New Ship I
"So the pirate lords are going to war with a cultivation kingdom" Maxine frowned,
"They were the morons who suddenly cross the void line and sink whatever pirate ship they see" the man let out a puff of smoke as he continued,
"Anyways, it doesn't concern you anymore. If I were you, I will get out of the Southern continent as soon as possible"
"You are not me, Sheyan. But if you don't like being who you are now, I can remodel that ugly face of yours" Maxine cracked her knuckles. The feeling of the Dark Lord standing behind her gave her immense courage to take on not only Sheyan, a pirate captain under Pirate Lord Vance but also the pirate lords themselves.
For the pirates and anyone in the Southern continent, the pirate lords were not someone they could touch. However, in front of the Dark Lord, they were as weak as a newborn child. With a single spell, Michael could kill the pirate lords.
"You are not pirate captain Marina the Iron fist anymore, just Marina. You are not worth fighting"
Maxine clenched her fist tightly as she looked like she was about to punch him in the face. Gibson decided to take a step back, letting Maxine take care of Sheyan. However, when she was about to raise her hand, Gibson saw Michael step forward. He put his hand on Maxine's shoulder, calming her down instantly.
"Thank you for the information you provided, have a nice day" Sheyan creased his brows. He thought the youngster behind Maxine was just a lackey of hers but seeing how he placed his hand on Maxine's shoulder and calmed her down, he realized that he was not a mere lackey.
"Let's go" Michael took the lead. Rather than wasting time with Sheyan, he walked away from the pirate, taking Maxine and Gibson with him.
While walking away from Sheyan, Michael could feel the pirate's gaze on him. Gibson was baffled. He thought Lucifer was going to mercilessly kill Sheyan yet he did not only kill him but also talked to him with respect. He had never seen Lucifer act so modest towards someone else until now.
Still, Gibson was not stupid to think Lucifer was afraid of Sheyan. As far as Gibson was concerned, Sheyan was lucky not to get himself killed.
In silence, Maxine and Gibson walked beside Michael. A few moments later, Maxine opened her mouth, decided not to speak, and closed her mouth. She kept opening and closing her mouth. She wasn't afraid of talking to Michael but was afraid to question him. Michael noticed the way Maxine's been acting.
"He is just a small fry, Maxine. Killing him would unnecessarily make us enemies with Vance. He is not worth it" Michael calmly said,
"But my Lord," Maxine talked quietly,
"You can kill the pirate lords within a few seconds. Give me the order and I will take them out"
The medallion of Order of Death gave her inhuman strength, to be exact, a strength of a Body Refining stage level 3 cultivator. In the Southern continent where everyone had no cultivation power, she was a superhuman indeed. Nonetheless, Michael had a feeling that Maxine alone wouldn't be able to defeat the Pirate Lords. If they were so easy to defeat, they wouldn't have been ruling the seas for more than five decades.
"If I wanted them dead, they would have been dead by now," Michael said. The noises around them prevented anyone other than Gibson and Maxine from hearing the words coming out of Michael's mouth.
"Killing them would create a power vacuum, everyone under the three would want a piece of the power. Eventually, the struggle for power would create many factions, internal wars. A kingdom like Thusia would use this opportunity to either destroy the pirates once and for all or take control over them. Which would make Thusians even more powerful than they are right now" Maxine listened to his words in silence. She never thought killing the pirate lords would be a bad thing but what he said made sense.
"Also, pirate lords are the ones keeping the kingdoms in the southern continent from building their own armadas of ships. Without them to keep them under control, each kingdom would go crazy with warships. If they build a naval force, along with their air force, every kingdom would turn into a threat to us. So we need to make a subtle approach with the pirate lords"
While listening to Michael, Maxine led them through the muddy streets towards somewhere. They passed a couple of taverns where they heard loud singing sounds and smelled the overwhelming scent of booze and pirates.
"My lord, if I may…"
"Don't be afraid to ask questions and tell me what you think Maxine. I want to lead lions, not mindless herd of sheeps" he said, seeing Maxine being afraid to question him. She wasn't afraid to talk to him but scared as hell to question him.
He preferred his subordinates to be more vocal, using their brain rather than following him blindly. Although Michael was an expert in planning, conquering the world wasn't his forte. To become the Dark Lord, first, he had to become a good leader and any good leader would listen to the people under him. That was one of the differences between a leader and a dictator.
"Yes my lord" Maxine's fear disappeared after hearing him. Gibson also felt somewhat relaxed.
"How do you plan to deal with the pirate lords? They won't bend their knees, my lord. Those stubborn bastards would rather die than serve someone else"
"That's where you are wrong Maxine. Everyone has a price and a weakness. We just need to exploit one of them/I will show you, after buying the ship, we will deal with Corey" Michael cracked his neck,
"Time to undo that bounty on your head"
In addition to Corey's decision to put a bounty on Maxine's head, it was her name Corey 'Witch' Drachen that made him decide to meet her first. He was curious to see why she was being called Witch.
Since Michael encouraged them to be more expressive about their questions, Gibson wanted to ask about Thusia. When Sheyan told them about Thusia, Gibson noticed a change in his calm face.
However, before Gibson could ask Michael, Michael questioned Maxine,
"I assume you are leading us to a place where we can still buy a ship"
Maxine nodded,
"A shipbuilder named Welton owes me a favor"
"Is it enough to disobey the rules set by the pirate lords?" Michael asked,
"It is my lord. If it wasn't for me, he would have been shark shit by now"
With a nod, Michael followed Maxine. On his way, Michael saw several frigates, schooners, galleons, and even a man o war being built on the shipyards. Some pirates were ripping apart the hulls, cannons, and masts for spare parts.
On the other side of the streets, he noticed several weapon stores as well as forges. Almost all the forges and weapon stores were full. All the blacksmiths seemed to be working on cannons, probably for the upcoming war.
"War is always profitable" he mumbled under his breath. Spectre, his mentor, always used to say this.
Eventually, after a few minutes of walking through the muddy streets, Michael saw a huge hanger where he saw numerous pirates running around doing various chores such as carrying wooden logs, welding iron, rolling cannons and sawing giant wooden logs.
There were two frigates inside the hangar. One was being built, it had a glossing hull, new shining brown paint job with several drawings of which seemed to be a Kraken, thick brand new sails. The ship seemed to be in the last stage before its first voyage. The other ship which remained beside the ship looked exact opposite. Compared to the ship the pirates were working on, the other one looked like a beggar. It looked ancient with its battered hull, torn sails and half-destroyed figure head which looked like a crying lady with wings.
Nevertheless, the damaged one was bigger in size compared to the brand new one. It could hold more cannons as well as crew members. Any sane person would choose the brand new one as the other one looked as if it would sink into the sea if being put on the water.
The pirates were too busy to notice the trio entering the hangar. Maxine led them towards the far end of the hanger. They were walking between the two frigates. Gibson was staring at both the ships. Either of them couldn't be compared to the Silent Reaper in terms of size, power, or anything. The Silent Reaper didn't belong to specifically any class but many identified it as a war galleon. Thinking about Silent Reaper, Gibson sighed. The ship was stinky, nasty, and filthy yet it was his home for the last two decades. Overnight, the Guardians destroyed it into bits and pieces.
Even Gibson, who respected the Great clans, wanted to destroy the airship that destroyed the Silent Reaper. Since they were here to buy a ship, Gibson began to look at the brand new ship as he completely ignored the old one on the left side.
Michael on the other hand was looking at the ancient-looking ship. It kinda reminded him of the black pearl. He ran his fingers on the eh tattered hull with a smile. Usually, in the novels he read, the ignored or rather normal-looking things would end up as the ancient things that hold unlimited potential. When the main character finds the item, he or she would see the OPness of the item. It would serve the main character in the future after restoring it to its former glory.
Yet, this ship was neither OP nor an accent power. Rather, it was just a damaged frigate. If Michael wasn't an inventor, he would have obviously gone with the brand new one. Since he was an Inventor, he was able to identify which ship could be upgraded easily. The brand new ship could be upgraded but not as much as the old one. Every single component of the old ship could be upgraded, unlike the brand new one.
"It's time to put my inventor skill into more use"