The unlucky bastard went flying backward, knocking over several of his companions. His face was, in the most literal sense of the phrase, mangled beyond recognition.

"O-Orcs?" "This ship is full of Orcs!"

The Pirates standing by the hatch shrieked.

That was just the beginning.

The Orcs poured from the hatch like a flood bursting through a dam. They instantly swamped half the deck. A few Pirates tried to charge forward and stop them, but they were immediately knocked to the ground.

The deck began to groan, unable to bear the weight. The sound of their footsteps, like the beat of war drums, thundered from within the ship.

’This is way too intimidating...’

Colin could feel the deck vibrating so much that the soles of his feet began to itch.

These Pirates were all human, around five-foot-nine on average, and weighed maybe 150 pounds. Their opponents, however, were a group of burly behemoths standing six-foot-seven and weighing well over 220 pounds.

There was no need to even discuss fighting techniques. The size difference alone was an insurmountable advantage.

A group of Orcs cheered as they wreaked havoc on the deck. The band of Pirates was routed instantly.

’Using Misty Step to teleport over was completely unnecessary,’ Colin grumbled to himself.

Just then, he saw that the Pirates still on his ship had started cutting the grappling ropes.

He recited the Spell, and Misty Step took effect. Silver mist once again surged around him.

When his vision cleared, Colin was standing firm on the deck of the Pirate Ship, one hand conveniently resting on the railing at his side.

He gripped his Giant Sword with both hands, leaping forward and swinging it in a single motion.

A Pirate busy cutting a grappling rope immediately collapsed into a pool of blood.

"Get that Mage! Hurry up!" yelled the same black-bearded man who had been cursing the loudest earlier.

Several Pirates still on deck clutched their Scimitars and charged him.

Without hesitation, Colin began Casting a Spell.

Burning Hand erupted across the deck, instantly turning the Pirates leading the charge into wailing human torches.

In their panic, they scrambled over the rail and dove into the sea. Puffs of black smoke rose from where they hit the water, and then all was still.

’These guys are easier to deal with than Sahuagin,’ Colin thought.

"If you want to live, throw down your weapons and get on the ground!" He then raised his right hand, chanting the Spell for Flaming Arrow as Magic Flames danced at his fingertips.

Seeing this, the Pirates lost all will to fight. They scrambled to throw down their weapons and squat on the deck.

"We’re dropping them! We’re dropping them!" "Don’t shoot! I already dropped my weapon!"

Seeing this, the Pirates on the other deck also began shouting as they hastily threw down their weapons.

A Mage and a horde of Orcs... This fight was impossible!

The farcical battle was over not long after it began.

A few Orcs, whose bloodlust hadn’t yet been sated, leaped over to help Colin control the situation.

Colin then walked to the stern of the Pirate Ship.

It took a while for the two ships that had sailed past to turn around, but they were now slowly approaching.

Colin took a quick look around.

In the recent farcical conflict, his side had suffered no casualties, though a few Orcs had sustained several new wounds.

However, they were wearing thick leather armor, so none of the wounds were deep.

The Orcs just spat on their wounds and rubbed them a bit. After a quick bandage, they acted as if nothing had happened.

The surviving Pirates were all squatting on the ground, hands on their heads. The deck was littered with unlucky souls beaten to a pulp by the Orcs.

"It’s all over?" Kase, his face still creased with sleep, disgruntledly kicked a squatting Pirate. "How about a round with me?"

"N-n-no..." The kicked Pirate hastily shrank to one side.

"My bones have been itching for a fight these past few days," Kase complained. "Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?"

"Even if we had, you couldn’t have jumped over here anyway," Colin said.

Orelia then asked, "What should we do with them?"

"If I remember correctly, the penalty for piracy is hanging." After she spoke, Ale turned to size up the ship’s mast. "Hanging them up there probably won’t affect the sails, right?"

"Mercy! Mercy!" "Kind lady, I beg you!"

Several of the Pirates’ faces went pale at her words.

"Let’s not do that. It’s a bit horrifying..." Orelia said, frowning.

Seeing that someone was speaking up for them, the pitiful Pirates quickly chimed in with pleas.

Watching the scene unfold, Colin felt for a moment as if *they* were the band of heinous Orc Pirates, and the actual Pirates were innocent merchants they had captured.

"Are there bounties on these Pirates? I remember turning them in alive should fetch a higher reward," Colin asked, looking at the captain of the merchant caravan.

"Yes," the captain nodded. "But don’t you worry. Any civilized city-state would hang this scum. Capturing them alive is mainly for the public execution that follows."

That put Colin’s mind at ease.

He looked at the Pirates and asked, "Which one of you is the captain?"

The burly, black-bearded man who had been shouting the loudest earlier tentatively raised his hand.

"What were you thinking? We have more ships than you do."

The black-bearded man kept his head low and said, "We’ve pulled this off a few times. Merchant ships usually have few Guards. In a surprise attack, the other ships would just abandon their companion and run for it. Who knew you guys were colleagues."

"Colleagues?"

"Stop playing dumb. Don’t think I can’t tell," the black-bearded man said with conviction. "You’re an Orc Pirate crew disguised as a merchant caravan. How much are those Orcs paying you to be their Mage guide? You traitor to humanity!"

"Shut up. This human Mage must be controlling these Orcs with some kind of vile Magic! Be careful, or we’ll fall under his spell too," another Pirate whispered. Although he kept his voice down, most of the people present could still hear him.

Hearing this, Colin was momentarily speechless, not knowing what to say.

’Still, there’s no need to explain anything to these guys. They’re all heading for the gallows anyway.’

Afterward, the Pirates were separated and confined across the different ships.

To be safe, they were kept chained to pillars in the holds, twenty-four hours a day. Whether they lived or died was up to fate; there was no need for courtesy toward such ruthless killers.

The Pirate Ship was absorbed into the fleet. They figured they could manage to sail it by assigning some of their sailors and a few Orcs to crew it.

It was worth mentioning that the Pirate Ship had, in fact, originally been a merchant vessel.

Most of these Pirates were former sailors. A pirate who had escaped from prison had lured them in with a few clever words, they had stolen a ship from the docks, and they had gone into business as Pirates.

Their first few ambushes, disguised as a merchant ship, had been successful. It became their go-to tactic, and they never bothered to install any heavy firepower on their own vessel.

You could only say that running into this particular group of Orcs was just their bad luck.

After this little episode, the fleet encountered no more trouble on their journey.

No Sahuagin, Bird Demons, or other such creatures appeared, leaving Colin with no way to earn a little extra cash.

Besides, after the high-intensity battles on the World’s Roof, the constant, gentle rocking of the ship every day felt draining. Sometimes it made him wonder if he had been infected with some strange, belligerent virus by the Orcs.

Time trickled by.

That afternoon, the ships docked at a small port north of Thousand Masts City.

Colin and the others walked down the gangplank and stepped onto the shore.