Legacy of a Benevolent Lord
Chapter 39: I am Wave Dragon, I run a Charity.

Chapter 39: I am Wave Dragon, I run a Charity.

An urgent knock sounded at the door.

"Your Highness!" the steward’s anxious voice called out. "It’s terrible! Lake pirates! A sea of Pirates has surrounded us!"

But Riven’s voice came back calm and even.

"Don’t panic. Hold steady."

He stood, adjusting his collar smoothly.

Selene rose beside him, her hand brushing his sleeve just briefly.

Creak

The cabin door opened.

Together, with Azira following hesitantly, they moved onto the deck.

......

On deck.

The Ashvale family’s guards, sixteen men strong, stood ready, blades drawn.

These were the longtime, trusted individuals whom Riven’s grandmother had always relied on.

Even though they had little strength, they were ready to fight.

Alongside them were four more: elite guards sent by the Sundawn County Governor’s office, handpicked from the Imperial City Guard.

They were sent to the Duke’s manor in ’good faith’.

Meaning basically, as a favor and to make connections.

Their captain, Cole Hart, was a young man in plain robes.

With sharp eyes and a calm stance, he alone eased the nerves of the soldiers.

Evidently, the young man has gone through much bloodshed.

When Riven and Selene stepped onto the deck, all the guards bowed low.

Their bow was authentic.

Unlike the ones a strong guard does to a young master.

Riven’s presence was striking, even in the chaos. He was light.

He carried himself lightly, but the air around him was razor sharp and golden.

Selene, veiled in pale blue gauze, stood by his side, aloof yet radiant.

Together, they were like a scene from a painting.

Cole Hart watched them, feeling a ripple of awe.

These two... they’re the real deal.

Then.

A roar echoed across the lake.

"This marine path was opened by us! If you want to pass, leave your toll!"

On the far side of the ship, a large war boat loomed, surrounded by smaller crafts.

At its prow stood a bald, burly man, a massive ring-handled saber resting across his shoulders.

Riven, too, walked to the prow of his ship.

"Good sir," he called out coolly, his voice carrying across the water, "State your name."

The bald man grinned broadly.

"No need to hide it. I’m Wave Dragon of the Great Lake! Tonight’s toll is simple: your money."

Cole Hart, who at some point had walked to stand beside Riven, leaned closer to him and murmured:

"Your Highness, he’s Wave Dragon. Fourth ranked among the Thirty-Six Pirates of the Great Lake.

Strong in aquatic battles, trained in Shaolin’s Golden Bell Cover. Fetal Breathing Stage. Famous for taking money but not lives."

Riven nodded slightly.

Surprising kind of a pirate... in this day and age.

His gaze swept back across the dark waters.

Then he called out:

"How much?"

The Wave Dragon blinked, surprised by the straightforwardness.

"A thousand taels," he shouted back. "To buy grain for the drought villages!"

His words were a mix of what shouldn’t have been said together.

Steal?

For drought relief?

The fuck?

Selene snorted softly.

Riven raised an eyebrow.

"A pirate doing disaster relief? That’s the job of the government!"

The Wave Dragon laughed loudly.

"The government? They’re the real thieves! We’re just being human! What is man if he watches innocents die when he can do something about it?"

Something like a smile spread across Riven’s face.

He was curious. Why do such a time-consuming task with-

Looking around, it was not one Pirate ship. There were a dozen.

Heh... a dozen Pirate ships doing charity work?

"Fine."

The Wave Dragon leaned forward eagerly.

"But," Riven added, his voice sharpening slightly, "I’m raising the stakes.

I’ll give you ten thousand taels. With one condition."

The Wave Dragon blinked again.

Maybe he misheard?

He was getting a bit old after all.

Right?

"T-ten thousand?"

Even the pirates behind him gasped.

A fortune.

A bloody fortune!!

More money than many would ever see in their lives.

More money than they can ever count - oh... they don’t know how to count.

"What’s the condition?" Wave Dragon asked warily.

"You let one of my men follow you," Riven said smoothly. "To make sure you really use it for disaster relief."

The pirate hesitated and furrowed his brows.

Something smelled wrong here...

Aren’t they the ones putting forth the conditions?

Now, why are they being bound by them?

But ten thousand taels...?

Ultimately, he stopped thinking too much.

He cupped his hands across the distance and shouted back:

"Agreed, sir! Send one man or even ten if you want! It doesn’t matter."

The deal was struck.

Both men spoke, emitting energy so everyone could hear them.

Under the cold, misty stars of the Great Lake, the pirates shouted with laughter and cheers.

The fires of boats flickered like stars.

Facing the water pirates, Riveron Ashvale didn’t try to show off or use his name for clout.

Instead, he responded calmly and with quiet authority, leaving Cole Hart silently impressed.

He thought, ’There are many people with power, but not many who know how to restrain it.’

"This Crown Prince, either a true hero or someone terrifyingly calculating.... or both."

Cole Hart couldn’t help but think of his own master, the man who single-handedly established the Four Directions and managed it for thousands of years.

A man who was both.

While Cole was lost in thought, Riven raised his voice toward Wave Dragon: "The ten thousand taels are right here on the ship. If you’ve got the guts, come and take them."

A tense silence followed.

Azira moved behind Selene and glanced at Riven nervously, wondering if he was baiting Wave Dragon into a trap.

It seemed cunning enough to be possible.

Not just her, others thought the same.

On the pirates’ ship, Wave Dragon’s second-in-command warned, "Big Brother, it could be a trick! Something doesn’t sit right with this deal. We shouldn’t go with the flow."

But Wave Dragon just laughed. "Heh! Why shouldn’t I? Just trust me, ey?"

Step

With a heavy step forward. The bow of the ship sank 4 feet in.

Boom!

With energy coiling in him, he leapt forward, his body soaring like a bird.

He twisted mid-air, covering nearly thirty meters before landing squarely on the deck of Riven’s ship.

The entire vessel gave a dull groan under the impact, the boards shifting just slightly to absorb and spread the force of his landing.

The Ashvale family guards instinctively stepped forward, blades drawn, their reflections glowing in the firelight.

"Stand down," Riven ordered.

At once, they withdrew.

Wave Dragon stepped forward, smiling.

He looked around with unconcerned eyes. His eye scanned the guards, the stewards...

But!

The moment he looked towards the young man’s eyes, his heart nearly froze. Then he saw the veiled woman.