XI

For the eighth-largest pirate in the entire open sea, Kazami Steelhorse says today is a day of good luck. At least until the encounter with the Emperor Cleon.

Before that moment, he had succeeded in snatching a big fish: the Saint-Sen-flagged luxury passenger ship "Daino", which was heading north from Port Elivier to the Inland Sea.

The "Dinot" was a three-masted schooner in the so-called "Merchantman" style, with the foremast and mainmast being crosssails and the foremast.

The three-mast was supposed to be faster than a two-masted pirate ship, but the ship's hull was so large that it greatly impaired steering and speed, allowing Kazmi to easily capture it.

Of course, offshore passenger ships are of little value on their own, and at best they can be towed to nearby non-elven ports and sold. However, this passenger ship was carrying a special guest: the former mayor of the municipality of Vander, who was wanted by the United Provincial Republic. He is taking the huge net worth he has "accumulated" over the years to escape to the elven capital by sea.

Of course, since he was run into by the big pirate Kezmi, the money was taken in full along with the private savings of the other passengers.

With his trademark katana on his back, Kezmi stood on the bow of the punt passenger ship and counted the loot – a staggering amount. Beside him were all the thirty or so crew members and passengers of this ship. After all, it is a luxury passenger ship, and there are not many passengers.

Of course, he's in a good mood right now. In this way, he took another step towards his goal of becoming the king of pirates. The bounty should have been increased again, right?

"It's all thanks to you, Calburn Blackrod. Although you have not been in the gang for a long time, you have already brought a lot of information in a row. I don't care about your intelligence sources, from now on, you are our military advisor. The pirate patted the man next to him on the shoulder.

"Thanks. However, my name is Calburn Blackrobe, not Blackrod. The man named Khelben "Blackrobe" replied gloomily. He did wear a black robe with some peculiar magical symbols, and a black wand in his hand - even so, he had never been seen to use magic.

The pirates thought that the man was nothing more than a mage pretending to be, but he was a great military advisor. Since he joined the gang a month ago, the pirates' income has at least doubled. For some reason, he always got accurate information.

"Then why do I always think your surname is like a black rod, is it confused with something?" said Kezmi muttered. "I always feel like I've heard the name Kalburn somewhere......"

"Delusion. The military advisor replied. "As far as I know, there is no one in our world named Kalben Blackrod. My information has always been accurate. ”

The two were talking, and there was another cheer from the cabin below. A couple of pirates came out of the lower cabin, holding some pretty women in their hands. "Boss, we've found the women!

"Ha, I think it's strange that there are only a few old ugly women on the ship. Kezmi looked at the women. Most of them were just young and mediocre in appearance, but there were also two or three bewitching beauties who looked like dusty women. "Don't overdo it, we might have to keep it for ransom. ”

"Wait a minute. Seeing that this guy was anxious to go back and share with the brothers, the new military advisor coldly made a suggestion. "Your Excellency, I think it's better to restrain your subordinates now. After all, this is a busy sea, so let them not move their hands and feet now. Otherwise, in the event of a naval ship, we will not be able to resist. ”

The pirate thought about it for a moment and nodded. "I agree with you, Carlburn. Now whoever dares to start, let him go to the springboard. Personally, though, I don't believe that I would have come across the Elven Navy ship so coincidentally. Even if I do, with me, who will become the king of pirates, there is no need to fear them......"

Calben smiled lightly, looked at the western sea level, and did not reply. Almost at the same time, the adjutant, who was on the lookout for the results, ran out of breath past the narrow gangplank connecting the flagship Semiangel to the trophy.

"Boss, there is a big ship on the western sea, an elf galleon, which is heading here with full sails! The flag is a merchant ship, but it is at least an eighty-ton ship!"

"Have you made an appointment, Strategist, why did you predict so accurately?" Kezmi took a deep breath and replied with a wry smile, "It can't really be an elven warship, right?

"Wait a minute, don't make a deterrent shelling. The black robe raised his palm, motioning for his captain to suspend the action.

"Why?" the big pirate was a little strange. "In the present state of affairs, we should not provoke new enemies. It would be great if you could get the other person to retreat. Even if it doesn't work, we can earn the opportunity to calibrate the artillery first. ”

The military advisor shook his head and replied, "No." It must not have been a merchant ship, but a camouflaged anti-privateer ship of the St. Sen Navy. If we threaten to shoot, we will enter into an artillery battle, which will be detrimental to a small boat like ours with few guns. ”

Kezmi retorted: "But even if we don't deter shelling, they will fire." If we deter shelling first, we will have the opportunity to preemptively correct the impact point. ”

"No, we have a chance to take advantage of the elves' self-righteousness. Boss, you should know why those anti-privateer ships are pretending to be merchant ships, right?"

"To paralyze us pirates...... Taking advantage of our inattention, he attacked us as a merchant ship. ”

"As long as we do what we do, don't tear their disguises, and act like we're going to rob and lean on them, we'll have a chance to engage in hand-to-hand combat. With Your Excellency's katana here, our hand-to-hand combat power will never be weaker than theirs. Neutralizing the superiority of artillery, they have nothing to fear. ”

In response, Kezmi carefully looked at the man who had said these words. The man's eyes were full of what he called "sinister".

"You're such a sinister and vicious fellow, Calburn. Is that why you wear a black robe?"

"Sorry, no. I'm just making the best strategy based on sound intelligence. The tone of the respondent was very flat.

Kazmi Stihaus sighed, spread his hands, and said, "Unfortunately, we can't follow this strategy. You know, Captain Mark is an impatient and he will open fire as soon as the opponent is in range. ”

As soon as the words fell, the guns of the No. 2 ship sounded on time.

Hearing this cannon sound, Kalborn's brows furrowed: "It's really an urgent ......"

Then, the galleon on the opposite side replaced the battle flag at the top of the mast.

"How could it be?" the adjutant exclaimed, picking up the monoculars, looking at the battle flag. He thought that he would encounter the ships of the relatively weak South China Sea Fleet.

"Far Sea Fleet, huh?" Kezmi snatched the binoculars, glanced at them, and tossed them to his advisor. There was some disdain in the pirate's tone, he had worked hard in the Xinzhou Sea for many years, and he was no stranger to the far sea fleet.

"Far Sea Fleet...... This. Calburn gazed at the flag with the help of his binoculars, and smiled mysteriously—as if he had known it would be raised. The black-robed military advisor always had that expression of "everything is in my calculations" on his face, and he didn't know if it was a bluff or a real confidence.

At the top of the main mast of the elven galleon, in place of the low-key trade alliance flag, was the famous "crossed trident" flag.

A turquoise background with two golden tridents crossed and a striking elven number "IV" that attests to the ship's affiliation. 4th Far Sea Fleet.

"Let the Stormtrooper bring his boys back to the ship, leave ten men to guard here, and get out. Kezmi threw down the words, and hurriedly turned to jump over the pedals—but, as was the custom of the military advisor, the black robe stopped again.

"Wait, Your Excellency. I applied for ten more sailors, and stayed on this ship with me, and then I did not return to this ship. Calburn said slowly, not in the slightest.

"Why?"

"For the sake of contingency. Since Mark's second ship opened fire in advance, it must not be able to be saved. Therefore, I must stay on this ship......" said the black robe, and out of nowhere he found three small bags of woven brocade that looked very exquisite, "since I am not on this ship, if you are in danger or in a situation that cannot be solved, please open these three small bags." ”

"Will the second ship be saved? It's too early to judge, I haven't joined the battle yet. Kezmi took the pouch and asked curiously, "What is this, is it a contingency plan, and why should it be packed with something so well-made?"

"It was an oriental superstition, and the scheme had to be packed up in this 'bag' and opened one by one in order to be effective. If you stubbornly use a samurai recurve sword, you should know it well, right? Of course, opening it early will not work. The military advisor smiled mysteriously and clapped his hands. "Something like that, I also gave Mark. It sounds stupid, but it works very well. It is worthy of the superstition of the East for 4,000 years. ”

"Well, then, I'll continue to believe in you...... But I don't think I'll be able to use them, so what should I do?"

"If you don't need it, don't open it, just give it back to me. The Strategist glanced in the direction of the deck, "I think Hearn has almost all the men assembled. Your Excellency, it's time for you to return to the ship, right?"

Kazmi Stihaus turned to see his man-in-command, the one-eyed dragon Hearn, pulling the hungry and greedy pirates out of the cabin.

"Get out! You rabbit cubs, don't fish for Lao Tzu anymore! Stop searching, stop! The one over there, don't touch the woman again! It's the Shengsen Navy, they have twice as many guns as us! If you don't want to be bombed into slag, go back to me quickly! Go back, go back!"

By the time Stormtrooper Cyclops Hearn laboriously regrouped his men, Mark's second ship, the Black Base, had already engaged in three rounds of firing with the elven ship.

"Port salvo!"

Of course, there was not a "neat cannon sound," but an intermittent and screeching sound of cannons, and black smoke rose from the portholes and decks, choking a little unpleasantly.

The elven cannon commander looked at the direction of the wind and the beginning of the water curtain, and immediately corrected the elevation angle of the muzzle with his rich experience.

In this era, there were no shooting elements—and smoothbore guns were not allowed—so all shooting adjustments were based on experience, and the elves' superior experience naturally became an excellent condition for the gunner.

The new elevation angles were delivered to the gunners of the upper and lower decks at the same time, and the crews began to nervously reload according to the new data. The sturdy sailors poked new shells and propellants into the guns with huge iron rods, making a "crunch" sound.

"Seven hits, three destroyed enemy positions!"

The three observers were quick to report on the results. Hearing the satisfactory results, the captain of the Emperor Cleon, Ironwall Admiral Ferron Ledonsti, waved his hand and updated the new order.

The so-called "iron wall" means that he has an extraordinary ability to evade commands. After all, it is impossible for an iron ship to be propelled by sails.

"Retract the back sail, full rudder on the left, evade!"

He knew that a counterattack would follow.

Naval battles in the age of sailing were very similar to javelin throwing in the classical era: you round, I rounded, you rounded, I rounded, until neither side had enough javelins. All this, there is no art, and there is no beauty.

The command "Retract the Rear Sail - Left Full Rudder - Avoid ——!!" was transmitted in the form of a shout on the deck that was filled with chaotic noises.

The sail line was pulled, the southwest wind had become a little stronger, and the boat made a beautiful wobble, drawing a hyperbola on the sea. The firing side was adjusted from port to starboard.

Almost at the same time, the sail-ridden, hard-reloaded pirate ship also opened fire, and most of their shells fell into the sea with their hulls. Another drain column stirred up.

"Report the loss! Report the loss!"

"Lose one gun position! Two shots hit the deck, no leaks! Death one, overboard two, wounded one! Half reload complete!"

"This round of shelling is advanced! Repeat, the shelling is advanced! All loaded gun emplacements on the starboard side can be fired immediately!"

Another round of mutual shelling began.

Watching quietly from the deck, Resa Helmont thought it was a bit silly. Just now a cannonball nearly hit her beloved golem, and she had to catch up and brave the fire to protect her property and strength. She, and her golem, were adept at close combat, and at such distances, they were utterly powerless.

From the deck all the way down to the lower cabin, everyone, everyone, everyone was screaming wildly, and she felt like her eardrums were about to burst. None of the people she knew were here.

"I can understand that Leonard is not here...... But where are Slave A and Slave B?" Lesa muttered to herself, trying to find the familiar figures.

"Hmph, hmph, ha, hey!"

Turning to the left, to the left is a group of sailors struggling to twist the headsail on the waystrings, intending to make another maneuver while they are still upwind. The sailors were topless and shouting loudly, mostly humans and orcs, led by a real troll.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang!"

Turning to the right, to the right are the Half-Elves and Human Gunners, where almost all the marines help, who may not be able to operate the guns, but who can poke or carry the shells with their feeding sticks. The shells of the three-pounder light guns were not heavy, and they were piled up behind the deck, and it looked like they could at least feed the 17 guns on the deck (one was lost) for another twenty rounds. As for the fire hanger, it is hidden deep under several decks, and it is easy to hit.

"Whoaa The alchemist looked up and saw that her attendant A was performing an extremely difficult aerial acrobatic performance.

The rope draws a smooth curve in the air, rushes high with a huge impulse that falls from a great height, and falls back along the same trajectory. Anne hung at the end of the rope, swinging to and fro like a pendulum, sometimes to the bow and then to the stern, each time brushing against the central mast.

Her screams were hidden in the noisy surroundings, and Lesa could barely make out complaints like "It's so hard to jump with a rope~!I'm not handsome or cool at all~!".

Seeing this, Lesa twitched the corners of her mouth and found a bullet hole, allowing the golem to pull off a broken plank from it. She magically turned the plank into a sharp iron plate on both sides, visually measured the length of the pendulum rope of the "human pendulum", and when she was done, she gave Ganda the order.

"Twelve-foot height, mainmast, throw!" the sharp iron plate was thrown with a strong wind, and then plunged deep into the twelve-foot height of the mainmast. At this time, the pendulum of the human body has fallen from its highest point and is in the stage of acceleration......

"No! can't do that! ......"

With Anne Seiffel's super-frequency scream, the thick cable was instantly cut by the sharp edge of the iron plate. Losing the pull provided by the cable, her body flew horizontally in the direction of the bow of the boat.

"Don't worry, I'll catch you...... Force Wall!"

The alchemist waved his hand nonchalantly, and an invisible wall instantly appeared at the front of the ship.

The force field wall lived up to the user's expectations, stopping the high-speed girl for a moment, and before she could fly off the deck and fall into the sea, with a very violent collision.

At the moment of the collision, Raisa's face turned pale.

The blonde girl's body slammed into the invisible wall, and then slipped softly, weakly, and slowly onto the deck.

As the ship was still moving, her body curled up at the bottom of the force field wall, which pushed her towards the back of the deck - the force field wall was fixed to a certain position in space, and did not change position as the ship moved.

"Oh no......," Lesa cried out uncontrollably, immediately canceling the force field wall and running towards where Anne had fallen.

She knew she was still making the wrong decision. While the Force Field Wall can stop any flying object, it does not reduce the energy of the flying object, not even a trace of energy.

Her out-of-control screams even drowned out the cheers on the deck.

A round of shelling just now knocked out six of the gun emplacements of the opposite pirate ship.

Captain Mark Blackbeard is also iron-blue now. He was ranked forty-first on the bounty list - he was commonly referred to as Blackbeard's Forty-One because of the sheer number of pirates known as Blackbeard.

After the first round of shelling, of all his twenty guns, the port side had almost been wiped out, and only four guns on the starboard side could barely open fire, and the gunners had already suffered half casualties. The structural damage of the ship is not small, and it has begun to leak.

"Ear-eared bastard!—experienced as a ghost!" he scolded with some hatred. Another round of such shelling, his ship is afraid that it will sink into the sea.

Is there any other way? Is there any other way?

He pondered for a long time, and then suddenly remembered something: in his arms, there was also a "bag" that Kalben had given him.

Like a drowning man suddenly grabbing a straw, he didn't care so much, and hurriedly opened the bag. There are two pieces of paper in the bag.

Captain Mark read it quickly, and his face became cloudy.

"Really...... Is that the only way to do it?"

It only took a split second for him to make his decision. There was no other choice – he had to do it.

Even if it's a double-edged sword.

If Kezmi wins, he can be rescued even if he falls overboard, and if the elves win, the long-eared ones won't save a pirate.

He picked up one of the papers...... There were strange, magical symbols and words drawn on that piece of paper.

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