Chapter 98: Pirate Booty

Tripleblade didn’t give up, “My Lord, perhaps we too can apply for some capital.”

“We are short on money!”

“Most crucially, with that money, your Lordship can heal your arm injury.”

“That injury has greatly encumbered you.”

“That wound prevents your Lordship from cultivating, stagnating your battle strength.  

“You are but a step away from the gold level.”

“IF you cross that step, your world will completely change.”

“Then, you shall be the mercenary corps’ sole gold level!”

Zong Ge stopped writing, he earnestly looked at Tripleblade, and solemnly asked, “Tripleblade, do you consider me a shameless person?”

“Your Lordship, I had no intention of offending you!” Tripleblade immediately knelt.

He wholeheartedly followed the half beastman.

Zong Ge sighed, “When I asked for a ship, Kuai Tui, and his people, I made my determination clear. In the future, we will seek our success in the Wilderness Continent and won’t be with these people any longer.”

“Since we are separate, I will maintain my independent nature.”

“This is the cost of that.”

“If we snuggle up when there are benefits and hold our independence when there are not, I will despise myself.”

When Zong Ge said that his ears seemed to ring with grumbles and complaints.

Back in the day, he had been a general.

He frequently had subordinates complaining and grumbling.

“My Lord, why are our supplies being replenished slower than other units?”

“It infuriates me! Today when army provisions were provided, not only were we last, but we were given less supplies than the others!”

“We are obviously the same rank and file, why do we get less?”

“This is unacceptable! Our merits have helped the most people, yet we lose the most!”

Zong Ge could only bitterly placate his subordinates.

What could he do?

He was a bastard, a half beastman.

He was General Da Shu, and sometimes his military successes had been claimed by others falsely.

He had been discriminated against and treated differently.

His heart concealed indignance and fury, yet his face was filled with apathy.

Back to reality.

To Zong Ge, who had been treated quite unfairly in the past, what was this to him?

Zong Ge was as indifferent as the clouds and wind.

But at that moment, Cang Xu came to his ship.

“Before you go out to morning training, the commander told me to bring you these.”

Cang Xu dropped two bags of money and left after saying his piece.

He was bogged down in work and valued his time; thus, he was direct and efficient.

The two looked at the money bags on the table.

Tripleblade reacted first, after he stepped forth to examine them, his expression became more complicated, “This money…we got the most.”

Zong Ge smiled, he put down his pen and took out some gold coins from the bags.

He sincerely exclaimed in admiration, “Our commander truly is magnanimous.”

He thought to himself, “If I was a ordinary half beastman, I would feel proud to be under his command.”

“Unfortunately, I am not.”

“More regretfully, this troop has no future.”

Zong Ge’s opinion on the survivor team never changed.

Even though the shell of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps covered them, the true core of it was the survivors.

The survivors had too many types of backgrounds, races, and beliefs mingling together.

“This can buy how many cannons? After you purchase the cannons, equip them first.” Zong Ge tossed his bag to Tripleblade.

Tripleblade caught it, “My Lord, healing your injury should take precedence. You recovering your full battle strength is more important than buying cannons.”

Zong Ge shook his head, “Even if you add your bag, there still isn’t enough money for that.”

“It is too expensive to ask a gold level bishop over here to heal my wound.”

“Even Feudal Lord Hun Tong would feel distressed at doing that.”

“I think that even if we pooled all of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ cash together, it still won’t be enough to ask for a gold level bishop’s help.”

“Give up on that unfeasible notion. I expect that a gold level healing potion will appear in the auction.”

Tripleblade had no choice but to concede to Zong Ge’s rationale.

Afterwards, he looked embarrassed, “But it is very difficult to buy cannons from the market.”

The old island’s sale was mostly peddling materials.

The five great merchant alliances were mainly selling cloth, foodstuff, magic potions, ore, and the like.

Not only were weapons and armor in short supply, but also military equipment too.

The new island’s auction would have large deals, but those were mostly in materials too. Cannons sales were very rare.

Two Eyes Island was a developed trading island; however, its manufacturing was not developed at all.

Therefore, Zong Ge and Tripleblade were confronted with an awkward situation.

They had some money.

Not enough to ask the Wealth Church for healing.

Based on market price, they could afford cannons, but they weren’t able buy any.

Munition sales were mainly traded on the black market.

Large scale external sales of munitions was very taboo.

The empire did not allow this kind of business. Therefore, the six great merchant alliances did not involve themselves in that business.

Otherwise, how could there be arms smugglers?

When he heard Tripleblade’s explanation, Zong Ge exasperatedly thought to himself, “Then you had better buy bronze level blades first.”

His heart was still focused on the Quick Knife Battle Squad.

The old island.

Bai Ya looked at a store sign.

The store sign said: Dark Rainbow Store.

“This is the place.” Bai Ya muttered.

Don’t be fooled by the small shop front and how unremarkable it seemed; it was the old island’s biggest booty market.

Most pirates chose this place to dispose of their stolen goods.

Many people believed that this store was backed by Two Eyes Island’s feudal lord, Hun Tong.

Of course, more people believed that if a genuine investigation was conducted, the Feudal Lord would be completely clean and wouldn’t be implicated by this place one bit.

Bai Ya had heard that Tripleblade had purchased a dozen bronze level war blades from this place.

Afterwards, he heard Lan Zao say that he purchased bronze level equipment from this place.

Bai Ya clucked the coin purse Zi Di had lent to him and entered the small store.

Following the code taught to him, after he and the salesclerk exchanged a code word, he got to see all kinds of equipment.

Cutlasses, pirate hats, peglegs, fishing nets, and even a parrot shaped alchemy puppet…

Most of the equipment was ordinary level, were some bronze level ones.

There were few iron level ones.

Bai Ya picked up a crossbow and a firearm and examined them.

He came from a family of hunters and was opinioned towards such long range weapons.

Bai Ya soon felt disappointed.

These weapons were far inferior to the ones the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps had in their armory. The alchemy firearms and crossbows they distributed were produced by War Merchant’s arms factory and were a step above all others on the market in quality.

What’s more, Bai Ya now saw that these were defective goods pirates had dumped from their loot.

The real good stuff were kept by the pirates.

Who would sell the things that earn their keep? Unless it was under extraordinary circumstances or as a last resort, this wouldn’t happen.

“Most of the equipment needs battle qi. I am not even a bronze level.”

“My talent is too inferior.”

Bai Ya was depressed.

After escaping Mystifying Monster Island, the dragonman youngster gave the survivors battle qi techniques,

Bai Ya began to cultivate battle qi.

At first, he thought his talent was pretty good.

But later on, after talking to Xu Ma, he had learned the cruel truth.

Bai Ya’s talent was terrible and his hope of ever becoming a cultivator was uncertain.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would be just like most people, an ordinary person for the rest of his life.

Bai Ya endured the blow, and didn’t give up, instead cultivating even harder.

After a careful selection, he chose from the piled booty a wrist crossbow and a set of leather armor.

Just as he was about to pay, he felt nothing in his chest.

“The money is gone?!” Bai Ya was startled, and he turned around to look all over for it.

He saw a familiar person leaning against the corner of the store, smiling back at him as he held his purse.

“Senior Xu Ma!” Bai Ya was stunned.

He didn’t even realize that another person came into the store.

Xu Ma threw the purse at Bai Ya, “Boy, your vigilance is terrible, you didn’t even know your money was stolen.”

“Anyways, how did you get so much money?”

“I never saw you as a rich guy.”

Of course, this money had been loaned by Zi Di, but Bai Ya couldn’t say that.

Luckily, Xu Ma didn’t dig any deeper, instead he wobbled over to Bai Ya and pointed out, “This wrist crossbow has a problem, it is a machine construct. Don’t be fooled by its bright appearance, it’s obvious it has been tampered with. It might malfunction after a night.”

“The leather armor is actually good, but it doesn’t fit you. You are only an ordinary person, so you should choose this leather armor.”

Xu Ma presented.

He was far more experienced than Bai Ya.

The salesclerk hadn’t ever said a word.

Buying booty depended on having a discerning eye.

Bai Ya heeded Xu Ma’s words and bought another set of leather armor based on his suggestion.

When the two were about to leave the store, Bai Ya curiously asked, “Senior Xu Ma, why are you here? Did you also want to buy equipment?”

“Of course not, I don’t have as much money as you.” Xu Ma sighed.

He had received an order to investigate the black gowned magician.

But he hadn’t made any headway in this matter.

On the one hand, the suspected necromancer was very mysterious, they left behind few traces, and those limited clues were cut short.

On the other hand, Xu Ma didn’t want to do this. He had just been stabbed! Now he was to investigate a magician, an iron level one!

“I am just a small bronze.” Xu Ma shouted to himself, but he couldn’t disobey the order.

He chose to passively slack off. Then, while he was strolling in the discount market, he saw Bai Ya.

He then followed Bai Ya and played a small joke on him.

Xu Ma was a thief with long hands and legs, a natural advantage when it came to stealing

His battle qi was the Spider Walk technique. Those who cultivated that battle qi had a distinct trait, they could move soundlessly, faster, and more nimbly.

Xu Ma had walked behind Bai Ya, and the instant the salesclerk looked away, he gently lifted the purse from Bai Ya’s chest.

“Since you have money, you might as well drink at the bar with me.” Xu Ma shook Bai Ya’s shoulders.

Bai Ya hesitated, thinking to himself: he still had most of the money, he should return it.

But after thinking again, he realized Xu Ma indeed had been looking after him a lot, and he nodded his agreement.