Gunpowder Plate Armor and the Magic Revolution

Evan paused, clearly not understanding, "A person? Who?"

"The boatman."

Monet gestured behind Evan, indicating the deck of the Shining Gold. "Your Shining Gold was already short-handed to begin with, and after the battle, many were killed or wounded. It's barely enough to operate this one ship. Now you have the White Gull, what are you planning to use to operate it? Just your mouth?"

"Or do you expect a bunch of people who've never even touched a boat to steer it for you?"

Evan's smugness vanished instantly. He was so focused on calculating the profits from selling the ship that he completely forgot about the crucial issue of manpower.

He stood there, his brows furrowed, muttering to himself as he calculated, counting on his fingers, but couldn't come up with anything for a long time.

After a long while, he seemed to suddenly have an idea, his eyes lit up, but then he hesitated, weighing it over and over again before moving closer to Monet and whispering.

"Commander Monet, look...aren't there still over forty surrendered pirates on the Fang?"

Monet raised an eyebrow, remained silent, and waited for him to continue.

"I don't want Jeffrey's old men here, the ones who are loyal to him. I want the kind who have just joined the ship and don't have so many problems."

Evan spoke more and more fluently, and his plan became clearer and clearer. "I will pick a dozen or so of the most honest and obedient ones and hire them as temporary sailors. They will be assigned to the Shining Gold to work with my first mate and a few other good sailors. The remaining sailors, plus myself, will be just enough to get the White Gull up and running."

He patted his chest and confidently assured them, "With you guys on the Shining Gold, those defeated bastards won't dare to cause any trouble. My first mate is also a skilled seaman; there won't be any problems!"

Looking at his confident expression, Monet neither agreed nor disagreed, but warned him, "Captain Evan, you'd better think this through. It's easy to avoid the storms at sea, but it's very difficult to guard against the storms in people's hearts."

After saying that, he turned and left, leaving Evan standing there alone, his face turning red and white. But when he thought about how the White Gull could be sold for at least three thousand Orentia Gold Shields, he hesitated for a while, then gritted his teeth and turned to go find Jeffrey to discuss the selection of people.

From the ship's side not far away, Nozer, Lucas, and Andrew witnessed everything.

Lucas curled his lip, looking disdainful. "This Evan, he was nowhere to be seen during the battle, but now he's more capable than anyone when it comes to money, even hiring pirates as sailors? I think he's risking his life for money."

"We already don't have enough manpower. If we encounter an enemy attack on the way and they separate our two ships, the Shining Gold might be okay, at least it could still put up a fight. But the White Gull would basically be finished."

Andrew also held pessimistic views, but he was only pessimistic on behalf of Captain Evan.

"Isn't this basically hiring our army to guard his ships for free?"

Noze became increasingly uneasy.

After this naval battle, Jeffrey the Sea Wolf went from being a prisoner back to being a captain, and Captain Evan went from having one ship to having two.

What about those officers?

Aside from risking his life to kill people and shedding blood, it seems he gained nothing.

However, getting nothing is better than losing something.

You agree, right? The clueless red wolf?

You can say whatever you want to comfort someone, but no matter how you put it, Norzer still felt that this deal was really not worth it.

However, whether it's worthwhile or not is clearly not something that a mere warrant officer like him can decide.

Perhaps Nozer's thoughts were heard by the chief god Alistair, because soon Major General Bilkin gave all the officers a surprise.

Bilkin may have been unhappy with Evan's arrogant and domineering attitude, or he may have genuinely wanted to reward his officers. He promptly snatched Jeffrey's chest of treasure from Evan's hands, declaring it "a reward for the officers."

There aren't too many Orentia gold shields, so they're relatively easy to divide evenly. The main problem is that the gems vary in size, making them difficult to divide equally.

After a fruitless discussion, Bilkin finally made a decision: he would take it first, Monet second, and the rest would be distributed according to the amount of blood on their bodies.

This actually benefits Noze and his group, since the three of them fought their way through the entire battle, looking like three bloodied monsters. The three of them followed closely behind to choose, so there was nothing to fight over.

Bilkin didn't take the gems; he simply wanted to annoy Evan, and having had enough fun killing, he didn't bother competing with a group of lieutenants for the spoils.

In his words, "How dare I, a general, fight a bunch of lowly lieutenants for something? I can't afford to lose face like that."

Monet didn't take any either; in fact, he wasn't even involved in the distribution of the spoils.

This was a boon for Nozer, Lucas, and Andrew; they selected the three largest gems, put them in their pockets, and quickly left the scene.

After the officers had all made their selections, Bilkin distributed the remaining gems to the brave sailors.

Norze leaned against the ship's railing, playing with a sapphire in his hand that was a whole size larger than his thumb, bathed in the setting sun. The clear gem shimmered with a deep-sea-like luster under the light, and he couldn't help but marvel at it.

Although he didn't understand the market for gemstones, he knew that this thing was definitely not an ordinary item.

Even disregarding the actual value of the gemstones, they are exquisite in appearance alone.

Meanwhile, the deck of the Shining Gold was already a scene of bustling activity.

Several ship's carpenters, carrying repaired hardwood and wielding hammers and chisels, were busy working on the mast damaged in the naval battle, their brows covered in sweat, the clanging of their hammers filling the air.

The carpenters marked reinforcement points with chalk lines, shouting for lumber and ropes from time to time. Wood chips mixed with sweat fell onto the deck from their feet, and they dared not stop for a moment.

Amidst the chaos, Captain Evan led his men across the rope ladder.

Behind him followed ten handpicked young pirates, each with heavy, rusty shackles around their ankles, the chains rattling and grating against the noisy deck.

The pirates all had their heads down and bodies hunched over, showing none of the arrogance they had displayed during their previous raids; they looked like a flock of lambs with their paws tied.

Captain Evan led the men to his trusted first mate and whispered a few words of advice to the weathered old sailor, repeatedly emphasizing that they must keep a close watch on these men and never let them touch weapons or gunpowder, or gather together to cause trouble.

The first mate nodded, gave a few instructions, and then hurriedly stepped onto the swaying rope ladder and returned to the White Gull.

Now that the merchant ship is in Evan's possession, he has to oversee everything from inventorying supplies to inspecting the hull, and not a single thing can be delayed.