Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 30 Colluding with Pirates

Upon returning to Bloodfortress, Raine encountered a new problem:

There are no administrative officers.

Managing a territory is no easy task. With so many people coming to Salt Island, their food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and jobs all need to be arranged.

Let Dia do it. Isn't it perfectly normal for a personal maid to also serve as a secretary?
"But I don't know how!" Dia was almost in tears. "I've never managed anyone before!"

“I’ll find you two helpers.” Renn called the two elves to his side. “Ellina, you used to be the captain of the Magic Knights, so you’ll be in charge of training those squires. Don’t refuse, you still owe me a favor!”

"Besalia, you've been the Rose Queen for so long, is it alright for you to help Dia handle the administrative affairs of my territory?"

Elrina remained silent, which was tantamount to acquiescence. Bersalia put her arm around Dia's small, innocent shoulder and said with a grin:
"Sure, we've got nothing else to do lately anyway. But, since we'll help you with the chores during the day, how are you going to reward us at night?"

The two elven beauties, one black and one white, were quite a sight to behold standing together. Just as Renn was about to say something, a castle steward came to report that Kalici Fahel had returned to Salt Island with his fleet and had come to visit.

Raine's grandfather was also a womanizer, which resulted in him having many uncles and aunts within the clan. His closest relative, his fifth uncle Darrian Fahre, currently manages the family's trading fleet and spends nine months of the year traveling.

As for Kalic Fahel, he led the family's escort fleet and wasn't very familiar with Rein.

To be precise, Kalic was not close to any of the Fahre people. He was a cruel, bloodthirsty little old man whose greatest interest was capturing pirates and hanging them on either side of the ship's gunwale, then watching the seagulls devour their corpses.

His tastes and hobbies were so avant-garde that the people of Fahre kept their distance from him, preferring instead the lively, fleshy, and softer type of woman.

The butler led Kalic and several attendants into the castle, where Kalic walked over laughing and gave Renn a strong bear hug.

If the Marquis of Fahel always had the distinctive body odor of an old man, then Kalic was covered in a strong, rotten smell of salted fish, as if he had once taken a bath in a can of herring.

Raine embraced him with a normal expression; the necromancer's resistance to odors was already maxed out.

"Raine, when did you get back?" Kalic released him, patted him on the shoulder, and said warmly, "Why didn't you let me know?"

“I sent you a letter via a raven,” Renn lied without batting an eye. “It was probably eaten by a skuas on the way.”

“Damn skuas!” Kalic laughed. “Now that you’ve taken over Salt Island, you’d better kill a few more skuas. These dead birds always gnaw on the spoils I hang by the ship.”

"By the way, I heard you're married?"

“Yes.” Rein gracefully turned to the side and introduced Ellina to Kalic.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Kalicch said he needed to go to the fleet base to inspect the fleet's maintenance, and therefore politely took his leave from the Ryans.

Raine escorted him and his entourage to Blood Castle.

After returning to the fleet's base and confirming the fleet's situation, Kalicch returned to the inn with his entourage.

Upon entering the hotel room, the attendants immediately dispersed. They locked the door, closed the windows, and confirmed that no one was hiding inside or eavesdropping outside.

“Alright,” Kalicch said in a deep voice, “We’ve met the person. Diamond, tell us your assessment.”

“That Lady Ellina does indeed look remarkably like a member of the High Elf royal family,” said a follower draped in a black robe. “Her speech and demeanor are impeccable, even possessing a classical charm.”

"But it was this last point that revealed the flaw, because many of her rhetorical devices were actually the grammar of the ancestral elven empire, and we high elves do not speak like that."

The attendant pulled back his hood, revealing a scarred face with pointed ears.

A high elf sailor who was once a pirate.

“So,” Kalicch stared into the other’s brown eyes, “you think she’s fake.”

“Her High Elf bloodline is definitely genuine,” Diamond said in a deep voice. “Race cannot be faked. She must have grown up outside the Gem Isles as a High Elf. Due to her long-term isolation and seclusion, she knows nothing about the High Elf kingdom.”

"Because the person behind it also did not understand the High Elf Kingdom, they spent a lot of time and energy to reconstruct the image of the High Elves of that era from various books left by the ancestral Elf Empire, and used this as the standard to train her in all aspects, whether it was her speech and manners or her etiquette and posture."

“It’s a pity. The Ancestral Elf Empire is too ancient, and the Gem Islands have long been closed off from the outside world. The cultural differences between the two have long since developed to a point that cannot be ignored. The more she resembles an Ancestral Elf, the less likely she is to be a High Elf.” “Kalich, do you need me to step forward and expose her identity in front of your family?”

"Expose me?" Kalic scoffed. "Do you think the people of the Faher family would believe the words of an old pirate like you?"

Diamond shrugged indifferently:

"If you don't believe me, fine. Anyway, a fake is still a fake. Once you plan to use her identity to get in touch with the inside of the Gem Islands, she will eventually reveal her true colors."

Kalicch pondered for a moment.

“No matter what, Renn is still my nephew,” he finally said. “If he is used by someone with ulterior motives, and I knowingly turn a blind eye, how can I explain that to his father?”

The attendants wisely kept quiet, secretly chuckling to themselves.

Kalicch and Ryan had no real animosity, but Kalicch had a serious conflict of interest with Darion. Bodak Fahl, who now led the family's smuggling fleet, was getting old, and if he were to pass away, this most important position for the family would have to be succeeded by either Kalicch or Darion, the two fleet commanders.

Ryan and Daryl had a good relationship, and Daryl personally escorted Ryan back this time, which aroused Kalic's high vigilance.

He could allow Salt Island to remain under his family's direct control, but he wouldn't allow it to fall into the hands of those in Darius's camp. Especially the shipyards and fleet bases on Salt Island—if they were to plant people to sabotage his fleet during maintenance…

Even if Rein did not intend to do so, as the lord of Salt Island, he theoretically possessed this ability, which was something that Kalic could not tolerate.

“Oh, by the way,” Kalicch turned to another follower, “I heard that Poirot has recently gone missing?”

“Yes,” the attendant replied. “The Marquis forbids discussion of this matter among his clansmen, but there are rumors that he disappeared overseas.”

The claim that he disappeared overseas is simply a euphemism for disappearing near Salt Island, since Poirot could not have sailed alone directly to the open ocean.

“Kalich,” the high elf Diamond suddenly asked, “you mean…”

"Could the mastermind behind the use of Raine be pirates?" Kalicch said slowly. "Because Poirot stumbled upon their plot, he was silenced by the pirates."

The attendants suddenly realized what was going on and began offering their suggestions. One after another, they quickly crafted a seemingly plausible story:

When he was young, Ryan left his family and went on an adventure somewhere unknown. In fact, he sailed to join the pirates.

The pirates planned to attack Searock City, so they sent a high elf disguised as royalty to help Raine return to the Faher family, gain the Marquis's trust, and acquire Salt Island as his fief.

Next, Raine planned to cooperate with the pirates to destroy all the ships at night while the family's escort fleet was anchored in Iron Harbor, thereby completely destroying the family's naval power and making it easier for the pirates to plunder Searock City.

Poirot, having uncovered their plot, was unfortunately discovered and killed by the pirates. Before his death, he left his followers in Searock to deliver the message.

The loyal follower found Kalicch and exposed Raine and the pirates' conspiracy. Kalicch knew the matter was grave; there was no time to return to Searock City to inform the Marquis. He could only lead his men into Blood Castle under cover of night to strike first…

“No,” Kalicch shook his head and said, “Killing one’s own blood relatives is a grave crime. Even if Renn secretly joined the pirates and betrayed his family, I cannot bring myself to kill my own blood relatives.”

"Understood." The attendants immediately corrected their thinking. "It was the pirates who besieged the fleet's base. We led the sailors in a desperate resistance and finally defended the shipyard and port. We then immediately launched a counterattack."

"During the siege of Blood Fortress, the pirates knew they were doomed, so they slaughtered everyone inside, including Lord Renn!"

“To avenge Renn, we stormed Bloodhold, slaughtered the pirates, and captured that high elf liar,” Kalicch added. “We handed him over to the family for rigorous interrogation.”

The idea of ​​colluding with pirates to launch a counterattack on Blood Castle might fool others, but Marquis Fahl would certainly be suspicious.

But Kalicch knew his brother too well. He didn't care about his son, Raine, at all; he only cared about the affairs of the high elf nobles.

If it can be proven that the High Elf nobles were simply fraudsters, the Marquis will not pursue the matter of Renn's death, and might even spit on his corpse.

Shout "Good riddance!" one more time!

(End of this chapter)