Extraordinary Voyage

When Milan was introducing the enemy situation, a Mind Connection was simultaneously initiated, focusing everyone's gaze on the slave fleet breaking through the waves in the distance.

Swish, swish, swish—

At this moment, the continuous wind and rain between the sea and sky evidently couldn't extinguish their burning desire to embrace massive wealth.

Relying on the manageable wind and waves and their sufficiently heavy load, they had raised almost all of their square sails.

Within the slave fleet.

Aside from the specially dispatched defense forces due to recent unrest at sea, consisting of a large armed merchant ship "St. Cruz Merchant" and a Level 5 Cruiser "Rowing Song."

The main body was formed by eight two-masted fast sailing ships with a displacement of around three hundred tons each, each carrying about a hundred armed crew and ten six-pound cannons.

Thud, thud, thud—

Seagulls brazenly approached for reconnaissance, even entering the cabins to inspect the internal situation.

Thus, the military officials of the privateer fleet also saw the large number of Anuma slaves locked on the lower decks of these eight slave transport ships.

Each seemingly small slave transport ship densely carried nearly four hundred people!

Anger, hatred, numbness, sadness, despair...

Yet no matter the emotions they carried, none could change their circumstances.

They were like neatly placed black chocolates in a box, lying side by side, directly chained on the lower deck, and even... in the hellishly humid, airtight, foul-smelling bottom hold.

However, even witnessing such scenes, none among Aiven and his companions were moved, not even Milan, who was from a wealthy, pampered background.

It wasn't that they lacked compassion, but in this era, such scenes were all too common.

Moreover, they were acutely aware that though one boat may have many Anuma slaves, only about three-quarters of them would arrive alive at the New Continent.

Perhaps even during the time everyone watched, someone silently perished in the cabin, never to set foot on the soil of the New Continent.

Yet even if they survived to reach there, the average age of Anuma people in the entire New Continent was only 29.

No matter how robust an individual was, continual exhaustion from heavy labor would drain the last bit of their life force in mining areas and plantations.

Bear in mind that even during the ancient New Stone Age, human average natural lifespan reached 35 years.

The tragic beginning of these lives was evidently due to the lucrative profits behind the slave trade.

Slave traders, through regular transactions, incurred a cost of about 10 Golden Lions per slave on the Southern Continent, yet upon transporting them to the New Continent, they earned a 600% profit.

If they directly used trade rifles for exchange, only about three rifles were needed to obtain one robust slave, enriching their profits even more.

Furthermore, this enabled the creation of more conflicts locally, and... produced more slaves!

Given the current fleet scale, the number of living slaves was approximately three thousand two hundred.

Considering the trade on the Southern Continent's Slave Coast, the source of slaves primarily came from capturing prisoners when defeating other tribes or nations.

Throughout the conflicts, obtaining one slave might lead to six or seven enemy aboriginal deaths.

Normally, acquiring such a large number of slaves at once was nearly impossible, the deaths of tens of thousands would be enough to annihilate a small principality.

It's highly likely that these Santababia Company slave traders personally attacked some tribe on the Southern Continent to acquire such a large number of slaves at once.

Clearly, as fiscal stress persisted, Hilus' policies became more aggressive, even personally stepping in to maximize gold and silver mine production to fill the Kingdom's deficits.

"The enemy escort consists of two vessels, including one ship nominally part of the convoy yet actually a standard Level 4 Battleship.

Among the remaining ships are a cruiser and eight two-masted mixed sail ships, totalling roughly 1200 armed personnel, with a total cannon projection weight of 819 pounds.

Although numerous, the calibers of the shipborne artillery are evidently still in our favor."

Carefully scrutinizing the enemy, Milan detailed a series of figures.

Meanwhile, the privateer fleet on their side numbered 1152 personnel, achieving a projection weight of 1312 pounds.

The "Venus" heavy cruiser, as the flagship alone, matched their total artillery weight with a projection of 808 pounds!

The only concern...

Aiven's eyes narrowed slightly.

Using the demonized seagull's vision, he observed the ship's figurehead on the "St. Cruz Merchant," its magic spiritual light glowing most prominently catching his attention.

...

Meanwhile.

Aboard the "St. Cruz Merchant," in the captain's quarters lavishly decorated with carved beams and paintings.

"Aha, there's nothing like a sip of Royal Family-exclusive rum to lighten one's mood in such rainy weather."

Captain Hobian, reclining on a chair with his feet on the table, set down the bottle and sincerely expressed a feeling.

"Haha! My dear captain, why blame the weather when drinking? I haven't seen you drink less even on sunny days.

Moreover, this isn't the Kingdom's Navy ship; no one bypasses your authority here."

Beside him, a handsome young man in a pseudo-military uniform without rank looked at the captain, wearing a tricorn hat with a longsword at his belt, yet with a slightly protruding belly, couldn't help but laugh.

Captain Hobian showed no anger, instead chuckled companionably, took another large sip of the sweet liquor, and casually toyed with a gemstone-inlaid gold pocket watch from his pocket.

"Lambert! Since His Majesty the Emperor handed you over for training, I will certainly look after you.

Your performance during the slaughter of native tribes and the plundering of slaves was commendable, ruthless and decisive."

"Thank you, Your Excellency, all due to your excellent command!"

Hobian waved a hand, indicating not to flatter him:

"Back when I was a Navy Officer, I didn't understand; I thought life's purpose was honor, responsibility, commitment, and... the great Eternal Flame.

```

But now I want to tell you that only strength, power, and wealth are the most important.

If you want to live well, enjoy the best food, wine, and women.

As strong individuals in all aspects, we have countless ways to take everything we want from the hands of the weak."

The young man pondered and asked:

"What if other strong individuals want it too?"

Bam—

Suddenly putting his feet down from the table, Hobian said seriously:

"Of course, let others step up, relying on Santababia Company, are you still afraid you won't get advantages?

So, there's one thing you need to remember.

This company belongs to His Majesty the Great Emperor, to the highest management, the Nineteen Gentlemen, and of course... to us.

Only when the company stands firm can we have our wealth and comfort, and can our interests be prioritized!"

At this time, who could see that this veteran middle-aged man, like an old hand in officialdom, was once a promising elite Colonel in the Navy?

The private escort fleet of Santababia Company was originally an independent armed force of the Royal Family, and from the beginning, a group of elite backbones from the Navy was transferred in to fill its ranks.

They were given the most preferential treatment and the most lucrative positions, just to make them loyal defenders of the Royal Family and the King at critical moments!

This was a strategy the Royal Family had been planning for a long time.

The most crucial point was to gain a force fully under their control, excluding all interference from the "Eternal Flame," now that the Kingdom was heavily infiltrated by the Church.

Especially after establishing connections with the covert wizard forces, various witchcraft tools were the first to be equipped here.

Of course, they also gradually gathered those extraordinary individuals not tolerated by the "Eternal Flame", who did not follow the Knight Path.

And who the imaginary enemy behind this operation was, there was no doubt.

However.

It now seems that a long time of overly comfortable living is enough to wear down the will of an elite officer, making him unrecognizable even to himself.

Just as Hobian was imparting his life lessons (poisonously) to the next generation of the company.

Clang! Clang! Clang!...

The sharp alarm bells on the ship suddenly rang out.

"What's going on?"

Although his determination was worn down by a long time of comfort and affluence, as a qualified captain and extraordinary being, his alertness was still present.

In an instant, he had sprung up and, along with the young First Mate Lambert, who was also an official knight, quickly dashed out.

Woosh—

In two steps, they were on the deck, face-to-face with a small, lean old man with a narrow face and gray scales, dressed in a black robe.

"Wizard Rice!"

"Hiss, Captain, handle your own matters. I'll step in when needed."

With cold eyes and speaking with a purple, slender tongue like a snake, he looked just like a poisonous serpent in human form.

"Fine, thank you kindly."

Due to the visibility limitations in the rain, it wasn't until the privateer fleet approaching from the right front of the fleet, downwind, was within two kilometers that the lookout raised the alarm.

For the fleet, this was already too close to cannon range.

There's no time now to blame the lookout.

While Hobian ordered the Order Officer to send out a warning signal to all the slave ships in the fleet, he stood on the aft deck, watching the Black Sail Pirate Ship with the black dragon-head banner gradually approaching, and shouted:

"Which pirates are you, that you can't recognize the flag of Santababia Company?

Quickly move away, or the Hilus Navy and your Pirate King won't spare you!"

His loud voice broke through the rain curtain and echoed over the sea for a long time.

Apparently, they had just brushed the edge of the rainy season through the triangle trade route to the New Continent, and were not too familiar with the White Knight and his "Dragon Cavalry Pirate Gang," who were enjoying a good reputation recently.

Although the flagship "Venus" was significantly larger than an ordinary cruiser, under the inherent view that only battleships ruled the sea, it didn't attract too much attention from him.

In the past, just with the name "Santababia Company," they could get all sorts of advantages, and even if the Hilus Navy had nothing else to do, they would first serve them.

Even if the company's property was plundered, afterwards, any pirate involved would be a primary target for the Navy.

Over time, the great pirates dared not move, and the small ones couldn't, which in another way created their comfortable situation.

If not for the need to keep a low profile, adding a "Royal" before the name of Santababia Company would not be a problem at all.

This is also a direct manifestation of what he previously told the juniors about "interests first."

However, these pirates were different from those before.

Whoosh—

Four warships braved the wind and waves, relentlessly approaching within a kilometer of the fleet's range.

"Fire!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!....

The fire shone in the wind and rain.

The roaring artillery fire completely shattered the long-lasting ease of Santababia Company into pieces!