Chapter 134: Chapter 134
Traces of evil magic remained clearly intact on the deck of the Red Eagle, where the core of the pirate forces had resided.
This, along with the surviving pirate captives, would serve as evidence proving just how horrific a deed they had committed.
Additionally, from the ship’s hold and the captain’s cabin, several useful materials (including logbooks) were obtained.
Among them, letters in which they had contacted an unidentified sponsor even came to light.
Just as Kudrak, the lord of Castaman Castle, had done in the past, those who were offered shady proposals were bound to leave evidence behind.
This was because doing so was the most foolproof way to avoid being cut off like a loose tail.
“Is this it?”
“Yeah. Take a read. There isn’t much to it, though.”
Reading the letter brought by Roden, Shan knitted his brows.
The order detailing which sea region Pendia’s merchant ships were passing through and commanding their capture bore neither the sender’s name nor coat of arms.
Besides that, there was also content containing a refusal of a request to dispatch knights to face Pendia’s army, confirming that those issuing the orders were undoubtedly the royal family or high nobles of Ruman.
Roden looked down at the letter and let out a sigh.
“It seems hard to use this as evidence.”
“It’s a shame the other ships all fled. There might have been something more on them.”
At the time Shan boarded the Red Eagle, there had been three or four somewhat smaller sailing ships around it.
However, upon witnessing Shan engage in a one-sided slaughter, they had promptly taken off without even looking back.
Of course, plenty of captives who would open their mouths remained here as well.
Since he had spared about thirteen or fourteen of them after merely breaking their legs, slowly interrogating them when time allowed seemed likely to yield meaningful results.
“Now, now, lower the anchor over there and scrub the deck! Check below when throwing the corpses!”
While Shan and Roden explored the Red Eagle, Giznu was swiftly cleaning up the battlefield in his capacity as admiral.
The seasoned sailor, who had lived on ships all his life and experienced naval battles multiple times, knew very well what needed to be done.
He demonstrated the skill of deploying over several hundred sailors while considering each individual’s career, ability, and even personal relationships.
“You fifteen, head over to that ship with the blue sail over there! And Gosan, from now until we return, you’re the captain!”
“Huh? M-Me? I don’t feel confident about this…”
“Do it if I tell you to!”
Fortunately, those he designated managed to carry out their duties passably well despite the sudden promotion.
Searching the corpses scattered on the pirate ship before throwing them into the sea, scrubbing the bloodstained deck, and attaching undamaged new sails took quite a long time.
“Are you coming to your senses?”
“Ugh…”
“This guy is almost out of it. Hey, fetch some warm water heated on the stove. My body is completely freezing after being submerged for so long.”
While the sailors worked hard, the Pendian army finished rescuing those who had fallen into the sea, treated the wounded, and verified the casualties.
The verification revealed that a total of 87 people had died or gone missing.
The reason some were listed as missing was, naturally, because they had fallen into the sea and even their bodies could not be found.
Considering that around fifteen hundred troops, or roughly two thousand including the sailors, had fought against over three to four thousand pirates, it was a truly overwhelming military achievement.
In fact, at the end, even if only briefly, hadn’t the dead pirates sprung up to fight once more?
All of this was thanks to the overwhelming difference in equipment and training.
Of course, had most of the truly skilled pirates gathered separately not lost their lives to Shan, the casualties would likely have been about three times higher.
There were even no fatalities at all among the knight class, including the Royal Knights.
That went to show how being able to move around wearing even ordinary steel armor on the sea served as a tremendous advantage.
*
A few hours later.
Having finished maintenance, the Pendian fleet advanced toward the lair of the Red Eagle Pirates only late at night after completing their preparations.
The sight of the fleet, swelled to dozens of vessels due to the joined pirate ships, entering the harbor was truly a spectacle.
Lug, who had been craning his neck forward from the lead ship looking ahead, let out a soft sigh with a “Ha.”
“On the outside, it doesn’t look like a pirate den at all.”
Unlike the commonly imagined appearance of a pirate den, the Red Eagle Pirates had arranged their base quite neatly.
From the well-organized piers to the fairly sturdily built wooden houses, an uninformed observer might easily take it for an ordinary harbor village on some island.
At the very least, it was far from the imagined pirate port lined with a full array of skewer-impaled corpses.
Naturally, the residents living near the sea had long since fled their homes.
They had likely seen the pirates being defeated and either fled on ships or hidden deep inland on the island.
Shan kept most of the force stationed on the ships, selected an elite unit, and headed toward the residences of the pirate executives located inside the village.
The bastards resided in a sizable castle they had built, though perhaps because they had to use stone originating from the island, the castle was made of somewhat soft sandstone.
“Ha, honestly.”
Entering the castle, Ravana glanced around and clicked her tongue in disbelief.
Hanging everywhere inside were all kinds of artworks presumed to have been looted.
Perhaps because they were a pirate crew counted among the finest even in the South Sea, this place looked no less grand than any noble manor.
And upon stepping into a room inside the castle presumed to be the central hall or banquet room, dozens of blood-soaked people came into view alongside a heavy stench of blood.
Behind them lay a mountain of corpses dressed in fairly luxurious clothing.
The people wearing anxious expressions prostrated themselves flat and cried out upon seeing Shan and the Pendian knights.
“P-Please spare us!”
“We are slaves!”
“Slaves?”
These were people wearing worn, shabby clothes ill-suited to the castle’s luxurious exterior.
They claimed to be slaves of the Red Eagle Pirates.
They said most of them had been kidnapped from coastal villages on the continent, small islands, or merchant ships.
Ravana saw the blood on their hands and asked.
“What is that blood and those corpses over there?”
“They are… the families of the pirate executives.”
An old man with a cleanly shaved head stepped forward as a representative and respectfully explained.
According to his words, a few hours ago, a pirate ship belonging to the Red Eagle that fled from the battle brought news of their defeat.
Upon hearing this, the residents on the island had all fled on the ships docked at the harbor.
The problem was that the executive families and slaves located inland could not board the ships in time.
Realizing there were no remaining ships, they attempted to drag the slaves into the island’s interior to hide.
At that moment, recognizing that an opportunity for freedom had arrived, the slaves rose up all at once.
After a fierce battle broke out, the pirate families were wiped out, and only the slaves remained, waiting for them.
Hearing the story, the Pendians spoke in a tone of contempt.
“Slaves…”
“Honestly, to do something only heathens who do not know the Goddess would do!”
Wasn’t not keeping humans as slaves one of the core teachings of the Order of the Goddess?
Then again, judging by the horrifying magic that raised corpses out at sea, it was plain to see how little they regarded the Goddess.
“This statue seems to tell just how degraded the faith of those pirate bastards is.”
A priest gestured with his chin toward a statue of the Goddess placed on one side of the room, speaking in a contemptuous tone.
Although it was a disrespectful attitude for a priest to show toward a statue of the Goddess, anyone could understand upon seeing its shape.
Rather than being neatly draped in white cloth across the whole body like those on the continent, it was a lewd shape precariously covering only the nipples and private parts.
Had the laurel wreath symbolizing the Goddess not been placed atop its head, one would have thought some harlot had been sculpted.
While everyone displayed their contempt for the pirates, Shan looked around at the slaves and the corpses lying behind them, narrowing his eyes.
Treading forward with firm footsteps, he stared intently down at the blood-stained corpses before shifting his gaze to the slaves and asking.
“Why does everyone look so healthy for slaves? Did your masters feed you well?”
“Pardon? What does that…”
“I happen to know that a body that scavenged food scraps and a body that ate well are different.”
“Soldiers! Surround those bastards! Kill them if they resist!”
At Shan’s murmur, Roden beside him shouted as if finally catching on.
Though flustered by the sudden order, the soldiers immediately leveled their spears and blades at the slaves.
Being well-trained soldiers, they had learned to obey before thinking with their heads.
“W-Why are you doing this!?”
“Please spare us!”
The unarmed slaves could not even resist the sudden oppression and quickly threw themselves to the ground.
Shan looked down at them and spoke in a chilling tone.
“You used your brains half-baked. Enough to get caught by someone like me.”
Contrary to their words, the survivors were in fact the families of the Red Eagle Pirate executives.
Those lying dead in fine clothes were the slaves.
They had likely killed all the slaves and swapped clothes after realizing they could not escape.
For if revealed to be pirate families, they would at best be driven out penniless to die, and with high probability march to the gallows.
In contrast, by fooling the Pendians into thinking they were slaves, they might somehow gain an opportunity to hijack a ship.
Even if not, by deceiving them to the end, they might safely start a new life on the continent or another island.
From the stance of those bound to die anyway, it was a gamble worth taking.
Shan noticed this because back when he lived in Willow Village, he had led a life similar to what they called slavery.
Their eyes and gestures lacked the servility unique to people who had surrendered their lives to others.
That tiresome nature Shan had once possessed.
Above all, what brought certainty was when he checked the corpses of the dead.
Unlike their splendid clothes, their bodies were scrawny and covered in scars characteristic of those who had suffered abuse.
These were traits the families of pirate executives could never have possessed.
At Shan’s explanation, the others gasped as if only then realizing the truth.
“Indeed…!”
It was a fact visible only after knowing it, one that others had failed to notice in time.
Normally, wouldn’t anyone assume people covered in filthy clothes, blood, soot, and dirt were slaves?
Had they left them alone without properly keeping guard out of pity thinking they were poor souls, a disaster would have almost ensued.
Realizing they had been deceived, the Pendian soldiers glared at the pirate families with eyes filled with intent to kill.
To think they slaughtered innocent slaves to swap clothes just so they themselves could live.
The hostility surging from the evil magic displayed earlier by the pirates surpassed its limits, their expressions now closer to viewing beasts or monsters rather than fellow human beings.
Shan issued an order to those soldiers.
“It seems there is neither need nor reason to keep them alive. Kill them.”
Screams echoed from one side of the banquet hall.
*
The next morning, the Pendian army began razing the Red Eagle Pirates’ base in earnest.
After sweeping up all usable items during the morning, they set fire to the entire castle and village.
They even poured plenty of oil and set fire to the forest located inland on the island.
As an island swept by sea breezes from all sides, burning it down completely would naturally be difficult, but it was certain to deal a severe blow to the small island’s ecosystem.
Throwing corpses into wells scattered around the village and breaking stones to block them was an added measure.
“Ensure no human can live on this island in the future. Make them clearly see what the end of pirates looks like.”
Occasionally, screams echoed from the burning wooden houses.
These were likely people hiding in secret rooms or basements, waiting only for the Pendian army to depart.
However, no one (including Shan) felt any sympathy.
Even Lug, who had once felt skepticism toward the brutal pillaging of the Ruman army, felt the same.
For truly, the race of pirates was something that could not be considered human.
They were pests, demons, and entities more degraded than anything else.
Even monsters, at the very least, killed humans rather than enslaving, abusing, and sacrificing them for their own safety.
A few of them escaped through the fire and fled into the forest, but no one bothered to pursue them.
Left on a deserted island with not a single ship, a burning forest, and no water source, they would only end up starving to death.
While useful supplies were looted and the island was burned in this manner, interrogations proceeded on the ship.
Pirates tied to the masts were whipped and screamed.
“AAAAAAARGH!”
“Speak. Did the King of Ruman support you with troops?”
“I, I really don’t kno… GAAAAAH!”
Crack! Struck on the back with the whip, the pirate passed out and went limp.
The wound was so severely inflicted that the skin was torn beyond belief, exposing the white bone beneath.
However, before long, treated with a priest’s miracle and alchemical drugs, the pirate regained consciousness as cold water was poured over him.
Deep despair washed over his rugged face at the realization that this hell would never end.
If only he had died fighting like his comrades, he would not be suffering such agony!
Struck by the whip time and again after that, they screamed until their voices grew hoarse.
Meanwhile, the sight unfolding before their eyes was equally appalling.
Bound to the deck, they were able to watch Red Eagle Island burn in its entirety from a ringside seat.
Those not belonging to the Red Eagle Pirates also knew full well that before long, their own dens would suffer the same fate and that they could never stop it.
As physical and mental torture continued in this way, one person finally opened his mouth for the first time.
“Th-the captain once brought someone who looked like a knight! His skill was tremendous. He had a scar on one eye…”
Though the captain had threatened to murder their families the moment anyone opened their mouth, that captain himself was already long dead.
If only this agony could be reduced, what secret couldn’t be divulged?
Once an executive of the Red Eagle Pirates began to open his mouth, testimonies came pouring out.
By nature, once the first person started something like this, it tended to burst forth uncontrollably.
In truth, to secure testimonies, separating them was better than gathering them all together and torturing them like this.
The Pendian interrogators knew that fact as well, but they did so simply because they wanted to torture the pirates a bit more.
Their hostility toward the pirates had soared endlessly to that degree.
Before long, the identity of the sponsor could be roughly verified from the captured pirates.
Since the leaders of the pirate crews had kept the identity of the reinforcements secret, no one knew the exact name or identity, but after confirming the glimpses of appearance and characteristics and combining them with rumors heard by sailors, a rough result emerged.
Duke of Licharzo.
The nephew and right-hand man of the current king, and simultaneously the master of Licharzo Island, which was among the largest and wealthiest in the Kingdom of Ruman.
It was precisely the knights sent by him who had helped plunder Pendia’s merchant ships.
Of course, the one who issued such an order to the Duke was likely the King.
“A duke… well, he’s quite a big shot.”
“If it were Pendia, would that be around Duke of Ranpel’s level?”
“That’s right.”
The flagship of the Pendian fleet, captain’s cabin.
At Roden’s words, Shan, who sat across from him, nodded.
His hand was inside a sizable box.
Alongside officially relaying this to Cheryn via the transmitter, they were also conducting unofficial communication.
Though only two people were present in this space, in truth, three were engaging in discussion.
Scribble-scratch. Shan, who was focusing on the sensation of the spider writing letters on his finger, spoke.
“Yes, Your Majesty. We shall do so.”
“What did Her Majesty say?”
Roden, unable to know what Cheryn had communicated, asked.
At this, Shan wore a faint smile and passed along the Queen’s words.
“First, we are going to completely annihilate the strongholds of the three pirate crews that lost their leaders this time and attack Duke of Licharzo’s fief. Additional reinforcements are set to come for this as well.”
Since they possessed both justification and power, there was no reason to hesitate.
It was time to leave a mark in history books so they would forever remember the cost of touching them.
Razing an island where hundreds of thousands of people lived to the ground would be more than enough of a lesson.