British hegemon

Chapter 29 Pirate Infighting

Inside the mill, the pirates' dinner had just begun.

Now that the chief has been killed, it is naturally the turn of the most senior second chief to take charge. This is why he is determined to avenge Ulf. Only by avenging the chief can he rightfully become the new chief of this pirate gang.

But he only thought about revenge and establishing his authority, never realizing that his harsh and sarcastic treatment of his subordinates had not won them any support, and besides, there was also a third leader who had always been at odds with him.

"...Brothers, I've brought out all the meat and vegetables I've stored, and I've also gotten some wine from that old bastard Gary's house. Tonight, everyone eat and drink to your heart's content. Tomorrow morning, we'll take a boat and launch a surprise attack on Beiwaiting and Milk House Manor, slaughtering those despicable islanders to avenge our great chieftain." The second pirate chieftain, sitting at the head of the table, looked indignant.

"Everyone has had enough rest these days. While that bastard John is still on the island, let's rob one more time. I've decided that all the spoils from this raid will be distributed to everyone; no need to hand them over."

The second leader spoke magnanimously, then turned to the third leader beside him, "I don't think the third leader would covet those spoils, would he?"

The third leader has always been at odds with the second leader. In the past, with Ulf keeping him in check, he had always tolerated this guy. Now that the great grudge has not yet been avenged, the second leader has already shamelessly taken the top seat, and he is naturally not satisfied.

"The second leader has had his fill of gold and silver, so naturally he doesn't want to covet the pots and pans from those farmers. Although I am tempted to covet them, I don't want to compete with my brothers for profit," the third leader said sarcastically.

The second leader, who was at the top, was furious but could not vent his anger. He was choked and his face turned red.

The three leaders knew that morale was low and they couldn't afford to fall apart any longer. They snorted and said, "Alright, I didn't want to attack Bewaiting, after all, this is our home, but now that we've broken ties with Baron John, we can't come back here anymore."

"However, while it's okay to rob, it's best to avoid things like burning villages and massacring people, lest you end up in hell." The three leaders clearly hadn't crossed the line of humanity.

The second leader understood that this was not the time for infighting, so he suppressed his anger, grabbed the wooden cup in front of him, took a big gulp, and shouted, "Fine wine and delicious food can't shut us up? Let's eat!"

The thugs at the table quickly agreed, picking up their glasses and drinking.

In the mill, the old henchman, having finished serving the bandits, carried a broken wooden bowl containing only some meat soup to a corner.

He was in charge of the banquet all night and hadn't been able to eat a bite even at this late hour. The second leader was worried that he was taking advantage of the situation, so when distributing the food, he specially assigned a henchman to keep an eye on him, so he didn't even have a chance to sneak a bite.

"Ponytail, move aside a bit, give me some space." The old henchman's mouth was already watering from the meat soup in his bowl. He smiled and squeezed next to Ponytail. There was a campfire in that corner, where several henchmen had already gathered.

The woman with the ponytail was squatting on the ground with a half-bowl of meat soup in her hand, wondering how to avoid this "delicious meal." Sweat had already seeped out from her forehead. When she saw the old henchman squeezing in, she took the opportunity to swerve and suddenly pushed him over, knocking him to the ground. The broken bowl of meat soup spilled all over the ground, and the half-bowl of meat soup in the woman's hand also spilled out.

"You old bastard, what are you pushing for!" The woman with the ponytail yelled at the fallen henchman, making a move to kick him.

The thugs closest to the corner turned around and saw the girl with the ponytail bullying the older henchman. They immediately shouted, "Ponytail, you're asking for it!"

The ponytail immediately tucked back in.

"It's alright, brothers, I'll just get another bowl." The old henchman slowly got up, smiling obsequiously as he tried to dissuade the two ruthless bandits.

The second leader, who was already furious, saw that the old henchman was being bullied by the ponytail braid and shouted, "You old good-for-nothing, you're being bullied by that bastard. What use are you? You're just wasting food."

"Stop eating and get back on the ship to stand guard!"

Seeing that the two leaders were angry, no one dared to make a move.

The old henchman froze on the spot, clutching the broken bowl.

"Get out!" the second leader shouted.

The old henchman, who had just gotten up, turned around with tears in his eyes, his back hunched, and silently walked out of the mill.

"You two, go up and slap that bastard twice, and take off his bastard braid." The second leader got angry as soon as he saw the braid on the ponytail.

The two thugs immediately turned around and slapped the girl with the ponytail repeatedly.

The second leader glanced smugly at the third leader. He knew that the third leader was protecting this thug and that he was deliberately trying to humiliate him, put down the third leader's arrogance, and let the henchmen know what would happen if they followed the third leader.

The three leaders paid no attention to him. They were preoccupied and had no appetite for the food in front of them. Instead, they were casually drinking beer from a slightly cracked wooden cup.

Having drunk a cup on an empty stomach, the three leaders were about to pick up a piece of beef and put it in their mouths when a figure suddenly rushed in.

The intruder was covered in sweat, his arms were bruised from the fall, and his shoes were muddy. He lost his footing and cried out in alarm, "Third Leader!"

"You little bastard, I sent you to scout Brodick, why are you only getting back now?" The second leader, whose position was directly opposite the mill gate, was the first to recognize the scoundrel who had barged in that afternoon, the one the third leader had sent to scout.

"Oh no! Brodick did indeed have an ambush. When we came back via the back road, we discovered..."

The henchman rushed to report that on his return journey along a side path, he discovered many fresh human and horse footprints heading towards the north of the island. He concluded that Baron John had arranged for an attack on the mill bandit's lair.

"You really are a traitor!" The third leader slammed his fist on the table and drew his one-handed sword from his waist, pointing it at the second leader.

The second leader didn't understand what the other was saying, but the sword pointing directly at him said it all. He picked up the wooden cup in his hand and smashed it at the third leader who had drawn his sword. "Dare to draw your sword! Kill the traitor."

As he spoke, he kicked the wooden stool and drew a half-sword from his waist, thrusting it at the three leaders.

The three leaders immediately swung their swords to parry, deflecting the incoming blade with a slanted upward thrust, and then slashed down with the momentum, the two longswords scraping together in the air with a piercing sound.

The bandits at the wooden table in the mill were stunned for a moment, then immediately remembered the orders they had secretly received earlier that day, and drew their swords and knives to slash and stab at the "enemy" faction.

The sound of weapons clashing suddenly erupted in the mill. The unsuspecting pirate henchmen scattered in panic, and chaos ensued, with flashing blades and blood everywhere.

The girl with the ponytail, her face swollen and huddled to the side, was terrified by this unexpected turn of events and managed to crawl out of the mill gate amidst the chaos.

On the road leading from the mill to the anchorage, an old henchman, who was holding a broken piece of firewood for light, heard some noises coming from the mill behind him. He turned around and glanced over, thinking that the pirates were having a drunken blast. He wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye and walked sadly toward the anchorage with his back hunched over...

……

On the hillside south of the mill, large mosquitoes in August were biting the exposed skin among the bushes. The warriors were bitten so badly that their bodies were itchy, but they dared not swat them away and could only scratch themselves incessantly, feeling extremely anxious.

Just now, a torch came out of the mill, and everyone was on tenterhooks for a moment. But when they saw that the torch did not go to the hillside but went to the headland, they were somewhat relieved.

Not long after, they could faintly hear the sounds of ping-pong balls coming from the mill down the mountain. It was still quite far away and dark, so they didn't know what had happened in the mill. Everyone became anxious again.

The bald man, carrying a cocked crossbow, crept up to Roger and whispered, "Young Master Roger, what happened? Why hasn't the ponytail guy given the signal yet? Was he killed?"

Roger glanced over and, upon closer inspection, noticed that the bald man's crossbow was already cocked. He hissed, "Who told you to cock it? What if it goes off accidentally?"

The bald man exclaimed, not knowing what "going off the rails" meant.

"Don't look at me like that." Roger didn't bother to explain.

"Tell everyone one by one to follow me closely as we charge down, and not to lose their composure."

The bald man sighed, picked up his crossbow, and went to the back to deliver a message, the nocked crossbow still waving wildly at the figure.

Having received ample nutrition at the monastery, Roger was probably one of the few among them who could see in the dark. He stared intently at the mill two hundred paces away, trying his best to see what was happening.

In the distance, several figures rushed out of the mill entrance, their movements flickering in the dim light of the still-burning campfire outside the mill, seemingly engaged in a fight.

Roger tensed up. Before the ponytail could give the signal, a brawl broke out in the mill, which most likely meant that the poisoning plan had been discovered.

"I was too naive," Roger thought to himself.

Suddenly, the campfire outside the mill was kicked away, sending red embers flying everywhere. Then, the pile of firewood next to the fire slowly ignited, and a figure picked up the burning firewood and threw it around the mill base...

……

"Burn you all, burn you all, burn you all..."

Outside the mill, a woman with disheveled hair and a ponytail used a piece of firewood with flames in her hand to ignite the dry grass near the mill's base, muttering to herself incessantly, her face showing a dazed expression.

The mill's base was made of stone, and the dry grass failed to ignite the mill's wooden structure at first, but the burning flames illuminated the surrounding area.

Once one spot was set ablaze, the ponytail immediately ran to the next, setting the mill ablaze all around.

He had been beaten and verbally abused all day and was now in a daze. He had completely forgotten his plan to wave the torch to signal and to hide. He was just shouting that he wanted to burn all the pirates to death.

Soon the ponytail had circled the mill, and the dry grass around the mill was set ablaze, the fire was spreading, and the surrounding darkness was being illuminated.

Turning back to the mill's main entrance, the girl with the ponytail grabbed a bundle of dry grass from somewhere, lit it on a spark, and glared at it as she prepared to rush into the mill.

He had only taken two steps when a ruthless bandit, clutching his stomach, rushed out and bumped into the man with the ponytail, causing him to stumble and scatter the dry grass in his hand all over the ground.

He glanced back at the fallen thug, who was clutching his stomach and convulsing, spitting out filth, his face turning blue.

"Vomiting, fainting, skin turning blue..." The girl with the ponytail muttered to herself for a few moments, then suddenly shuddered and her nerves snapped back to reality.

"The poison has taken effect!"

He turned around and looked into the mill. Several of the two groups of bandits who had been fighting just moments before had fallen. From the corner came the sounds of vomiting and painful groans. He also caught a glimpse of the third leader, who was leaning against the wall with several stab wounds, and the second leader, whose body was dark blue, his face contorted in a ferocious expression, and who was spitting blood.

Upon closer inspection, the room was filled with severed limbs, disemboweled bodies, and blood, while several ruthless bandits and their henchmen were wrestling and fighting on the ground.

His legs gave way, and the ponytail, exhausted from his frenzied passion, collapsed to the ground. In the last moment before his strength was gone, he finally remembered that he should hide according to the plan, so he struggled to crawl under the long table in the mill.

"You little bastard? What are you doing..." The girl with the ponytail saw the henchman who was also hiding under the long table.

The henchman who had barged in to report the incident quickly put his finger to his lips. "Shh, don't make a sound..."