Chapter 59

Sheyan had a few more spare guineas on hand, he then explored the entire Turtuga port in search of rum. However, he only managed to drink 3 different kinds of rum from the 'Intoxicated man' milestone - 'Ronrico', 'Lemon Hart' and 'Mulata' rum. Still, he managed to obtain information on the other two kinds of rum. 'Lambs potato' rum could be found in the British warship that was anchored at the port, and 'Cockspum' was kept within Turtuga castle.

Sheyan paid a huge price to gather this information, where his net worth had plunged downwards. Once again, Sheyan felt the importance of having high points in charm, it wasn't just about a meagre amount, but a substantial economic difference! Furthermore, to be able to use less amount and yet gain more critical information.... Alas, Sheyan could not shake his head at his low charm level. Although his level wasn't considered the lowest, it was insufficient by his personal standards!

A party's important nature could also be distinctly seen here. Within Chris's party, they would definitely utilize the person with the highest charm to gather reports, the highest strength to lead the attack and the highest physique to hold the ground. With such suitable delegations and everyone doing their individual parts, the chances of a great mission success would be increased. Therefore, rapidly increasing their potential.

However! Even though a party was important, Sheyan wanted a party that he could personally be in charge of! If his position was an awkward one where he had to settle for the leftovers from others, such a position of being easily abandoned if deemed useless was definitely not what he wanted.

Shaking his head, Sheyan discarded all these distracting thoughts. He continued to gather reports within the streets of the port, and at the same time, observing the movement patterns of the Turtuga patrol guards.

All of a sudden, the 3 stationary legendary ships brazenly raised their jolly rogers! Following that, they loudly opened fire! The fire sounds were systematic, 3 long and 2 short ones, as the smoke dispersed upwards. Next, Individual ships started signalling out their respective bugle horn sounds, and only the 'Flying Dutchman' used a huge sea snail shell to blow out their sound.

Sheyan was startled by those cannon sounds, he momentarily thought that the pirates had reached a consensus and were about to commence an organized assault on Turtuga port. However, he immediately tossed out such an idea. Because from all perspectives, it wasn't a mature opportunity to strike at Turtuga port yet! Furthermore, the pirates were like a sheet of loose sand, there was no way they had successfully reached an agreement and colluded together! From this, he could tell it was probably a contestant that had triggered a story component or something!

From far, he could see that the Bell and Mug had also started to raise its jolly roger. One-eyed pirate, Cuaron, was also watching from afar, as he blew hardly on a bugle horn made from a water buffalo's horn. As a new member, Sheyan had no clue what that meant, however, guessed it meant to immediately return to the ship.

Once Sheyan had climbed aboard the deck of the Bell and Mug, he received a list of notifications from the nightmare imprint.

[ Verifying identity status... ]

[ Contestant no. 1018 has obtained Ammand's acknowledgement, current status: Crew member of the pirate ship 'Bell and Mug'. ]

[ Contestant no.1018 has acquired the rights to enter the historic storyline battle: Destruction of the Paragon fleet (Preface chapter). ]

[ Contestant no.1018, do you wish to enter this historic storyline battle: Destruction of the Paragon fleet (Preface chapter) as a crew member of the pirate ship 'Bell and Mug'? Yes/ No. ]

[ Historic storyline description: As the era of the great oceans approaches, Spain had relied on its navy to plunder and accumulate a huge wealth. At the end of the 16th century, Spain was in possession of 83% of the world's precious metal extracts. These huge wealth substantially stimulated a domestic booming economy. To safeguard their overseas interest and monopolize maritime sea routes, Spain has established a formidable maritime fleet with approximately a hundred warships, 3000 extra cannons, and over ten thousand soldiers. Such a formidable fleet rampaged through the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Proudly hailing themselves as the 'Paragon fleet.' ]

[ Following the sudden emergence of Britain, it massively threatened Spain's colony and its monopoly position. Hence, the king of Spain, Philip the second, harboured great animosity. At the time, Britain's maritime powers were not great, struggling to match their rival, the Spanish fleet. Thus, they could only rely on cooperating with the pirates to organize skirmishes, intercepting and looting Spanish vessels carrying gold and silver. Through these pirate activities, the royal family of Britain gradually gained strength. The two parties conflicts were unable to reach a compromise. ]

[ In order to achieve maritime supremacy, Spain and Britain engaged in an intense and spectacular naval battle which gathered worldwide attention. In this naval battle, the spanish fleet held overwhelming superiority. However, to everyone's surprise, this battle's concluded with Spain's devastating defeat and eventual end. The 'Paragon fleet' was utterly wiped-out. Ever since then, Spain had rapidly declined, and consigned their 'Naval supremacy' status to Britain. ]

[ Therefore, this impending historic storyline battle, is a prequel involving a huge naval battle of such grandeur! ]

Faced with such a magnificent opportunity, Sheyan without hesitation selected 'Yes', as a list of notifications followed.

[ History storyline battle: Destruction of the Paragon fleet (Prequel chapter) ]

[ Three merchant ships sailing from the New World are currently navigating a hundred nautical miles from here, the ships are fully packed with stolen loots of gold, jadeites and precious minerals from the New World. Because the ship draws quite deeply, their speed is extremely slow, even the slowest pirate ships can easily catch up. ]

(TN: a ship drawing deeply means their body is sunk deeper into the water mainly due to heavy load, therefore there is a greater risk of water entering from the sides)

[ The merchant ship owner Fernandez is an exceedingly shrewd man, before sailing, he already recognized the immense danger within this voyage. Therefore, he spent a huge amount to hire 4 battleships from the 'Paragon fleet' to escort him. After a long voyage covering more than half of the distance, regrettably it was discovered by a British Royal navy speedy sail boat. This piece of information had travelled rapidly and leaked to the British Royal navy warship, HMS Victory that was anchored at Turtuga port. The HMS Victory had quickly conveyed this news to the nearby pirates in Turtuga port, reaching a mutual agreement, they set sail in pursue of the Spanish fleet.... ]

Presently it is necessary to bring up the subtle relationship between the British Royal navy and the pirates. Under normal circumstances, a pirate plundering a merchant ship was an activity that violated the law, therefore their relationship was that of a police and thief.

However certain pirates were previously fallen British nobility, and possessed a 'letter of marque' issued by the Queen of Britain. This meant that if they did not plunder British ships, they would receive Great Britain's protection. Some of them secretly plundered british ships, but did not allow the news to leak. These pirates could be counted as part of the allied forces of the British Royal navy. Even those incorrigible pirates who committed unimaginable crimes, if they showed sincerity in amending their ways and donated a portion of their wealth to the Queen of Britain, they could equally be bestowed nobility.

With these factors intertwining, simply put: even though the British Royal army and pirates had such internal contradictions that could be debated, their bigger enemy was the 'Paragon fleet'. Thus, they were able to put aside such conflicts.

As such, when the HMS Victory had encountered information on such profitable but arduously challenging spanish fleet, they divulged this report to the pirates and colluded with them. As long as both sides were aware of their own roots, it was natural to work together in the face of massive benefits. Thus, the pirates and marines managed to form a partnership within such a short time!

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The sea breeze was strong and swift, and the sails of the Bell and Mug were swelled out maximumly from the wind; propelling the huge ship ambitiously across with speedy velocity.

This ship modelled the design of a Beihai 3 mast sailboat, having a delicate long hull in addition to the knocking angle of the ship's bow, it looked like a greyish light blue striped wide flying fish that was gliding at high speed. Easily breaking waves and leaping over the water surface, yet it maintained a stable gliding, showcasing both agility and gracefulness.

Presently the ship had a nervous atmosphere, the gunners repeatedly checked their loaded ammunition. They had to arrange the gunpowder barrels in a position that was easily accessible yet secured, while the one-eyed Cuaron was ordering loudly to the crew men to sharpen their broadswords.

To the Bell and Mug who placed heavy emphasis on speed, it was obvious their main raiding tactic was closing up to the side, thereby engaging in a naval boarding. A perverse ship like HMS Victory who brought close to two hundred cannons, naturally they would rely on pure firepower to bombard their enemies with explosions. A broadside battle involving overwhelming crushing might.

Presently, Sheyan was a person that everyone was focussing on. The pirates had witnessed a great deal of brave men on dryland transforming into spiritless cowards; vomiting and breaking down when on board a rocky ship. A huge portion of them were resenting his murderous behavior, therefore, some were making jokes about him at the side.

Who knew, Sheyan leisurely continued his activities, even surpassing some pirate idlers, as he ran about aiding others; tightening the sail ropes, and reinforcing the sides. He looked as if he was an expert that had lived aboard a ship for a long time.

TN:

Naval boarding means bringing up one's boat to the side of the enemy ship or crashing one's boat directly into the enermy's ship, to forcibly board the enemy's ship and attacking it.

Broadside battle refers to cannon fights between ships with a distance between them.