Chapter 23: A Servant Worth 3,000 Pounds

Chapter 23: A Servant Worth 3,000 Pounds

“Captain, the Red Skull is running!”

A sailor rushed into the captain’s cabin.

“Running?” Elland raised his monocular telescope and examined the calm, rolling sea in confusion, just in time to see the Red Skull vanish at the horizon.

His brows immediately furrowed. He completely failed to understand why things had developed this way.

In his view, the armed strength of the White Agate was certainly not enough to directly scare off the Red Skull Pirate Crew. The two sides should have circled around one another dozens of times and exchanged several rounds of fire before the other party realized that this was a tough bone they could not easily gnaw through. Only then, unwilling to become entangled for too long, would they have rationally withdrawn.

Could the Red Skull merely have been passing by, without any intention to plunder? But if they did not intend to plunder, why enter this route? This is the place where they can most easily be trapped by naval fleets and Church ships. Even when the Four Kings and Seven Admirals pass through nearby waters, they keep as low a profile as possible… Elland’s heart was full of doubt. He felt that this matter was not so simple.

Caution keeps disaster away. I cannot be careless… Elland put away the yellow-brown monocular and paced back and forth a few times.

He half raised his hand and said to the navigator, “We will dock at Bansy Harbor tonight.

“Report the encounter with pirates to the navy and the Church.”

According to the normal plan, the White Agate’s next stop would be Tiana Harbor, which would require roughly another three days of sailing at thirteen knots. After leaving Tiana Harbor, the ship would sail directly to its final destination, the capital of the Rorsted Archipelago—the City of Generosity, Bayam.

There was a faster route from Pritz Harbor to Bayam: stopping only once along the way, at Bansy Harbor, one hundred and twenty nautical miles from Damir Harbor.

…

“The Red Skull really left?” Donna’s father, Urdi Branch, walked to the window and looked into the distance.

Cleeves nodded calmly.

“Yes.”

The moment he finished speaking, a sailor’s shout came from outside:

“Danger cleared! Danger cleared!”

Hearing the official confirmation, Donna and Denton, the siblings, finally relaxed. They found the courage to move closer to the window and examine the situation outside.

“Is the Red Skull Pirate Crew very powerful?” Donna widened her eyes, searching for the ship that had already sailed far away.

“Very powerful,” Cleeves gave his answer.

“How powerful?” Denton immediately asked.

On the other side, the bodyguard Teague adjusted his hair and chuckled.

“Even leaving aside the cannons and several hundred pirates aboard, just Captain Johnson and First Mate Anderson are very powerful.

“Anderson is nicknamed One-eyed. His bounty in the kingdom is five hundred pounds. Everyone in this room combined, plus the help of a few sailors, might be able to defeat him in a sudden encounter. As for Johnson, nicknamed Sea Wolf, he could deal with such an opponent easily. If they boarded the ship, no one here could stop Sea Wolf. His bounty is a full nine hundred pounds—nearly one thousand!”

“Is that a lot?” Donna was both shocked by how formidable Sea Wolf and One-eyed were, and surprised by their bounties.

In her impression, her father’s annual income was a full one thousand five hundred pounds!

“A great deal. That is the bounty you can directly claim by turning in them or their heads. The items on their bodies and the things they have plundered will likewise belong to you. The kingdom will purchase them at market price, and you may also have the chance to receive bounties from other countries,” Cecile explained from the side. “At sea, any pirate with a bounty above three hundred pounds is quite formidable. Those close to or exceeding one thousand pounds will be famous at least within the waters where they operate. I mean large sea regions like the Sonia Sea and the Fog Sea.”

“So the Four Kings and Seven Admirals are famous across the Five Seas?” Donna asked with a touch of innocence.

Cleeves answered seriously, “Yes.”

“Then the Red Skull Pirate Crew is famous throughout the entire Sonia Sea?” Donna pursued the matter logically.

“That’s right.” Teague nodded.

“But why did they run?” Donna blinked.

“They may not have been running…” Cecile herself did not fully understand the reason either.

Cleeves once again looked out the window, the lines on his forehead faintly forming the shape of the character for “river.”

“Perhaps there was some other reason. Perhaps they never intended to plunder this time and simply encountered us by chance.”

Some other reason? In the midst of Donna’s wild guesses, a sudden speculation appeared.

Could Uncle Sparrow’s gentle messenger, the one as tall as a house, have frightened them off? Mm-hm! It really is frightening! Donna’s heart was like boiling water, bubbling with excitement.

She turned her head in excitement and looked diagonally downward, discovering that her younger brother Denton’s eyes were shining as well.

The two of them pressed their lips together almost at the same time, instantly understanding that the other was thinking more or less the same thing.

“We’re going out to get some air, just on this floor,” Donna found an excuse and dragged her younger brother out of Room 305.

Once outside, Denton lowered his voice and said, “Are we going to find Uncle Sparrow?”

“Correct answer!” Donna said energetically. “I saw him enter 312 earlier.”

…

Inside Room 312.

Blazing Danitz, who no longer brought up Vice Admiral Iceberg, looked again toward the Red Skull, which had turned around, and clicked his tongue.

“They must have been scared by the navy’s declaration about giant ships and cannons, and by the news of a pirate crew being destroyed earlier. They actually risked coming into this route to plunder because they wanted to earn enough money as soon as possible and leave the sea.

“Heh. So what if there are giant ships and cannons? The navy and the Churches have plenty of powerful things. They have always existed, but that has never made piracy impossible. If we cannot win head-on, we can still run, can’t we? They cannot possibly escort all merchant ships forever, right?

“I know. Ironclads are getting larger, and the steam engines they carry will become more and more powerful. One day, their speed will break through eighteen knots, twenty knots, and once they lock onto us, all that remains is waiting to be caught. But the sea is so vast that even if thousands, tens of thousands of ships were thrown into it, they would not fill a single corner. There are still many, many waters that humans have not explored. After doing something, one can hide there. Although it is dangerous, there are opportunities too.”

This fellow really is the talkative type… Don’t you think a mad adventurer would not care about these things at all? Klein withdrew his gaze and swept it over the room.

His line of sight finally landed on his leather suitcase. He then lifted his chin toward it.

“Wash the dirty clothes inside.”

Danitz, who had been preparing to launch into a long speech, froze. For a moment, he wished he could burn the entire ship down.

He felt his anger surge like erupting steam, lifting the floodgate named reason.

Danitz opened his mouth, drew in a breath, opened his mouth again, and drew in another breath.

The flush on his face eased. Without any trace of a smile, he asked, “All of them?”

“Only the dirty ones. Just brush the coat,” Klein said, almost amused by the other man’s forced attempt to suppress his anger. He believed this was the treatment Danitz deserved after robbing innocents.

The clothes in the suitcase were what he had changed out of the night before. Because he had been a little lazy, he had only temporarily washed his underwear.

Calm down. Do not lose control. Calm down. Do not lose control… Danitz warned himself several times in succession. He walked to Gehrman Sparrow’s suitcase, opened it, and took out the garments that needed cleaning.

He had only just begun working in the washroom when the doorbell rang sharply.

Klein opened the door and found Donna and Denton, the siblings, outside.

“Uncle Sparrow, are we disturbing you?” Donna’s eyes darted left and right.

“No.” Klein stepped aside.

The two little ones entered the room and were very surprised to see Danitz washing clothes.

“Where is the servant?” Denton asked subconsciously.

“Didn’t bring one,” Klein answered on Danitz’s behalf.

Donna said, slightly confused, “But first class has dedicated laundry maids. They charge by the bucket.”

Before she could finish speaking, Danitz had already stiffened.

He had been so furious earlier that he had actually forgotten about this.

Danitz flicked the water droplets from his hands, turned around, squeezed out a smile, and said to Gehrman Sparrow, “May I ask a laundry maid to help?”

Klein had no malicious desire to deliberately watch the other man make a fool of himself. He smiled.

“I only care about the result.”

Whew. Danitz visibly let out a breath of relief.

This exchange made Donna notice that something was not quite right. The little girl asked suspiciously, “Uncle Sparrow, aren’t you two friends? He—why does he look different from before?”

Klein found a chair and sat down. Without concealing anything, he said calmly, “Strictly speaking, he is my prisoner of war.”

“Prisoner of war?” Denton looked left and right in a daze, not remembering any conflict between the two uncles.

Donna was first confused, then her heart stirred. She asked joyfully, “Is he—is he a pirate?”

“Mm.” Klein lightly nodded.

“Was the Red Skull Pirate Crew scared away by you too, Uncle Sparrow?” Donna asked excitedly.

Klein glanced at Danitz and answered without much expression, “More or less.”

With all her doubts answered, Donna felt immensely satisfied. She peered at Danitz and unconsciously lowered her voice.

“Uncle Sparrow, does he have a name? No, does he have a bounty poster?”

No! No one can know that I have suffered this kind of experience! Danitz opened his mouth and answered first:

“My name is Zieg!”

At that moment, Klein lightly said, “Danitz.”

“Danitz…” Donna and Denton exchanged a look and asked no further questions.

The siblings did not stay long before taking their leave. They kept feeling that the pirate’s gaze was rather fierce.

After returning to Room 305 and seeing that their father and Uncle Cleeves were still talking, Donna pretended to be innocent and interjected, “A lot of people were talking about pirates just now. They mentioned someone called Danitz. Is he very powerful?”

“Danitz… Blazing Danitz. He is a subordinate of Vice Admiral Iceberg, the fourth boatswain of the Golden Dream…” Cleeves answered simply.

At this point, he suddenly fell silent. His gaze turned inward, as though recalling something.

A pirate admiral’s subordinate… Donna asked curiously, “How much is his bounty?”

Cleeves returned to normal and spoke in a low voice.

“Three thousand pounds.”

Three—three thousand pounds? Donna and Denton’s mouths slowly opened, almost forgetting to close.

The Red Skull’s captain only has a bounty of nine hundred pounds, yet that fellow who looked like a servant just now is worth three thousand pounds? The siblings looked at each other, unable to speak.

…

At six o’clock in the evening, the White Agate entered port again.

“Bansy Harbor? Elland is quite cautious…” Danitz stood by the window, looking at the already dim harbor and the tall lighthouse.

Without waiting for Klein to respond, he laughed to himself.

“There seem to be some bad legends about this place.”