"What's happened to the town..."
The townspeople's faces turned extremely pale.
The broken ship entered the harbor without encountering any resistance, some of the townspeople even jumped into the water in a hurry, swimming towards the town.
"Sage, are we still looting?" Lily looked at Sage.
The town's already destroyed, what's there to loot?
They came to plunder, not to scavenge.
Sage's face was equally grim.
Are you kidding me!
He just wanted to rob a town, why did it have to go this bad?
"Go down!"
Sage gritted his teeth, "A thief never leaves empty-handed! Isn't half the town still there? See if there's anything worth taking!"
Just after he finished speaking, he took another look at the buildings so destroyed they were almost unrecognizable, and added, "At least grab some supplies!"
"Yes! Captain Sage!"
Gin led the way, jumping off the edge of the ship with a dozen pirates onto the dock, while the others stayed on the ship to guard against any attacks.
The pirates rarely move out in full force during robberies.
If Sage had a hideout, he could let the pirates roam freely.
He also got off the ship with Lily, approaching the town from the dock.
A huge gap was plowed across the main street of the town, the buildings on both sides showed signs of having been bombarded, but further in, the structures appeared more like they had been struck by something massive, showing large dents.
"No, it's gone!"
They had just reached the town square when they heard crying up ahead and saw a crowd gathered in the center of the square.
Apart from the group of townspeople from the ship, there were more people gathered there, their faces covered in dirt, looking disheveled.
However, Sage didn't see any corpses on the ground, so the people in the town were likely still alive.
"What's gone?" Sage asked instinctively.
A townsman from the ship turned his head, crying, "Our solar canvas has been stolen!"
"Solar canvas?" Sage looked puzzled, glancing at Gin.
"It seems to be Kampas' most famous product, I've only heard about it..." Gin replied.
"It's the finest canvas!"
An elder with a cane among the townspeople said, "It's our treasure!"
"And who might you be?" Sage looked over.
"I'm the mayor of Kampas Town, I heard about it, thank you for saving our townspeople."
The mayor nodded at him, "We are a major canvas-making town, possessing the best canvas in the entire East Sea. Apart from the exquisitely crafted canvas, every twenty years, we also produce a batch of the strongest canvas, gathering all the canvas craftsmen from the East Sea, using the finest craftsmanship and materials to create the strongest canvas!"
Every twenty years in Kampas Town, for reasons unknown, possibly due to the island's characteristics or the climate, they harvest a batch of extremely fine objectively made products, and at this time, all the canvas makers from the East Sea would come here to collaboratively create a batch of the strongest canvas.
And the quantity of canvas is very scarce, only enough for one ship per batch. Whenever they manage to complete one, they hang it in the town for admiration.
"This kind of canvas can withstand cannon fire without damage, won't tear in the fiercest winds, has excellent toughness and elasticity, and the best wind resistance, and even flames cannot easily burn it. Because it's made during the peak of the sun, we call it... solar canvas!"
The mayor spoke these words with intense pride, but soon his spirit wilted, "But now it's gone..."
Sage raised an eyebrow, "Pirates did this?"
"It was the pirates."
The mayor angrily said, "A couple of days ago, a pirate ship arrived, exceptionally strong, easily defeated our guards, not even a warship could stop them! They came here and caused destruction, one particularly tall man in a black robe took away our solar canvas!"
He suddenly thumped his cane against the ground, shouting, "That's the finest product every twenty years, those pirates have no idea how to use it!"
Is that what you're concerned about...
"Indeed, despicable pirates!"
A townsman from the ship gritted his teeth and said angrily, then realized, "Captain, not that I'm referring to you..."
"So, this is a robbery?"
Sage clicked his tongue, "This is clearly just destruction, it's too much of a bully!"
"Captain..." The townspeople looked over in admiration.
Sage angrily said, "By destroying it like this, how are we supposed to visit next time? It'll take them a long time to rebuild, reducing the time for our next robbery, there's no sustainable growth at all!"
Lily: "..."
Your point of concern is also off...
She asked the mayor, "How much is your solar canvas worth?"
Sage gave Lily an approving look.
Getting straight to the core issue.
The mayor shook his head, "It's not about the money, how can such canvas be measured by money? It's created to be unfurled, naturally, only the best ships can pair with it. If it's not the best ship, we won't sell it!"
"So the price of the last batch..." Sage asked.
"I don't know, it was also stolen twenty years ago."
So every time they make it, it gets stolen!
"It's a pity, if this batch of canvas were to be sold, it would've been worth a lot." Sage sighed.
The mayor nodded in agreement, then added, "Captain, if you're here to buy something, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. As you can see, everything in town is gone."
Ordinary canvas, once completed, would be placed in the market, and the market is near the dock. After the pirates attacked, they burned all the remaining canvas, so there's nothing left to sell now.
"I'm not here to buy anything."
"Then you're..."
Sage smirked slightly and drew the flintlock gun from his waist.
Bang!
With the gunshot, the other pirates uniformly revealed their ferocious faces.
"I'm also a pirate!" Sage said earnestly.
Though there were only a dozen pirates, it was more than enough for the defenseless townspeople.
"Pirates!!"
The townspeople in the square only then reacted, looking in terror at the group of pirates.
"Is it pirates again... I knew it, every time the solar canvas appears, it attracts pirates."
The mayor sighed, then raised his head proudly, "But it's our pride, even if it means being robbed by pirates, we will still make it!"
"Mayor!!" The townspeople looked over, touched.
"That has nothing to do with me... Old man, hand over some supplies, I won't take anything else. Seeing as you're in such a state, there's probably nothing worth taking either."
With the town in this condition, Sage naturally wasn't interested. He wanted to rob prosperous places, not ruined towns.
But coming here and not taking anything felt wrong too.
If other pirates could, why couldn't he?
No goods?
There's at least water, right!
There must be spices, right!
There must be food, right!
Regardless, he had to take something, otherwise, he couldn't continue his voyage.