After Being Sold Out By The Empire, I Decide To Assist The Demon King
Chapter 76 - 75 The Merfolk’s Swordfish

Chapter 76: Chapter 75 The Merfolk’s Swordfish

How much was the price of a ship? Well, in this world, a typical fishing boat cost between ten and thirty thorny flower gold coins... Thorny flower gold coins were the empire’s currency, with the coin engraved with a thorny flower pattern.

That was the empire’s national flower, similarly... The Duchy’s currency was the violet gold coin, as violet was the Duchy’s national flower.

Of course, sailors also required gold coins. It was impossible to expect slaves or peasants to serve as sailors, so hiring experienced and full-time sailors and fishermen still required quite a bit of expense.

And it was a continuous expense... Of course, this was in the empire.

Wind-powered ships were the mainstream in this world, though oars were also used in emergencies. The main power source was the sea breeze.

Or rather, continuous strong winds created by mages, but that naturally wasn’t a method worth using on fishing boats—it was only warships that had such professions as Shipboard Mages.

However, the ship he was currently on, although it had a mast, didn’t seem prepared to hoist the sails. So... What kind of power source were they planning to display on this test voyage?

For ground warfare, Yila was quite knowledgeable, but for sea warfare, he knew very little, as he had never participated in sea battles.

Nor had he ever thought to understand... because the empire hadn’t suffered significant defeats in naval battles.

Perhaps this was related to the massive losses previously suffered by the Sea Demons.

"Your Highness the Demon King, Lady Hilena."

The Merfolk leader, with a shell hairpin on her head and webbing on her underarms and hands, greeted them. Of course... she was greeting Satan Ye and Hilena, selectively ignoring Yila, just like the other sea demon leaders.

Of course, Yila didn’t mind at all.

"..."

Yila looked at the dark circles under the Merfolk leader’s eyes, knowing she had been busy last night. He chose to ignore their hostility and said, "If you’re still very tired, please rest well after the test voyage ends."

"Hmm... Thank you..."

The Merfolk leader hesitated several times before reluctantly expressing her thanks, then awkwardly turned her head and shouted loudly, "Check the swordfish conditions, check the sail conditions, take positions!"

After she shouted, the Naga leader, who was still at odds with Yila, immediately repeated loudly, "Check the swordfish conditions, check the sail conditions, take positions!"

It seemed that at least on this ship, the Merfolk leader held a captain-like position.

During navigation, to avoid miscommunication of orders and to ensure the sailors heard correctly, the first mate would loudly repeat the captain’s orders—usually even louder than the captain’s command.

"Swordfish?"

Yila was a bit puzzled as he watched the sails being quickly unfurled... The sails in this world were very convenient to use. One only needed to pull a rope to spread the sail, tie it to the mast to keep it raised, and let go of the rope to lower the sail.

Adjusting the sail’s angle was also very simple, almost as easy as raising and lowering a flag in scouts.

But what were swordfish?

"Swordfish are the companions of the Merfolk... Ah!"

Halfway through Satan Ye’s explanation, the ship suddenly gained power and left the dock unexpectedly, almost causing Satan Ye to lose balance... The ship’s speed wasn’t particularly fast.

Not as fast as the empire’s warships, nor even the speed of many adventurers, but it was just a fishing boat and probably had other advantages elsewhere.

Yila thought so as he stood by the ship’s edge, no longer needing Satan Ye’s explanation. He could already see those fish with long noses tied to leather harnesses, swimming rapidly in the water like swordfish.

The harnesses were leather devices, the tough leather connected to the ship’s hull, allowing the swordfish to pull the vessel.

It was a very flexible structure and seemed capable of dispersing and gathering fish schools.

But the main power source was still the sail, and the primary directional control was still the rudder. These swordfish were merely an additional offensive and propulsion means.

Similar to... missiles?

Standing at the ship’s edge, among the curious yet fearful gazes of the sea demon sailors, Yila pondered this, feeling the sea breeze he hadn’t felt in a long while.

"Swordfish are our companion beasts, just like the Shield Shell."

The Merfolk leader pointed at the small shell she used as a hairpin and said this, deliberately avoiding looking in Yila’s direction, instead watching the receding port. "Swordfish clad in iron armor or even Magic Armor will be the strongest weapons in the sea."

This confirmed Yila’s guess... Swordfish were not just turbines but missiles, even sonar-guided torpedoes, though the "strongest" label was probably just boastful.

It was a boastful term, but only as an expression, not an actual boast.

And the next step would be demonstrating fishing, which Yila didn’t need to guide or watch because... his entire understanding of fishing came from TV shows in his previous world.

So the professional work should be left to professionals. Even if Yila had absorbed a lot of advanced methods from past TV shows, replicating them in this world would require countless trials and adjustments.

Even Yila could only provide a direction and not achieve any significant breakthroughs.

In that case, Yila merely needed to maintain the status quo sufficiently enough, just like the empire’s infrastructure, since... there was no need to waste so much time.

Swordfish were an unexpected bonus, but they surprisingly solved an urgent problem for Yila’s strategy. This way, maybe the trade ships would need less onboard manpower.

After all, the Demon King Territory was short on people.

In Yila’s strategic plan, ship-based trade was very important. History had proven that land trade was time-consuming and laborious because the roads in this world were too terrible.

Although it might be slightly better for the Demon King Territory, sea trade (multiple point-to-point) had to be the mainstay, with land trade (a single long route) as a supplement.

But this meant splitting the available forces, which was extremely dangerous for the security of the Demon King Territory. The appearance of swordfish offered Yila a bit more confidence.

The same number of people could at least ensure safer routes.

Yila thought this as he reached out and touched the shell tied in the Merfolk leader’s hair, feeling its pearl-like smoothness. Then, as the shell opened and closed, he nodded.

"I understand. When it comes to constructing the Magic Armor, I will seek your opinions."

The cautious Merfolk leader took a step back as Yila spoke.

"..."

Merfolk Leader: "Eh?!"

Shell (tapping): "Pa-pa~ (happy~)"