Chapter 38, The Pirate King’s Sophistry (3)
The ship Martin and Raul had landed on was Pirate King Luca’s flagship.
Martin raised his aura and shouted.
“You bastards! Surrender, or I’ll cut every one of you down!”
Luca laughed in disbelief.
“Wahahaha! You little brat! Do you even know where you are? You came here with only two men?!”
Luca also raised his aura and drew his sword.
Raul saw it and immediately became nervous.
“That old man looks pretty strong. He’s above your level. Can the two of us handle him?”
“Hmph! Even if a dragon comes, I’ll cut off its head!”
Raul held his forehead in disbelief.
“This is hopeless. Let’s jump into the sea. The lord will probably rescue us.”
“I’ll stay and take that bastard’s head!”
“Suit yourself. I’m leaving first.”
Raul tied down his hammer and was about to jump into the sea.
At that moment, the Benedikta, which had finished turning around, passed beside the pirate flagship.
“Ah! Martin, we’re saved!”
Raul immediately waved toward the Benedikta and shouted.
“My lord! Their boss is on this ship! Send reinforcements!”
Whether Eric heard him or simply understood the situation, the Wood Golem threw another person over.
Whoooosh, thud.
The man who landed on the deck was Baron Gibraltar.
He was an Upper-rank Sword Expert and a Naval Knight.
With such reliable reinforcements arriving, Raul howled.
“Awooooo! Now we can do this. You bastards are all dead!”
Meanwhile, Luca immediately realized that Baron Gibraltar was dangerous.
“Damn it. I knew today felt wrong. We should have run earlier.”
He tightly gripped his longsword with both hands.
If he was captured, he would be executed anyway.
His only option was to risk his life fighting the knights.
Luca looked back and shouted.
“If any of you make it back to Cagliari, take care of my son Marco!”
He knew none of them were likely to escape.
It was simply a desperate wish.
Then the subordinates who knew how to fight gathered behind Luca.
“Boss! If we’re going to die anyway, let’s fight together!”
“You crazy bastards...”
If they surrendered, they might at least survive as slaves.
Seeing his men raise their weapons anyway made Luca laugh.
“Hehehe. Boys, let’s go!”
“To hell!”
“Yes, Boss!”
The pirates and knights collided.
Blood began covering the deck.
After turning around, the Benedikta traveled back along the line of pirate ships, throwing knights onto each one.
Three or four knights per ship were enough.
There were two reasons for that.
First, the pirates had suffered severe losses among their knight-level fighters during their attack on Catalonia.
Back then, they had been unlucky enough to encounter the Catalonian knight order.
Second, Gibraltar’s Naval Knights were all quite skilled.
They also had plenty of real combat experience from constantly fighting pirates from the Southern Continent.
“Those two ships over there are escaping.”
Captain Adrien pointed toward two vessels.
They seemed to be overloading their magic items to the limit and were fleeing at considerable speed.
“Adrien Assel! Chase them.”
The blessed ship Benedikta was the fastest sailing ship in this world.
No matter how skilled the pirates were at handling ships, none of their vessels could escape from it.
We quickly caught up.
The golem threw knights onto their decks, and both ships were subdued shortly afterward.
I turned around and studied the battlefield to see whether any of our groups were struggling.
“Adrien Assel! Turn one hundred and eighty degrees!”
“Yes, my lord!”
The Benedikta quickly turned and went back the way we had come.
“Golem, throw two more men onto that ship.”
Kuu, kuu.
The golem threw additional Naval Knights onto a vessel where the original knights appeared to be struggling.
“Is that everything?”
Most of the ships already seemed to have been subdued.
“Yes, my lord. Every ship has stopped moving.”
There was no need to kill every pirate.
Once the captain, navigator, and helmsman were subdued, a pirate ship could barely operate.
Some ships had surrendered the moment knights landed on their decks.
It was winter, and the water was freezing, so not a single pirate tried jumping into the sea.
“Let’s go to the ship where the pirate boss is.”
“Should we bring our ship alongside?”
“No. Just get close enough.”
I wanted to cross over to the ship containing Pirate King Luca.
At the very least, I wanted to see what the bastard looked like.
The Benedikta approached the pirate flagship.
I took a running start across the deck and jumped onto the other ship.
Apparently, the fighting was already over.
The deck was covered in bodies.
Martin and Raul were standing there drenched in blood.
“What the hell? Why do you two look like that?”
Both men were panting from exhaustion.
They pointed toward the helm.
Baron Gibraltar stood there completely covered in blood, holding the severed head of a middle-aged man.
He smiled happily when he saw me.
Then he held the head toward me.
“Viscount Marcel, this is the head of Pirate King Luca.”
“Uh... I suppose they fought to the death. That head is your battle achievement, Baron. Please keep it.”
“Haha! Thank you.”
I had absolutely no desire to receive a dripping severed head.
So I happily let Baron Gibraltar keep it.
I wanted to talk with Luca at least once. He died surprisingly easily.
I looked over the surviving pirates.
I approached the one who seemed to have the highest rank.
“What was your position?”
“I was Lord Luca’s lieutenant.”
“Did Luca leave any final words?”
“...He asked us to take care of his son.”
“Marco? Where is he?”
“Cagliari.”
If they simply left him there, he would die.
Now that Pirate King Luca’s group had been completely destroyed, there was no way the Count of Sardinia would remain still.
He would gather the territorial army and completely sweep Cagliari clean.
Could Marco be useful somehow if I capture him?
Even if he had no use right now, he was still the son of a Pirate King.
Maybe he would become useful someday.
If I truly found no use for him, I could always sell him to the Marquis of Catalonia.
After thinking for a moment, I spoke to Luca’s lieutenant.
“I’ll give you one ship. Bring Marco here.”
“What? Aren’t you worried I’ll simply escape?”
I chuckled.
“Do you have anywhere to go? No matter where you run, you’ll probably die.”
Pirates had countless enemies and no allies.
That was simply how bandits lived.
And honestly, I did not care much if these small fry simply escaped.
I pressured Luca’s lieutenant again.
“Cagliari will be destroyed soon anyway. Before the Count of Sardinia kills everyone and burns the city, get your families out. You bastards will become slaves and receive labor sentences, but I’ll let your families settle in the frontier villages.”
Luca’s lieutenant answered with a dark expression.
“So in exchange, you want us to bring Marco? Lord Luca asked us to protect him with his dying breath. How can we sell Marco’s life?”
“I’m saying I’ll take care of him. And I’m not asking you to choose between Marco’s life and your families.”
In other words, I would still allow their families to settle here whether or not they brought Marco.
“...Understood. Give me this ship. That way, the people of Cagliari will believe me.”
“I appoint you captain of this ship.”
I had captured this pirate flagship.
That meant it belonged to me.
Therefore, I also had the authority to appoint its captain.
“I’ll go.”
“Come to Marcel Port. And don’t forget to fly my flag.”
Baron Gibraltar, who was carrying Luca’s head, returned to the Benedikta together with Martin, Raul, and me.
After receiving a few additional sailors, the captured pirate flagship departed toward Cagliari.
Baron Gibraltar returned to his post with the navy.
Before leaving, he confidently told me that I would receive a large reward for helping destroy the pirates.
I was not expecting much.
Even if the military gave me some award, it probably would not be worth much money.
Instead, I took all the captured pirates and pirate ships.
The Iberian navy had only contributed the Naval Knights.
Most of the operation had been planned and led by me, so it was a natural outcome.
I gave Administrator Ricardo instructions about the pirates.
“Brand every one of them as slaves and sentence them to at least ten years of labor. Just like we did with the bandits, extend the sentences of anyone whose additional crimes are discovered. Assign each pirate to work on the ship they originally served on.”
“Yes, my lord.”
However, Ricardo did not leave.
He hesitated in place.
“Do you have something else to say?”
“Um, what do you think of this flower arrangement? It’s something our One Heart Society made.”
I had already noticed some flowers sitting on my desk and had been thinking about throwing them away.
I had told the One Heart Society, a private organization formed by administrative officials, to take up flower arranging because I wanted them to stop acting like a secret faction.
I had not expected them to actually take it seriously.
“The One Heart Society still hasn’t disbanded?”
“We are devoting ourselves to flower arranging just as you ordered, my lord. Please give us even a brief evaluation.”
From my perspective, flowers were simply flowers.
I did not feel much.
Still, their effort was strangely admirable.
So I gave them a review.
“Hmm. The lines are elegant, and the arrangement has dignity. Good work.”
“Haha! Thank you. We will continue refining our art.”
A group of rough middle-aged men doing flower arrangements.
It did not fit them at all.
Still, it was better than plotting a coup.
I decided to leave them alone.
“Oh, and when the pirates’ families arrive, treat them like refugees. I plan to move them into the frontier villages.”
“You won’t punish them?”
“You cannot punish children just because their father was a bandit. As long as I rule this territory, collective punishment of families will not be used.”
“As expected, my lord is merciful.”
It was not really mercy.
It was more like common sense from someone born in modern Korea.
Anyway, the remaining pirates and their families arrived in Marcel about a week later.
“My lord! My lord! Something terrible has happened!”
It was Administrator Ricardo again.
“Calm down. What happened?”
“The harbor! Look outside!”
I looked through the window.
Dozens of ships, both large and small, were entering the port.
However, every ship was flying Marcel’s coat of arms.
“Those must be the pirates and their families. Ricardo, can’t you see the flags? That’s my coat of arms.”
“Ah. I was too hasty. I thought Marcel was being invaded.”
Was there currently any force that would attack Marcel?
Not yet.
They would be better off attacking somewhere else.
Anyway, I headed toward the harbor.
I needed to receive Marco, the son of Pirate King Luca.
Since the pirate flagship entered first, I went there.
Luca’s lieutenant found me and dragged Marco forward with his hands tied.
“Here is Marco. I’ll hand him over, so please keep your promise.”
“Of course. I’ll immediately prepare for your families to be moved into the frontier villages.”
Martin, who had come with me, took custody of Marco.
Perhaps he was shocked by his father Luca’s death.
Or perhaps becoming a prisoner again had crushed his spirit.
Whatever the reason, Marco kept his head lowered and said nothing.
Luca’s lieutenant asked me another question.
“Are you going to confiscate all the ships?”
I looked over the vessels.
Quite a few appeared to be fishing boats.
“Did fishermen come too?”
“Yes. We brought everyone we could fit aboard.”
Apparently, they had desperately brought everyone possible because anyone left in Cagliari would likely be killed.
“I won’t confiscate the fishing boats. However, they must move to nearby fishing ports, join the fishermen’s association, and pay membership fees and taxes. I won’t provide separate housing for them. Tell them they need to handle that themselves.”
Then I pointed toward the pirate ships.
“Every pirate ship will be converted into a merchant vessel. The former pirate sailors will all receive labor sentences and work aboard their original ships.”
This was already an extremely generous punishment.
Luca’s lieutenant seemed deeply moved.
His eyes became moist.
“The people of Cagliari will be grateful for your mercy, my lord.”
“But how many people did you bring? It looks like a lot.”
“Around five thousand.”
“What?!”
This was bad.
Chief of Economy Diego was going to hate me again.
The budget had finally started improving.
I should probably avoid him for a while.
