When Ed, with great difficulty, walked out of the captain's room using his long knife for support, he found many sailors had gathered on the deck.
"What happened?" Hols, who was standing in the middle of all the sailors, asked with a frown.
A middle-aged man dressed in fine leather clothes came over with a serious expression. He gave off an air of majesty without anger. He was the first mate of the ship.
"Captain, pirates have been found... and they are coming toward us," He dropped the bomb, pointing at the sea.
Several people immediately looked in the direction he pointed and saw a sailboat slowly approaching. Because there was a light mist on the sea and the distance was too far, it was still not very clear.
Hols immediately took out a monocular telescope from his pocket, stretched it out, squinted his eyes, and looked carefully.
"It's a pirate ship, probably the group that has been roaming around this sea recently. We are really unlucky this time."
He then turned around and shouted to the sailors behind him, "What are you still standing there for? Are you expecting them to let us go? Quickly move your asses and get ready for battle!"
Hearing the captain's shout, everyone moved. Ed couldn't help but hold his stomach; as the ship's speed increased, the few moments of relief he had while studying the maps with the help of the system were gone.
With no other choice, he hurriedly went to the edge of the ship and vomited up all the water in his stomach. As for food, he hadn't touched any for the past few days.
Sigurd, who had come up behind Ed at some point, patted him on the back with a disgusted expression and said in a gentle tone, "Don't panic. Those pirates can't do anything to us. Don't you see that these sailors are actually very calm? It's normal to encounter pirates when sailing on the sea... Well, not that normal that you encounter them on your first trip, so you are surely unlucky. Anyway, back to the point: there are too many dangers in the sea, and you always have to be ready for any situation."
"So, are you ready to see blood?" As he said that, he pulled out his sailor knife and held it in his hand.
"Go hide in the captain's cabin. The door is strong enough; we won't let anyone go there. You are in no condition to face anyone, but you can watch the battle from the window, alright? And for the Stone Mother's sake, don't come out and get hurt. If anything happens to you, my father would have to dig a grave for me, and believe me, I can't die so early, I still have to see a lot of things."
"Now, if you don't stop your nonsense, I'll hand myself over to those pirates! From which angle do I look like a reckless guy to you, someone who wants to redden his hands with blood? I am an educated, well-raised, good guy, alright? Unlike you barbarians who enjoy fighting, I would rather stay behind and surrender when the situation goes wrong than fight with a group of madmen. Knives have no eyes, and we don't even have a doctor on the ship. Once you get injured, even if you kill all the pirates, if you don't get treatment in time, it's only a matter of time before we see the Stone Mother personally."
"What are you waiting for? Take me to the captain's room! This wave of vomiting has taken all my remaining energy as well." Ed, although feeling nervous—after all, if those pirates were stronger than them, he might really meet the Stone Mother, looked at the ring on his pinky, and calmed down.
Sigurd, dumbfounded by Ed's morale-breaking speech, could only nod helplessly and hurriedly rush toward the captain's cabin with him on his shoulder.
While Sigurd was carrying him to the safe zone, Ed turned his head and looked at the pirate ship that was already speeding towards them. That ship was obviously smaller than the one he was standing on. It also had two masts, but it was smaller, and the hull was thinner. It seemed that the wind was just right for it now, and it looked like it would rush over soon.
Then, one crossbow after another was pushed out and lined up on the side of the ship, facing the direction from which the enemy ship was coming.
Phew, those pirates seem like a weak party. That's good; I won't die today. But why are those guys carrying crossbows? Is there no gunpowder in this world? Ed wondered confusedly.
Then he suddenly noticed that there were no cannons or gun ports on this ship either. Ship-borne artillery could be said to be the most effective weapon between ships in the sailing age. It is also the most iconic weapon. If there were no artillery, the ships could only fight by ramming and boarding.
As Ed was thinking this, Captain Hols raised the longsword at his waist and shouted, which made Sigurd pause on the spot as if he had heard some kind of master word, and he stared at the cabin area with stars in his eyes.
"Where is my treasure? Pull it up for me!"
After a while, several sailors pushed a bulky object from the cabin to the deck.
"F*ck! A cannon?" Ed exclaimed, his mouth wide open and disbelief written all over his face.
This thing looked almost the same as the cannon he had seen in movies and on the internet, but its color had changed from pure black to black and gray. It was still made of metal, but it looked more sophisticated than a typical cannon.
The barrel was a cylindrical tube about three meters long, with a bracket that allowed it to rotate left and right and move up and down. It was equipped with four wheels. From this bracket, it was clear that the barrel was not as heavy as one might imagine, or the technology might be more advanced. But no matter what, at least it looked like a cannon, and the working techniques wouldn't be much different.
Sigurd obviously recognized this thing and, like a fanboy seeing his life-long goal, couldn't help but cheer loudly while jumping in excitement, almost throwing Ed to the deck.
"Uncle Hols, you are really awesome! You finally emptied out all your savings and bought this monster? When did you get one, and you didn't even tell me?"
Hols, hearing Sigurd's complaint, let out a loud laugh and looked as proud as if he were showing off his life's greatest treasure.
"It's been a long time, but there's rarely any time to use it, so you didn't know. And it's not my fault; I wanted you to find it yourself, but you, stupid brat, never walk with your eyes open, so what can I do?"
He then turned around and said to a skinny man, "Tasi, this thing is handed over to you. Shoot it well and hit accurately. Remember, with each hit, we are not just burning shells but money, and your salary is on the stake. Each miss is going to cost you silver snakes, so be extra careful. However, if it hits, I will give you a bonus."
"Leave it to me, Captain. I will definitely let these pirates drink seawater, and you might as well get my bonus ready, hehe!" Tasi rubbed his hands and made a gesture that signaled overwhelming confidence.
Then he took a palm-sized cylinder from the captain's hand. It was inlaid with gold edges and looked very expensive. With the joint efforts of several people, the cannon was pushed to the side of the ship. A sailor holding a wooden barrel placed the object in his arms heavily next to the cannon.
Tasi commanded the sailors to stuff fist-sized objects into the barrel one by one. It seemed to be ammunition. There was no need to add anything else, just stuff the ammunition directly. And the ammunition they stuffed were all smaller, fist-sized balls. Were they shotguns?
Sigurd lowered his head in excitement and spoke to Ed while staring at the cannon as if he were seeing the love of his life. "It's going to be fun. Thanks to the Stone Mother, it won't be too dangerous this time."
"What is that?" Ed, who already realized that this cannon was not the one he remembered from his past life, asked curiously.
"A rock-shaking cannon. It's a very expensive weapon with great power. If we had five such cannons, we wouldn't have to worry about any pirate group in this area and could easily become overlords. Those bastards wouldn't even have a chance to come near us, let alone threaten us."
"Do you know what it's made of?" Ed, whose curiosity had overwhelmed his seasickness, asked with shining eyes. After all, things like guns and cannons are a man's first love.
"I don't know. Not many people know about it," Sigurd admitted directly without any shame. It seemed that, like most people, he only cared about how it worked, not how it was made.
"Get ready!"
Tasi screamed at the top of his lungs, and the four sailors on both sides of the rock-shaking cannon held it tightly. Ed looked into the distance where the cannon was aimed.
The enemy's pirate ship was about 600 meters away from them. Could they accurately shoot it at such a distance? Wasn't this guy worried about his salary?
"Fire!"
Before Sigurd could reply, Tasi roared, hitting the cylinder handed to him by the captain on a palm-sized platform behind the cannon. As he struck it, Ed clearly felt the ship shake slightly. But there was no huge sound like that of a traditional cannon firing, the kind that makes people's blood boil and ears bleed. It was a very dull sound.
Everyone watched as several fist-sized objects cut through the air, making a sharp, air-breaking sound, and smashed hard onto the enemy's ship, with some even hitting the hull directly.
A direct hit!
"We hit it, yes! Quick, quick, continue to load! Today is judgment day; we won't let those bastards catch their breath!" Tasi commanded with bloodshot eyes. He was definitely the most excited guy on the ship at this moment.
It took about 30 seconds to fire once. Every time, they hit accurately. Ed found that it wasn't because of Tasi's godly skills but that the hit rate of this artillery was extremely high. After all, the ammunition wasn't a single big iron ball but many small, fist-sized balls. Even if he shot randomly, there was a high possibility that some balls would surely hit the target. At a distance of about 500 meters, it was almost a straight line, and the effective range would only be farther. Except for the balls, the artillery itself wasn't ordinary.
As the pirate ships approached, the crossbow carts also fired crossbow arrows one by one. However, after firing once, there was no consideration of reloading. After the cannon fired four or five rounds, the enemy's ship, though a little damaged, still sailed to their side. But the intention was not to sink the enemy's ship. The use of this kind of shotgun was likely to better kill the pirates on it.
"The enemy is about to board! Take out your weapons and teach these rats in the gutter a hard lesson!" Tofel roared, drawing the sailor knife from his waist.
One after another, ropes with grappling hooks flew over, either catching on the side of the ship or entangling the cables. Sigurd, who had just thrown Ed into the captain's cabin, stood in front of the door, holding his long knife tightly and nervous as f*ck. Even when he asked his girlfriend out for the first time, he hadn't been as nervous as he was now, protecting Ed.
Many sailors on the ship were already using their long knives to chop the flying grappling hooks.
At this time, several arrows flew up and hit two sailors accurately. As the battle progressed, many pirates came up. The number of them was much more than they had thought. Two pirates saw Sigurd guarding the nice-looking door and, with money symbols in their eyes, rushed toward him, waving their sailor swords, the quality of which wasn't anything worth mentioning.
Sigurd took a deep breath and immediately rushed up as well, kicking one of the pirates to the ground and blocking the attack of the other with his sailor sword. He swung the short sword hard, pushing the enemy's blade away and chopping it onto the enemy's shoulder. He tripped the enemy with his right foot and chopped the enemy's neck with the knife in his hand. Blood spurted violently.
Ed, who was watching the fight from the small window on the door while eating an apple, he had stored an entire barrel inside his Inventory for emergencies... well, actually because of a fear of dying from hunger and thirst, which was one of the most common reasons for death on the sea he had seen on TV in his past life, had gotten paranoid and had actually stored an entire month of fresh and healthy food and water inside his Inventory.
After all, now that he had a beautiful girlfriend waiting for him back home, he couldn't dare to die for such a ridiculous reason. If not for the fact that he had to use his money to buy more food, which he didn't want to do at this stage, he had initially planned to store an entire year's worth of rations.
Anyway, after seeing Sigurd's performance, Ed couldn't help but give him a thumbs up. He didn't expect his always unreliable-looking brother to turn out to be a dark horse who was an excellent fighter. Now he felt even safer.
Sigurd was experienced and turned his head slightly. The blood did not blur his vision but spurted onto his neck and cheeks. He rolled backwards like a donkey, avoiding the attack of the pirate who had stood up after being kicked down by him. Watching the blood splashing and the sword fighting, Ed's heart beat faster and faster, and his breathing became heavier.
There were screams and extremely angry roars in his ears. A cold touch was transmitted to his brain, reminding him to stay calm. He suddenly saw something and hurriedly shouted, "Be careful!"