Chapter 45
The South's tremendous growth changed many things.
The basic scale of the economy had changed, wasted money had been reduced, and companies and factories had become more efficient. Naturally, the South's export volume had also soared.
And more than 80% of those increased exports were headed by ship to the imperial center and overseas.
That was prey the pirates couldn't possibly pass up.
Even if they couldn't do anything about the huge ships of tens of thousands of tons that occasionally appeared, the sailing ships still roaming about were easy targets.
"The age of great piracy begins!"
Those who boldly proclaimed the age of great piracy and went out to sea waving pirate flags didn't know fear.
"The South guys? Eh, they're busy fighting the West these days, aren't they? There's no way they have any spare capacity to worry about us."
The number of damages caused by pirates kept increasing day by day.
At the forefront of it all was the Black Flag Pirate Crew.
A pirate crew that pulled off dozens of successful raids a year.
Using the profits from those raids, they expanded their pirate ships and recruited crew, and before long they'd become a proper force.
Along with a respectable fleet and mages, and though their sea-monster units were far cruder than the East's, there was still no one in the South Sea who could stand against them.
"At our level, even the South's regular navy wouldn't dare mess with us. You can relax in our hideout."
"Hahaha! As expected of the boss!"
In fact, that was somewhat true.
Since the damage caused by pirates was lower than the cost of suppressing them, anti-pirate operations had until now been pushed far down the priority list.
The reason they ended up drawing the South's attention was elsewhere.
"The South won the war with the West in just a week?"
Upon hearing that, the pirate crew's boss became interested in the South Army's new weapon.
Firearms and cannons.
How powerful could they become if they got their hands on those weapons that had overwhelmed every enemy?
The pirates couldn't restrain their desire for strength.
"We've got money, don't we? Smuggle in a few pieces. Let's give them a try."
"Yes, boss!"
And that desire soon became the worst possible choice.
No matter how covertly the pirates moved, they couldn't escape the gaze of the South Grand Duchy, which operated a modern intelligence agency.
The Southern Intelligence Bureau held total authority over regional information management. The surveillance net it cast over strategic materials was airtight.
Bang-!
The smugglers trying to move the weapons were all subdued by mysterious men in suits who stormed in just before the handoff.
"W-What are you!?"
"We're from the Intelligence Bureau. You'd better tell us, one by one and without leaving anything out, where you were trying to smuggle this weapon."
"And if I refuse?"
The agent in the suit didn't say much.
He simply summoned the nearby agents with two claps.
"Boys, this gentleman says he wants some soup."
At first, the smugglers didn't understand what that meant.
Not until they were forced to inhale soup through their noses in the basement of the Southern Grand Duke's castle.
"I-I'll tell you everything! Please, spare my life!"
That was how the smugglers ended up spilling everything they knew.
The Southern Grand Duke, Kyle Leopold, received the report and answered without hesitation.
"Smuggling strategic materials is a grave crime that could undermine the foundations of our South. Execute all the smugglers, and sweep away everyone who dared attempt smuggling."
That was the moment the well-established pirate crew was chosen as the target of the experiment.
"They're a good target to test the new submarine force on."
And the South's retaliation didn't take long.
A white trail of foam cut across the dawn sea, smashing the pirates' cove wall and shattering the peaceful stillness of morning.
***
"Enemy attack!"
In the quiet dawn harbor, the pirates' flustered voices rang loudly.
The pirate ships lined up in a row sprang into action, and beneath the sea, the sea-monster riders hurriedly mounted their monster saddles.
At first, they were all brimming with confidence.
No matter what anyone said, the Black Flag Pirate Crew was the ruler of the South Sea.
There was no one who could dare smash through the cove's outer wall and get away before their eyes.
Six sailing ships, pirate flags raised high and sails spread wide, boldly set out onto the sea.
With the best sailing skills in the South Sea, they thought they'd find the enemy in no time.
...At least, until thirty minutes ago.
"There's nothing here, Captain?"
But the morning sea was quiet.
As if that enormous explosion that shattered the dawn silence and shook the cove had been a lie.
The cold sea merely flowed on calmly, as if nothing had happened.
"Keep looking anyway! I said find it!"
Even so, the pirates couldn't back down.
Pirates were the sort who made their living on momentum. Everyone had to fear pirates for them to plunder in peace.
That's why they absolutely, under no circumstances, could not tolerate sneaking in a hit and running away.
If this kept happening, even the lofty name of the Black Flag Pirate Crew would eventually collapse.
"If you let them get away without finding them, you're dead meat to me!"
Because of that, each captain was frantically searching for the enemy.
"They've taken the bait."
That sight was nothing more than a very good opportunity for the submarine fleet hiding beneath the sea.
Inside the silent submarine, where even the sound of swallowing could not be heard, the operations officer carefully asked the captain.
"Shall we begin the hunt?"
"No, not yet."
U-7's captain, Ethan, raised one hand to cut off the operations officer.
The enemy's surface ships still hadn't come within the ambush range.
"I can feel our submarine unit's lack of experience acutely."
Ethan was one of the South's finest officers—so dependable that he could be entrusted with command of a prototype submarine still in the testing phase.
That was why he could see at a glance just how effective the submarine tactics proposed by Lord Kyle Leopold were.
"If only we could use that tactic, we'd be able to move proactively without needing an ambush like this."
Wolfpack.
A tactic where, like a pack of wolves, submarines hid all around; while one sub struck a target and broke off, another submarine ambushed it from behind.
The moment he saw the tactic's detailed breakdown, Ethan instinctively knew this was the tactic the submarine force should aim for.
But at the same time, he could feel how much crew proficiency was required to execute such maneuvers perfectly.
"Only now had the enemy fallen into the encirclement.
Ethan clicked his tongue in disappointment and gave the order.
"Begin the attack."
Hoping that before the decisive naval battle with the East, they could break free of this basic, passive ambush warfare and fully master the 'Wolfpack' tactic.
Rrrrumble-!
Compressed air exploded inside the torpedo tubes, and two torpedoes were secretly launched toward the surface.
***
Whether U-7's captain Ethan was disappointed or not, the torpedoes displayed their full power to perfection.
Boom-!
A huge pirate sailing ship with a total of 36 cannons mounted on both sides was swallowed up by a massive spray of water and vanished.
There was no time to see it, and no time to respond. It happened in an instant. No matter how skilled the captain was, there was no way to detect an invisible attack.
"What's happening!"
"Captain! Our flagship...!"
The flagship's fate, revealed as the spray subsided, was horrific.
The ship itself had been split completely in half, the two halves breaking apart and sinking. Only the pirates' screams echoed over the sea.
"W-What...!"
One thought filled the heads of all the pirate captains there.
'I have to survive'
They had spent decades living on the sea.
In all that time, they had seen countless mysteries of the sea, but they had never even heard of something that could smash a ship without any warning.
The captain coldly ignored the pirates crying out for their lives and gave the order.
"Run! Our lives come first! Turn the ship around now-"
Kaboom-!
Once again, an explosion erupted.
Two 36-gun sailing ships that had been the South pirates' greatest assets sank right there.
The other vessels hurriedly turned, but... it was already far too late.
That meant the sea's hidden hunters had revealed themselves.
Kaboom-!
It meant that many other submarines had already fired their torpedoes at the sailing ships.
A moment later.
What the pirates floundering among the wreckage of the sunken ships saw last was a massive lump of steel rising through the now-calm surface.
With U-7's 88mm deck gun spitting fire as the opening shot, the surfaced submarines began completely annihilating the surviving pirates.
"Captain, the enemy's underwater monster corps will reach here soon. Shall we annihilate them too?"
Ethan, the captain of U-7, gave a small shake of his head.
Their mission was, after all, to destroy sailing ships and carry out ambush operations.
"No. We withdraw here."
Because allies who would take care of the little fish under the water were coming from the sky.
"We should give the newly joined knights a chance to practice for the decisive battle with the East too."
Against the backdrop of the bright morning sun, thirty modified wyvern knights joined the maritime theater.