Close Combat Mage

Chapter 418 - Costless Transaction Pt. 1

Faced with Suo Jia’s fleeing party, the pirates didn’t dare to give chase either. They had only just barely come into contact just now and they had already lost over fourty ships. If they pursued after now, would they still have any [ships] left?

Since the enemy had fled, the pirate fleets all gathered together and turned to rush back towards the sea. Meanwhile, Suo Jia’s party returned to their own small boat.

They were silent the whole trip. Upon returning to the inn, Suo Jia’s party began to patiently wait. Although everyone was extremely confident in Nicole’s stealth abilities, knowing was just knowing, and it could not keep them from worrying about her. One could be fearless of everything, but always fear possibilities!

Sensing the profound feelings that Suo Jia, Xiang Yun, Roger, and Nicole shared, Miya couldn’t help but feel very envious. She knew that up until now, she only had similar ties to Suo Jia. Xiang Yun and Roger were merely strangers she had just met.

They waited until the next evening before Nicole finally returned to the inn. The instant she entered, she snatched the teapot on the table and began to gulp it down. Only after taking five or six drinks did she finally stop, gasping for breath.

“How was it? Did you discover anything?” Suo Jia inquired as he looked at Nicole expectantly.

“Yeah…” Nicole wiped the corner of her mouth and nodded as she said, “I followed them back to their den in the flagship. I think I’ve already investigated everything that needs to be investigated.”

“Oh!” Suo Jia bobbed his head excitedly and urged, “Quick! Tell it to us!”

“Mm…” Nicole calmly sat down and stated, “The Thunder Pirates’ den is constructed on a massive island. Actually, rather than a den, calling it a pirate city would be more fitting.”

Nicole considered her words carefully before continuing, “The pirates build an enormous city on the island that has over 200,000 pirates. Since their families also live there, the total population reaches around 500,000!”

“Hm…” Suo Jia nodded thoughtfully and replied in a heavy voice, “Looks like taking them by a storm is impossible. With so many pirates, we wouldn’t be able to kill them all even if they lined up for us. Moreover…there’s no need for us to do that!”

Nicole agreed with Suo Jia’s words and continued, “That’s right. When I went over there, I also discovered something very peculiar. On the pirate island, there were piles of boxes containing agate, sand, and fresh ginger, all gathered in mounds like mountains. I also learned from the casual conversations between the pirate island’s residents that these things had all been stolen by the Thunder Pirates these past few years! They couldn’t bear to throw it out, but leaving it there takes up space. Now, everyone is fretting over space on these filled streets!”

Nicole paused for a moment at this point and chuckled. “Ah yes, Young Master, why don’t you guess why the Thunder Pirates no longer steal goods but only demand money?”

“Eh!” Suo Jia hesitantly looked at Nicole and asked in bewilderment, “Could it be because even if they steal the goods, they don’t have any place to put them?”

Nicole affirmed in praise and replied, “Right, that’s it. As you know, pirates cannot do business, nor do they have the ability to ship this agate to sell at distant islands. And if they steal any, they can only keep them there.”

“Huh…” Suo Jia contemplated this for a while and his eyes suddenly lit up. He snapped his fingers and laughed out loud. “I’ve got it. Nicole…go eat now and get some proper rest. We’ll head out tomorrow in the middle of the night. You will be bringing me to the pirate island; I have something I want to do there!”

Although Nicole did not know what Suo Jia planned to do, she obediently nodded and stood up to find food outside. Meanwhile, Suo Jia gave some instructions to the others before turning to leave the room and go prepare items related to this trip.

In the middle of the night, Suo Jia steered an adventurer’s single-mast sailboat under Nicole’s lead to leave the wharf and head towards the direction of the pirate island. After evading multiple waves of patrolling pirate fleets, they finally reached the island successfully.

Once they got on the pirate island, Suo Jia and Nicole went to the area where the pirate chief’s mansion was. They hid in a corner as Suo Jia quietly ordered Nicole, “Nicole, enter stealth state in a bit and follow behind me. Unless I call you, do not come out under any circumstance. Understand?”

“Yeah…” Nicole resolutely nodded in response to Suo Jia’s command.

Suo Jia felt a faint sense of relief. He fixed his shirt and walked out from the corner to walk towards the front entrance of the pirate chief’s mansion. Meanwhile, Nicole entered stealth state and stayed a distance away behind Suo Jia.

Knock, knock, knock! Suo Jia pulled the large doorknocker and knocked the front door of the pirate chief’s mansion. The next instant…an ear-piercing sound rang out as the door slowly opened up.

On the other side of the open doors were two large men wearing pirate clothing staring suspiciously at Suo Jia. The baldie among the pirates with a scar on his face declared, “This is the pirate chief’s mansion. If you don’t have any business then scram. This isn’t a place that anyone can approach!”

Suo Jia smiled and loudly replied, “I know where this is. Naturally, the reason I’m here is because I have business. Help me tell your chief that I have a major transaction that I would like to discuss with him.”

The two pirates across from him were momentarily stunned. Then they began to roar in laughter. Amidst their mirth, the baldie gasped for breath and asked, “Brat, has your brain gone bad? You actually want to do business with pirates? Are you dreaming?”

Suo Jia coldly stared at the two pirates across him and said in a low tone, “Who told you that pirates can’t hold transactions with merchants? I don’t represent any country, and I’m willing to do business with anyone I want. That’s my own business. Right now, you just need to see if your chief is willing to make a deal with me, so…go pass on the message this instant. Don’t come claiming that I harmed you later if the chief blames you.”

The pair of pirates appraised Suo Jia for a bit after he said this. With the Death God’s Cloak covering him, Suo Jia gave off a mysterious air. After studying him for a while, the baldie finally nodded and said, “Fine, then you wait here a moment I’ll help pass the message.” With this, the baldie turned and ran into the residence.

It wasn’t long before the pirate raced back out the front entrance with a strange expression as he quietly stated, “Our chief wants you to go in. Follow me…” The baldie turned and led the way into the building.

Suo Jia used his spiritual senses to grasp Nicole’s position, then slowly followed behind the baldie to enter the mansion.

After passing through a large field, Suo Jia finally entered the inner hall. He glanced around; there were forty or more fierce-looking pirates all nearly lined up on both sides with a red-carpeted path in between. At the end of the red carpet was a luxurious pirate king throne. At the moment…the great chair was blank. It was very clear to see that the pirate chief had not yet come out.

As he wondered about this, the crisp sound of footsteps came from the direction of the hall’s side door. The next instant…Suo Jia watched a seductive silhouette charmingly walk out with a yawn.

The pirate chief walked up to the enormous throne and leaned against the armrest with an incomparably beautiful posture. The pirate chief looked at Suo Jia with a pair of eyes that seemed to practically glisten as she lazily asked, “You’re the merchant that wants to make a business transaction with me?”

“Gulp…” Suo Jia struggled to swallow. He honestly hadn’t imagined that the leader of the grand Thunder Pirates would actually be a great beauty only in twenties!

Currently, under the gazes of many older men, the pirate chief was wearing thin clothing that was very revealing, exposing her chest, waist, and her snow-white thighs to the air. Most importantly, the so-called pirate leader was an extremely alluring and exceedingly sexy beauty that could stun anyone!

The female pirate chief couldn’t help but chuckle at Suo Jia’s foolish expression. She leaned her torso forwards slightly as she said to Suo Jia, “Hey! Little guy, don’t tell me you’re interested in me? Why look at me with that kind of expression? You want to eat me up?”

Suo Jia abruptly snapped out of his daze at the female pirate chief’s words. Although Suo Jia knew that the pirate chief didn’t have any particular intention, it was inevitable for a man to lose himself at such a beautiful woman. This was especially true for someone that possessed such a sexy appearance, a curvy finger, while also revealing everything that could be revealed. This kind of gorgeous female had an absolutely ridiculous destructiveness to males.

Suo Jia took a deep breath and quickly calmed down, using all his effort to shift his eyes away from the female pirate chief’s chest, waist, and thighs as he said in a deep voice, “I came here this time because I wanted to make a deal with you. Does this great leader have any intention of having a proper discussion about this?”

“Aha!” The female pirate chief’s eyes lit up at Suo Jia’s words. She studied Suo Jia in interest as she replied, “In all my years of life, this is the first time I’ve ever seen someone come to make a deal with a pirate. Why don’t you try saying what kind of transaction you would like to make?”

Suo Jia shot a sideways glance at the pirates around them and bitterly smiled. “We shouldn’t talk here. There’s no way of discussing it like this. Why don’t we switch to a quieter place…”

The female pirate chief glanced at Suo Jia before slightly waving her hand and lazily declaring, “Fine, all of you withdraw. Without my orders, no one must come in!” At the female pirate chief’s words, the hall full of pirates all shot Suo Jia looks before walking out one after the other.

Soon, all the pirates had left the hall aside from the female pirate leader. She smiled enchantingly at this time and said, “Alright, you can speak now. Exactly what kind of transaction do you want to do with me? I’m truly curious!”

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