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Orpheus slipped back into the Long Lances' camp like a ghost, his heart still pounding wildly in his chest.
Euron's second condition concerned the life of another commander. Orpheus dared not be careless, extremely cautiously avoiding all the Company of the Cat's spies. Only when he confirmed his safety did he find Commander Gylo Rhegan and, in an absolutely private corner, repeat Euron's words verbatim.
The single oil lamp in the tent illuminated Gylo Rhegan's face in chiaroscuro. He was silent, knuckles unconsciously rapping on the rough wooden table, making a light thud-thud sound. The air seemed to solidify for a long time before he raised his eyes and whispered an order to Orpheus: "You did well. Now, quietly go invite Commander Prendahl of the Stormcrows over. Avoid everyone."
When the sinister figure of Prendahl na Ghezn, the Ghiscari commander of the Stormcrows, appeared silently in the tent, Gylo Rhegan dispensed with pleasantries and laid out Euron's unquestionable conditions.
Prendahl listened without any surprise on his broad face, merely saying indifferently, "No remuneration... that was expected. Giving us a way to live is already generous." His gaze turned sharply to Gylo. "As for the other condition... since you called me here alone, you must have already made a decision."
Meeting his gaze, a ruthless glint flashed deep in Gylo Rhegan's eyes. His hand under the table quietly gripped the hilt of his dagger, ready to strike and silence Prendahl instantly if negotiations failed. "That bastard Bloodbeard," his voice dropped extremely low, carrying unconcealed disgust and a sneer, "I've disliked him for a long time. Arrogant, stupid, lecherous, greedy. Sooner or later, he'll drag us all down."
Prendahl na Ghezn's mouth curled into a cold arc. "An idiot who thinks only with his muscles. His actions are indeed courting death." His tone was contemptuous but affirmative. "However, one death is better than all of us being buried with him."
Their gazes met in the air. Without further words, a consensus based on the ruthless law of survival was reached.
"Then it's settled. Get rid of him!" Prendahl na Ghezn said finally, his tone as flat as deciding what to have for dinner, not the life or death of an "ally."
A gleam flashed in Gylo Rhegan's eyes. He summoned his confidant Orpheus again, voice lowered even further like a viper's hiss: "Go again. This time, invite the vice-commander of the Company of the Cat—'Great Axe' Cassius Frazer. Remember, same as before, alert no one, especially... Bloodbeard."
"Great Axe" Cassius Frazer. This man was robust, though not as exaggeratedly huge as Bloodbeard, but his muscles were knotted and his gait steady; indeed, a fierce warrior.
Cassius was quickly and secretly led into the tent.
Bloodbeard envied his ability and worried his prestige threatened his own position. The thought of eliminating him had long been put into action, only several assassination attempts had failed. The enmity between him and Commander Bloodbeard was like fire and water. The commanders of the Long Lances and Stormcrows knew this well and both harbored thoughts of recruiting him.
Cassius knew clearly that Bloodbeard wanted him dead and had long planned to leave the Company of the Cat to start his own, but he never expected the last operation with the Company of the Cat to go so poorly, trapped in this desperate, isolated city.
When Gylo Rhegan and Prendahl na Ghezn frankly told him Euron's conditions and their plan, Cassius did not show much surprise. Instead, a look mixed with relief and coldness appeared on his rugged face.
Cassius was silent for a moment. His eyes, having seen countless slaughters, swept over the two commanders before him. Then he let out a short, low laugh. "Bloodbeard..." He chewed on the name, his tone devoid of hesitation, cold: "This is not a difficult decision."
He raised his eyes, gaze firm. "I agree."
Gylo Rhegan grinned. "Welcome aboard, new Commander of the Company of the Cat!"
In the dim lamplight of the tent, the hands of the three commanders silently clasped together for survival and profit, jointly sealing Bloodbeard's death sentence.
---
Day Fourteen of the Siege, Dusk.
Despair, like cold, damp moss, covered every inch of Lotus Port's stone walls.
Five figures gathered silently once again in that hidden hall beneath Lotus Port. Flickering torches stretched their shadows like ghosts. The air was filled with damp mold and a hair-trigger tension.
When "Bloodbeard" saw Cassius Frazer present, displeasure immediately appeared on his face covered in red curly beard. He shouted roughly, "Cassius! What are you doing here, you bastard? Can't you see only commanders are here? Get out!"
Gylo Rhegan of the Long Lances immediately stepped forward, a smooth smile piled on his face, blocking the space between the two. "Hey, Commander Bloodbeard, don't be angry. The operation is about to start; one more person is one more strength. Brother Cassius is skilled; with him, our chances of success are greater."
Bloodbeard huffed heavily, temporarily suppressing his anger, and turned to stare at Gylo, asking the question he cared about most: "Cut the crap! What did Euron say? What price did he offer?"
Gylo's smile faded slightly. In as calm a tone as possible, he said, "Lord Euron, 'Master of Sea Beasts,' means... he said he can give us a way to live. But, remuneration—none." He paused, emphasizing, "Our lives are the remuneration."
"What?! Fuck that!" Bloodbeard exploded instantly, like an enraged lion, his roar echoing in the narrow underground hall. "We came all this way, lost so many brothers, and in the end, it's all for fucking nothing?! Not a single copper?!"
Prendahl na Ghezn of the Stormcrows chimed in with his unique, cold Ghiscari accent. His voice wasn't loud, but it was like ice water poured over the head: "Our lives are in his hands now. To leave this tomb alive is already the greatest remuneration. We... have already agreed."
"I don't agree!" Bloodbeard roared, greed and ferocity flashing in his eyes, grinning. "Since there's no payment, before the operation, why don't we pull a big one first! Rob that old bastard Donovan Lyman's treasury! We can't go back empty-handed!"
In the dim tent, the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
"You, on what grounds do you disagree!"
Cassius Frazer, who had been watching coldly in silence, let out a sneer full of ridicule. "Everything belonging to Donovan Lyman is already in the pocket of Lord Euron, Master of Sea Beasts. You want to rob not the destitute monarch of Walano, but Lord Euron's spoils."
"Do you think you're harder than the united fleet of the Stepstones, or can fight better than those sea king beasts?"
"Is it your fucking turn to speak here?!" Bloodbeard flew into a rage, his fiery red beard seemingly standing on end. He stomped forward, his massive body bringing intense pressure, his hand already on the axe handle at his waist. "Shut your mouth! One more fart out of you and I'll split you first!"
Bald Sallor, who had been silently picking his nose, suddenly stopped. He raised his face with the hideous scar, his sinister gaze sweeping between Cassius and Bloodbeard, finally landing on the enraged commander. His voice was hoarse and calm but carried an undeniable sense of reality:
"Cassius is right."
He paused, ignoring Bloodbeard's face turning even uglier, and continued, "Our situation now is to find a way to survive. Not looking for trouble and courting death."
Gylo Rhegan's smile became somewhat subtle. He spoke slowly, as if discussing a trivial matter: "Lord Euron... has a second condition."
"Fuck!" Upon hearing this, the anger Sallor had just suppressed in Bloodbeard exploded again, spittle almost spraying Gylo's face. "This one condition is already hard to swallow, and there's another?! Does that kraken want us to be cannon fodder, to fill the moat?!"
"No." Gylo's voice turned cold suddenly, like ice. "He wants a person's head."
"Whose?" Bloodbeard asked subconsciously, seemingly curious which unlucky sod was on Euron's death list.
In the instant his gaze swept over, Cassius Frazer, silent as a stone, suddenly looked up, spitting out two cold words like a sentence:
"Yours!"
Before the voice fell!
Standing behind and to the side of Bloodbeard, Stormcrow Commander Prendahl na Ghezn's eyes flashed fiercely. A dagger hidden in his sleeve struck like a viper from its hole, with lightning speed, plunging viciously into Bloodbeard's defenseless back, straight for the heart!
"Urgh—!" Bloodbeard's massive body stiffened abruptly, expressions of agony and disbelief freezing on his face instantly. Just as he opened his mouth to roar or scream, Gylo Rhegan beside him moved first. Pouncing like a leopard, he used all his strength to cover Bloodbeard's mouth dead tight, stifling the desperate sound back into his throat, leaving only muffled, painful gurgles.
Almost simultaneously, Bald Sallor closed in like a ghost, crouching low. Another poisoned short dagger thrust upward from below with a vicious angle, piercing precisely into Bloodbeard's lower abdomen up to the hilt!
Blood soaked his clothes instantly.
Cassius Frazer moved last but delivered the fatal blow. He stepped forward expressionlessly, the dagger in his hand carrying years of accumulated resentment and resolve, stabbing ruthlessly into Bloodbeard's still-struggling heart!
Bloodbeard's wide-open eyes were filled with shock, rage, unwillingness, and rapidly fading light, finally dimming completely. His massive body twitched violently a few times under Gylo's restraint, then went completely limp.
Cassius pulled out his dagger, not even looking at the corpse on the ground. He turned and walked to the corner of the tent, picking up his iconic huge battle-axe. He walked back, and under the silent gaze of the other three, raised the axe high—
CRACK!
A tooth-aching muffled sound, and Bloodbeard's massive head, still wearing an expression of shock, was completely separated from his body.
Cassius Frazer bent down, grabbed the bloody head, and lifted it high. To Bloodbeard's staring dead eyes, he said coldly, "From now on, I, Cassius Frazer, am the new Commander of the Company of the Cat!"
The transfer of power was completed instantly in this small space in the bloodiest, most direct way.
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