Munitions Empire

On deck, the captain held onto his hat, leaned over the railing, and peered out, looking at the approaching ship in the distance. He shouted loudly to the busy sailors behind him, "Hurry! Adjust the sails! They're going to catch up!"

Their ship had all its sails set, and its speed had reached close to 10 kilometers per hour, which was considered to be a decent speed for a sailing ship.

Since their ship was quite new and was intentionally designed as a high-speed merchant vessel, the purpose was to avoid harassment by some of the older pirate ships.

Unfortunately, this time they seemed to have encountered a well-equipped pirate crew, whose ship's speed was incredibly fast, obviously over 14 kilometers per hour.

As time ticked by, the pursuers seemed to grow impatient. With a muffled boom of a cannon, a cannonball fell near the merchant ship, stirring up a towering column of water.

Regrettably, due to the level of the gunner, the cannonball landed quite far from the merchant vessel, not even causing the splash to reach them.

But that cannon shot still threw the sailors on the merchant ship into some panic, with someone fearfully shouting, "They're firing at us! Damn it! These damned pirates!"

The captain knew he couldn't let the pirates succeed because the cargo on board represented their livelihood and lives.

If pirates boarded the ship, whether they would survive was no longer in their own hands.

Therefore, the captain, disregarding everything, shouted loudly to encourage his sailors, "Quick! We are about to enter Brunas port's territorial waters. Once there, we might encounter other merchant ships, and we could be saved."

Indeed, they were not far from Brunas; at least according to the sea chart, they had already entered the waters under Brunas' jurisdiction.

The encouragement steadied many of the sailors, but the first mate still quietly reminded his captain with some dismay, "But, Captain! They are about to catch up!"

The other ship was indeed fast, and this merchant vessel, laden with steel, obviously couldn't sail very fast.

It was also because he heard that the sale of steel in Brunas had surged recently that the captain had loaded a ship full of the in-demand commodity, planning to deliver it to Brunas to earn a substantial profit.

The result was an encounter with pirates here, making him regret so much it hurt; had it not been for his greed, they might not have faced such a desperate situation.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed aside his first mate, stepped up to the helm, snatched the wheel from the helmsman, and shouted, "Damn it! I'll take the helm! Their ship is faster than ours!"

"We're finished!" A sailor had already knelt on the deck, howling in despair.

By his side, some sailors were holding harpoons, as if they still wanted to fight at the very last moment. But his tremulous demeanor would reveal to anyone that his bark was worse than his bite.

Just as many had fallen into despair, a sailor pointed to the other side and shouted loudly with excitement, "Look! Captain! Starboard! Starboard!"

"Hmm?" Following the lad's pointing finger, the captain gazed into the distance and saw a ship seemingly rushing in their direction.

"There's a ship over there! It's a warship!" another sailor shouted excitedly, filling everyone with a glimmer of hope.

"It's an Elf battleship!" the experienced old sailor recognized at once—it was an Elf Race warship.

"A warship?" The captain looked puzzled, carefully examining the approaching warship. He didn't see the flag of the Elf Kingdom, only an unfamiliar, red Dragon Banner.

"Mallans design, three decks! It's an Elf warship!" the old sailor explained, smiling because he knew that pirates wouldn't dare challenge a warship.

After all, warships carried numerous cannons, and a broadside could fire dozens of cannonballs in one go, easily destroying a pirate ship without breaking a sweat.

"Why would an Elf warship be here?" Nevertheless, a sailor wondered at that moment.

The captain pushed aside the officer blocking him and had a look of salvation on his face, "It doesn't matter why it's here, it looks like we're going to be saved! Signal them! Quickly! Have someone shout at the top of their lungs! We need help! Now!"

"Help!" Hearing the captain's reminder, a sailor immediately began to shout loudly.

Next to him, another sailor waved his hands while joining in the shouting, "We're under attack! Help!"

"Hey! Hey! Look over here!" More sailors joined in the shouting, making the entire deck sound like a screaming party.

On the approaching elf warship, the human officer, with his hand on the hilt of his Longsword at his waist, walked up to his superior and reported, "Captain! It seems someone is calling for help!"

After retracting his monocular, Bernard, who commanded this vessel of the Elf Race, confirmed, "That's Dorne's Dragon Banner! The ship following that merchant vessel is not flying a national flag, nor a signal flag... It's almost certainly pirates."

Indeed, this was the only true warship Tang Mo had in his possession, which had arrived to deliver John and was subsequently detained by the elves.

Bernard, Tang Mo's trusted confidant, was now in command, and its mission was to train sailors for the Great Tang Group's navy.

Bernard looked towards another vessel not far away and gave his orders, "Close in! Prepare to fire! Get ready to sink that pirate ship!"

"Understood!" the officer nodded slightly. Recently, they had sunk at least ten such pirate ships.

In fact, the pirate ship opposite obviously didn't often operate in these waters; otherwise, they certainly wouldn't continue their brazen crimes near Brunas.

Among the pirates in the area, there was a legend that one should flee immediately upon seeing the Dragon Banner, or else not even have the chance to become a ghost.

On deck, an officer, hands behind his back and chin raised, bellowed the battle orders to all sailors, "Load all cannons!"

Elsewhere, the officer responsible for the sails was also issuing his commands simultaneously: "Hoist the sails! Raise the jib! Speed up!"

The sailors, skilled in their work, quickly manipulated the ropes, and a pristine white sail unfurled rapidly. As the sail billowed, the warship's speed increased even further.

"Adjust the bow! Adjust the bow!" Bernard then expertly began to navigate his warship on a course to bring its broadside to bear on the distant pirate ship.

On the merchant vessel from Dorne, a group of sailors watched, dumbfounded, as the distant warship turned sharply.

They started cursing in despair, some even with a cry in their voice, "Damn it, the elves' ship is turning around..."

"Didn't they see us?" one sailor said with tears in his eyes as he knelt on the deck, supporting himself on the railing.

Another sailor was even more despondent, sobbing and complaining, "They must have seen us! They're planning on leaving us to die!"

"They probably don't want to get involved here; after all, this is Leite Kingdom's waters," the officer said, beginning to break down himself, even forgetting that the pirate ship was getting closer and closer to them.

The captain closed his eyes, as if preparing to face his final moment, "That's very considerate of you, thinking of others at a time like this! We're done for now! There's no saving us!"

"But... it doesn't seem like they're trying to turn away!" The distraught officer seemed to notice something amiss.

By now, others had also sensed that something was off: "They're raising sails... They're preparing to pick up speed..."

A sailor, looking again towards the distant warship, muttered, "Are you kidding me?"

"My God... They've opened the gun ports!" another sailor noticed as the elf warship revealed its broadside, and one by one, the gun ports were opened.

In the midst of the waves, this beautiful warship pushed out one cannon after another, revealing the dark muzzles.

"Could it be they want to engage the pirates in battle?" a young sailor, seemingly inexperienced in naval combat, asked excitedly.

An old sailor, who had just recognized it as an elf military ship, incredulously denied it: "Are you joking? Do you know how expensive cannonballs are? Normal naval warships, don't they just scare off the pirates and that's it?"

Military forces these days were actually quite corrupt; they were unwilling to waste their cannonballs in unnecessary situations.

If they encountered pirates at sea, they would most likely not pursue them, even if they happened to see merchant ships being plundered, they would generally look on without intervening.

Unless the merchant vessel belonged to their own country, or if the pirates hadn't succeeded yet, under those circumstances, they would usually hoist their battle flags and scare off the pirates—nothing more.

Of course, if they met an even more corrupt navy, they might play the role of pirates in secret, killing all the sailors on the merchant ship, plundering wealth, then sinking the vessel and making their escape.

In short, encountering a warship at sea was not necessarily a good thing. However, encountering warships near ports was mostly safe because there were many ships passing through crowded areas, and the commanders of those warships generally wouldn't harbor ulterior motives.

But... neglecting to render aid was far too common, whereas warships like the current one, preparing for battle right away, were not often seen.

Listening to this old sailor, the new sailors also began to recall events they had witnessed with their own eyes yesterday: "Yeah, that's exactly what the Leite Kingdom's patrol ships did yesterday; they just intimidated the pirates without any intention of firing."