Black Sail
Chapter 102: CII. Knife Man Project

Chapter 102: CII. Knife Man Project

The next day, at noon.

Most of the core members of Black Sail would not choose to dine outside.

The restaurants in the Inner City still had some assurance; after all, the main clientele were wealthy masters who had come to seek refuge.

In other places, it was hard to say, whether the food was fresh or not was the least of the worries, besides the Outer City, the woods were wild with who knows how many paupers and retired prostitutes.

Meat was very expensive, apart from what the islanders raised themselves, Boss of Heaven Port brought in livestock wholesale from the neighboring island, not to mention the shipping costs.

These paupers, with no relatives or friends, died unnoticed, and there were no lack of those with ulterior motives adding them as a little extra ingredient.

Of course, the inn also had a female chef and a few assistants.

"Is Archer not here today?"

The female chef asked timidly.

"He’s not."

Swan was starving, he had originally planned to eat something cheap outside casually, but after listening to Fen’s advice, he was dead set against eating in the Outer City. He had to be careful even in the Inner City.

It was best to eat only in his own den.

The female chef breathed a sigh of relief because Archer was a most annoying person; she herself was a former Court Chef, every mealtime he would nitpick and complain.

Beef stewed in red wine that had neither the taste of red wine nor of beef, fail!

Chicken skin cooked too soft, no bite to it, fail!

Tofu falling apart with a pinch, fail!

Radish not sorted correctly, too many fibers, fail!

Nobody wanted to cook for such a person. The female chef’s skills were actually quite good, but when compared to the "Imperial Kitchen" old-timers, she was still far off.

Hearing that the caveman wasn’t there, the female chef went off to prepare the meals with the joy of New Year’s.

"Strange... there’s always an ominous premonition."

Liszt always felt something was off today, but couldn’t put his finger on it.

He didn’t know his wife had already agreed with Goria on the matter of Fafna and had thoroughly wrenched the Moon Wheel Knight.

Goria had even come down to ask him what Dreya liked as a gift, saying she wanted to return the favor.

"Hmm... very eerie."

Liszt’s intuition was always very sharp.

"You can give up on that plan of yours, I’ve already told the Baroness that you were just having a tantrum," Fen believed it was a pure bad idea. The adventurer was just tricking you, not wanting to be bothered -- there couldn’t possible be so many lilies.

"No, it’s definitely true." Shadi declared, standing by with a smug air, deliberately adjusting his angle to showcase his profile, "No woman can resist my charm, they must be [lesbians]."

"I really fucking want to hit you!"

Mika picked up a stool ready to make a move, but was held back by Swan and Haywood.

"That won’t work; use this!"

Haywood, as the one with the least charm on the ship, handed the Frost Rhododendron Blood-crying to Mika. Liszt cherished this Warhammer, although it was nothing but a piece of junk metal, he never threw it away, and its name sounded like some earth-shattering Divine Artifact.

"I’m not having lunch here."

Shadi directly jumped through the window to escape, heading to find Girlfriend No. 4, food cooked by a girlfriend, that would definitely be reliable.

Liszt ignored these fools and began to ponder the real issues.

Getting a handle on New Heavenly Port wasn’t something that could be done overnight, but was a long-term strategy.

How would it count as a success?

Everyone on the island would have to fence their goods through him, completely monopolizing the black market exports of the East Sea Domain, profiting astronomically, wealthy enough to rival nations.

That’s the position of Boss today.

The smuggling channels must be taken over completely.

Getting to know the channel dealers is easy; they’re just the white gloves of the nobles from the Western Continent, a few dozen copper coins are all it takes to find out where these dealers live and where they like to splurge, not a problem.

The difficult part is, these dealers have already established stable ties with the triads, conducting business smoothly, and a newbie without power or capital who tries to butt in will only be treated as a joke.

Even assassinating all three triads wouldn’t help; the nobility have their titles to pass on, and the gangs have their successors.

Rather than thinking about how to bring down the three triads, it’s better to focus on weakening their influence while conquering the channel dealers.

Liszt used Turbid River Dragon’s reputation as an endorsement; that was something he did when his grand plan was about to wrap up.

Like a confession, not having done anything and going to confess won’t get you anywhere unless you’re really handsome.

But if I’ve given you money to spend, fed you, bought you bags, how should you respond then? You wouldn’t want your funding to just cut off, would you?

Not only successful confessions but even getting a freebie out of it.

With Big Brother Turbid River Dragon stepping up, the reputation maxed out instantly, and the only consideration became how to protect the turf.

However, the triads have been stable for years, and there won’t be a fourth triad; they’ll definitely band together to take down any outsiders.

Right now, the triads are engaged in a price war. Although they aren’t giving up much, they are still making concessions, and they’re competing with each other.

A partnership with one of the triads is essential for getting inside.

Liszt had planned for every stage.

He would leverage all his connections and even pay out of pocket to cover the difference, rallying all the pirates to fence goods through a single triad only, throwing all resources their way to get inside first.

Even though there are officially three triads, in reality, it’s already four, a just two against two.

Next, he just needed to gradually weaken the other two opponents, through price wars, concessions, and more concessions, until their influence dwindled to nothing.

Then, the Boss of Heavenly Port would certainly intervene for the sake of maintaining his position, aiming to keep the competitors in check and forcibly making you increase your profits, pressuring you to earn money and giving the other two triads a chance to breathe.

But now that I can also sell goods, instead of increasing prices, I’m giving even more concessions. What if I go from the standard six-four post-black market head tax cut to an eighty-twenty split, or even sell second-hand goods for damn peanuts directly without middlemen, offering a whole year’s grand promotion? Everybody gangs up on you—to manage that, how should you respond?

Nevertheless, as Fen said, it all starts with a large number of Golden Dragons; ten thousand is just passing grade, but with enough money, even the Boss can be shattered.

Fighting and killing are trivial; bloodshed and conflicts are inevitable; the problem lies in how to achieve the highest critical damage with the least effort.

Engaging in a direct assault now, with catapults and ladders in place, storming the castle, and slaughtering the Boss and his men—could it work? Sure, you could become the Boss and even open New Heavenly Port. But not to mention that it would be the minimal damage with the most effort, even if you succeed, the foundation would be unstable, with endless troubles ahead, perhaps triggering a new round of isolating free-for-alls.

That would be like the Dark Night Hunter going for magic power, foolish, right?

The Dark Night Hunter needs to aim for attack speed and critical strike gear.

Liszt’s main strategy is to employ scapegoats—borrowing knives like crazy, killing like crazy, briefly called the Knife Man Plan.

Golden Dragons are a necessity: to cover the price differences, to make concessions, even to absorb other Pirate Gangs.

"Everybody, eyes on me. I declare that from today on, when acting as Wild West Outlaws, we must rob trains, and hit the Noble Masters with a bang!"

Liszt suddenly made his proclamation of independence.

"Good."

Fen slightly relaxed; Liszt was the decision-maker, and she had only suggested it earlier—it was still up to his initiative, and since that was the case, scrounging in Aran was a sure thing.

Liszt’s ambitions extended beyond Heavenly Port; with Dragon Lady in hand, Heavenly Port was no mere island but a damn strategic base, damn Targaryen’s Dragonstone Island.

Let alone the Peace Star—no, Netherworld Stele!

Playing the game of Iron Throne.

Running... a new! Western Continent!

Years later, when former classmates who ended up miserably with their airs of trust fund-fed pretty rich girls came to Aran Royal City to meet the Emperor,

To their shock, they discovered that it was none other than Liszt.

Damn, what a show-off!