Following John’s instructions, every time Izer handed out money to one of the soldiers, he would say,
"This is a benefit from Lord John—a welcome gift for all of you."
"Work hard from now on. There will be plenty of good food, good drink, and better days ahead."
"But if you fail to perform, you’ll be eliminated!"
Every soldier who received the silver coins immediately responded with nervous gratitude.
"Yes, yes! We’ll definitely work hard!"
"We’ll risk our lives for Lord John!"
"Long live Lord John!"
Once all the benefits had been distributed, John immediately arranged everything that still needed to be handled aboard the battleship.
He then boarded the ship and began overseeing the loading of supplies and logistical materials into the cargo holds.
Since the battleship would need to remain at sea for long periods of time, these supplies were indispensable.
In addition to water and food, there were large quantities of medicine, medical supplies, and freshwater reserves.
Under normal circumstances, once a ship entered port, damaged sections of the hull also needed to be repaired, while ammunition had to be replenished.
Weapons and equipment likewise required maintenance, repairs, and replacement parts.
The Sea Demon that John had obtained had once been one of the largest and fastest T0-class battleships of its era, possessing enormous cargo capacity.
However, maintaining such a vessel was equally expensive.
Fortunately, John now possessed what was practically an inexhaustible reserve of gold coins.
The expense meant nothing to him.
Furthermore, the Sea Demon had been acquired through Cullen’s arrangements.
Officially, this battleship had already been declared scrapped.
That meant John could no longer continue using the Sea Demon’s original name or flag.
John had already prepared for this.
He decided to rename the battleship—
the Golden Merry.
He also had two special flags prepared.
The first was the flag of a Lothar Kingdom merchant guild, which would be displayed publicly.
The second was a black flag.
On it, a skull had been outlined using nothing more than a few simple white lines.
Once everything was ready and the sails began to rise, John shouted,
"All hands!"
"Set sail!"
Under his command, the Golden Merry slowly sailed out of the harbor.
John sat inside the command room and examined the latest naval chart of the Lothar Kingdom, which he had purchased at an enormous price.
It was an official military chart produced by the kingdom’s naval forces.
John had never expected Cullen to be capable of obtaining even something like this.
On Blue Planet, the country once known as the coming ruler of the seas had risen into a global power partly because its nautical charts were far more advanced than those of the rest of the world.
But after thinking about it again, John realized it was not particularly surprising.
The Lothar Kingdom was willing to have one of its main trump-card battleships "scrapped" and sold.
Even highly trained professional naval soldiers could be traded like merchandise.
Compared to all that, obtaining a military chart was practically nothing.
John stared at the map before him, his eyes flickering.
"My most urgent objective is to eliminate the pirates first."
"I’ll seize their territory and turn it into my initial base of development."
"Then I’ll replace them and become the one and only Pirate King of the Lothar Kingdom."
...
Meanwhile, somewhere else on the sea—
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Thunderous explosions echoed continuously.
Cannonballs weighing dozens of pounds smashed into the surface of the ocean, sending towering sprays of seawater into the air.
A heavily armed merchant ship belonging to the Lothar Kingdom was currently engaged in battle.
Its combat rating could only be considered T5.
The armed merchant ship was firing back at a medium-sized lateen-rigged vessel not far away.
A black flag flew from the other vessel’s mast.
On these seas, that meant only one thing.
A pirate ship.
In terms of combat strength, the armed merchant vessel could still qualify as T5.
The medium-sized pirate vessel, on the other hand, possessed equipment that could only be rated T8.
However, the pirate ship was still capable of threatening the armed merchant vessel.
As long as it could close the distance and initiate a boarding battle...
the pirates could make use of the greater carrying capacity of their medium-sized sailing ship, deploy their superior numbers, and overwhelm the merchant ship through sheer manpower in close combat.
They might truly be able to seize it!
The captain of the armed merchant ship knew that he absolutely could not allow the pirates to get close.
He could only continue ordering his men to fire.
"Fire!"
"Fire!"
"Sink them!"
The merchant captain was becoming increasingly agitated as he repeatedly urged his men onward.
The merchant vessel did not possess many cannons.
There were only a little more than ten aboard, so ammunition consumption was not yet a major concern.
Furthermore, the ship’s artillery system had been upgraded the previous month and replaced with high-arc cannons.
The advantage of these cannons was simple—
high firing speed and long range.
Their accuracy, however, was poor.
And since the vessel was primarily used for maritime trade, its powder magazine was not particularly large.
For the moment, they could still continue fighting.
Even if they eventually ran out of cannonballs, there was still another option.
The merchant ship itself was not slow.
Although it could not match the speed of the medium-sized pirate vessel, they were not far from Cloudspire Harbor.
So...
there was still a chance of survival.
Unfortunately, the merchant ship was severely understaffed.
Its sailors had to perform manual labor while also serving as artillery crews.
Their professionalism was questionable at best.
Dozens of cannonballs had already been fired.
Yet not a single one had managed to do meaningful damage to the pirate ship.
"Damn it!"
The merchant captain cursed as he watched so much ammunition go to waste while the pirate ship continued drawing closer.
He knew exactly who these pirates were.
They were not among the strongest pirates within the Lothar Kingdom.
However, they were infamous for being exceptionally vicious and cunning.
It was said that no one who fell into their hands had ever returned home alive.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
On the pirate ship, numerous pirates crouched low and desperately gripped whatever they could.
Cannonballs crashed into the sea around them one after another.
The waves generated by the impacts sent the pirate vessel rocking violently from side to side.
If they failed to grab hold of ropes, rails, or anything else within reach, they could easily be thrown straight overboard.
"Damn it! The boss has lost his mind!"
"He’s been sending us out raiding for days without a break!"
A young pirate roughly the same age as John tightly gripped a rope securing the sails.
He was using so much strength that veins bulged across his arms and his face turned red.
His name was Woop.
He came from a family that had lived as pirates on Pirate Island for generations.
And he had a childhood friend whom he had grown up with.
That friend’s name was John.
A few days earlier, Woop and John had sailed out together to raid an armed merchant ship.
Unfortunately, instead of successfully stealing from their target, they had suffered a disastrous defeat.
Their pirate vessel had been destroyed.
Woop had been lucky enough to escape.
John had not been so fortunate.
He had been captured.
No one knew whether he was alive or dead.
Woop cursed helplessly before letting out a heavy sigh.
"Life is getting harder and harder."
"We suffered terrible losses last time..."
"My best friend’s fate is still unknown."
"And only a few days later, we’ve already been sent back out to sea."
"Now we’ve run into another armed merchant ship that’s going to be a nightmare to take down."
At that moment, the captain’s crazed roar rang in his ears.
"Damn it!"
"Stop dodging the cannonballs!"
"Charge straight at them!"
"Forward!"
"Either we get rich or we die!"
"Why the hell are you hiding?!"
"Charge!"
"He’s insane..."
"He’s completely insane..."
Woop muttered in horror as he listened to the captain’s roaring.
Among all the captains on Pirate Island, this one was by far the most reckless.
He did not care about human lives.
Not the lives of others.
Not even his own.
That was why everyone called him—
Madman.
Naturally, the helmsman had no intention of obeying the orders of a madman.
The captain might be crazy.
He was not.
So he continued maneuvering the ship, desperately trying to avoid the incoming cannonballs.