The Great Worm Lich

Fandersal’s urging made Annete’s expression turn stiff.

Even though he was the heir to an aristocratic and merchant family, he was very familiar with the ancient yet cruel ‘sea law’, including its procedures. He also hated those several dozens of rioting sailors who had almost violated his own sister very much but when it came to the time for carrying out the trial and execution, this teenage boy, who was less than 20 years old, could not help but recoil.

However, the situation did not allow him to hesitate anymore. Hanino, who was in charge of the teenager’s education, whispered anxiously by his side, “Don’t be scared, my child. Since you have chosen to use the ‘sea law’ to punish the rioters, you’re the adjudicator today! From this moment on, as one of the heirs of the Bailile Family, you have the right and obligation to follow the ancient customs to make your own judgment against the rioters who have violated the Bailile’s dignity. Do what you should do, and don’t bring shame to your family.”

“Yes, Teacher.” The family’s sense of honor finally prompted Annete to regain his courage. He took a few deep breaths and stepped forward. With a trembling voice, he shouted solemnly, “I, Annete Bailile, a Lord of the Venis City, is here to call for a trial at sea in accordance with the order of the Kattaman City State and the Law of the Sea!”

The instant the young man’s words left his mouth, Fandersal took a step forward and stood beside him before chiming in loudly, “I Fandersal Tantorn, a Lord of the Venis City, respond to Lord Annete Bailile’s call and is willing to become one of the arbitrators.”

Then, Helena also took a step forward as well and stood on the other side of his brother. “I, Helena Bailile, a Dame of the Venis City, respond to become o-one of the arbitrators.”

The instant the girl finished saying so, Hanino walked up to the three of them and took out a charcoal pencil and paper roll that he had already prepared from his arms and wrote something on it before handing the paper rolls to Annete, Helena and Fandersal. After they had signed, he shouted in a deep voice, “In the name of the Kattaman City State and the Law of the Sea, I declare that the ‘Three Sir Court’ is established here!”

Zhang Lisheng stood on the deck not far away and looked at the live drama that looked like a stage performance. He quietly walked up to Hanoo, who was looking at everything blankly, and asked, “Hanoo, what are Annete and the rest doing?”

“They’re carrying out the trial for all the rioters,” Hanoo answered dryly. “The Kattaman City State is based on maritime trade so sailing is the foundation and link between the various city-states of the country. At sea, when the fleet is far from the order and laws of land civilization, a small commotion can often lead to a major disaster. For this reason, when a sailor commits a crime, he must be severely punished immediately to eradicate all troubles. However, it’s not realistic to have a court in each fleet so the senate has adopted the ancient maritime customs into the Law of the Sea, which stipulates that when a crime occurs, a captain can punish a sailor who is at fault by giving him ten whips every other seven days. If there are three captains together, they can form a ‘fleet court’ at sea to pronounce the cruel punishment of crippling the offender’s limbs. If three Lords are together, they can set up a ‘Three Sir Court’ at sea and possess all the rights of the land court. They can sentence anybody below the captain rank any punishment as they wish, including death… Even though… This is still a total of several dozens of lives after all! I really didn’t expect Annete to have such courage…”

Hanoo basically groaned when he was uttering the last sentence.

“Oh, I see. So it’s actually a law that can allow a victim with a distinguished position to become a judge instead. How weird…” Zhang Lisheng muttered, not knowing that the Western society on Earth also had a similar customary law that lasted from the Middle Ages until modern times.

At the same time, Annete’s voice resonated in his ears, with increasing nervousness and excitement. “As the convener of the court, I, Annete Bailile, propose a ‘sea punishment’ on all insurgents.”

“I, Helena Bailile, agree with this verdict.” The girl looked at the rioting sailor, who had acted unscrupulously in front of her just now and gritted her teeth, before saying without mercy.

“I, Fandersal Tantorn, agree with the ‘sea punishment’ verdict!” Upon seeing his love’s cold gaze, Fandersal immediately shouted.

As the last Lord voiced out his stance, the verdict became established. After they signed the verdict recorded by Hanino, the seemingly sloppy and absurd performance became a tragedy in reality. The guards of the Tantorn Family began to cruelly whip at the rioting sailors, whose hands were tied, and chased them onto the plank, banishing them to their death one by one.

“No, no! Please forgive us! please, Young Master Annete, Miss Helena! I have served the Bailile Family for eight years and I’ve never even made a small mistake! I merely followed them to protest the maid’s uncalled slapping on Wilter and I didn’t do anything at all! I didn’t do anything…”

“I still have elderly parents and young children at home! Please have mercy, Young Master! Miss, please have mercy! please…”

“I’m a citizen of Kattaman City State and I’m a free man who is willingly employed by the Bailile Trading Company. You can’t just sentence me to death this hastily! This is a lynching! This is a crime…”

Before the sailors fell into the cold water one by one, many rioting sailors shouted loudly, trying to save their miserable fate but all of this was in vain.

Soon, the mobs were chased into the sea and after they struggled and shouted themselves hoarse, one by one, they sank to the bottom of the sea.

With the last shout of the rioting sailors lingering in his ears, Annete, whose face had become completely pale, strugglingly put on a determined look that had never been seen before and by the time the shouts finally faded away, the corner of his mouth twitched as he smiled at Fandersal. “Thank you for cleaning up the humiliation on Bailile, my dear brother.”

“This is what I should do, Annete. Bailile and Tantorn are basically one family.” Fandersal smiled and patted the teenage boy’s shoulder. “I’m happy that you have persisted. Brother, this adult baptism of yours have used 87 lives and it’s even much more exciting than mine last time! You’re amazing for being able to persist!”

Annete was stunned for a while before whispering, “Is tgat so?”

Then, he glanced at the vast sea and felt that his chest had suddenly widened. The Tantorn guards and sailors, who he glanced at, no longer looked away from his gaze casually like before. Instead, they lowered their heads and showed the reverence in their hearts.

“Less than 100 lives and it’s already enough to let a good-for-nothing rich kid earn their respect? Wow the mainlanders’ lives are quite expensive…” Witnessing the change of attitude of the surounding people towards Annete, Zhang Lisheng curled his lips and whispered to himself. Just as he was about to sneak back to his own cabin and wait patiently for the arrival of the night, he only managed to take a few steps before hearing somebody shout out for his name, “Mr. Lisheng, please stay for a while.”

“Young Master Fandersal, I didn’t expect you to know my name.” Looking in the direction of the voice, Zhang Lisheng, who came to a stop, saw a tall and strong figure who was luxuriously dressed walking up to himself. Immediately, he smile and said, “Thank you for your fleet, we’re saved now…”

“It should be me who should thank you, Mr. Lisheng. You have saved Helena twice and as one of her admirers, I have no words to express my gratitude,” Fandersal said with sincerity. “I heard Annete mention that you’re a spellcaster and that your future ideal is to become a ‘nautical merchant’. If this is the case, do let me know if there is something I can do to help.”

“Thank you,” Zhang Lisheng casually replied and felt that there was nothing to say anymore.

Fortunately, the wooden ship was not far from the shore so at this moment, Fandersal was also anxious to seize this opportunity at sea to spend some alone time with his beloved. With no intention to waste any time on the outlander spellcaster, he hastily expressed his gratitude again before turning around to leave.

When Zhang Lisheng saw that he had left, he also returned to his own cabin and leapt onto the hammock. Swinging on it, he looked out the window thoughtfully in silence, only snapping back into reality when a young maid knocked on the door with a wooden plate full of food. She walked up to him and said with a grateful voice, “Mr. Lisheng, here is your food.”

A not-too-fresh salted fish soup, warm flatbread, a plate of fried brown egg and sweet dipping sauce. The food was not too sumptuous nor delicious but to a person who had been starving the entire day at sea, its meaning was completely different.

“This is the lunch sent by Young Master Fandersal right? Please send my gratitude to him.” After sniffing the scent of fish soup and omelet, Zhang Lisheng rolled down from his hammock, took the wooden plate, and sat directly on the ground and began to chow down on the food without any manner.

“The meal is brought by Young Master Fandersal’s fleet but it’s Miss Helena who asked me to send this over.” Upon seeing the young man’s mannerless behavior, the maid smiled awkwardly. “Thank you for saving us today, Mr. Lisheng.”

“It’s nothing. Looks like Miss Helena, who has been saved by me twice, has reduced her prejudice against me. Please send my gratitude to her,” Zhang Lisheng stuffed his mouth full of food and said casually.

“P-Please eat slowly. I’ll retreat first.” The sight of the young man gorging down on food and his straightforward speech dampened the maid’s intention to continue for a chatter. Hurriedly, she escaped.

After Zhang Lisheng, who was left behind in the cabin, chowed down on his food, he continued to lie in the hammock to kill his time.

After he finally waited till the evening and ate the dinner that Helena had sent a maid to send for him, he quietly stripped his clothes off and took it in his hands. He then transformed using the wyrmdragon’s transformation power and gathered dense fog to shroud the wooden ship, before drifting out of the cabin, riding on his clouds and flying towards the three iron boats that had been following close behind the fugitives.

Traversing the sea surface at low altitude like a god and breathing in the salty air, the long distance shortened in just a blink of an eye. Soon, Zhang Lisheng landed on the deck of the Wizard Li’s iron ship.

After seeing clouds drifting towards them for no reason, the young native captain on the iron ship cleverly ran out of the steering room in a hurry. He kneeled on the deck and blended in amongst the group of worshipping sailors, appearing to be extra eye-catching with two feathers on his head.

When Zhang Lisheng saw those bright feathers, he walked up silently to the aborigine, the youngest person among all Wizard Li’s tribesmen who knew how to sail a wooden ship; the first person who knew how to use a sextant; the first person who understood how to navigate the latitude and longitude of the Shrimp World No. 2; and the first person who learned how to drive an iron ship. “Bansaru, what is the progress on drawing the nautical chart?”