Chapter 121: Gained Two Sea Vessels!

Next, the muffled thuds in the arena lasted for two full minutes.

During those two minutes, Gervas’s hundreds of punches all landed on the skull boss’s face.

Those underlings who had seen Gervas deal with other enemies knew their lord had always used slaps to punish foes before.

Only this skull boss had been treated to fists the size of clay pots.

Clearly, this bastard had brought his fate upon himself.

In an instant, the skull boss’s nasal bridge collapsed, his teeth shattered, and saliva, tears, and blood streamed continuously.

Anyone who saw it gasped in shock; anyone who heard it felt their hair stand on end.

Terrible!

Truly, it was horrific!

“Give me… a quick death… uh…”

As the skull boss lay dying, he finally understood what it meant to reap what he had sown, using his last ounce of strength to beg for a swift end.

Fortunately, his life had reached its limit.

No sooner had he spoken than he failed to draw another breath, his head tilted sideways, and he fell silent.

The skull boss is dead!

…

“What’s your name!”

Thud!

“Noble… noble sir, I… I’m Berna…”

Berna’s legs trembled, and he collapsed to his knees with a thump.

Cruel!

Truly, it was cruel.

Of course, it was also undeniably satisfying.

These damned pirates—if the noble lord hadn’t arrived in time, every woman, including my wife, would have been violated, and the villagers would have become their slaves.

Still, no matter what, the noble lord’s methods left Berna with a chill down his spine.

If it were him, he’d rather be cut down by the noble lord’s blade than endure such agony.

“Berna, don’t be afraid—you’re not one of them. You delivered the Sea God Stone. That’s a great deed. I pardon you!”

“Tell me how you came by the Sea God Stone!”

Gervas pointed to the villagers bound nearby.

This gesture instantly sent the villagers into shudders; the timid among them even wet themselves.

After all, even Berna, who had earned merit, was trembling.

These “criminals” were terrified beyond words.

“Y-yes! Noble lord, I found the Sea God Stone because…”

Berna then gave a detailed account of how he had found the Sea God Stone.

Originally, after shoving aside the village chief’s confidant, he had run straight to the seaside cliff and hidden in the shrubbery.

But when he heard the pirates’ attack, he worried for his wife and children, so he crept back quietly.

On his way back, he happened to see the skull boss hiding the Sea God Stone beneath a rock.

After witnessing the pirates’ defeat, he retrieved the stone and went straight to the Storm Guard on patrol.

Gervas nodded. Not only was this fugitive lucky, but his own fortune was also favorable.

“Berna, your deed is significant. Beyond pardoning you and your family, I will grant you one wish!”

“So tell me—what do you want? Gold coins, land, a house? I can give you any of them!”

Berna glanced at the trembling villagers, clenched his teeth, and said, “Noble… noble lord, I don’t want gold or a house. I beg you… I beg you to spare the villagers’ lives!”

Gervas raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Berna, understand this: your merit is worth at least two gold coins—that would secure your family’s comfort for life!”

“But if you plead for these fugitives, you’ll lose your reward entirely—and even anger me, for I originally intended to execute these fools who dared defy me!”

Berna’s eyes flickered with conflict, but he pressed on: “Noble lord, please show mercy. The village chief forced the villagers to act. They never meant to offend you that day!”

“Moreover, I know of a second Sea God Stone, plus a second sea vessel—and likely dozens of gold coins as well!”

“Really?” Gervas paused, surprised by this unexpected windfall.

Half an hour later, Gervas stood before an aging single-masted sailing ship, clutching a Sea God Stone the size of a fist.

It was a broad-hulled single-masted merchant vessel, hidden within a dense grove along the shore.

Though aged, Old Jack’s inspection concluded that, with repairs, the ship could still serve coastal waters for over a decade.

Thus, adding this vessel to the warship, Gervas now possessed two sea vessels in total today.

As for the origin of the second Sea God Stone and the second ship, they had been seized from a noble family when they first fled as fugitives.

Eight years ago, over three hundred of them had served under the Count of Silver Spear.

The Silver Spear family had long conducted trade via sea vessels.

At the time, the village chief had been the steward of this merchant ship.

Due to his gambling addiction, he had gone to gamble when the caravan docked in At City—and lost over a dozen gold coins.

That sum wiped out the chief’s entire lifetime savings and left him owing five or six more.

In his desperation, the chief stole gold coins from the ship’s treasury.

He had planned to win it all back and return the coins to the vault.

But instead of winning, he lost even more.

So the chief, now fully committed, pretended the gold had been stolen and reported it to the caravan and crew.

When the crew panicked, the chief urged them to steal the ship and flee.

With so much gold missing, if it wasn’t found within a day, every soul aboard would be tortured.

The other crew members, remembering their family’s brutal discipline and the scale of the loss, knew they’d face no mercy.

So all of them followed the chief’s incitement, and before the captain and guard captain returned, they hoisted sail and stole the vessel.

Afterward, they drifted to this island and settled on the Revival Island using supplies from the ship.

To avoid detection, the chief proposed hauling the ship ashore and hiding it, then taking the Sea God Stone.

Berna had been the steward’s apprentice then. Though he suspected the gold theft was suspicious, he lacked the power to change anything.

When Gervas arrived to recruit, the chief’s strange reaction made Berna grow even more suspicious.

Thus, Berna deduced the gold had been stolen by the steward himself.

And when Gervas’s men searched the chief’s house and found the Sea God Stone, they also discovered a wooden box containing over fifty gold coins—confirming the chief’s embezzlement.

That was why he had fiercely opposed Gervas’s recruitment, even though Gervas seemed willing to pardon them!

Once the truth was clear, Gervas ordered the chief executed without hesitation.

A man with such malice and a gambling habit—even if he could read and calculate—was useless to him.

After executing the chief, he pardoned the fugitives from death.

But as always, death was spared, punishment was not.

All villagers were reduced to slaves, required to work hard to regain their status as serfs.

Berna, however, upon learning the man had once been a steward’s apprentice, was not demoted to slavery—he was appointed steward of the Storm Domain’s caravan.

From now on, he would manage the sale of sea fish from the Storm Domain to Iron Wolf City.