Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 18 Jeremiah

Inside the house, the two pirates' eyes fell on him.

A careless voice sounded.

"Too slow! Do you still want to pay taxes? I don't have all day to waste here!"

Alexei frowned. He smelled a strong smell of alcohol as soon as he walked into the room.

He looked into the room expressionlessly. The empty room had no unnecessary decorations. A heavy long table was placed in the middle of the room, with papyrus and ink bottles neatly placed on it. A pair of dirty deerskin boots were tilted on top, shaking impatiently.

The man was leaning against the armchair, with several empty wine bottles scattered around his feet. He was holding another one in his hand, which made a tinkling sound when it hit the scimitar at his waist.

"Kid, I remember you." He raised the bottle and glanced at Alexi at the door. "Your so-and-so count doesn't dare to come over again, right? It doesn't matter. As long as the taxes are paid on time, Black Sail doesn't care whose name is here."

The Black Sail Fleet of Gem Bay roams the Storm Ocean without any rivals. When this fleet is patrolling the sea, even the Empire's navy will return to the port to avoid the attack.

The man raised the bottle and poured it into his mouth. The amber wine slid down from the corner of his mouth, along his curly beard, across his scarf, and onto his dirty clothes.

"Huh? Gone?" He raised his head drunkenly and shook the bottle in front of his eyes. "If you ask me, the only good thing on your shabby island is the fruit wine."

Then he raised his hand, and the bottle drew an arc in the air and fell on the floor beside Alexei, then rolled to the side with a gurgling sound, and the spilled wine stuck to his polished military boots.

"Boy, bring me two more bottles of wine."

Great, it looks like he doesn't have to think about how to start a fight.

He put the documents aside, took a step forward, stood in front of the pirate, and looked down at the pirate at the table with an expressionless face.

Legend has it that the people of the Northern White Crow Principality have the blood of giants flowing in their bodies. When Alexi stood up straight, he was almost as tall as the door frame. His short, almost transparent, light golden hair looked like a mist of cold air under the midday sun. He just took a step forward, but the pirates at the table felt as if a wall had crashed down on them.

The pirate's face showed a panic expression, and then as if he thought of something, he did not move, but instead showed a mocking smile.

In the corner of the room, in the shadow formed by the wall and the cabinet, a figure slowly stood up.

As he stood up, the light in the whole room seemed to dim.

Alexei felt his whole body suffocate, and the air in the room seemed to have turned into mud. His vision gradually turned dark, and the figure of the man in the shadows gradually grew taller.

This was an extremely muscular man, with bronze muscles bulging on his body like iron felt hammered by a blacksmith. He had no hair, not even eyebrows, and every inch of skin visible to the naked eye was painted with black lines and symbols of varying thickness, looking twisted and weird.

But what frightened Alexei the most was his eyes. In the center of his pale eyeballs was not a pupil like that of an ordinary person, but a square pupil like that of a cold-blooded animal.

Sticky, cold, slippery, and twisted.

All the sounds gradually faded away, and he seemed to be diving into the deep sea alone. The hustle and bustle of the world was just a vague gurgling sound above the water. All that was left in front of him was this strange man.

Some noisy sounds appeared in my ears. No, they didn’t just appear. They had always been there, but I didn’t pay attention to them before. I could only hear them at this moment.

The tattooed man stared at him, but it seemed as if his gaze was not focused on him, as if he was looking at someone behind him. Alexei stared blankly at his square pupils that were as dark as the abyss, and he felt that they were just like a door.

A door was slowly opening. Suddenly, a hand rested on Alexi's shoulder.

The endless fall stopped, as if someone grabbed him.

"What are you doing here? Our guests want some wine. Bring them a bottle."

Hughes turned to look at the pirates at the table, grinned with his white teeth, and said, "Two gold rums, no debts."

Alexei came to his senses at this time. He coughed violently and spit out some water, as if he was choked.

"Two gold rums?! Why don't you go and rob them? How dare you fool Captain Jeremiah?" The pirate stood up suddenly, lifted the hem of his clothes with a sneer, and a scimitar and two pistols were clearly inserted into his belt.

After saying this, he seemed to have thought of something and glanced at the tattooed man behind him calmly.

Then Jeremiah's pupils shrank slightly, and he found that the man who usually had a blank expression actually showed a confused look.

The man hesitated? Would he hesitate? Jeremiah knew him well. He was directly under the Pirate King, and he couldn't even command him.

Jeremiah loosened his grip, and the lifted clothes slid down again. He sat back in his chair and said, "I'm here to collect maritime taxes for the governor, and this is how you treat a guest?"

Jeremiah's ability was average, and he became a pirate captain by adapting to the situation. As soon as he saw something strange happening on the other side, he immediately became reasonable.

Zeus patted Alexei's back gently. Seeing that he stopped coughing and gradually regained his breath, he sat down at the table and looked at the pirate captain opposite him who was pretending to be calm.

Jeremiah snorted coldly and reached into his pocket to pull out a roll of dirty parchment.

"This is the Governor's tax list. All the taxes Castel has to pay are here."

He slapped the parchment on the table, pushed it over, then leaned back with an expression of anticipation.

The list was real, and the Pirate King's Court had indeed given them the list to collect taxes, but...
It was written in pirate language.

Pirate writing is a general term. Most pirates were illiterate, and they used a very primitive method of drawing and marking to record the treasures they robbed.

Over time, a crude form of writing was gradually formed, but at least it was possible to communicate normally. After the sea king of Gem Bay unified the pirates on the Storm Ocean, he began to require the unified use of pirate writing.

This matter did not take long, and Jeremiah was sure that Hughes would definitely not be able to understand the tax list written in the pirate language.

Oh, noble, experience the feeling of being illiterate. He wanted to think about how to mock the Earl later.

Well, it’s best not to go too far. After all, Jeremiah has no intention of breaking up with her. But it would be nice to see how this pampered nobleman gets.

Just as he was about to laugh at the joke, Hughes' next words stunned him.

"No need to look at it. From today on, Castel will no longer pay maritime tax."

(End of this chapter)