Pirates
“Slave trade, hehe...” Leylin snickered. While Marquis Louis’ business was focused on the slave trade, Leylin wouldn’t believe that the Baltic archipelago wasn’t involved in the sugar trade and the like. At the most, they would be side businesses is all.
He knew very well that if he was successful in forming a supply chain with this, his profits would be massive! It would bring about a lot of envy and hatred, causing conflict with Marquis Louis.
However, even if he didn’t delve into these two very profitable businesses, the Faulen Island wasn’t going to be ignored anyway. What was the point of trying to get along with them?
As he was speaking to Jacob, a group of slaves were rushed along to the beach by his soldiers, accompanied by carriages of food and the like.
“Jacob, let’s go and take a look as well.” Leylin brought Jacob to the front of the group.
“Young master!” The soldiers bowed, and the slaves lowered their heads, peeking at their future master with humble eyes.
“Are these... the natives of the outer sea islands?” Leylin knew that most of the slaves traded in the outer seas were natives. In fact, the higher grade ones were picked out and sent back to the mainland. Transporting slaves from the mainland to the outer seas was expensive, and slave traders would be satisfied if they didn’t make a loss with such a thing.
The natives here were very short, coming up to Leylin’s shoulder at the tallest. Most did not have any clothing, revealing their thin limbs and tanned skin. It reminded Leylin of chimps.
“Young master, there are a total of twenty slaves. With three of them being carpenters and another two stonemasons, it comes up to a total of 321 gold coins...” In reality, the price of these stonemasons and carpenters probably took up more than half of the total price.
“Mm...” Leylin nodded. Even this slight amount had caused him to spend a portion of his recent profits. Relying on slaves in order to build up the business he was thinking of was a pipe dream, Leylin wouldn’t put his hopes on it.
“Your mission is to build a camp for me here. Of course, fences are necessary as well.” Leylin naturally did not understand the language of the natives, but that was no issue for wizards. Comprehend Languages could solve that. While these low-ranked spells could not analyse the languages of demons, the heavens, and all sorts of highly ranked languages of law, it would be more than enough for these natives.
After hearing Leylin’s words, the group of slaves began to get restless.
“Quiet!” Leylin flicked his finger, and a ray of lightning shot out.
*Pila!* As if something huge had happened, many of the natives crouched down or even knelt after the violent streak of lightning passed.
Rank 0 spell: Lightning Lure!
“As you can see, I am a wizard that possesses immense strength. These fully equipped soldiers will continue to monitor you, so don’t even think about escaping or you’ll all be hanged. On the other hand, if you’re hardworking and complete your task in time, I’ll give you a reward, and even dismiss you from slavery.” Leylin’s hands glinted with sparks, making him look like a god in the eyes of the slaves.
In reality, wizards had always been rare existences in the World of Gods; there likely weren’t many even serving under Marquis Louis. This abnormal strength was the best way to terrorise these natives, having them believe he was a spirit of the elements or worship him like a god.
At this moment, there was a disturbance amongst the slaves. One of them who looked rather old crawled to Leylin’s feet, kissing the ground. “Powerful being who grasps the power of lightning, Nunooker is willing to listen to your teachings and obey your commands!”
“Very good! Nunooker, you shall lead these slaves from now.” They’d already been tamed by the trader’s leather whips, so Leylin could understand this situation. Whatever it was, the first ones to surrender their loyalty to him would be rewarded.
Nunooker was elated and he kowtowed again and again, “Esteemed master, Nunooker will definitely manage your assets well.”
“Mm... Tell them that those who are diligent will have enough black bread and fish soup.” After taking care of these matters, Leylin retreated to his own room. He just had to give the slaves a general idea, they would do the rest. The remaining bit would be left to Jacob to handle.
The first thing the frenzied slaves built were a few simple and crude houses. These would be their temporary residences as they built to the plans that were created by Leylin, making good use of every inch of land here.
Night fell. Having stuffed themselves with black bread, mushy fish meat and seaweed soup, the slaves slumbered deeply. In their eyes, someone like Leylin who possessed extraordinary strength yet was benevolent enough to let them eat well was a good master that was hard to come by.
A few soldiers patrolled next to the slaves’ accommodations, swapping out from time to time. While it wasn’t likely that the slaves would escape, Jacob had still arranged this.
In the deep, quiet night, the soldiers huddled around a bonfire. They looked listless, their eyelids about to fall shut at any moment. None of them noticed that their young master had left.
Fly! Leylin’s body soared into the air, flying at a speed of 60 feet a second. He quickly left the vicinity of the camp.
“I can finally fly, but it’s so slow!” Having grasped rank 3 spells, Leylin now had the ability to fly again, but the speed was not enough to please him.
In reality, wizards that could fly not only possessed the ability to quickly leave the battlefield in dire situations, but also to turn into death gods in the skies. Since most troops lacked the ability to fend off aerial strikes, wizards could hover in the air and cast spells from above like a nightmare!
Under the bright white moonlight, the surface of the sea was clear and gleaming, having a cold aura. The deep sea was filled with dangers, and numerous sea monsters began foraging for food in the night.
A black pirate ship was still, anchored on the surface of the sea. A swordswoman with a black longsword was standing on the deck, clad in skintight armour as if in wait for something.
*Whoosh!* A dark shadow slowly appeared by the horizon, and then turned into a human figure.
“Cousin Isabel, Robin Hood!” Leylin landed on the deck and acknowledged the two.
“Kid, why are you only just getting here!” Isabel whined, though there was no trace of discontent in her expression.
“Young master!” Compared to her, Robin Hood was more respectful. After all, a wizard that could fly had immense destructive power when above the sea. Robin Hood knew this very well.
Most of the times, such wizards could send their opponents on their way before the ships could even line up with each other for battle.
“Call all sailors to deck!” Leylin commanded. Followed by a disturbance, numerous sailors gathered together. Amongst them were guards originally from the Faulen Family, although most of them were Black Tigers.
Now, however, all that was left in their eyes was fear, and their numbers seemed to have lessened. Leylin scanned the area, and Isabel lowered her head with burning cheeks. Robin Hood stood out, “Young master, in order to tame the pirates, we had no choice but to kill a few people to set a precedent...”
‘That’s probably not all...’ Leylin glanced at Isabel but did not pursue this further. All he needed was for these pirates to be obedient anyway.
Leylin’s eyes scanned the crowd. He then announced, “I have gathered you now because I’m planning to establish a private raiding fleet!”
It seemed like these people had already had their suspicions. They accepted the truth calmly, and the eyes of Robin Hood and a few others even flushed red with desire.
There were few truly good men who accompanied Baron Jonas to the barren island as he developed the territory. His companions had likely done all sorts of things in their free time, including playing at piracy. They might even have had the baron’s tacit approval and support/
Leylin made plans for the family of those who had been guards to move to his camp. This would allow him to care for them, and control the spread of the news. While it was impossible to hide this for long from the baron, things would have all been done by then and he could do very little to interfere.
As for the pirate slaves, loyalty, justice and things like that didn’t compare to money for them. As long as Leylin achieved victory after victory as he led them to gain wealth, they wouldn’t mind even if their leader was a demon!
Of course, his subordinates now were a standard mob, and Leylin urgently needed a victory to stimulate them.
‘On top of that, I need to maintain my reputation, and I’ll need to disguise this Black Tiger ship. At the very least, I’ll need some remodeling...’ Leylin stamped the deck under his feet.
“Don’t call me young master in the future. Call me Captain or Sire, is that understood?” he commanded. While it sounded dreadful for a noble to partake in piracy himself, it was nothing new. However, he still needed to maintain a reputation. He couldn’t do such things openly.
If Leylin were to be killed during a raid, the baron could not take revenge openly, and at most, do something in private.
“Yes, Captain!” Robin Hood quickly reacted.
“Good! Weigh the anchor! Set the sail! Let us plunder everything!”