Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 122 Power of Attorney and Option Contract
Jeremiah stretched lazily and looked at the rising sun. He felt that these few days were the most comfortable time in his life.

The life of pirates seems glamorous, but the wind and rain on the sea, the same food all day long, the fresh water that always smells moldy, and the storms that may come at any time, all make it a luxury for these people to even get a good night's sleep.

And he had been living in Castres for three days.

Ever since the last time that nitroglycerin sample was sent to Gem Bay, the entire Pirate Court has been in an uproar.

It really caused a sensation. It was said that the pirate who took it for testing didn't take it seriously. He and the entire reef flew into the sky, blowing out a large group of sea lions.

And that roar could be heard throughout almost the entire Gem Bay.

At that time, a large number of pirates excitedly hoisted their sails and surrounded them. Ever since the Pirate King unified the Storm Ocean and established the Pirate Court, the pirates had not had many battles to fight, and this group of people were bored all day long.

When they got here and knew the whole story, they became even more excited.

This kind of loud and powerful thing is very much in line with the pirates' aesthetic taste. Jeremiah has never been so popular. In an instant, a large number of captains came up to him and put their arms around his shoulders. The pirates wished he had four more shoulders to lean on. Even his butt was slapped a few times by the pirates who couldn't squeeze in.

This incident even alarmed several big pirates. It is said that they quarreled for a while, and finally Jeremiah was sent to Castel Island to serve as a mouthpiece between the Pirate Court and Lord Hughes.

This was exactly what he wanted. There was no war anywhere now, and he might not even come across a fat sheep even if he went out to sea to plunder for months. Jeremiah's pirate ship was about to break up.

Many pirates are now suffering from this trouble. Ever since the Gem Bay was unified and the entire Storm Ocean began to pay sea taxes, plundering has become increasingly difficult.

The overall environment was not good, so the pirates could only fight hard to get jobs collecting taxes for the Pirate Court.

This job doesn't make much money, but it is stable and you can get a guaranteed income. In the past few years, everyone looked down on this, but now it has become a hot commodity.

As for Jeremiah, he has finally made it. He no longer has to run around the islands collecting maritime taxes and can stay in Castres permanently.

"Captain, three people drank too much sweet fruit wine yesterday, got into a fight, and were captured by the patrol."

A bald man nearby came over and whispered.

Jeremiah glanced at him.

This is his ship's first mate, Garlon, who has always wanted to be a captain.

Unfortunately, the good days when one could get ahead by working hard are gone. Gem Bay has been peaceful for a long time, so where would there be so many empty ships for him to take the position?

"Don't start a fight. Take some money and ask the sheriff to release him."

"I went there, but they refused to release me no matter what I said. Even if I used the name of Gem Bay, it was useless."

"Oh, never mind." Jeremiah answered without thinking.

The pirates were organized in a rather loose manner, and the crew members were not Jeremiah's soldiers, but more like his partners.

The captain led the pirates to plunder and distributed the profits to each person in proportion.

This simple rule was strictly enforced - the ship was a very closed environment, and the people below could definitely challenge you if they wanted to. Therefore, except during battles, the level of democracy on the pirate ship was higher than that of the parliament composed of noble lords.

So let Jeremiah go to save people?

Those were not his men, just partners. Besides, there were disbanded pirate groups everywhere, so it was easy to recruit people.

Garen was stunned, somewhat puzzled.

So you can only be a first mate, and you can't even see the situation clearly. Jeremiah sneered in his heart. Those pirates below only need to fight and kill, but if you want to be a captain, you need to consider a lot.

"I'll go to the manor first and ask the lord. Maybe there's a solution."

Garlon then revealed an expression of sudden realization: "Okay, Captain, I'll be leaving first."

Jeremiah dressed slowly and carefully - of course, he would not take the musket or scimitar, as it would be bad if Hughes misunderstood.

Arriving at the manor, a line of people lined up at the door of Hughes' study, waiting to go in and meet him. Damn it, how could being a lord still have so many things to do?
He wasn't even this tired when he was a captain.

When Jeremiah walked into the study and saw the pile of documents on Hughes' desk, he took a deep breath.

He should just be a captain. It's not easy to be a border earl.

"Jeremiah, you've come just in time. I need some authorization letters, the ones you give to cargo ships."

"That needs to be purchased, and it requires the approval of the Pirate Court. You know, if more people fly our flag, the pirates will have nothing to rob."

Hughes curled his lips and said, "I need someone to transport the stuff. If you don't have a letter of authorization—are you really going to rob a ship carrying nitroglycerin?"

A ship carrying nitroglycerin? One barrel of that stuff could send the entire ship skyward. Jeremiah shuddered subconsciously.

"How many do you want? I'll go find the Pirate King's Court."

"Five, two of which will be flying the Castel flag, and the rest will be handled by merchants we trust."

Jeremiah was a little confused. What did it mean to hang their flag?
Castel also has its own flag?

Perhaps this lord was planning to organize his own caravan? That was possible, but it couldn't be his own navy.

The Empire cannot even maintain a decent navy with its strength, so what can Castel offer?

Five authorization letters are not a big problem, the Pirate King Court will definitely not be stingy, but
Jeremiah rolled his eyes.

"That's impossible. Do you know how hard it is to get a power of attorney? You've been spending money lately. What is this?"

Before he could finish, Hughes stuffed a thin piece of paper into his hand.

Jeremiah looked down and saw that the piece of paper was colorful and had very complicated prints, with a lot of words written on it.

As for what was written, sorry, Jeremiah is illiterate, he only knows Viking language.

“Options contract.”

Jeremiah knew the contract, but.
"Options?"

"Yes, it's exactly what it says. It gives you the right to buy something at a fixed price before a certain date, and you can exercise it before the expiration date."

"???"

"To put it simply, this money can buy five lots of nitroglycerin at the end of the month."

This is something Hughes has come up with recently. The factory's production capacity is limited, so he now has the final say on what to produce. However, if one relies solely on subjective judgment, it is easy to ignore market demand.

Therefore, he developed an option contract system. Considering Castel's current situation, this type of contract is not allowed to be bought or sold for the time being and is only a prototype.

Jeremiah understood the word nitroglycerin. This thing is now hard currency among pirates, and there is almost no problem that it cannot solve.

If you really encounter a problem that cannot be solved, you can use nitroglycerin to eliminate the problem.

"This is a gift from me to you as a token of friendship between, uh, Castel and Gem Bay."

What kind of friendship do Castel and Gem Bay have?
Jeremiah almost wanted to laugh when he heard this, but he still put the novel option contract in his pocket: "The friendship between Gem Bay and Castel is as solid as a rock and unbreakable!"

Hughes smiled and waved his hand, and Jeremiah happily retreated.

When he reached the door, he saw the next person coming in.

Alexey.

(End of this chapter)