Chapter 502 - Promise (Patreon)

More and more, Sami had to both admire and dread his friend's pettiness. As he walked towards the men in the center of the deck — slowly to keep his balance on the unsteady ship — the petty admiral Chanca continued to ridicule his defeated foes.

"Maybe you shouldn't have had such a big mouth in my backyard. Maybe you shouldn't have been screeching about the 'stupid southern barbarians'. And maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't have run the same route over and over again. Just north and south and north again. Anyone can lay an ambush if you're that predictable," Chanca explained, as his arrogant smile slowly grew into a self-satisfied grin. After a quick glance at the kneeling sailors on the side, he added: "Though what really killed you was your crew. Those guys really hate you, you see? I only had to buy that former man of yours a single drink and he told me everything I wanted to know. You shouldn't have left him stranded in Challwala, if you ask me. I'd say be nicer to your men in the future, and don't throw them off the boat for no reason in a foreign land, but I guess that won't help you anymore. I mean, look at them." As he spoke, Chanca pointed his bloody machete to the side.

Indeed, the sailors who were lined up along the ship's railing all stared at the two unbearded fools with sneering mouths and hate-filled eyes. Their resentment was certainly down to their current position, but resentment must have been building for a while. The fools clearly hadn't treated their crew too well.

At the very least, it would explain how Chanca could so quickly learn about their route from a disgruntled crew member. It would also explain why the crews of the five ships had reacted so poorly in the face of a pirate raid, worse than even Sami's own, inexperienced crew.

Not only had their response been chaotic, which implied a lack of training and leadership, these sailors had also surrendered pretty much as soon as their own health had been threatened. In the process of catching the three ships at the back, there hadn't even been a single death on either side, which said a lot about their lack of commitment.

With the unwitting support of the foolish northern captains, they had easily taken all five ships, a feat which seemed impossible based on their initial positions alone. Yet with no losses, all obstacles had been removed, and they only had to wait for reorganization until they could sail all ships back south. Now all that was left to consider was what to do with the crews of these two ships, as well as their foolish captains. As he stared at the bloody machete in Chanca's hand, Sami just hoped his friend wouldn't make any radical decisions.

"Well, admiral, having fun?" he said to make his presence felt, in an exaggeratedly casual tone to hide his tension.

"Hey, Sami! You're right on time," a happy Chanca turned his head and said. "You also wanna have a turn with these fools?"

As he spoke, Chanca turned back and pointed his bloody machete at the poor fools kneeling before him. Although Sami didn't like the two, the thought of further torture made his skin crawl. He didn't like to see his friend like this, so eager to prove himself in front of his father-in-law's crew that he would commit such horrible acts. Beyond that, he certainly didn't want to be involved in any more barbaric acts either.

Rather than participate in bloody murder, he tried to refocus their attention on their next step.

"No thank you, I think they've already suffered enough," he thus said, before he looked towards the suppressed crew to the side and tried to prove Chanca's intentions. "So now we've won their ship and captured their crew. What do we do with them?"

"I didn't think that far, really," Chanca said in a casual tone, which almost forced an annoyed sigh out of Sami.

Of course you didn't.

Although he didn't agree with Qawa's assessment that Chanca was useless, this admiral certainly only did well in things he cared about, and didn't like thinking much about anything else. To prove Sami's point, while he was still picking his words to convince Chanca of the same deal he had offered the previous crews, his friend had already determined an irresponsible and mindless solution.

"I thought we just throw them all overboard and be done with it," he suggested, a plan which was as lazy as it was cruel.

"Are you... sure that is the best idea?" Sami asked with some hesitation. Although he felt like he knew his friend well enough to judge him not a cruel man, he still decided to be careful. What if Chanca's remark hadn't just been lazy and inconsiderate? What if he had really gotten a taste for blood these days?

Although Sami didn't want to condemn his friend over his own insecurities, he also thought it was better to be careful. More than anything, he didn't want his friend to turn into a bloodthirsty monster. Even more, he also didn't want to see so many of his countrymen to die senselessly, just because they found employment with the wrong boss. To his relief, Chanca thought for a second, before he turned to Sami with a question, rather than an order.

"So what do you think we should do?" He left the problem to Sami, in the same lazy tone as before. Apparently, he really had just been thoughtless, rather than malicious. It made the young captain sigh in relief.

"I think it would be better to keep the sailors alive," Sami immediately said. "I mean, we don't want to sail all those new ships of ours back home on our own, right? If these guys really don't like their bosses, then they obviously won't mind switching teams. I mean, the guys on the other ships even offered to join us on their own. All they wanted was a bit of money, and we can pay them their wages easily from the loot we got this time. Surely, the men here aren't any different. Isn't that right, boys?"

As soon as Sami turned to address the captured sailors, the smarter ones among them immediately understood his intentions.

"Yes, master! We hate those northern bastards!" the smartest one shouted.

"Yes, master! Please don't abandon us! We will do whatever you say!" another added, while crawling forward on his knees.

Soon, the entire crowd fell over each other to profess their loyalty. Even with their hands tied, Chanca's crew had a hard time controlling their enthusiasm. The more noise they made, the more Chanca's brows drew together, until he exploded.

"Shut it!" he shouted, and raised his bloodied machete, which immediately silenced the crowd. Although Sami was glad these prisoners had calmed down before things got out of control, he was even more determined to save them, and make use of them at the same time.

"What do you say, admiral? Don't you like their enthusiasm?" he asked in acted confidence.

"Yes, great admiral, we are willing to submit!"

"We are awed by the great admiral's might!" the prisoners once again added. Luckily, most of them remained quiet in the face of the bloody weapon, so no more chaos broke out.

This time, there was no long-winded negotiation with drawn weapons on both sides. The crew didn't make any demands, and just submitted without resistance. More importantly, Chanca's grin returned, and it grew wider and wider every time the sailors flattered him.

"Fine, we can take them in. But if any of them make trouble, I'll throw them overboard myself," he finally relented, much to Sami's relief. Yet before the former carpenter could breathe easy, his friend's head sharply turned to the two defeated captains right beside them. "But we won't need these fools to sail the ships home, right?" A dangerous light returned to Chanca's eyes as he stared down the fools.

"Please don't hurt us! We apologize!" the skinny one said, with tears in his eyes. In his panic, he had even forgotten about his affectatious way of talking. Gone were the 'this scholar's and the 'barbarian's, now only panic was left. In contrast, his tall friend showed no remorse for his actions.

"Do your worst, pirate! The scholars will take revenge for this master once they have wiped your barbarian country off the map."

In response, Chanca backhanded the big man so hard his head snapped back.

"Good, I like your spirit!" he said, as an evil grin rose on his face again. "As a reward, I'll give you a quick death."

As Chanca raised his machete to follow through on his promise, Sami began to panic again. Now that everything was decided, he just didn't want to see any more blood. After all, he had been a simple craftsman up until recently, and he didn't want to see his good friend turn into a monster in front of his eyes. At the very least, he wanted to prevent any needless murders, if he could. Surely, Ekkoko's men were already impressed enough, and there was no need to sink even further into piracy just to impress them.

Thus, before he could think clearly, he had already shouted: "Wait!"

"What is it this time?" As Chanca turned back towards Sami, he finally looked annoyed. However, the clever craftsman's mind worked overtime and quickly came up with an excuse to save the lives of these defeated fools.

"Why kill them now?" he stammered, as he constructed his argument in his head, while he also did his best to suppress the quiver in his voice. "I mean, if we let them go instead, they can always buy more ships, and we can just rob them again. They did say they were sent by the northern kingdom, right? Surely, the northern crown has silver enough to pay for more than just five ships."

"Hmmm..." As he seemed to be mulling over his options, the machete in Chanca's hand bobbed up and down. Now that there was hope for a mostly bloodless solution, Sami tried even harder to convince his friend.

"Also, if we let them get back home, they can tell our story in the north. You'll become famous as a big pirate, the bloody admiral! Everyone up there will be terrified of us."

"I do like the sound of that," Chanca replied, as his previous, leisurely grin returned.

"And if we kill them now, every merchant fleet we raid in the future will fight us to the death," Sami continued to argue. "I mean, if they would die anyways, they better try to resist as hard as they can, right? But if we let them go now, then other merchants will know that we won't kill them if they don't resist. You do want to repeat this kind of raid in the future, right? Letting them go will just make our work that much easier from now on."

As Sami barraged Chanca with one argument after another, the bloody admiral's brows twisted, as he tried to follow his friend's increasingly fast torrent of words. Whether he had been convinced or simply decided to do his friend a favor, Chanca finally gave up and waved away all concerns with his bloody machete.

"Whatever, I've vented enough anyways," he said, and fully turned away from the two fools. "Just give them a boat and let them go. They can row to shore on their own. That fortress over there probably has some fools willing to help them."

Under the grateful eyes of the captives, Sami watched as Chanca's orders were executed. Although the tall fool was still mumbling curses under his breath, his cowardly companion held him back from doing anything stupid, until they had been let into the water and began to row away.

After, the new crew members of theirs were redistributed on the ships, just how Qawa had done with the others before. Although they had been professing their loyalty in a most violent manner, Sami couldn't trust them, of course. After all, no matter how poor their treatment had been, it was still a fact that they had betrayed their captains. Without a spine, and without honor, their service was of dubious use. Sami couldn't help but think that they would have to release all of their new crew as soon as they reached Saniya, and then rehire new hands, if they didn't want to share the fate of the unbearded fools. Without really being aware of it, Sami was already planning for their next journey.

Not long after, the newly grown fleet of seven ships began its journey south, towards their home. On Sami's suggestion, they made a wide berth around the Argu Delta, to avoid meeting any other ships. At this point, Sami just didn't want anything else to go wrong. The less contact they had with others, the better, as far as he was concerned.

Eventually, his caution paid off and they reached the open waters of the Narrow Sea without another incident. Only half a day later, they finally spotted the high roofs of Rapra Castle on the horizon, just as the first snow of the year began to fall. After more than two seasons at sea, they were finally back home. And with them, they had brought riches Sami couldn't have imagined at the start of their journey.

Finally, he had made something of himself, and become a man of wealth, and status. Finally, he had made the first step in fulfilling his promise to his family, and to himself.

Hermit's Notes: That is the end of this mini arc. There'll be another few chapters of transition, and then a last short arc in this book.