Chapter 162: Chapter 161 Spoils of War
Looking at the two bodies, Richard quickly conjectured some information.
“The timing doesn’t match up for an Ice Cone.
Judging by the coagulated blood flowing from their wounds, their time of death should be more than five minutes ago. However, the color of the blood clot is reddish-brown, indicating that not too many red blood cells have been destroyed, so the time of death is unlikely to exceed 20 minutes. And it was about 20 minutes ago that the pirates suddenly intensified their attack.
From this, it can be determined that the bodies were killed shortly after giving the order. In that timeframe, an Ice Cone would have partially melted but wouldn’t completely evaporate, leaving behind traces. Since no traces have been found, and without considering the possibility of a special Spell, it’s basically possible to rule out death by Ice Cone. The likely means would be something like Air Arrow Spells.”
“If it was an Air Arrow, to cause this kind of damage, the degree of air compression and the speed of the air must be extremely high.”
Richard’s eyes flickered.
He could also control the air, use it to create a sturdy Air Wall to block attacks. However, making a similar Air Arrow to kill would be somewhat difficult; it might require the cooperation of multiple Spells to barely make it possible, and it wouldn’t be 100 percent successful.
“So, was it really a Wizard who did it? Indeed, a Wizard’s strength is no small thing compared to an Apprentice.” Muttering to himself, Richard recalled the temporary Magic Power of Wizard Dempsey’s Flame Magic.
He shook his head and stepped towards the ship’s cabin.
The pirate ship had many cabins on the deck, and two more levels of cabins below the deck.
The cabins on the deck had been searched several times, not even a copper coin would be left behind. Thinking it over, Richard walked into the first layer of cabins below the deck and saw that many people were still searching, so he continued downward to the second and bottommost layer of cabins.
Down to the bottom layer, he could distinctly feel a cold, humid, and sour smell, the environment being even worse than on the third layer of the giant ship’s cabins.
Richard paced, scanning the moss-covered cabin doors on both sides. He opened one at random and found it was filled with a large number of wooden barrels.
Opening a barrel, he found it contained poor-quality wine which had darkened in color due to being stored for too long, with a pungent sour smell.
Opening another barrel, there was mead, considered a fine drink among wines due to the addition of quite a bit of honey. On a pirate ship, likely only the Captain, First Officer, Second Officer, and Sailors of such rank would have the chance to taste it.
Another barrel opened contained purple-red pomegranate syrup with added therapeutic substances like cinnamon, fenugreek, and nutmeg. If he guessed right, this was the only medicinal remedy available to the ship’s crew when they were sick. As for its effectiveness—probably akin to a placebo.
After opening a few more, Richard found they mostly contained beer, vinegar, and fruits nailed with iron nails, among other things.
Losing interest in exploring, Richard walked out and pushed open another cabin door, finding it stored various grains. The grain sacks were gnawed by rats beyond recognition, with barley scattered all over the ground.
Shaking his head, Richard left and continued toward the deepest part of the cabin.
Reaching the deepest part, he discovered it had been transformed into a prison cell, likely to punish some of the lower-ranking pirates or to detain captives.
Approaching one end of the prison, Richard’s eyes flashed, and inside he saw a nearly naked woman bound with ropes, her body covered with scars, her face smeared with grease. However, she seemed to have a fair complexion and appeared to be quite young. In fact, it was probably because of this that the pirates held her here for prolonged amusement.
The captive woman looked extremely weak, possibly without food for many days. But seeing Richard’s attire, which was completely different from that of the pirates, her eyes flickered with excitement, and in a weak voice, she pleaded, “Help… help me…”
Richard didn’t move, watching the woman while contemplating whether or not to save her.
He was no saint; rescuing her would clearly be troublesome, with the treatment of her wounds alone taking considerable effort. And even after saving her, there would be no clear benefit for him…
As Richard was pondering this, the sound of footsteps arose. He turned his head to see others had descended into the cabin to search. They appeared to be the people who lived on the bottommost cabins of the giant ship, faces he had seen before.
The person approached and also noticed the existence of the woman in the cage. Richard saw a clear lustful gaze in several people’s eyes. Clearly, the day’s series of events had stimulated their nerves.
Facing the woman in the cell, they were not thinking about rescuing her but rather about doing something unspeakable. After all, as Wizard Dempsey previously stated, the things on the pirate ship were all spoils of war. Since they were spoils, weren’t they to be disposed of however one wished?
But they didn’t make a move, after all, Richard was still there.
Richard’s performance on the deck earlier had not gone unnoticed by them; although not as exaggerated as Nancy’s, his methods of killing were not one bit weaker.
The law of the jungle!
These four words could apply to both the looting of spoils and the distribution thereof.
If someone like Richard took a fancy to the woman before them, clearly, they wouldn’t dare to snatch her away.
It was at this moment that another set of footsteps could be heard.
Richard turned his head and saw the familiar figure—Nancy.
“Tap, tap, tap,” Nancy stepped forward and also saw the woman in the cell. Before she said anything, those who had appeared before had already moved away, knowing better than to harbor any thoughts of grandeur in the presence of two powerhouses.
Nancy watched the few common apprentices leave, then turned her gaze toward Richard, her eyes twinkling, she pointed at the woman in the cell and asked, “Are you interested in her?”
Before Richard could answer, Nancy spoke again, “Could you let her be for me?”
“Hmm?” Richard raised an eyebrow, looking at Nancy with interest, “Are you interested in her?”
“She’s of use to me,” Nancy didn’t deny, “I’m not quite used to a life without attendants, she can be my maid.”
As she spoke, Nancy looked at the woman and asked, “What do you think?”
The woman nodded vigorously; as far as she was concerned, as long as she could leave this place, she was agreeable to anything.
After receiving an answer, Nancy turned her head back toward Richard, awaiting his response.
Richard said, “Fine.”
Of course, it was fine; he wasn’t interested in the woman to begin with. And as for a maid… he found them to be of little use. Unless they were clever enough to understand knowledge at the level of a modern Earth high school, maybe then they could help him out a bit.
“She’s yours,” Richard said to Nancy, then turned and walked away.
From behind, Nancy called out, “Hey, don’t you want some kind of compensation? After all, I’ve taken a spoil you had your eye on.”
“Compensation? Heh,” Richard chuckled lightly, “What can you give me?”
“Um…” Nancy was stunned for a moment, then spread her hands and spoke, “Well, I really can’t give you anything right now, but… I owe you a favor. Once we get to White Stone Tower, if there’s anything you can’t handle, you can find me. As long as it’s not excessive, I can help you.”
“We’ll talk about it when the time comes,” Richard said, continuing his walk toward the outside, not really taking the so-called favor to heart. After all, favors and promises were of little actual significance; it’s hard to be certain if they would be of any help.
But it didn’t matter, since he hadn’t held any expectations for the pirate ship’s belongings in the first place.
Thinking this, Richard stepped onto the first layer of cabins below the deck, intending to continue upward, onto the deck, when suddenly he sniffed, detecting a strange odor.
Richard’s eyes narrowed slightly.