Pirate Kingship-Chapter 46 - 45: Venture Capital, Shifting with the Wind

Outside the Golden Palm Trading Company.

The crafty merchant Michael, who had warmly seen Byron and his party out, likewise stared at their departing backs, a playful look gradually emerging in his eyes.

A few days ago, when I first met this Pirate gentleman, he was still the warehouse administrator of the "Man-Eating Shark." Today, at our second meeting, he has already become the captain. The fate of the former captain is not hard to guess. Obviously, this Pirate gentleman is no simple character. Even though he currently lacks a title of his own, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see his name on a Level 1 bounty notice one day. To be honest, I have a strong hunch that this could be an excellent venture capital project, worthy of substantial support from the company’s special fund.

As everyone knows, under the Transcendent System of the "Silver Law," a person’s Extraordinary profession is their actual job within the social system, as well as a part of the normal functioning of the Human world. To advance in their Extraordinary profession, one must adhere to their respective professional standards and fulfill their job responsibilities! That means if you want to advance continuously, you must be a "model worker," and one who works earnestly for a lifetime at that.

Take the ever-present Pirates for instance—even if they grow old and tired of the life, they still have to keep roaming the seas, unless they can tolerate their Class stagnating or even gradually declining. Individuals like the ancestors of the Lancaster Family, who founded a new profession on the basis of piracy and successfully established a Kingdom ashore, are indeed rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. The significance of "choosing the wrong profession" is thereby intensified to the utmost.

It’s the same for those of the Gold Sequence of the Transcendent. The core ability of the "Golden Eye" is appraisal, similar to the abilities that come with a "Sailing Logbook" but significantly weakened. In their career, by encountering more precious treasures, successfully completing the process of appraisal, collection, selling... their Power can continue to increase. The difficulty is lowest when appraising inanimate objects; next comes appraising horses (equine appraisal) and hunting dogs (canine appraisal) and other Animal goods; and appraising people is the most difficult! Otherwise, we wouldn’t have business cases like "cornering rare goods" with extremely high returns on investment.

Even if you are a purely orthodox Transcendent, with all transcendent ability coming from the "Silver Law," it’s highly likely that others can’t tell if you’re Transcendent at all.

Michael encountered such a dilemma with Byron.

What a pity, I cannot discern what Extraordinary profession this Pirate captain holds at all. Last time, I could still vaguely make out a bit of Spiritual Radiance, probably between sublimation and non-sublimation, but this time there’s nothing at all. The art of appraising has completely failed on him.

Judging by his performance that day, a Tower Sequence Artisan? A Prophet? A historian? A naturalist? Sequence axiom: Use knowledge to dispel ignorance? No, no, no, that can’t be it. How could a dignified member of the Tower Sequence become a Pirate? And a small-time Pirate at that, with but a single armed merchant ship? Moreover, a First Order Transcendent compared to an ordinary person can only be considered outstanding in their own field. What a Transcendent can do with their abilities, an ordinary person can achieve with decades of experience and training. I can’t distinguish it, I simply can’t!

Michael, accustomed to practicing his abilities on Byron, ended up gaining nothing. The "Risk Investment Assessment Report" that he wanted to submit to the company naturally couldn’t be produced.

Forget it, we will meet again sooner or later. During this time, the company’s intelligence system can pay a little attention to this person. If he truly begins to stand out, it won’t be too late to place our investment then.

Money speaks, truths remain silent. In this world, who else but the Church has been bought out and funded by the Remit People? Business conglomerates, Pirates, overseas venture companies, traditional Nobility, small countries... The dense web of investments beneath the surface allows their potential influence to be frightfully extensive.

At that moment, a waiter who had serviced Byron approached Michael and reported in a whisper, "Mr. Michael, the guest who just left is really wealthy. Not far from the door, I saw him give a precious Magic Potion (actually Blood Brew) to ’raw material.’ No, that’s not quite right. I should say that the clients who came to buy slaves today have all been quite generous. It’s not yet noon, and one-third of the new stock has already been sold."

Hearing this, Michael nodded thoughtfully. Indeed, the determined stance of that ’Woodpecker’ captain was a little unusual as well. Even I feel that the winds at Iron Anchor Bay have been somewhat off recently. The Parliament elections are drawing near, so it’s normal for there to be more people around. But a group of Pirates is coincidentally going on a shopping spree in the market. They are recruiting troops and buying horses regardless of cost, all to enhance their own strength. Even if it’s for the ’martial combat’ segment of fighting for the role of Military Governor, it seems a bit excessive. This month, it started with the "Blacktins Crown" changing hands, followed by the Iron Anchor Bay Parliament, which also showed signs of impending chaos.

His eyes darted around as his brain quickly processed the information he had been observing indifferently. Then, he decisively gave the order: "Instruct them to stop selling the remaining goods at a markup according to the original plan. Sell them off at the past normal prices, and try to empty our stocks completely before the end of October. All the local banks are run by Remit People; this time don’t hold onto their banknotes, trade everything for real gold and silver! Captain James and his "Rainbow Trout" were supposed to transport the bulk of this month’s precious cargo we had purchased for the return voyage. Send the two most beautiful slaves in our firm over to him, and ask him to stay a couple more days. The Parliament elections will be in mid-November. We’ll leave no later than the beginning of November, and all of us will follow this "Treasure Guardian"!"

Some have calculated that nearly 45% of the names on the "Charles Wealth List" at Iron Anchor Bay are Remit People. Most of them did not become part of the one-fifth that disappeared the following year. Obviously, they have their own exceptional foresight for crisis.

In a world filled with Extraordinary Power, apart from being "greedy for money," their sense for Wealth and crisis has made the people of this group engrave "steering with the wind" into their very bones. The moment they sense a disturbance, they immediately flee from the scene.

The waiter was about to comply when he was suddenly stopped by Michael.

"Catch up with the captain who just left and give him my business card. Invite him to make sure to attend our upcoming clearance sale."

The profit I didn’t make enough of in the last transaction, I can always earn back in the next one! In this world, nobody can take advantage of Michael forever. This is my way of doing business!

Grinning, his signature gold tooth gleaming in the sunlight.

「Elsewhere.」

Byron, who was handed a business card on his way, had already brought Bruh and the dozen or so slaves he had bought back to the Rosemary Inn, which offered slightly better conditions. He arranged the best room for his Guardian Knight. He also paid a substantial amount for a Second Order Professional Rank "Raven Doctor" from the hospital. This doctor would clean Bruh’s wounds, set his broken bones, and speed up the healing of his injuries.

But that was all he could do. Despite all efforts, he still couldn’t wake Bruh up.

Under the "Silver Law," all of Humanity shares what they have. The efficiency of accumulating knowledge and experience had been greatly enhanced, rather than creating out of thin air knowledge that had never existed in the world. Moreover, various types of "forbidden knowledge" have a strong affinity for Human flesh and the negative Desires rooted in instinct. Deliberately suppressed by the Church, this added many invisible obstacles to the development of medicine.

Frankly, Humanity’s research on the soul and the spiritual world is still far ahead of the study of the materialized body. Even the core ability obtained by this "Raven Doctor" at the Second Order Professional Rank is only to "stimulate Life force." It can help external injuries heal faster, but also accordingly shortens cell life span.

Watching the pain between Bruh’s brows finally lessen, Byron’s mood did not relax much.

The only two bottles of "Azure Blood Spring" plus a "Raven Doctor" can only preserve Bruh’s life. The initiation of the "Ritual, Holy Grail of Blood" must now be promptly scheduled. free𝑤ebnovel.com

Bruh’s family, as the most loyal butlers, served the Lancaster Family for three generations and were more trustworthy and reliable than anyone else. Bruh, only a year older than Byron, was a true prodigy who awoke on his own at the age of sixteen. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have become Byron’s Guardian Knight. Loyalty, potential, and the finest education were enough to make him Byron’s most reliable right-hand man and perfect first mate as he soared to great heights.

Besides, Byron couldn’t forget the prompt from the "Sailing Logbook":

"The Great Flood of this world has never receded, be sure to fasten your ’Anchor’ tightly!"

And Guardian Knight Bruch was one of Byron’s few remaining ’Anchors’ in this world.

However, Byron’s expression stiffened a little.

Initiating the ritual means the long-resisted unknown side effects were finally about to come.

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