British hegemon

Chapter 71 "Pirates" Double-crossing

However, less than half an hour after the Seawolf had sailed north, just as it was crossing the Marne-Dublin route, a sailboat was rapidly approaching from the northeast of the Seawolf.

As the ship drew closer, Roger was ready to order the oars to be rowed immediately to break away. The henchmen in the watchtower relayed that it was a Nafi ship, smaller than the Seawolf, with a lower hull and only a stern tower.

At this moment, the Seawolf was facing a crosswind, meaning that the Nafi ship was sailing with the wind. Even if the people on the Seawolf shook their arms off, they might not be able to escape.

So the Seawolf simply stopped moving forward, and all the fully armed crew members began to wait quietly for the other side to come over; it was still uncertain who would eat whom.

The Nafi ship, flying the flag of an English merchant guild, drew closer. Roger, standing on the starboard side, gripped his Viking battle axe, awaiting the enemy's attack.

Half a mile, 600 yards, 300 yards...

When they were a hundred yards away, someone on the ship was shouting loudly, the sound somewhat muffled on the open sea.

After shouting a few words from a distance of over a hundred yards, the Nafi ship suddenly turned slightly and sped off to the west, as if it were fleeing for its life.

Sailor Toran overheard the voices from the ship, "Sir, it sounds like they're shouting 'pirates' from that ship over there."

"Pirates? We fly merchant flags, it's not that obvious, is it?" Roger was still puzzled.

"A ship! Another ship!! They're coming after us!!!" The henchman on the watchtower shouted the alarm again.

"It's not over yet." Roger's anger flared up. He picked up his axe, turned around, and strode up to the bow tower.

Indeed, there was a smaller Nor ship sailing towards us from the northeast, with its sails billowing and oars out. There were no flags on its mast and no heraldic symbols on its sail.

"It looks like a deep-sea fishing vessel," Ma En, who was in charge of the bow tower, said in a low voice, putting down his right hand that had been resting on his brow.

"I don't care what kind of ship it is, I've been annoyed all the way here, I'll just go for it."

Roger turned toward the stern tower and roared, "Captain, bring the ship alongside!"

Then, turning to the crew, he said, "Old fisherman, take a few fishermen and move around on the deck and in the tower, so that the other side thinks we are just an ordinary merchant ship."

"The rest of you, get under the starboard deck and hide."

"The bald man will assist Sergeant Marne, the ponytail will assist Brother Olaf, and the black dog will stay by my side. In a little while, Marne, Olaf, and I will be mainly responsible for killing the enemies boarding the ship, and you guys will assist us from the side."

"When the pirates board the ship, those who are not capable of close combat should use their bows and crossbows to shoot and kill the enemy as much as possible. When firing, be careful not to accidentally injure your own men."

Everyone was ready, and the Seawolf was getting closer and closer to the Nor ship.

Half a mile, 600 yards, 300 yards...

Just as Roger was determined to fight to the death, the two ships, which were about to collide, suddenly changed course and bypassed each other by less than thirty yards because the Nore ship changed course.

The Nor ship seemed determined to hijack the Nafi ship that was fleeing westward.

As the two ships passed each other, Roger saw details of the Nor ship through the oar holes—there were only nine people on board, four of whom carried swords and spears, while the rest carried clubs and farm tools—absolutely trash.

"Turn around and give chase!" Roger decisively ordered.

Mann and Olaf had just seen the strength of the "pirates" on Nor's ship through the oar holes, and they were all convinced that these people were just ordinary fishermen who were greedy for money.

So the pirates mentioned in that ship weren't Roger and his crew.

"Even these bastards dare to go out to sea to pirate, what are we afraid of?" Maren was also completely enraged.

The captain turned the rudder around and told everyone to raise the sails and lower the oars. Those not on combat duty rowed to increase speed.

Moments later, the Seawolf got closer and closer to the Nor ship. At a distance of forty or fifty yards, Roger, Marne, and Olaf, who were all decent marksmen, kept firing crossbow bolts at the Nor ship from the bow tower.

The bald man, the ponytail man, and the black dog followed behind, helping to nock the arrow.

The distance was still far, and the ship was rocking, so the accuracy of the shooting was naturally questionable.

But the Seawolf had a high vantage point and was constantly bombarded with arrows, and eventually, a few cries of pain from those hit by arrows drifted from the Noel ship.

The crew of the Nore were unable to row with peace of mind due to the arrows, and the Nore, which was only moving forward with its sails, gradually slowed down.

As the two ships drew closer, three crossbows fired twice more in quick succession, and everyone on the Nore ship in front fell to the ground.

The Seawolf pulled up alongside, and the two ships sailed side by side.

The Seawolf's gunwale was much higher than the Noor ship's, it was half a size larger, and it had bow and stern towers, completely dominating the Noor ship.

"Everyone lie down, throw your weapons aside, and kill anyone who moves with an arrow!" Sergeant Marne, holding a cocked crossbow, leaned towards the ship's side, aiming at the "pirates" on the Norman ship as he shouted loudly in heavily accented English.

Apart from the man who was still writhing in pain after being shot with an arrow, everyone else on the Nore ship, including the corpse with two arrows in its body, lay obediently and motionless in the cabin.

The nearby Kirk ship was now filled with fully armed soldiers, so they dared not resist.

Several fishermen and crew members placed three planks from the Seawolf onto the gunwale of the Nor boat, hooking them onto the gunwale.

Roger handed the nocked crossbow to the black dog beside him, drew his Viking axe from his waist, and jumped onto the platform, quickly boarding the Nor ship.

Marne, Olaf, and several others, including the bald man and the man with the ponytail, also boarded the ship one after another.

Olaf led the ponytail and herded the remaining "pirates" to the other side of Nor's ship; Marne and Baldy swept the mess of weapons on the ground to one side.

Roger picked up his axe and examined the body lying in the cabin. There was a fatal arrow in the back, and another in the stomach. Blood was everywhere, and the body was already cold.

When someone is down on their luck, things really do get even worse.

I checked on the guy who was still writhing. The crossbow bolt had entered his lower back and, judging from the location, had pierced his liver. He was beyond saving.

Roger, unwilling to listen to the heart-wrenching cries, drew his wooden-handled hunting knife from his waist, flipped the man over, pressed his head down with his left hand, and pinned his leg down with his right knee. He then plunged the knife into the man's heart.

The man on the ground let out a long hiss like a shrimp, and soon after, he died.

The pirates on Nol's ship had never seen anything like this before, and they were so frightened that they wet themselves.

Having taken control of the Nore, Roger ordered the two dead men to be thrown into the sea, and the rest to be tied up with ropes and taken to the deck and cabins of the Seawolf, where they were locked up and interrogated one by one.

It turns out that these guys, like everyone else on the Seawolf, were part-time pirates who had just decided to join the crew on a whim; they were originally just ordinary fishermen on Man Island.

The man Roger just stabbed to death was the leader of this Nol ship. He had previously worked with a merchant ship, engaging in piracy at sea once or twice. However, he became emboldened and decided to lead his men to pull off a heist on his own.

These part-time pirates had their eyes on the Nafi merchant ship from the port of the Isle of Man, because they learned from an insider that the captain of the Nafi had not hired any guards this time in order to save money, and the ship was full of ordinary sailors.

The Noor ship's "pirates" had already made their first attempt shortly after leaving the Isle of Man, but due to their inexperience in their first raid, they failed to board the ship and exposed their identities. To avoid retaliation, they had no choice but to keep chasing the Noor ship.

Just when they were exhausted, they encountered the Seawolf, which was full of bad luck and resentment.

A failed part-time pirate operation led to a successful bandit suppression operation.