Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Captain Gold rested his hand on the curved sword at his waist, gazing from the bow at the distant three-masted clipper.

The fat captain of the Bandit Gull once said that "merchant ships with wicked thoughts turn into pirates, and honest pirates running ships are merchants," but this time he was wrong. Because robbery was not Captain Gold's hobby—it was his full-time job. "Good Fortune" Gold was a full-time pirate of the inland seas, specializing in the promising industry of maritime robbery.

The reason why "Good Fortune" Gold acquired his nickname was because the Goddess of Luck always smiled at him.

Many pirate ships would often get caught by the Alliance navy, but he always managed to escape. When faced with tough prey, after a bloody battle where every surviving pirate was wounded, he would come out unscathed every time.

Sailors said: Bullets would curve around "Good Fortune" Gold. There were also whispers spreading quietly in the cabin: Good Fortune Gold had made a deal with the devil, and evil black magic protected him.

However, Gold's luck had indeed always been excellent, so much so that he even named his ship "Good Fortune."

Like now, if it weren't for the wind stopping, there was no way a galley like the Good Fortune could ever catch up to the three-masted clipper ahead. But just as luck would have it, the wind stopped and thus the ship, no matter how many sails it had, could only become the prey of the Good Fortune.

Gold saw that after he raised the black and red flag, the small ship ahead had already lowered the naval flag and raised the white flag.

The ease of scaring the opponent into surrendering owed much to the large cannon on the bow of the Good Fortune. This large-caliber stone cannon was Captain Gold's prized possession, acquired through a fortunate coincidence and a high price.

Nobody on the Good Fortune knew how to use the cannon, but fortunately, it wasn't necessary for actual combat. Just loading the gunpowder and stone shot and firing a shot was enough; upon hearing the cannon fire, even the toughest prey would surrender.

A large-caliber stone cannon could dispel any merchant ship's fantasies of boarding combat.

The merchant ship on the opposite side raised the Vineta naval flag, not softening at the knees just from a blast of the cannon? As for that naval flag, Gold didn't care much.

He was aware of the details of the various Alliance navies; there were many merchant ships registered with the navy. The weaker and less capable a merchant ship was of defending itself, the more it preferred to register with the navy of different countries, paying a protection fee and getting a naval flag in return.

A naval flag could possibly scare away armed merchant ships with malicious intentions, but it could not scare away Good Fortune Gold.

In the inland seas, ships come and go, why would I be afraid to rob you just because you hang a Vineta naval flag? Besides, on this vast sea, if I rob you, would the Vineta navy even know? And even if the Vineta navy knew, what could they do to me?

Moreover, this time, Good Fortune Gold came specifically for the naval flag. Three masts, a light vessel, registered under the Vineta navy, appearing here at this time—all the intelligence confirmed it. No mistake, it was this ship!

Seeing the opponent had already raised the white flag and surrendered, the corners of Captain Gold's mouth almost split to his ears, and he was bursting with excitement: "I've struck it rich! This time, I've struck it rich!"

Gold could hardly wait to board the ship ahead. To him, the Good Fortune's speed seemed as slow as a turtle, and the rich prize within arm's reach made him anxious. He called to his first mate, "Do the rowers want to die? Are they not putting in the effort? Why are they rowing so slow? Go make them row with all their might!"

The first mate heeded Gold's command, grabbed a whip, and walked down to the open deck, starting to lash those wretched rowers on the lower decks.

Like the Bandit Gull, the Good Fortune had two decks, but both decks of the Good Fortune were above the waterline.

In fact, rather than saying the Good Fortune had two decks, it would be more accurate to say that the Good Fortune was a flat-bottomed tub with an illegally added layer of a through-deck building acting as an open deck.

The rowers on the Good Fortune were positioned on the second deck, each with one foot chained next to the oar, without even space to turn around, they could only row.

The rowers weren't the pirates of the Good Fortune; no free man would willingly become a rower. The rowers were sailors from the merchant ships that Good Fortune Gold had robbed.

The cargo was taken, the ship was sold, some of the sailors were sold off, and some were kept to row on the Good Fortune.

The rowers were shackled, eating, drinking, relieving themselves, and sleeping all next to the oar. Even when the pirates went ashore to rest, the rowers wouldn't be released.

With poor food, bad sleep, and high work pressure, even a strong man wouldn't last long in such conditions.

But luckily, there were always new victims to replace them. The rowers were just replaceable parts of the Good Fortune, needing replacement every so often.

For the rowers, there were only two ways out: die next to the oar or somehow manage to become a pirate.

On the Good Fortune, there were ten rows of oars, each oar manned by two rowers, totaling forty rowers. Together with the more than fifty pirates, that was the entire crew of the Good Fortune.

Almost a hundred crew members for a ship of Good Fortune's size seemed overly bloated. Thus, the Good Fortune had very poor self-sustainability, and it had to dock again for supplies and rest after only one or two days at sea.

Ordinary galleys had sailors who doubled as rowers. But on the Good Fortune, with the free labor from human beasts, the pirates naturally didn't want to also be rowers; they wanted to save their strength for possible hand-to-hand combat.

The Good Fortune closed in on the Bandit Gull until they were only a few ship-lengths away. Captain Gold directed the Good Fortune to intimidatingly circle around the Bandit Gull.