Black Sail
Chapter 290: CCXC. Magnanimity

Chapter 290: CCXC. Magnanimity

Mo’er originally didn’t want to personally handle the matter, but it was an order directly given by Doringger himself, who had already set sail to the New Continent.

Doringger was indeed keeping an eye on Liszt’s movements but did not take them too seriously, entrusting it to the strongest and most valued member among all the Peak Competition Pirate Groups.

Captain of the Dead Duke Pirate Group.

This pirate group still held the highest cumulative bounty in the East Sea Region from the Cross Alliance before they went clean, of course, now there is no bounty.

But to this day, no one has surpassed that amount.

The navy slaughters pirates, calling it "expunging the bandits."

And the Dead Duke Pirate Group slaughters the navy, calling it "Dead Duke."

However, the Captain of the Dead Duke, yesterday messed up big time, sending out the Sky Peak Pirate Group which ended in a disastrous defeat. According to the secret information from Taylor, the last three members, carrying Captain Sky Peak’s body, left Heaven Port, and the most important undercover agent, Flado, also died.

This displeased Doringger.

Because he had instructed that there was no need to use force against Liszt’s group for now, just to leave them alone, he hadn’t anticipated that the Captain of the Dead Duke would overreach and botch the operation.

Doringger was uneasy about the Captain of the Dead Duke and thus asked Mo’er to assist him.

Since Doringger would be away from the island for a while, it was uncertain when he would return. Liszt was necessary to keep around, but not to the extent of nurturing a threat. He couldn’t afford to return and find his home gone, so he had Mo’er intimidate Liszt to make him aware of his current predicament.

At the main entrance of the estate.

Yutong, observing the sinister Mo’er, felt somewhat intimidated.

"Don’t be so nervous, I’m just here to deliver a gift, I won’t be staying for dinner."

Mo’er clapped his hands, and two coachmen took out two exquisitely packaged gift boxes from the back of the carriage, treating Yutong as a servant, ready to hand them over to her.

"Give them to me."

Liszt took the gift boxes, worried they might contain something ominous, and opened them on the spot. To his surprise, they were very formal gifts, one box contained lavishly expensive fabrics and silk, while the other contained the traditional trifecta, a luxury set of tobacco, liquor, and tea.

"Since Mr. Mo isn’t hungry, I can’t insist. Let me extend the thanks of the groom on behalf of the newlyweds to your blessing."

Liszt closed the lids of the gift boxes and casually handed them to the One-eyed Dragon standing beside him.

Mo’er’s visit was surely not that simple.

"The situation is such that Lord Dor has already departed to inspect Iron Soul Island. As you know, Lord Dor is involved in legitimate business and worries that bandits might be drawn to the lawless lands of the New Continent in time. Fortunately, having partners like Mr. Li reassures us greatly, but just to be safe, Lord Dor has invited the navy from Yisu Country in the Southern Continent to protect us. We... have formed a merchant alliance, and handed over the third-party security work to professionals, anyone interested can sign up on this form."

Mo’er calmly spoke, then pulled out a form from his briefcase, "Of course, the alliance members don’t have to pay anything, as Lord Dor has already covered all costs. You just need to sign here to join, and the navy from Yisu Country will protect all members."

The dominant ethnic group in the Southern Continent is the Yisu people, although there are many small fragmented nations formed by other foreign ethnic groups, as well as other derivative factions forming other nations, the most powerful is still the country named after the ethnic group—Yisu Country.

Liszt’s expression grew gravely serious as he took the form, which already had many signatures.

During the evening banquet, about eighty pirate groups were willing to side with Liszt.

But Doringger’s rule over the East Sea seemed unshakable, and the other several dozen pirate groups, still frightened by Doringger, chose to join this so-called merchant alliance.

Times change, and the hearts of men are fickle. Despite the fact that Liszt had abolished the protection fee and the local merchants were truly grateful to him, perhaps many people did not understand the whole situation.

Mo’er mentioned that many island merchants had also signed up and joined the merchant alliance.

"Look, if you want, you can sign here too."

Mo’er was purely intimidating Liszt, scaring him enough to keep him from causing trouble for a while. Doringger had ways to kill him, and ways to... kill the heart.

Liszt stood completely stunned on the spot, his mental fortitude slightly shaken. Perhaps... he really shouldn’t have thought about taking over New Heavenly Port, if he hadn’t brought Swan aboard, if he had handed Fafna over to Lostra’s people, none of this would have happened.

Understand this, the regular army and pirates, are creatures of different dimensions.

Troops trained by state organs have capabilities that no amount of cunning and ferocity from the unconventional paths can withstand.

Noticing Liszt’s expression, Mo’er showed no pride; after all, it had been predicted. If Liszt had really signed, it would mean he was a man who could bend and stretch. Being treated by Doringger wasn’t anything shameful, but from then on, he would become the lowest-ranked person on the island, serving as a warning to others.

Fen, too, was struck as if by lightning. With that, Doringger had set his heart on whitewashing his past, becoming a Governor of the East Sea Region.

Seeing Fen, Mo’er was quite interested.

"Speaking of which, I have heard some rumors about you as well," he said calmly. "You are quite a distinguished figure yourself, am I right, Committee Member? I wonder how the Princess is doing right now?"

Mo’er said calmly.

Immediately.

Fen, single-handedly, grabbed Mo’er by the neck, lifting him off the ground, his feet dangling in the mid-air.

Two coachmen drew their scimitars, ready to join the fray.

Mo’er in mid-air raised his hand, signaling them not to mess around.

Mo’er, however, looked like a corpse, his sewn-together face lacking any flush of blood, unbothered, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"Do you want a merger by fire?"

Mo’er’s voice was somewhat intermittent due to being choked, but he still managed to speak.

Liszt shouted Fen’s name.

Fen came to his senses and put Mo’er down, expressionless.

Liszt didn’t know the specific past of the Black Sail core members. No wonder Fen was impotent; did he have any intricate connections with the Princess mentioned by Mo’er? He was once a noble, truly a messy circle.

But now was not the time to think about these things.

Doringger had sent Liszt a warm soup.

Mo’er straightened his outfit, unfazed, his gaze indifferent as he stared at Liszt holding the form.

The result was as expected.

Liszt returned the form, indicating he had no intention of joining.

"Is that so? Giving bright golden dragons to the poor, truly a sin. Those little petty people, can they really help you in any way?"

Mo’er’s threat was complete. Doringger never dealt with the poor, the clay pot forever remained a clay pot, he only sought those who could surface. Liszt would lie low for a good while, but that might also be him biding his time, which didn’t matter.

The night before, Doringger had scolded the Captain of the Dead Duke for acting without orders; Liszt had to be kept for a critical moment to kill.

The navy could have controlled the East Sea if they had acted earlier, their reluctance sprang from their fear of Doringger, hoping to receive his protection—an impossibility—maintaining only a business relationship, a stepping stone for promotion, reliant solely on themselves when the crucial moment came.

Now, foreigners had started arriving in the East Sea Domain in succession, exploring the New Continent, soon to be overcrowded. At the peak, exterminating this villain, in turn, wouldn’t mean treating lives as grass; it would ensure peace for the area, the position of the Governor of the East Sea could be secured.

Doringger’s words from the night before were:

He warned his subordinates not to do anything unnecessary.

Because even if all his people died, the walls breached, the mobile fortress destroyed.

Even then.

Doringger alone could...

Suppress the East Sea.

That was the caliber of the East Sea King, the ultimate ruler of the No-Man’s-Land, who could kill sea monsters barehanded.

"Indeed."

Liszt, unable to tolerate provocation and with no outsiders present, no longer needed to act the literate and elegant scholar. Speaking in the tone of a pirate, he said, "You are quite right about one thing; Doringger is now a legitimate businessman, different from us. My bunch is just a gang of damned souls, gambling with lousy lives, but I’ll see it through to the end."

Mo’er’s eyelids twitched, he scoffed coldly a few times, then swept away in his robes.