Janet stared at Edward suspiciously. It had been an hour since the interrogation began, and he hadn’t lied once the entire time. What was more infuriating was that his answers were simple, short, and precise, so he wasn’t trying to muddy his replies with anything unnecessary. He constantly checked if they had additional questions whenever he needed to explain something extensively. If he was trying to deceive them, he was a master liar. However, the points he made made sense to both women. Especially the one that he wasn't going to fight against someone who needed half a year to conquer the entire Cridia.
"It looks like you answered almost all our questions..." Admiral Sparrow finally admitted.
"Almost?" Blackbeard took a sip of excellent fruit wine. His throat hurt from talking, and he was almost sure that he had never spoken so much at once in his life.
"The following questions are fairly unrelated, but the King wanted the answers." Dahlia, who finally took a seat ten minutes after the odd interrogation, shrugged.
"I will be happy to reply if I can." He fixed himself in the chair, surprised that the King had his own questions to be asked.
"Are you real Blackbeard?" the Wolfkin asked.
The Pirate Captain was angered at first, but then he realised that this question had a much, much deeper meaning than simply insulting him. He took one more sip of watered-down wine and pulled out an old pendant from his pocket, under the very close watch of the soldiers protecting both women.
"This question has no simple answer. It only shows how much King Theon is a wise and insightful ruler..." Blackbeard opened the locket pendant, showing different pictures of similarly looking people. "I am the descendant of the Summoned Hero who called himself Edward Teach or Blackbeard, as you wish. To be precise, I'm three hundred thirty-sixth Blackbeard and the Captain of forty-eighth Queen Anne's Revenge. This pendant, Blackbeard's cutlass, and Queen Anne's Revenge’s core are my family heirlooms, dear to every Teach, like life itself."
"That would answer another question as well." Dahlia nodded briefly. "What you know about the first Blackbeard in Nilmerthis?"
"Our family story says he invented airships." Edward smiled proudly. "He was an honourable, brave, and kind man who respected no authority other than his own. He despised slavery and the undisputed authority of the rulers of Nilmerthis. He preached values similar to most of the Summoned Heroes of that time, like honour, equality, and chivalry, which inspired generations that came after. During the Age of Heroes, he fought against the Dark Empire but was betrayed by the Heroes who served Aderon’s monarchs. His legacy lives in us; his descendants who carry his will and morals."
"Thank you, Captain Teach." Admiral Sparrow nodded, and she sighed after a long, nervous moment. "I still don't trust you."
Blackbeard felt anger and sadness boiling within his soul. Never before had he been so honest, yet everything he did seemed in vain. But before he could reply, she continued. "Nonetheless, you told us the truth, never tried to deceive us, and even took the risk of coming here unarmed. The King authorised me to deal with this matter. So here is the deal." She reached into thin air and took out a stack of papers. "I will repeat this to make sure you remember: we don't trust you. However, trust can be earned, and you started off fairly well today by telling us honestly about everything we wanted to know."
"I'm glad to hear that." The big Human smiled with relief.
"You trusted us when you came here with one ship. In return, we can extend a little of our trust to you. This is a letter of marque and reprisal." Janet Sparrow extended a decorated document towards him, but she looked deep into his eyes before she handed it to him. "By accepting it, you are no longer a pirate, Edward Teach. By accepting it, you will become a privateer in service to the King. Do you understand?"
"Yes." He could barely force himself not to grab that letter. But there was something even more important that needed to be done first. "Before I accept it, can you answer my questions?"
"Fair." He could swear that he saw an amused smirk on her lips.
"I won’t beat around the bush. I want to know if, by accepting that letter, I could dock in Arcadian harbours and what I could get?" He asked with respect in his voice but also with determination.
"I won't insult you since we are aware that you know that airship harbours do not exist in Arcadia. We are beginning to build them, but that will take time." The Admiral smirked, but Blackbeard nodded in confirmation, relieved they had not tried to hide something so obvious. "But as long as you and your crews respect the laws of Arcadia, you have open access to our market. Mind that you are not officially a part of the Navy, but in reality, you will be heavily associated with it."
"All right, so what does that entail?"
"For now, your only order will be to continue harassing the Bernans and especially their Navy. Lady Elisabeth may call for your help, and you will be obliged to provide her with any help she needs," the Elf replied without any nonsense, and Edward nodded. "In the future, I can't even guess."
"So let's say we would need some repairs because we sustained damage carrying your orders, Admiral. What should we do?"
"I will be painfully blunt with you. We don't even have a spare dry dock to repair what we have. But I imagine that you and your crews are no strangers to fixing your ships on your own. Am I right?"
"Yes, ma'am." Blackbeard grinned. She meant that every dry dock they had was occupied with building new ships.
"You could build your own dry dock. The crown can provide materials like woodwork or metalwork."
"That's generous... What's the catch?"
"Until you prove yourself and gain much more trust than anyone is willing to give you, you can't get most of Arcadian magitech," she replied, carefully studying his face. "If you want to buy magitech, you must ask for permission. But you might as well forget about cannons for now."
"So no new guns from you..." He looked at her with hope. "But can we build guns of our own?"
"If you can. You will have to buy or otherwise obtain the materials elsewhere. I don't have to tell you that stealing from the Arcadians would have dire consequences."
"Hahaha. Don't worry; we have more loot than we can cash in on. And because of that, there is one more question. Money. How much tax does your King demand?"
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"Ten percent yearly." She shrugged. "Before you ask, it's a standard tax for everyone and everything. Also, expect the Truth Seekers in case of fraudulent suspicions."
"It's less outrageous than I imagined… Also, I really like the idea of Truth Seekers. Call me strange, but the idea is refreshing; there is no promise of torture in case of suspicions but civilised interrogation. It is very appealing." Blackbeard patted his beard and laughed shortly in amusement, but his eyes were full of relief. "What about supplies?"
"It would be too good if you got everything for free, wouldn't it? Do you want to buy your provisions? Or wood and metalwork?"
"Hahaha! I see. Metalwork and woodwork, thank you. We have already purchased food and drinks from your traders." He grinned blatantly.
"Oh, we know. They won't be happy since they had to start charging you normal market prices." She smiled.
"So, to make things clear... We can officially sell our loot..."
"With one or two disclaimers to that." The Elf raised her hand to stop him. "If you put your hands on any artefacts or otherwise valuable items, you must inform the officials about them. You will be rewarded if you find yourself with important information or enemy documents. In case of other valuable things... That depends. Don't worry; no one will outright confiscate them, but if you want to sell them, the state reserves the right to purchase them preemptively. In the case of magitech, we might buy or study it. If the latter, we will give it back or provide you with a copy. Every time you want to trade, inform the Merchant Guild, and they will represent the Crown. On a side note, simply deal with them in all trades. They will offer you the best deals anyway."
"Fine by me. So, I can trade, minding the right of preemption by the Crown. I will get the materials to fix my ships as long as they were damaged while carrying official orders. We have to buy our food and drinks, pay taxes, and abide by the law as long as we are in Arcadia."
"That is correct." Admiral Sparrow nodded her head. "I will be blunt; the people will fear you and might not want to trade with you. Do not imagine that you are special or privileged. Treat people in the way you wish to be treated, Captain Teach. Maybe I wasted my time talking about morals to a pirate, but you have been given a chance. Don't waste it."
"Thank you for the advice." He sighed heavily but was still happy with the deal he had gotten. "How do you plan to contact us?"
"We will contact you through the Eagles, so don't shoot them down." A huge bird of prey landed on the table, and the Captain instantly sensed that it was a moderately powerful monster. "Don't be afraid. This one is small. You might find yourself chased by a Storm Eagle only to find out they were merely a messenger."
"I see. One last question. If I would like to sell an airship, I imagine it falls under the right of preemption..."
"Absolutely. You can keep its guns, though. We will negotiate the price according to the ship's size and condition," she replied a little too calmly, which assured Blackbeard that the Arcadians desperately needed ships.
"I will gladly accept the deal you proposed, Admiral." He lowered his head and felt a strange pain inside. "Heh... It hurts to bend the neck, Lady Sparrow."
"Serve our King with diligence, and you will learn that there are plenty of painkillers in Arcadia." She smiled genuinely at him for the first time during their conversation, making him almost blush. "I give you these letters, Captain Edward Teach, and have made you responsible for the actions of your captains. Remember that you will be observed. Serve our King well, and you will be rewarded. Betray our trust, and we will hunt you down."
"I will make sure that everyone under my command understands the chance you have given us. Thank you for it, Admiral Sparrow, from the bottom of my heart."
•••
"What do you think, Dahlia?" Janet asked as they watched Queen Anne's Revenge depart.
"I think that he will try to grab that chance with his arms and legs. However... It was subtle, almost too hard to notice, but I think he knows that some of his crews won't accept this. It is as if he’s expecting a mutiny." The Wolfkin leaned on the railings, gazing at the pirate ship.
"It would have been easier to say no if he had tried to deceive us even once..." She shook her head. "*Sigh* let's go home. We must inform the King, Lady Elisabeth, and pass the list of Blackbeard's repair materials to the logistics. Do you think I have made the right decision?"
"I guess time will tell. But don't worry, Janet. I fully support your decision."
The two women stood for a moment in silence, after which the Admiral gave the order to return home. Victory majestically made a turn and sailed towards Avalon. Blackbeard took an Eagle with him and promised to send a message about how his crews reacted to the news. The first orders he got were to continue the harassment of Bernans and support Elisabeth if she calls them. Janet let out a relieved sigh that negotiations went smoothly and offered a quick prayer of gratitude to Eriar and Hestia. She brightened a bit at the thought that Ian was probably done with her little secret project back home. She couldn't wait to see the plans and later see it built.
•••
I walked the corridors of the Government Building, thinking about the challenges posed by the fragile and temporary peace. The campaign in Berna was waged far away from Arcadian borders. The fact that Elisabeth was just a figurehead and de facto the lands she conquered were mine was something I often ignored to maintain a sweet sense of harmony. That said, the Kingdom of Arcadia was slowly entering a golden age. Criminals were mercilessly chased down far and wide, especially slavers whose life expectancy was now shorter than a snowball in hell. The people were happy they could stop worrying about famine since Lavender took over agriculture and the bountiful lands under the care of Dryads were able to feed the people of Arcadia. Everyone was happy and careless except for me in the moments like this. I had to ensure that this golden age lasted, which involved a lot of work. I received additional news from Janet, and I wasn't sure if I was happy. Simply put, the pirates turned out to be nothing more than Hollywood ruffians. The possibility they were associated with the real Blackbeard was rather slim and the man summoned to Nilmerthis so long ago was most probably just a big fan of a certain movie. His successors could even be called rebels, which slightly changed my opinion of them. Still, I was not going to give them even the benefit of the doubt that easily. They had to earn it.
"At least they wouldn't create problems for now." Aoi shrugged as she finished reading Janet's report. "If I would make a bet, I would say that some of them realised that they can't live like that forever. They know only fighting, so some will try their luck to gain our trust with the hope of joining the Navy. But some will absolutely be content with staying privateers for so long they see profit in it. But some... Well, those will be our future problems."
"I guess..." I threw my hands in the air, making her laugh.
"Sebastian told me you were looking for me, but I don't think this report was the reason," Aoi said with a wide smile.
"Yes. Ian accidentally spilt the beans that he was working on some special project for you and Janet." I looked questioningly at her, but she just blatantly smiled.
"It's nothing much for now," she replied, changing her smile to pure innocence. "We wanted to develop a few uniform and fairly universal projects focused on the Navy harbours. The goal is to make prefabricated elements that could be quickly put together as permanent structures and as repair infrastructure where we need them."
"Hmmm... That's all?" I asked with suspicion.
"Of course not! Hahaha!" She laughed sweetly as she snuggled herself to my side. "The entire scope of work we dumped on Ian and his Engineers Guild was so extensive that I'm not even sure what was there. The various ideas and projects we came up with Luna and Janet’s help were given to him so he could give us feedback on what was doable, what needed replanning, and what was just a fantasy."
"Mhm..." I had let my guard down, proving again how naïve I was around my wives.
We crossed around the corner and entered the fairly big conference room where the rest of my wives were already waiting. They had been accompanied by their personal secretaries, who merrily chatted among themselves. A bit surprised, I noticed that Luna was talking with Eva, and both seemed happy. Judging by their delighted faces, the government building had met their expectations. It was time to spoil everyone's mood and start talking about work...