Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Jeremiah lazily stretched and looked at the sun, which was already high in the sky.

He felt that the past few days had been the most comfortable time of his life.

The life of a pirate might seem glamorous, but the constant exposure to wind and rain at sea, the monotonous diet, the ever-present musty smell of drinking water, and the unpredictable storms made even a good night’s sleep a luxury.

He had already been staying on Castel Island for three days.

Ever since he sent a sample of that nitroglycerin to Gem Bay, the entire Pirate Court had been in an uproar.

It was a real commotion. Apparently, the pirate who took it for testing didn’t take it seriously, and he, along with an entire section of the reef, was blown sky-high, sending a large number of Devil Fish flying.

The explosion was so loud that nearly everyone in Gem Bay heard it.

A large group of pirates immediately hoisted their sails and rushed over in excitement.

Ever since the Pirate King unified the Storm Ocean and established the Pirate Court, there hadn’t been many battles to fight, leaving the pirates restless from boredom.

When they arrived and learned the whole story, they became even more excited.

Something this loud and powerful perfectly matched the pirates’ tastes. Jeremiah had never been so popular before, suddenly, a swarm of pirate captains crowded around him, slinging their arms over his shoulders.

The pirates practically wished he had four more shoulders to accommodate them all, and some even patted his backside in the chaos.

Even the major pirate leaders were alarmed by this event.

After some argument, they decided to station Jeremiah on Castel Island as a liaison between the Pirate King and Lord Hughes.

This arrangement suited him perfectly.

Nowadays, there were hardly any battles to fight, and after months at sea, it was rare to find a fat target.

His pirate crew was on the verge of disbanding.

Many other pirates faced the same dilemma.

Since Gem Bay’s unification and the introduction of sea taxes across the Storm Ocean, piracy had become increasingly difficult.

With the worsening situation, pirates were now scrambling to take jobs collecting taxes for the Pirate King.

These jobs didn’t pay much, but they were stable and guaranteed income, unlike the unpredictable gains of raiding.

A few years ago, no one cared for these jobs, but now they had become highly sought after.

As for Jeremiah, he had finally made it. No longer did he need to sail from island to island collecting sea taxes, he could now settle permanently on Castel Island.

”Captain, three of our men got drunk on Sweet Fruit Wine last night, got into a fight, and were arrested by the patrol.”

A slightly balding man beside him leaned in and whispered.

Jeremiah glanced at him.

This was his first mate, Garon, who had always wanted to become a captain.

Unfortunately, the days when one could rise through the ranks by sheer effort were over.

Gem Bay had been peaceful for a long time, where would he even find an empty ship to take command of?

”Don’t cause trouble. Take some money and see if the sheriff will release them.”

”I already did. They refused no matter what. Even when I mentioned Gem Bay, it was useless.”

”Oh, then forget it,” Jeremiah replied without a second thought.

The pirate organization was quite loose.

His crew members weren’t his subordinates in the traditional sense but rather his business partners.

A captain led the crew on raids, and the spoils were divided proportionally among everyone.

This simple rule was strictly enforced. A pirate ship was a confined environment, and if the crew wanted to overthrow their captain, they certainly could.

Because of this, the democracy on a pirate ship was often more genuine than the noble councils.

So why should Jeremiah go out of his way to save them?

Those men weren’t his subordinates, just partners. Besides, pirate crews were disbanding everywhere; recruiting new members was easy.

Garon froze, confused.

This is why you’ll always be a first mate, Jeremiah thought with a cold sneer.

If you can’t even grasp the current situation, how can you hope to be a captain?

Ordinary pirates only needed to fight, but a captain had much more to consider.

”I’m heading to the manor to see the lord, maybe there’s a solution.”

Garon suddenly looked enlightened. ”Got it, Captain. I’ll take my leave then.”

Jeremiah dressed himself neatly, but, of course, he left his musket and blade behind.

It wouldn’t make Hughes misunderstand.

When he arrived at the manor, he found a line of people waiting outside the study, hoping to meet the lord.

Damn, how does being a lord come with so much work?

Even as a captain, he never had this much to deal with.

When Jeremiah finally entered the study, he took a deep breath at the sight of the stack of documents on Hughes’ desk.

He would rather stay a captain, being a Frontier Count was clearly no easy task.

”Jeremiah, you came at the right time. I need a few authorization letters, the kind you issue to merchant ships.”

”Those cost money, and the Pirate King has to approve them. You know, if too many ships fly our flag, there won’t be anything left for pirates to plunder.”

Hughes smirked. ”Well, I still need someone to transport goods. Without an authorization letter, are you pirates really going to raid ships carrying nitroglycerin?”

Ships carrying nitroglycerin? A single barrel could send an entire vessel sky-high. Jeremiah instinctively shuddered.

”How many do you need? I’ll talk to the Pirate King.”

”Five. Two will fly Castel’s flag, and the rest will be managed by trusted merchants.”

Jeremiah was puzzled. Castel had its own flag now?

Was Hughes planning to form his own merchant fleet? That was possible, he certainly wasn’t building a navy, was he?

Even the Empire struggled to maintain a proper navy. What could Castel possibly afford?

Getting five authorization letters shouldn’t be difficult. The Pirate Court wouldn’t refuse. But—

Jeremiah’s eyes darted around as he thought.

”That’s impossible! Do you know how hard those letters are to get? Lately, you can’t even buy them with money, what is this?”

Before he could finish, Hughes slipped a thin sheet of paper into his hands.

Jeremiah looked down. The paper was colorful, adorned with intricate patterns, and filled with writing.

As for what it said… sorry, but Jeremiah was illiterate. He could only read pirate script.

”An options contract.”

He understood the word ”contract,” but—

”Op...options?”

”Yes, just as it sounds. It gives you the right to buy something at a fixed price before a certain date. You can exercise the option at any time before it expires.”

”???”

”To put it simply, with this, you can buy five units of nitroglycerin at the end of the month.”

This was something Hughes had recently developed.

The factory had limited capacity, and production was dictated by his decisions.

However, relying solely on intuition could lead to market demand being overlooked.

Thus, he implemented the options contract system.

Given Castel’s current state, these contracts couldn’t be freely traded yet, they were just a preliminary step.

Jeremiah understood the word ”nitroglycerin.” That stuff was now hard currency among pirates, there was almost nothing it couldn’t solve.

And if something couldn’t be solved? Well, nitroglycerin could be used to eliminate the problem itself.

”This is my gift to you, symbolizing, uh, the friendship between Castel and Gem Bay.”

Friendship between Castel and Gem Bay?

Jeremiah nearly laughed but still pocketed the strange contract. ”The friendship between Gem Bay and Castel is as solid as rock, it is unbreakable!”

Hughes waved him off with a smile, and Jeremiah cheerfully took his leave.

Just as he reached the door, he saw the next person entering.

Alexei.