Herald of Steel

The pirate captain was quite self aware when he explained to Alexander why they could not just sail onto any port and dump their ill gotten goods there.

It tended to cause a lot of trouble.

Plus they themselves tended to cause a lot of trouble when on land, harassing businesses and being a menace to women.

It was thus little wonder their sights were a difficult thing for the local lord to swallow.

And this was not to mention the far bigger problem of trading with pirates.

Doing it so openly was not just frowned upon, it was massively problematic.

And this was because of how the lord used these pirates.

They let these 'detectable' proxies attack other cargo ships instead of using their own navy as a way to give themselves a veil of deniability, in order to not directly go into a war with the other party.

But this did not really work if you were actively buying their plunder.

Because naturally, you would only buy from pirates that were friendly to you, you would not let a rival pirate restock and sell their plunder at your ports because that would be like a robber selling you back your own goods.

You would sooner hang these rascals.

The problem was if you did that, well you might as well use your navy to raid the seas because the curtain was gone.

This was one of the reasons why Vidiyan did not dare enter neutral ports.

Another one was, as then added by him,

"We also could not do it even if we wanted to. We serve the Heeat family and they have always made us sell to their particular fences. This is also how they mainly communicate with us."

"I see! It seems the world of pirates is more complicated than I thought. It is not easy being one," Alexander gave a slight nod as the pirate captain finished, and then smoothly asked,

"By the way, how did you enter under the Heeat family's services? And what did they offer you? Only safe ports and reliable fences?"

"It was my predecessor that entered a deal with Duke Kane… that is the former Duke Heeat." The pirate captain showed no reluctance in his answer, fluently revealing,

"It happened just when I was taken captive. We were approached by one of our regular fences offering us to take on a particular job. It was to attack a moderate convoy."

"We did it, and then a few more afterward. The family then noticed our success and approached us with a contract."

Alexander was a tad surprised by how 'generic' the recruitment was- it was all like a big office interview. He thought the Heeat family would be a little more covert about airing their dirty laundry.

But he did not interrupt the still speaking pirate captain for any specific details and just let him continue.

"As for the details of the contract, well one, yes, they did promise us access to many ports and harbors that are not usually friendly to us pirates and even promised immunity from the law while we stayed there."

"We would just have to switch to the flags given to us by the family as we approached those docks and no one would make trouble for us. Hahaha, they all knew we were pirates, but they still just made way for us. We were treated as the Heeat navy, hahaha."

It was unknown whether the man's slightly muted chuckle was him laughing at the event or at the ridiculousness of how the powerful could color black into white like it was nothing.

Like here, where all they needed was just a piece of cloth and one or two well placed officials to erase all their crimes.

Letting the laughter pass after a while, the man resumed,

"But this should not distract you from underestimating the value of these ports offer my lord. The abundance of easy to reach ports meant we could easily restock after each voyage. So we could afford to carry a lot of fresh food and water with us."

"I know this might sound a bit…ummm.. different to you my lord, but you will not believe how great it is to have fresh food at sea. After staying out for months, those dry, salted meat, fish, and fruits tend to taste really… bitter. I dare say many mutinies have started or been entirely avoided using just fresh food. So getting fresh food regularly is an unmatched boon!"

The man subtly licked his lips as he said this as if he was already missing the taste.

Then without giving Alexander to interject, once again resumed, determined to show how important these ports were to him.

Vidiyan chimed,

"In addition to this access, these regular ports were also usually much better furnished. The carpenters were better and maintenance dock workers like cleaners and unloaders were much faster. Their prices were cheaper too despite that."

"And best of all, there was no long wait time. Back in those pirate ports, due to the number of ships waiting by the docks and a limited number of carpenters, even getting a nail hammed into the hulls took three days."

"But here…these men knew who we were and so he could get some of the maintenance done in half the time or less as some of the other places."

"We also had regular, trusted fences at those ports. So we could always be sure that whatever we plundered, we could sell it."

"This is not true for many of the free pirates. The fences they relied on might only deal in a select number of goods- gold, silver, gem, porcelain, etc. the popular stuff. But if you have something unusual, like paintings, spices, or statues, those were usually very hard to sell if you did not have the right channels. We had no such problem."

"In the same way, we also had no fear of our fences disappearing or moving. This is a whole different topic my lord but there are a lot of things that could happen to these men. From simple assassinations by rivals to getting captured by local lords for smuggling, to being forced out of the market by competition to the worst of all, kidnap and torture. Everything is possible in this dark side of the world. I have seen it."

"And when that happens, for the pirate crew attached to that fence, it is surprisingly hard to find a new channel. Because there is only so much these traders can smuggle. So you cannot just go sell your things to them. They have to accept. This always takes some time since they have to open new channels."

"The trouble for the waiting pirates is that while they wait, their ships just sit at the docks doing nothing. They can not set out for the sea when they already have unsold loot with them. And there was also nowhere to leave it securely on the docks. So many times the loot would just start to spoil if it was perishable like spices."

"And even when they finally managed to find a fence, it usually came with a high percentage cut. For example, the Heeat family's fence only took twenty five percent from us. But if other rival or new pirates wanted to sell to them, it was fifty percent!"

Hearing these varying rates, Alexander understood what these families and nobles were playing at.

They wanted to have the pirates under their control.

But it was not feasible to force them by using their navies, as they were too scattered.

So they built these economic barriers as a way to try and coerce them into somewhat of a straight line.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Alexander also understood that the port accesses the pirate captain was asking for were far more extensive than he thought.

And he was not even done, as he at last finished by saying,

"Finally, the men also liked the taverns and whores there better. The drinks were only slightly watered down and the cunts were tight! Not like those in the pirates' ports, all used and loose fan… ahem."

Just as the pirate captain was going to reveal some very embarrassing intimate details, he suddenly shrieked to a full stop mid sentence without any warning, letting off a giant cough as his face turned bright red.

He had been trying really hard to appear noble and aristocratic in his speech till now, in order to show off his lineage to Alexander, to portray himself as a fellow noble, and thus perhaps be treated as an equal.

And credit to him, he had been doing quite a good job till now.

The Azhak he used was heavily accented and sometimes a bit broken, but it was always grammatically correct.

But it seemed he had slipped at last.

The regular vulgarities he was used to addressing the men with finally bled out, making him desperately work to readjust his speech, as he forcefully added,

"Ahemm… I mean, the security and various entertainment facilities are much better in many of the family's ports. My men far prefer them."

Alexander found the man's utmost efforts to be civil worthy of praise.

Hence keeping his poker face intact, he simply nodded, "I see. Okay, you have convinced me Captain Vidiyan, you have a deal!"

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

Please come Here!

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