Chapter 29: Post War Stocktaking (1)

As soon as it was light the next morning, the harbour guard led the soldiers and mobilised the villagers to search for the pirates who had gone into hiding. The pirates, who had scattered and fled, hid in civilian houses, causing the death and injury of seven villagers. They were immediately found and killed.

After the battlefield was cleared and the results tallied, more than 600 pirates were killed and more than 300 captured. Only the soldiers on their side were injured, but not killed. Three hundred and fifty highly trained and motivated soldiers could not defeat one hundred pirates with different motives. It was a normal result for the elite troops in armour and formation to defeat the rabble. There were also the divine arts of the priests to provide timely treatment.

The spoils of war were five three-masted sailing ships, nine two-masted sailing ships, and a cargo loaded on the ships disguised as a caravan, worth an estimated 34,000 gold coins, mostly for the ships.

Rewards and punishments were to be meted out immediately after the battle. The harbourmaster, the head of the POW camp and the captain of the guards at the construction site of the Wizards' Tower, who did not fear in the face of danger, each received a reward of 100 gold coins, which was very generous.

The 300 prisoners of war who had fought in the battle were immediately released from further work. They were now permanent soldiers in Baron Stewart's service, and an official would be appointed to allocate fields to them. All soldiers and militia who had fought in the battle were rewarded according to their merits. The wounded were given an extra gold coin, and the unfortunate citizens who had died were compensated.

Of course, the construction of the Mage Tower and Port Salzo would require the continued labour of these 300 men, and they could not stop halfway. These new soldiers were already immersed in the joy of being assigned fields, and didn't care to continue working.

Knight Eric Bernard brought 50 cavalry and four priests from Dragonclaw City. The priests, originally intended for battlefield treatment, were not used, and they worked with the soldiers to identify the surrendering pirates.

Those who believed in evil were to be executed immediately, but there were none among this group of pirates. Then there were those who had killed too many people, which would show up as blood light under the detection of divine arts, and they were also executed immediately. In the end, more than 100 of the 300-plus pirates who surrendered were executed, all hanged from wooden posts in the harbour. This was done to warn subsequent fleets and to spread the word of Baron Stewart's leadership.

The remaining 200 or so pirates were spared the death penalty, but not the punishment of hard labour. They were all sentenced to three years' hard labour, after which they could be released as serfs if they behaved themselves. This was the general rule on the mainland, as the population and their labour were important resources that could not be wasted.

Pirates could not live on ships all the time, and they also needed their own hideouts on land, usually small islands in the sea. Knight Eric Bernard of Kristine took some pirates on a ship to their hideout to bring back the valuable items.

Normally, pirates who have robbed a merchant ship will find a black marketeer to sell the stolen goods to. If they can't find a buyer quickly enough, or can't agree on a price, they will always keep some of the goods in their lair, and there may be other valuable items as well.

In the end, Knight Eric Bernard returned with more than 5,000 gold coins worth of goods and three two-masted sailing ships. The pirate leader Red Beard contributed more than 1,000 gold coins worth of personal treasures.

Yes, pirate leader Red Beard Hel was unaffected by the Dead Cloud spell when he led a raid on the Mage Tower construction site because he was in the rear command post. Coming from a family of small merchants, he knew that the level of the mage who could kill hundreds of pirates at once was definitely not low. He immediately surrendered obediently.

In the end, when the priest made the final judgement, Red Beard Hull was not considered a particularly evil person. It turned out that he had not risen to power by killing and robbing. He started out as the dog-faced military advisor to the pirate leader, and when the leader died, he was supported and became the new leader. As leader, he certainly did not have to commit robbery and murder himself. Although he did not spare the lives of pirates who disobeyed his orders, the pirates themselves were not good people, and this allowed him to survive by the skin of his teeth.

Afterwards, Red Beard Hel answered all questions during the interrogation, because with the existence of the divine lie-detector technique, concealing the results could only lead to more punishment. Besides, there were no pirates who would die unyieldingly.

What surprised Christine most was that Knight Eric Bernard had actually brought back a pair of twin fox girls.

(According to the setting of this book) Orcs are what humans call them. Internally they call themselves 'Beasts' and are divided into dozens and hundreds of small races such as Lionmen, Tigermen, Leopardmen, Foxmen, Catmen and Rabbitmen.

Because of their fighting prowess, powerful races such as Lion Men and Tiger Men are certainly in a well-deserved leadership position. For demographic reasons, Pigmen, Ratmen, Goblins, etc. are cannon fodder and slave races, while Foxmen, Jackalmen, etc. are known for their intelligence.

Every year, many small groups of orcs cross the narrow strait into human territory to pillage. Since the orcs are poor, they steal everything they see. Every few years, when the population becomes overcrowded, they organise large invasions to the south.

Human adventurers and slave catchers are also active on the Orcish continent. After all, the furs, gems, and rare magical materials of the monsters there are very valuable in the human world. Beautiful orc slave girls from the fox, cat and rabbit tribes are even more sought after by the nobles of various lands.

If you were to ask the different races of the continent which is the most beautiful, the answer would definitely be the elves. However, the elves are on good terms with the humans, and the half-elves have their own territory. Capturing elves as slaves is therefore strictly forbidden. Of course, nothing can be completely forbidden, but if it is discovered, not only will the person who captured the slave be executed, but the noble who bought the elf slave will also die.

It's not that the elves are that powerful, but the elves are willing to pay a high price in gold to have these people executed. For the money, all the kingdoms and the Church of the True God are willing to cooperate with the elves.

Dwarves need not be mentioned, as normal-looking humans cannot accept dwarven beauties. Other races with small populations also need not be mentioned.

And since orcs and humans have a hostile relationship, the capture of beautiful orc slave girls has become something that is encouraged. Fox girls, cat girls and rabbit girls are exactly the same as humans except for their animal ears and tails. According to Christine's pre-travel description, they correspond to the terms 'young lady', 'little girl' and 'girl'.

An original orc slave girl starts at 500gp, and the best ones go for 1,000gp. For rare twins like these, don't even ask the price if it's less than 4,000 coins.

According to Redbeard Hel, a nobleman from a certain country to the south bought these fox girls. The convoy transporting them encountered a storm at sea, and only one ship escaped. What's even more unfortunate is that they ran into pirates who robbed them, so that's what happened.

Because the Fox Sisters were so valuable, no pirate, including Red Beard Hel, dared think of anything else, and they all wanted to sell them.

They knew that if they were sold, each pirate would get at least five gold coins, and not everyone was qualified to stay behind. Red Beard Hel was also afraid of cutting off everyone's income for the sake of momentary pleasure.