Chapter 16.1

‘A pirate ship?!’

Panic struck the people in an instant; passengers scattered about with their heads in their hands, while the incessant screaming of noblewomen sounded throughout the ship. People panicked and shouted at the sailors, “Let’s go! The pirates are coming! Hurry and get this thing moving!”

“T- To the captain’s cabin!” The sailors standing on the deck panicked and immediately rushed towards the captain’s cabin. However, just as the sailors were about to head there, a few passengers in the crowd suddenly pulled out their knives and grabbed the women and children nearby, putting knives to their necks, threatening, “If you don’t want these women and children to die, then stand still and don’t move!”

“No! Help!”

“Mommy—!“

The women being held hostage screamed in terror and the children cried out to their mothers. The pirates in disguise grew annoyed after seeing such a loud scene and screamed curses at the hostages. The women and children didn’t dare to open their mouths again as their legs kept trembling in fear.

“Stop!”

The sailors were furious when they saw what was happening. One sailor seemed to want to rush up to them, but the pirates threatened them with the menacingly shiny blade in their hands. The sailors couldn’t help but flinch, especially seeing that the passengers were taken as hostages.

“Let the child go! What do you want?!”

The sailors roared angrily at the pirates. This was a premeditated attack, the pirates had long been mixed into the ship, and since that the ship was anchored at sea, it moved slowly. They must’ve succeeded in taking control of the captain’s cabin.

“Shanoa, what should we do?” Milona pulled the corner of Shanoa’s coat with some uneasiness and asked secretly in a very soft voice.

“Let’s see what happens first,” Shanoa whispered, she didn’t want to get into trouble. If they escape now on the boat, the pirates may try to fire from behind, and if the ship sinks now, they will all die.

Minimizing the problem at hand was the utmost priority, and money seemed to have been their main objective. Shanoa hesitated for a moment and quietly asked Gagaf next to her, “How much money do we have left on us?”

“When we left the village we had 1000G plus 2200G from the sale of the blue-headed bird feathers, and after deducting the meal money and boat expenses… There’s probably 460G left,” Gagaf replied after doing some calculations.

“S**t, so there’s still a lot! We can’t hand it over to them!” Shanoa snapped, “We have to finish them off!”

“Be patient,” Gagaf tried calming Shanoa down, “It’s better to see what happens first.”

“Hey, hey, just be good and cooperate, and no harm will come to you. Count yourselves lucky, our captain is very good at talking.”

“D**n, vile pirates!”

The sailors stared at the pirates with hatred, watching the distant pirate ship getting closer and closer. If they let them board the ship, the consequences were simply unthinkable. However at this point, one passenger hiding in the back shouted: “What a joke! I’m not going to give my money to the pirate! They’re outnumbered, let’s attack!”

This shout seemed to wake up a lot of people, and suddenly the group rallied. A few men ignored the hostages held directly towards the pirates and pounced. It surprised the pirates that more people than they expected cared this much about their money. The few hostages held by the pirates were also caught off guard. Under the attack of the passengers, they wrestled like a ball. However, just at that time, a gunshot rang throughout the ship and the noise ceased.

“Calm down, gentlemen. I know none of you want to be thrown overboard and fed to the sharks,” a gruff and arrogant voice appeared, authority flowing off of every single word. Everyone’s eyes followed the sound and their eyes laid upon an imposing bearded man emerging from the captain’s cabin holding a musket with a tied up man behind him. [1]

“Captain!” A sailor exclaimed. The uniformed man had an angry and resigned expression while the bearded old man smiled and looked at the group of passengers who were fighting with the pirates. He grinned and showed a mouthful of brilliant gold teeth and said, “Who wants to lead the way?”

The bearded man’s musket was still smoking, and upon seeing this, the passengers retreated, quietly bowing their head. The bearded man grinned hideously and ordered his men to tie them up. At this time, however, Milona, who had been quietly hiding in the sidelines, suddenly shouted.

“Mr. Ruka! How could you?!” Milona looked at the bearded man incredulously, her eyes full of betrayal, “There must be a mistake somewhere, how can you be a pirate?!”

‘What do you mean “how”? Look at the man!’ Shanoa can’t help but want to spit out these words; she really didn’t guess wrong seeing his obvious characteristics befitting a pirate and simply felt despair for Milona, even Gagaf couldn’t say anything to Milona’s reaction.

“Pfft, I never said I wasn’t a pirate, this little girl is so naïve!” The bearded man looked at Milona was greatly amused, letting out a hoarse laugh.

“This is too much! I believed you!” Milona shouted angrily. Shanoa really didn’t want to be mean, but Milona really was just dumb—even the average person would never fall for this.