Wortenia Senki (WN)

"I see... so you're back with a scarecrow"

Saying so, the woman swallows the ale liquor of the jock in her hand.

Exposed to salty wind, dull blonde hair. Not to say ugly, but the facial construction is extremely mediocre. I can't even say my breasts are small on small and my attraction as a woman is flattering.

But there was no man in this town who insulted her for it.

Confidence to say he has survived within the man society. It becomes a sharp blade from his eyes, intimidating his surroundings.

Her name is Louida.

With the alias [Sea Serpent], she is one of the heads who rules this same town as Henry.

"It looks like Yaki has turned too. I should have told you such a story..."

The bald-headed man sitting across from Henry also murmured as if he were in tune with Louida's words.

The man's name is Andre.

This man, alias of [Tsunami], is a giant man who boasts two thick arms, comparable around the woman's waist.

He turned his gaze to Henry as he slapped his beautifully shaved head.

It is the three who surround this round table who are the rulers of this town and the captains of the pirates led by each of them.

They had several medium-sized and small vessels, each with a Galeon vessel as its flagship and called a carabel or carac, roughing up the Waltenia Peninsula and its surrounding waters.

Today, regular meetings are held once a month. It is an important meeting to determine the fate of this town.

And now, the biggest concern in this meeting was the real trend of Ryo Misaki, who was to occupy the peninsula.

land abandoned from the country, which is why they have been based,

Public power intervenes on its peninsula. I could hardly overlook it.

"You really think so?

A low, calm voice.

(Well, it's natural for these guys to be suspicious. If I were in the opposite position, I'd be suspicious.)

Such thoughts calm Henry's heart.

Louida shrugged her shoulders at Henry's words, and Andre remained silent.

The two of them fully understand Henry's prowess.

Henry is one of the bosses of this barren town.

There is no need to question his strength. Because it's not protected by the privileges of being born like a nobleman.

If Henry's power diminishes over others, he will soon be dead and dumped in the sea.

He is here alive. That fact clearly demonstrates Henry's strength.

"I did all I could as things stood. Sure, I thought about landing and looking into it, but I couldn't get rid of the possibility of a trap."

As if to ask if she had any complaints about my judgment, Henry glanced at the two of them sitting in the chair.

The gaze of the three crosses on the tabletop.

"A trap... for sure"

"The preparation itself is an indication that the bastards of your firewood are prepared."

That's what I'm saying.

Henry's words at the end, the three remained silent.

A long silence dominates this room.

The question is what to do after this. Depends, their fate could be determined.

"Attack thoughtfully...? In terms of numbers, you're talking about three hundred there. Together, we'll be over five hundred. Even if you push, you have a chance, don't you?

Andre, the most engaged and bloody of these, suggested a push of force.

The alias for [tsunami] comes from the way he raided.

Sneak up on the prey as if the waves were quietly pulling, crushing it in overwhelming quantities.

It is not a simple force push. After a thorough examination and preparation, we strike at once. It's not that easy.

Andre can reign in this town because he has the power to achieve it.

But Henry shook his head at Andre's suggestion.

"No, it doesn't taste good to get your hands on poorly... if you're going to ambush an unprepared opponent, anyway, that's a bad idea, more than they could possibly have. It's a small number, but there are mercenaries in the war."

I usually don't hesitate to get on Andre's suggestion, but not this time.

"There are too many uncertainties… but what if they do?

Andre himself had something to think about, and even if Henry denied it, he didn't seem to care much.

Sure, the numbers are higher for the Henries, and they have plenty of experience in action.

But their experience in action is basically maritime stuff.

Fighting on the sea with countries and colleagues, they are fierce fighters who have dived through many times, but only when they plunder villages and towns.

Because they want to take it away, not fight it.

Besides, their biggest weapon is an ambush.

Even if you are accustomed to attacking ordinary people with loose vigilance, you do not have the strength to defeat prepared towns directly from the front.

"Then what do we do? Keep your mouth shut and pierce non-interference?

Though on the same peninsula, between the coves where Liang Zhenda is based and this town, there is a wooded area of the monster Monster.

The town itself is a town built to be hidden from the eyes of men in a cove surrounded by cliffs that cut off the perimeter, and cannot be found so easily.

Louida's suggestion is passive, but never wrong.

With the alias [Sea Serpent], she is an obsessive, above all, person who can wait.

"So I peek at the opportunity..."

To Henry's words, Louida nods with a niggling laugh.

There are many people who can choose to move, but few can choose not to move while waiting for a chance.

She was able to reign as a powerful man because she could quietly wait for the power of her predecessors to fade.

None of them just wait. As soon as possible, I have been engaged in building up my own power and at the same time shredding the power of my predecessors.

As if the poison would gradually erode your body...

It is the source from which she is called [Sea Serpent].

But then again, Henry shook his head to the side and said his own thoughts.

"All of them are one hand, but I believe it would be better to negotiate with Baron Shiba at this time."

Hearing its words, Andre and Louida stare at Henry with surprise.

For both of us, because his words were too unexpected.

"Negotiate...... hey. Are you hungry to alarm your children and attack them?

"Not a bad idea, but you better think that your firewood is alert to us. Besides, he wouldn't be the kind of guy who would take that invitation off guard... if the rumors about him were true"

There is a saying in the big man in general that wisdom cannot turn, but Andre has more wisdom than a crowd.

That is only natural given his predecessors, who were traders travelling between continents.

Without even the bad luck of saying that a trading ship would sink in an out-of-season storm and incur a lot of debt, he would not have lost himself to pirates and such.

Now I'm tired of using rough tactics, but I'm a man who originally built enormous amounts of wealth with one mouth.

From the experience of summing up many business talks, the eye that identifies his person was the most certain of the three.

From Andre's point of view, Liangzhen Gozai is a man who is good at the plot "Hakatsu" that does not believe in others.

Winning credit from such people is not that easy.

That's what a plot can even be to be made the other way around.

But Henry shakes his head again.

"It's not... the negotiations are just a prerequisite. We'll end up under the umbrella of your firewood. Really."

"Are you insane...?

Henry nods silently at Andre's inquiry.

"You know what I mean..."

I'm not saying what. It's something that people in this town feel, and for the three of us here, it's really a more serious problem than Liangzhen Gozai.

"Sure... we don't have any later... but..."

"I don't know about Atai either. In the first place, I'm even suspicious if your children will negotiate with Atai and the others?

But Henry looked head-on at the two skeptical eyes.

"But I can see ahead even as I continue to do the pirate business. Wouldn't you?"

To their words, the two of them press silence. His attitude proved that Henry's words were correct.

As a matter of fact, not much is said about looting.

You can certainly make a lot of money in the short run by plundering villages.

Because even though they are exploited by nobles, civilians save as civilians.

Takeover is about taking its roots right. In agricultural terms, it is tantamount to eating everything you harvest without leaving enough for seeding next year.

As a result, it cannot be continued income.

So, what do we do?

You uproot one or two villages and towns, and you regularly take money from the towns around you in the form of taxes.

A pirate without blood or tears. If attacked, women and children will also be mercilessly killed, offended and sold off as slaves.

Such an image binds the hearts of ordinary people without fangs and pays pirates to escape that fear.

To be safe...

And I can tell you the same thing when attacking a merchant ship.

It is only with ships passing through the route that we can attack.

If the pirates are defeated, and attacked, the cargo and even life will be taken from them. Who sails such a route?

Often, pirates are paid a transit tax by merchants.

Load or cost of some part of the shipment?

Also, if you don't, the next one will be gone.

Whether it takes regular sacrifices to maintain the image or not, taking root is not what pirates are meant to be.

But only scorched earth remains after the pirates led by the three Henries now.

When you literally attack a village, take it away, kill it all.

Same thing when attacking merchant ships.

Surviving sailors sell off as slaves, taking all their loads.

Its frequency has been increasing at an accelerating rate since about a decade ago, and now we do everything we can to plunder like that every time.

"I know the rest... now I have to go quite a long way to find my prey"

Louida nods at Andre's words, whining as if to throw them away.

Merchant ships from the northern region are halting their route around the north of the western continent en route.

Currently, it operates on a regular basis up to the port town on the eastern tip of Ernesgura.

From there, it may be said that it is all about crossing the central continent by road and transporting it to the trading city of Fulzard.

Compared to mass transport by ship, labor and labor costs are extra, but it is the merchants' decision to say it is better than being uprooted by pirates, which would be the right recognition.

It's all because of Henry and the others' rough ways.

"I said, I'm finally going to live on my current earnings... like a very long time ago, I'm not loose doing sweet things"

Once upon a time there were no more inhabitants of this town. A few families a year, even if it increases. There were no more than ten people. That led to a sudden influx of people about ten years ago.

The reason is clear. It is time for the invasion of the Altomere Empire to become active.

As the Ortomean Empire expanded its territory, the nations that existed in the middle of the Western continent were doomed one after the other.

In the process, many humans escaped difficulties and abandoned their homeland.

Of course, there are many people who have chosen to live as a citizen of the Altomere Empire.

But there are never many people who refuse to be the people of the Empire and seek new heavens and earth.

No, most people belonging to the privileged class were either expelled or executed.

Many of these people will return to the earth under strange skies, but some lucky people will reach New Heaven and Earth.

And some of them flowed into the unnamed town that existed on this Waltenian peninsula.

"The decision was wrong then. That's for sure, given the current situation."

"There's nothing you can do about it now."

To Henry, who throws up in frustration, Louida hangs her words of comfort.

In retrospect of the situation at the time, there was only one conclusion. Now that I see the conclusion, I can only say that it was a mistake.

Given the enthusiasm at the time, it was natural.

Numbers are power.

One or two, if there are more residents of the town, that's all you need to be afraid of raiding the monster Monster.

Little by little, a growing town.

No one is happy that their town is expanding.

Well, if you've lived in hiding to avoid people's eyes until then, it's even worse.

At first, I embraced only a very few lucky people who had broken through the forest zone, but they escalated and went.

We sent ships to port towns everywhere, and this lured prospective humans into the pirate business.

Everything was going well at first. The number of pirates increases, and the size of ships and towns that can be attacked grows ever larger.

It also eliminated the need to be frightened by crusade troops dispatched sporadically by neighbouring countries. The waters around the Waltenia peninsula literally became Henry's territory.

Yes, Henry and the others couldn't have predicted that it would open the doors of hell.

More residents of the town. Thanks to this, the raids from the monster Monster, which lives on the peninsula, decreased in a visible way.

More residents of the town. Thanks to this, the size of the town that can be attacked grows.

It was also natural for them to be at their peak.

That's why they forgot. That they don't produce anything themselves.

There are limits to the passage tax and to the payments made from the villages.

Even they have to live.

However, the unplanned increase in the number of inhabitants of the town prevented them from maintaining the town on their own.

And the balance that broke once will never return.

A larger income will be needed as a result of an increase in the number of people and an increase in the number of people in order to generate greater revenue.

It's the beginning of a never-ending bicycle operation.

And they will gradually increase the number of seizures.

They had no other choice but to root for the peninsula, a location where self-sufficiency was difficult.

"We did too much. I don't like going through this watershed right now. And the towns and villages on the coastline, after they've all taken them away."

Both Andre and Louida remain silent on Henry's words.

But his eyes read exactly what was hidden behind Henry's words, emitting a strong light.

"But that is why there is room for negotiation with your children. There's room to sell our power."