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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Ruby
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Baron Hans of the Kingdom of Resen was on the verge of losing his mind.
Disaster had struck just two weeks after departing with his medium-sized merchant vessel bound for the Kingdom of Gaukren.
With over two weeks still remaining in the schedule.
“The Dusk…!”
Of all things, the pirate group based on the distant Wiber Island was attempting to raid the baron’s ship.
They had deliberately set a course avoiding Wiber Island, the notorious Dusk pirates’ base, only to encounter them anyway.
“Three pirate ships! There’s no way to escape their encirclement now!”
Hans furrowed his brow at his subordinate Moruan’s report.
“…We can’t let them take everything. If that happens, the trust the Hans Trading Company has built up will crumble.”
Hans wasn’t originally a noble.
He was a merchant.
He had received his baronial title directly from Resen’s king in recognition of his achievements as the kingdom’s most renowned merchant.
While they wouldn’t revoke his title, regaining lost trust would never be easy.
“But we only have one magic cannon. We can’t even stand our ground. Our maximum fighting force is just Sir Gelos, a mid-rank Sword Expert. What are the chances these pirates running three medium warships don’t have someone above high rank?”
Hans slowly nodded at Moruan’s words.
“Surrender… would be best, I know that, Moruan. I’ll assess the situation and make a decision.”
“Understood.”
The young advisor Moruan hung his head weakly.
-Ship of the Kingdom of Resen! Stop!!
A massive shout came through a magical amplifier.
-If you don’t stop, you’ll be hit by 8 magic cannon shots simultaneously!!
Right after that shout ended.
*BOOM!!*
Thunder-like cannon fire roared.
A water pillar shot up.
The shot had landed right in front of the Resen merchant ship.
“…I’ll give the order to stop the ship for now.”
Advisor Moruan said weakly.
Hans slowly nodded.
“Yes, do that.”
Hans went up to the deck with Moruan.
Raising both hands to show their intention to surrender.
Surely they would be watching the Resen ship’s deck through magic telescopes.
-Stay still. Don’t move a muscle.
A gruff voice rang sharply in their ears.
The anchored merchant ship slowly came to a stop.
*Swoosh─*
Two Dusk pirate ships approached with their black sails fluttering.
The central sailing ship was the largest, and the sailing ships spread out on either side were not small either.
The central ship, approaching menacingly with the help of a magic engine device that helped control wind and direction, was nearly 50 meters long and truly imposing.
The pirate ship on the left began approaching the merchant ship.
Behind that pirate ship was the captain’s ship, the largest sailing vessel carrying 58 pirates.
On that ship’s deck appeared a middle-aged man with wildly tangled black curly hair – Hectos, leader of the Dusk pirate group.
He put the magic amplifier to his mouth.
“Before meeting you, we sank a Resen Kingdom fishing boat.”
Behind Hectos, about a dozen pirates were moving busily.
The scene they created was quite bizarre.
Or perhaps in this world where pirates lived, it was just an ordinary scene.
On the deck, they had placed a wooden plank extending outside the pirate ship.
Then they dragged four people by their hair.
Three men and one woman.
Hectos approached the woman with silver hair.
“Woman.”
He lifted the woman’s chin with his rough hand.
Hectos’s gruff voice grated harshly in her ears.
“Hiiik…!”
The woman’s chin trembled with terrible fear.
Her body, clothed in ragged fabric, shook like an aspen leaf.
*Slash!*
A rough palm struck the woman’s cheek.
Her head snapped sharply to the left.
“Ughh…”
The woman touched her face and sobbed.
“You should answer, woman.”
“Ye-yes…”
Hectos continued.
“Woman, before you have a go with our boys. Have you slept with those guys?”
Hectos said this while nodding toward the three male prisoners.
“N-no… I haven’t…”
“Kekeke…”
Hectos laughed at the woman’s words.
“KUHAHAHAHAHA!”
Very loudly.
And following their leader, his subordinates also burst into loud laughter.
“HAHAHAHA!!”
“You bastards, won’t be needing your equipment!! Couldn’t even eat what was right beside you, you impotent bastards! Haha!!”
Hectos clapped his hands hard.
At that, the pirates’ laughter stopped abruptly.
Hectos grabbed the woman’s chin again.
“Choose.”
“Y-yes?”
“Choose with your own hands who will stand on that wooden plank, woman.”
“…What?”
Hectos drew the sword strapped to his back.
“If you don’t, you die.”
The woman looked over her companions while trembling all over.
Her expression twisted grotesquely beyond description.
And her companions’ faces also hardened heavily as they met that expression.
Even in her collapsing mental state, she had to rank her companions.
Who had made small mistakes.
Who had spoiled her mood one day.
Who had looked at her with gloomy eyes.
The woman pointed to the man on the far left.
The man’s eyes widened.
“Ma-Mary?”
The woman responded to that question with tears in her eyes and trembling lips.
“I-I’m sorry…”
Hectos raised the corner of his mouth.
“Take that bastard.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Pirates approached and dragged the man’s body.
His torso and feet were already bound with rope.
“Get up there, bastard! Kekeke!”
Cruel laughter rang out.
“Uwaaaaah!”
The man screamed and his legs shook on the wooden plank.
“Tch, the man’s just crying like a baby.”
A pirate muttered while nocking an arrow.
*Twang!*
And shot.
*Thwack!*
The arrow shot like lightning and pierced the man’s thigh.
“GYAAAAH─!”
The scream echoed across the waters.
The pirate who shot once nocked another arrow.
*Thunk!*
This time it struck the middle of his back.
*Wobble*
The man’s body slowly tilted, then plunged headfirst off the wooden plank.
*Splash─*
A water column rose where he fell.
The man’s fate was sealed.
The remaining two male companions and the silver-haired woman, Mary, watched the scene with devastated expressions.
Hectos grabbed Mary’s chin again.
“Now, who’s next.”
Mary’s eyes grew round with fear.
“Wh-what?”
“You have to choose the next one? This is just choosing the order, woman. Unlike you, the other two have no use.”
“Hi-hii… KYAAAH!”
Mary, consumed by terror, bit her tongue and screamed.
The pirates eventually drowned both men, excluding Meri.
Hectos stood before the railing, his long black hair fluttering.
“Ah, merchant ship of Resen. You need not worry. Those with money have their uses just by being wealthy.”
Baron Hans of Resen knew well why they showed such scenes while capturing them.
Don’t resist needlessly, that’s what they were saying.
It must be work to instill strong fear beforehand.
‘Or perhaps just entertainment fitting for pirates.’
Hans and Moruan raised both hands high while furrowing their brows.
The pirates’ atrocities weren’t witnessed only by the 30-some people aboard the Resen merchant ship.
“…”
*Keeing*
Yuma had already seen the entire scene of the men being drowned through the magic telescope received from a crew member.
“Trash.”
And there was one more person beside him.
Bell, who had been walking the deck with Yuma, had also received a magic telescope and witnessed the scene.
Yuma slowly opened his mouth.
“Can you handle it, Bell?”
Bell grinned.
“Those pirate bastards?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, I can handle them.”
Sharp light flowed in Bell’s pink eyes.
“If my Lord orders me to subdue them, I’ll subdue them. If you order me to kill them, I’ll kill them.”
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*Swoosh*
The pirate ship on the left of the flagship, carrying 41 pirates, drew right up next to the Resen merchant ship.
*Clack! Thud!*
And there, 32 pirates, excluding 9, boarded the Resen ship.
*Shing!*
A pirate with an unkempt mustache put a blade to Baron Hans’s neck.
At that moment.
*Swoosh─*
The sound of waves spreading out echoed across the waters.
“Huh?”
“Another ship coming from behind?”
The pirates’ and Resen people’s gazes turned toward the faintly visible sailing ship in the
distance.
It was Baron Amon’s sailing ship that Yuma was aboard.
“They’re charging toward us when they should be avoiding us after seeing us through telescopes…?”
Hectos’s brow furrowed deeply as he muttered quietly.
Waves spread creating ripples.
The previously faint sailing ship now came clearly into view.
A sailing ship flying the Astes Empire’s flag.
A voice rang loudly in the ears of the pirates and Resen people:
-This is the Astes Empire.
-We will help our ally, the Kingdom of Resen.
-Having witnessed your evil deeds with our own eyes, we will kill you whether you fight or surrender.
Yuma’s declaration of war spread across the sea.
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