Herald of Steel-Chapter 1496: Meeting Vidiyan Again (Part-End)
20,000 ropals was certainly an enormous sum for any single man. It was not a small amount of money even for Vidiyan, who only earned roughly 50,000 ropals a year.
Even in the context of their total earning, this was not a throwaway number as the Blazing Sword Pirates on average made only about 15 to 20 million ropals a year from their hunts.
Thus for all the 10,000 men under Vidiyan to buy their citizenship just as Alexander wished, they would have to plunder 200 million ropals worth of loot!
This was the equivalent of plundering the entire annual budget of one of Adhania's provinces or 10 to 15 years' worth of their usual plunder.
And that was considering the entire fleet had exactly zero other expenses… like food, clothing, wages, weapons, and maintenance.
Pretty important stuff if one said so himself.
As well as ignoring the vital fact that most pirates were extremely loose with their money and whirled it away at the first chance they got- be it on booze, food, gambling or women.
'Life is short. Make the most of it.' These men by their nature were perhaps the very epitome of this adage.
And this kind of recklessness was made worse by further encouragement from the higher ups of the fleet, because they knew only a hole in his pocket would keep their men in this profession.
Otherwise, would any sane man with things to lose even take on this risky and uncomfortable job?
Never!
Remember, being a pirate was hardly as glamorous as books and movies make them out to be.
The men had to sleep in tiny quarters that constantly rocked, on a rickety, hard bed that was two sizes too small to ever properly spread their legs.
The rooms constantly smelt of damp mold and putrid sweat as men rarely had any facilities to shower or even just clean themselves.
The food served was mostly dry and tasted like bricks, the water felt cheap and many times even stale, and they were under the constant threat of being captured and having too many unpleasant things done to their body to set an example.
Not to mention the ever present dangers of traveling the seas and encountering dangerous weather, quickly becoming mixed with the waves within minutes. Or even just dying in one of the raids.
Not all merchant ships cleverly surrendered without a fight.
Hence most pirates tended to be not the most long sighted of people, much more preferring to live in the then and now.
Thus Alexander's offer in the grand scheme of things changed the overall situation very little.
But perhaps it was more about the optics here.
For most desperadoes, just knowing that door existed was all they needed, that gave them some much needed hope.
As for Alexander's choice of the number 20,000 ropals as the limit… well the man had not really put much deep thought into it when making it.
It simply appeared like a good round number and it was roughly what a farmer earned in 11 years, i.e.- roughly half of the 20 years of service asked of the pirate for their promised land.
And while discussing this matter, Vidiyan also did not bother to contest this number.
One because he thought Alexander was already being very generous- he of course did not know of any lord who sold his land's citizenship for so cheap.
Thus the man feared if he were to haggle with Alexander even further, the pasha might tear up the whole contract in anger.
And two because a part of him actually wished for the limit to be even higher.
The reasoning was the greater the price of citizenship, the greater this hurdle would seem and thus the less number of people would be interested in purchasing it, letting him retain greater power amongst the crew.
The shrewd captain even had a small fight going on inside his mind regarding this, the voices shouting,
'50,000! If it was 50,000 ropals, I bet no one would be interested. Should we ask for it? But how? Claim 20,000 is too cheap? Say that the men should at least make as much as I make in a year? Or….'
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'No! There is no need. This lord is too cunning. If I say this, he will easily know I saw through him. Let it go! 20,000 is still a lot of money. Most of the schmucks in the ship don't even have 20 ropals in their pocket. This citizenship will be a good carrot for these wastes. Hehehe… if the lord can use it, so can I!'
Thinking like this, Vidiyan let out a chilly, cunning light, one that was perfectly hidden from Alexander. The pirate captain could already see him driving his men towards bigger and much riskier targets using just this sweet allure.
'Come on men! Do you think you can save up that 20,000 ropals, by just going after those small fishes? No! We need whales! We need to hunt fucking whales! For the Blazing Pirates! For the citizenship!' Vidiyan could already see him giving a grand speech.
Thus quickly spotting the bright side of Alexander's proposal, the man hurriedly bowed his head, deferentially shouting,
"I.. my lord…I… My Azhak is not that good, oh great Lord of Zanzan. So I can only express my gratitude using the most basic of words. I pray you can find it in your vast heart to forgive this ignorant fool."
"First let me express my profound gratitude on behalf of my crew for your magnanimous privilege. And let this Vidiyan of the Blazing Sword Pirates swear eternal loyalty to you. May I be struck down by the fiery breath of the Dragon god should I ever betray you."
"....." Alexander watched the play with a thin smile on his smile, his limpid and clear eyes showing little emotion.
He of course took the pirate captain's word in a pinch of salt- the man was a pirate after all.
But still the gesture at least at face value pleased him, letting him produce a chuckle as Vidiyan finished,
"Hahaha, great, great! Here is to the start of a great partnership. I look forward to the day I can call you Lord Vidiyan, hahaha. Let us toast, let us toast!"
The pirate captain visibly flushed with infinite excitement as he soon as heard this promise, to the point Alexander noticed the man's sturdy shaking as he took the drink.
As a full fledged pirate, drinking wine should have been even easier than drinking for the man, yet… now he looked like a kid who had just been given his first shot.
Such was the allure of a noble peerage.
And as if to calm down his nerves, the man gulped down the entire thing in a single quaff, showing a very blushed face when he finally brought the cup down.
Traditionally Vidiyan should have drunk it more slowly, savoring the taste and the occasion for which it was being drunk. But once again, the man was not quite in the right mind to consider any of this.
Alexander slightly smirked in his heart seeing this from the other side.
He was not in any way angry by this, only amused.
As a former slave himself, the man could certainly empathize with Vidiyan's thoughts and even guessed he might have reacted similarly if their roles were switched.
At least he would have certainly needed a strong drink to maintain that professional facade.
Hence he gave Vidiyan some time to calm himself.
While upon recovering himself, the pirate captain quickly sought to reiterate his oath once again, this time, going as far as to get up from his chair and kneel, just like a conferred noble would.
'You are jumping the gun here my man. You have not yet been made a noble,' To which Alexander helplessly smirked inside, feeling this act was a few decades too soon.
However he accepted the gesture outwardly regardless, flashing his palms and also reiterating his promise once again.
"Mmmm… obey and fight for me loyally Vidiyan, and you will not lack wealth, land, and status. I swear it in honor of my Mother!"
"Now, there is one more thing I want you to do."
As he added this, the pirate captain instantly straightened his back and perked up his ears like an obedient rabbit, ready to say 'yes' the moment the Pasha said his request.
He then heard the young man before him chime,
"That slave you gave me, Arrya. I am very pleased with her. She is very beautiful and I like her. It is just that I am unable to understand a single word of what she is saying. She speaks not a word of Azhak and neither do I speak her tongue.
So I want you to find me a translator for me. They can be a slave or a free man working as a tutor. I do not mind paying for the service. But they have to be female- this is a must."
"In addition to that, I also want you to find out about Arrya's family. She is clearly a noble, so I do not think it should be too hard. Can you do this?"
Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!
Please come Here!
=>Link to the original /book/herald-of-steel_24388579605084705
