Pirates’ Cove
The only thing Leylin could do now was hide somewhere secret, where his enemies could never find him. Only a fool would jump about shouting when he was weak.
“Isabel, Robin Hood!” he suddenly called out.
“You were looking for me, boss?” Robin Hood respectfully arrived in front of Leylin. After the battle, this first mate seemed to have changed dramatically.
Leylin stretched his hand out on the map of the ocean. “Mm, the two of you take the merfolk ship and bring the slaves to the pirates’ families.”
Be it Faulen Island or Marquis Louis’ fiefdom, the Baltic archipelago, they were all new discoveries in the waters surrounding the Dambrath Kingdom, and that was also the only characteristic they shared. New, uninhabited islands seemed to emerge endlessly one after the other, full of both wealth and dangers. It was simply too easy to find a temporary base for his crew.
Of course, the condition was that Leylin could deal with the dangerous beasts in those territories, and they could brave the harsh weather and environment.
Taking into consideration that Robin Hood had the other sailors’ loyalty, Leylin intentionally sent his cousin Isabel over as well. With her there, even if he couldn’t control the entire ship, he could presumably intimidate the disloyal ones without much problem.
As a matter of fact, Leylin had plans to nurture this cousin of his. After all, he couldn’t remain here commanding the pirates forever, so Isabel would serve as his stand-in. Although Robin Hood was more suited to this role, he was too feral. Leylin could not give this fellow too much space to make decisions so early on in his venture. It wasn’t because he was scared that Robin would betray him, but it was just that Robin didn’t have the instincts of a superior.
On the other hand, Isabel did not possess much authoritative power, but what she did have was enough to cow these pirates into submission.
Watching the merfolk ship leave, Leylin waved his hand. “Set off, we’re going to Pirates’ Cove!”
Pirates' Cove was a port that provided services for pirates. It could be called the gathering part for the shady figures of the seas.
The port sold intelligence, goods, and even top-grade elven slaves. Of course, one needed to have the courage to take the risk and buy something; as a port where pirates disposed of stolen goods, the things they sold were definitely unclean in origin. Even Marquis Louis, who controlled the Baltic archipelago, did not allow too many stolen treasures pass through his territory, regretfully giving up on the profits that came to Pirates’ Cove.
As for the port’s location, many of the old pirates under Leylin knew of it. The route wouldn’t be a problem at all, but there were several dangerous areas they had to pass through.
“Are you sure the route won’t have any problems, Cyclops?” Leylin opened up the map of the ocean as he called over a one-eyed pirate. The sailor had a courage bred from years of killing, and although he had only one eye its gleam caused others to tremble with fear.
It was only at this moment that a flower-like smile bloomed on Cyclops’ stubbled face. He revealed his few yellowing teeth, “Don’t worry, Boss. I’ve sailed to Pirates’ Cove with Steve a few times, and at that time I was even the navigator’s assistant. I can get there with my eyes closed!”
“Very well, you’re now the ship’s navigator. If you do well, you’ll be the Scarlet Tiger’s first mate once we reach the port.” This was the promise Leylin made to this pirate in whom he had just placed his trust.
“Yes, boss!” A first mate would receive a greater share of the booty than the other pirates, and would also have authority over the others. Cyclops’ remaining eye gleamed with excitement.
“Very well, you can leave now. Send Giant over!” Leylin waved his hand and watched Cyclops’ back as he left. His eyes showed that he had fallen into deep thought.
Although he was giving these defeated pirates positions one by one, he hadn’t completely let his guard down against them. For example, he couldn’t trust that Cyclops wasn’t deliberately leading the fleet into dangerous waters. He had already obtained the coordinates of Pirates’ Cove through other means, from merchants and pirates.
‘He told me the correct location, and also suggested the most efficient route. It looks like he’s truly pledged his allegiance to me.’ Cyclops didn’t know that he had just narrowly avoided death’s door. On the contrary, he was in good spirits from Leylin’s promise, and he quickly executed the tasks that Leylin had asked him to do.
“Boss, lookin’ fer me?” A deep, coarse voice sounded as a heavyset man walked in. He was more than 8 feet tall, and he had to lower his head to enter the captain’s cabin. His flesh trembled with every step he took, like he was some sort of half-giant.
“Yes. Giant, I want you to lead the Scarlet Tiger’s battle squad. Choose ten men for now, wait until we reach Pirates’ Cove and recruit more.” Leylin told him the plan with crossed arms.
The leader of the battle squadron was often the right-hand man of the captain. The battle squad was also at the forefront of every fight, so the position of its leaders had rather stringent requirements on strength.
Leylin had personally tested the might of this pirate that was called Giant. Not only did he have boundless strength, but he also had unparalleled talent in cultivation as a fighter. He could already release his qi and use martial techniques. Other than Leylin himself, only Isabe; could match him in close quarters combat.
Furthermore, this Giant had a straightforward personality; after numerous losses while dueling Leylin, he became more obedient and was easy for Leylin to control.
“Just pick anyone, huh?” Giant asked, clearly thinking of putting his own men into his team. However this was normal, otherwise even if he was strong as an individual, he would still be crushed by the other pirates.
“Yes, the sailors on the Scarlet Tiger, be it my sailors or the captured pirates, are all for your choosing,” With regards to this point, Leylin turned a blind eye.
“Aye, I’ll go and wake them up, and choose them one-on-one!” Giant looked extremely excited.
“As you wish!” Leylin didn’t have anything to say about Giant’s method of recruitment, and just waved him away.
As the leader of the battle squadron, if there weren’t a few trusted aides on the battlefield to take a knife for him, then perhaps he wouldn’t even be able to survive a single battle. It was necessary to allow him to choose his aides.
Furthermore, Leylin also believed that Giant wouldn’t dare to betray him. He was confident that the cost of rebellion was so incredibly high that it would eliminate all thoughts of betrayal…
The endless voyage, the battles and the struggle, challenged them over and over again. Leylin was confident that this journey to Pirates’ Cove would whip his crew into shape.
‘On the whole, even a well-known pirate crew on the outer seas needs about a hundred pirates,’ Leylin traced his finger on the map carelessly, ‘Take the Black Tigers, or even the Merfolk Pirates which we just destroyed; normal pirate crews all have more than a hundred people, and their captains are even rank 10 Professionals with exceedingly good equipment.’
‘Truly large-scale pirate crews need at least 300 pirates and above, and also need a number of ships. If I want a main battleship, it will have to be magically refitted or receive a cleric’s blessing.’
Such a crew was configured like the small coastal fleet of a minor coastal duchy. If he had such strength, Leylin would be able to find a rather good position amongst the continent’s navy, or even that of other countries. Who, then, would fight him without good reason?
As a result, there were only three truly large scaled pirate crews in the Dambrath Seas: the Black Skeletons, Tigersharks, and Barbarians.
Two of those pirate crews were even under the control of Marquis Louis. In addition, the other fleets owned by the marquis could not be underestimated. One of them was a professional slavers’ fleet.
This fleet had always been at the forefront of clashes with the natives, and Marquis Louis had used a lot of gold coins to arm it. It was even more powerful than the kingdom’s elite navy!
Leylin’s elimination of the Black Tigers and Merfolk Pirates would at best be him taking out the marquis’ trashe. He couldn’t be considered to have encountered the marquis’ main force.
Only once he was able to destroy the Black Skeletons, Tigersharks and the slavers’ fleet in one fell swoop would he be able to deal a fatal strike to the Baltic archipelago’s trade. However, this was almost impossible. Leylin could only continue to act from the shadows, and first clip the marquis’ wings.
It was very unrealistic for Leylin to fight against a Marquis of the kingdom now. However, Leylin was not an ordinary person. He would use any means necessary to accomplish his goals, without fear of the consequences.
He was the sort of person that could described as a reasonable lunatic, or perhaps he was the most insanely reasonable man.
“I’ll need many men to accomplish this goal… Or allies,” Leylin naturally would not be stupid enough to act against the marquis alone.
Furthermore, fighting Marquis Louis was one thing, but Viscount Tim was another. Although Leylin had targeted Marquis Louis all along, the one who would bear the brunt of it was still the Viscount who coveted the Faulen lands.
Leylin wasn’t sailing to Pirates’ Cove for no reason. Besides recruiting the men he needed, he was preparing to look for more supporters. Marquis Louis would have offended quite a few people with his dominant character, even if he had done so unintentionally, and Leylin wanted to round those people up and take advantage of their power.
Leylin pressed his fingers heavily on the mark of the Pirates' Cove on the map, his eyes regaining their previous calm.