Main Volume Chapter 67: Although they are bastards who make a living by robbing money, they often do human things
Zhang Yun and Lucina boarded the boat and waited for a while before all the passengers arrived.
After everyone gathered, the ship owner ordered the sailors to set sail and stood at the bow to give all the passengers a brief explanation of the route.
The final destination of this ship is a city closest to the desert, which is where Zhang Yun and Lucina want to go, but it has to send other passengers to their target cities along the way, so it will take some extra time and take a long detour on the sea.
So, what the ship owner means is that the journey is long, and the passengers should find something interesting to do to kill time.
Zhang Yun had already prepared a plan for this matter. Although he had a general understanding of the worldview in the library, there were still many small details that he was unclear about. So he spent money to buy dozens of books, waiting to read them when he had nothing to do, and then thoroughly understand all kinds of information about this world.
boring?
That doesn't exist. There are dozens of books waiting to be read. I guess you won't be able to finish them even if you get to the holy city in the desert.
So, in the next few days, Zhang Yun and Lucina either stood on the deck to enjoy the breeze, or stayed in their rooms to read books. Occasionally, they got together to play some small games or make delicious monster meat dishes to supplement their meals.
Life is really enjoyable.
As for the pirate named "Hank", he has been behaving himself these days and has not come out except to eat and go to the toilet.
But Zhang Yun knew that this guy was not here for tourism, he would definitely attack the ship, because the system introduction had already shown all his ideas in detail.
Sure enough, on the third day, when the ocean-going ship reached an area dotted with islands, this guy couldn't resist any more and started to make some small moves.
Under Zhang Yun's surveillance, this guy sneaked into the cabin in the middle of the night, opened his "luggage" box, and released a black monster bird that looked like a crow and was sleeping inside.
Then he took the blackbird up to the deck, released it into the night sky, and returned to his room.
Soon, the day after the blackbird flew away, Hank's pirate accomplices showed up.
They were in a huge black sailing ship with a flag on the top that had a special red symbol embroidered on it and a white skull painted underneath.
The ship was built very sturdily and luxuriously, with various defensive magic cast on it. If it weren't for the unique flag, it would be easily mistaken for a military ship.
When the sailor saw the pirate ship, he immediately reported the situation to the captain and sounded the alarm to indicate "danger".
Suddenly, the passengers on the ship realized that something was wrong and all ran out of the rooms in panic and gathered on the deck.
The captain stood on the platform calmly and said, "Friends, don't be nervous. They are just a group of pirates... I will deal with them. You will be fine. Don't worry, go back to your room first!"
Someone asked, “Really?”
The captain raised his hand and said, "Don't worry, I have dealt with pirates seven or eight times. There will be no problem."
"Go back to your room first, don't come out, wait for them to leave."
"I will inform everyone that the danger is over when the time comes."
Under the captain's confident reassurance, the group of passengers who had never seen pirates gradually quieted down and obediently returned to their rooms.
Zhang Yun and Lucina also retreated to their rooms respectively, but he took a last glance at Hank and found that this guy was also pretending to be a panicked passenger and returned to his room with a frightened look on his face.
can only say.
Awesome.
Pretend to be a victim and continue to ride on someone else's ship next time. You will not be suspected and you can be the "eyes" of the entire pirate group on the shore.
Then they would pick the big fat sheep with many rich people and few professionals, accurately locate them, and rob them in detail...
Not long after, the robbery ship of the Red Pirates approached the belly of the ocean-going ship. The pirates on it took out a grappling hook, threw it onto the ocean-going ship, and then climbed over along the grappling hook.
They drew the weapons from their waists and put them on the necks of the sailors who raised their hands in surrender. Then, a bearded pirate who was obviously the leader came onto the ship, sat on a stool on the platform, and looked around at the crowd arrogantly.
He asked, "Who's the captain?"
The captain quickly walked out of the crowd and bowed to him: "Sir, I am the captain. Please tell me what you want."
The bearded man laughed and pointed at the captain, giving him a thumbs up: "Hahaha, not bad, you are very smart, I like it."
After a pause, the bearded man stopped smiling and said with a hint of dignity: "I want to collect tolls."
The captain nodded quickly: "Okay, sir, is this according to the rules? Twenty percent? Can I pay five percent more and ask you to come with me?"
Pirates on this sea are like this, they rob, but they don't kill people, they just take money, and they won't rob too much at one time, about 20% of the ship owner's income is enough for them.
Moreover, the ship owner could also reduce the amount a little, saying the 10% income could be 20%, as long as the approximate amount could satisfy the pirates.
As for the extra 5%, it is actually equivalent to the "hiring fee". Although it is a bit painful to pay the extra money, the ship owner will be followed by pirates before this period, and there is no need to worry about the invasion of sea beasts and other pirates. In fact, it is a profit overall.
Well……
should say……
In the event that we are bound to encounter pirates...
It's earned...
After being "hired", if the pirates are veterans, they will basically not refuse, because by doing so they can not only build their reputation and make other merchant ships as "sensible" as this boss, but also they don't have to worry about the ship owners reporting them, and they will not be besieged by the kingdom's soldiers who turn a blind eye.
All in all, the pirate group that developed this set of rules is indeed a genius, they twisted "robbery" into "hiring fee". Compared with pirates in other places who rob and kill people, the pirates here not only have a high safety factor, but also make a lot of money. After all, most ship owners will choose not to resist, and will just pay the money and leave if they encounter pirates.
The pirates from other places knew the situation here, and they also tried to learn the atmosphere here and set up a "mandatory escort" to collect protection fees from merchant ships, but there were always some brainless pirates who were greedy and liked to rob other people's merchant ships without leaving any money, so they never succeeded.
And here, it can be implemented successfully, because the pirates here have many eyes and ears, and if a stupid pirate group breaks the rules, they will be immediately besieged by all other pirates.
Even if you do it cleanly and efficiently and don't leave a single person alive, you will be discovered by other law-abiding pirates, and they will chase you and kill you.
So some people speculated that there should be a pirate king in this sea area, and the pirate king has powerful strength and secret methods, which can detect those who do not follow the rules and then order other pirates to besiege them...
Back to the topic, after hearing what the captain said, the bearded man laughed again: "Good! Very good! You are very smart! I like it!"
"But we still have things to do. We can't help you this time. You can keep the 5% of the hiring fee for yourself!"
"But I can remind you that if you go east, you'd better avoid the whirlpool sea ahead. It's not peaceful there recently. Some things from the deep sea have appeared and killed many people."
"Take a longer route, be safer, don't rely on your luck..."
When the captain heard this, he did not force the other party to escort him, but said in a flattering manner: "Okay, I understand, thank you for your reminder, sir."
The bearded man nodded, then shook his head, signaling all the pirates to retreat and prepare to return home.
When the pirates saw their boss's order, they immediately put down the machetes on the sailors' necks, put them back into the scabbards at their waists, then jumped onto the ropes one by one and climbed back to their pirate ship along the ropes.
On the other side, Zhang Yun and Lucina, who sneaked out of the room and hid behind some stuff to eavesdrop , looked at each other with big question marks in their eyes.
how?
Is that all?
Zhang Yun said helplessly, "I give up. Carter didn't lie to me. The pirates in this sea area are indeed different. I thought there would be bloodshed today, but the captain took a little loss and managed to solve the problem alone."
Lucina shook her head slightly: "He hasn't suffered any loss yet..."
"The information the pirate leader gave me, about a monster that came out of the deep sea, might be able to save the lives of all the people on this ship. It's obviously much more valuable than the money the captain paid."
Zhang Yun scratched his head: "Oh, that's right, he's not at a loss."
"So are you still going to deal with these pirates, Princess? Do you want to go out and meet them?"
Lucina hesitated: "Well, according to the kingdom's laws, these pirates are robbing and should be hanged... But if the captain thinks it's okay, then what they just did is considered a 'normal transaction'. One paid money and the other gave important information, so they can be exempted from punishment..."
She turned her head, looked at Zhang Yun, and asked, "What are you going to do?"
I?
Isn't it all up to you?
After all, these pirates didn't trigger the mission, nor did they pose a threat to me, so it didn't matter whether I cared about them or not...
After thinking for a while, Zhang Yun made some judgment in her mind and gave Lucina a suggestion: "If it were up to me to decide, I think we can just ignore them."
"Because I heard from Carter that this is the way pirates here behave. They rob people for money but they won't hurt anyone or rob people of their wealth."
"And the captains of those merchant ships also feel at ease because of this rule. By paying an affordable toll, they can be protected by the pirates, and they can also let these people who wander around the sea all day deal with the sea monsters that like to attack people, clearing the way for them."
"Not to mention what happened today. If you just gave me some important information, I could have saved the lives of a whole ship..."
"So I think this is a win-win situation for the ship merchants, which is why they have never reported the pirates and the nearby soldiers have never considered encircling and suppressing them."
"If we wipe out this group of pirates today, it might break this rule and cause chaos here."
"If we provoke the pirates, they will all turn into real bandits who kill without blinking an eye. In the end, the ordinary people will be the ones who suffer, and the governance of pirates will not get any better."
"As long as we leave them alone and they continue to maintain the current situation, it feels like a good thing. At least it won't cause chaos..."
After hearing this, Lucina fell into deep thought. She placed her right hand on her neck and gently stroked her smooth skin, but she could not come to a conclusion.
After all, she is the princess of the kingdom, and this is her territory. If she lets the pirates go, it would be unreasonable...
Seeing that Lucina was having trouble making a decision, Zhang Yun suggested again: "Lucina, don't worry about it. I have a solution."
"Let's go directly to the captain, explain our professional identities, and then ask him what he wants to do. If he thinks these pirates should be severely punished, we will help him recover the stolen money."
"If he doesn't care, then that's fine. After all, it's the person's opinion and we should respect it."
Lucina thought about it and felt that this was a good idea, so she nodded and said, "Okay!"
Then, the two men came out from behind the debris, found the captain who had resumed command of the voyage, told him that they were professionals, and asked the captain about how to deal with the pirate.
If he wanted the money back, Zhang Yun and Lucina could go to the pirate ship immediately and capture all those people.
After hearing this, the captain smiled, waved his hand, and said nonchalantly: "Thank you for your kindness, but I'm fine. It's just a small amount of money. Just consider it as a repair of the ship. It's not a big loss."
"And that bearded pirate leader told me something very important. He said that the Whirlpool Sea we were about to pass through was not peaceful. It seemed that there were dangerous deep-sea monsters there, so he asked us to change to a safer route..."
"Based on this information alone, I should give him that money, or even more."
Hearing the captain's answer, Zhang Yun secretly glanced at Lucina and gave her a look that said "I knew it".
However, Zhang Yun still asked one more question: "Are all those pirates really like this? Are there no evildoers who kill everyone on the ship?"
The captain said, "Yes, there are some, but they are all in other seas, such as the North Ocean. There are many evil super pirates there. Once you encounter them, the men will be killed directly, and the women will be humiliated. There is basically no chance of survival."
"So I don't dare to take on business in the North Ocean or other waters. It's too dangerous. Even if I pay a lot of professionals, I'm likely to be killed by pirates."
"I haven't seen that kind of bastard in this sea area yet. I only heard about it a year ago."
"A merchant and his family were crossing the sea on their own boat, but they encountered a group of pirates. The pirates did not follow the rules and killed everyone on the boat. They also raped the merchant's wife and 9-year-old daughter. The merchant jumped into the sea after being stabbed several times."
"Unexpectedly, the merchant was not killed, but was rescued by another group of pirates passing by."
"Then the merchant told the pirates about this. The pirates immediately helped the merchant stop the bleeding and sent him back to the city in a small boat. The priest in the city revived him."
"A few days later, the merchant received a gift box. Inside was the head of the pirate leader who killed his family, and a letter from the pirate who had helped him. The letter said that all those pirates who didn't follow the rules were dead, and the merchant could rest assured."
"Then, the businessman sold his property, built a super ship, and took all his belongings to find the pirates to repay their kindness."
"It seems that he eventually joined that pirate group, and he's pretty famous in the Gray Area. But I haven't had much contact with people in the Gray Area, so I don't know his specific name."
"So, to be honest, although the pirates in this sea area are bastards who make a living by robbing people, they often do human harm."
"We gave them money willingly..."
