Legonal: "..."
Marce: "..."
Rest of the soldiers: "..."
Under the starry moonless sky, standing above a jetty at the port, some men stood still looking at the empty port with no ship in sight.
No, there were ships floating a little farther away from the port, but not one belonged to them.
"What's the matter? Are waiting here for someone to bring you a ship?" Suddenly, Alex appeared before them while riding on the back of the eagle type Demon Beast.
"... Lord Alex, please don't joke with us." Legonal couldn't help but say.
"Joke? Mr.Legonal, when did I make a joke? I only asked if you were waiting here for someone. Did that sound like a joke to you."
"Lord Alex, we do not have any past grievances with each other. Why become enemies when we can be friends." Legonal was not able to understand why Alex was doing this with them.
"Hahaha, Mr. Legonal, now it's you who is making a joke. You also took my line. Why become enemies when we can be friends. I like this sentence very much but it's you who wants to become my enemy, not me! Your Count wishes to rule this archipelago of islands as a backyard. He sent you here this time not only take over the Lion Shark Pirate group but also capture my island which is the biggest of all."
Both Legonal and Marce became stiff hearing that.
"Lord, Alex. You must have some kind of misunderstanding." Legonal wanted to deny those charges made against them because if they did not do that then there's no doubt about they will die here tonight.
"Hehe, I did not misunderstand anything, Mr. Legonal. I know your plan. You wanted to use an excuse like "Alex Mordrake didn't give a face to the Count, kill him and his family as punishment or Alex Mordrake humiliated a Noble from the Belmont subcontinent, behead him and his family as punishment or Alex Mordrake sided with the pirates to attack our fleet, hang him with his family members as punishment or Alex Mordrake didn't give them aide in subjugating the pirates when we asked and even tried to extort us, evil Lord, burn him and his family members on a stake as punishment... Did I say all excuses you guys made to deal with me or are there some more I don't know about? Huh?..."
"Oh right, What was that about 'unable to differentiate between good from bad'...ah I don't clearly remember the punishment for that, was it feeding me to the fishes after cutting me into pieces or was it something else. Can you two refresh my memories, please?"
Legonal and Marce were looking at Alex in horror. Anyone could tell from there faces that Alex was telling the truth. Only some soldiers had knowledge about it, they too were shivering in fear.
Legonal tried to form an honest smile on his ghost-like face to deny those charges but Marce, a loggerhead that he was, dirtied their hands himself.
"How did you come to know about our plans?" Marce asked.
Legonal's head dropped down. His fists trembled, not in fear but in sheer anger. Don't fear your enemies, but fear from your pig-like teammates.
"Hehehe, why would I tell you that?"
Marce suddenly looked to his side, seeing Legonal's state, he understood his mistake.
They can't come out clean now and even if they did make a logical excuse, Alex won't let them go. Why would he?
"Soldiers of the Count. You are now taken in by me as prisoners of war. I could kill you all and throw you into the sea. No one would know that I did that or they will never be able to prove my involvement. But I'm not a demon and I also don't kill defenseless and soldiers that only follow orders, if you had still not done any harm to me or to my people. Therefore, if your Lord cares even a little about you then he will take you back by following normal conventions of the war. Now all of you will sit on your knees and let my man tie your hands behind your back and take you aboard my ships one by one."
"After that, you will be taken to the Seashell island where you will stay in cells until your Lord sends an envoy to bring you back after paying for your freedom. Do you understand? Don't try to resist, my men are not softhearted. They will behead you then and there."
"Legonal Bark and Marce Marell, eat this pill. You have a chance to live, so don't try anything funny. If you think you can take me on then we can battle each other now." Alex said while looking seriously into their eyes.
"... No, I do not want to fight with you. We have lost. But please let me write a letter to the Count after becoming your prisoner. Can you promise me that?" Legonal wanted to argue that they didn't have a war with each other so they cannot be taken as prisoners of war but he sensibly chose not to say that.
"That is also in line with the rules of the war. You can write a letter to the Count but I will read it before sending, are you fine with that."
"Yes, I am" Legonal sighed in relief.
"What about you?" Alex's eyes fell on Marce. He exploded his aura outward at the same time to put pressure on Marce.
"... HAHAHA, you have one big gall, boy.... but I don't have it so please take care of me while I am your prisoner." Marce started laughing. If he was not injured badly then maybe, he would not have backed down so easily.
Alex's subordinates walked to the Count's soldiers from behind. They tied each one of them with a rope and gave them a pinch of powder to swallow. This will make their body weak for some hours and they will be unable to use their Qi for the same time.
Legonal and Marce swallowed the Qi suppressing pill in front of Alex and let his subordinate bind their hands behind their backs.
The pirates that had been captured before and pirates wearing yellow scarves were all taken by Alex his prisoners. Some were dumb enough to resist but they stopped doing so when they saw two-three heads rolling on the ground.
"Oh, right, I almost forgot about them." Alex tapped his head.
