LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 27: Port Fran
TL: Etude
Dean Isaka turned into the alley next to the main street. After ensuring no one was following, he approached the door of a residential house. He first knocked three times, paused briefly, then knocked twice more.
The door opened, and a young girl peeked out. After glancing both ways down the street, she abruptly pulled Dean inside by his clothes.
“Hey, hey! Be gentle, you’re going to tear my clothes,” Dean protested.
“You have the nerve to complain? You were out so long, we thought something happened to you.”
The girl with pink hair frowned and stood with her hands on her hips, clearly a bit angry.
“Ah? Ah? The sun rises in the west now, does the leader worry about me?” Dean feigned surprise.
“You—believe it or not, I’ll give you a thrashing!” The girl’s face turned red, lifting a flail that seemed disproportionately large for her stature.
Dean immediately raised his hands in a pleading gesture: “Mercy, mercy!”
“Hey, hey! Isn’t there a time and place for your flirting? Susan’s grandfather is still in the pirates’ hands,” a tall young man with blonde hair said helplessly.
Then his face became intimately acquainted with the girl’s flail.
“No one would think you mute if you stayed silent, you ‘fly’,” the girl said darkly, holding the flail.
The blonde young man, nursing a swollen cheek, lamented, “Yes~~, my dear leader, I won’t dare again.”
As he spoke, two more people emerged from the inner room: a girl wearing a pointed scholar’s hat and a girl with a ponytail. Only the ponytailed girl wore the civilian attire typical of Northwest Bay. She happily said, “So it’s Brother Dean who has returned.”
Relieved to see Dean back safely, the two sighed.
The scholarly dressed girl asked, “Dean, did you gather any information?”
“Indeed, I did gather quite some useful intelligence.”
Everyone gathered around the table, and Dean continued, “Port Fran is now under martial law, no one is allowed in or out. Apparently, the pirates hit a snag recently.”
The girl with the flail asked impatiently, “Who asked you about that? What about Susan’s grandfather and our mission’s objective?”
“Don’t rush, I’m getting there. I got a pirate lackey drunk and extracted some information. Susan’s grandfather and our objective are both imprisoned in the church. But it’s difficult to approach the place; the pirates have tightened security. We need to find the right moment.”
The flail-wielding girl protested, “Why make it so complicated? I say we just storm in, grab that ‘shark,’ give him a beating, and make him hand over the people. Isn’t that enough?”
Dean smiled wryly, “Leader, you need to consider the disparity in numbers between us and them.”
The girl glared, “Then what’s your plan?”
Dean calmly replied, “I have a plan, which relates to what I initially mentioned. Do you know how big a snag the pirates hit? They lost over four hundred men! That’s almost half of the Shark Gang’s force.”
The bruised blonde young man asked, “Who could be that formidable? Surely not the local lord?”
Dean shrugged, “That lackey didn’t know. You served in the military, so you should understand. The higher-ups often don’t want the lower ranks to know too much. Knowledge of a powerful adversary could lead to desertion. They’re just informed at the last minute and pushed to the front as cannon fodder. He learned about the loss of over four hundred men through a familiar face close to a leader.”
The flail girl interjected, “Could it be the lord’s army, Su…?”
“Don’t joke, would our lord care about the lives of coastal civilians? They sold us to the pirates more than a decade ago.”
Before the flail girl could finish, the ponytailed girl cut in with a blunt remark.
Her face shifted from its previous expression to one of scorn and resentment, her small hand clenched into a fist.
“The shameless nobles still have the audacity to collect taxes from us every quarter. Grandfather, as the mayor, not only has to satisfy the pirates’ greedy appetites but also deal with the pig-headed lord’s tax officers. Even so, many townspeople still resent him.”
As she spoke, the young girl’s eyes moistened, and tears unwillingly circled in her eyes.
Immediately, the scholarly dressed girl placed her hand on the girl’s back, comforting her, “Don’t be sad. Everyone is probably just saying things; in their hearts, they understand the old man. Otherwise, why would they elect your grandfather as the town mayor every year?”
The ponytailed girl wiped her tears and sobbed, “Yes… I understand everyone’s feelings. Being extorted by both pirates and the lord, it’s inevitable to have some complaints.”
“Hmm!” Seeing the atmosphere turn heavy, Dean cleared his throat to draw everyone’s attention and continued with his plan:
“Whoever made the pirates hit a snag doesn’t matter, but looking at their recent actions, fortifying their defenses and prohibiting entry and exit, it seems like someone is about to come to Port Fran to deal with them soon.”
“Right now, there are only a few hundred pirates in the town. According to the information I’ve gathered, most will be dispatched to the city gates for defensive battle, leaving only about 20 people in the church.”
“We can’t judge whether the newcomers are friend or foe. Since Susan mentioned that the local lord is quite incompetent, I guess it might be another group of pirates coming to join forces. We can only hope to rely on ourselves. When the time comes, we’ll take advantage of the chaos like this… and that…”
…
After discussing the details of their action plan, the girl with the flail decisively said, “Hmph! Simple enough! Let’s do it this way. Ah, if only the other members of our group were here. If we were all together, I think we could just storm in.”
“There’s nothing we can do, who asked you, our group leader, to take on two tasks?”
“Hmph! I’m also thinking about the future of our adventure group. But speaking of which, what is the young master of the Horn Bay Alliance, Foster, doing here? He’s just causing trouble.”
“There can’t be any other reason. For rich young masters like him, it’s all about having their brains fried by knight adventure novels, daydreaming about slaying dragons and rescuing princesses. If he can’t find dragons, he’ll find villains. Wasn’t this place formerly the territory of the great pirate Edward? I heard many have challenged him before, but none succeeded, all ending up feeding the fishes. Our young master is incredibly lucky, arriving just when Edward is absent.”
The ponytailed girl said, “Dean brother, Meru sister, I also want to help you, especially since my grandfather is among those who need saving. I’ll go with you when the time comes; I’m very familiar with the inside of the church.”
“No! It’s too dangerous. Susan, you just stay at home and wait for our good news.”
The flail girl firmly refused, a serious expression on her face.
“I—Meru Heimer—pledge on the name of the Lichman Adventure Team to safely bring your grandfather back home.”
…
At this time, the church in Port Fran had become the headquarters of the Shark Gang pirates, with leaders big and small gathered in a room discussing their recent defeat.
A classic pirate-looking boss, muscular with a scar across one eye and an eyepatch, “Shark,” angrily said, “No wonder ‘Mudfish’ was panicking and ran back to sea, turns out the young Grayman actually had some tricks up his sleeve.”
A minor leader suggested, “Boss, let’s retreat to the sea too. The brothers below are getting anxious. Rumors of the other side having wizards are spreading everywhere.”
Shark, enraged, smashed a cup in front of him to pieces, “Pass down my order, whoever dares to spread rumors again will have their tongue pulled out!”
“Do you want to return to the sea, living a drifting life with uncertain meals? Now that we’ve finally got rid of that meddlesome star Edward, I must swallow this juicy piece of Port Fran.”
“But this land belongs to the Grayman family…”
“I don’t care about Grayman. Once I occupy it, it’s mine.”
A former leader of the Quik Gang, now under Shark, showed fear, “But boss, their ‘wizard’…” He remembered Shark’s order against spreading rumors and hastily shut up.
Shark, frustrated yet trying to hide his fear, said, “Use your brains. If they really had wizards or magic, the church would have troubled them already instead of us.”
He then confidently explained, “It’s just some uncommon weapons. After thoroughly questioning those who experienced them firsthand, I’ve devised a strategy to counter them. Just wear thick armor or even thicker clothes, and those iron nails, shrapnel won’t cause much damage. As for the tubes that fire iron bullets, they’re just like bows and arrows or slingshots, just faster and more powerful, but very limited in number.”
Although Shark sounded tough, he was secretly afraid. He had seen a pirate from Quik who had been shot, his arm nearly useless, dying a few days later from a continuous high fever.
But he couldn’t show his fear, otherwise, how would he inspire his subordinates to face death? So, he gave an inspiring speech, promising them great benefits after permanently occupying Port Fran.
His subordinates, motivated by Shark, began to feel less intimidated by Grayman’s secret weapons, all expressing their willingness to follow their leader into a decisive battle with Grayman’s troops.
“By the way, how is the old mayor and that young master from the Horn Bay Alliance?”
“The old man is still uncooperative, no matter how we torture him, he won’t acknowledge your lordship. The young master, on the other hand, is very compliant, writing whatever we tell him to.”
“Hmph! After blocking those dog-headed nobles’ army, I’ll have plenty of time to play with the old man, but by then his acknowledgment will be useless. Keep a close eye on the young master; he’s our cash cow.”
“Yes, boss!”