Leylin shook his head and laughed involuntarily, “Pirates are poor anyway. What more do you want?”
These low-ranked pirates did not have much money on them anyway, and if they were lucky enough to get a large amount, that would quickly be wasted on the bad alcohol in the harbour, barbequed meat and gambling dens. When, on the next day, they had not a single copper in their pockets, they would follow their captain to sea like wolves, roaring as they attacked other ships.
‘Even if you add up the wealth of all the prisoners, that would still be nothing compared to Steve’s own private hoard!’ Leylin chuckled.
‘I really need to interrogate Steve well. Though it’s unlikely that he has a letter from nobility, I need to know about his stash and things like that…’
If he could find evidence of a connection with Viscount Tim, Leylin would not have to be vexed. However, this was impossible.The other side would not be so foolish as to leave letters and the like behind. Hence, Leylin could only give this a try without placing too much hope in it.
As for money… that was just a consolation prize. At the very least, these soldiers would need to be rewarded amply for the deaths, else nobody would be willing to work under him.
Having taken care of everything, Leylin walked to the hold of the ship. As there were many more captives to return with, the concealed hold was very squeezy and somewhat chaotic. Leylin naturally would not imprison the group on the pirate ship behind them, that would only be creating trouble for himself.
Even in this situation, Isabel had a room of her own. This was a privilege reserved for the nobility and the strong.
“Can I come in?” Leylin asked after walking up to her door.
“Please!”
Opening the door, Leylin entered the room and cast a silencing spell. This immediately resulted in a serious look on Isabel’s face.
Leylin twitched his nose. There was a herbal smell in the air, and Isabel’s clothing was slightly in disarray. Evidently, in her hurry, she had not had everything arranged properly.
Chapter 814 – Thoughts
Thoughts
“You won’t be able to do things like that easily on your own, you know.” Leylin chuckled as he sat beside Isabel, pulling at her arm.
“Don’t…” Isabel began to struggle.
“Sit properly!” Leylin’s thunderous expression made Isabel’s momentum to flag. Even the strength she possessed seemed to weaken greatly.
Leylin rolled Isabel’s sleeves up. What he saw was not the pale and exquisite skin belonging to a young girl, but a strange arm filled with scales. On the upper arm, there was a curved injury that had been caused by Steve.
“Demonification? And it seems to be a rather high-level conversion ritual…” Leylin raised his shoulders, and then skilfully used magic energy to heal her wounds. He then bound them.
“It’s ugly, isn’t it…” At some point, Isabel turned away, her voice choked with sobs.
“No, in fact it’s still alright,” Leylin answered seriously. He didn’t look much better when he transformed as a Warlock, and became an existence which had practically abandoned its human form.
“One more thing…” Leylin appeared to be focused on healing her, and he spoke softly, “I want to set up a private fleet. I hope for your help.”
“Become a pirate? Why?” Isabel was dazed for a moment. A private fleet was only a dressed up way to refer to a pirate crew.
Leylin smirked at the question. “They’ve come and bullied us, it’s only fitting that we repay the favour.”
“As for the people to be used… I was planning to use my status as the master of the territory here to hang the Black Tiger pirates. Let’s just consider it recycling our trash!”
“In addition, I’ve found a pretty good first mate for you. Robin Hood performed well today, and more importantly, he is used to the ways of pirates. With our people as the backbone and the pirates at our foundation level, we can use the pirate ship we seized and Steve’s wealth to quickly assemble a crew. I’ll need you to control them tightly…”
Leylin swiftly bound her wounds in gauze, and Isabel wiped away the tears on her face, regaining her robust and healthy image. However, Leylin felt that the crying girl from before more suited the memory of his young cousin.
“Why do you think I will agree?” Isabel looked at Leylin.
“Because it’s a request from your dear cousin!” Leylin chuckled, resulting in a flush on Isabel’s face.
“I’ll consider this matter. Go out first!” Evidently, Isabel was feeling cramped in the narrow hull alone in a room with Leylin.
“I quietly await your favourable response!” Leylin headed out, closing the door politely. In reality, he knew that she would agree; this was also good for her.
‘A high ranked demon? Goodness…’ Leylin stroked his chin, his eyes twinkling.
Controlling a pirate crew may seem slightly immoral on the surface; after all, it was dishonourable for a noble to do something so sinful. However, Leylin knew that under the cover of glory, sophistication and grandeur, the nobles of this world all concealed some sort of evil within them. Every gold coin they used was stained with the blood and tears of innocents.
Even his father, Baron Jonas, had always wanted to obtain support from some pirates, or create a raiding fleet to attack others himself. He had been working hard on this, but he had been a noble for far too short a time. It was difficult enough to just get his own territory organised, so he had yet to fulfill his wishes.
As for offending pirates? Heh, no noble was going to care about that!
‘This outer sea was discovered recently, so there aren’t a lot of great powers operating here. It’s still a piece of blank paper. How could Marquis Louis alone get all the benefits on the sea?’ Leylin snickered. Whether it was purchasing high-grade spell materials or creating a wizard tower, everything required a huge amount of resources and gold coins. How could he surrender the profits he could get on the outer sea?
On top of that, he wasn’t one to take beatings without retaliating. He would definitely ruthlessly pay the Marquis back for his ‘favour’. He was just someone with control over the Baltic archipelago, a trade fleet, and a few pirate groups, so was he that amazing? If not for having apprehensions about the families on Faulen Island, Leylin alone could take him on in a war, and give him a huge headache.
‘After establishing a pirate group, cousin will have a place to take shelter. After all, the gods don’t focus much on a place like the outer sea where crooks mingle with honest folk. The occasional sacrifice can be hidden as much as possible…’
Whether Isabel could understand the reasons behind Leylin’s painstaking efforts was another matter. Leylin was sure that as long as he was the one making the request, she would not reject him.
The waves kept crashing into the body of the ship, shaking it slightly. A few seagull-like birds were soaring in the sky, producing cries from the distance.
“This isn’t too far from Faulen Island. It’s a short journey, so this shouldn’t be a problem…” Leylin held onto the railing, watching the dark sea below him. The sea was never a peaceful place. Tsunamis, storms or even numerous deep-sea creatures could destroy a whole fleet in an instant.
Hence, for sailors on the outer sea, it was like treading on thin ice every single day with the possibility of entering the embrace of death at any moment.
‘There seem to be countless gods with dominion over the sea, like the Storm Goddess that Steve worships.’ Leylin began to look serious.
Steve surprisingly had some abilities as a cleric. While he could only cast low-ranked divine spells, that was enough for Leylin to be on his guard.
Fortunately, the Storm Goddess was known for being temperamental. She regularly caused tsunamis and storms, destroying numerous ships and fishing boats. Her faith stemmed from the terror she induced.
As a result, Steve must have made the Storm Goddess feel delighted during a certain ceremony or while praying, which was why she had made an exception and bestowed some divine force to him. If not, no matter how Leylin looked at it, he could not link Steve to a clergy.
Even so, that was still very troublesome. No matter how much of a bastard Steve was, he was a cleric, and Leylin could not get rid of him easily.
If he was alone outside, he could eliminate him easily. As long as news did not get out, all was fine. However, there were too many people here and so many prisoners. There were also the escapees. There was no way to dispute the fact that Steve was in his hands. If he were to die, things would be difficult to handle.
Leylin did not want to attract even attention of the church of a real god, much less hostility.
Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 751-Chapter 900)
Wen Chao Gong's books
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 1-Chapter 150)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 151-Chapter 300)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 301-Chapter 450)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 451-Chapter 600)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 601-Chapter 750)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 901-Chapter 1050)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 1051-Chapter 1200)