Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 20 Leaving
Zeus looked at the changes in Jeremiah's expression with some amusement. He knew what Jeremiah was thinking without having to guess. His title of Border Earl was indeed very intimidating. In fact, the biggest function of this title was to intimidate people.

The Queen tacitly allowed them to seek benefits under this name, and it was natural for the Empire to get a share of the profits.

But Hughes didn't expect that a title alone could solve all the problems.

"Of course, you can't take steel and wood, at least not openly. But I can get something that will satisfy you." Hughes flipped through the account book leisurely. "Of course, you can continue to collect your maritime taxes. Let me see fifteen baskets of fish? Thirty boxes of sweet fruit wine?"

He smiled and shook the account book. "You can't even collect the gold rums. You can only pay with some goods."

Jeremiah glanced gloomily at the account book in Hughes's hand.

He was indeed right. Castel was a poor place, or rather, the islands in the Ocean of Storms were generally poor.

If this place is rich enough, why are there pirates? Who would risk their lives to make money?

It is the barrenness of this place, coupled with the sudden storms that can destroy everything at any time, that makes the Storm Ocean a paradise for pirates.

And the choice Hughes gave him was damnable. Was that even a choice? It was a blatant threat.

He must be seeking revenge, revenge for their actions on his territory, revenge for the tattooed man's actions against his clerk.

But the conditions he offered were completely irresistible to Gem Bay, no wonder he was so confident.

Looking at Zeus's smiling face, Jeremiah knew that he was doomed to suffer this loss.

Could Gem Bay refuse those scarce resources? Of course not. Others might not know, but Jeremiah knew the extent of the pirates' urgent need for ships and munitions.

The Black Sail Fleet roamed the Storm Ocean without any rivals. They won all the battles, but survival became increasingly difficult, even to the point where they could barely move forward.

It was difficult to replenish the ships, and the resources were embargoed by the empire on land. They were like rats in a pot, and could only watch helplessly as the queen sneered and boiled the water dry.

As long as Zeus can provide the resources, Gem Bay will immediately make room for him, a position higher than his as captain.

"What are these resources and how long will it take for them to arrive?" Jeremiah asked dryly.

"You'll see it when you come to the port in a month."

Jeremiah's face twitched. The other party was not even willing to tell him what it was. There was no sincerity at all.

But he really had no choice but to glance at the tattooed man not far away without leaving a trace. Although the man came with him, he only obeyed the orders of the pirate governor, which was also a surveillance of him.

There are many pirate captains. If he ruins the business, the governor will just replace him with someone else and let Jeremiah feed the horse-faced fish.

Jeremiah took a deep breath, took off the scimitar hanging at his waist along with the scabbard, and then placed it solemnly on the table in front of Hughes.

This was pirate etiquette. After both parties reached an agreement, they would exchange an item. Giving away the sword signified solemnity and—a threat.

If the other party did not fulfill his promise, Jeremiah would hunt that person down for the rest of his life until he hung his head on the mast of a ship.

Zeus took the scimitar nonchalantly, and casually pulled out a small conch covered in mud and sand from his hair and handed it over.

Insult, complete insult!

Jeremiah took a deep breath, thought about it, took another deep breath, grabbed the conch, turned around and left without saying anything.

He will personally bring a fleet to pick up the goods in a month. No, starting from tonight, he will deploy people to watch the sea to prevent the damn lord Xius from sneaking back to land.

If he couldn't deliver the goods on the day of delivery, Black Sail would hang his head on the highest mast.

Jeremiah sneered. "If you have the guts, take the whole island with you and fly away."

At the dock, Alexei looked at Hughes with a complicated look as he watched the sampan carrying two pirates leave the island.

Today completely shattered his impression of this lord.

To be honest, he didn't have much dealings with Xiu Si. Before, Xiu Si almost completely threw the territory to him and never showed up in the manor.

I thought he was just an ordinary useless noble, but I didn't expect that I was so wrong.

It is easy to turn against pirates, but it is not easy to force negotiations with them.

Alexei believed that he could not remain calm under the pressure from the tattooed man. He still felt a little scared when he thought of that strange man.

He was also impressed by the chips that Hughes threw out.

Each of these scarce resources accurately hit the pirates' weaknesses, forcing the arrogant Jeremiah to compromise.

As for whether he could get it out, Alexei didn't really care.

No one can predict what will happen in a month. With him around, we can get some secret help from the royal family. Besides, this Earl is the illegitimate son of Duke Cohen, so maybe he can really come up with something.

What's more, Hughes was canonized here, and he will definitely fight against the pirates in the future. Although a month is not a long time, it can do a lot of things. Although I don't know what cards Hughes has, Alexei, as a graduate of the Royal Military Academy, will definitely be able to play a role.

Alexei found that he actually admired this lord.

He was also a hawk in the Military Academy, and he naturally identified with lords who had a tough style of doing things. The way Count Hughes did things was very much to his liking.

As expected, the Border Earl is not a useless person, he is just too arrogant.

and many more!

If you think about it this way, Hughes once asked him to negotiate with the pirates.
Alexei smacked his lips.

He originally thought that the lord was too cowardly to show up in person.

Now it seems that he was extremely wrong. He dared not to pay the sea tax of Xiusi, so how could he not dare to negotiate with the pirates?
He thought he understood what Hughes meant and gave money to the pirates.
Alexei gritted his teeth.

Then he thought that Xius came here in person today, not only to help him out, but also to give him a demonstration.

Not only did he not suffer any loss, he also defeated two pirates and gained another month of extra time.

To his shame, he really didn't do well enough. He didn't have the skills of Zeus, nor could he suppress the pirates with force.

Alexi climbed his way up from an orphan to a seventh-level civil servant, relying not only on hard work, but also on his character of admitting his mistakes and correcting them as soon as he knew they were wrong.

He did indeed do something bad, and even though Hughes scolded him for it, he had no complaints.

Alexei stood up straight.

But then, he looked at his lord in surprise—

Hughes handed him a scimitar.

(End of this chapter)