Grateful for the gesture, the villagers' wariness of Sage drastically reduced. One of them gulped down the chunks of meat and said:
"Captain, we come from Kampas Town."
"Kampas Town?" Gin was stunned.
Sage looked at Gin.
"Captain Sage, Kampas Town is a famous place in the East Sea, known for its popular canvas." Gin said.
"That's right."
The villager continued, "We're a merchant ship transporting canvas from Kampas Town. But on the journey, we encountered pirates. They stole all our canvas, and the captain and guards who tried to resist fell into the sea and went missing."
"They left you a barrel of water, showing some mercy after all." Sage nodded.
"No...they didn't take anything besides the canvas; the food was lost due to cannon fire." A villager raised a hand, protesting.
Still feeling proud, aren't you...
"Um, Captain..."
The first villager spoke timidly, "I know this might be a bit presumptuous...but could you let us off at the next inhabited place?"
"I have no interest in turning villagers into pirates."
Sage gave him a sidelong glance and asked Gin, "Is Kampas's canvas valuable?"
"The canvas they produce is priced at twenty thousand Belly per piece."
Gin glanced at the sailboat and said, "With this boat's cargo capacity, it can carry fifty pieces per trip."
That amounts to a million Belly.
That is a significant figure.
Back then, Sage and his foster father worked hard for a year farming and couldn't make that amount. But one ship trip brings it in.
"What's their defense capability?" Sage continued to ask.
Understanding the question, Gin answered.
"Kampas Town itself has low defense capability, but naval patrols are frequent, with a branch nearby."
Sage nodded, "Lily..."
Lily pondered and said, "It's worth a try."
Sage smiled at the villagers, "Then I'll take you back."
"Take, take us back..."
The villager turned pale, "Are you going to..."
Sage bared a row of cold white teeth, "I'm a pirate, of course I'm going to rob."
Since we're going to rob, whether it's a merchant ship or a town, robbery is robbery.
Such an economically valuable town must have quite a bit of money.
Why not rob a wealthy town rather than looking for impoverished folks?
"Captain, are we directly going to rob the town?" Pearl asked excitedly.
"Exactly, change course, head towards Kampas Town."
Sage stood up, "Lock these people in the cabin, release them once we reach the town."
A few pirates followed the order, leading a group of villagers below deck.
Sage, on the other hand, ascended to the second-level structure on deck — usually the captain's quarters, pushed open the door and found the place in disarray, books and papers strewn everywhere.
He grinned unbothered by the mess, stepped over to right a chair and plopped down onto it.
"Feels great!" Sage expressed contentment.
"What's so great?"
The wooden door swung open again, and Lily entered, frowning at the messy captain's quarters, "Are there any sea maps in here?"
"Lily!"
Sage grinned and said, "Our pirate business is thriving!"
"How is it thriving?"
Lily replied, crouching down to search, eyes lighting up, "There are sea maps here."
"Look, that's solid proof of our business thriving!"
Sage laughed heartily, "As a navigator, you found the sea maps. As a captain, I not only gained subordinates but also captured my first ship, and now we're off to rob — it's all good news!"
Lily pursed her lips gently, delicately saying, "Sage, this ship... can't sustain long voyages."
"Not important!"
Sage waved casually, "What matters is we took the first step!"
Can't sustain voyages?
She just wanted to say it's a lousy ship.
Sage couldn't care less.
A lousy ship is still a ship; after all, Sage had taken it.
As long as you take the first step, it's a great achievement.
Because of his previous ventures, he never managed to take the first step.
The crops didn't sprout, the fish didn't bite, the bodyguard job didn't start, the mercenaries didn't engage in battle...
He even wanted to be a snot-nosed star but never got the opportunity to do those absurd things.
He even felt that even if he went to shovel dung, he wouldn't find any!
What?
Is there a toilet in this world?
Then he couldn't even shovel dung!
There was hope in the bounty hunter business; he did catch some pirates, but unfortunately, there was no bounty. He wanted to hang on but after taking the blame from the Oyekot Kingdom, it was basically game over.
But once he became a pirate, this first step was somehow taken.
No doubt it is the hottest business trend on the sea!
Sage stretched out his five fingers, and clenched them tightly as if he held everything around him in his grip.
There's hope for becoming a landlord!
"Haha, hahahaha!" Sage showed a wild grin.
Lily sat down next to him holding the neatly arranged sea maps, starting to look through them one by one.
The pirates outside seemed to be infected by his laughter, bursting into laughter one by one. Pearl tapped his shield, his footsteps resonated rhythmically on the deck, and the pirates sang a pirate song to the rhythm, arm in arm.
Gin watched these joyful pirates and couldn't help but smile.
After experiencing so many failures, they finally set sail again!
The shaky old ship, accompanied by those strange sounds, sailed on the waves stirred up by the sun above the sea, heading towards the distance.
...
Two days later.
The ship finally arrived at Kampas Town.
Kampas Town was not far from here, and the experienced pirates like Gin knew the route in the East Sea. If it weren't for the ship being severely damaged, they could have arrived in a day.
This town is on an oval-shaped island, surrounded by no barriers, and is a large plain. The island's specialty is fine cotton and flax, which is why the canvas here is so expertly crafted.
The town is located on the eastern side of the island, and the old ship was sailing towards it.
Sage stood on the second-floor railing, Lily stood by his side, watching the pirates on the deck wielding swords with fierce smiles, and the civilians huddled in the corner, ready to disembark.
One of the civilians looked up at Sage, gritted his teeth, and stepped forward, saying, "Captain, why not give up? You saved us before; Kampas Town has well-equipped guards, and the Navy will arrive quickly. You only have about thirty people, which is absolutely not enough! Let us disembark, and I'll give you a new ship!"
A single-masted sailing ship costs sixty to a hundred thousand Belly, and if a few of them pooled their resources together, they'd come up with it.
In the past two days, the pirates hadn't mistreated them, instead inviting them for meals on time. Besides not sleeping well, they treated them like guests.
As Captain Sage said, they were all unlucky people, so no need to differentiate.
He is a bold captain.
Even as a pirate, he's worthy of respect.
Sage smiled calmly, looking at the pirates below, "Young ones, he wants you to give up."
Clang!
Lily at this moment unsheathed her sword, her gaze turning icy.
"Captain Sage, we are pirates!"
Gin tightened his grip on his cane and laughed, "Pirates don't accept charity; if you want something, just go and take it! Men of the sea don't fear life or death!"
"That's right, Captain Gin!" The pirates cried out together.
Captain Sage hadn't revoked Gin's position as a combat captain, so the pirates naturally followed the old ways.
No need for him to worry about leading these ordinary pirates.
"Absolutely right!"
Sage pointed forward, "Since we chose to be pirates, we'll do it the pirate way, all those things you talk about..."
He clenched his fist fiercely, grinning, "I want them all!"
Pool resources for a ship?
With his luck, what ship could be pooled?
It's safer just to take it for himself.
Moreover, these people spoke so confidently, indicating this town was richer, making it even more worth raiding.
The ship sailed along the island's edge, nearing Kampas Town's landing point, this town naturally being a port town, getting close is all that's needed.
As the town got closer, the pirates eagerly stood on the ship's edge, ready to jump down as soon as the ship docked.
But when the ship finally arrived, allowing them to see the town clearly, they were suddenly stunned one after another.
Kampas Town was a bustling big town, the port was almost always bustling with cargo loading and unloading, and the streets were always filled with people... but now, the scene they saw was entirely different.
The port's sea was littered with shipwrecks, cracks extended from the port into the ground everywhere, buildings had been damaged, either half-destroyed or entirely collapsed, charred marks were everywhere.
Half the town had been destroyed!