The snow-white waves gently brushed the beach. The cries of seagulls drifted down from the sky now and then. Under the sunlight, the sea resembled a blue-green mirror reflecting the azure sky and white clouds. It should have been a fine day for going out to sea, but the docks of Franklin Harbor were unusually quiet. The fishermen who usually made their living catching fish and the merchants who operated transport ships were nowhere to be seen, because nobody wanted to get dragged into trouble.
"Row faster!" A dozen or so pirates were rowing with all their might not far from shore. Among them was Shark, the head of the Pirate Crew. They had abandoned the other pirate brothers still desperately defending the city gates, secretly returned to the church, gathered the gold, silver, and jewelry they had collected over the past few days, and quietly transported it to the docks. They found a ship with both sails and oars and prepared to slip away unnoticed. Just as they were untying the moorings, Schroeder led his soldiers in a surprise attack on the docks.
The pirates were terrified. They had no time to wait for the brothers who had not yet arrived, so they cut the mooring lines, raised the sails, and fled. Schroeder ordered the pursuit and personally led his soldiers aboard two ships still moored at the docks, chasing after the pirates' vessel.
Although the sea was calm at that moment, Shark felt as though he were caught in a storm. He cursed incessantly, from Greiman to the underlings beside him who were not rowing hard enough—in his opinion, at least. However, the soldiers' ships were drawing closer and closer. On the one hand, the pirates did not have enough men; there were only a little over twenty of them. On the other hand, the gold, silver, and jewelry they were carrying were too heavy. But getting Shark to abandon the treasure was practically impossible.
"I think you'd better surrender quietly. I can plead with the local lord on your behalf and ask him to spare you the death penalty."
A weak voice rang out. Its owner was a young man whose hands were bound behind his back.
"Shut up!" Shark lunged over and slapped the young man hard across the face. "You'd better keep your mouth shut. Say another word and I'll cut off one of your hands and feed it to the fish."
After taking the slap, the young man fell silent.
This southern pretty boy, Quiller Foster, had come here three months ago, loudly proclaiming that he wanted to challenge the great pirate De Howard. Father in Heaven, didn't he know that everyone who had tried that before had been thrown into the sea to feed the sharks? Still, those wealthy southern regions had never lacked fools with their heads full of dreams of adventure—especially pampered young masters like this one. Once they had drunk their fill of fine wine and grown tired of women, they wanted to seek out some fresh excitement.
Well, you were lucky that Edward wasn't here, so you didn't end up being fed to a real shark. But this shark was going to give you a proper welcome in his place. Judging from the pretty boy's clothes, he was clearly from a wealthy family. After a few probing moves, Shark had gotten everything out of him. The young man actually came from the Foster Family of the Horn Bay Alliance, a prominent clan with considerable standing around Horn Bay.
Since that was the case, Shark would have the pretty boy write a letter to his family and obediently pay the ransom. No matter how powerful the Horn Bay Alliance's navy was, it was impossible for them to send a fleet more than two thousand nautical miles around the coast to the Northwest Bay to rescue a spoiled young master. With a huge fortune about to fall into his hands, he could occupy Franklin Harbor, establish a fait accompli, and spend some money placating the surrounding lords. Perhaps he could even become a noble.
But that beautiful future had all been ruined by that brat from the Greiman family. Hmph! Once I got the Foster Family's money, I'd recruit troops and buy horses. Sooner or later, I'd come back and make that brat go see his father.
Two oared sailing ships operated by Alarda soldiers followed the pirates' vessel from either side. Seen from high above, the distance between the two sides was visibly shrinking. It was only a matter of time before the pirates were caught.
"Prepare for close combat!"
Shark drew his saber and ordered his men.
"I've sailed these waters for more than twenty years. What kind of storm haven't I seen? I refuse to believe I'll fall here today."
The other pirates answered one after another and drew their weapons.
Makarov shouted, "We're about to ram the pirate ship! Are the muskets ready?"
His comrades all indicated that they were ready.
"Don't worry. We'll make sure they remember this."
"Good. I'll count to three, and we'll all put our backs into it."
"Got it. After this volley, they probably won't have many men left."
"Make sure you aim carefully. Don't hit our own people on the other ship. Lord Schroeder is on it too."
"At this distance, there's no problem at all!"
Amid two successive thunderous impacts, the two ships rammed the pirates' vessel from either side. Everyone on both sides staggered from the collisions. Once they had steadied themselves slightly, the muskets of the Alarda Army crackled in rapid succession. Three pirates were killed on the spot. Combat at sea was somewhat unsteady, and although the distance was short, the musketeers still failed to hit every target. Even so, they had seized the initiative, and the pirates' morale was clearly suppressed.
"Kill!" Schroeder leaped onto the pirate ship at the head of his men. Shark swung his weapon and blocked the old knight's sword. It was a huge cleaver that looked extremely heavy at a glance, making Schroeder's Knight Sword seem somewhat slender by comparison.
Shark's eyes were bloodshot, and the veins on his neck bulged as he roared, "Old man, come on! Come on! This blade of mine doesn't know how many people's blood it's drunk. Today, it's going to taste something new."
"Hmph! All bluster." Schroeder, a veteran of countless battles, could tell at a glance that the man was merely bolstering his own courage.
The two stopped wasting words and began fighting back and forth on the deck. The old knight was somewhat unaccustomed to fighting on a swaying ship, and at first he could only parry his opponent's attacks. However, his defense was watertight, and Shark gained no advantage at all.
The others also found opponents of their own. The clash of weapons and the roar of battle rang across the sea.
"You bunch of bandits! Don't even think about taking my money!"
Shark swung his weapon wildly, his movements broad and forceful. In his excitement, he became somewhat confused about which side they were on.
However, the Alarda Army that had come after them outnumbered the pirates several times over. Their overwhelming advantage ultimately crushed the pirates' desperate resistance.
Schroeder gradually adapted to the battle and slowly shifted from defense to offense. At last, Shark was stabbed in the thigh by Schroeder's sword and collapsed onto the deck, no longer able to stand.
"Surrender! I surrender!" He threw down his weapon in despair and left his fate to the heavens.
Seeing their leader surrender, the other pirates who had not yet been subdued threw down their weapons and surrendered as well.
"Bind them all. We're heading back!"
Schroeder cast a cold glance at Shark, who was sprawled on the deck, and ordered them to return to the docks.
At that moment, a voice came from one corner of the deck. "You're the army of the lord of Alarda, aren't you? My lord, save me!"
The voice was filled with the joy of surviving a disaster. Schroeder turned his head and saw a young man crouching in the corner of the deck with his hands bound behind him and tears in his eyes. The battle had been so intense that they had not noticed him until now.
He could not afford to be careless. He had to determine the young man's identity first. "Who are you? Why were the pirates keeping you tied up on their ship?"
"I'm from the Foster Family of the Horn Bay Alliance in the south. The pirates kidnapped me several months ago. You saved me, and my family will certainly give you a generous reward!"
The young man hurriedly revealed his identity.
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