The Baron's New Administrator
Honestly, I can see why someone might wonder why we even need an administrator in the first place.
Our fleet already has Pablo.
He’s been handling everything related to supplies, money, and distribution like some kind of quartermaster.
So suddenly bringing in an administrator and handing him real work? That’s bound to raise eyebrows.
But the key difference is that an administrator and Pablo operate in completely separate domains.
Up until now, Pablo has focused on dividing total profits, tracking black-market prices, and managing military supplies.
An administrator, on the other hand, handles the actual needs of the domain itself.
Calculating taxes according to imperial law, managing the census of domain residents, recording materials for road and wall construction, and drafting official public documents.
Essentially, someone who can navigate the empire’s complicated bureaucratic procedures.
‘If we were still just raiding ships, we wouldn’t need one. But we’re not anymore.’
Pirates don’t calculate. They just say, “We grabbed a hundred gold coins today, so sixty go to the crew and forty stay with me.”
Pablo only cares about how much we have and how much we’re spending—like a glorified treasurer.
More importantly, pirates treat imperial law as something to avoid, not something to use.
But if we bring in an administrator and actually use him, we can grow our power and launder money legally through the law itself.
“Mmph—!! Mmph, mmph——!!”
“Lorens, remove the gag.”
“Aye, Captain!”
—Thud.
“—Haa…! Haa, haa…!! I—I am not someone who deserves this kind of treatment…!! Please, at least let me contact my family—eek…!”
“So you’re Richard Draund?”
…Former cargo officer of the Draund family merchant ship, Richard Draund.
I was about to see whether this man would actually be useful to me.
‘Interview time.’
When Richard first laid eyes on him, he truly felt death breathing down his neck.
The man lounged in the chair, black coat draped over his shoulders, exuding the very image of a maritime calamity.
“Th-the Pirate King, Haydam…!”
Richard felt his breath catch in his throat.
The moment those eyes turned toward him, an invisible pressure clamped around his neck.
Aura.
The overwhelming presence only those chosen by martial talent could manifest filled the small room, pushing Richard to the brink of suffocation.
“…How insolent.”
With that low, razor-sharp voice—
—Whoosh.
“Kuh, kuhk, kek…!”
It felt as if his throat were being slowly crushed.
For the first time in his life, he experienced the raw terror of impending death.
“Well, that’s enough.”
Just as Richard began thrashing in midair, clawing at his own neck—
—Thud.
Haydam finally dropped him to the floor.
There was no defying him. No resisting him.
Yet even a noble had something more precious than life—honor.
Richard struggled to hide his trembling hands and forced his mouth open.
“I-if you contact my family, they’ll… they’ll pay a handsome ransom…!!”
“…Kuhaha! What? Your family?”
Haydam burst into laughter at Richard’s desperate cry.
The sight of a man groveling on the floor still clutching at the rotten lifeline of his family name was simply pathetic.
Haydam leaned down and stared straight into his eyes.
“Ransom? Don’t misunderstand, Richard.”
“…What?”
“I’m not a pirate. I’m the lord of Morg Bay.”
“…! Th-that’s absurd—”
“—Ah, of course you wouldn’t know. We attacked your ship before the announcement of my appointment was made public.”
Haydam’s explanation was brutally simple.
He was the lord of Morg Bay.
Which meant he had merely captured illegal merchant ships and pirates operating in his waters.
“You understand what that means, don’t you, Richard?”
It meant he could execute him on the spot without consequence.
Richard’s face turned ashen at the cold implication.
‘No… I can’t die here. Not after clawing my way this far…!’
As an illegitimate son, he had volunteered for the dangerous merchant ship duty just to earn recognition from the family.
And now he was going to die like this? Pointlessly?
Haydam, as if reading every thought, whispered like a serpent offering temptation.
“But I am merciful.”
“…Pardon?”
“You know exactly why they put you on that ship as cargo officer. To manage and monitor the family’s massive slush funds. They placed you there because putting someone too important in that position would be too risky.”
Richard couldn’t deny it.
He was a bastard with almost no claim to succession. That was why he had volunteered for this post—to prove himself and secure a foothold in the family.
A position that could be discarded at any time.
A position where he could be sacrificed as a scapegoat.
He knew this all too well.
Yet while Richard’s face grew paler by the second, Haydam smiled with genuine amusement.
“So your head must be filled with far more vivid numbers than any ledger.”
He lifted Richard’s chin with the tip of his sword.
“How much money have you handled so far? Five thousand reals? Or more?”
The question was surprisingly gentle compared to before.
“…Five thousand reals.”
Richard answered cautiously.
“Hah. How adorable.”
Haydam’s mocking laughter followed.
Richard didn’t understand at first. A regular navy sailor earned fifteen reals. Five thousand was an enormous sum by any standard.
But Haydam simply looked at him with pity and amusement, sheathing his sword.
“Serve under me.”
“…!”
“Hand over every piece of information you have on the Draund family. In return, I’ll let you take on the role of administrator as well.”
“H-huh?! Administrator…!!?”
Administrator.
If soldiers with swords seized land, the administrator was the one who designed and built that land with a pen.
In other words, a position an illegitimate son could never even dream of reaching.
And Haydam was offering it to him.
“H-how could I… betray my family and serve you…?”
Richard hesitated deeply.
Haydam was undoubtedly powerful. But Richard had lived his entire life under the Draund name. Even if it was a wretched family, they were still blood.
Betraying them… his conscience wouldn’t allow it.
However—
“Betray? There’s a much more beautiful word for it. Defection.”
Haydam smiled brightly.
“You were caught red-handed laundering funds with the Black Widow Bella. If I hand you over to the empire right now, you’ll either end up on the guillotine or rotting on some beach. Are you really going to choose the hard way?”
“…”
“The Draund family will soon fall by my hand. When that time comes, will you sink with them, or will you stand beneath me and claim greater honor and wealth than they ever gave you? The choice is yours.”
Then Haydam drove the final nail in.
“Power you’ve never even touched in that family, or a family that only offers death. Quite the difficult choice, isn’t it, Lorens?”
“Indeed it is, Captain.”
Richard’s eyes trembled violently.
The long-suppressed ambition of a bastard son broke through the fear of death and widened his vision.
When all his thoughts finally settled—
“…You truly won’t kill me?”
“You don’t actually think you still have a choice, do you, Richard Draund?”
Richard swallowed hard.
Then he pressed his forehead to the floor and spoke the realization he had come to.
“…I will obey, my lord.”
He had never possessed a choice to begin with.
So he might as well join Haydam completely.
Watching him, Haydam thought to himself that he had acquired quite a decent piece of human resource—slave.
Some time later—
[Southern Admiral Leandro Silva, in recognition of his efforts to eliminate maritime outlaws and restore order in the southern seas, hereby appoints ‘Haydam’ as the rightful lord of Morg Bay and Baron of Morg.]
The news that the Southern Admiral Leandro Silva and the Pirate King Haydam had joined forces spread across the south and beyond the sea.
—The Pirate King… became a baron?
In the salons of famous southern nobles, teacups clattered to the floor.
—What? That bastard Southern Admiral teamed up with him?!
In filthy pirate taverns, tankards shattered.
But the one who caused the greatest uproar was, of course—
“—Send someone immediately…! My money, my merchant ship…! Do you have any idea how much I invested?!”
“Y-yes…!”
It was Count Nicol Draund of the Draund family.