Black Sail
Chapter 81: LXXXI. Past Bandit Suppression

Chapter 81: LXXXI. Past Bandit Suppression

Between the Southern Continent and the Western Continent, there is a sea area shaped like an inverted T that penetrates the Western Continent, tearing open a gap, called the Inner Sea, also known as the Narrow Sea.

While people here call it the Narrow Sea, its average width is only slightly smaller than the Atlantic, yet its total area far exceeds that of the Pacific Ocean.

It can be described as the Golden Waters, an extremely prosperous multi-angular trading zone.

Turbid River Dragon once made his stand here, reaching his peak seventeen years ago, when he was in his prime and quite renowned, boasting a fleet that even included sail battleships, daring to seize even the royal treasure ships.

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.

He occupied a seat in the Northern Prison.

He endured torture there for a full seven years.

After escaping from a major uprising, the maritime configuration had completely changed.

However, given his former position, he had connections everywhere.

Wherever he went, he had friends to treat him to good food and drink.

Over the years, Turbid River Dragon had not re-emerged from retirement, relying on old friends.

But with each passing year, as they aged, new replaced old, one by one falling from power.

Until now, when he no longer had friends to depend on, but the fire of his youth still burned within him, compelling him to make a comeback despite his advanced age.

He indeed successfully hijacked a merchant ship,

But as one would expect, he was no longer a young man, aged and unable to wield a sword, and was blasted off his ship by the battleship of the Governor of Kersuna and captured, soon to be sent back to Aran.

The manager told Liszt everything he knew, laying out all the details.

Liszt had an idea.

Now, Hened of Turbid River Dragon was known mostly by reputation alone.

The Southern Continent was closer to the Western Continent, and there was an extradition treaty, but it was largely theoretical with plenty of room for maneuver.

Liszt thought it over, delivering the man would just earn him a little reward money, which was just a drop in the bucket. With his personal connections to the local governor, using some Gold Dragons, he could simply buy the release.

"So it is, let’s go visit the governor," Liszt told Shadi.

But the duty manager insisted that Liszt accept a gift.

"I’ll take the money, but let’s leave the gift, let’s go."

Liszt pocketed the Gold Dragons because they didn’t take up much space.

The manager was finally relieved.

An hour later.

In the governor’s office on Kersuna Island.

A typical bureaucratic workplace, aiming for spacious and simple, randomly decorated with pretentiously elegant paintings, a large desk in the center, and a row of bookshelves at the back substantiating the domain of wisdom, that was it.

The governor’s eyelid twitched, truly remorseful.

Blame it on himself for falling into Liszt’s ways three years ago.

It was three years ago that the Black Sail began to really gain notoriety.

Back then, Liszt was extremely jealous of pirates wholesaling hallucinatory substances inland from Heaven Port, these people lacked skills, but damn, they were making a fortune.

But Liszt was raised with the belief that one should not engage in such despicable acts. The Black Sail Ship was full of refined people, and stooping to such lowliness didn’t suit him.

Liszt got ruthless and played a game of dark eater, thinking, "I’m just undercutting this industry for a service fee, that’s not too much, right?"

But if making money was the goal, then maximizing profits was necessary.

Find a scapegoat to cooperate with, under the guise of fighting against hallucinatory substances, grant them some privileges, that’s not too much, right?

The money seized would be his to keep, and the goods seized would be handed over to the scapegoat for public destruction, to show the effects of combating the pirates selling hallucinogens.

Even though the business was still rampant on the trade routes from Heaven Port to the East Shore, things had improved significantly on Kersuna Island, and the local governor was even regarded as an anti-drug hero, extremely prestigious, with nobody daring to sell here anymore. Liszt had played a significant role in this.

That scapegoat naturally was the governor of Kersuna Island.

Liszt had been bothering the governor for an official position for a long time, but the governor was no fool, although Liszt had not committed any crimes locally, openly, you are a notorious pirate on the East Shore of the Western Continent, wouldn’t that affect diplomatic relations?

"I still have to give some privileges since I’m being blackmailed."

So, the port’s maritime management staff got on board. With a loud squeak, they let you dock easily. But to prevent accidents, they still charged two Golden Dragons as a service fee, because those small guys would take the blame if something truly went wrong.

"Good day, Admiral, sir!"

Liszt walked in with a smirk. This Admiral was nothing short of despicable. He helped you earn such a great reputation and a lot of money over the years, and yet treated us like outsiders, not giving us any position. That’s fucking immoral.

"What do you want? We agreed that you can use this place as a temporary landing spot, but not for more than a week. I won’t agree to anything outside of this range."

The Admiral said coldly.

Right then, Shadi was fiddling with the ship model on the side cabinet and accidentally scattered it, immediately feeling awkward, and began trying to fix it himself.

The Admiral’s expression grew even darker.

"I heard you caught someone here; I thought of getting him out."

Liszt had no shame, sitting down on a chair and lighting up a cigarette indoors.

"Who?"

The Admiral frowned. He had just taken charge here, his foundation was not solid—lacking people and ships. This was a ticking time bomb. He thought if it were a minor character, just letting him go would also be fine.

"Hened."

Liszt said calmly.

"I’ll hand him over to the Cross Alliance and extradite him back, you can fuck off."

The Admiral began issuing a peremptory dismissal.

Liszt laughed coldly.

"Cross Alliance, what a joke. It’s just your excuse. Can you really control the Southern Continent? Who helped you secure this position? Now you think you’re the big shot, and I’m just a nobody, right? Fine, even if I die here, and if people on the ship spill the beans, a heroic Admiral who cooperates with pirates, that should keep you going strong, huh? As for those ships’ logbooks, I’ve kept them. You don’t have them, do you? You also don’t know the location of the wreckage, right?"

Liszt got up from his seat, ready to leave.

The Admiral had not expected Liszt to turn on him and threaten him. Weren’t you going to keep pleading or acting tough?

"Get back here."

The Admiral was close to exploding.

"True to form of an Admiral, when you say let go, you just let go. Badass, bro!"

Liszt sat down again.

There’s money to be made by extraditing criminals to the Cross Alliance.

"Alright, put down five hundred Golden Dragons."

The Admiral multiplied it by five. Hened was already old, just a remnant of the old era, and aside from his reputation, he was useless. Seventeen years ago, he might have been worth ten or twenty-eight thousand.

"One hundred Golden Dragons, no, sixty-six, let’s make it auspicious."

Liszt said so.

Since numeric symbolism doesn’t translate, there’s no such concept of "great luck with 66" here.

"There’s no deal then, get lost."

The Admiral was furious with Liszt.

"My God, I swear by Wave and Storm Spirit, I’ve never been deceived so grandly. Our great Admiral, it turns out, depends on..."

Liszt mimicked the locals’ tone, but hadn’t finished.

"Pay up, take him, you’ve got five minutes. If I regret later, it’ll be too late."

The Admiral had given in.

"Alright, since you’re also part of the Cross Alliance’s Allies, although those bird-men can’t catch pirates, they do a pretty neat job with paperwork. Could you get me those Bounty Orders for the Black Sail? I could use them."

Liszt needed to get Hened, not for his abilities or combat prowess, but for his reputation to set a stage back in Heaven Port.

The Admiral couldn’t hold back anymore.

Shadi was still struggling with that model ship, trying to fix it.

"Just leave that... Can you fucking not touch it anymore?"

The Admiral was on the verge of a breakdown.

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