Interlude / Side Story - The Pirates of Aeon (Part 2) (Patreon)

Thank you all for supporting my book! I've hit 500 ratings :) Once more, here's an interlude about Rajun's adventures as a pirate. It doesn

Thank you all for supporting my book! I've hit 500 ratings :)
Once more, here's an interlude about Rajun's adventures as a pirate.
It doesn't have much links to the main story arc so you can skip it if you want, but it goes more into the shit that happens during the guild-temple wars. 

“So who’s your previous captain?” Lanun asked, but it was quite hard to hear him with the boisterous, rowdy crowd around them. The entire Fool’s Bounty tavern was booked out to serve the Marrisad Pirates, a branch of the greater Southern Pirates of Scar.

There were at least three hundred other pirates present, but Rajun looked back at the [raider]. “I was with Captain Morkol Whitehull. We were small-time pirates on the Eastern seaboard, nearer to the Port Moldfast, I was with him for two years. Before that I was with Captain Ward Modmemar, he ran a shipping and trading ship that moved goods and people from the Eastern cities to the peripheral islands.”

“Huh, trading ship. That was too mundane, eh?”

Rajun nodded. “A little.”

It was fairly common for crewmembers to ask for higher pay, or get reshuffled to other ships. Crew members had very little loyalty to captains, but instead, to the pirate gang as a whole, so they moved about, depending on which captain was willing to pay more.

Pirate gangs, like the Marrisad pirates, thus needed a steady pipeline of crew, especially those with roughly the right skillset.

Rajun looked over and saw a red-faced Arlid flirting with another Captain that was not Captain Eshfol. Captain Eshfol, on the other hand, looked piss drunk with two busty female hired companions.

“Not getting a girl for yourself? Or a guy, if that’s your thing.” Lanun asked, as he attempted to grab a waitress’s butt. The waitress had somehow dodged.

Rajun looked around. “Still looking for one that I like.”

“Oh. What’s your taste like?”

“Tall, busty, I suppose.” Rajun laughed. “Maybe with a sweet face.”

“Hah.” Lanun laughed. “I like the wild type a little more. Did you see the other two new guys?”

Rajun Kal looked around, and pointed at two men who were happily making out with their hired escorts. “There.”

“Oh lord. They’re going to blow through their pay on hoes. Y’know, we may be pirates, but let me give you a tip, always, always put some money aside, and save some money with the Valtrian Bank.”

Rajun laughed, he did not expect that from the [raider]. “You don’t seem like the thrifty kind.”

“I have my share of fun, new guy, but I have a feeling you’ll get what I mean. One day, you’ll look at this pirate life and suddenly ask yourself, what the fuck have I been doing with my life. Raiding, robbing ships and doing missions is fun and all, but it gets tiring. I’ve seen retired pirates return to this life, because they ran out of money.”

“Life lessons from a raider. Not what I was expecting to get from a night of drinking.”

“Fuck you, Rajun. I’ll tell you something. Look at all the hired companions, both male and female. Would you believe me that all of them have more money than us pirates?”

Rajun paused, and realized that the raider may be right. “Seriously?”

“I’ve got no reason to shit on you. Escorting and prostitution is good money, and these folks are smart enough to save it. Even if they die, their descendants and family will have enough.”

Lanun downed the ale, and Rajun knew from experience that all pirates had some kind of sobriety skill that allowed them to treat ale like water. Rajun looked at his own mug, and finished it too.

“At least you can hold a drink.” Lanun grinned. “I’d be suspicious if you can’t even finish a mug.”

“I’m offended. Do I look like I didn’t drink?”

“Hah! You never know!”

Rajun grinned, as Vice Captain Arlid approached them. The Captain she flirted with was sleeping on the floor.

“Ayy Vice Captain.” Lanun greeted the lady with a slap to the shoulders, and the lady slapped him back, a lot harder.

“So, new guy.” Arlid said. “You look like you’ve seen some shit.”

“I have?” Rajun asked.

“You didn’t sweat or panic when the great ships came into view. Like this was the most normal thing in the world.”

Rajun laughed. “Vice Captain, I merely look like a cool potato.”

“Eh.” Vice Captain Arlid shrugged, she didn’t look that drunk. “I’ve seen my fair share of crew. What have you seen in your life?”

Lanun interjected. “Hey, I was doing the interview. He said he was with Captain Morkol Whitehull up on the Eastern Seaboard, and before that, with trading ships.”

“Huh. Never heard of him. Must be really small.”

“Yeah. Smaller ship..” Rajun answered, and grabbed another mug from a passing waitress. Rajun suspected the waitress must be at least level 40s, because she had somehow dodged all the molesting hands of the pirates without a fuss. “I handled both shielding and ship-maintenance.”

Arlid nodded. “So, you didn’t answer me. What have you seen?”

Rajun shrugged, and decided to go with the truth. Mixed with a little lie. “I’ve seen a Central Greatship fight a sea monster.”

Both of them snapped to attention. “Which one?”

“I have no idea.” Rajun said. “I was on the trading ship, as part of a trade fleet when the massive thing zoomed in and destroyed the sea creature. The trading ships were under attack, and we called for help.”

“Did you notice who led the ship?”

Rajun thought for a moment. “I’ve got no idea.”

“Eastern Seaboard... could be any of them.” Lanun thought, and then, called a waitress for some whiskey. “You didn’t see any of the skills?”

“It was just a flash of light as far as I could tell.” Rajun laughed.

Vice captain Arlid looked at Rajun, and nodded. “Must be pretty unlucky to draw the attention of sea creatures. What was on your fleet?”

Rajun shook his head. “No idea. Classified goods, they said. Bound for the Heart.”

“Must be magical crystals. Those things draw monsters like a torch in the dark night.” Lanun said.

“Couldn’t be. Central won’t use external trading ships for such goods. Probably something else.”

“They don’t?” Rajun asked.

“They don’t. Any ship that does carry it is an undercover ship, and has real muscle backing it. The main ship in your fleet might’ve been undercover, that’s why it could call the Greatships for help.”

Lanun offered the Vice Captain and Rajun both a cup of whiskey. “Ayy, come, drink up. To sneaky Central shit.”

Arlid smirked, and drank it anyway. Rajun followed.

“Which sea creature was it?”

“Some giant fish thing with spikes. The giant thornfish. There were like three of them.”

“Undercover, Rajun. Do you remember who was the lead Captain?”

Rajun thought for a while. "Don't really recall, I believe its Nightingale or something.”

Arlid took out a book and wrote it down. “Likely to be a Central authority agent. We’ll keep it in mind if we ever meet him.”

The [Spy Privateer] nodded. Pirates avoided the central authority like the plague, and would always run in a confrontation. Any legitimate threat of Central retaliation would deter most pirates from pursuing any task.

Unlike pirates, Central retaliation often meant a long stint in one of the many Centrally run prisons, and most feared punishment of all, Eternal Mercy.

Rajun decided to switch the subject. “Let’s not talk about Central. When’s our next trip.”

Lanun looked in the direction of the Captain. The Captain was making out with the two companions in a private corner, with just a thin curtain for ‘privacy’. “No clue.”

Arlid, likewise, shrugged. “No idea, either.”

Lanun looked back at the female captain, and asked. “So, Vice Captain. When are you getting promoted to your own ship?”

She had the brightest smile, and took out a small steel coin. It wasn’t just any coin, but a coin from the Marrisad shipyards, essentially, a token for a slot at the shipyards. “Oh, very soon. I’ve got the rights to build my ship. Now I gotta raise the funds to buy the necessary materials.”

“Woooah.” Rajun was fairly impressed.

“Can’t you just buy it off the older captains?”

“Nah. I don’t want other people’s junk.” Arlid answered. “Ships are personal, customized to our strengths and weaknesses. A captain links their class with their ship, and only a lousy captain would force their class on a ship that used to belong to others!”

“Is it that hard to find a ship with your general strengths? There’s a certain set of variants after all.” Lanun responded.

“True, but why bother? New stuff is usually just better, especially with the newer magical formations and designs.”

Lanun agreed. “Point taken.”

***

“Here’s your pay for the journey, do note that your share of taxes have been deducted.” Rajun stared at the few pieces of coin in the pouch. There was a slip indicating the pay, the hours, and the taxes deducted to be paid to the local city and also to Central. For this trip, he made one gold coin and one silver. Most sailors earn about ten to twenty gold coins, but even that is highly variable. Some coins were worth more than others.

Payment for ships was made per journey, so, greedy pirates and sailors would try to squeeze in more trips, or go for longer trips. Time on land was essentially unpaid hours.

Most pirates had an office on land, and even on the most dodgy, despicable parts of the world, the pirates had someone whose job was to manage finances. Unlike the other continents, captains of the Central continent had one secure place to store their wealth, and that was the banks.

The condition? Taxes had to be paid, and the tax rates imposed on pirates were fairly steep.

It was a deal that the captains tolerated, because it meant they had a place to stash wealth that didn’t have the risk of loss. It meant they could bounce back, if their ships were thrashed in combat, or they suffered great injuries.

Marrisad, as a pirate-city, was filled with services that supported the pirates. Weapons, enchantments, ship repair, healers, priests, the tax office, banks, and the pirate’s own version of courts.

But Marrisad was not the largest pirate city. That honor went to either the City of Galados, home of the Galados Pirates, and Port Gusar, home of the Gusarian Pirates.

Despite their quasi-independent status as pirate cities, everyone knew the pirate lords paid their dues, and that their operations were merely tolerated by Central.

“Latest updates on the Guilds’ Expeditionary Wars! Come and buy the latest updates!” Rajun flipped a coin at the news-merchant and a set of papers dropped in his hand.

“You read?”

Rajun turned and saw Arlid staring at him. “Well good morning, and yes, Vice Captain. I worked on trading ships, I had to read.”

“Ah. Fair point. Tell me what it says.”

“That’ll cost a silver coin, Vice Captain.”

“Fuck you.” Arlid cursed.

“I’ll give you a discount. Five bronze coins then.”

“Screw you.”

“I’m more than happy to engage in screwing back in my rented room.”

“I’ll tie you up and whip you.”

“I might like that.”

Arlid laughed. “So vulgar! Tell me what’s happening.”

“You can’t read?”

“I can, I just prefer others to do it for me.” Arlid insisted and Rajun read through the document fairly quickly. He roughly summarized it to the actions of certain guilds on their foreign kingdoms, but the parts about the Goldhunter Guild’s loss of their great invasion ships was prominent. The news of the destruction was quickly followed by the guild’s statement that they have engaged shipyards to build new invasion ships.

Most strategists and military observers note that the invasion ships was just a fifth of their fleet, and they still had many others, but it would significantly delay their ability to reinforce the Goldhunter Guild’s territories in Karlanda of the Southern Continent.

“Well, there’s always more ships to blow up.” The vice-captain thought for a moment.

Rajun continued to read and there was a part describing the locations of the other giant invasion ships spotted along the shores. The war between the guilds and also the defending kingdoms had essentially devolved into a battle of attrition.

As with wars of attrition, it’s really all about throwing more flesh at the problem, and for pirates, they would get their next assignment very, very soon.

***

The crew was summoned a day later. The pirates-cities all had a fairly robust network of contacting their crew, through the taverns and inns. Every such establishment formed a link with the pirates, and the pirates as a whole, paid each of these taverns a small fee to contact their crew.

Captain Eshfol naturally already had their next assignment.

“We’re gonna do some looting. We’re hitting a fleet that’s expected to dock somewhere along these islands, and our goal, this time, is to steal the goods. The Goldhunter Guild has a fleet of ships delivering high quality magical weapons to the Southern Continent, and our client, this time, the Temple of Hawa, wants us to intercept it, and will pay us for the weapons captured.”

They had a map of the entire ocean and the island chains. The fast ships would not be able to cross the entire ocean in a single trip, and would likely need to stop twice along the island archipelagos that stood around midway and two-thirds across the ocean.

“The weather-mages claim that it’ll be fairly stormy over the next two weeks, so catching these ships on the open seas is going to be hard. Which is why we have to hit them when they dock and resupply.”

“Are we working alone, boss?”

“Captain Kail and Captain Wizzant have the same assignment, which is why we’re splitting up to camp at different ports. We’re going to have to take a chance on which port of call.”

The few island ports and towns on the archipelago, in essence, were all pirate towns, and worked for the highest bidder.

To attempt a raid while the ships were docked was fairly risky. Their target might have paid for local guards, and they’d be outnumbered, fighting the crew and any hired local guards. They could pay for their own ground forces, but that’ll cut into their earnings. Most pirates also held an advantage fighting at sea, due to various class or skill effects, rather than land, so, for pirates, fighting on ships was very much preferred.

Rajun stared at the map, he was fairly certain the Captains already sorted out the destinations.

Vice Captain Arlid eyed the senior captain, and then asked. “Our goal is to steal the goods, correct?”

“Yes.”

Rajun immediately understood why the vice captain clarified. Depending on the location and the circumstances, it may not be necessary to actually fight the whole crew or guards.

“Do they know we’re engaged to catch them?”

Eshfol shrugged. “Possibly. They would be pretty testy about this whole thing.”

“Have they loaded the goods on the ships? Or it’s still on the docks, somewhere?”

“Per the informants, the ships have not sailed yet.”

“Then we should hit them now.”

***