Chapter 167: Chapter 153 – Food for Feeding Fish

"Certainly, after the change of regime we offered a pardon for the privateers employed by the previous regime, as there was no reason not to. Less than a quarter of them accepted the offer, and these were enrolled into the navy as irregular raiders, a solution both sides could stomach.

 

The rest were either too closely tied to the previous regime, or just too greedy, and went from privateer to pirate. Instead of pardons, we set bounties on their heads, without any extra reward for a live capture.

 

That did wonders in clearing up our seas from these scumbags, to say the least." - Gustav Waeliv Ornetschey, Grand Admiral of the Elmaiya Empire, circa 104 VA.

"So, any of them familiar faces to you?" Aideen asked as she tore out the last of the pirate's sabers out of her body, to the winces of the nearby sailor. The open wound left behind closed rapidly, and soon became just unblemished flesh, but there was nothing she could do about the bloodstains, or her tattered tunic.

 

"Aye, ma'am," replied the galleon's captain. The older therian man had hopped over after the fighting was done, and looked over the few surviving pirates to see if they had bounties or the likes on their heads. "Ferdinand Davros, former navy, turned pirate, turned privateer, turned pirate once more. The Empire thanks you for your aid in his defeat."

 

"Repeat offender then, eh?" asked Aideen as she went around and healed the sailors that had been injured during the action earlier. Most only had lighter injuries that honestly would not have required her ministrations, with maybe ten or so heavily injured at most. Even so, she was there, and saw no reason not to take care of their wounds while she was at it. "The sort that ain't happy with peaceful living I take it?"

 

"Ye guessed it, ma'am," said the captain with a nod from the quarterdeck. Around fifteen of the pirates were still alive, now tied up firmly with ropes and lined up on the deck. "I guess he liked the feel of pirating once he gave it a try. That and he was pretty chummy with the old admiral too. Prolly why he ain't taking the pardon and kept going pirate."

 

"So what are you going to do with this lot?" She asked as she looked at the despairing pirates, all of whom looked like they had lost all hope. "Bring them into custody along with their ships?"

 

"Nah. They gonna be feeding the fishes pretty soon," replied the captain in a very nonchalant manner, as if he had not just sealed the fate of fifteen men and women. "Keeping ol' Davros' noggin' for proof, but the rest of him can feed the fishes too. We be keeping the ships of course."

 

"Same way we do it back home then," nodded Aideen with approval. Ptolodecca had never tolerated piracy in their waters, and any caught redhanded by their "navy" were soon sent to the bottom of the ocean, sometimes along with their ships. The aquatic skeletons used were often not gentle enough to keep a ship floating while it dealt with its crew.

 

Aideen had just climbed the rope that connected the ships, back to the Galleon, around the time when the sailors took care of the pirates. They at least gave them some mercy, as they killed them before throwing them overboard, granting a quick death over a prolonged drowning. The splashes made when the bodies fell into the ocean had not bothered Aideen in the least.

 

She wondered if she had just become desensitized to killing after the decades she had lived through, but ultimately decided that it didn't matter. All her life, she had done what she felt was necessary at the time, for her family, for her people, and nowadays, for herself. She found that she regretted none of it as she looked back.

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Haon and Dó had finished their jobs and returned to the galleon by then, as they stood on the deck, dripping wet from their swim to and fro. Dó remained visible for once, as Mimia and Éirynn inspected the two undead constructs for damages.

 

After the decades of further refinement, Haon truly could pass for a living creature at a glance, other than his ivory coloration. At rest, he looked like a massive wolf, with folded bird-like wings on his back. Aideen knew though, that those "wings" unfold into a dozen limbs each ending in a long, scythe-like blade of bone.

 

Dó on the other hand looked like monstrous chimera made by a mad mage, with her alligator-like head and body, eight spider-like legs that ended in very sharp spikes, and scorpion-like tail tipped with an intimidating stinger. Despite her fearsome appearance though, Aideen had to chuckle when she saw Dó nuzzle against Éirynn as she inspected her like a spoiled cat asking for scratches.

 

The two caravels they "serviced" were dead in the water, a distance away from the galleon, drifting with the current. Even from afar, Aideen could see that the deck of those ships were tainted red with blood and gore aplenty. The pitiful pirates never had a chance against the monstrous undead constructs that fell upon them by surprise.

 

She gave some scratches to their chins, to which Haon gave a satisfied sound that almost sounded like a cat's purr. The large wolf-like head rubbed against her side and made her tunic wet with seawater, though with how damaged it was, Aideen could care less.

 

That said, she probably needed to keep in mind to change into cheaper, disposable tunics before going into battle next time. Her clothes almost never survived a battle in presentable shape, as while she could easily make any wounds on her body vanish as if they never happened, the same does not hold true for her clothes.

 

With a sigh, she parted from Haon and Dó, satisfied to see Mimia and Éirynn unharmed. Artair was talking to the first mate while pointing towards the caravels, probably about taking those ships over as well, which she did not doubt the crew will do once they were done with the larger pirate ship.

 

In her cabin, she shed the wet, bloodstained, and torn up tunic and trousers, then cleaned herself as best she could in the bath. She only changed into clean clothes after she properly dried herself, and walked out of the cabin looking as if she had not participated in the battle just earlier.

 

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