Kapitel 121: Hard Headed
Poor Captain Jack standing outside the Castle; surrounded by several Cavalry horseman, their spears were already pointed at him.
Not because of anything. It's just that this guy's outfit is too blatant and arrogant…. With one look, the word "I'm a pirate" is engraved onto his face!
It must be said that all this is Du Wei's credit. The design he gave this Captain Jack is completely in accordance with the previous charmingly famous pirate movie. This is especially true with the Red bandana on his head, small chin beard, and dark eye circles...
For such an oddly dressed man to come near the Rowling castle, the patrol units would of course lock onto such a target. Ever since Du Wei was abducted twice in the past, the size of the Rowling personal guard forces was increased several folds. If Jack didn't have Rolynn's personal token, the Calvary unit would have probably bounded the guy up with ropes by now.
"Ah-ha! My captain, you are finally here!" With a big laugh, Du Wei hurriedly ran out from the Castle to see the cavalry soldiers pointing their spears at the pirate captain. Pausing at the sight, one of the riders below him immediately dismounted and came up to DU Wei in salute: "Young Master, this guy's clothing is strange and looks to be up to no good. But in his hand is the keepsake token of knight Roylnn, we suspect he..."
"No need to be suspicious, he is my men. Let go of him." Waving his hand, the group of knights withdrew. Du Wei looked at the somewhat nervous looking Jack and walked up to him to give him a pat him on the shoulder: "You're finally here. Did you finish the tasks I entrusted to you?"
The Pirate captain has long seen how dangerous Du Wei can be. Quickly bending over his waist to show his respect, he started to speak: "Master, the tasks you instructed was very successful. Although there were some bumps along the way, but with the help of Miss Joanna, everything worked out well and the results were even better than previously expected."
Du Wei took one look around: "This is not the place to talk."
Then he had his people take Captain Jack to his study room.
For such a vulgar pirate, where would he have the chance to see such riches from an imperial family of the empire? Just those pure silver candlesticks are enough to make his eyes pop. And to top it off, the southern black tea matched with the sterling silver tea set he was served next rattled him to no ends.
Sending the servants away and closing the door behind them, Du Wei calmly worked up a noise silencing spell. With this, they can talk without worrying about their conversation spreading. Sitting in his chair, Du Wei spoke with a straight face: "You can speak now."
"Yes!" Putting down his cup, Captain Jack quickly stationed himself up and whispered: "Altogether, this voyage out at sea lasted three months. We raided 19 Islands in the Eastern waters and with Miss Joanna's help; those recalcitrant guys were thrown into the sea to feed sharks. The ones that were left alive and folded into our forces equaled a total of 421. The total amount of vessels we managed to take in is 32 ships and among them, one is of the Sea King class war ship!"
"Sea King class?" Du Wei was slightly surprised.
In the Roland Empire, sea vessels are divided into four different classes, from large to small: Sea God. Sea King, Sea Salt, and Sea Soul class as the smallest.
Among them, the Sea God class is the largest and is considered the biggest strength behind the Empire's navy. Let's use Du Wei's father for example. Back when Earl Raymond returned from his expedition to the south, the flagship "Dandong" he was on is in fact a Sea God class naval vessel. Considered to be without equal, the deck is 300 feet high and the body length can reach up to 150 meters. At any time, the Sea God class is capable of hosting over 800 personnel's on board.
And slightly smaller is the Sea King class. With a body length capable of reaching 100 meters – generally only 80 meters – it is capable of carrying up to 500 personnel's at one time. Of course, it is usually outfitted with a certain number of ranged weapons such as a cannon.
Because there is no gunpowder or heated weapons in this era, there aren't actually any artillery's. The so called cannons are in fact just some giant crossbow relying on a wheel mechanism to pull the bowstring. With a range of approximately 1-kilometer in distance, the high penetrating force of the Ballista's can pierce through even sheets of metal. Often in sea battles, once these weapons are utilized against the enemy vessels, the damage they would cause is direct and threatening.
In an era without long ranged artillery weapons, only the Sea God Class battleship is capable of equipping itself with a few Magic Cannons – based on the principles of magic. This weapon is comparable to regular gunpowder cannons in Du Wei's previous life, but the cost of producing one is quite expensive and some of the manufacturing process is said to be already lost.
Due to these reasons, the naval warfare in this world is basically still undeveloped. Relying on Ballista and on board personnel to fight, the main strategy is to ram the ship's hull against the enemy vessels. Once the enemy ship is immobilized, the sailors would then engage in a melee brawl to overtake the enemy.
In such a case, the ship's capacity to carry more fighters became the main focal point of naval warfare.
Although pirates exist in the eastern coast of the Roland Continent, but most of the ships fell into the medium and small bracket. More often than not, pirates are incapable of facing off against the regular naval fleets, and even some larger size armed merchant ships can fend for themselves.
For a pirate crew to own a Sea King class ship is extremely rare!
Seeing the doubt in Du Wei's eyes, Captain Jack quickly explained: "The ship seems to have many years on it already, and the hull is quite old and needs much repairing. The batch of captives we captured on the east belonged to a larger group of pirates. From what they told us, this vessel supposedly belonged to the imperial navy, but once it was retired, a wealthy merchant purchased it to be used as a trading vessel. But as fate would have it, the ship was later snatched up by pirates."
Hearing the explanation, Du Wei finally nods. If pirates can so easily get their hands on a Sea King class ship, then what good is the imperial Navy?!
"Within the 32 ships, there is one Sea King class and six Sea Salt class. As for the rest of the fleet, they are all small ships in the Sea Soul class category capable of only carrying a hundred sailors. Looking at it this way, the fleet right now is comparable to a second tier naval force of the empire in the eastern waters. Although it lacked ships of the larger size, but they could make up for it with the superior numbers."
Hearing Jack's words, Du Wei didn't say much and only smiled.
This guy is after all from a pirate origin – his insight is still a bit lacking.
Comparable to the Imperial Navy? That is wishful thinking.
Du Wei's old man is after all from the Navy. It was only by relying on the merits and promotions he gained from the southern expedition were he able to get where he is today. Like the last expedition, the fleet Earl Raymond brought with him only had 35 ships, but 5 of them are of the Sea God class and the rest are all Sea King class!
The amount of ships under Du Wei may be a lot, but if he really had to compare it to the imperial navy, it is still not enough.
Luckily for Du Wei, he didn't have any sort of ambition to raise a rebellion. As long as he doesn't go agitating the imperial navy and focuses his attention only on maritime trade, his fleet would be a force to be reckoned with.
After saying all of this, Jack's face looked somewhat pale as he whispered: "However, the way things have developed so far is beyond what we expected. As such, there are certain problems we are unable to solve. At the moment, the entire fleet is docked at the 'Fertile Haven Port' located in the southern Lille province. Miss Rolynn is staying behind to keep matters in check and has sent me back here to you….."
"Speak directly; tell me exactly what is wrong?" Du Wei frowned as he said this.
"Money." Jack lets out a sigh: "We originally intended to incorporate the stolen loots and wealth amassed by the pirates. This way, we can maintain the expenses of the fleet, but the problem is….."
Speaking up to here, Jack could not help but sigh: "The problem is that they are too poor."
Seeing the frown on Du Wei's face, Jack quickly explained: "The Empire's naval strength has always been powerful, and in the past decade, the empire had organized numerous expeditions to the southern waters. Although these efforts are a complete waste of resource and without any real obvious benefits, it did in fact expand the empires southern water borders and increase trading activity. Seeing the opportunity, numerous pirate crews started to appear. But in the past, these criminals have never caused any major issues thanks to the overwhelming strength of the imperial navy. If by the odd chance they caused too much commotion, they will incur the wrath of the navy and face annihilation. More importantly, trading in the eastern coast was greatly reduced in recent years and has concentrated their efforts in the southern waters. For this reason, the pirates in the eastern coast were already having a difficult time surviving, so of course they didn't have much chance to gain any wealth."
Looking at the serious faced Captain Jack and the way he spouted out all these big points, Du Wei could not help but smile: "All of these points…. Did you figure it out?"
Jack shook his head and honestly answered: "No, I never went to school, so where would I come up with these thoughts? These things are all what Knight Rolynn told me."
Du Wei's eyes lit up.
Rolynn? This leggy chick has a good mind.
Jack continues to speak: "Three months on this voyage has gained us mostly materials that isn't worth much like food and rusted iron. So even if we did sell them in the market, it wouldn't be much. As for the things that are worth a bit, a portion of it has already been sold in the 'Fertile Haven Port' the moment we landed. Also, a certain amount of relationship was needed with the port naval officers because it was inevitable that we would be criticized by suddenly taking in so many new members that are on the wanted list. Under Miss Rolynn's judgment, we spent a certain amount of money to bribe the officials and remove the bounty on some of the crew members. In the end, the amount of gold we managed to suck out of the pirates only amounted to 10,000 gold coins. After repairs and maintenance on the ships we gained, especially on the Sea King class vessel – let's not forget the daily food and drinking expense – we could barely balance the expense with the income we gained."
With his forehead going numb upon hearing all of this, Du Wei waved his hand: "Speak directly, how much in total do we need!"
Hearing this, Jack immediately pulled out a small book given to him by Miss Rolynn before coming here. Opening it, Jack began reciting the content: "Among the 32 ships, almost every one of them is damaged to a certain degree. Given the current financial problem, Miss Rolynn has selected nine of the most severely damaged ships and estimated the cost of repair to be around 3,000 gold. When coming up with this estimate, it was already based on the fact that we used your name to purchase discounted materials from the port. Although the other ships still need to be repaired, we can temporarily leave them as is and continue using them. Once the financial situation loosens up in the future, we can then decide which to repair. And the daily expenditure for 400 sailors over three months has been tallied up to 600 gold. This number is already considered very frugal. If Miss Rolynn dares to reduce the personal expenditures anymore, she feared that the new crew members would defect and leave. On a side note, Miss Rolynn said that since the men's are no longer pirates and is working under your name; all of them need to be outfitted with a new uniform because it would be an embarrassment for you if they wore tattered rags. As such, every member was tailored two new uniforms with the captains getting a slightly better quality... This cost us another 200 gold. But most importantly, the weapons in everyone's hand are too poor in quality. They were all pirates in the past, so once they swarmed a ship, they would go into a random brawl. Such an act is just too shameful. Since they are now part of the Rowling fleet, every Ballista, crossbow, and blade needs to be replaced. I have already checked, some of the former pirates were so poor that they don't even have a weapon. In the past when they encountered a target, they would grab whatever tool they could find like a hammer or rake to fight. Such a method can no longer be used….. In addition to the expenses of building a relationship with the port officials, the costs of removing the bounty on the pirates ended up costing us nearly a thousand gold coins."
Kapitel 122: Road to the Capital
By the end, Sparrow sighs: "Miss Rolynn is currently keeping everything together in the 'Fertile Haven Port'. Overall, she only has 1000 gold coins left in hand. According to the consumption scale of 32 ships – maintenance, personnel expense, and weapons – the expected expense is close to a thousand gold per month. Of course, this number is already compressed to the lowest limit. Once we set sail, we can expect the expense to be even bigger…."
Du Wei took in a deep breath: "So, not only did you not bring me back a penny, you are asking me to fork over money instead?"
"Yes." Sparrow also had a bitter face. The guy originally swore his allegiance to Du Wei with the intent of leading a fleet, but now it seems only the leader would know how expensive things really are. Before the fleet even gets out to sea, it would seem they are about to go bankrupt.
"If there is no new funding within a month, then would the fleet go bankrupt?" Du Wei questioned.
"In fact, there are a lot of people complaining already. When they were still pirates, they could eat meat and drink wine; but now, they can only eat cereal and drink the cheapest ale. Everyone is so poor that they cannot even seek out the cheapest whore for relief. If not for Miss Rolynn and Miss Joanna suppressing them, I fear that the sailors would have already rioted a few times." Sparrow reluctantly said this.
Du Wei rubbed his brow and admitted to himself that he was a bit whimsical in the past. Although there is a powerful master like Joanna and an experienced pirate like Sparrow to keep things running smoothly, he did not expect the rate of consumption to be so big for such a fleet. If not for the small fortune he landed himself with, Du Wei feared that he really couldn't afford to keep such a fleet running!
"Okay." Du Wei taps his fingers on the table: "The fleet may consume a little bit more, but the current problem lies in the fact that things aren't up and running yet. With no income, of course they can't afford to meet their expenses. First thing now is to figure out a way to make it into a money making machine."
Du Wei then sent captain Sparrow to find Marde, this way he can take out 10,000 gold coins from the account as funding for the coming months.
General speaking, he actually still earned a profit. Although the fleets expense is quite high, but it was still acquired without spending a single penny. Since there are so many ships, the option of going back to being pirates is out of the question. The only solution is to rely on ocean trading.
Du Wei immediately recalled Beinlich from the snow wolf mercenary that he met in the frozen forest. According to his memory, Beinlich complained to him that those unscrupulous merchants that came to do trading with them would always suppress the trading price despite the fact that they risked their life to procure the materials. For example: a low leveled monster nucleus can be sold for one to two gold in a town at the forest edge, but once it reaches the south, the price would increase by 10 times! Although the empires law cannot stop everyone from entering the frozen forest, but it can definitely stop the flow of trade. For this reason, the mercenaries that risked their life often could not openly sell their spoils. The only option left for them is to reluctantly sell their goods at a cheap price to those with strong backings or a well-connected businessman.
Usually, those merchants are backed by some powerful northern nobles. Once they obtained the goods at a low price, they would go through some legal formalities and sell it off to the south as legalized goods at 10, or sometimes even 100 times the profit.
If others can do this, he can naturally do it too!
And now that he has a fleet, he can just send it to a port in the north. Once he does, he would of course earn a lot.
Even though he may have the halo of the Rowling Household, but the problem lies in the fact that he is still not an adult yet. With no proper title, how can he so hastily step into the northern business circle. If he doesn't do it right, he may even offend those elites in the north. And smuggling such a large amount of materials is no easy matter. First he must build up some connections with the local officials, and then he must find a way to legalize his goods. For a kid like him, it's fine to make a ruckus here and there at home, but if he really wants to start a business like this, it won't succeed unless someone of great importance in his family steps forward.
Thinking it through, a strange idea suddenly popped into his head.
If—if I was really the heir to the family, then it would have been good.
When this idea came up, even Du Wei was surprise.
How could he think like this? Hadn't he hated the life of bearing so much responsible and deliberately kept his silence? This way he would be misunderstood by everyone and be able to live a carefree life in the Roland Plains. If he really did become the heir to the family, then problems and trouble would come looking for him. Once that happens, he can no longer have the life he wanted.
Thinking it over, Du Wei sighed and dropped the subject. The main priority is to solve the problem at hand.
Du Wei hesitated for a moment and then finally decided to assign the task to his new subordinate George Bush because he really had no other effective confidant under him right now.
Calling George Bush over, Du Wei confessed his plan and asked him to find Beinlich of the Snow Wolf Mercenary and pass on a handwritten letter by Du Wei.
Regardless of how, Du Wei first want to pull in the Snow Wolf Mercenary Corps because the scale of this troupe is not small. Their activity in the frozen forest is above average, so the amount of spoils they have would not be small. If he can get this done, then his maritime trade would finally be realized. The profit may be small at first, but it is still better than leaving the ships in the ports.
Just like this, Captain Jack Sparrow and Mr. George Bush became close comrades as they prepared themselves to head up north in search of the mercenary corps.
Three days later, Du Wei finally received the news from the capital.
Raymond Earl wrote a letter and sent if over on horseback. The letter didn't say much, the only message was an invitation to attend the annual summer festival.
It may just be words, but it is still a message asking Du Wei to return to the capital. Marde naturally rejoiced at the news, but Du Wei looked relaxed without any hint of anger or joy.
Go to the Capital?
Hmm, but the waters of the Capital are so deep! In the present, he is hiding in the Roland Plains and living a carefree life. While in the capital, there are so many powerful and rich nobles. And lets not forget the Temple and the Magic Union...
Hussein is strong, right? The number one Saint Knight on the continent! Yet, he is being chased like a lost dog by the temple.
Right now, he has too many secrets and each one will end in catastrophe if known. If the Temple found out, not even his bones would remain!
The night before heading out, Du Wei had a long chat with Hussein in the small little villa he built. From their conversation, they came to a decision that Hussein is to stay behind from this trip to the capital. The reason is because there are simply too many people there that would recognize the knight.
As for Nicole (Medusa), Du Wei hesitated repeatedly but in the end, he decided to not bring her with him. Although Medusa's strength is superior and could easily be considered a bodyguard with her by his side, but he still couldn't get a clear understanding of her. If by the odd chance she loses her patience and goes on a rampage, at least there is Hussein to control her because he wouldn't have the strength to stop her.
As for the rest, Du Wei decided to take Gargamel with him. After all, he is only a mouse. Even if he does talk in front of others, he can just say he is a talking pet.
The last one is QQ. Other than talking and going on and on about being elegant, this bird is not in the least bit useful and is purely a waste of food. Contemplating the problem for a long time, Du Wei somehow decided to bring the bird with him as if he was suddenly controlled by a ghost.
Just like this, Du Wei packed his luggage. With a mouse, a penguin, 50 cavalry guards, and a bunch of carriages filled with his things, he set out mightily towards the capital.
Originally, riding the Hot-air balloon would have been faster... But he had too many stuff with him and he also didn't have that many hot air balloons to use. In any case, Du Wei wanted to leisurely walk for a while.
Traveling in this fashion, it wasn't until they came up to the Rowling River that they saw someone standing on top of the river bridge.
Still riding on top of his horse, Du Wei took a closer look and saw that the person was completely grey from top to bottom. This person was none other than Mage Clark.
Seeing Du Wei and his escorts coming closer, Clark immediately mounted his horse and laughed out loud: "Master Du Wei, the Magic Union received news that you are heading to the capital. So, under the order of the president, I've been waiting here for you!"
A few ideas popped into his mind, and then Du Wei jumped off the horse and walked up to the mage with a smile: "Mage Clark Sir, could there be some sort of request the president needs me to do?"
Jumping off his horse, Clark came up to Du Wei and gingerly fished out a black wooden box. Opening it to reveal a golden badge, Clark handed it over to Du Wei and said: "This is what the president tasked me to give you! You are already recognized as Master Gandalf's apprentice. Although you did not participate in any magic grading exam yet, but a disciple of Master Gandalf must have some uncommon magic knowledge. This gold badge does not represent any magic grade; instead, it is an honorary symbol that identifies your identity. If you wear this to any branch of the magic union, you will receive preferential treatment. Wait till you are in the capital, the president will then personally check your magic power and give you a ranking badge."
His heart was slightly moved by the gold badge. As he held it in his hand, Du Wei could vaguely feel the waves of magic coming from it.
This is a good item. Du Wei of course knew what this badge represented. While not a symbol of a magician, but the person wearing this basically means he is a magician!
The so called Magic Scholar is equivalent to a College "visiting Professor". Not governed, it is an honor, but also status symbol.
"And one other thing."
Clark immediately took a burden from on top of his horse. After opening it, he carefully took out a folded robe inside. The style is similar to that of a Mage's robes, but is neither gray nor white. Instead, it was a plain black robe.
From above, there were some markings of the magic union and some fine patterns. Du Wei didn't know what they were, but Clark explained: "This is the robe of a Magic Scholar and its cost is not low. The patterns above have some supportive properties when you are using magic and can even fend off some simple physical attacks. Within the magic union, only members of the executive office have such a robe. This robe is a status symbol in the Capital! And in the magic union, there are no more than 15 with this robe throughout the continent!"
After a pause, Clark took a step back and reverently bent down on his waist to perform a salute from a lower level mage towards a higher level mage. Then with a smile, he said: "The status of a Magic Scholar is transcendental in the Union. Any level six or lower magician must pay their respect to you in the capital."
Du Wei was becoming serious inside.
Before he can even leave his family land, the magic union has more than once tried to win him over….
Du Wei does not believe in this world there is something like a free lunch, the other party must have some kind of plot.
Now is not the time to refuse. Accepted everything, Du Wei wore the black magic robe and pinned on the badge. Immediately, he could feel the fluctuation of magic caused by the robe and a silver arc of light surrounded his body. From the looks of it, the magic is some sort of blessing spell that increases his speed or agility.
Also, it would seem this robe had another function that could adjust the temperature. Normally his body would feel slightly feverish from all that galloping, but with the robe, his body began to cool.
Delighted, Du Wei thanked Clark and allowed the mage to join his group as they headed to the capital.
Du Wei, finally returned to the capital, returned to the circle of power he tried to so hard to escape.
Stay tune for future development!
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