Chapter 419 - 248 - 252

Escape [Cliffhanger 3 of 3]

Here's the first regular chapter of the week and the conclusion to the cliffhangers.

And today's topic of discussion is:

What exactly do you think the blood domain is? Is it a Sword Saint's domain? Or something completely different, and unique?

Lorist felt as if he was afloat in the sky, free and unrestrained. He was a light and swift feather floating in the wind...

The ground was right in front of him and it seemed rather familiar, just like the maps he had pondered upon in the past.

Lorist quickly realized something and thought, isn't this the Northlands?

The land before him moved quickly. It didn't take long for him to arrive at the dominion of his family. There was the Salus Settlement, Firmrock Castle, Felicitas Settlement, and the various small factories and workshops, as well as the black iron refinery base which he named the Ironforge Castle, and Windstorm City, the main military equipment production base within the dominion.

At that moment, it was as if Lorist had turned into a bird, flying high in the skies and looking down at his own dominion. He traveled along the Bladedge Mountains and could see the Nico Academy, which was still under construction. Telesti could be seen inspecting some blueprints with her maidservant, Vinny, hugging little Olijess and humming her a relaxing tune. Lorist later passed above Maplewoods Bastide and saw his chubby and energetic son Waldbeck naughtily playing hide-and-seek with Irina.

After that, Lorist passed by Poplar Town and Blackmud Marsh, managing to take a look at the busily working soldiers, as well as the hectic shipyard. Be it the navy camp, the port, the endless seas -- which raged with fierce waves -- or a small fleet of six whaling boats that were riding the winds, Lorist could see it all.

It didn't take long before Lorist realized that he was back in the skies above Silowas Island. The mist of dawn that covered the island made it seem ever so calm and peaceful. The island was no doubt a precious treasure that the oceans had to offer.

This island is part of my family dominion. I will not allow anyone to take it away.

What made Lorist wonder was, no matter where he flew, there would always be a small, red dot following him on the ground. The dot sped up and slowed down in lockstep with him. In the end, Lorist could no longer resist his curiosity and decided to fly to the ground to check out what that red dot was.

The ground enlarged as he approached it. He landed on the ground lightly and eyed the little red mark. It was almost as big as a basketball. It wasn't the least bit eye-catching, and seemed like nothing but a small bloodstain.

Lorist stretched his leg and put it into the red mark. All of a sudden, nothing but red flashed before his eyes until the whole world around him seemed tinted with the familiar blood-red color. The blood-red color expanded around him at breakneck speed. Anything the color touched became part of the blood-red world he was in.

Within that blood-colored world Lorist felt like a fish in water; he was free to swim around as he pleased. Not a single being in that blood-colored world, be it the hibernating snakes, the burrowing rats, the hard-working ants that were moving food, or any plant, down to the smallest stalk of grass, not a single one of them nor their movements could escape Lorist's awareness.

A sickly-sweet stench permeated the air around him...

Lorist breathed in deeply, and could tell that the scent was one that he would detect when he was slaughtering away. The cries and curses of the slaughtered enemies crescendoed into a symphony of war. The hum of the song that rang out eternally within the blood-colored world made one's blood boil.

In this blood-colored world, I am sovereign! thought Lorist excitedly.

At the same time, he felt incredibly fatigued. After a while, the blood-colored world began to fade. The blood-colored tint receded around him gradually, until it gathered up into a basketball-sized blob around Lorist's feet. Eventually it fused with Lorist himself.

...

Lorist opened his eyes. He found himself in his cabin on the Flying Fish of Dawn. He turned to look at the right side of the cabin and saw that Howard wasn't on his bed. The light of dawn that shone through the round window of the cabin indicated that the sky was already brightening.

After he ascertained that nothing was out of place, Lorist closed his eyes and began circulating his internal energy to inspect his internal condition. When he finished a minor cycle, he found that his body's condition was in normal. He felt incredibly invigorated; in fact, he felt far more energetic than usual.

Lorist put both his hands behind his head and laid down to feel the light swaying of the ship caused by the waves as he began to recount what had happened to him.

It was as if he had entered a frenzied, demonic state, when he boarded the three large-class three-masted merchant vessels and killed everyone there. Even the old blademaster dressed in brown was no exception. In the end, he was awakened by Els's shouting. But when he attempted to return, he lost consciousness.

Given that he was on the Flying Fish of Dawn, it was apparent that Els, or someone else, had hauled him back on board. Lorist could hear the familiar sounds of the marines, guards and Captain Wilson above the cabin. He could tell that the Flying Fish of Dawn had already escaped from the encirclement of the other ships and was heading for Silowas Island. However, he didn't know how long he had passed out for.

What intrigued Lorist was how he entered that berserk state in the first place when he got onto the three-masted merchant vessel. It was as if the whole world around him had turned blood red. In that world, he couldn't see the faces of others clearly. All he saw was fumbling red humanoid figures that moved around in a laughably obvious and slow manner, just like puppets that were suspended on strings.

Due to Lorist's dynamic vision ability, he had always been able to see each move of his enemy clearly. When Lorist was in the blood-colored world, the enemy had moved just as slow. However, what differed from usual was how he felt that he had entered a completely different realm. The world had turned blood red, and not a single move made by his enemies, regardless of whether they were in front of behind him or not, as long as they were on that three-masted ship, escaped Lorist's senses.

Taking their lives was as simple as raising his hand. Lorist could still recall how he felt at that moment. He had turned into an unfeeling robot that never tired. No matter how badly the red humanoid figures begged or turned tails to run, Lorist would harvest their lives without a single shred of emotion passing across his face. Some of them, those who had jumped into the ocean for their lives, still managed to be killed by the javelins thrown by Lorist.

And why did I have that weird dream after I passed out?

'People thought during the day and dreamed during the night.' Lorist felt that the saying he heard from his past life made a lot of sense. In his dream, he saw his family dominion and loved ones, possibly a sign that he missed them dearly as well as his dedication to protect them as best he could.

But why did he see that blood-colored world again at the end of that dream? Also, why did he feel that he was the ultimate sovereign of that world?

Lorist started when he suddenly recalled the final words of the brown-clad blademaster he had killed. He mentioned something along the lines of a Sword Saint's domain. Perhaps, he wasn't bringing up a Sword Saint-ally in desperation in hopes to be spared, and was instead referring to the blood-red color he saw? Was that realm of freedom and debauchery actually the domain of a Sword Saint?

Forget it, Lorist thought.

He found it hard to believe that he could become a Sword Saint that easily. It was practically impossible.

Even though Lorist was training in the Aquametal Technique from his past life using battleforce, he wasn't willing to believe that he could break through to the next realm that easily. That was especially the case given how he still didn't know how to progress in his training at the Dark Stage. It was mainly because he didn't have any other reference and didn't truly understand how the mythical Transformative Stage of his technique would look like, nor how he should train in order to progress to that stage.

Before he was involved in the assassination attempt by blademaster Zarinan, Lorist's combat ability could only compare to a rank 2 blademaster. That was because he was able to fight to a stalemate with blademaster Xanthi. But when blademaster Zarinan attacked, Lorist realized that his skills weren't of much use at all against the blademaster who was known to be a quasi-Sword Saint, causing many of the lives of the soldiers of his house that attempted to save him to be sacrificed. Additionally, Josk and Potterfang were heavily injured, and more than ten Silver ranked knights and upwards of 400 other brave and loyal soldiers had to give their lives heroically in order to save him.

Even though Reidy managed to save his life, he later lost his memories. In the end, Lorist had fallen into the hands of the mountain barbarians because of his injuries, and experienced the worst kind of humiliation ever to happen to him, in both his lives. When Lorist recovered, he resolved himself to train his swordsmanship and internal energy painstakingly. Even after returning to the dominion, he did not let up and found time to train even on the busiest days. Lorist was determined to never be on the receiving end of another assassination attempt.

It's impossible... It's only been a little more than one year since then. There's no way that I could've become a Sword Saint already. At most, I'm only at the level of a rank 3 blademaster. And even if I become a Sword Saint, my domain should be snowstorm, or some other frost-based phenomenon, right? What is with the blood-colored world?

Viscount Kristoph, who was a rank 1 blademaster, had said that when he first sparred with Lorist, he was still able to receive more than 100 strikes. Each following spar, however, he found that he lasted for shorter and shorter periods of time, until he wasn't even able to resist 40 strikes. It got so bad that Viscount Kristoph felt it was too embarrassing and refused to accept Lorist's challenges anymore.

He had complained that it wasn't because of Lorist's swift strikes that he lost. Instead, every time he received a strike from Lorist, he felt a sudden, unbearable, icy chill. Given that his battleforce was of the water attribute, it was perfectly countered by cold chills like that, and it didn't take long until he wasn't able to continue fighting. That was the reason he felt that if Lorist ever became a Sword Saint, his domain would be based on the same frost attribute.

When he made a visit to Dawn Academy recently, Instructor Claude felt pumped and insisted that he wanted to give Lorist pointers in swordsmanship. He said that he would break through to become a rank 2 blademaster soon, perhaps no more than seven years of training still had to be done. Lorist couldn't refuse him, so he reluctantly accepted the duel. As Instructor Claude's battleforce attribute was fire, he was able to last a little bit longer, but not more than 80 strikes.

That was the reason Lorist believed himself to be equivalent to a rank 3 blademaster instead of a Sword Saint. If the latter were the case, he would've taken care of a rank 1 blademaster like instructor Claude in a dozen strikes.

Still, what is the matter with the blood-colored world? If that was a result of my killing frenzy, then why did I dream about it? The feeling of absolute control over the environment is so unique that it's incredibly hard to describe. It's like I'm somehow addicted to it and unable to forget it.

Lorist sat up straight, and circulated a major cycle. After ensuring that nothing was wrong with his body, Lorist felt rather incredible.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a shocked Howard standing before him. "Milord, you've been asleep for two days and nights, but you're finally awake now. I didn't want to interrupt you when you were training just now. Are you alright?"

"Hehe, I'm fine. I feel great, even. But I'm a little hungry," said Lorist.

...

The deck of the ship was a big mess. A dozen injured soldiers wrapped up like mummies were basking in the sun. The moment they saw Lorist, the cried out with surprise, "Milord..."

"Milord, you're awake!"

Lorist nodded to answer their calls before heading to the helm of the ship. There, he saw Captain Wilson with one arm wrapped up as he steered the ship.

"You got hurt?"

"Yes, milord. I got hit by an arrow accidentally..."

"Why are you steering with your injuries? Where's Old Jack?"

Wilson lowered his head and said, "Old Jack is no more. When we were retreating, he got hit by a crossbow bolt and died on the spot."

Lorist stayed silent in solemnity as he took the wheel for himself. "Let me do it. Tell me how you guys managed to break out of encirclement when I was unconscious."

"Milord, back when you boarded the three-masted ship, the enemies just kept rushing at you, causing us to worry so much. However, we didn't think you'd be able to unleash the beast and kill off all our cursed enemies without even leaving their armor intact. Milord, you seemed like you were having an easy time killing them. Both the we, who were witnessing the scene, and the enemy were completely stunned.

"Only Sir Josk was still alert and reminded us to use the opportunity to push away the two middle-class ships sticking to us and remove the chains, allowing us to escape. By then, you had already killed off all the enemies on the ship, and were laughing maniacally with an old man's head in your hand. That laughter of yours was so cold that it gives me goosebumps even though I'm only talking about it...

"At that time, the whole sea was devoid of noise. The enemy was completely frightened. Sir Josk said that at that moment, your eyes were red, and that you had entered a demonic state and was unable to differentiate friend from foe. Sir Els could only shout at you from afar. It was fortunate that you were conscious back then and turned back after hearing Els shout. That was when we stopped worrying.

"But right at that moment, you collapsed unmoving on the deck. Sir Els then rushed to your side and hauled you back while we hurriedly set sail. At the same time, the enemy began to act when you fainted and fired their ranged weapons at us. Fortunately, we were still trapped between two ships, which helped us take most of the fire before they were set aflame. The smoke from the flames shielded us while we retreated.

"It was only after we left the two ships that we received a critical blow. The other large-class three-masted merchant vessel fired a large number of flaming ball projectiles and crossbow bolts at us. Old Jack was steering the ship at that time. One of the fire balls fell at the front most mast and it began to catch fire. I took care of it by having our naval soldiers hack the mast down under enemy fire. To tossed the mast into the sea. When I called out to Old Jack, there was no response. It was only after I got to the helm that I found him nailed to the helm by a crossbow bolt, dead.

"Due to losing one of our masts, we traveled at a much slower speed. Our enemy's ship was able to catch up after spending quite a while cutting away at the chains. But Sir Josk revealed his skills in the end, and shot down the masts of the enemy ship with only three arrows, before shooting at the middle mast's upper section, causing the ship to lag behind us. The enemy stopped pursuing us after that," Captain Wilson described the situation in detail.

"How many men did we lose?"

Wilson laughed bitterly and said, "Only 7 of our 28 sailors remain, with 13 out of commission, and 8 dead. 3 of your 10 guards died, with 5 others injured. Of the 5 steel ballista shooters, 2 were injured. However, our guests are fine. Apart from Old Jack, the rest are still here..."

"What about Josk and Els?"

"Sir Josk said that he was incredibly tired and has been sleeping for a day and night without waking. Sir Els was on duty for the whole night yesterday and just went to get some rest. Milord, it was fortunate that you regained consciousness. The speed the ship is traveling at is lesser than 6 knots right now. We're just about to enter the Sea of Grief and I'm worried that we'll be robbed. We're incredibly short-handed right now, with most of us injured. If we truly were to encounter the pirates, there's no way we can resist," Captain Wilson warned Lorist in a serious manner.

Lorist smiled and said, "Alright, don't worry. You'll have yourself some good sailors and ships soon."

Senbaud

Here's the second regular chapter of the week. Sorry for the 1-hour-late release. It slipped my mind. ;-P

Fedley Senbaud felt that his luck was pretty good. When the empire's civil war first broke out, he was merely a one-star-silver-ranked garrison squad leader. After the First Prince declared rebellion, he became one of the company leaders of some suicide troopers at the frontlines. It didn't take long for him to be abandoned in the midst of battle due to his injuries. By the time he regained consciousness, he realized there was nothing but corpses all over him.

Lord Gunmock's corpse was not far away from him on the battlefield. He was shocked to see him lying there. Sir Gunmock was one of the most renowned gold ranked knights at the city Senbaud served at as a garrison squad leader. Rumor had it that Gunmock would break through to the three-star gold rank soon. Whenever he passed through the city gates, Senbaud had to offer his greetings. He was ignored every time. Senbaud really didn't think that a person of such caliber would perish on the battlefield just like that.

As he dragged his injured leg with him while he crawled towards the corpse of Sir Gunmock, he saw that a crude crossbow bolt had pierced the neck of the dead man. Senbaud was dumbstruck at the thought that a gold ranked knight had died on the battlefield just like that: from a stray crossbow bolt. He hadn't even been given the chance to use his abilities!

Sir Gunmock must have died a really horrible death, for him to perish here without anyone knowing anything about it. He couldn't even compare to me. I managed to slay two enemies before getting injured...

Senbaud eventually recovered from his stupor. Since the two could be considered to be from the same hometown, he dug a ditch within which to bury Gunmock, lest his body be mutilated by wild birds and beasts. As expected, when he searched the corpse, he found that the dead man was actually a walking treasure trove. The stainless steel, full-body armor, was undamaged as Gunmock had died from a bolt straight to his unprotected neck. Senbaud couldn't help but wonder what kind of unspeakable sin one had to commit to deserve such an unlucky ending.

The corpse also had a sack filled with roughly four hundred imperial gold coins and several other precious gemstones. There was even a golden bracelet which still had bloodstains on it in the sack. It seemed that during the past two days occupying the small town nearby, Sir Gunmock had profited quite a bit. However, Senbaud didn't understand why Sir Gunmock carried so much of his valuables with him in person.

Aren't they really unwieldy on the battlefield? Well, whatever. At least I get to take advantage of it.

The thing that he was the happiest about was his discovery of a high-ranked battleforce manual within the sack Sir Gunmock carried with him. The battleforce attribute of the manual was the same metal type as his own. Flipping open the manual titled 'Metaltemper Battleforce', Senbaud discovered that one of Sir Gunmock's ancestors was a blademaster who had unfortunately perished in battle during one of the empire's invasion attempts on the trade union.

The blademaster had recorded his insights and realizations in the Metaltemper Battleforce manual. It was to be passed down as a family heirloom so that his descendants would not have to go through trial and error in their battleforce training. It was a shame that nobody in the family after him had the same metal attribute battleforce, save for Gunmock. Even so it was till a shame; he had only trained to two-star gold rank at the age of 50. He was simply too lustful and greedy.

Now that Senbaud had stumbled upon such treasure, he decided to become a deserter. He found himself two strolling horses whose owners had died, stripped Gunmock naked as a newborn baby, and loaded the goods on one of the horses before taking his leave.

As the company leader of some of the suicide troops, he was privy to information on a portion of the battle plans, intelligence, and contingencies. He was a rather intelligent man; he didn't head straight home. It wouldn't take long for him to be forcefully reenlisted and placed on the battlefield once more. He traveled to the coast with his two horses instead and built himself a small grass hut in the wilds not far away from the Sea of Grief. He would hunt for a living and occasionally travel to a small town not too far away to buy some food. The rest of his time he would spend training in the Metaltemper Battleforce. In times of war, the key to survival was to have a well-trained body.

Sometimes Senbaud felt that he was like one of those protagonists in the chivalric novels he read. Now that he had his fortunate encounter, his time to shine would soon come. Three years later, the 27-year-old finally broke through to the three-star silver rank, on his birthday no less. Just as he was on the way back from purchasing some alcohol to celebrate, he stumbled upon an unconscious beauty and brought her back with him.

Just like something directly out of a novel, that beauty described her life which was full of drama and grudges when she awoke. There was a bandit lair around two days' travel from the place Senbaud lived.

Actually, it would be more accurate to call it a pirate lair. The men there often raided at sea and seldom operated on land. That was why he wasn't aware that he was the neighbor of pirates all this time.

The beauty was, in fact, the daughter of the original head of the pirates, who had been killed off by the second and third heads of the group because he divided the spoils unequally. At first, the third head even wanted to take the beauty as his wife, but the men that were loyal to the beauty's father ambushed the third head when he was about to force the beauty to sleep with him. After that, all hell broke loose. During the conflict, the beauty was injured. She managed to escape, but was pursued. In a fit of panic, she ran as fast and far as she could, before fainting in the middle of the road where Senbaud coincidentally met her.

Thus, Senbaud drew his sword for the sake of the beauty and helped her travel along the path of vengeance. He had heard that the pirates originally had four silver ranked fighters among their ranks. The beauty's father was a two-star silver rank, the second and third heads, as well as a man referred to as 'uncle Torin', were one star silver ranks. It was uncle Torin who had brought some others to ambush the third head. At the time, only the one star silver ranked second head remained. Senbaud felt that it would be stupid of him to not take that opportunity to intervene.

All went according to plan and Senbaud was able to triumph over the second head, helping the beauty exact her vengeance. The remaining pirates then took him as their leader. With the aid of uncle Torin, he rebuilt the lair of the pirates and took the role of their boss with the beauty as his wife and mistress of the lair.

Ten years had passed in a flash and Senbaud already had two sons and one daughter. He lived a mostly blissful life, but his career was a little lackluster.

As the pirate boss, Senbaud understood the principle of 'the early bird gets the worm, but the early worm gets eaten by the bird'. That was why he had always been extremely careful when it came to raiding at sea. Whenever he decided to act, he would only do so against smuggling ships or ships that sailed astray from their fleets, without ever touching those belonging to large merchant guilds or nobles. He also never flaunted the wealth he got from raiding.

The pirate lair had developed much during the ten years and began to resemble a normal fishing village more and more. Its population was already reaching 1000 people. Senbaud didn't only focus his attention on raiding, he also recruited vagabonds to begin farming and tending to livestock at the wastelands near the hills. As a result of his foresight the pirates no longer had to rely on trading with the outside world for food. He also had the elderly, women, and children gather firewood, boil seawater for salt, and even formed a small trading convoy to trade their surplus salt, and raided goods for some other resources the fishing village needed. When there was an opportunity, he would set sail to take it. At other times, he would live an honest life fishing and tending to his home. His life was one filled with relaxation and freedom.

But he was aware that even if he managed to disguise the pirate lair as a fishing village, they were not completely safe. There wouldn't be a problem during times of war when others were out killing on the battlefield. But when the situation stabilized, dominion lords or standing armies would be well within their rights to act against the lair. By then, the scene of peace before him would instantly turn to one of blood, fire, and ash.

Additionally, the location of the pirate lair wasn't that well-hidden. There were many outsiders who knew of the place, and the terrain wasn't particularly dangerous. It was situated at the coast at a rural and hilly area. The local dominion lord didn't care much about the lair since the pirates didn't raid his dominion in the first place.

These hills were considered a part of Count Seleih's dominion. Count Seleih used to be a division leader of the former empire's army, but he followed Duke Lormo during the civil war of the empire and helped him establish the Lormo Duchy. Thus, he was promoted from a baron to a count and given the piece of land he currently occupied. There were three villages and one town in Count Seleih's dominion, but most of them were congregated within its southern area. The northern area of his dominion was mostly wastelands, forests and tidelands.

It had been two years already since Senbaud first got in touch with the count. He had hoped to obtain recognition from the noble, and to legalize the existence of his fishing village. For that, he was willing to become the knight of the count and was also ready to pay a huge sum in taxes.

However, Count Seleih was often absent from his own dominion because he served by Duke Lormo's side. Senbaud's letter ended up in the hands of the supervisor of the dominion appointed by the count, who looked down on Senbaud's pirate background and didn't care for his three-star-silver-ranked battleforce. His master was a gold ranked knight, after all.

What the supervisor was concerned about was how he could increase the income of his lord. But Senbaud would never accept a tax rate higher than 65 percent, and wouldn't accept the supervisor's request to send some men to operate at the fishing village so that the tax collection process would be easier.

The baseline for Senbaud was a tax rate of 50 percent, which would be paid by the fishing villager themselves without any intervention. But the supervisor was not willing to accept those conditions, he even threatened to have the count send troops to deal with them. As a result, Senbaud barked back and said that should the forces of the count ever come, he would drop all pleasantries. He would fight the count's forces in a nearby hilly area. He wondered how high a price the count was willing to pay to wipe them out. Senbaud also said that, as long as they existed, they would raid the villages and towns. It was entirely within their ability to render the count's dominion useless.

And so, the two parties arrived at a stalemate. They could do naught but pay attention to one another warily. The supervisor could only shut one eye when it came to the trading convoy of the fishing village and allow the convenience of trading within the town and villages. Senbaud on the other hand would send the supervisor and Count Seleih a tribute during festive seasons. So far, the two sides managed to get along peacefully.

Things had begun to change two months ago, however. Senbaud had broken through to the one star gold rank. Count Seleih, who was far away, at the capital of the Lormo Duchy, heard about it and wrote a personal letter to Senbaud. He expressed his willingness to take Senbaud in as a knight of his house, and said that he would let the fishing village become the manor of a gold ranked knight like Senbaud. Naturally, Senbaud would have to construct the castle or the manor himself, as the count was short on funds.

Despite that, there were obvious benefits to Senbaud becoming a knight of Count Seleih. In doing so, the folk of the fishing village would be considered citizens of Senbaud's manor, and they would only have to pay a tax rate of 30 percent. However, Count Seleih also stated that he would require Senbaud to go to the capital of the Lormo Duchy to do his bidding by his side. The count said that the moment Senbaud arrives at the capital, he would knight him on the spot and elevate his status.

For Count Seleih, taking in a gold ranked knight was really different from taking in a Silver ranked knight. Silver ranked knights were common as clouds, but gold ranked knights were few and far in between. It was such that the count was even willing to overlook Senbaud's background as a pirate. In the battleforce-driven world of Grindia, it was as Senbaud had thought: training hard to get a high battleforce rank was the key to survival in the chaotic times of war.

After pondering for a month, Senbaud accepted the count's invitation to become a knight of House Seleih. However, he couldn't just leave immediately, he had much to do before he could go, such as picking a suitable place for the construction of his castle. Back then, he only thought of first defining the boundaries of the castle and building a makeshift stone building and a moat there since he didn't yet have the financial capabilities to build a proper one immediately.

Two days ago, however, Senbaud received a letter from the count's supervisor. It stated that the count's 50th birthday would be in 20 days, and that the count hoped that he would be able to knight Senbaud on the day as well to add another layer of joy to the celebration. The supervisor didn't fail to remind Senbaud of the count's hobbies, implying that he should bring the count a generous gift for the occasion.

But not only was Senbaud not well off, he didn't have anything that suited the count's taste. That was why he turned his sights back to the sea, hoping that he would be able to profit off raiding once more before heading to the capital of the Lormo Duchy to become Count Seleih's knight. He hoped his wife and children would be able to live better lives after his departure to the capital.

...

"Boss, there are two ships over there that seem tangled together. One of them is a quick, twin-masted, middle-class, merchant vessel and the other looks rather weird. It seems like a middle-class vessel, but it doesn't appear to be in good condition, one of the masts seem burnt. The two ships are traveling incredibly slow next to each other. Should we tail them and make a killing?"

The one who had spoken was Tok, a huge, burly man with two-star-silver-ranked battleforce. He seemed even more like a pirate than uncle Torin.

Senbaud nodded in reply. It was obvious that the two boats had just been raided. Sights like these were common in the Sea of Grief. The winning side would tie the losing ship to their own to continue their voyage. In doing so they would become sitting ducks themselves.

The process of boarding the merchant vessel couldn't be smoother. Nobody resisted or cried out in confusion; in fact, not a single soul could be seen on the ship. On the other hand, there were a few people on the weird-looking ship, all of whom seemed completely oblivious to the presence of the pirates and continued to mind their own business. There was even one youth who placed his finger against his lips and hushed, gesturing for the pirates to be quiet.

Senbaud had brought two-armed, twin-masted ships along with him which could travel rather fast; they could reach a maximum speed of eight to nine knots. However, they would face some difficulty when traveling against the wind, and required a more experienced helmsman to steer them. Despite that, that particular kind of ship had great battle potential. It could carry many people, which was perfect for boarding actions.

The two armed ships carried on them around 330 pirates in total. There were roughly 100 pirates who boarded the weird-looking ship. They filled the deck up completely.

On the weird ship was a small table on which many beastskins and a pen were placed.

A youth with a black ponytail said to a weathered middle-aged man, "The reason I used your secret technique of green and oil glass production as bait is because I think those are nothing special. Look here at this telescope and the eyeglass. These two are the things that'll make us a real profit. Also, there's the magnifying glass, glassware, flat glass sheets, thickened glass dividers, and even patterned glass. These are the directions glass-working should develop in..."

"Mister Mancheny, you've already roughly got an idea of my thoughts on how glass-working can change. When I bring you back to the dominion, you can be in charge of research and development, as well as production. I'll provide all the manpower and funds you require, and you can experiment to your heart's content without caring about the cost. I trust that my investment in you will multiply hundredfold and benefit our house..."

Senbaud was confused when he heard all that on the deck. Terms like 'glass-working', 'research', and 'technique improvement' sounded so foreign that he couldn't quite grasp the concepts. Also, he felt that the scene before him was off somehow, but he couldn't quite put it into words.

Just as he was about to instruct his men to be more careful in case that was a trap, he saw the ponytail-wearing youth turn to him and reveal his shiny white teeth, laughing joyfully at Senbaud and his men.

"You guys took too long to come! You're making me rather impatient," the youth said as he smiled, "We've waited here at the Sea of Grief for two whole days and only managed to get such a small catch..."

The youth then looked towards the twin-masted, middle-class merchant vessels and said, "Even so, your ships and crew are in good condition. That's great."

The black-haired youth then stood up and said, "I am Count Norton, dominion lord of the Northlands and Silowas Island. I hereby declare that your ship and crew have been expropriated for my use!"

After that, he pointed directly to Senbaud and said, "Hmm, you seem pretty good. From now on, you'll be the squad leader of my marine assault vanguard."

Threat and Expropriation

Here's the first bonus chapter of the week courtesy of Alan W. from the USA. Enjoy the read!

All of the pirates began chattering, Is that black-haired youth insane? Is he even aware of the situation he's in? Does he really think that he's superior and can push people around just because he's a noble? We are pirates, and this is the free and wide sea. Killing anyone and dumping their corpse tied to a huge rock into the ocean won't leave any traces...

"Kill him!"

"Skin that baby-faced youth!"

Squad leader of the marine assault vanguard? What the hell is that? thought Senbaud, just as he felt a strong feeling of humiliation.

During the civil war of the empire, he was already a company leader. Even though he was merely used as cannon fodder, had it not been for his desertion and fortune, he would've become a regiment leader already. With the passing of 13 years, he'd already broken through to the gold rank and was just about to become the knight of Count Seleih. To think that there would be someone who would dare to call him a mere squad leader.

He must think that I'm just another person he can use as cannon fodder! Ridiculous!

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Senbaud slowly drew his sword and promised himself that he'd teach that long-haired youth a lesson he'd never forget.

I will make sure this count never goes to sea again...

Senbaud waved his hand, indicating for the other pirates to quiet down, before manifesting his golden blade glow. He felt a sudden desire to look at the youth's expression and wondered whether the youth would freak out upon discovering his gold rank battleforce.

Much to Senbaud's surprise, however, the youth revealed a look of pleasant surprise rather than regret upon seeing his golden blade glow.

"Oooooh..." the young-looking count uttered happily, "I really didn't think that there would be a gold rank fighter amongst you pirates. It seems that I have quite a good eye. That's it, you'll definitely be the one to take up the position of the marine assault vanguard squad leader."

Senbaud only felt a rush of anger cloud his mind as his face puffed red and purple.

He gripped his sword so hard that it shook as he said, "I will cut you into pieces and feed you to the fish..."

After that, Senbaud leaped towards the young count like a ferocious panther.

...

The chronicles in the future stated that the Raging Bear King, Norton Lorist, had 16 generals which were often discussed by others. Those 16 gold-ranked knights had already been with him by the time he stepped on the path of uniting the Krissen Empire. The common trait among those knights were that none of them were of noble birth, the only exception was Divine Marksman Josk. Even he was originally an orphan who was adopted into a noble family.

The 16 gold-ranked knights would later become the paragons of future generations. Some of them would be made dukes, and some of them would eventually become blademasters. Among them, one who was both a blademaster and a duke, was the controversial and legendary Senbaud.

When he first went under Lorist's wing, he was made a marine assault vanguard squad leader right away. After every naval expedition he participated in, his position would slowly rise until, eventually, he became the admiral of House Norton's naval forces. When Lorist formed his own nation, Senbaud was made a duke. He came to be known to others as the 'Windstorm Duke'.

During the 80th birthday celebration of the Windstorm Duke, per his grandson's suggestion, Senbaud began to dictate his experiences for his grandson to organize into a million-word autobiography titled 'From Pirate to Duke'. The book mainly described his exploits following his recruitment into the Raging Bear King, Lorist's, ranks. After the book was published, it only took half a year for it to become one of the best-selling books on the whole of Grindia with more than a million copies sold. Many newer editions were published over the following decades. Countless military historians and strategists relied on it for their careers.

Naturally, the book also had its fair share of criticism. During the time of its publication, many of the pirates who had joined Lorist were still alive. When Count Tok read the first chapter of the book, he claimed that Senbaud had lied about how he felt Lorist's domineering aura right away, which was why Senbaud took Lorist as his lord at the very first moment.

The white-haired Count Tok said to the reporters, "Back then, Senbaud felt so humiliated that he wanted to kill himself. A gold-ranked knight like him was actually toyed with by a young-looking count like a ragdoll for half an hour. He had been unable to put up the slightest resistance."

"What were you doing back then?" asked one of the reporters.

Count Tok laughed bitterly and said, "The moment Senbaud was knocked off his feet and fell onto the deck, we rushed to his aid right away. It was then when His Highness spent less than ten minutes beating us all down on his own. He had said that from that moment on, our lives no longer belonged to ourselves, they belonged to him. The reason he disarmed us was so that we wouldn't kill ourselves in the heat of the moment."

"So it was then when all of you joined His Highness, joined his struggles, and managed to rake in lots of achievements yourselves! What a drastic change in your futures that was!" exclaimed the reporter in realization with a look of admiration.

The gold-ranked knight, Count Tok, no longer spoke and closed his eyes, Bright futures and great achievements... The reporters made it sound so light-hearted. I wonder if they know how bloody and dangerous that path was... It was filled with killings and mountains of bones... Out of the 300 or so pirates who joined, only around 30 survived... Had it not been for His Highness's underhanded methods back then, who would've been willing to join him on that so-called path to glory?

...

Senbaud, who was knocked flat onto the deck, kept crawling up to fight again. He wasn't willing to become a mere squad leader for the marine vanguard. Even Tok, who was clutching his waist and had forgotten his pain, could see the pathetic puffy-faced look of the beaten Senbaud. He could feel Senbaud's yearning for death. He had been played like a puppet by an unarmed count despite being a gold-ranked knight. The pure humiliation made it so that he would rather die in battle than live with it for the rest of his life.

In the end, Lorist kicked Senbaud unconscious in annoyance.

By the time Senbaud was awake, he found himself tied onto a mast. The rest of the pirate leaders, including Tok, shared his fate. They could see that all four ships were sailing towards the fishing village. Not all of the pirates were as stubborn as Senbaud. He saw many of his crew working as sailors, per the orders of a stranger he didn't recognize.

He took a look at the cursed, black-haired, ponytailed count and thought, oh, he even had a change of clothes.

The count was standing in front of Senbaud with a cup of tea in his hands, smiling at him with his white teeth.

"I admire your bravery and strong will. Naturally, I've noted your gold rank battleforce as well," the youthful count said, "But those are not important. What is, is that I have found out about your situation and you only have two options to choose from. First, serve me and I will treat your family well, just like I treat the family members of my soldiers. Their livelihoods will all be taken care of by the house. Second, you may refuse my suggestion and I will kill you without the slightest hesitation. As for your family... Hehehe, your beautiful wife and three children..."

The count then licked his lips with his tongue.

"No, you can't do that..." muttered Senbaud, panicked.

The count had prodded at the only soft spot in his heart.

"You're a noble, you can't do something so underhanded..."

"Underhanded?" the youthful count snorted, "You don't even know what that word truly means. And don't forget that you're a pirate. Even if you've broken through to the gold rank, a pirate is still a pirate. Your hands are no doubt stained with the blood of countless innocents. The people you've killed at sea all had their own families. They all had parents, wives, and children. How many blissful families have you ruined? Now that it's your turn, you're telling me that it's underhanded?"

At that moment, the young count stopped smiling and revealed a sinister expression that looked absolutely terrifying to Senbaud.

"Think about it. After your death, your beautiful wife will no doubt fetch a great price with a slave trader. After that, she'll spend countless days passed around from man to man, crying out in pain... As for your sons, they'll have to spend their lives with no clothes and food, and will be forced to fight for food from wild dogs. During winter, there's no doubt that they'll die somewhere in the streets, frozen as unmoving statues that get nothing from passers-by but their pity... Your..."

"Stop talking!" Senbaud cried out in tears, "I will serve you! Spare my family, and you can do as you wish with my life!"

"Ugh..." Lorist didn't expect that Senbaud would cave in so quickly, Tch, I still haven't gotten to your daughter's fate...

Lorist turned to the snickering Tok who was similarly tied up at the mast, "What are you laughing at? It'll be the same for you. Think about your family..."

"I'll serve you as well, milord. Oh, please spare my family," replied Tok casually.

"Gah..." Lorist was completely speechless.

After he recovered, he figured that he couldn't just rely on threats and had to offer them some incentive as well.

"Very well. Serve me well, and I will make you the knights of my family. In the future, I might even make you landed nobles. This is not an empty promise. I vow this to you on the Norton family name."

Just like that, Senbaud became Lorist's lackey. For the sake of becoming the knight of Count Seleih, he had gone back to sea to rob for the count, no, a better way to put it was 'to find a gift' for the count. Instead he ended up in Lorist's hand. He became a proud squad leader of the marine vanguard troops.

Having his path as a knight for a count extinguished, he became the cannon fodder of yet another count. But his eventual achievements would come to define his future, and would go on to impress and awe many.

With Senbaud and Tok's cooperation, Lorist managed to take over the pirate lair, or 'fishing village', as some would prefer to call it, without trouble. Much to Lorist's delight, the fishing village had a properly outfitted shipyard, meaning that the Flying Fish of Dawn could receive adequate repairs, and didn't have to crawl her way back to Silowas Island.

"I didn't think that this pirate lair of yours would be so well managed. I really couldn't see that talent in you," Lorist praised Senbaud.

Currently, Senbaud, his wife, and his three children were brought before Lorist.

Employing the stick-and-carrot method, Lorist stroked the head of Senbaud's 8-year-old son and said, "This kid looks rather intelligent. Not bad... Alright, when he's 16, I will take him as my disciple and he'll serve as my personal attendant. Howard, take care of this junior apprentice brother of yours. Give him the training routines you used to use so he can work on it as well."

"Yes, milord," Howard said.

He was happy to no longer the most junior disciple under Lorist.

"Thank... Thank you, milord," Senbaud expressed his gratitude in a troubled fashion.

To him, this wasn't a fortunate encounter. He thought that his son was being taken hostage to ensure his obedience.

"Alright, they'll be leaving tomorrow. Rest up and have a good time with your family during the night. Don't worry, when they arrive at the Northlands, they will write you a letter. When you read it you'll realize how fortunate it is for them to be able to live there," said Lorist.

The first thing Lorist did when he arrived at the fishing village was to gather up the family members of Senbaud, Tok and the other pirate leaders and send them to the Northlands.

Senbaud knew that he would no longer be able to serve as Count Seleih's knight. Instead he would have to be the so-called squad leader of the marine vanguard corps. It was no more than a suicide unit in his mind. He was worried that his inability to serve as a knight of Count Seleih might invoke his rage. He feared that the count would send soldiers to the fishing village. Senbaud wasn't sure whether that would come to pass or not, so he had no choice but to agree to Lorist's arrangements. He only hoped that the desolate Northlands he had heard so much about was as nice a place to live as the count had said.

It wasn't that nobody tried to escape at all. Some planned to secretly bring their family members to the nearby hills and camp there for a fortnight. They believed the accursed count wouldn't stay at the fishing village very long. Additionally, no matter how good at fighting the count was, he was only a single person. There was no way he could monitor every corner of the fishing village at all times. As for his men, they were busy defending the four ships. More than a couple pirates were ready to escape.

It was then when Josk appeared at the plaza of the fishing village with his green bow. He shot an arrow towards a tree thick enough for a person to barely loop his arms around roughly 100 meters away. It was felled completely and even sent flying. A few hundred men witnessed, with their own eyes, a huge tree sent flying for three or so meters. The stump of the tree splintered as if it was knocked down by a huge force. Josk's reason for shooting the tree was that the sparrows nesting in it were too noisy. Everyone knew it was actually a show of strength.

Nobody dared to take the risk to escape after that. After all, they were faced with a gold-ranked divine marksman. He could hear the noises made by sparrows 100 meters away. The sounds the pirates would make should they attempted escape would be like a shining beacon for the marksman to fire at.

Many of them hoped that someone else would attempt escape first. It would afford them an opportunity to test the marksman's capabilities before making their decision to leave or stay. In the end, none of them tried. Dawn was upon them before anything was achieved.

The time to board the ships had come. The pirates experienced something akin to separation for life as they watched their family members being brought on board the ships with teary eyes.

Lorist had the Flying Fish of Dawn sent into the shipyard for repairs before forming a small fleet with the three middle-class merchant vessels. Josk and Els were the fleet's main escort. He had all the marines -- injured or otherwise -- Master Mancheny and his family, and Professor Balbo and his maidservant, Swila, sent to Silowas Island before they would be transferred to the new port city at the Northlands.

To Lorist, they were people he couldn't afford to lose. With Silowas Island being in the eyes of the Chikdor Merchant Guild, there was no way Lorist would allow them to remain there. As a precaution, he felt it was best for him to send them to the main dominion in the Northlands.

The other 100 or so family members of the pirates would be sent to Silowas Island using the other three ships. They would be manned by some more honest and loyal pirates. After they dropped their passengers off at the island, they would return. As for the ones remaining at the fishing village, because there wasn't enough space on board, Lorist wrote a letter to Charade to tell him how to deal with the matter. The trip to Silowas Island and back would take roughly 20 days.

After sending away the small fleet, Lorist focused his attention on the Flying Fish of Dawn. Accompanying him were Howard, Captain Wilson, and two other guards. Fortunately, all the Flying Fish of Dawn needed was a new mast, which didn't pose too much trouble. Five days later, the Flying Fish of Dawn was good as new and set sail for the Sea of Grief once again.

As fishing while waiting for other pirates to take the bait and raid them would take too much time, Lorist elected to take a more active stance. Given the advantage in speed and agility of the Flying Fish of Dawn, he raided the ships that caught his eye at the Sea of Grief. Lorist did all that in the name of expropriation. He made it clear that if the ship owners cooperated, and didn't resist, House Norton would repay their losses in full. As for those who didn't believe his promises, they were given a taste of Lorist's fists.

Senbaud finally saw for himself the savagery and shamelessness nobles were capable of. The robbery, or as Lorist put it, expropriation, opened his eyes to a whole new world. Compared to Lorist expropriation, Senbaud's previous raids felt like nothing more than child's play.

At the same time, the pirates felt incredibly lucky for their encounter. They once saw two large-class merchant vessels belonging to the Wessia Merchant Guild with three gold-ranked swordsmen and seven to eight other silver-ranked fighters on board. Lorist boarded their ship alone and didn't take more than 15 minutes to kill off those high-ranked fighters, before a hundred other normal fighters, who didn't believe what they were seeing, rushed into a suicidal attack, and perished. The remaining people on the deck of those ships could only watch and shiver in terror.

By the time Lorist returned to them, completely covered in blood, all the pirates lowered their heads to pay their respects. Even Senbaud lowered the head he had proudly held high up until then. He understood that, had it not been for the mercy Lorist showed him, allowing him a second chance to serve Lorist, he would've become a dead soul at sea.

After 20 days, Josk and Els brought the three ships back to the fishing village along with Jim and 500 other guards. By that time, the fishing village's coasts were already filled with up to 50 middle-class vessels and 4 large-class, long distance merchant vessels. There were so many ships that the coast was almost unrecognizable.

Lorist said with satisfaction, "We should have enough ships by now. Senbaud, I'll put you in charge of organizing the crews for the ships. We'll head back to Silowas Island soon."

Senbaud lowered his head respectfully and said, "As you will, milord."

Dispute within the Chikdor Merchant Guild (1)

Here's the second bonus chapter of the week, brought to you by Victor C., Thavong H., and Christopher P. from the USA.

This chapter is a two-parter, but not a real tense cliffhanger, so I won't be using the tag here. The next chapter will be released tomorrow so the wait won't be that long either. Enjoy!

As Lorist was loitering about amidst the Sea of Grief expropriating ships for himself, within a great hall within the Chikdor Merchant Guild headquarters at Morante City, a dozen high-ranking officials were arguing about the failure of the fleet to stop the Flying Fish of Dawn as well as their plan to take Silowas Island.

"I really don't understand why our guild wants Silowas Island as the location for our dominion. Apart from its wide area, what benefits does it bring to the table for the development of the guild and the future of the clan? Don't tell me that our clan is going to convert into those rural noble families that we look down upon so much? And are we going to give up our dominance of the trading routes near the southern seas along the Golden Coast in the meantime?"

The one who spoke so passionately was the second young master of the Chikdor clan, Saibyoeff. He had always been the one in charge of the merchant guild's armed fleet. He was the one who exterminated pirate organizations large and small, and guaranteed the safety of the guild's fleet on their voyages.

His extensive battle experience caused him to carry with him an air of military brusqueness. Given that the high officials of the guild mostly had aloof, calculative personalities, Saibyoeff didn't get along too well with them.

He was the one who objected most to making Silowas Island their dominion. He felt that it would slacken the control of the clan on the southern seas and have huge effects on the coastal nations near the Golden Coast. Silowas Island was located far to the north. If the Chikdor clan made that its dominion, it would take far too long for news to reach them should anything happen in the southern seas; they would have too little time to react.

"I hope that all of you can analyze the situation there clearly. The clan currently only has seven fleets. Apart from my own armed fleet, five of the other six merchant fleets' main responsibility is the trade voyages at the southern seas. Their operations account for roughly 80 percent of our profits. On the other hand, we only have one merchant fleet in the north and they deal mainly with the spice trade we have with the Shyarsia kingdom and other resources from the Hanayabarta kingdom. In total, this fleet only accounts for the remaining 20 percent of our profits."

Young master Saibyoeff casually held a small wooden stick up and pointed to the large map that was hung on the wall, and said, "Even though trade in the northern seas have the potential to be more profitable than that in the south, we must not forget that the situation here in the south took 170 years to set up. That's 170 years of effort and sacrifice made by our ancestors. Had we not had the dominance in the southern seas, there would be no way for us to be able to monopolize the trade routes to the Shyarsia and Hanayabarta kingdoms."

At that moment, Moribak, the third young master, stood up from his seat. He loathed his second brother the most. He felt he wasn't the slightest bit inferior to even his eldest brother, Serihanem, in terms of talent and capability.

Since you're the second in the family, I can understand if you don't wish to fight for the position as the successor to the clan, but why are you helping that good-for-nothing first brother become the successor? I am the one that suggested the northern expansion strategy, and the plan to take Silowas Island has also been approved by the high officials of the guild. Yet you're trying to sabotage my plan now? I will definitely not have that!

"Second brother, the situation is actually not as you have described. We are indeed the hegemons of the southern seas, but that's precisely why we need to expand our trade routes northward. There is no space left for our clan to grow in the southern seas. The north is the only direction our clan can grow in. Also, Silowas Island is a great and strategic location as a main base for our clan. By occupying that island, our merchant guild will have access to the whole northern coastlines of the territory of the former Krissen Empire. By then, the profits there will be at least 1.5 times that of the southern seas. I trust that the merchant guild only needs to add three merchant fleets in the north to meet the huge trade demand," argued Moribak, intent on winning the hearts and minds of the officials of the guilds with the promise of future profits at the north.

"Hahaha..." Saibyoeff laughed coldly and said, "Don't count your chicks before they've hatched. You can only see the potential profits this expansion would bring, but have you considered what kind of price we would have to pay and the risk we would have to take before any of these profits are certain? Leaving aside other matters, the winds and waves at the north are erratic and unpredictable. The weather conditions are even more whimsical. Can the Cursed Coasts of the north really compare to the southern seas and the tranquil Golden Coast? Merely filling up the reefs of the northern coasts will cost us huge amounts of manpower and money.

"While your idea to take Silowas Island as the dominion for the clan is not a bad one, look at the state of our two interception fleets now. Our guild spent so much resources and time and only managed to train four blademasters, yet you've already lost one of them on the very first interception attempt! That blademaster you lost is actually one of the cornerstones of our fighting strength, the big-seven merchant guilds of the trade union!

"I've already said this long ago. Even though the Krissen Empire has dissolved, with the nations formerly belonging to it being at war for so long, that was a result of the big-seven's painstaking efforts plotting and planning over tens of years. The Krissen Empire didn't just collapse out of nowhere like a rotting beam of some house.

"While the various guilds in the union want to gain the territory of the Andinaq and Redlis kingdoms for their own dominions, not one of them actually want to face off against the 300000-strong army of the Andinaq Kingdom's second highness. Instead they hope that he will waste his strength on taking out the Redlis Kingdom before the guilds sweep in and take advantage of the situation.

"'A camel that's starved to death is still bigger than a horse.' That's a saying that you will have to comprehend. Even though the empire is no more, that doesn't mean that the nobles formerly belonging to the empire no longer have power. You didn't even bother to check out the background of House Norton before antagonizing them, and look at the results of that! You've kicked on an iron plate you couldn't break and got injured yourself.

"Think about it, Silowas Island is the former principality of the Second Highness, yet he was willing to enfeoff it to some other noble just like that. Given the might of the second highness, Auguslo, there must be a reason for his actions. And yet you're over here running your mouth over how weak and impotent those nobles are. You even attempted to forcefully restrain the other party and force them to hand Silowas Island to the guild... What kind of daydreams were you having?"

"Enough, Saibyoeff. Stop speaking," President Chikdor, who was seated at the top, interjected, "Your younger brother is merely doing his best to ensure the prosperity of the guild. The difficulties we face so far are only temporary ones. We, the Chikdor Merchant Guild, are one of the seven big merchant guilds of the trade union. We can't actually retreat just like that, can we? While we probably aren't strong enough to take on a whole kingdom, a single landed noble should not be something that we find difficult to digest."

"Father haven't the failure of the interception fleets and the loss of the blademaster made you understand what we're up against?" Saibyoeff said with dissatisfaction, "Putting aside the development of the clan and the guild, purely from a military perspective, I can tell that you've antagonized a very troublesome person. The Peterson Merchant Guild already promised to do their best to mediate between us and said that they would help us buy Silowas Island from the hands of the count. We only have to offer him a price that he can't refuse."

"If that count is anything like the usual greedy nobles we've dealt with, then he would've agreed to negotiate the price with us. But this count didn't bother to even consider having talks and left on his ship without so much as a message for Peterson Merchant Guild. In other words, the count is intent on not letting Silowas Island go. We will have to be prepared to pay the price in blood and fire if we want to take that island.

"I must admit that third brother's preparations are rather thorough. Even though the first interception failed because our lookout wasn't paying attention, the second interception fleet is led by Admiral Pangid, and the third interception fleet is led by the incredibly-experienced Admiral Ari. I've investigated the battle and found that he did not make any mistakes whatsoever during the conflict. Additionally, the third interception also had blademaster Kumori guarding it. That was also why we were so confident with the latter two fleets.

"We thought that Count Norton would definitely be unable to escape us. He's taught us an unforgettable lesson with his methods. When faced with Admiral Pangid's second interception fleet, that count decided to use his ship's advantage in speed as well as the gold-ranked Divine Marksman that performed way beyond our expectations and burst through the blockade, causing us to lose one middle-class merchant vessel and her crew.

"Admiral Pangid then used the sea swallows to send a detailed account to Admiral Ari of the third interception fleet. Even though that was out of our expectations, Old Ari still made the perfect preparations to deal with the situation. He ordered his crews to lay chains between their ships. Other than that, he and blademaster Kumori each stood guard at different ships as a precaution against the gold-ranked marksman. To prevent Count Norton from employing the same trick again, blademaster Kumori even intentionally went to the leftmost large-class ship.

"All that should've made the plan perfect, right? But it turned out that Count Norton was actually hiding a trump card: which one of you would've expected him to be a rank 3 blademaster? In the end, that mishap cost us more than 500 sailors, three experienced captains, 11 silver-ranked swordsmen, two gold-ranked swordsmen, and a blademaster. Even I didn't suffer that huge a loss during the three years I combatted pirates at the Solar Seas!"

Second young master Saibyoeff then criticized angrily, "The results we have today showed that Moribak didn't bother to research the background of Count Norton at all before acting against him, and his mishap has caused us to treat a rank 3 blademaster as we would a powerless noble, causing the guild much loss and damage! He must be held responsible for this outcome!"

"What is your basis for calling that count a rank 3 blademaster?" asked Moribak with his face flushed red from anger.

"Well, if killing all 347 people on a large-class merchant vessel in less than 30 minutes doesn't count, I don't know what does!" roared Saibyoeff with an even louder voice.

Pointing at an old man with a solemn expression, he said, "Just ask Uncle Udi, a rank 2 blademaster, whether he can do the same. That actually happened before the eyes of almost 1000 people! There's no way it can be faked!"

The old blademaster merely laughed bitterly and shook his head.

"You've got an enemy for the guild that we can't afford to offend!" said the second young master while looking at his younger brother insultingly, "Father definitely did not give you free reign on settling this matter. Tell me, did you actually bother to research Count Norton's background?"

"I... Of course I did! What's so different about Count Norton from other nobles? He's only somewhat better at swordsmanship than the rest..." mumbled third young master Moribak as his gaze started to brighten.

"Imbecile... Is this how you operate? You acted upon your own assumptions and ruined it all... You didn't even bother to pay off someone from the Peterson Merchant Guild to get information on the background of Count Norton at all!" yelled Saibyoeff as he headed to a corner and took out a sack which contained many beastskin documents.

He held those documents and said, "After we failed to intercept him, I sent my men to do some research on that count. I bet none of you would have expected him to be a legendary figure in Morante City! Do you all remember the competition seven years ago held among the various academies? An iron-ranked instructor from the Dawn Academy actually defeated all the silver-ranked experts in the whole city. He defeated 3000 opponents without suffering a single defeat! He even got the moniker of Iron Locke, Silver Undefeated!"

It was at that moment that a commotion broke out among the seated men. The competition held seven years back was incredibly famous, even the Chikdor Merchant Guild had sent a number of silver-ranked swordsmen to compete. However, not one of them won, and those who returned even said that they had been bested by that iron-ranked instructor in terms of swordsmanship completely. They even admitted that there was no way whatsoever that they could win.

"That iron-ranked instructor is actually Count Norton," Saibyoeff was glad to see the looks of surprise on the faces of those present, "At that time, there was even a rumor about how two gold-ranked swordsmen wanted to show that iron-ranked instructor his place by assaulting him so that their junior apprentice brother would be able to defeat him in a match on the next day. In the end, those two gold-ranks intercepted him, only to end up as two nameless corpses that were found two days later by the city patrol.

"If he could not compete with gold-ranks, there is no way that sly fox at the Dawn Academy would allow him to challenge all the silver-ranked fighters in the city. The competition was very obviously a huge ploy. Seven years have passed since, obviously the count's swordmanship hasn't been stagnant all the time, it has definitely improved even more since then. What happened to the interception fleets only serves to prove it.

"However, when that count left Morante City to return to his dominion to inherit it as well as his title, I heard from the Peterson Merchant Guild that his family only controlled a barony back then. He formed a convoy to head to the Northlands with a few of his buddies at the academy and defeated the united noble army in the Redlis Kingdom, and even helped the Peterson Merchant Guild dominate the oceanic trade routes over there.

"The following reports only contain fragmented bits of information as our guild didn't plant any informants in the Andinaq Kingdom, but there are bits and pieces that suggest the second highness of that kingdom only came to power with the help of the count, which was how he was promoted from a baron to his current status in the first place. Silowas Island was also given to him as a hereditary dominion as a result of that promotion.

"According to the information we got from the Wessia Merchant Guild, that count is known as the Passive Raging Bear in the Northlands as he wouldn't cause trouble unless he is disrupted. The Duke of the Northlands was defeated by the forces of the count, which resulted in him losing his dominion. It is said that Count Norton had his forces raid the duke's dominion for one whole week and committed countless atrocities there. Following that, the king of the Iblia Kingdom, also known as the Second Prince of the former empire, led a force of 100000 men to admonish the count, only to have his whole army beaten to smithereens, causing the second prince to have to escape the royal capital in a haggard fashion.

"And here comes the good part," Saibyoeff said before he paused.

He held up a document, and said, "After the Second Prince was defeated, he was filled with rage and ordered his rank 3 blademaster, Zarinan, to attempt an assassination against the count. I'm sure all of you are informed of the reputation of blademaster Zarinan, who was said to be a quasi-Sword Saint that would break through if he managed to improve the slightest bit more. It ended up with his corpse being crucified and put on display half a year later when the forces of House Norton attacked the royal capital of the Iblia Kingdom to capture the second prince as payback for using such an underhanded method to get back at others for his own losses..."

"Wait a second, you said that these reports are all obtained from the Wessia Merchant Guild?" asked President Chikdor.

"That's right. The Wessia Merchant Guild bought two iron mines within the Iblia Kingdom, and they are very observant of the political situation there. Right now, the Iblia Kingdom is ruled by their queen and not one of the people there bother finding out where the second prince was brought. They treat him as if he doesn't exist. Count Norton managed to unite the three noble houses of the Northland. Their alliance has full control over the Northlands. It's very hard for anyone to enter their dominion to find out the true strength of House Norton. It is rumored that the count is busy developing his dominion, and, in hindsight, that rumor seems to be true. At the very least, he's managed to find a sea route from the Northlands to Silowas Island. That's how he came to Morante City in the first place."

Saibyoeff put the documents in his hand down, and continued, "Now do you know how grave a mistake you have made? My brother, you actually treated a noble house with a history of military achievements as the common, rotten and corrupted noble houses... Do you know the kind of price we would have to pay for your plan to claim Silowas Island for ourselves? Even if we manage to obtain victory at the very end, the losses we sustain would still shake us to the core and possibly force us to give up the dominance we have at the southern seas to some other merchant guild. It would also cause us to be unable to compete with the rest of the big-seven guilds, heck, we might even be at the mercy of those second or third-rate merchant guilds we look down on so much. Is that how low you would have us fall before you're satisfied, brother?"

Dispute within the Chikdor Merchant Guild (2)

Here's the final bonus chapter of the week by Christopher P. from the USA! Enjoy and see you guys next week!

"Alright, brother. Don't criticize Moribak like that. He only did what he did for the future of the guild's prosperity. Since the incident has already happened, let's think of how we can fix it instead of complaining all day long," said the Serihanem.

He was already rather satisfied that he was appointed the successor of the merchant guild by his father after his competition with his third brother. Normally, he was a serious, straight-laced person who maintained a calm and peaceful personality. However, he felt it was appropriate to display his brotherly love and compassion once in a while.

"Father, uncles, actually, I think that my brother Saibyoeff made quite a bit of sense there. Should we really fight with Count Norton all the way to the bitter end? We will definitely sustain huge losses that might even come to shake our position as the hegemons of the southern seas. After all, even though Silowas Island is large, it is in the northern seas. The merchant guild can't afford to lose the southern seas, so we can't afford to overlook this."

Even though the first young master appeared to be speaking up on behalf of Saibyoeff, it added little to the conversation. Saibyoeff had already clearly illustrated the consequences of continuing to plot to gain the island. Even though chasing profits was the innate instinct of a merchant, should the cost exceed the gains, then he would definitely have to give it good consideration.

President Chikdor began to hesitate as he said, "The reason we set Silowas Island as our target was because our guild thrives on maritime superiority. Given that, having an island as our dominion would be ideal. There are no such suitable islands at the southern seas, neither is there any coastal territory large enough for us to locate our dominion at."

Since the trade union was going to implement a nobility system, with each of the big-seven merchant guilds given the title of duke, they would have to attain a piece of land appropriate to their title. The six other guilds had already determined their targets. Only the Chikdor Merchant Guild's plan to take Silowas Island as their dominion had run into some trouble. Even though getting themselves a duchy was important, losing most of the guild for it was an incredibly bad transaction.

Serihanem cleared his throat, indicating that he was going to speak once more. He was of the same opinion as Saibyoeff and didn't think that the northern strategy to make Silowas Island the guild's domain was a good one. He found that Silowas Island was way too far from Morante City. It took at least 20 days to sail from one to the other. There was no way he would resign himself to stay and rot at a rural island far away. Rural life would make anyone who has experienced the prosperity of Morante City feel dull and uninteresting.

Secondly, that strategy was actually planned by his youngest brother Moribak.

Father is really too biased. Since he has appointed me his successor, why is he still counting on Moribak so much? Not only did he allow him to take charge of the plans for the northern trade routes, he even let him have a hand at the overall strategy of the plan that would determine the future of the whole guild. Just look at what happened. With such a massive fiasco, how can I just sit still without attempting to correct the mistakes of my overly-ambitious brother?

In terms martial of talent, Serihanem couldn't compare with his brother, Saibyoeff, not by a long shot. The latter was already a one-star gold rank. Even the rank 2 blademaster of the guild, Uncle Udi, was full of praise for Saibyoeff. He maintained that there was an incredibly good chance for him to become a rank 1 blademaster before he turned 50, which would further increase the core strength of the guild.

Likewise, Serihanem wasn't as capable as Moribak in terms of calculation and planning. Moribak had demonstrated jaw-dropping talent when he settled the spice trade problem on his previous trip to the Shyarsia kingdom by putting a premature end to the young king who attempted to resist the Chikdor Merchant Guild's monopoly on their spice. Even though this was the first time the Chikdor Merchant Guild had meddled in royal affairs, the matter was still settled perfectly.

Compared to his two brothers, Serihanem appeared rather common. He had been nurtured within the guild from a young age, he could only claim to be a run-of-the-mill merchant who bought low and sold high. In terms of grasping business opportunities, he was better than his two brothers, and that aspect of his was what the merchant guild treasured most. Nothing was more important for the advancement of the guild than profits, and that sole characteristic of Moribak was all he needed to be appointed successor.

However, after Serihanem heard about the nobility system and his father's eventual ascension to duke status, he began to have his own plans. After all, the title and dominion of his father would eventually be handed down to him, so he felt that he should stick his hand into deciding where the dominion would be.

The territory Serihanem had in mind was the Urubaha duchy. The duchy was located to the south of the Forde Trade Union and could be considered to be the starting point for the Golden Coast at the southern seas. At the south of the Falik Plains (where Morante City was located) were the Callisto Hills. The Tedanini mountains, where the dwarven kingdom was located, was further south. At the very southern end of the Tedanini mountains, was the Urubaha duchy.

While the terrain of the duchy was mountainous and near the coast, it was incredibly crude and rural. Its main 'export' was pirates and mercenaries. Half of the pirates that operated at the Solar Seas were the so-called fishing folk of the Urubaha duchy. They were a hodge-podge bunch who didn't care whether a fleet they spotted belonged to a large merchant guild or not. As long as there was an opportunity for profit, they would attack and make off with the precious cargo. Should the merchant guild be the least bit careless, they would suffer huge losses to the raids.

Serihanem had made his decision purely based on his mercantile perspective. Half of the Urubaha duchy was desolate mountains. The other half was coastal beaches. As such, there wasn't much space for farmland. The thing the duchy was known for was its subterranean caverns which were known to all of Grindia as one of the seven most dangerous places on the continent. Legend says that within the caves lie a mysterious underground world, which saw 9 out of 10 explorers to the caverns failing to return alive. However, it didn't deter Serihanem at al. He was a merchant, not an explorer, nor a mercenary. Perhaps, he could even use the mystery surrounding the caverns to profit off some foolish adventurers. As for their safety, they were none of his concern.

The Urubaha duchy was a relatively poor nation. The merchants, however, believed that the reason for its poor economy was poor management, and that it could be improved if the right person was in charge. Serihanem felt he was the perfect fit to do just that. Other factors aside, he already had his eyes on the ancient forests in the duchy which would be ideal for timber production. The current duke wasn't keen on investing in roads, and didn't take advantage of the natural resources the duchy possessed. Given that the duchy was near the Tedanini mountains, trade with the dwarves would net quite a bit of profit too. At the same time, he could have people looking for ore veins; yet another avenue in which to invest. The first young master was quite adept at coming up with ideas to make a profit.

The greatest benefit of making the Urubaha duchy the dominion of the clan was how the guild could use the pirates for their own benefit. Not only would that be able to cut out the costs of wiping out the pirates, they could even be added to the naval forces of the guild. By spending the least resources, the guild would be able to convert the poor fishing folk into sailors for its fleets, and decrease the cost of hiring and training rookies.

Additionally, traveling from the duchy to Morante City would only take three to four days by ship. The ease of transport would also allow the guild to set up their trade headquarters at the beginning of the Golden Coast, allowing the guild even more ease of control of the trade routes at the southern seas.

However, there were also huge obstacles associated with taking the duchy. Firstly, Duke Urubaha was known to be a hugely stubborn person who was also a rank 3 blademaster. Even though he didn't have any hope of breaking through to become a swordsaint, he was still fit as a fiddle in his seventies and wouldn't be easy to deal with. Other than that, he had two elite armies each numbering up to 24 thousand soldiers. Not only were they the main reason the duke was able to form his duchy, they were also his means of making money.

As the Urubaha Duchy was rather poor, it was rather curious how it was able to maintain two huge armies that would cost a lot of money to maintain. In actuality, the two armies are often 'rented' out to others. Whenever one army's rent term is over, it would return and the other army would be rented out. They would rotate their shifts like so to earn the funds to bring in wealth traded with blood for the duchy.

However, Serihanem felt that if the guild was able to conquer the duchy and make it the guild's dominion, the two armies of the duchy would be able to make up for the guild's weak influence on land. He would definitely not rent the two armies out and believed that the soldiers would quickly become loyal to the guild with his new policy.

Also, Duke Urubaha was also a relative of the president of the Twinhead Dragon Merchant Guild. This was the most troubling obstacle for Serihanem; not only would taking the Urubaha duchy cause them to be on the bad side of the president of the Twinhead Dragon Merchant Guild, the conflict between the two big-seven guilds would most definitely greatly affect the situation of the trade union. That was also why the high officials of the Chikdor Merchant Guild had never even considered taking the territory belonging to the Urubaha duchy as their dominion.

For Serihanem those obstacles wouldn't pose much of a problem. The only difficulty he had was how he would go about convincing the higher-ups of the guild to agree to his idea. He would need at least 10 million gold Fordes to build up the infrastructure of the duchy, that's if he even managed to take it, to improve the living standards to win over the duchy's inhabitants. Even though it would stabilize the guild's control over their dominion, and gradually bring in profits, it's a little too slow for merchants like them who felt that transactions that took too much time wasn't good business.

Serihanem, who understood the merchants well, knew that this was the best chance he had to bring up his idea -- when the higher-ups were troubled by the matters concerning the interception fleets -- and felt confident that his plan had a good chance of being approved. He believed that the cost the guild would incur in their fight against Count Norton was better off invested in the Urubaha duchy. At the very least, the latter had a far greater chance of returns.

It's too bad that Serihanem was just one step late in bringing his plan. Saibyoeff stood up at that moment and said, "I have a suggestion..."

Saibyoeff hung up a large map of the Solar Seas, a map the high officials of the guild were familiar with. It depicted thousands of large and small islands and reefs.

No way... Most of the islands in the Solar Seas can only hold a small village at most! Even the largest islands are mostly mountainous. There's no place that can be made into residential areas... How could those places be fitting as the guild's dominion? thought most of them present.

However, Saibyoeff soon showed them what 'thinking out of the box' meant.

"Look here. The Solar Seas located at the south. There are around 1000 islands there. Even though the largest of the islands are smaller than a common barony, these islands are mostly located at shallow waters. Even the deeper parts are only around 20 meters at most, and the shallower parts are roughly 3 meters. The waters between the islands are so shallow that one can even walk to the next one and only get one's feet wet. When the tides recede, you'll discover that some of these islands are actually connected.

"If we connect these 27 islands with this red line here, if we fill up the shallower parts connecting the islands, we will get a composite island that is even larger than Silowas Island. On top of that, nobody will be able to dispute the legitimacy of our claim to the place. Our guild will be able to strengthen our hold on the Solar Seas gradually by clearing away the pirates one after another, firming our hold on the dominion and establishing our clan's foundation for the next millennium in the process...

The more Saibyoeff went on with his plan, the more Serihanem shook his head in annoyance.

What a useless fellow! He actually dared to suggest ocean reclamation without considering the costs it would involve, as well as the time it would take... Not only that, the military resources we would have to expend to wipe out the pirates hiding among the thousand islands would be enormous. Would father actually approve it? We are merchants. What we should focus on is speedy, efficient, and profitable transactions...

It's over... Even if I bring up making the Urubaha duchy our target, no one would bother with my suggestion anymore... With Saibyoeff's 'ingenious plan' laid before them, it will be even harder for me to convince them of my own plan... sighed Serihanem secretly.

It seemed that he would have to look for another chance to put his plan into motion. He didn't understand what his brother was thinking. Even though he had told Saibyoeff that his plan definitely wouldn't work, Saibyoeff's stubbornness made him bring up the plan anyway.

As expected, Moribak's laughter resounded in the room, interrupting Saibyoeff's presentation halfway through.

Saibyoeff scoffed angrily, "What are you laughing at?!"

Moribak finally got the chance to pay his brother back for the humiliation he received. There was no intimidating him into stopping now.

As he stepped forward gradually, Moribak said, "My beloved elder brother... Your plan is too optimistic. Naturally, it's definitely quite impressive if we are truly able to control the Solar Seas. However, how much manpower and money do you think reclaiming the shallow seas by making those landfills will take? Also, how long do you think we would need to be able to finish setting up the dominion for our guild?"

"Ugh..."

Saibyoeff was rendered speechless by those queries.

"I haven't figured that out yet, but I'm sure the guild can have someone run the numbers..."

"There's no need for that, I have already made a rough estimate. To fill up the shallow seas and connect the islands together, the guild would have to invest at least two to three million gold Fordes every year as well as use 1000 large vessels to transport the dirt and rocks needed for such huge undertaking. After spending ten whole years, we will only be able to fill up a third of the area you specified."

Seeing Saibyoeff's stupefied look, Moribak continued, "Brother, do you know how much the guild's revenue is? We only make 2 million gold Fordes annually. Deducting the expenses and bonuses we have to pay out, less than 400 thousand or so goes into the treasury. Why did you think the guild refused your request to form another armed fleet? We can't afford to maintain another one. Have you any idea how much it costs us every year to eradicate pirates? 500 thousand gold Fordes, almost as much as the yearly revenue of the northern fleet…"

"I really don't understand how you could come up with such a brainless plan. Filling up the Solar Seas... Only a person like you would even conceive something so ludicrous. Do you think that this is something a merchant guild like us should do? Only an empire can complete a project on that scale, to say nothing of the dozens of years it could take us. Our father is the president of a merchant guild. Even if he gets a title, it's only the title of a duke. It's far from what we need to lay claim over the entire Solar Seas. Do you want our father to become the laughing stock of the whole continent for the next thousand years?

"Why can the other dukes forcefully conquer others' territory and make it their own, but not us? The trade union will be implementing the nobility system in just a few months. By then, the six other guilds would have established their dominions already, and we would have nothing. How do you think our guild will be able to stand on equal footing with the other guilds? Do you think we should tell them that we're filling up the seas and will have our dominion ready in another ten years?

"No matter how much you object to my plan, even you must have to admit that there isn't any other place more suitable for us to establish our dominion than Silowas Island. So what if they're a noble house with a military background? What's the big deal of a rank 3 blademaster? Isn't he human all the same? As long as he is not a swordsaint, we will have many methods available to us to deal with him.

"Even though our guild has suffered huge losses due to carelessness and lack of intel, I believe that we are still able to hold our ground against our enemies. Now that we know enough about Count Norton's background, we will definitely triumph as long as we carefully execute a few thorough plans!"

"You... You don't understand how scary a rank 3 blademaster can be, especially one as young as Count Norton... He even has a good chance of becoming a swordsaint in the future. Your irresponsible actions will doom the whole guild to oblivion!" roared Saibyoeff.

"You're giving up before bothering to try!" Moribak retorted, "If that's the case, all we have to do is to put him to death before he becomes a swordsaint. He is still just a rank 3 blademaster, after all. We can even ask for outside help if necessary. The Twinhead Dragon Merchant Guild and the Mayflower Merchant Guild each have a rank 3 blademaster among their ranks, while the Wessia Merchant Guild has two rank 2 blademasters. All we have to do is spend some money to hire them. Any problem that can be solved with money is no problem at all. If four blademasters aren't enough, we'll hire eight. As long as we wipe that count out, his house will slowly begin to crumble. Then we will no longer have anything to worry about."

"You..."

No longer able to argue against his brother, Saibyoeff rolled up his sleeves angrily and attempted to strike him.

"Stop, Saibyoeff! Stand down!" President Chikdor shouted while giving his second son a harsh glance.

The idea he proposed to fill up the seas was nothing but a big joke. Moribak's arguments had deeply resonated with his own thoughts. Indeed, Silowas Island was the piece of land most easily obtainable. All they had to do was wipe out the blademaster, Count Norton.

"Second Uncle, what do you think?" President Chikdor asked Udi, who was seated beside him.

The Chikdor Merchant Guild was not one that was controlled completely by one family. Initially, they were known as the Sword and Barrel merchant guild, which was originally formed by a group of close friends. Eventually, when one of the ancestors of the Chikdor clan took over, and brought the guild to the ranks of the other largest guilds in the union, the Chikdor clan obtained 70 percent shares of the guild and changed its name to its current one. Also, the position of president could only be inherited by the descendants of the Chikdor clan.

As for the families of the other founders who were part of the guild, the incompetent ones would survive on the dividends of the guild, while the competent ones would eventually serve as the high-ranking officials within the guild. After Blademaster Udi was discovered to be talented at a young age, he was raised with the utmost care and attention. This caused him to become a force that the guild could rely on.

In terms of seniority, even President Chikdor had to refer to him as uncle.

Udi shook his head with a smile, and said, "I boarded the ship Kumori died on and took a look at the traces the battle had left behind. To be honest, I don't think four blademasters will be enough. It's better to hire eight. All of them should also be at least at the second rank. Since we're choosing this route, it's better to not skimp on the costs. As long as the guild exists, we will be able to make the money back."

President Chikdor thumped on the table lightly and announced, "Alright, then the decision to set up the clan's dominion at Silowas Island is confirmed. There will be no more discussion of this. Moribak, send someone to get more information about Count Norton and his house as well as everything we need to know about Silowas Island. If there is another mistake, I will not forgive you again...

"Serihanem, contact the various rank 2 blademasters and see how much they would charge us for this assignment. As long as it is reasonable, accept their offer. They shouldn't be able to criticize us for being stingy when it comes to asking them to risk their lives on a mission like this."

"Yes, father," said Serihanem respectfully as he stood up and bowed.