Free Web NovelChapter 50: Chapter 46: The Finale Banquet
Bach’s fat face turned a deep, purplish-red with rage. He took a step forward, his spittle nearly flying onto the hem of Caroline’s dress. "Stupid sow! You crazy woman, still talking tough when you’re at death’s door! You threw your last bit of money into the sea just for the splash? You think a few profound-sounding stories will scare us off? Look at the mess at your feet!"
"Why are you wasting your breath on her!" an ally from another commerce association behind him roared at Duncan, the representative from the Royal Capital Bank. "Mr. Duncan, initiate the forced liquidation immediately! We don’t want to wait another second!"
"Liquidate now! Follow the contract!"
Caroline, however, raised a hand. She looked at Bach with an almost pitying gaze before turning to the Royal Capital Bank representative beside her. "Uncle Duncan, do you know how I’ve fought my way through all these years?"
Duncan was taken aback.
Caroline continued as if to herself. Her voice was quiet, but like a confession in a church, every word carried a bone-deep chill. "Never trust a vulture’s mercy, because their stomachs can only hold carrion."
After speaking, she slowly walked up to Bach, so close that he could smell the expensive perfume on her.
"Mr. Bach, do you smell that?"
Bach subconsciously took a step back. "What?"
"The smell of carrion." Caroline’s smile bloomed once more, but this time, it was utterly bewitching. "You thought it was coming from me, didn’t you?"
Her voice was soft, yet it reached every person’s ear. "A good show must have a grand finale, mustn’t it?"
Just then, a long, drawn-out bell tolled from the port’s watchtower.
DONG—!
Twelve o’clock. High noon.
Bach and the others paid it no mind, but when Caroline heard the bell, the curve of her lips turned abruptly cold.
She walked straight to the massive stained-glass window and touched the glass lightly with her fingertip.
The Magic Array layered upon it dispersed the curtain of rain, revealing the entirety of Tarry Port to the crowd in unprecedented clarity.
Everyone instinctively took a step closer.
The port’s water was as murky as ever. The ships, already sentenced to death, were moored silently, like a graveyard awaiting decay.
"Ha! Is this your trump card?" Bach exploded with exaggerated laughter, doubling over. "So we can get a clearer view of your failure? Caroline, you..."
The words caught in his throat.
Because the seawater had begun to boil.
Not from heat, but from a skin-crawling agitation.
At first, it was just near the waterline of a single frigate. The planks seemed to come alive as if something was ramming them frantically from within. The next second, a section of a white, bloated shipworm’s body was brutally squeezed out from the wood, like pus from a boil!
The shipworm thrashed wildly in the water, its body swelling at a visible rate, and then...
SPLAT! With a muffled pop, the white torso exploded, spewing a small, foul cloud of greenish-white fluid mixed with splinters of wood.
One was just the beginning. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Two, three, a hundred... In an instant, the ship’s hull was "growing" a layer of constantly bursting white tumors!
Then came the second ship, the third... The entire port seemed to have contracted a terrifying skin disease!
Countless shipworms "squeezed" out of the hulls. They were no longer gnawing, but fleeing for their lives. They scrambled to vomit themselves out of the wood, only to twist, bloat, and burst in the water.
SPLAT... SPLAT... SPLAT...
Blobs of white flesh would suddenly surge to the surface of the sea, only to explode and vanish, creating a continuous, wet, nauseating sound.
The entire harbor was soon covered in a thick, bubbling "soup of floating corpses" made of shipworm remains and entrails.
The stench seemed to penetrate the glass and drill into everyone’s nostrils.
It was spectacular, bizarre, and as shocking as the coming of a Divine Punishment.
You could hear a pin drop in the hall. The owner of a small commerce association next to Bach saw his eyes roll back in his head as he fell backward, hitting the floor with a dull thud. No one paid him any mind.
"What... what is that?"
"The worms... are they all dead?"
"How... how is that possible!"
Duncan, the representative from the Royal Capital Bank, stared blankly at the spectacle outside the window. He whipped his head around, his eyes fixed on the woman standing in front of the glass. His lips trembled uncontrollably, unable to form a single word.
He understood. He understood everything!
The Golden Sail Commerce Association’s ships... could have been saved all along!
When everyone else came to their senses, all eyes converged on Bach.
As he stared at the white hell outside the window, the first thing that came to his mind wasn’t his accounts, but Sea Wolf’s scarred face and the words he had roared: "Sign the ’guaranteed freight contract’!"
’That stupid brute, who I thought was the first to defect... he was actually the first knife Caroline sent my way!’
Cold sweat soaked through his silk shirt.
’I was tricked! I paid the highest price to hire a fleet that would backstab the association at any moment, and I even signed the most ridiculous compensation clause! I’m not the house; I’ve been the pig, fattened for the slaughter from the very beginning!’
"No..." A guttural rasp escaped his throat. His legs trembled violently and uncontrollably before he collapsed to his knees with a THUD.
He clutched at his hair, his eyes shot with blood, repeatedly muttering, "The ships... the money... the contract... The president will kill me."
Caroline slowly turned and walked over to the kneeling Bach, tapping him lightly with the toe of her shoe.
"The banquet is over, Mr. Bach."
She ignored Bach and turned her gaze to the creditors, who were now wearing sycophantic smiles. Her voice rang out clearly through the hall.
"Gentlemen, regarding the loan repayments, I believe we can discuss this in a different manner."
Under everyone’s expectant gaze, she brought the feast to a close with a declarative tone.
"Effective immediately, the Golden Sail Commerce Association will fully restore shipping capacity on all routes."
"Furthermore, to thank our loyal clients for their unwavering support during this time," she glanced at the pathetic heaps on the floor, the corner of her mouth curling into a cruel arc, "shipping fees for all routes will be reduced by another ten percent from the pre-hike prices."
That final sentence completely drained the last bit of color from Bach’s face.
A ten percent price drop meant that no cargo on the market would flow to the Blackstone Hand’s high-priced, monopolized capacity. Every day, every moment, the Blackstone Hand’s treasury was burning.
Caroline savored his despairing expression, adding in a light, cheerful tone.
"It seems the grand feast the Blackstone Hand prepared for all of you can now only be enjoyed by themselves."
"Welcome to my slaughterhouse. Are you enjoying yourselves, gentlemen?"
