Chapter 575: The Victor's Reward
Boom!
Dense shells rained down on the dock.
Wooden buildings were blasted full of holes.
After a rumble and a whistle, they collapsed and buried the panicked Wokou pirates.
Warships moored at the docks were obliterated before they could leave port.
They became target practice for the navy soldiers.
Manhammer shouted at the artillerymen to prioritize destroying all the pirates' ships.
Watching one five-mast warship after another sink into the sea, Chris lowered his telescope, smacked his lips, and said:
"If only we could have captured those ships. Each one's worth at least 150,000 gold..."
Of course, that was the price after Bay Territory's refurbishing.
But Alice, who was commanding the operation, thought otherwise and ordered the other adventurer ships—
To get as close as possible and destroy the buildings and shipyards near the docks.
They didn't come to Beast Island just to show off—they came to cripple the pirates' shipbuilding capabilities.
Five minutes later—
Every ship had unleashed five full rounds of cannon fire.
The outer production area of the port city was reduced to a ruinous wasteland.
The port city was now like an unguarded sweet cake.
Reach out and take it, and you could seize the Wokou pirates' centuries of plundered wealth.
Yet the Bay Territory fleet chose to leave.
They rushed to the next port city!
By the time the second port city got news of Bay Territory's fleet, it was already too late.
The pirates hadn't even boarded their ships before watching them get blasted to bits.
Amid the smoky ruins, the surviving pirates stared in terror as the Bay ships cruised away.
Most of the Wokou's fighting force had been brought to the Fishing Island battlefield by Councilor Kaledor.
Beast Island's defenses were utterly empty and couldn't stop the Bay fleet.
Change tactics?
Not a chance!
"I'll defend my home—and smash yours to bits, too!"
The Bay fleet faithfully carried out the Lord's orders, bombarding every dock, port, and city on Beast Island.
Some Wokou tried to gather ships and resist.
But their improvised crews couldn't bring out the ships' combat potential.
Against Bay Territory's magical warships and well-trained sailors, they were blown apart within two salvos.
They even turned on each other in panic, firing at friendly ships while fleeing.
Seeing this, the Bay ships showed no mercy and pounced on the drowning dogs.
Without the pirates' warships, the rear docks had no defense.
As shells kept falling, did they remember their past atrocities?
Most likely not. These heartless beasts would always follow their greedy urges.
In just half a day—
Dozens of Bay ships swept across the entire Beast Island.
Firing over 100,000 shells, they destroyed 67 warships and 104 transport ships left by the pirates.
Every pirate outpost on Beast Island took serious damage.
What Chris and the others regretted most—
Was that just as they learned of the victory at Fishing Island and planned to loot the now-chaotic pirate cities...
Councilor Kaledor had already dispatched a new fleet from the center of the Eastern Islands.
With their ammunition low, the Bay ships had to withdraw—missing their big chance to strike it rich.
In fact, this pirate fleet had been intended as Kaledor's second wave of reinforcements.
But no one expected—
The pirates would arrive so fast, and so naturally!
On their way back to Fishing Island, the victorious navy ships ran into some wrecked pirate vessels.
With noble intentions of relieving their suffering, Chris and company sent them happily to the bottom.
Thus ended the suppression campaign launched by the Cole Elves.
Their attempt to block Bay Territory's expansion to the sea had failed.
Bay Territory had firmly secured its foothold on the waves.
Other powers in the Eastern Islands soon heard the name Bay Territory.
Learning of their feud with the Wokou pirates, many forces began to reconsider their own positions.
The Eastern Islands had suffered under the Wokou for far too long!
Bay Territory, Lord's Manor.
While reviewing Bay's latest development data, Matthew noticed the kill notifications had stopped. He realized the battle was finally over.
Bay Territory had won again!
"Ding. Your soldiers killed a level-9 Wokou pirate, gaining 400 Destiny Power."
"Ding. Battle over. You killed 167,500 enemies and defended Fishing Island."
"You've achieved a resounding, glorious victory!"
"Ding. You gained a total of 48.72 million Destiny Power."
Seeing his Destiny Power rise past 70 million, Matthew excitedly rubbed his hands.
The 6th surgical modification involved the Will—both skill data and experiments would consume huge amounts of Destiny Power.
Now, after slaughtering so many pirates, he could resume his research—a double delight!
What surprised Matthew was that nearly 50,000 goblin slaves chose to surrender, and Leon had agreed to take them in.
Matthew trusted Leon's judgment.
This commoner-born genius had shown excellent learning abilities.
He was gradually understanding the key factors in territory development. Matthew was happy to give him more chances.
After this war, Leon would surely progress even further.
With the sea situation stabilized, he should no longer be a problem.
Steward Ralph excitedly entered the study with news of victory.
But he didn't let Matthew celebrate for long. He pulled out a stack of bills and said helplessly:
"We won the war, but the cost was huge."
"132 soldiers dead, 377 seriously injured."
"12 million gold spent on building bunkers, ships, producing and transporting war supplies."
Massive resource input was what kept the many bunkers and forts around Fishing Island impregnable.
Bay soldiers' fierce strength was 50% fueled by ample supplies.
And that wasn't all we spent!
"1 million gold for repairing and maintaining warships. The magical warships weren't lost, but more than ten were heavily damaged."
"2 million gold paid to hire the Ael Elf magical warships. They didn't make it to Fishing Island's second battle, but they did participate."
"3 million gold in battle rewards—every soldier earned it."
"4 million gold on warrior modifications and recovery—and that's just the first phase."
"..."
You could say the Cole Elves and their lackeys weren't defeated by Bay's insight—
But by the overwhelming money Bay poured into the fight.
A marquisate's full two-year income was required to create such combat power.
That massive sum once again emptied Bay's treasury.
The income from selling Ael Elf saplings—
The gold mine output from the underworld—
The profits from expanded [Vitality Potion] production—
All stored in Yaya's "wallet" as emergency funds—were gone.
That was why Steward Ralph looked so gloomily aggrieved.
Still, even though they were broke again, Bay's development was unhindered.
The ever-growing military factory—
Continued to churn out weapons and gear in vast numbers.
The best went to war reserves and soldier upgrades.
The second-best were mission rewards for adventurers and trade with the Dwarf Kingdom and Ail Elves.
The lowest quality batch went to the Grey Dwarves as Bay Territory's top-tier export product.
"Low quality" was only relative.
Compared to other territories' gear, Bay's enchanted weapons and equipment—
Were of excellent quality, consistent performance, and rarely fluctuated.
Most importantly—they were affordable!
Incredibly popular.
Everyone who used them said they were great!
Aside from the military factory, the low-profile potion factory, the golem factory selling golems externally, and the magical item factory under heavy investment—all brought in steady income.
But all profits were funneled into production, development, and expansion.
So Bay Territory had no spare gold!
Meeting Ralph's slightly hopeful gaze, Matthew smiled faintly.
No gold in hand?
No problem—just liquidate some assets.
He flipped through his notes and said calmly, as if prepared:
"This is simple. We just sell our spoils."
Spoils?
Ralph immediately understood the Lord's plan. After checking the numbers, he hesitated, then asked:
"We captured 152 warships. 120 of them need varying degrees of repairs."
"Repair costs total around 3 million gold..."
After some calculations, Ralph found a very satisfying number and said expectantly:
"If we repair and refit them all, we can sell them for 35 million gold."
"After deducting shipyard upgrades, we'll net about 25 million in profit."
25 million gold!
That was a huge sum!
Meeting the Lord's bright gaze, Ralph instantly got it and said without hesitation:
"Ahem... Lord, you'd better spend it wisely this time."
Matthew shrugged nonchalantly. He could already picture Yaya rolling on her reclaimed mountain of gold. Dividing the "Sea Territory Development Plan," he spoke confidently:
"Gold sitting idle is worthless. Spent wisely, it creates greater value."
"Let's stick to the plan—time to apply our stockpiled tech."
"But keep core tech confidential. The Cole Elves may not copy it, but inspiration is dangerous."
Ralph didn't understand why the Lord was so wary of the Cole Elves.
But facts proved his caution was right.
The Cole Elves' open hostility had revealed their naked malice toward Bay Territory!
Since they're enemies, make sure they die with no burial!
Taking the development plan, Ralph suddenly said:
"The latest batch of vile criminals has been sent to the underground lab..."
Seeing the Lord's calm face, with no sign of cruelty, Ralph sighed in relief and smiled as he added:
"The Yao Moon Family is ready. They've prepared a huge stockpile."
"But they won't pay cash—offering 50% of future mine profits instead."
"This batch is worth 5 million gold..."
Matthew caught the implication immediately, smiled calmly, and said:
"No problem—we'll profit even more from it."
Matthew never cared if others got cheap deals from him—
Because he'd take it back a hundredfold later, and they'd thank him for it.
Eastern Islands fringe—
Fishing Island.
Sea City.
A cool breeze blew gently.
It lifted Li's smooth long hair.
She endured the itch of healing wounds—the pain quickly faded.
The glory and thrill of victory let her clearly observe Sea City after the great battle.
All corpses had been cleared. The citizens swarmed out, cleaning up the scars of war on their own.
When they saw patrolling soldiers walk by, they couldn't help but look at them with deep respect.
Children who had attended the temporary Professional training academy even saluted the soldiers in imitation.
A first-time experience!
The feeling of being desperately protected moved every person in Sea City to tears.
But Bay Territory's propaganda didn't credit all glory to itself or just the soldiers.
"Defeating the enemy was everyone's shared effort!"
"The roads you built, the food you prepared, the sharpened stones and sandbags—all contributed."
"The glory belongs to everyone who gave their strength—it belongs to you."
"Our victory was not only due to the Lord's leadership—but everyone's united effort!"
"Because of everyone's contribution, we defeated the Wokou pirates..."
"Even the enemy fears our unity..."
"..."