Black Sail
Chapter 242: CCXLII. Year End

Chapter 242: CCXLII. Year End

The next day.

It was already the last day of the year 1292 in Aran Calendar and 2689 in Holy Spirit Calendar.

Heaven Port was blaring with cannons and deafening with drums and gongs.

Normally, the trash pirates on the island, who even save money on bullets, were suddenly spruced up today.

Putting aside the bigger forces here, everyone else was just ordinary pirates, who, having money, would spend it lavishly.

Just like Liszt’s hometown celebrating the holidays with a game of cards, the bigger you play, the better you seem to be doing in the eyes of your neighbors, roughly the same mindset.

Some money had to be spent at this time to maintain appearances.

For Fafna, this was undoubtedly the happiest day.

The winter day was quite gloomy, with fine snow floating in the sky, and even the fireworks set off during the day were clearly visible.

Heaven Port had no aging population, the useless ones had all died, and of course, newborns were a rare species, who would bring children here to raise, it was a country of migrants, with no second-generation migrants.

There were still peers though, according to the local calendar of sixteen months a year, there were some teenagers, who were currently having a snowball fight with Fafna.

When Fafna’s monster power turned a snow pile over a meter in diameter into a bowl-sized snowball, her friends fled in panic.

Her strength was not to be underestimated, her nourishment had increased during this time, and her physical condition had soared, now surpassing Ox.

"Loneliness is a person’s carnival, carnival is a crowd’s loneliness."

Fafna weighed the snowball and started to speak of embarrassing literature.

Wolman’s scales were nearly awkward away, could you stop acting mature and reading some pseudo-deep trash that only rebellious kids would find meaningful?

"Heaven Port’s Queen... truly lives up to her reputation."

Wolman’s lover, the Scorpion Woman, adventurer, was also here. Standing at two meters seventy, with a scorpion tail and scales, and purple hair, besides these, she was no different from ordinary people and also one of the only two civilized intelligences from the Great Wetland, although Scorpion Women were even fewer in number.

Scorpion Woman hunted sea beasts around these waters to make a living, but today was special, and Wolman had invited her to mooch a meal, so she came.

In all of Heaven Port, only Wolman could keep her entertained, others were like toothpicks to her, having not even the length of a normal adult male’s arm, which would make things awkward.

"Where did you find her?"

Scorpion Woman volunteered to play snowball with Fafna, exchanging throws while chatting with Wolman.

"We found her in a pile of trash."

Wolman naturally couldn’t tell the truth, with Fen’s suppressor on, Fafna’s features disappeared, and she was just a girl with abnormal strength.

"What?"

Fafna’s face fell.

Wolman was embarrassed, she is still just a kid, he probably hurt her feelings.

At that moment, he saw Haywood sneaking into an alley, that guy had been acting unusual these last few days.

The brothel was closed today.

Mika, at the inn’s second floor, was browsing through some risqué novels and pictures, waiting for dinner.

"Brother, you’ve been here for such a long time, let’s cut you loose, it’s a waste of talent, setting you free, you’re driving us crazy. Like this, the day after tomorrow, on the evening of the 2nd, go make an ’Oath of Loyalty’ for us."

Liszt patted Ben on the shoulder, smoking a cigarette.

Goria had already discussed the matter last night, potentially because she spent a considerable amount of time with Dreya, and had been given a preemptive warning. After dinner tonight, it was time for... Sandwich time!

"Hey, hey, it’s probably not as simple as a sandwich, right?" Liszt calculated, and he referred to it as the five-layer Imperial Castle, wondering if he could handle it when the time came.

"Oath of Loyalty is fine; I like being a bartender, so what?"

Ben, as a shady character, simply did not acknowledge Liszt’s authority and refused to work there. What kind of person was he? Mixing with these countryside pirates, he considered himself the rising star of the criminal world, a high-end individual playing with technical skills while these people made money in such a crude way.

Liszt had already received news that Doringger would host a banquet in the castle on January 2 to entertain all corporate representatives.

Since Londen City, Shadi, known as the East Coast Idea King, had been out of business for a while, but he finally came up with an idea.

He used to deal with arms transportation, a channel manager for a weapons manufacturing company. To put it nicely, a channel manager, bluntly speaking, he was a line runner smuggling contraband, selling guns to bandits.

Though ordinary cold weapons could be carried anywhere within the empire, this did not include iron armor, crossbows, and firearms, which were contraband. To carry them, one had to obtain permission from relevant departments; a Level 1 permit allowed bearing anywhere, whereas a Level 2 permit was limited to the wilderness, and they had to be handed over upon entering cities.

Where couldn’t you find a fruit knife or various other knives, and what harm could those do? But once someone donned a small armor or picked up a small gun, it was a different story altogether; anti-social elements could kill dozens, creating an uncontrollable scene.

This time, his former colleagues, perhaps his boss, hearing the news of the New Continent, also rushed there. If there were natives on the island, without exerting some force, it might just lead to the peak sales season.

By then, Liszt and his party wouldn’t need invitations; leveraging this connection they would attend the banquet uninvited, claiming ten years of devoted enthusiasm!

Of course, they weren’t planning to kill Doringger directly, but rather to forcefully settle in and loot Doringger’s resources, the money in the cellar was meant for exactly these things.

Use the least force to cause the maximum damage, make up the difference themselves, even at a loss; joining him in exploiting the New Continent turned out to be more cost-effective than cooperating with Doringger.

The main strategy was to engage in a price war, weaken Doringger, and increase their own influence.

This was a transparent scheme.

Doringger was not naturally predisposed to killing; such characters didn’t reach positions he had. He managed this isolated overseas island neatly and independently. Saying he was a benevolent king was a stretch, but one could call him an assertive ruler.

If you were narrow-minded and wanted to kill me, not allowing pirates on the island to touch your interests, once you started, all the pirates on the island would know you were being ungrateful and planning to sever ties. If the brothers couldn’t get a piece of the New Continent, wouldn’t they be furious with you?

Broadly speaking, any pirate on the island belonged to Doringger, if the boss lacked this much resolve then everything was indeed over.

However, to prevent unexpected emergencies, they still had to bring a strong group.

"Then do as you please, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. You’ve been here long enough; stepping back ten thousand steps, whether going back to the Thief Guild can maintain your current status is one thing, but whether Diaz trusts you or suspects you is another."

Liszt was aware that Ben, a high-ranking guild member, was not exactly short of money; he had to enlighten him with reason, discussing safety and career prospects.

Ben’s face turned sour as a cucumber; he had lingered here for over three months. Forget trust; the ship had already sailed. He estimated that by the tenth at the latest, news of Diaz’s movements would reach here, either increasing the stakes or sending the Netherworld Envoy; none of it boded well.

Liszt might not be devoid of Diaz’s dirt; his dirt was of a spiritual kind, a chronic disease attached to the bone, invisible yet pervasive, like the Nine Tails Jinchuriki, often referred to as Little Liszt.

"I’ll just go and kill Doringger directly. With assassination, no one can defend against it."

Ben lit up a cigarette and started smoking.

"No, if you go on assassinating, you will disappear altogether; you need to be craftier," Liszt said.

Fen placed his hand on Ben’s shoulder.

Ben only felt a burning sensation on his shoulder, branded by Fen with a tracking Array Seal, effective for three days.

"What did you do to me?"

"A kind of magic, no big deal as long as you stay within five miles of me; it will alert me, allowing me to quickly pinpoint your location and find you."

Fen thought it necessary to have someone test the waters; ideas couldn’t be formed without hands-on experience, allowing them to get into the banquet smoothly. Otherwise, with traps set everywhere, there would be nowhere to even cry, Swan had other big plans.

Ben didn’t know what bad luck had befallen him, encountering this group of cavemen, might as well be done with a swift end; dead is dead, but to be taken advantage of like a workhorse, damn it!

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