Chapter 195: Chapter 91: Million Gold Pounds!
The tavern returned to its previous noisy and boisterous state.
It was as if nothing had happened.
Of course, the shattered tables and chairs, and the wall torn open by a claw, showed that the terrifying confrontation moments ago was no dream, but reality.
The ordinary people and low-Level Transcendents, affected by the illusory dreamscape, hadn’t noticed the perilous and horrifying scene that had just unfolded.
But now, the first mates of the Blood Sail Pirate Gang were staring at Zorn, their gazes clearly hostile.
They looked thoroughly unconvinced.
The Thorny Blood Lady, in particular, had an eerie light flickering in her blood-red eyes.
She looked ready to go another round with Zorn.
Although his last blow had pinned her, she wasn’t without means of escape.
But the captain’s timely arrival had forced her to stand down.
As a Level Seven, she was infamous across the vast ocean.
Yet she had been suppressed by a Level Six Fighting Master.
Naturally, she was extremely indignant.
In a corner, Zorn sat face-to-face with the captain of the Blood Sail Pirate Gang, Jack Jones.
Both were sizing each other up, their scrutiny subtle yet palpable.
’He’s Level 8, almost Level 9.’
’And that strange Dark Realm Demon Ship is lurking in the darkness around him, ready to be summoned at any moment.’
’Once a Dark·Demon Ship Master boards a Sea Demon Ship, their Level will effectively increase by one.’
Zorn knew this Dark·Demon Ship Master, Jack Jones, all too well.
After all, he had once gained the trust of a Dark·Demon Ship Master himself. Then, at a critical moment, he had upheld the finest tradition of pirates. He betrayed the Dark·Demon Ship Master and ruthlessly sent him to his grave. In an instant, he had become the new captain.
It wasn’t just this Dark·Demon Ship Master he understood. He knew the abilities and personalities of everyone on the ship, from the first mate to the seventh, like the back of his hand.
You could say he knew the Blood Sail Pirate Gang better than Jack Jones himself.
Jack Jones, wearing a brown captain’s tricorn hat, slowly raised his head.
His rough face was cast in a strange shadow woven from black and red.
His eyes were as heavy and profound as darkness itself.
His voice was hoarse yet powerful, like the surging of great waves.
"I’d heard there was a Mr. Fighting Master of astonishing strength in Ogrande City."
"Though only Level 3, he took care of the terrifying Rat King deep beneath Ogrande City."
"It even led many to believe that the Fighting Master was a very powerful Sequence."
"But once you reach the Middle Rank Level, I don’t think a Fighting Master is all that impressive."
"It seems I was wrong. Even at the Middle Rank Level, a Fighting Master is still formidable."
"So..."
The Dark·Demon Ship Master sat up straight, leaned forward slightly, and his voice turned chilling.
"Why should I believe that you, Mr. Fighting Master, have the financial means and qualifications to take so much of my cargo off my hands? And not that... you have other ideas in mind."
"After all... this is the Ancient Porcelain Holy City, which is no ordinary place. And you are just a Level Six Fighting Master!"
Previously, Zorn had Zansi find a way to contact the captain of the Blood Sail Pirate Gang.
Zorn knew the Blood Sail Pirate Gang was sitting on a large stockpile of "stolen goods" from the depths of the ocean.
The easy-to-sell items had long been sold, consumed internally, or traded away at sea by the Blood Sail Pirate Gang.
But some of the more troublesome "substandard black market goods" were a hassle to get rid of.
For example, the common "Giant Whale Oil" cursed by the sea.
Or the "Silver Scale Ore" harvested from the Ocean Dragon Fish Beast, which was boycotted by all the major Steam Empires.
And the "Blood Skulls" made from the heads of ocean natives, which carried the Blood Gu Curse, and so on.
Others might not know, but Zorn knew very well.
The Blood Sail Pirate Gang had hoarded a great deal of these resources.
They couldn’t use these substandard black market goods themselves, and they were very difficult to sell.
The deal Zorn had Zansi propose to the Blood Sail Pirate Gang was simple.
Zorn would buy all of these "substandard black market goods" at a reasonable price.
But Zorn’s offer of cooperation clearly made the Blood Sail Pirate Gang suspicious.
Of course, this bunch wouldn’t trust anyone.
Still, the prospect of offloading all their "substandard black market goods" was enough to tempt these greedy individuals.
They showed up as agreed, and then brutally attacked Zorn.
In the fight just now, if Zorn had actually been killed on the spot, there would have been no follow-up.
Dead men have no right to trade with pirates.
You had to survive and prove you were strong enough.
Only then could you do business with these sons-of-bitches pirates.
But even so, the cunning captain still didn’t fully trust Zorn.
That large a volume of cargo would require him to bring his Demon Ship down to a plane closer to reality.
If the other party had ulterior motives, it would be a huge problem.
This was the Ancient Porcelain Holy City, after all.
Zorn rubbed his palms together and said unhurriedly,
"It seems... the Blood Sail Pirate Gang isn’t very well-informed."
"Of course, that’s partly because Ogrande City is quite far from the ocean."
"Compared to ’Mr. Fighting Master,’ I would much prefer you call me—Mr. Councilman!"
"And a Councilman-Count of the soon-to-be-established Otan Grelle Steam Empire, at that."
A councilman?
And a Councilman-Count?
At these words, the first mates of the Blood Sail Pirate Gang, and even the captain himself sitting across from Zorn, were all slightly stunned.
"Oh... damn it! How could you possibly be a Count, and a councilman?"
The pale-faced Blood Blade Warrior gestured wildly, his teeth clenched.
"You look younger than the youngest sailor on our ship."
His abdomen had been pierced by Zorn just moments ago, and he had only barely recovered.
Zorn shrugged.
"If you’d just asked around a bit, you would know I’m telling the truth. It’s a very easy thing to verify."
"Right now, all the major official powers of the new Steam Empire are gathered in the Ancient Porcelain Holy City."
"You don’t need to worry about the officials threatening you."
"Because... you’re sitting in front of an official power right now."
Seeing their skeptical expressions, Zorn continued,
"Besides, the money I have is all clean, circulated currency—banknotes of various denominations, gold pounds, Silver Dragons, all of it."
"And... there’s a full 250,000 gold pounds."
"Once you get this money, you can carry it in a simple briefcase and deposit it into a bank with ease."
"Of course, it’s even better to use it as a reserve fund."
Zorn, who was well-versed in the preferences of pirates, had already arranged for the gold pounds when allocating resources in Ogrande City.
If you asked the nobles of Ogrande City, those who yearned for Extraordinary Power, to provide Extraordinary resources, they definitely couldn’t.
But if you told them all they needed was money, not only did they have it, they had it in spades.
Sure enough, when Zorn announced he had 250,000 gold pounds in clean money, the pirates all turned their gazes to their captain, Jack Jones.
When these pirates plundered merchant ships, it was rare for them to sell the resources for even half price; selling at a third of the value was the norm.
To be able to sell this batch of stolen goods, worth just over a million, for a quarter of the price—and get clean, spendable cash for it—was a tempting offer.
The greed and ruthlessness unique to pirates and robbers began to stir.
The way they looked at Zorn changed.
But the memory of their recent clash effectively curbed their desires.
After a long moment of staring at Zorn, a smile, wrinkled like the surface of the sea, appeared on Jack Jones’s rough cheeks.
"So... when do we make the trade?"
"Right now!"
"Right now?"
Jack Jones narrowed his eyes, a sharp glint flickering within them.
"Lord Zorn, it doesn’t seem like you brought any money with you. And... I don’t think it’s in the steam car outside, either!"
Captain Jack’s words put the surrounding crew on high alert.
Zorn reached out his right hand into the empty air.
A wisp of Black Mist flashed past.
An ordinary chest appeared in his hand as if by magic.
He gave it a little shake.
The sound of colliding gold pounds made all the pirates grin.
"There are 10,000 gold pounds in here."
"I think we should find a safer place to conduct the transaction."
"My thoughts exactly."
Captain Jack was also smiling.
But deep in his pupils, there was a profound sense of apprehension.
Because he had sensed the power of a Domain.
A very powerful Domain Power, at that.
’This Level Six Fighting Master is far more terrifying than he appears.’
The group went to the backyard and, after posting guards, the trade began.
As Captain Jack slowly maneuvered the Dark Realm Demon Ship to shore, Zorn set up a "Ritual Platform" to the side.
The first mates of the Pirate Gang began carrying the goods.
The stolen goods were continuously brought out.
Meanwhile, Zorn operated the Ritual Platform, gradually "sacrificing" the batch of resources.
Of course, this "sacrificial ritual" was just a disguise.
The real operation was to deposit them directly into his Spiritual Realm.
For every 200,000 gold pounds’ worth of goods he received, Zorn would hand over 50,000 gold pounds.
They had a lot of cargo, and the gold pounds needed to be carefully counted.
The transaction between the two parties proceeded in an orderly manner, without any hitches.
By the time dusk had settled deep into the night, the two sides had finally completed the entire transaction.
Sensing the stolen goods, worth approximately 1.06 million gold pounds, now inside his Spiritual Realm, Zorn breathed a long sigh of relief in his heart.
’With this batch of stolen goods, advancing to Level 7 and my subsequent actions will all be much smoother.’
This trade in stolen goods—these resources tainted by pollution, mutation, and curses—would be extremely troublesome, even unusable, for other Transcendents.
But for an Evil Spirit Wizard, they posed no problem at all.
The pollution, mutation, and cursed properties... to an Evil Spirit Wizard, were simply different flavors.
There was no problem at all in digesting them.
The only slight inconvenience was that only Zorn himself could digest them; they couldn’t be exchanged for gold pounds.
Even so, it was a massive score.
As for the 250,000 gold pounds Zorn had misappropriated from Ogrande City’s national construction fund, and whether this would cause a loss to Ogrande City’s resource reserves... that wasn’t an issue.
This time, Ogrande City had confiscated all the assets and wealth of every Church.
Added to that were the investments from numerous nobles into Extraordinary Power.
Zorn had obtained a full 1.2 million gold pounds worth of resources, plus another 600,000 gold pounds in currency.
In other words, Ogrande City had a total investment of 1.8 million gold pounds for this national ritual war.
With so many resources, including those purchased with gold pounds, they were supposed to construct a 12-story "Steam Ceremony Tower" to participate in the founding ceremony of the Steam Empire and inscribe Ogrande City’s great "National Steam Sacred Mark."
Even though only 1.55 million gold pounds remained, using the "Steam Ceremony Tower" of Zorn’s own design, they could build a Level 13 Steam Ceremony Tower.
In coordination with Ogrande City’s many pre-existing "Steam Source Pool Towers," it would be even more durable than another city’s 30-story "Steam Ceremony Tower."
It was precisely because this deal would yield such a handsome return that Zorn had Zansi contact this dangerous Pirate Gang so early on.
This bountiful haul of resources was enough for Zorn to advance to Level Seven in the near future, with plenty to spare.
As the transaction concluded, the relationship between the two parties had invisibly grown much closer.
"Your Excellency, the esteemed Councilman!"
"When your servant came to see me before, he mentioned a big deal we could cooperate on, creating a perfect win-win situation."
Captain Jack Jones’s form of address for Zorn had changed.
"Perhaps... we can discuss this big deal in more detail!"
