The Pirate

With Lady of the Moon's support, the publication and circulation of The Wealth of Nations suddenly became unobstructed.

Of course, a work could only court shallow popularity before fading into obscurity if it had no particular value or intellectual substance, no matter how much hype it received beforehand.

But The Wealth of Nations was different!

It was a masterpiece of economics, and for a society whose economy had reached a particular stage of development, it was a long-awaited cure!

It was a hit!

Once it was published across the kingdom, The Wealth of Nations became an absolute sensation!

Not only did scores of economists hail it as the greatest work of the Navigation Century, but the Royal Academy of Economics also selected it as required reading. There were even rumors it would become a textbook.

The copies in bookstores across the kingdom sold out, and shops had no choice but to order more from the printers—yet demand still outstripped supply.

Translations into various foreign languages also appeared, and were secretly sold on the mainland.

Honors came pouring in.

The author of The Wealth of Nations, Donald, instantly became a renowned scholar. Invitations to give talks arrived by the countless.

Of course, details of his life also gradually came to light, and the voices of suspicion grew deafening.

"Our Lord rules over dreams and weapons..."

"He was born above chaos, and with a black blade in his hand, he cleaved through the Sky Curtain..."

Inside a villa in Malan Port, Donald introduced the faith to the guests at the gathering, his face full of devotion.

The people surrounding him now included not only nobles in splendid robes and white-gold wigs, but also all manner of ladies fanning themselves with little fans. The gathering was on a completely different level from