Chapter 250: Section 38: The Empire’s Interests and Our Interests
“The risk is great,” the youth hesitated, “but the reward won’t be small either.”
If they had Golden Chin and the Sea Snake Lady on their side, they would hold an advantage in terms of strength. With the help of intelligence and other advantages, a surprise assault could very well seize the chance of taking down the Silver Hook Pirates.
Of course, when estimating the comparison of strengths between the two sides, the knight youth didn’t forget about the Deep Sea Monster Fish.
It was his trump card, extremely powerful!
“What do you all think?” After pondering for a moment, the knight youth turned his gaze to the others. As a leader, he possessed a very precious quality – he was adept at listening to the opinions of others.
Before Cang Xu and Zong Ge could speak, the little bird blurted out impatiently, “Don’t do it!”
“Silver Hook isn’t terrifying.”
“What’s terrifying is his brother, Golden Hook.”
“They are blood brothers, known together as the Golden Silver Brothers.”
“They occupy Golden Silver Island, where the brother Golden Hook stays on the island all year round, guarding it and organizing a large number of slaves to mine for gold and silver from the mines. The younger brother, Silver Hook, leads the pirate group to loot everywhere.”
“Because they are backed by gold and silver mines, their forces are strong. They own no less than 50 pirate ships, all exceptionally well-equipped.”
“They also have a Silver Level demon energy ship!”
The receptionist smiled, “Don’t worry about Golden Hook.”
“According to secret reports from the Empire, several years ago, he attempted to break through the Golden Level and reach Sanctity by purchasing potions in the Black Market.”
“Clearly, he wasn’t successful. These years, he has been holed up on Golden Silver Island, appearing in public infrequently.”
“According to estimates by scholars of the Empire: this time, Silver Hook’s robbery of the military supply ship is likely a ploy to kidnap a bishop of the Life Sect onboard. Perhaps they mean to force the bishop to heal his brother’s injuries.”
“Fortunately, due to some accident, the bishop did not board the military supply ship as planned.”
The Dragon-man youth showed interest again, but he still didn’t make a decision, “We need to discuss this.”
“Please do,” the receptionist smiled, “Just a suggestion. The Empire will not get involved in your action; everything is up to you, Captain Long Fu.”
He emphasized the word “yourself” very clearly, with a heavier tone.
The Dragon-man youth showed a troubled expression, “Is there any other information you can provide? For example, how large was the robbed military supply ship, or what exactly is the condition of Golden Hook’s health?”
The receptionist shook his head, “I’m sorry, Captain Long Fu. I’ve already told you quite a lot, the detailed intelligence will only be available once you accept the mission. Please try to understand.”
“Of course, of course. I was being presumptuous,” the Dragon-man youth apologized quickly, “We’ll go back and have a thorough discussion.”
With that said, the youth stood up.
The receptionist made a few attempts to make them stay, but the Justice Pirate Group was in a hurry and did not waste time on tea and pastries prepared in the reception room.
On the way back, both the little bird and Di Lou had furrowed brows, full of worry.
Back in the cabin, the Dragon-man youth pulled out a sound collection box, ensuring their conversation stayed within the captain’s quarters.
“What do you think?” the youth asked with a smile.
“We can’t accept, Captain,” the little bird and Di Lou said in unison.
The Dragon-man youth pondered silently, turning to look at the others.
Seeing the youth looking at him, Grey Pelt said, “Even if the Empire’s intelligence isn’t wrong and Golden Hook is indeed injured, he’s still at the Golden Level. The Empire hasn’t made a big move against Golden Silver Island either. If we go after Silver Hook and his gang, we’d be offending two Golden Level powers at once. It’s not wise.”
Grey Pelt’s words made the little bird and Di Lou sigh in relief, looking at the former Rat-man captain with admiration.
Zong Ge then stretched out his hand and pulled out a sea chart from the desk’s pen holder. He spread it out on the table and moved his index finger to the location of Golden Silver Island.
“Look, the location of Golden Silver Island is very delicate.”
“It’s almost right in the middle between Holy Bright Continent and Wilderness Continent.”
“Above it is the Coconut Wine Route, and below is the Amber Route. If the Empire launches a full-scale attack on Wilderness Continent in the future, the transport lines will certainly include these two major routes.”
“Although Golden Silver Island has gold and silver mines, after so many years of mining, their output has already dwindled to a very meager amount.”
“From the Empire’s perspective, Golden Silver Island itself is far more important than the gold and silver mines, or the Golden Silver Brothers!”
Zong Ge spoke eloquently.
Grey Pelt, the little bird, and Di Lou all looked at him with sincere admiration.
They suddenly realized that the Half-Beast in front of them wasn’t just a person of great personal strength but also held an excellent eye for tactics and strategy.
“How did Captain Long Fu manage to do it? To have such an excellent talent willing to follow under him?”
“Cang Xu chuckled, “Perhaps we can guess like this.”
“The Empire has long wanted to control Golden Silver Island. Now they have finally begun to act. They deliberately sent the military supply ship into the eyes of the Silver Hook Pirates, releasing a rumor that a bishop of the Life Sect was on board, triggering Silver Hook Pirates’ raid.”
“In doing so, the Empire now has a pretext. They call upon the pirates to act against Silver Hook’s gang under the guise of a secret spy mission.”
“The situation is developing smoothly,” he mused, “and will result in numerous pirates surrounding the assault on Gold and Silver Island.”
“If the pirates succeed in taking the island, the Empire will be in covert control of Gold and Silver Island without wasting a single soldier. At the same time, they will not have left any moral flaws, nor will they have made a significant commotion that could alert or alienate the pirates across the seven seas.”
“Yet, at the same time, the Empire also shows its strength. On the one hand, it creates division among the pirates assailing Gold and Silver Island and others, bringing them onto the Empire’s chariot of battle. On the other hand, it lets other pirates know just how many have sided with the Empire, which will make the implementation of subsequent spy missions all the smoother.”
Little Bird and Di Lou were both stunned.
A Man in Grey seemed to be deep in thought.
Cang Xu’s eyes twinkled with a cold light as he continued, “If we dare speculate a bit more boldly, perhaps the potions Golden Hook had bought on the Black Market had a problem.”
“The Empire put out rumors that a bishop from the Life Sect was on a military supply ship. That was a huge lure. The Gold and Silver brothers had a deep bond, and Golden Hook had been injured for many years with little improvement in treatment. The bishop of the Life Sect was one of the few remaining hopes.”
“Recently, with the emergence of the pirate throne, pirate activities in the seven seas have become increasingly rampant. However, no pirate has seized a military supply ship from the Holy Bright Empire.”
“But Silver Hook did just that.”
“If this was false information purposefully released by the Empire, then the Empire’s intelligence department has clearly achieved a perfect act of espionage. Golden Hook’s injuries must be quite serious.”
Little Bird and Di Lou listened wide-mouthed, feeling like a window had opened, revealing a new world to them.
Cang Xu gave a self-deprecating smile, “All this is just my speculation. It’s also based on the information leaked by the receptionist, wildly guessed.”
“Captain, we owe you for that.”
“Without the captain piquing the receptionist’s appetite, there wouldn’t have been so many slip-ups.”
The Dragon-man youth smiled slightly.
Indeed, this was the case.
The receptionist thought the Dragon-man youth was interested in the mission, but in reality, it was merely the Dragon-man youth making him believe so.
Little Bird and Di Lou, having heard this, widened their eyes and looked at the Dragon-man youth anew.
They finally understood that the three core members of the Justice Pirate Group had been acting all along, stimulating the receptionist into willingly revealing more information.
How ridiculous they were to think that the Dragon-man youth and his group, having just started sailing, were unaware of the actual situation of the Gold and Silver brothers.
In fact, in the past dozen days of sailing, knight youth, Zong Ge, and others had been cramming information on pirates across the seven seas.
“Sneaky!” Little Bird thought as he looked at the smiling Dragon-man youth, the word flashing in his mind.
“Crafty!” Di Lou silently cursed; he had been worrying for nothing.
Then Little Bird spoke in praise, “So that’s it. Captain, you truly are wise and mighty!”
“I’m convinced,” Di Lou raised his thumb towards the Dragon-man youth and the others.
They were now aboard the ship of the Justice Pirate Group.
The Magic Contract had been exchanged; next, it was for the Dragon-man youth to sign the contract with the two of them.
However, after this incident, Di Lou and Little Bird gained much more confidence in their newly joined collective.
The Dragon-man youth pointed to the Sea Chart, “Our next target is here.”
“Magnetic Island?” Little Bird was surprised.
“We have the Greedy Divine Bone. This time, we’ve also purchased a batch of Treasure Maps from the Empire, obtaining a lot of information on treasures. Digging up treasures can also earn us the favor of pirate divinity, thus serving the Empire’s purpose of disrupting the selection of the King of Pirates. It counts as making a contribution,” the Dragon-man youth said.
Speaking of which, the name of A Man in Grey had already dropped out of the top five on the Holy Tablet.
In their quest for Divinity’s favor, pirate activities became more frequent and rampant.
Perhaps the valuables they plundered could not compare in worth to the Divine Artifact, the Green Jade Gold Coffin. But the very act of murder, arson, and plunder is more in line with pirate divinity, so receiving greater favor is not strange.
Finally, the Dragon-man youth solemnly advised Little Bird, A Man in Grey, and Di Lou, “Although we have accepted the Empire’s spy mission, we remain free. There is a distinction between the Empire’s interests and our own. Like this mission to subdue Silver Hook, there’s no need to be a pawn for the Empire’s vanguard.”
Di Lou and Little Bird’s eyes shone.
The Dragon-man youth’s words were very much to their liking. Through this event, they believed they understood Captain Long Fu all the better.
“Alright, as planned, we will set sail the day after tomorrow.”
“In the meantime, you are free to do as you please and relax.”
The youth waved his hand, and everyone filed out of the captain’s cabin.
As the door closed, blocking the Dragon-man youth’s view, the conversations of Little Bird and Di Lou could still be heard.
“Is there anywhere in New Moon Port where we can find some fun?”
“I’m not sure, this is a minor port, nothing conspicuous. It’s my first time here.”
“There’s a tavern in town called Mermaid Tavern,” Zong Ge said.
“Ah, then let’s head there tonight.” Laughter tinged with excitement filled the voices of Little Bird and Di Lou.