At that moment, a thunderous explosion suddenly rang out.
A cannonball, by sheer coincidence, landed directly on the deck of the pirate ship.
The unarmored wooden vessel was instantly blasted open, leaving behind a hideous hole.
Countless splinters and chunks of wood flew in every direction like razor-sharp blades.
Several unlucky pirates were struck by the debris and immediately began screaming in agony.
In an instant, dozens of pirates were severely injured, rolling across the deck and wailing miserably.
Woop froze as the screams filled his ears.
Only then did he realize what had happened.
They had been hit.
The last time their pirate ship had been struck by a cannonball, the shot had landed directly in the powder magazine.
The entire vessel had exploded, causing their raid to fail and leaving them with catastrophic losses.
This time, at least, they had not been unlucky enough to have the powder magazine hit.
But if the enemy could hit them once...
then they could hit them a second time.
At that thought, worry immediately appeared on Woop’s face.
He had already begun preparing himself for the worst.
Meanwhile, aboard the armed merchant ship, cheers erupted.
"Great!"
"We finally hit them!"
"Hahaha! We hit that damned pirate ship!"
"Quick! Keep firing!"
"We have to destroy them while we have the chance!"
The sailors were beside themselves with excitement.
They stared at the pirate vessel with wild joy.
Before this, the pressure of facing pirates had been enormous.
If the pirates managed to close the distance, they would immediately attempt to board.
And if the merchant ship lost the boarding battle, then there was practically a 99.99% chance that everyone aboard would die beneath pirate blades.
Now that they had finally scored a direct hit, it felt as though one-third of the crisis had already been resolved.
If they could land another one or two shots...
that pirate vessel would be destroyed by their own hands.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Another volley of cannon fire erupted from the armed merchant ship.
The pirate vessel was bombarded once again.
And this time, they were lucky enough to hit it a second time.
However, the cannonball only grazed the hull.
It damaged part of the ship but failed to punch through completely.
Several unlucky pirates were smashed into bloody pulp, while more than a dozen others were injured.
Even so, the impact on pirate morale was devastating.
Pirates were not a formally trained military force.
Nor did they possess any lofty sense of justice or duty.
When they held the advantage, every one of them could fight like a savage beast.
But once the battle began turning against them, their morale collapsed at a terrifying speed.
Right now, they were already on the verge of breaking.
When the merchant captain saw that they had scored another hit, he was ecstatic.
"Keep firing!"
"Keep firing!"
"Don’t stop!"
He almost wished he could personally empty the entire ammunition storage into the pirate ship.
The sailors were equally excited.
"Kill them!"
"Kill those pirates!"
"We’ll get bounty money too!"
"As long as we wipe them out, each pirate head is worth several coins!"
"That’ll be enough for us to enjoy ourselves for quite a while!"
At that moment, the lookout stationed high above the merchant vessel suddenly began waving signal flags.
The signal officer interpreted the message and immediately reported to the captain.
"Captain!"
"Another ship has appeared off our rear-left side!"
"What?"
The merchant captain’s heart tightened.
Surely it was not another pirate ship.
If another one appeared...
they would truly be finished.
He immediately raised a monocular telescope and looked toward the rear-left side of the vessel.
Soon, an enormous and majestic battleship slowly entered his field of vision.
Its massive form nearly filled the entire telescope.
"That is..."
"That is a Loren-class battleship!"
The merchant captain’s hand trembled.
His voice shook with excitement.
"It belongs to our naval forces!"
His entire body began trembling slightly with joy.
Excellent.
They had encountered a military warship.
That meant this battle against the pirates was as good as won.
No—
Just as the merchant captain was about to lower the telescope, he suddenly noticed the flag flying from the Loren-class battleship.
It was not a naval battle flag.
Instead, it was merely an ordinary, unfamiliar, completely unremarkable merchant guild flag.
"Could they be disguising themselves?"
The merchant captain frowned.
"Or perhaps they are carrying out some kind of special mission?"
"Is that why the Loren-class battleship is not flying a naval flag and is using a merchant guild banner instead?"
After thinking about it, the merchant captain quickly dismissed his doubts.
He even felt ashamed for having questioned the ship.
A Loren-class battleship was one of the three trump-card warships of the Lothar Kingdom.
It was a true T0-class vessel.
It belonged to the kingdom’s naval forces.
Its loyalty to the ruler and to the people of Lothar was surely absolute and beyond question.
"Send a signal!"
The merchant captain immediately ordered.
"Tell the Loren-class battleship that we are currently engaged in combat with pirates!"
"And request assistance!"
The signal flags were quickly raised according to his instructions.
Once the sailors learned that a military warship had appeared behind them—and not just any ship, but one of the strongest warship models in the Lothar Kingdom, a Loren-class battleship—
their anxiety vanished immediately.
It was as though they had swallowed a pill that settled all their nerves.
The terrifying pirate ship ahead no longer seemed frightening.
"With a Loren-class warship here, what does it matter even if there were ten pirate ships?"
"The only pity is that we probably won’t get credit for eliminating the pirates anymore."
"All the merit will go to the warship."
"Still, staying alive is already good enough."
"We shouldn’t ask for too much."
With their fear greatly reduced, the sailors lost some of their urgency.
The pace of their cannon fire slowed.
That gave the pirate vessel a small opportunity to catch its breath.
...
Aboard the Golden Merry.
Someone quickly interpreted the merchant ship’s signal flags.
"My lord, the armed merchant ship says it has encountered pirates!"
"They are requesting our assistance!"
John raised an eyebrow after hearing the report.
Then he smiled.
"Respond to them."
"Tell them we accept their request for assistance."
"Yes, my lord."
The subordinate immediately relayed John’s command to the flagman.
John then turned toward Izer.
"Make preparations."
"When we approach the armed merchant vessel ahead, initiate a boarding action."
"I want that merchant ship."
Izer immediately understood what needed to be done.
They would first have the soldiers still wearing naval uniforms deceive the merchant crew into lowering their guard.
Then, once the two vessels came close enough...
they would launch a boarding attack and seize the armed merchant ship as quickly as possible.
As for why John wanted to capture it?
That was not something Izer needed to understand.
All he knew was that John had given him a job countless people would envy.
And John paid generously.
That was enough.
John’s eyes flickered as another thought suddenly occurred to him.
"This battleship is basically a calling card for the Lothar naval forces."
"With this calling card, every merchant vessel I encounter will assume I am one of their own."
"They won’t guard against me."
"If I strike when they least expect it..."
"Wouldn’t I become the nightmare of every armed merchant ship on these seas?"