From the captain's cold tone, Milta heard a hatred so deep it made his teeth grind. This was the first time he had ever seen the captain look and sound like this.
Milta's expression turned solemn. He said nothing, but clenched his jaw until the veins bulged on his forehead. He thumped his chest, raised his glass, and drained it in one go.
The captain's enemy was my enemy, too!
Seeing Ian's expression, Lia felt her heart tighten.
Reality was always more absurd than fiction. Lia thought of her father and family, and how similar their circumstances were.
Lia turned to look into Ian's eyes, her expression playful, but her tone more earnest than ever. "Your will is my mission, Captain."
Ian smiled faintly. "After dinner, have Milta show you around the ship so you can get familiar with it. No one needs to stand watch aboard. If anything happens, the [Leviathan] will tell me."
After dinner, Milta and Lia cleared away the dishes, while Ian returned to "Space" to continue studying the Alchemy Cannon.
"Wawa... (There are ships following us...)"
Wawa's message snapped Ian out of his thoughts on alchemy. Ian stood up, and the "walls" around Space gradually "vanished," revealing the sea around the warship in full.
Two armed merchant ships were several nautical miles ahead of the [Leviathan], one off to the front left and the other to the front right.
The wind and waves were picking up, probably to force four or five, but visibility was still good. Ian could clearly see that both merchant ships were flying the flags of the Hansa Trading Company and the Royal Niger Company.
That reminded Ian that the Hansa Trading Company, where Captain Homan worked, had already been bought out by the Royal Niger Company. These were probably dedicated supply ships for the settlement of the New Continent.
Lia and Milta were also standing on the forecastle, keeping a close eye on the two ships ahead. They had clearly noticed something was off, too.
As Wawa described the situation, Ian figured out what was going on.
After lunch, the northeast wind had strengthened. Though the [Leviathan] was sailing against the wind, its speed hadn't dropped. With the help of its sails, it had actually picked up speed.
When other sailing ships appeared faintly ahead and to the right of its route, the [Leviathan] deliberately turned toward the front left and cut the power of its propellers by more than half.
This was, of course, Ian's order. The [Leviathan]'s astonishing speed had to stay hidden for as long as possible. That way, when it launched a surprise attack, its enemies wouldn't see it coming.
The two ships were small armed merchant galleons, and looked a little larger than the [Leviathan].
They had spotted the [Leviathan] too. Whether intentionally or not, they adjusted their course toward it and slowed down, as if deliberately "waiting" for the galleon behind them, which had only two sails raised.
On the Sea of Miracles, aside from "professional" pirates, many merchant ships and whaling ships would also play pirate when they came across an "easy target."
Pirates could disguise themselves as merchant ships, and some even carried official permits. Merchant ships could be pirates, too, and they kept black flags aboard. It all made perfect sense!
Ian had expected them to mistake the [Leviathan] for an easy target.
It wasn't that the [Leviathan] couldn't raise all its sails. It was just too much trouble. The sails had to be adjusted constantly as the wind's direction and speed changed, and with so few hands, it would be sheer torture.
And he couldn't make Wawa do everything, either. Wawa got tired, too.
Deliberately raising the sails on only two masts—how could they know this wasn't a different kind of entrapment?
The best hunters often appeared as prey!
Ian grinned. "Wawa, what do you think a panicked 'prey' should do in a situation like this?"
Before Wawa could respond, Ian continued, "Obviously, try to run. Cut the propellers, turn sharply to the left, and 'try' to break through the encirclement."
At Ian's command, the [Leviathan] made a sharp turn and sailed northwest under sail power alone.
A few nautical miles off to the front left, the First Mate aboard the merchant ship [Golden Sail] had been carefully watching the ship behind them through a spyglass. He suddenly shouted:
"It's trying to run, Captain—"
"Change course and cut it off. Use flags to tell the [Swordfish] to block its starboard side. Close the distance and get ready to fire."
Sailing ships were made of wood. They were often riddled with holes by solid shot and still refused to sink. But a cannon barrage could break a "prey's" will to resist.
The captain of the [Golden Sail] rubbed his scruffy beard, excitement all over his face. The royal family was now concentrating its strength on developing the New Continent, and every ship was worth a fortune.
"Luck's finally come my way. I'm bound to get rich."
The ship behind them had only raised sails on two masts. Through the spyglass, he couldn't see any damage to its hull, but its deck was empty—no cannons, no crew. It had surely run into trouble!
"What a pack of stupid, rotten scoundrels!"
Ian had now stepped onto the quarterdeck platform. He stroked the rain covers draped over the Alchemy Cannons and murmured softly.
In truth, Ian had misjudged the merchant ship's captain. Across the entire Sea of Miracles, a bigger ship with more cannons and more men was always right. There were no exceptions.
A few more Extraordinary beings wouldn't change the overall picture. They could only dodge around like fleas, and they still couldn't withstand cannons or dense volleys of gunfire.
"How are we going to fight?" Lia's hurried footsteps sounded behind him.
She had been the first to notice something was wrong. As soon as she sensed the [Leviathan] slowing down, she had understood Ian's intentions.
After all, the [Leviathan] had initially been cruising at over ten knots with ease. Escaping two merchant ships that couldn't even make seven knots would have been simple.
Ian flashed a row of white teeth. "We'll wait until they get a little closer, then fly a kite! Not one of them will get away."
Twenty minutes later, Ian was getting impatient with the wait. Only then did the two armed merchant ships, now flying pirate flags, "slowly" form an "encirclement" on either side.
"Wawa... (One nautical mile away)." Wawa estimated the distance accurately once again. Ian's extraordinary eyesight could already make out the expressions on the merchant ships' sailors as they stood ready for battle.
One nautical mile was about 1,852 meters. Ordinary cannons ranging from nine-pounders to thirty-two-pounders had a maximum range of 1,300 to 2,000 meters. A twenty-four-pounder had a maximum range of 1,600 meters and an effective range of 400 to 1,200 meters.
The largest cannons on the merchant ships opposite were only twelve-pounders.
"Prepare to fire—load the cannons and wait for my command!" Ian and the others quickly pulled off the rain covers.
The [Leviathan] used anchor chains to operate the two twenty-four-pound Alchemy Cannons at the bow and stern. The three of them—Ian, Lia, and Milta—worked together to operate an eighteen-pound Alchemy Cannon beneath the mainmast.
Two chains as black as snakes shot out from either side of the [Leviathan]'s bow. One stretched over the deck to operate the stern cannon, while the other operated the bow cannon.
The chains were a little thick, so their movements were somewhat sluggish. But their rhythm was steady and their process orderly. They finished loading and aiming in just twenty seconds.
Lia had only just joined them, so they weren't in sync yet. Ian simply had her watch the enemy ships' movements from the side.
He and Milta, both Extraordinary beings, needed only thirty seconds to finish loading.
The waves rocked the [Leviathan] back and forth, but much less than they did the merchant ships opposite.
Ian's spirit intertwined with Wawa's, allowing them to sense the warship's swaying in perfect sync.
"Fire!"
Before you continue