Barren Island

“Boss, why do we have to go against the Black Skeletons and Tigersharks? Marquis Louis and the Baltic archipelago are behind them, and we’re no match for THEM... Isn’t it better to stay out of the way like we did in the past? The sea is so vast. They can’t find us...” A pirate who looked kind stood out.

“Are you questioning my decision, Stalker?” Leylin’s voice was low, immediately causing the hall to turn chilly.

This was the disadvantage of staying at Port Venus and avoiding trouble. Since he controlled the pirates from the shadows most of the time, he still didn’t have enough of a grasp on them. This was especially true of those like Stalker who’d just joined. He’d originally commanded a few ships himself, and had never experienced how brutal and callous Leylin could be. There were things he did not understand.

Stalker froze, but still mumbled everything out anyway, “I obviously wouldn’t want to do that, but we have to worry about our brothers...”

“Wouldn’t want to? So that means you’ll still do it?” Leylin chuckled, a flash of lightning shooting out of his hands.

With his strength as a rank 9 wizard, plentiful battle experiences, and excellent techniques, taking care of a Professional merely about rank 10 could be done in an instant.

*Crackle!* Amidst the fierce electric currents, Stalker turned into a few portions of charred ash.

“Ah... Head!” “What are you doing?”

The trusted aide standing behind Stalker brought out his curved knife in his grief, but was immediately drowned out by Ronald’s underlings.

Leylin played with the electric currents that struck fear into the hearts of the pirates, leaving them trembling in their fright. He then ordered in leisure from his seat, “Ronald, go and take over their ship!”

“Understood, Captain!” Ronald immediately brought his men and left, leaving behind a group of pirate leaders quivering at their seats. It was only at this point that they remembered the Scarlet Tigers had been established with the captain’s ruthlessness and cruelty.

They had to carry out his orders with determination. The only other option was being purged callously!

Shouts could be heard, and there was some chaos in the distance but Leylin didn’t care. Sensing the wordless communication amongst his subordinates, He snickered inside, ‘As expected, the truly troublesome ones aren’t hot-blooded. There are more of those who only pay lip service...’

After a year of work, the batch of people under Leylin had all grown rich, gaining control over certain sections. They were now smalltime leaders themselves.

Due to a shortage of manpower, Isabel and Ronald had no choice but to hand over some power to others, which then led to a few other hidden leaders amongst the pirates. Leylin kept them under control by pressuring them with his power. While this made sure that they wouldn’t dare rebel, the hatred in their hearts increased by the day.

After the fools who had the guts to speak out all died, the only resistance was left hidden in the shadows. It was alright if they only paid lip service, but how many out of these people had contact with Marquis Louis and betrayed him, turning into spies?

Leylin sneered on the inside. On the surface, the opponent’s strength far exceeded his, even in terms of his noble status.

This was the loneliness at the top of the pyramid. Worldly matters were like water that would wash away the people beside him, the mere thought of like-minded companions from the past difficult to remember.

‘But even if you work from the shadows, you can’t stop me.’ Leylin was unfeeling and merciless.

“Captain! Stalker’s ship has been cleaned out!” At this moment, Ronald pushed the door open and walked in hurriedly, bloodstains still on his body. “We found some assassins from the church of murder on it, and this too!” A few noble emblems with blood on them were flung to the long table.

“This... It’s the family emblem of Marquis Louis!” Someone who recognised it yelled.

“Hang all the assassins. Kill all of Stalker’s assistants. Let them know what the punishment for treachery is!” Leylin instructed calmly, deciding the life and death of tens of people in an instant.

“Now, do you have any other opinions?” Being glanced at by Leylin’s lightning-like eyes, the many leaders immediately lowered their heads, having no courage to meet his gaze.

......

After the meeting was adjourned, Leylin might have used his might to forcefully allocate tasks, but the undercurrents still flowed. A few suspicious figures sneakily met up at the bottom of a ship’s hold in the deep night.

“Nondetection” An expensive scroll was torn, and once the rays of light from the spell filled the area, the people finally heaved a sigh of relief.

“Is this place safe?” One of them asked with a rough voice.

“I spend a lot of money to get this magic scroll. Even a high-ranked wizard might not be able to find us!” Another voice sounded exasperated.

“Fine, stop quarrelling!” An old and hoarse voice sounded, immediately suppressing the dispute, “I believe Liberty—”

“Didn’t I tell you not to call me by my name? Not even my nickname!” The voice from before sounded again immediately.

“Fine, sorry.” The elderly voice halted, and then continued, “There are now tens of ships. We have people keeping watch over the Scarlet Tiger, and there’s the power of magic involved. He definitely won’t discover us, so we can discuss at ease...”

“The captain’s been getting more ruthless lately. Stalker merely said a word and was killed by him just like that. Even his underlings weren’t spared...” A voice of indignance could be heard.

“Did he discover something?” This was the worried person.

“The reason us brothers are banding together is for our own benefits, but now the captain wants to go to war on those two huge pirate groups. Tell me, what are our chances of winning?”

The elderly voice replied, “Actually, if the captain’s still like before and lets us loot and plunder as we like, while he’s in charge of disposing of the stolen goods and distributing profits, I have no issues with that. The issue is that things are different now. He wants us to risk our lives! Even if we get rid of the Black Skeletons and Tigershark Pirates, they still have the Marquis and Baltic archipelago as their backing and can quickly regain their strength. What about us? On top of that, they have a tremendous slaving fleet...”

At the end of that, the elderly voice suddenly grew louder.

“Then what do we do?” The reason they had gathered was not because they truly had plans to start a rebellion, but were merely agreeing on an alliance in order to protect their own interests.

“We’re pirates. How valuable could trust be? If put in a spot, we can just rebel against him and side with the other pirate groups. Whether it’s Marquis Louis or the Barbarians, anything can be considered...” The aged voice held hints of resentment.

Eyes full of wit shone in the dark room like a pack of wolves.

......

“Reporting! Traces of the Scarlet Pirates have been found!” A pirate respectfully reported.

“Follow them, follow them! Keep a tight hold of them!” William’s eyes brightened.

The huge ships pulled at the sails, and they formed a huge arc in the strong wind. The entire fleet began to sail at a terrifying speed.

‘This is all thanks to master Boruj!’ Experiencing the strong winds in his face, William could not help but take a look at the high-ranked wizard next to him in admiration. The Breeze spell he’d cast had raised the fleet’s speed more than twofold.

Wizards could adapt to all sorts of complex environments. With the numerous types of spells they could cast, they were useful in all sorts of abrupt situations. In his opinion, the Scarlet Tigers would not be able to escape.

“An island has been discovered up ahead, and there are ships anchored there!” At this moment, the sailor at the observation deck exclaimed.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

“What?” William immediately darted to the railings, using the telescope to observe. A huge barren island appeared in his line of sight. There was a series of pirate ships anchored at the side, the flag of the Scarlet Tigers extremely obvious on them.

“They’ve abandoned their ships and landed? Have they gone mad?” While still in disbelief, William gritted his teeth, “Go! Sink them!”

Whatever it was, he needed to sink the opponent’s ships. This way, they would be completely trapped. The offensive went smoothly. Not many had been left on watch, and Crowe and Citamo hadn’t even needed to act. Their first and second mates had taken along some people and seized the thirty pirate ships.

All the pirate ships that Leylin had spent a year seizing with his own pirate crew now fell into William’s hands. The process was so smooth-sailing that it was difficult to believe. The merfolk’s ship, and even the Scarlet Tiger with its blood red flag were at his disposal.

“His ships were all very clean and had no traps. Based on the information from the slaves, this is a temporary stopping point for them, and they’ve built a few simple defenses...”

Crowe fiddled with the black curved knife in his hands, “So? Should we sail them away?” Such a huge fleet was worth at least tens of thousands of hold, an impressive amount of wealth. Even large pirate groups would go green in envy at it.

William muttered to himself, and then gritted his teeth. “No. Sink them all! Even if they’ve done anything to the ships, it shouldn’t affect us.”

After all, there were a few terrifying toxins and curses that could be hidden from the senses of magic, and even divine force. He had come out to obtain a beautiful victory to secure his position as the successor. Nothing could go wrong.

“Master Boruj, what do you think?” William did not forget to ask for Boruj’s opinion at this point.

“Alright!” The wizard nodded, causing Crowe and Citamo to curse inside. As expected, wizards were all spendthrifts!