Chapter 1423: Chapter 1423

Magic Miss gave no indication she intended to answer Marquis Mikhail. She had nothing to do with this ship, nor did she want to. Hathaway, of course, didn't dare to speak either. She had met the Marquis before and felt an inexplicable tension around Briny’s father. So, in the end, it was Jenkins who spoke up. As the only man among the three, he felt it was his duty.

No one could say for certain what was happening on shore. So Jenkins could only begin his account from the first cannon blast of the festival, recounting everything he knew to the Marquis.

The Marquis listened with rapt attention, occasionally interjecting with a question, but for the most part, it was Jenkins who spoke.

"I believe I understand," he began. "It seems the situation has developed in ways far more complicated than we anticipated..." The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novel•fire.net

When Jenkins had finished, the Marquis let out an almost imperceptible sigh. He turned, made a quick notation on the sea chart behind him with a fountain pen, and then faced the three of them once more.

Perhaps it was his military background or his high station, but his gaze was intensely powerful. As his eyes swept over them, all three felt the unsettling illusion that he could see right through them.

It was, of course, only an illusion.

"I have some knowledge of the world that exists beyond the mundane," the Marquis stated. "In fact, I hold people like you in rather high regard. The existence of Enchanters outside the Church's sphere of influence gives the churches something to occupy themselves with, rather than meddling solely in the affairs of secular power. I've even considered hiring a Benefactor as a personal guard in the past, but I was never able to find a suitable candidate.

"I imagine your purpose in coming aboard this ship at such a critical time is not merely to provide me with intelligence out of the goodness of your hearts. Tell me what you intend to do, and in light of the information you've just shared, I will provide whatever assistance I can."

Once they were all seated, Jenkins saw his companions were still hesitant to speak, so he took the lead once more:

"Femishue intends to submerge the entire city. While the three of us are hardly crusaders for justice, we'd like to see if there's anything we can do to change that. More importantly, however, I am personally quite curious as to what exactly transpired today to lead to this situation. All I knew before this was that the Navy and the Army were coordinating to annihilate the remaining pirate forces on land, and that these three ships that docked first were the bait... If they were bait, why would a man of your stature be aboard one of them?"

"So that's the version of the story you heard."

Marquis Mikhail shook his head, his expression grim:

"This operation was actually planned long before the battle of the Broken Isles. To maintain secrecy, we released several pieces of misinformation at various times—stories about a great victory where I was gravely wounded, or the discovery of a gold-rich island during the final battle. The version you heard is closer to the mark, but it isn't the whole truth. Now that things have reached this point, those deceptions are irrelevant. I can tell you what really happened, but this information must go no further... The truth is, the battle of the Broken Isles never ended. The 'total victory' was nothing but a ruse."

"But how could you possibly keep that a secret? Even if the Kingdom managed it, surely the pirates wouldn't help you cover it up?"

"Yes, they were," the Marquis confirmed. "Because they were willing to surrender and be assimilated into the Royal Navy."

He watched, satisfied, as surprise dawned on the faces of the three across from him:

"It wasn't as difficult as you might think. After all, the seven Pirate Kings have always been rivals. The crew of Femishue the Destroyer couldn't stomach his madness. Diwo the Thief died in Nolan not long ago. Kolqi of the Owl Fleet was murdered by his wife and her lover at the start of the war, just before they ran off together. The legendary pirate Old Kork wanted to secure a better future for his grandson, who is studying in Bel Diran. The all-female pirate crew has long been in the pocket of the Crown. As for the last two, they're getting old and wish to retire to a peaceful life. When they offered to surrender, even agreeing to be stationed on the front lines against Cheslan, we had no reason to refuse."

As Marquis Mikhail spoke, Jenkins could detect a note of poorly concealed pride in his voice.

"So your plan was to eliminate the pirates who refused to surrender, along with Femishue's forces ashore, all in one fell swoop?"

"That was the original plan for everyone except Femishue, but it was never meant to take place in Nolan. The situation devolved into this mess because of that pack of incompetents in the Royal Army. They insisted on using this operation as bait to wipe out all the factions inside the city. They never seem to learn that greed leads to ruin. If Nolan were so easily cleansed, it never would have grown into the metropolis it is today."

When he spoke of the Royal Army, the Marquis's tone was laced with unmistakable contempt. The rivalry between the navy and the army is a malady common to all kingdoms; the annual military budget is finite, and for one branch to eat its fill, the others must go hungry.

"Then what role did Femishue play in all this? And why does he now seem to be the one who's won the most?"

"Actually," the Marquis revealed, "the first one to suggest the possibility of surrender was Femishue himself."

That was something Jenkins truly hadn't expected.

"He was the one who contacted us before the battle of the Broken Isles, providing the Royal Navy with all the pirates' plans and strategies. That's how we gained such a crushing advantage in the early stages, which in turn forced the other Pirate Kings to consider surrender. Consequently, when we were planning the final sweep of the remaining pirate forces, we placed a certain amount of trust in Femishue. He was aware of parts of the real plan..."

"You actually trusted a madman?"

Jenkins couldn't help but interject.

"Sir, in all fairness, we did nothing wrong," the Marquis retorted sharply. "Femishue demonstrated every possible ounce of sincerity. You can accuse us of negligence with the benefit of hindsight, but you cannot claim we made an improper decision at the time."

"There's no point in debating right and wrong now," Jenkins conceded, "but surely you must have noticed something was amiss beforehand?"

"Looking back now, yes, there were some strange signs," the Marquis admitted. "During interrogations of captured resistance fighters, for instance, one mentioned that Femishue had been shipping large numbers of slaves to the mainland in recent months. We also noted that his fleet was much smaller than anticipated. One of his former captains claimed that Femishue had sold off most of his fleet's assets last year, and the vast sum of cash he acquired had simply vanished. I suspect it was all in preparation for some sort of blood ritual. I'm aware that is an effective way for Enchanters to gain power."