Chapter 37, The Pirate King’s Sophistry (2)
A galleon of the Iberian navy entered Marcel Port.
Since the ship had requested my permission before entering the harbor, I naturally knew which noble was coming and went to greet him.
Appraisal.
[Aniol Gibraltar, 42]
[Eldest son of the late Baron Aran Gibraltar. Lord of Gibraltar Castle. Worships Tethys and Annapurna.]
The man who stepped off the galleon was the Baron of Gibraltar, lord of the Gibraltar naval base, and a Naval Knight of the Iberian Kingdom.
I approached him to shake hands.
“Welcome, Baron Gibraltar.”
Baron Gibraltar immediately smiled widely and firmly shook my hand.
If I had to guess, not many people called him ‘Baron.’
Because of his position as a Naval Knight, most people probably called him ‘Sir’ instead.
Perhaps he felt pleased that a fellow lord addressed him as Baron.
He bowed deeply.
“Thank you for the warm welcome, Viscount Marcel.”
“Come have a meal with me. I know a good seafood restaurant. Please don’t refuse.”
“Haha! It would be an honor to dine with Viscount Marcel, famous for his medicine for sailor’s disease and his diar, medicine!”
Apparently, he did not want to say ‘diarrhea stopping medicine’ before eating.
Anyway, I led Baron Gibraltar toward a restaurant at the harbor.
We reached it on foot.
Besides the signboard, wooden carvings of squid, octopus, and other seafood hung outside.
Baron Gibraltar saw them and immediately stepped backward.
“Ugh! I can’t eat those!”
“Baron, try them once. They’re really delicious.”
“Don’t they look disgusting?”
I laughed after seeing this unexpected weakness from an Iberian naval officer.
People in both the Iberian and Franche Kingdoms did not normally eat squid and similar creatures.
They considered their slippery bodies and ugly appearances disgusting.
In some regions, people even hated them because they looked like demons.
However, I was Korean.
I could live without octopus, maybe.
But squid?
I would gladly eat it whenever I could get it.
So I had taught this restaurant several simple recipes.
The owner adjusted them slightly to local tastes and sold seafood dishes.
Business went well, and he had made quite a lot of money.
“Baron Gibraltar, it really is delicious. I guarantee it.”
“Please stop pushing me like that...”
“I even eat live small octopus.”
“Ghk! How in the world do you eat something like that?”
“You wrap it around a stick like this and chew it.”
I showed him with my hands and mouth.
Baron Gibraltar looked horrified while I laughed.
Still, he was a soldier.
He probably felt he could not keep showing weakness forever.
Eventually, he seemed to make up his mind.
“Very well. I’ll challenge it once.”
The Baron’s nostrils flared as if he were a warrior making a life or death decision.
Anyway, I successfully persuaded him, and we entered the restaurant.
Just as I had said, the inside was crowded with customers.
The smell of the sea mixed with spicy and savory aromas throughout the hall.
A server guided us to a table near the window.
Perhaps because he was hungry, or because the food smelled good, I could thankfully see some anticipation in Baron Gibraltar’s eyes.
“You can order by looking at the pictures hanging on the wall.”
“I’ll have whatever Viscount Marcel recommends.”
“Hmm. Then spicy stir-fried squid.”
“How is it cooked?”
“Squid mixed with spicy seasoning. Is that fine?”
“Of course. I handle spicy food well.”
Just in case he could not actually handle it, I also ordered steamed eggs.
Naturally, I ordered rice as well.
However, since rice was entirely imported, it was fairly expensive.
While waiting for the food, Baron Gibraltar finally brought up the pirates.
“For some time, the military leadership suspected you, Viscount Marcel. They wondered whether you might secretly be working with the pirates.”
“I expected that much. Considering the circumstances, it was unavoidable.”
Ships belonging to other territories were robbed, but ships flying Marcel’s flag were untouched.
Of course people would become suspicious.
“I’m a sailor myself, so I had already heard quite a lot about your reputation. I protested that the idea was ridiculous.”
“Thank you, Baron.”
“But suddenly, the royal family itself stepped in to defend you. After that, the voices of suspicion within the military disappeared as well. So I was wondering, do you have some relationship with the royal family?”
There was probably no hidden reason behind his question.
He was likely asking simply because he wanted to avoid making some mistake.
“I have no relationship with the royal family yet. Perhaps the Pope of the Order of the God of Abundance spoke on my behalf. I have some connection with His Holiness.”
The Baron’s eyes widened.
Apparently, he considered a relationship with the Pope even more impressive than one with the royal family.
That reaction was common among deeply religious people.
He even lowered his head apologetically.
“Please forgive our military on its behalf.”
“Haha! There’s nothing to forgive. The military had more than enough reason to become suspicious.”
At that moment, the stir-fried squid arrived.
We began eating while continuing our conversation.
“Baron, how are you planning to deal with the pirates?”
“We can’t attack their main base, so we have to fight them at sea. The captains are currently studying possible tactics.”
The pirates’ main base, Cagliari, belonged to the Odoacer Empire.
Attacking Cagliari could create an international conflict.
It was not because the Marquis of Catalonia was stupid that he had never attacked it.
If war broke out between the two nations, Catalonia was geographically positioned to become one of the first territories attacked.
Furthermore, the lord of Sardinia, the island where Cagliari was located, had never once tried to suppress the pirates.
At first, he had probably accepted payments and deliberately ignored them.
By now, Cagliari had grown so powerful that he was probably unable to touch them even if he wanted to.
“How fast are your warships? I heard the pirate ships are extremely fast.”
“That’s our biggest problem. Those pirates overload their acceleration magic items without caring whether their ships break apart. Even our warships struggle to catch them.”
Fast ships.
At that moment, a fairly good strategy came to mind.
A strategy that only I could use.
“Baron Gibraltar, I have a good idea.”
“What? What kind of idea?”
“We lure them in, then destroy them one by one.”
Several days later, in the waters between Marcel and Catalonia.
Pirate King Luca’s fleet appeared and disappeared unpredictably throughout these waters while constantly robbing transport ships.
Using their superior speed, they repeatedly attacked and fled.
The navy had been unable to do anything except watch helplessly.
However, Luca had a bad feeling today.
“This doesn’t feel right. Should we call it a day and go home?”
Sea mist had risen because of the weather, making visibility poor.
Luca stood on the flagship’s deck and stared toward the distant sea.
His lieutenant wondered why he was suddenly acting like this.
“Boss, why are you saying that all of a sudden?”
Luca pointed toward the mist.
