Chapter 308: Fabricated?

An hour later, the cries of battle gradually subsided; only a few ignited pirate ships continued to burn, testifying to the ferocity of the earlier great battle.

The pirates either fled or were crippled; after a count, three pirate ships had caught fire due to explosions and could no longer be extinguished.

Two pirate ships had been struck on their hulls by cannon fire, causing them to take on water and sink imminently.

Afterwards, six other pirate ships were chased down and captured outright.

As for the rest, having scattered and fled far away, they could no longer be pursued.

"Young Master Adams!"

"Vice-Commander Wolf, are you unharmed?"

"Young Master Adams, your subordinate is fine; thanks to the rescue by that three-masted warship, otherwise we would not have been able to return!"

Vice-Commander Wolf escaped death under the rescue of the Black Pearl and, after a pursuit of the pirates, finally returned.

As he spoke, his gaze looked curiously at Gervas.

This strange young man before him possessed an extraordinary temperament; he was not a member of the Marquis Marquis Aosiding family, and was obviously from the side of that three-masted warship.

He was very curious about this young man's true origins.

Was he from a Duke family, or the Royal Family?

After all, three-masted warships were exclusive to the two.

Adams also understood Wolf's thoughts.

Moreover, out of politeness, he certainly had to introduce Gervas!

"Lord Harry, this is Wolf, one of the Vice-Commanders of our Marquis Marquis Aosiding family fleet."

"Wolf, this is Lord Harry; it was he who led the three-masted warship to save us!"

"Lord Harry, we are extremely grateful for your rescue; if not for you, we would have died at the hands of the pirates!" Wolf hurriedly bowed and greeted, his gratitude no less than Adams'.

After all, what had nearly been lost was his own life and the lives of his subordinates who lived and worked with him day and night.

"No need for courtesy; I merely happened to pass by, sensed commotion over here, and so came!" Gervas smiled faintly and nodded; everything was so calm.

This action made Gervas appear even more towering and extraordinary in the eyes of Wolf and Adams.

"Lord Harry, may I boldly ask a question: was the attack just used on your three-masted warship some kind of magical artifact? It caused such a violent explosion that the pirates were blown apart, crying out for their fathers and mothers!"

"Wolf!" Adams hurriedly stopped him.

Gervas, however, did not mind and smiled, "It does count as a magical artifact, but this temporarily remains a secret of our family, so please forgive me for being unable to explain it fully!"

"Lord Harry, we understand!" Adams hurriedly responded.

Next, both fleets began to return toward the coastline.

When they were still forty or fifty li from the coastline of the Marquis Marquis Aosiding Hou Jue territory, Gervas finally spoke to take his leave.

"This... Lord Harry, will you not visit our Marquis Marquis Aosiding family? Since you saved us this time, I certainly must ask my father to properly thank your lordship!" Adams was utterly stunned; with such a great favor, he had been thinking of returning to the castle to properly repay Harry.

"No, Adams; I still have some matters this time, so I will not visit; when I have free time in the future, I will visit Odin City!"

His identity could not withstand too much scrutiny.

The more contact, the more likely a slip of the tongue.

Therefore, the current situation was that the less contact with Adams and others, the better the secrecy could be maintained.

Adams was still very hesitant, wanting to continue to detain him, yet afraid of angering Gervas.

Gervas bluntly said, "By the way, Adams, I will take five of those warships and merchant ships, leaving one for you; do you have any objection to this?"

"No, Lord Harry; the pirates were defeated by you, so all those pirate ships are entirely your spoils of war and do not belong to us!" Adams hurriedly shook his head.

Although Wolf and others had exerted great effort in subsequently capturing those merchant ships.

Yet they could return safely, which was already very satisfying.

How could they possibly still covet those captured ships?

Seeing Adams so well-mannered, Gervas nodded in satisfaction and said no more.

Among the captured pirate ships were five single-masted merchant ships and one single-masted warship.

The reason there were so few warships was that warships were fast, making them not so easy to capture.

Therefore, the vast majority of warships fled directly.

Afterwards, most of the captured pirates were transferred onto the Marquis Marquis Aosiding family fleet; only a small number of pirates who knew how to sail were left, and Gervas then led his own three-masted warship toward the south.

"Young Master Adams, was that Lord Harry a person from a Duke family, or from the Royal Family?"

Watching Gervas's fleet depart, Wolf finally could not help but speak up.

This was a question he had wanted to know since he first saw Lord Harry.

But subsequently, he could not obtain any information from the conversation between Lord Harry and Young Master Adams.

"I don't know!"

What stunned him was that Adams also bluntly shook his head.

"You don't know? Young Master Adams? I saw that you and he seemed very familiar; how could even you not..." Wolf found it hard to believe.

Adams's face was full of helplessness. "Wolf, I have actually only met this Lord Harry twice, and my understanding of him is limited to knowing his name is Harry Potter!"

"Potter? Is there such a Duke family in the kingdom?"

"No, this Lord Harry must have concealed his family surname!" Adams shook his head.

The number of nobles, great and small, in the duchy was vast, and naturally so were the surnames.

But at the level of a Duke, there were only six families.

Therefore, Adams could clearly know that there was no surname Harry within the Duke families.

Several hours later, the Marquis Marquis Aosiding family fleet returned to the port.

Without lingering too long, Adams handed the aftermath to Wolf and immediately returned to the castle.

Count Marquis Marquis Aosiding had already gone to sleep and was not overly worried about Adams' operation this time.

After all, six warships and three merchant vessels had been dispatched, with a soldier count reaching over thirteen hundred; this was no longer something ordinary pirates could shake.

Yet, when the bedroom door was knocked upon and he learned that Adams' party was being besieged by a pirate coalition, he immediately sat up in shock.

Not even bothering to put on clothes, he simply draped a robe over himself and hurried to the conference hall.

"Adams, are you alright?"

"Father, I am fine!"

Seeing that his eldest son bore no obvious injuries, Hou Jue Marquis Marquis Aosiding felt slightly relieved.

Of course, the fleet was equally a matter of his concern. "Adams, what exactly happened?"

"Father, the Poison Wolf Gang's stronghold this time was a trap; someone plotted against me. When my men reached Devil Reef, at least a dozen pirate gangs collectively launched an attack on us..."

Immediately, Adams recounted how he had sent men ashore, how they were then surrounded by dozens of pirate ships, and how they were forced to break out.

"More than a dozen pirate gangs? Over thirty pirate ships?"

Hou Jue Marquis Marquis Aosiding grew more alarmed as he listened, his expression becoming increasingly gloomy.

He had seen his share of storms, yet hearing that a mere six warships were besieged in such a manner, he knew how critical the situation had been.

"And then? How did you break out? How many warships were lost?" Marquis Marquis Aosiding was already prepared for massive losses.

"No, Father, in the end we lost no warships. Although over two hundred brave soldiers of our Marquis Marquis Aosiding family fell, we crushed them and even captured more than five hundred pirates!"

"How is that possible?"

Had he not known his son's character, Hou Jue Marquis Marquis Aosiding would have likely stood up immediately and slapped him several times.

If he had said one or two warships, or even three or four, had escaped, he could have believed it.

But to say the fleet remained intact, that they crushed the pirates, and that they captured five or six hundred pirates—was this not a joke?

Or perhaps he simply wanted to exaggerate his achievements before him, and the siege by the coalition of more than a dozen pirate gangs was fabricated.