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 Only then, unwilling to become entangled for too long, would they have rationally withdrawn.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…