Free Web NovelChapter 269: Chapter 269 Vampire Prince’s Navy Team_1
Half a month later, north of the Dragon Spine Empire, the Silent Sea.
A cargo ship was slowly sailing at sea. Today, the wind was calm and the waves gentle — a perfect day for sailing. Yet, the captain at the helm was tense, glancing around nervously. The crew bustling about the deck also wore faces filled with unease.
"Oh, come on, why’s everyone acting like we’re committing a crime? It’s not like we’re smuggling anything," a passenger on board couldn’t help but speak up. He was draped in a hooded cloak that tightly concealed his body and face, his arms crossed as he leaned against the cabin, hidden in the shadows.
"Passenger, we really can’t keep veering off course..." The captain pleaded with a mournful look on his face.
"What’s the problem with being far from the shoreline?" the passenger asked indifferently.
"I told you, this area is infested with pirates!!" The captain said with a gloomy face, "If we encounter them here... with this small ship, there’s no chance of escape!"
"So that means no detour," the passenger shrugged, "We are here to find pirates."
"Passenger... I beg you, please spare us! I—"
"Alright, alright!" The passenger interrupted his pleas impatiently, "How about I compensate you double the agreed price? Can you just keep quiet for a while and sail the ship?"
"But no amount of money can buy back my life!"
The captain was now filled with regret, deep, deep regret. He only wished he could go back to the morning and give his earlier self a couple of slaps.
He should not have been greedy and taken this deal.
That morning, three hooded travelers, two men and a woman, came to the port looking for him, offering money to take them out of the city.
At the time, seeing the three travelers unwilling to show their faces, the captain guessed they were gang members being hunted by their enemies, afraid to be recognized overland, so they chose to bribe a cargo ship at the port.
After weighing the risks, the rather substantial ’boat fare’ tempted him. The captain himself was only making a brief stop at that port before sailing again, and with dozens of ships coming and going from the port each day, even if the local snakes were after the three travelers, they wouldn’t be able to trace it back to him.
It was quick, easy money not to be missed.
So, he took the three passengers aboard and left the port early, heading towards the Coral Peninsula to the northeast.
But to his surprise, less than three hours into the voyage, the three passengers revealed their true nature, hijacking the ship and demanding they sail north, making a large detour, before heading to the Coral Peninsula. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
"With us here, what are you afraid of, pirates?" The passenger seemed entirely unconcerned, "When the pirates show up, all of you can roll into the cabin, and we’ll take care of the situation."
"Are you... Bounty Hunters?" the captain asked cautiously.
"You don’t need to worry about that," the passenger said, spreading his hands, "I can only say we’ll do our best to ensure your safety."
"Passenger..." the captain seemed to want to say more.
"Oh, come on, do I need to bite you and hypnotize you before you’re willing to shut up and quietly sail the ship?" The passenger lifted his face.
He wore light makeup to make his skin appear more like a living person’s, but the dark red eyes and the pointed fangs he intentionally revealed still made it clear he was a vampire.
Vampire Prince, Kael Kaordo.
The captain immediately shut his mouth.
Facing the passenger before him, the captain didn’t voice his true thoughts. He wasn’t actually all that afraid of pirates because he was quite sure that the pirates, most likely, wouldn’t stand a chance against these three vampires of seemingly noble blood.
What he truly feared was that one day these three guests would slaughter everyone onboard, drain their blood, and then toss their corpses into the sea.
After all, the Bloodthirsty race was known for hunting living humans.
Although the guests repeatedly assured that as long as they obeyed, they would not harm them in the slightest, the ship captain still felt very uneasy.
He dared not speak of this, fearing that the slightest carelessness would infuriate the guests and he would become the first victim.
"Kael, has the target not appeared yet?" Another female of the Bloodthirsty race came out from the cabin with a dark expression, "I’m feeling a bit seasick."
"If you want to vomit, just go to the side and do it." Kael waved his hand indifferently.
"This mission is really troublesome," the female vampire muttered in a lowered voice.
"I haven’t said a word, and here I am rushing from the autonomous region straight to the Empire, while the two of you are way more relaxed than me," Kael said with a smile.
"What was ’Father’ thinking, messing up like this?" the female vampire continued to complain, "Does he have some feud with the pirates of Empire’s northern seas? Are we preparing to join the Empire’s navy?" freewebnøvel.com
"Does his purpose matter to us?" came the voice of a third Bloodthirsty race member from inside the cabin.
Kael exchanged a glance with the female vampire and shrugged their shoulders.
They had all made a Blood Covenant with the progenitor, and they had no choice but to obey his commands. Although the three of them were baffled by the progenitor’s sudden order to catch a pirate leader in a specific sea area, exploring that purpose actually didn’t make much sense to them.
After all, they could only do their best to fulfill the progenitor’s orders.
About a quarter of an hour later, the lookout on the mast shouted, "Ship ahoy! Ten o’clock direction, there’s a ship coming!"
The captain immediately jerked into action, called the first mate who was inspecting the deck to take the helm, and took up his binoculars to look into the distance. The ship in the distance appeared in his visual field, heading straight for them.
The other ship was clearly faster, and in the span of half a minute, he felt the outline of the ship in his view slightly grow larger.
The distance was being noticeably closed, and the disparity in size was too great. Even if this trade ship gave it all they had to flee, it would eventually be caught up.
Suddenly, the approaching ship lowered its deceptive Empire flag and instead hoisted a menacing pirate flag, adorned with a skull and hourglass.
"Pirates are here! They’re coming!!" the captain shouted in horror.
"Surrender to them, wait for them to catch up," Kael instructed calmly to the ship.
Without much hesitation, the captain complied, "Lower the flag!"
In these waters, not all pirates were utterly ruthless. Some pirates, for the convenience of robbing within their own territorial waters, had established their own "rules of the sea." After selecting their prey, they would raise a pirate flag to intimidate them, indicating that they should not resist in vain.
If the robbed trade ship was cooperative enough, not only would the pirates refrain from harming the crew’s lives, but also, depending on the situation, they might "mercifully" leave behind a portion of the cargo.
But if the prey completely disregarded this "mercy," opting to flee or even resist, they would be met with another flag—a blood-red skull. If caught after that point, the people aboard the prey ship could either feed the fish or be captured and enslaved on the pirate ship.
The trade ship lowered its flag, furled its sails, and waited for the pirate ship to approach.
The captain then looked towards Kael.
"Now you and your crew can go back to the cabin, crawl into your bunks, and cover your heads with pillows," Kael gestured towards the cabin with an inviting hand sign, "I’ll call you when things are settled."
