https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-292-Do-You-Think-I-m-Doing-Charity-/12612622/
Chapter 291: Beli Galore!
Chapter 291: Beli Galore!
That night, everyone in the town was summoned and gathered around the manor.
Andre stood on a hastily constructed, crude platform, holding a megaphone and shouting to the crowd:
"Listen up, everyone! The mayor has been defeated, and from now on, this place will be ruled by Lord 'Tis! Lord 'Tis is the mighty pirate who slew the Heavenly Dragon, and under his protection, we will no longer be bullied! As long as we loyally serve Lord 'Tis, beli galore!"
"Hmm, what's that smell?"
Inside the manor, Sarge had just forked a piece of food into his mouth when he paused, his ears twitching as he scrunched up his face.
"Is something wrong with the taste?" Marika asked with a smile.
"Not you, I'm talking about that thing out there. This dish is well-made—tender and somewhat fluffy, reminiscent of foie gras and fish meat. Why haven't we made this before?"
"This is the White-Feathered Goosefish from the pond in the yard; I thought it looked quite good too. The meat isn't great, but the liver is fatty and delicious, making it a superior ingredient," Marika explained.
Marika laughed and said, "However, while the meat isn't the best, the yield is quite high. With the right cooking methods, it can be made edible, if not exactly gourmet."
When Marika said "edible," she meant something quite different from what a normal person would consider edible.
Marika was a person who pursued culinary perfection, but she also shared the dream of ensuring that people didn't go hungry.
So, when she deemed something "edible," it was actually quite delicious by normal standards.
Sarge understood this, and so he said, "Good, another addition to our aquaculture. Marika, I believe you're in charge of food, so pay a little more attention to this."
Marika's smile froze for a moment, but she quickly recovered, "Okay, I understand."
Lili, standing beside them, sighed softly and rubbed her forehead in exasperation.
Pay more attention? Marika was probably the least attentive of them all.
Someone must have made this dish.
After the conquest of the Kingdom of Garles, Lili had taken charge of all affairs. Although Moria was sharing the burden of managing Timerton, which was currently not in use, the main island of Garles alone was enough to keep her busy.
So she had to find others to share the load. Marika was in charge of food, while Reneetya already had her hands full with the shipyard and weapons manufacturing, and she was still young, so Lili didn't want to burden her with more responsibilities.
Hawkins was designing the royal palace, but he was also helping with the reconstruction of buildings, and Ulqi was traveling throughout the kingdom, proclaiming Sarge's rule and ensuring that the people of Garles knew they had a new ruler.
After all, there was a population of one million in the cities, with another million scattered across the land, and these people needed to be informed that their rulers had changed.
The newly joined Seaver and Misty were leading the guards who were reluctant to join Sarge but had started working for him, patrolling the kingdom to maintain law and order.
Everyone had their tasks, except for Sarge.
He simply knew what everyone was doing, leaving the rest to them, especially Lili, who had to manage almost everything.
After all, she was once royalty and had received a good education.
At first, it hadn't been too bad, but as time went on, especially during the recent payroll and tax collection, she had been driven to despair, wishing she could split herself into eight people to get everything done.
And this was with the other leaders sharing the burden; the subordinates below them were even more incompetent.
Pirates were good at robbery and murder, but when it came to more intellectual tasks, they were hopeless. Using Retty's words, they were so stupid that if you threw them into the sea, the seawater wouldn't be able to fill their empty brains, and they'd still be as dumb as stonefish, perhaps even dumber than the sea beasts.
Ajin, at least, was keeping an eye on the merchants and pirates at the port, and that was something. Parro, on the other hand, did nothing but prance around with his shield every day, spouting nonsense about how "shields are cool" and "absolute defense," a seasoned brainlet if there ever was one.
Yes, Parro was the perfect example.
In comparison, Bellamy, who had followed Lili in annihilating the ten thousand soldiers, seemed to have either had a change of heart or been stimulated by the experience, as he had taken up dyeing and was trying to create more artistic fabrics.
They desperately needed more management talent!
Nobles often had a common flaw—a love for money and treasure—and this town mayor was no exception. He had hoarded his earnings, amassing a significant amount of gold coins, jewelry, and around ten million beli, all of which now belonged to Sarge.
"Do you need to borrow money?"
The next day, Sarge smiled at Andre, who had come to see him. "Of course, I used to be a loan shark, so this is right up my alley. And since you're my subordinate, I'll give you a discount. For the first three months, I'll only charge you 5%; for one year, 20%; three years, 50%; and for ten years, 100%. How much do you want to borrow?"
"Just after breakfast, Andre came to borrow money.
He didn't have much property to begin with, and if he were allowed to manage things his way, he could have squeezed and withheld payments, collecting goods first and paying later. However, the key difference was that Sarge didn't permit such practices, so Andre had no choice but to borrow money.
Starting a business requires a lot of capital, even for something as simple as a farm. Buying crops and hiring people to process them into rice would require funds.
Just on this island, the crops and fertilizer...
Andre thought for a moment, then grit his teeth and said, "Lord Sarge, I'd like to borrow 10 million beri. One year will be enough!"
"There's no rush. I won't pressure you for time. Whenever you repay, I'll calculate the interest for that period. Just focus on doing a good job, and I guarantee you'll make money."
Sarge patted Andre on the shoulder and said to Lili, "Give him 10 million beri, and then leave him with a hundred men. Ask around who wants to be stationed here."
It was easy to select a hundred people, but before that, Sarge took this group, with Andre as their guide, to sweep through the villages on the island. Each village had a village head, and they were all connected to the town mayor to some extent. Although there weren't many people in the villages, each village head had somewhere between one to several million beri worth of valuables.
By eliminating these village heads, Sarge brought the entire island under his control, and they also seized nearly 40 million beri, along with six chests of gold and silver treasures, totaling approximately 100 million beri in value.
The 10 million beri loan wasn't included in this count, as it was Sarge's personal loan, and if we're talking about spoils of war, it definitely counts.
After taking half for himself and allocating portions to several other high-ranking officials, there wasn't much left to distribute, with each person only receiving around 30,000 beri.
The amount was indeed not much, especially considering the large number of people Sarge had brought, a total of over a thousand. Normally, an island like this could be handled with just a hundred people or so.
After completely occupying the island, Sarge sent someone to take Sayo to the volcano to collect some volcanic rock. The results were promising, as the rock contained the gem components she needed. It could be used as the primary material for rainbow gems.
"You'll have another industry to oversee now."
Sarge said to Andre, "You can open a mine here to extract this material, and I'll purchase it from you at a reasonable price. Focus on food, fertilizer, and volcanic rock for now. If you still have spare capacity after that, you can invest wherever you see fit."
"Yes, Lord Sarge! I will not let you down!" Andre replied excitedly.
This was an unexpected windfall.
As for whether there would be anyone unwilling to work, Andre didn't care about that. He was offering cold, hard cash!
"As for the hundred people who will remain here, you will no longer participate in robberies. You'll be responsible for guarding this place, and of course, I will pay your wages. If you get bored, you can apply for a change of duty and continue to participate in robberies. Don't worry, I won't abandon you. As long as you follow me, even if you become severely disabled, as long as I'm still around, I guarantee you a means to make a living!"
Sarge was indeed very fair!
"Ohh!!"
His words elicited even more enthusiastic cheers from the pirates.
Pirates were like drifting ghosts on the high seas, with dozens of people on a single ship, drifting aimlessly on the vast ocean. They lived one day at a time, not knowing what tomorrow would bring.
The money they stole was often spent before they even had a chance to enjoy it, so every pirate lived with an underlying sense of danger, fearing that they would become useless and be cast aside.
But now, things were different. Their captain guaranteed their livelihood!
Which pirate crew received wages like this?
Even the Four Emperors probably didn't offer such treatment.
Even if someone truly became useless, it wouldn't matter; they could just find a place to guard and retire peacefully!
Some pirates had even more restless thoughts. They had become pirates purely because they couldn't make a living any other way, so they had set out to sea in search of survival.
But now, they had found a way. They could guard Lord Sarge's territory, which was essentially a stable job!
Moreover, Lord Sarge was going to develop industries here, so those who worked would receive wages. They could even bring their families over and settle down here.
As Sarge boarded the ship, Andre watched the massive black vessel gradually move away from the coast. He then turned to a pirate standing nearby and said, "Barnaby, I never expected you to stay as well. Now I can rest easy."
Among those who had volunteered to stay, there was Barnaby, with a bounty of 56 million beri.
"Don't call me 'Lord'. I'm just a small fry in the Heavenly Disaster Pirate Group," Barnaby shook his head and smiled. "Andre, regarding the mine that Lord Sarge mentioned, can I invest in it as well? Rest assured, I don't want any interest. I'll just take a share of the profits."
His reason for staying behind was simple—he wanted to get a share of the profits.
The captain didn't seem to prohibit such arrangements, and although he himself wasn't good at business, he could still invest, just like Lord Sarge.
"What?" Andre paused, pursing his lips without answering.
"Rest assured, I'll pay my taxes and won't break Sarg's rules. I have five million beri back home. As long as you nod, I'll give it all to you, and I'll be happy with a small dividend."
"Okay, but I can't guarantee how much dividend I'll give you for now. It depends on how much total capital we'll need after the project starts, and then I'll give you the corresponding dividend ratio." Andre said.
"No problem! It's a deal!" Barnaby exclaimed happily.
...
In the captain's room of the Death Harbinger, Lily gazed out the window at the island gradually fading into the distance, and said, "That Barnaby, he seems to have other intentions. Shouldn't we stop him, Sarg?"
"Don't worry about it."
Sarg held a cigar in his hand and rolled a lighter over it before lighting it. "As long as they pay their taxes, give people their wages, and be loyal to me, it doesn't matter who they work for."
He didn't care about such things because, in the end, there was no difference.
It was better to give this opportunity to Barnaby, who had provided him with valuable intelligence in the past, than to someone unfamiliar.
Why pass up a good opportunity when it presents itself? It made no sense to then go looking for those who didn't seize the moment.
It made no difference to him, and of course, he wouldn't lose a single penny in the process.
The Death Harbinger continued on its voyage, steadily advancing toward Augusburg amid the flashing lightning and rumbling thunder.
As soon as they left the island's territorial waters, the storm intensified.
However, at that moment, Lily breathed a sigh of relief, visibly relaxing.
"What's wrong, Lily? Did you discover something?" Sarg asked curiously.
"No, nothing." Lily pursed her lips and shook her head.
"I know, I know!"
Reinette extended her hand and blurted out what Lily was thinking.
"Lily is afraid that the volcano will erupt and destroy the entire island, but now that we're out of there and the storm has arrived, it means that Sarg's bad luck has taken effect, and it won't get any worse!"
"What nonsense!"
Sarg glared at Reinette, "Let me say this again, the storm is not something I summoned. I admit I've been a bit unlucky, but the storm has nothing to do with me. It's a change in the weather, not because of me!"
"Yes, you're right." Reinette casually brushed off the topic.
"Go! Get back to designing your weapon blueprints!" Sarg rolled his eyes in annoyance.
Why blame him for volcanic eruptions? Would he also be blamed for rising sea levels in the future?
Preposterous!
Boom!
Amid the dark clouds, a thick bolt of lightning descended, striking the sea and a drifting ship, charring the mast black and setting the sail ablaze as it crashed onto the deck.
Boom! A massive wave also struck the ship, and under the tremendous pressure, the vessel snapped in half, dragged by the wave and submerged halfway into the seawater.
"It's over!"
A merchant clutching the ship's bow paled, his eyes filled with despair.
He never expected that even though they were sailing along the usual route and had specifically avoided the dangerous waters near the Garles Kingdom, they were so close to their destination, yet they still encountered this fierce storm!
Not only was there a storm, but there were also bolts of lightning!
Was the New World so cruel?
Clearly, they were just one step away from safety!
"I don't want that!"
The merchant shouted, "Whoever you are, save me now! I promise I'll help you make a fortune if you do!"
Behind him, the similarly dressed merchants were all filled with fear.
With such a massive storm, would they even have a chance to survive if their ship sank?
"No, wait, I see a ship!"
One of the merchants, with sharper eyes, spotted a massive silhouette through the veil of the storm. The ship cut through the raging waves and howling wind, unaffected by the lightning and thunder that assailed it, swiftly approaching.
It was like a ghost ship.
"Hey, don't shout, that's a ghost ship! Waaah, the New World is indeed terrifying, even ghost ships exist here. It's just like a natural disaster, sailing through the storm!" One of the merchants was so scared that he was on the verge of tears.
As for the merchant at the very top, he had been fearful as well, but upon hearing these words, he calmed down.
The storm... and a ship that sailed through the storm...
He stared fixedly at the top of the approaching massive ship and saw a familiar symbol on the sail.
The Starry Skull Flag!
"Natural Disaster! Sarg! Norton Sarg! Save me!"
The merchant screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice turning hoarse, "I'm Link! Your most loyal friend, Link, who helps you launder money!"
Boom!
A bolt of lightning once again descended from the sky, striking Link's head directly.
(End of Chapter)
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