

"But, if I may ask one thing..."

He paused for a moment, his expression showing a strange mixture of frustration, disappointment, and respect.

"Can you at least tell me the reason why you rejected my offer?"

Anastasia stared back at Ming with eyes as cold as ice. It took her a moment to answer, and when she did, her voice was calm and unemotional.

"If I had wanted to have relations with a man, Mr. Ming, I would have visited a brothel."

she said plainly.

"I did not hire you as my escort, so you have no right to request such things from me."

She paused for a moment, before adding,

"The only reason I do not kill you right here and now is because you have potential as an asset to me."

A short second later,

"Also, you don't fit my criteria, not one bit, starting from gender to the very basics of common sense."

At the end of her response, Ming's eyes widened considerably. He slowly turned to face Anastasia.

"Excuse me, Miss, but I... believe I misheard you. May I ask you to repeat that, please?"

He looked at her and tilted his head to the side slightly. Anastasia's eyes hardened as she slowly leaned forward, resting her arms on the table.

"Is there a problem?"

She replied.

Ming's face was filled with confusion as he responded,

"Wait...you mean to say that you rejected my offer on the grounds of having the 'wrong gender?'"

It seemed like Ming couldn't believe his ears.

Anastasia slowly leaned forward, resting her arms on the table.

"You heard right."

She paused for a moment before adding,

"Now if you were one of those military magazine busty girls, I wouldn't have minded your offer... I might have even accepted it."

After a moment, she continued,

"You look quite... surprised to hear that."

Ming looked stunned as he processed what Anastasia had just said. It was clear that he had always considered himself to be quite the charmer with the ladies, with his well-practiced looks and charming smile. Anastasia's outright rejection of his advances had clearly thrown him off as if he could not fathom being dismissed for such a reason.

"Well...that's a bit disappointing to hear."

Ming said slowly as if struggling to believe that this was happening. 

"Looks like I never stood a chance in the first place. I... a question though, do you prefer the hourglass figured ones or the short cute ones?"

"Hourglass?"

Anastasia gave a slight smirk,

"So that's what the men are calling it these days, eh? If I had to pick one, I'd say... tall hourglass ones, I suppose. It's a lot more fun playing with them."

Ming returned the smirk before walking over to the barman, Howard, who was muttering some sort of incantation while downing a bottle of rum.

Anastasia turned her attention to the system interface that just popped in front of her, more specifically to the subordinate status of Ming,

- Fighter: Ming
 - STR: 65
 - DEX: 60
 - END: 68
 - Loyalty: 80 (Fixed 80)
- Skills: Hand-to-hand Combat(Lv.6), Navigation(Lv.7), Seafaring(Lv.6), Waterborne Vessel Operation (Lv.5), Fleet Command (Lv.3), etc.

Well, at least he was not lying about his ability to navigate, but he had a fleet commanding skill, now that was a pleasant surprise. According to the system, the Lv.3 Fleet Command meant that he could command a fleet of ten ships up to the size of a patrol boat. 

As she was reading through the system interface, the doorbell rang again, and a trio of blonds, two tall ones flanking a shorter one, entered the bar. Anastasia recognized the shorter blond man to be Marais, the one she sent to fetch the Ivanov twins. She could tell from his expression that yet another tedious conversation was in store for the evening.

"Ah, Marais... just the person that I was hoping to see,"

Anastasia said warmly, gesturing towards Marais and the twins that he had dragged along with him.

"Anastasia, I assume?"

Said the man with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail, the question a mere gesture of civility rather than seeking an actual answer. 

His sibling was a woman whose appearance was that of a model, her face perfectly proportioned and skin smooth with few, if any, wrinkles. On top of that, she had a rather bombastically fantastic chest.

Yes.

She just made that term.

"Anastasia the Volchitsa, head of Vorovich? I must say, you are even more stunning in person."

Smirked the tall blond woman.

Ah, Russians. The race that made one's heart feel warm, whether it be through their goofy smiles, seductive poses, deadly drinking habits, or using a Molotov cocktail.