Black Sail
Chapter 297: CCXCVII. Northern Realm Joke

Chapter 297: CCXCVII. Northern Realm Joke

Fen held a slight smile.

"It depends on how you define these three words. The Triad Gang is nothing more than slashing people and collecting protection fees. But people like Aran and Pedan are also nothing more than waging wars and taxing. Essentially, they are all interest groups, just presented in different scales; when magnified to a macro level, some synonyms get replaced.

The reason why organizations like the Thief Guild attract so much infamy is because their targets are mainly civilians. But once their targets are external and there are no fundamental conflicts internally, isn’t it a qualified government? Since a thing exists, there must be a foundation supporting its existence, which might even be of a natural law nature. There isn’t much difference between them; it’s just the micro and macro levels operating the same set of practices and revealing the truth in different forms.

Once magnified to the latter, people hardly dare to discuss. For example, the Lostra people are also part of the Lostra government and members of a large-scale Triad Gang. Even though they are civilians engaged in production, they are beneficiaries too. Do you all agree?"

Fen patiently explained. A small fry could be lawless and completely mad; big shots... must abide by rules and care about reputation.

He didn’t finish his point, but there was no need to elaborate. If the Black Sail Trading Company continued to refine their internal rules after taking over the East Sea,

Even if it isn’t recognized among nations, it would still truly be the Pirate Republic.

Doringger wouldn’t dare to do it, but Black Sail would; Doringger wouldn’t dare to slash someone, but Black Sail would.

Chuan Che twitched his eyelids, pondered deeply, astonished that such profound thoughts could come from a rustic on this savage island.

Celeste maintained a surface smile but also perceived the danger of this person. No wonder he was on the expedited list; such defiance of conventions.

"Government?"

Celeste searched for the keyword and, despite her mental fortitude, was swearing inside. These people were too damned audacious. This wasn’t just any desperado; their scope was reaching the one who killed a dragon bare-handed. They needed to be dealt with severely.

"Indeed."

Fen smiled lightly, his conversation with Hened giving him great confidence. The headquarters had already decided—Liszt, you shall be the leading villain.

To make Celeste appear more like a Gold Seeker and not seem too gullible, it would be fake to agree readily.

"You operate outside the castle, Doringger inside. I shouldn’t comment much, but the registration fee of one Golden Dragon isn’t too high for us, yet your side is quite dangerous."

Celeste exhibited a slightly skeptical demeanor.

"You are from Lostra... hmm, you might not have heard of Liszt."

Fen was ready to vouch strongly for Black Sail. Now, with a backer even more formidable than Hened, he naturally had to flaunt it, as he would be the leading big brother.

"No, we did our homework before coming here. Your captain is indeed a brazen... pirate, but isn’t he also working for Doringger? Sorry if I’m being too direct."

Celeste elegantly smoked a cigarette, not making the harsh ’hiss’ sound typical of the rude pirates here.

"To be frank, the reason Black Sail now has so much money isn’t from hijacking ships alone. We are all people of profound principles, having robbed the third trial passenger train operated by Aran, seizing some unrighteous wealth from the magnates, used to revitalize the business in the East Sea. Liszt’s name may well be louder than Doringger’s, the uncrowned king of the East Sea."

Fen put a high hat on Liszt.

Liszt, drifting at sea, attracting sins from heaven, had suddenly become the most reactionary among the reactionaries, a thorn in the eye of noble masters.

Celeste’s group was completely dumbfounded; it turned out the recent explosions that set off a world-scale verbal battle among the continents’ newspapers were caused by them.

This also made sense as to why Black Sail could evolve from a violent gang to a regional power in a short period—it was all thanks to this single wealthy deal.

However, Celeste was professional, unfazed even when delving into dragons’ dens and tigers’ lairs.

"Then you, as the First Officer..."

Celeste inquired.

"I, too, am included in this; it was indeed a challenging process. Joshua, the former Energy Department Sergeant of Aran, could be called the Empire’s tiger, carrying sharp, high-frequency oscillation weapons, and also a genius in Evil Magic and Fighting Skills. It took a lot of effort to eliminate the imperial hound."

Fen had the staff continue to serve drinks to the group.

Celeste still harbored some doubts, but this statement directly confirmed everything. Los Angeles had expended great effort to unearth these details through the spies in Aran.

The train’s chief was indeed an old official from the Energy Department, proclaimed unmatched and even capable of defeating the Continent Martial Arts Competition’s third-place winner.

What did the Continent Martial Arts Competition mean? A grand meeting where heroes from all over the world gathered, even a third-place title carried exceptional value.

"Truly impressive, but even so..."

Celeste pretended to regain her composure from shock.

"Our boss has some friends who will also come over to help soon. The Seventh Amendment, Cangshan Tobacco Company, and so on, well-known figures in the industry will also come to support, after all, it’s the grand opening of a new company; such respect must be given, you all can rest assured."

Fen said indifferently.

We must create a powerful presence.

In wars, no matter how the sides plot against each other, nobody is a fool; ultimately, the side with the stronger comprehensive strength will win.

And reputation is also a part of comprehensive strength.

"Damn."

Chuan Che was quite a figure, but even he was overwhelmed when he heard those organization names. What kind of person was Liszt that he could associate with those guys?

The Seventh Amendment, to put it nicely, was a group of soldiers longing to restore their country; to put it harshly, they were the traitors among the defeated, the warlords among the dogs, and above all else, the ultimate madmen.

Not to mention the Cangshan Tobacco Company, a well-established gang with an excellent reputation.

By this time, Hened had also finished writing a letter and instructed his subordinates to send it out. He came over to Fen’s side, seeing a crowd of eleven people, he also came to see what was going on.

"Boss, how do you know those people?"

Celeste really couldn’t connect Liszt of the East Sea with the inland forces thousands of miles away.

"It was our boss who orchestrated the massive riot at Northern Prison ten years ago; he’s kind of a savior to all the prisoners there," Fen stated matter-of-factly.

"Damn it, speaking of Northern Prison, that’s a great place, they serve two dishes for every meal."

Hened also sat down, as they had been talking about prison matters all day and he recalled the unpleasant times there.

Celeste suddenly connected the dots. Why was Hened involved with Black Sail? Hadn’t he once been a prisoner in the big prison? It all made sense now.

"Two dishes?"

Chuan Che was shocked. With two dishes per meal, who on the Western Continent would still work? They would all be crying and begging to be locked up in prison.

Even Fen was a bit surprised. Did the big prison really have such good treatment?

"Yeah, it really is a great place. The first dish is a potato as big as a fist," Hened said with a grim expression.

"And the second dish?"

Ben, the clown, was shocked.

"The second dish is a fist as big as a potato," said Hened, delivering the classic Northern joke. Those inmates, having nothing else to do, would focus on creating jokes like this, and from such jokes, hundreds more could be derived. "The good thing about Northern Prison is that it’s damn good."

Everyone was left speechless.

"In any case, you won’t go wrong following me. Doringger is just running out of steam," Hened said calmly.

In his conversation with Mo Yutong, Hened was a respected shareholder, not fulfilling the financial obligations, but enjoying certain shareholder rights due to his reputation.

He was also one of the founders.

Twenty minutes later.

The goal of Celeste and her group, of course, was to infiltrate the Black Sail, gather intelligence, and naturally, they needed to join smoothly.

Black Sail divided all the Gold Seekers under its name into three ranked levels.

The first level included representatives of Gold Mining Companies, partners, and extremely powerful adventure groups and organizations. They were to be treated with utmost hospitality.

The second level consisted of strong adventure groups, those who could make a decent public appearance, but that’s about it.

The third level, stop comparing cattle and horses, just register and get directly on the ship. I’ll transport you to the New Continent, tell me whatever you find, and I won’t short-change you.

Naturally, Celeste’s group could have entered the first priority, but they appeared to have entered the second one.

They were to be treated well with a hearty meal to welcome and clean them off before sending them off to the New Continent.

A grand restaurant under Black Sail.

The room was finely decorated, the tables filled with fine dishes.

But Celeste and her group didn’t have much of an appetite.

With Fen’s status as the general manager, of course, she would not come in person to host them. She just arranged for her subordinates to greet them, and after dinner, they were to be taken directly to the pirate ship that had been acquired, ready for departure.

"This is a big problem."

Celeste realized that the situation was somewhat out of control.