Chapter 116: 117

T/N: There’s been serious electrical work at my house all day, haven’t been able to access my computer and the word processor I need to edit and post translations.

It’s been a few days since I heard Victoria’s news, but I’m still in dismay. Anyway, it is necessary to obtain permission to build a new ship, whether or not I’m going to be hostile to the Kingdom of Hollant and the Nassam Duchy. Create an application form for Ploiss, check the progress of the new weapon development entrusted to Eins, and instruct Ignatz, one of my guard captains, to increase the number of troops and train them…

Aaaaahhh~~~! There’s too much to do! Even though nothing is solved, problems keep coming! What is this!? I shouldn’t have been in this sort of trouble! Who in the hell is bringing so much trouble!?

Haa~…… haa~~……. calm down. Inhale~, exhale~……, hee-hee-fuu……, hee-hee-fuu……. alright, I’m calmer now.

Let’s calm down and sort things out a bit. First of all, that Victoria came to the royal capital wasn’t to bring trouble to me. Apparently, she was invited to Queen Amalie’s soiree, which was about 2 weeks away.

At the same time, Victoria taught me about Lubek and the Hulk Sea, and she is trying to get me to move into Lubek.

Well, I don’t know if it’s really about attending the evening party and then passing troubles onto me on the side. Rather, I feel like it’s the other way around. I wonder if Victoria came to the royal capital on the pretext of being invited to an evening party and secretly told me about Lubek.

Whichever her purpose and whichever her official business, Victoria will be attending the evening party, so until then, she will be in the royal capital.

And the Hulk Sea situation is very bad for House Caan. We have just started the shipping business by operating large ships. If the Hulk Sea, which is the main stage, is blocked by the Kingdom of Hollant and the Nassam Duchy, the business will suffer.

House Caan uses large ships called caravels and carracks for large-scale transportation. Thanks to the fast new ships, the amount of cargo that can be carried at once has increased and the transportation period has been shortened. As a result, transportation costs have fallen, product prices have fallen, and it has become possible to transport products to places that were not previously in the range of the previous sales channels, expanding the commercial area.

Having said that, at the moment, House Caan is only trading with the port town of Weissmar, which is about 50 kilometers east of Lubek. There are various complicated circumstances as to why they are only developing routes in such close settlements.

First of all, we are newcomers who have just entered the shipping industry. What would the incumbents think if such a company suddenly took away jobs here and there and started actively competing in the shipping industry? Naturally, if a newcomer takes a job at bargain prices, the existing businesses will suffer and their companies will go bankrupt.

If that happens, then Caanza and House Caan will be glared at by the surrounding cities and firms, no, they will be hated. Lubek will also dry up and its economy will die. Therefore, while leaving the profitable long-distance routes to existing shipping companies, we are starting with new development in nearby areas.

All the shipping jobs we’ve gotten so far are new routes, and we’re not stealing jobs that were already being done by other companies. Specifically, we undertake work as a transporter for new businesses such as Caanza and ship Kruck’s new products. With this, we can coexist without stealing the work of other contractors who have been working in the market until now.

From now on, I was planning to open up distant routes and get new jobs, but if the Hulk Sea were blocked, all my plans would go awry. I’m still in a position to keep these new routes, so even if they were blocked, we won’t change much, but at the moment, it’s a big problem for everyone that does rely on those routes.

How come I didn’t know about such a big deal until now? Of course, it was after I left Caanburg and came to the royal capital, that there was a full-scale naval blockade. But that’s not all, we didn’t get any contact because our ships weren’t targeted and there was no damage to our operations.

If my ship had been sunk or looted, I would have been contacted immediately and would have known that. No damage has been done so far. Even if people in Caan territory and our business partners have heard rumors that there are pirates and naval blockade ships in the surrounding waters, they probably have no idea of the scale of the situation, as they have never encountered it themselves. It had been neglected until now because there was no damage to our business and none of our staff had experienced it.

Then why were only our ships not damaged? That’s probably because our ships are large, fast ships named caravels and carracks.

In this world, naval battles are still dominated by the use of ramming heads attached to the fronts of the hulls to break open the opponent ship’s hulls, or nets and ropes to be thrown onto the opponent’s ship to prepare for boarding and hand-to-hand combat.

Even in the history of Earth, it took a long time to equip a ship with cannons and sink an opponent’s ship. 1 It was the Mongol Empire that triggered the global spread of black gunpowder, which is said to have been invented in China. Gunpowder weapons became known all over the world because the Mongol Empire, which ruled the Eurasian Continent from the end of the east to a part of Europe in the west, used gunpowder arms.

After that, over a lengthy period of time, more modern guns and cannons were gradually invented and improved until they became what they are today, but even so, the key factor in naval battles now was boarding and hand-to-hand combat on your opponent’s ship.

You mounted cannons on your ship to attack the enemy from as far away as possible, thinning their crew, and thus, having fewer sailors to fight later when you boarded.

In the era of galleons, which are treated like the protagonists of the Age of Discovery, gun decks are set up on the sides and many cannons are lined up to shoot at the opponent. Even so, in the end, it was boarding that decided it. In the world-famous movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean,” you may have seen the scene where the navy and the protagonists’ pirate ship sail side by side, opening the side windows and firing at each other with many cannons.

Still, cannon volleys would not settle things. In order to weaken the opponent’s power, they just shoot each other before boarding, and even in that movie, in the end, they boarded the opponent’s ship and fought hand-to-hand. Naval battles were like that, not the production trying to make the movie more exciting. 2 It was very difficult to sink a ship with just cannon fire. 3

Eventually, it will evolve into a ship such as with galleons, equipped with lines of cannons to deal more cannon-fire damage to the opponent, but let’s leave that for now.

So far I have never seen gunpowder, cannons, or handheld firearms in this world. It may be that it has not spread internationally yet because there has not been a great empire like the Mongol Empire that brought gunpowder to various parts of the world, as they had on Earth. Or it’s possible that they don’t understand the usefulness of gunpowder because magic already exists.

So I instructed Eins to develop something. Eins’s research itself should be almost complete because I’ve been teaching him how to make it to some extent for quite some time. That this has not been completed, was because we did not have the metal processing technology or the manufacturing facility to create it.

In the first place, if I wanted to create something I wanted, I would have to create a mold at a dedicated manufacturing facility. It is not something that can be made just by having metal processing done on the spot, so it was necessary to grow from the current metal processing industry.

Anyway, just like on Earth, hand-to-hand combat is still the norm in this world. So how do they attack our ship? No need to think about it. They can’t.

The new ships are faster than the old ships. If it’s a fast small ship used by pirates and other hostiles, it can catch up with our ships, but the size difference is too much and it’s difficult to board. And even if you can get on, your numbers are your strength in hand-to-hand combat. There is no need to think about which one has better odds of winning, the sailors on a large ship or the ones on a smaller ship.

Conversely, if the other party sends out a large ship that can compete with our vessels in terms of manpower, the speed difference is too great to catch up. There is no large ship that can match the number of sailors, and even if the number of sailors can be equalized, it will not turn into a boarding situation unless they can catch up to and sail alongside the vessel.

From the enemy’s point of view, a small ship that can catch up with them cannot fight because the difference in sailors is too stark. It’s not that our ships weren’t targeted because it’s just a total blockade without any pirating, it’s that we can’t be targeted.

So none of us considered the Hulk Sea situation serious. I had heard rumors of suspicious ships sailing the waters, but I had no idea that they were seizing, plundering, or blockading other shipping companies’ vessels. On the other hand, the people of Lubek must have been surprised to see the ships sailing leisurely through the blockaded regions. And if you attached my vessels as escorts, it would be possible to break through the current naval blockade.

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And I came to think that if possible, I would like them to be under our protection. I guess they would also rather come under our protection and oppose the blockaders rather than be forced to obey Hollant and Nassam.

Suppose… we answer Lubek’s call for help and put them under our protection, and repel the Kingdom of Hollant and the Nassam Duchy, I think there will be more people who want to join us in the future. It’s not a bad idea if you only consider profit. But… it means that we bear the brunt of fighting the conflict…

Haah… well, I guess I’ll go back to square one after all. Anyway, today I’d like to go to the royal castle and apply for possession of a ship… and ask about the aftermath of the arrested Marquess Valtek. If the wrongdoings of House Valtek come to light with Lady of the House’s interrogation, it may be possible to do something about the fraudulent acts and debts that Marquis Roppe has been saddled with.

It may be best to meet King Wilhelm, but as expected, it takes time to meet a king. He’s not the type of person you can casually drop by and meet right away. In that case, it would be better to meet with Dietrich. The Prime Minister is not always free, but if it’s something related to his regular work, there’s a high chance that I’ll be able to meet him sooner than Wilhelm.

“Good day. I’d like to make an appointment for a consultation…” I said.

“Yes. Who are you meeting with?” the royal castle’s receptionist replied immediately, without confirming who I am or what I’m planning to do.

Is this alright? What if I’m a suspicious person and plotting something bad? Well, I’ve met these receptionists many times, so they probably already remember who I am…

“Princess Flora? How are you today?”

“Your Grace Dietrich,” I said.

And while I was thinking of making an appointment at the reception, the person I wanted to see came from the other side of the hall. It seems Dietrich was on his way out. That means he’s either going out or going home. This is for another day, then. Anyway, I didn’t expect to meet him today from the start, so let’s just make a formal appointment now.

“I was wanting to get an appointment with Your Grace,” I said. “So sorry to be impolite, but it was a pleasure to meet you today, and I hope to see you again at…”

“No, no, you don’t have to be so intimidated,” Dietrich said. “What do you think is the relationship between us, Princess Flora?”

He interrupted me mid-sentence with a huge smile. What kind of relationship do we have…? It’s supposed to just be the Prime Minister and a royal knight…

“I was just going home for the day,” Dietrich said. “I’m available, however, for whatever you need.”

I’m grateful for that, but I’m uncomfortable with letting people who explicitly state they’re already going home do even more work afterward. However, in the end, after a short argument, I gave in and decided to have a meeting with Dietrich.

Since it was a work-related matter rather than play or private affairs, we returned to the royal castle and decided to talk face-to-face in Dietrich’s office. Dietrich tried to invite me to Manor Kreff, but I can’t carelessly go to a duke’s house. If I stay there, that idiot Rutger may come home and run into me again, too.

“My apologies for being so hasty, but what business do you have today?” Dietrich asked.

“First of all… here are the application documents for building and owning new ships,” I said.

I decided to finish the application that will be completed soon, anyway. This is not a document that should be handed to Dietrich. It’s better to submit application documents to a lower department. However, it would be quicker to give it to Dietrich or Wilhelm, and it would take less time to get permission, so I’m using the opportunity to meet them while I have it.

“You’re still making new ships?” Dietrich asked. “… Hmm? My eyes must be deceiving me, aren’t they? 3 caravels and 3 carracks more?”

“Your eyes are fine, Your Grace,” I said. “I have applied to build 3 of each.”

“Hold…!” Dietrich gasped. “How many ships are you planning to own? Aren’t your new-type ships doubling at once!?”

Yes, they are. Excluding older ships, I have only 2 caravel ships and 3 carrack ships, including those under construction. If you come here and apply for 3 ships each at once, it will more than double.

“In a position as high as yours, Your Grace, you should be aware of the current situation in the Hulk Sea…” I said. “You should be able to understand that it is an urgent issue for our territory to secure more ships for self-defense.”

“Hmm……” Dietrich looked embarrassed and let his gaze swim about.

There is no way that Dietrich, a major nobleman and Prime Minister who has been dealing with over 1,000 and 1 nobles, would react in such a blatantly obvious manner. This is probably a sign that he’s implicitly accepted my argument.

“Then, this is the end of the application documents and one more thing… about the fraud case involving Marquess Valtek…” I said.

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“Hold… ! Hold…! Hold a minute, Princess Flora…” Dietrich gasped. “Not the incident at the crepe cafe the other day, but a fraud case?”

He must have thought that I had come to ask about the circumstances surrounding the rampage at the Caanza’s 2nd branch. But unfortunately, I’m not interested in that. My purpose was to hear more about Marquess Valtek, who was arrested in that incident and would have had her backroom dealings exposed after.

There is no doubt that House Valtek was also deeply involved in the investment fraud that roped in Simon of House Roppe. And with the capture of the Marquess in the earlier incident, Wilhelm and Dietrich should have become aware of her underhanded schemes.

“Is it true that my daughter-in-law is here!?”

And just when I was about to press Dietrich for information, his office door opened and a bearded old man entered. Dietrich put his hand on his head and sighed, but to me, it’s like a duck carrying a leek, a real stroke of luck.4 Thinking that I could ask not only Dietrich but also Wilhelm about Marquess Valtek and her family, I grinned.

Footnotes

Contrary to movies, exchanges of cannon fire between ships can have a few minutes between volleys. Flora is partially wrong, Pirates of the Caribbean obviously sped things up and pirates rarely opened fire on ships they wanted to loot, as that would defeat the purpose of getting their cargo intact. Also a waste of perfectly good resources to claim for your own or bring back as a trophy. Shipbuilding is no easy feat in this era; if you can just steal and repair one for your own, you’d do so. Explanation of the simile is mine.

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