"Sir, a pirate ship has been sighted off of the coast!" A scrawny boy yelled as he rushed into an expensive-looking office.
"Pirates? Damn it..." The man sitting in the chair behind a desk said, his face scrunching up.
He was a very wealthy (and fat) man. He had been appointed as the administrator of this small island from his king, who had been looking for a way to get him and his greasy and corrupt fingers away from the royal treasury.
"Call up all the militia. We're going to try to bribe these damned pirates!" The fat man ordered. He was in a difficult position right now, as he had plenty of enemies, and they were all looking for a way to get him hanged.
Failing to protect his given territory from pirate raids was an easy way to give them an excuse to get him in serious trouble. Hence, he didn't mind tapping into his own vast treasury to try and get the brigands to go on their own merry way.
When he reached the harbor, he could see the outline of the pirate ship. Looking at the Jolly Roger, he breathed a sigh of relief. He had never seen any like it, and that was good because he knew all of the famous pirate flags, and since he didn't know this one, they must be amateurs, and beginners were easy to bribe.
The militia had assembled by now. They were all poorly armed and trained, but at least they all had... below-average (trash) swords and some even had small pistols (most wouldn't work properly).
"Lord Simun, s-should we call the marines?" One of his advisors asked, fearful. "Fool. They would never get here in time, besides, there are no marines stationed on this island. I made sure of it." The fat man, Simun answered in anger.
Marines and their justice would have gotten in the way of his rule. After all, he needed money, and marines would 'prohibit him from doing his job'.
When the pirate ship was less than 200 meters away from the harbor, he could already begin to see the outlines of the ship a little better. He expected the ship to directly anchor in the harbor, however, it did the exact opposite and stopped 150 meters away.
"What... What are they doing? Simun wondered. He had gotten his men to carry 400.000 beri, and he had 500.000 to add in case that wasn't enough. Hence, why weren't the pirates coming? Didn't they want to loot?
He was quickly answered when a terrifying explosion resounded a couple dozen meters away from him, wiping out an entire street.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Simun cried out as he stared in shock. The explosion had pulverized the men stationed in that area and inflicted serious damage to the road and nearby houses.
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He looked back at the pirate ship, but unfortunately for him, that was the last thing he saw as a flash of light traveling at lightning speed flew towards him...
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KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The sweetest of sounds traveled all the way back to Linda's ears. She laughed evilly, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction at finally shooting living things instead of wood.
It was a strange joy, but joy nonetheless. "Hahaha, this is fun!!" Linda exclaimed as she pointed her right hand towards the men that had gathered in the harbor.
Her men were all waiting behind her. She had instructed them on what to do, and for now, they weren't needed. She didn't want to suffer casualties, as she already had a very limited number of men.
"For now... Let's play as the artillery a bit more." Linda smiled as she fired another laser cannon. Another explosion resounded, shattering the defender's morale and making them flee like headless chickens.
She frowned a little. If they retreated further inland, she wouldn't be able to snipe them anymore. "Now! Full speed onwards!" She roared and her men obeyed.
The small ship had gone through an intense evolution. She had forced her men to toil for days, improving and cleaning the ship whenever and however they could. Now, it looked new and perfect. She still wasn't satisfied, but it was enough for now.
As they sailed forth, Linda kept firing her laser cannons randomly, causing immense damage to the town. She could see the residents fleeing randomly, panicking. Most were running inland, but some fools had jumped into the sea and a small minority had even boarded small fishing boats and tried to get away.
"Like sitting ducks..." Linda smirked as she pointed at those ships and fired more laser cannons. Inland, they had a good chance of survival, but in the water... Where could they run?
When her ship finally anchored in the harbor, she instantly sent out her men, who had all gone through intense drills and 're-education' (brainwashing).
"Slay anyone you can find. I don't care about the children, but kill any adult you come across. I don't want anyone native to be still alive after 3 days. Meet back at the ship in 6 hours from now. GO!" She roared and her men roared back "Yes, master!"
As she watched her men rush out like madmen, beginning a carnage that would never be forgotten by the inhabitants, Linda frowned as she looked at her own hands.
These very hands had, at least, killed hundreds of people already. And even more would be dead by the time the sun went down, however, despite her core values screaming at her that what she was doing was wrong, all she felt was a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. It was similar to what she felt whenever she did something that pleased her parents.
"Have I gone insane already?" She wondered but decided not to put too much thought into it. Rather, she took this time to destroy any ship that tried to sail away and fire at the occasional group of run-aways that passed near the ship.
After a couple hours, she decided to go for a small walk, never leaving the ship out of sight. As she passed by the now deserted streets of the town, she hummed a cheerful song.
At one point, she found something that interested her. It looked like a Halloween shop, and it was relatively intact.
She entered it out of curiosity. Inside, there were plenty of masks and costumes. Looking around, a wonderful and actually smart idea came to her...