With the addition of Mathilde, Byron's force seemed to be back in size. More than one hundred and fifty fierce and skilled pirates, and a total of fifty Mathilde and his mercenaries. If he wanted to, Virgil could recruit more men and ships and organize a raiding party of pirates capable of destroying the towns along the Nord and Vekia coasts.

The Elder Bandits also came up with a very risky plan that would allow him to return to the realm more quickly, they could dispose of the convoy as soon as possible, and then take the Kor's longship all the way west, skirting the west coast of the continent of Calradia, crossing the coastline of Svadia, landing in the south of Rhodok, and then quickly heading north back to Byron's fiefdom. This plan would save Byron two-thirds of his time, and would also save him a lot of potential trouble and supplies.

But after much hesitation, Byron finally had Virgil arrange for their ships to go south by land. On the one hand, he was afraid that the pirates would be shipwrecked at sea during the long voyage, but the more important reason was that he planned to go all the way south from Vecchia, with his property along the way, and he could use the funds to recruit troops, and then go to Decherim to mobilize the remaining Peony mercenaries. The previous battle had cost him too many troops, and he would not dare to return to his fiefdom without enough troops to support him.

Although Byron did not want to go by sea and land, in order to avoid being attacked by the Nord army by crossing the Nord border on the road, their main force sailed east in a longship for a day and a half, anchoring in a dark harbor on the northern coast of Vecchia, which was also a long-term stronghold of the Nord pirates, and the pirate leaders knew each other well. Another small force crossed the border normally with a convoy of horses, and the two sides would meet at the Riwa.

After Fergil arranged the ship, he took Byron to find the leader of the pirates who stayed in this stronghold, Byron's purpose was very simple, this kind of pirate stronghold was the same as the tavern in the city, and at the same time provided supplies, there would be some scattered pirates who were looking for a way out but did not find an organization, they were mostly the second sons and illegitimate sons of northern landlords who had not been allocated land, and organized together to plunder in order to find a way out. Byron could hire them as long as the price was right.

In addition, this is also a place where the pirates hold their captives, Byron is not well-connected in Vekia, he is the lord of Svadia, and his subordinates are all eye-catching Nord pirates, and there is a lot of trouble in trying to get through Vekia smoothly. So Byron had to make a friendly gesture to Boyer and the captains in Vekia, and he wanted to ransom the children of the nobles who had been kidnapped or captured by the pirates, and send them home safely, so that he would earn favors.

Byron's luck was that there was a group of young Nord warriors in the pirate stronghold who wanted to follow him, and they were outnumbering nearly fifty, and were currently selling stolen goods here. The leader of this group was a criminal northern officer, who had nowhere else to go, so he entangled his former subordinates to come to the south, hoping to settle in the south, and many northerners who had the same idea joined them. Although the famous pirate leaders love his troops and look up to them, they don't have the intention of staying for a long time, so they usually work as mercenaries among the pirates. As a result, the An family's money was not saved (the loot was not enough, and the cost of eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling was large), and it offended many local nobles of Vekia and Nord, and the hope of the An family was almost lost. So when Byron promised them a high salary and land, they agreed without hesitation.

And the idea of ransom the captives, the pirate leader also agreed, for them, as long as the money is suitable, these captives are sold to anyone. He also warmly took Byron to the house where the prisoners were held, which was the strongest building in the stronghold.

He told Byron that there were two places where the captives were held, and that the prisoners who could not afford to pay the ransom and killed and wasted were kept in shabby cellars, enduring filthy conditions and poor food waiting for Tiha's slave traders to come and buy them. Those who could afford the ransom were locked up in that house, sleeping on straw beds and sheepskin blankets, and eating bread and smoked fish.

When Byron entered the house, he saw three men chained to their beds, just long enough for them to go to bed and use the toilet. The clothes on these people were not too dirty, and they didn't seem to have been here for long, but they were all sluggish, and they didn't look very good.

When Byron entered the room, two of them immediately looked up, and one squinted at it, as if wondering which hapless one had been locked in.

So when Byron stood in front of them in a very different costume from the pirates, the three of them looked at him suspiciously, not knowing who he was.

But when Byron proved his nobility and offered to help them pay the ransom, they were all in good spirits. Since Byron claimed that he was to recruit troops in Vecchia to return to fight in the war, and even implied that they themselves were ordered by some count of Swadia, then it would make sense to save them.

Byron had already inquired with the leader of the pirates, one of whom was a merchant from Rivacheze, and when he went out of the city one night to have a tryst with his lover, he was caught by the pirates in disguise looking for an opportunity, and his entourage was also locked up in the cellar. Originally, he had no problem taking the ransom, but his wife was furious when she found out about it, and secretly asked someone to tell them to keep this flowery man for a few more days. It didn't matter if something went wrong, because the merchant didn't have many relatives, and if he died, the inheritance would go to her and her son.

The other two captives were the sons of two Captains Vecchia, who were young and vigorous and made a bet to prove their prowess with the heads of the pirates in order to win the hearts of their beloved girls. As a result, they went out with a few attendants without telling their parents, and they really ran into the pirate troops, and then they were taught to be human by the pirates, and their father is now raising money to ransom them.

Byron was happy to redeem their freedom, but the price of the pirate leader was very high, and considering that he would need a lot of dinars to recruit troops later, Byron negotiated terms with both sides. First he negotiated a ransom with the pirates, and he approached Virgil and promised to buy one of his boats, and then ransomed the three men and their retinue, as well as some of the prisoners in the cellar, with the intact longship and half of the gold he had. The leader of the pirates had lost three ships in the storm before, and the Nord longships were very rare in the south, and the Nord kingdom's longships were not sold due to the war, so he was very satisfied with the deal, and Byron also saved a lot of dinars as he wished.