Herald of Steel

Chapter 1364 Crimson Sword Pirates (Part-5)

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."

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.

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!

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