How To Live As A Third Son Of A Failure [EN]: Chapter 238

The wind howled fiercely across the open sea. Driven by that wind, two pirate ships relentlessly pursued the Golden Honor.

Jeskal and I clung to small boats between the larger vessels, holding our breaths.

Once we confirmed the pirate ships were directly ahead, Jeskal and I prepared to jump without a word.

I bent my legs, channeled mana, and leaped. Rising like a shadow, I silently landed on the forecastle [the front part of the upper deck] of the pirate ship.

I infiltrated, using the darkness and the rough waves as cover. The pirates, oblivious to my presence, were busy preparing for battle.

“I wish we could finish this quickly and go back.”

“I agree. Damn it, the rumors around here are too bad.”

Leaving the pirates focused on the Golden Honor, I counted their numbers.

‘Ten, twenty, thirty… about forty or so.’

Considering the Golden Honor’s crew numbered around thirty, this was a significant force.

Of course, they were still just pirate rabble.

“Did you hear something just now?”

“Hear what?”

“I thought I heard footsteps up front?”

“Are there fish with legs? Stop talking nonsense and keep watch… Huh?”

This wasn’t a conversation between the captain and his subordinate. Having finished my reconnaissance, I launched myself upward, and the two pirates who spotted me widened their eyes.

“W-what!”

Would their last words have been different if they had known their fate? Lost in pointless thoughts, I swung my sword horizontally.

Swish!

The blade sliced through the air, leaving only a subtle sensation. Simultaneously, two heads flew from their shoulders.

Thud! Thud!

Blocking the falling blood with my cloak, I continued forward.

“What, that bastard!”

“Intruder!”

The pirates who discovered me shouted.

The pirates, armed and ready for battle with the Golden Honor, began to swarm toward me.

Of course, this was welcome news. It saved me the trouble of hunting them down one by one.

‘Who’s the captain?’

That was easy enough to figure out. I just needed to find the one shouting the loudest in anger at this moment.

“Seize that guy immediately!”

A burly man with an eyepatch pointed at me, practically advertising his position as the boss. I understood perfectly.

I nodded and advanced. The pirates swaggered toward me.

“This bastard is calmly walking over…”

The head of the pirate who spat out a vulgar curse went flying. The same fate befell those behind him. The lightly swung sword faithfully harvested lives.

Guilt? They were pirates. There was no way I’d feel that. If anything, they should be grateful for such a painless death.

“W-what…”

Had I killed about twenty already? As his subordinates fell one by one, the captain’s expression turned strange.

“What is he? What kind of guy is that?”

Sometimes, quiet silence is more effective than sharp intimidation. Just like now.

“What are you doing! Go and stop him!”

The men next to the captain gritted their teeth at his roar.

“D-damn it! How can we stop that!”

“You bastards! This is the sea! There’s nowhere to run anyway! Fight!”

“Don’t talk crap! That’s a knight, anyone can see that!”

As they bickered amongst themselves, trying to escape into the cabin, I kicked off the ground and leaped.

Passing over their heads, I landed in front of them and slowly locked the cabin door.

Then, I finished off the remaining pirates. I made sure to slowly pierce the heart of the last one, so the captain could see it clearly.

“A-aaagh! Cough, gurgle…”

The scream was silenced by the blood filling his mouth. As the dead pirate’s body slumped, the captain, who had been watching from close range, fell on his rear.

“W-who are you?”

Why the sudden introduction?

Ignoring him, I wiped the blood off my sword with the hem of my cloak and squatted down in front of the captain.

“The Crow Pirates, right?”

“T-that’s right.”

Confirmation complete. Peter was an expert interrogator on the Golden Honor, so I didn’t need to get involved.

I raised my hand and struck the captain’s neck, and he passed out with a whooshing sound.

Pushing the unconscious captain aside, I turned on the lights that the pirates had turned off, signaling Peter.

‘Jeskal is…’

Turning my head, I saw a distant, flashing blue streak. Following that, I saw heads soaring.

How boring.

Well, from the start, it wasn’t even a task worth calling a mission.

‘Wait a minute.’

Then, I felt like I had missed something. Wondering what it was, I looked around and found the sails, fully inflated by the wind.

“Ah, right. I should have stopped the ship first.”

* * *

I was able to rendezvous with the Golden Honor only after cutting a few ropes connected to the mast, narrowly avoiding becoming a lost child in the open sea.

“…Is it too much to ask you to act a little more carefully?”

I had nothing to say to Fleta’s reproach. I felt like a completely lost kid. Damn it.

“It’s not like I’ve ever been on a ship before.”

“Was Sir Jeskal a sailor instead of a knight? I just found out.”

…Unfortunately, Jeskal meticulously left a few pirates alive to stop the ship, making the comparison with me even more stark.

“Okay, okay, stop teasing me and tell me, where’s Peter?”

At my question, Fleta pointed to the door leading down to the cabin.

“Sir Jeskal is interrogating the pirate he captured.”

“Already?”

“He started earlier because someone was late.”

“Ah, right. Damn it. Where’s the captain?”

Turning my head, I saw the captain rescuing prisoners from the pirate ship I had captured.

Approaching him, the captain greeted me with an excited face.

“Guild Master, you are amazing as expected. To capture a pirate ship single-handedly.”

“Save the compliments for later, there are a few things I want to ask.”

“If it’s something I know.”

“How many crew members would you need to operate the captured pirates’ ships? The bare minimum.”

The captain tilted his head at my question.

“The pirates’ ships, you mean? They’re not that big, so at the very least, you’d need a navigator who can read the sea charts, a helmsman to steer the ship, and about four strong men.”

“Could you spare the necessary personnel from the Golden Honor?”

“From the Golden Honor?”

“Even friends who learned it over the shoulder are fine. Just enough to have the basics.”

“In that case…”

“And I’d like you to divide about a week’s worth of supplies between the two pirate ships.”

“Both ships?”

“I plan to operate them separately from the Golden Honor. Please prepare accordingly.”

“Yes, well…”

“Can you do it before dawn?”

At my words, the captain looked at the moon. Then, he sighed deeply.

“I need to move quickly.”

“Thank you.”

Leaving the work to the captain, I slung the bound pirate over my shoulder and headed to the cabin. Fleta, who had followed me, stood beside me.

“Are you planning to use the captured pirate ships?”

“Yes. It’s too inefficient to move with only one Golden Honor. Besides, it’s dangerous. Even if we’re cornered, there’s nowhere to run on the sea.”

“So, use the pirate ships as scouts?”

“That way, the Golden Honor can stay in a safe place. And the exploring crew will have a place to return to.”

“Hmm, how will you divide the personnel?”

“Didn’t you already figure that out?”

When I mentioned the plan she had made before departure, Fleta shook her head.

“That was the personnel distribution for when everyone was exploring one island. I didn’t assume they would be moving completely independently.”

“Then we can just rework it from now.”

“Easier said than done.”

Tapping Fleta’s shoulder, who was grumbling, I entered the lowest level cabin of the ship.

The spacious warehouse, once used to store trade goods, had been transformed into an interrogation room. Taylor, who was leaning against the entrance with his arms crossed, raised his hand when he saw me.

“Oh, you managed not to get lost?”

“The rumors spread fast.”

Taylor easily took the pirate I was carrying and entered the cabin. I followed him in and opened my mouth.

“Any progress?”

“That friend blurted everything out before I could even do anything. He’s even talking about his family history.”

Inside the cabin, Peter was constantly asking the pirate something. And Jeskal was writing down the answers next to him.

The collaboration between the Royal Guard Knight and the Royal Secret Investigator was both harmonious and discordant, making me chuckle.

“Ah, you’ve arrived?”

Peter, who was interrogating the pirate, stood up when he saw me enter the cabin.

“Did you find out anything?”

“This and that. I need to cross-verify it through that guy, though.”

Peter shrugged, glancing at the pirate I had brought. Jeskal, who had approached me, handed me a piece of paper.

The contents were diverse. And almost identical to what I had expected.

“They confirmed that we were heading to the open sea instead of the coast after departing from Malrga and followed us. They ambushed us at night because this is the territory of the Siren Pirates?”

“It’s as the Count expected.”

“That’s good news, but is there any other harvest? Like things only pirates would know.”

“Of course.”

Peter, smiling, pointed to a map spread out on the table.

“You know the pirate groups that I mentioned before that were eaten and disappeared.”

“The Neviros… no, the Siren Pirates?”

“Yes. That guy roughly knows the bases of those disappeared pirate groups.”

“That’s good news.”

No matter how great the Neviros Order is, it would be difficult to create a huge pirate group overnight.

Then the best method is determined. It is to take and occupy the already created infrastructure.

That also meant that the bases of the eaten and disappeared pirate groups and the Neviros Order were likely to be the same.

“Good. We can narrow down the search range. Of course, they may not have occupied that place.”

“It doesn’t matter even if they don’t. Either way, the facilities will remain. If we can use that place as a base camp, the search will be much easier.”

That’s right. The biggest weakness we have now is the problem of the base.

It is a heavy burden to conduct a long-term search relying only on the Golden Honor floating on the sea. It is also a concern to create a new base camp on a remote desert island.

But if it is a base used by pirates, there will be a sufficient foundation. If the Siren Pirates occupy that place, it will be even better.

“First, where is the closest place?”

At my question, Peter pointed to two sea areas on the map depicting the southern sea.

“This place and this place are the closest sea areas to us.”

Both sea areas had archipelagos made up of dozens of islands. Thinking about searching each of those large and small islands already made my head throb.

“There are so many. Damn it. First, since there are two sea areas, let’s divide ourselves into two groups and deal with them at once.”

“Two groups? Ah, are you using the pirate ships we captured this time?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, I need to rework the plan.”

“Our operations staff must have thought of that.”

Fleta, who received my gaze, sighed deeply.

“I think we’re moving too hastily… but anyway, it seems like the sea areas to investigate have been decided.”

“How do we divide the groups?”

“It would be better for the Golden Honor to stay parked in a safe place as a base. It seems good for Lordain and me to stay and protect it.”

Lordain, who possesses the most powerful force, and Fleta, a magician, remain on the Golden Honor.

I expected that much. But what about the remaining search teams?

“The first sea area, let’s call it Alpha. Count Kain and Sir Taylor will investigate that place. The second sea area is Beta, and Sir Jeskal and Investigator Peter will take charge of this place.”

Me and Taylor. Jeskal and Peter.

Fleta, who divided the groups, continued to speak.

“Each group should take one of the two captured pirates and explore the sea area. If there is any harvest, return to the Golden Honor immediately.”

Jeskal, who was listening to Fleta’s words, raised his hand.

“If one side returns, how do you plan to call the other group back?”

At Jeskal’s question, Fleta took out two rings from her pocket. Perhaps because of the magic, they had a faint but blue aura.

“They are rings connected by magic. If one breaks, the other will also lose its light. If you lose the light, return to the Golden Honor immediately.”

“Are there only two rings?”

“Yes.”

“Then what if there is a problem with the Golden Honor?”

“If it’s a problem that even Lordain can’t handle, no matter what precautions we take, it will be useless.”

It was a strategy that could be created because she fully trusted Lordain’s power. And because Jeskal had experienced such Lordain’s power, he nodded without complaint.

“But don’t be too relieved. This is enemy territory after all. So return as quickly and safely as possible.”

At Fleta’s small but clear words, Taylor, Jeskal, and Peter silently nodded.