Chapter 275: 274: Assembling a Crew I

While Berengar and Adela were away at the Royal Court of Granada, Honoria was tasked with another objective. To put it simply, the runaway princess turned Privateer Queen was in the middle of searching for a crew. 

At the moment, she was within the City of Kufstein; as per usual, she was flanked by Berengar's guards and protected from any possible threat. The beautiful white-haired princess was no longer dressed in some extravagant noblewoman's dress. 

Instead, she was dressed in something loosely resembling the naval uniforms Berengar had provided to his sailors. His sailors were dressed like the old Elizabethan Seadogs from his previous life. However, Berengar had custom-designed uniforms for Honoria and her crew rather than have them outright cross-dress. 

When designing Honoria's privateer attire, Berengar wanted something lightweight, comfy, and easy to move around in. Ultimately, what he created for her was a pair of slim black velvet breeches with minor golden embellishment and a couple of thigh-high black leather boots.

For her upper attire, she wore a charcoal gray silk shirt with a black velvet jerkin that was designed for the female body; this jerkin was slightly embellished with golden embroidery. Honoria did not feel like wearing a hat most of the time, but it would be a matching cavalier hat when she did. 

Honoria also wore a black leather baldric that contained a frog for her sword scabbard to be attached to and a holster that held her four-shot repeating flintlock, which was based upon the Belton Flintlock action from Berengar's previous life.

These weapons were an enormous expense to produce, but Berengar had opted to outfit her and her crew with such expensive and effective weaponry for Honoria's safety. After all, if they ever found themselves in close quarter's combat with men, they would be at a severe disadvantage. Thus he felt the need to equip them with multi-shot weapons. 

While Honoria was walking through the city of Kufstein, she noticed a young girl slightly younger than herself being forced to sweep outside a run-down shop. The girl had a pitiful look in her eye, and at the moment, there were a series of screams going on within the shop. 

From one glance, Honoria could tell this girl was in some trouble and thus opted to approach her. However, despite doing so, the girl refused to look up from the ground as she swept. That is until the door slammed open, and a young man in extravagant attire walked out with a slip of paper in his hands. 

This young man had a smug grin on his face as he boldly announced to the girl in front of him the fate that awaited her.

"Your parents have decided to pay off their debt to me by selling you into my service."

However, after saying this, the girl refused to do as she was told and continued to sweep outside the shop. She was aware that so long as the Duke's guard were nearby, no harm could come to her, even from the hands of a nobleman. 

The man had not seen Honoria or her guards. Instead, he was too focused on the young and cute girl who had taken his fancy. When the girl did not go willingly with him, the man resorted to violence. He latched upon her wrist and tried to force her away.  Immediately the young girl resisted, and for doing so, the man slapped her across the face and began to raise his voice at the girl. 

"You belong to me now! You are nothing more than a slave that I have purchased for my amusement, and you will do what you are told!" 

When Honoria heard this, she began to frown and instantly approached the man. She was greatly displeased with this scene. For starters, Berengar had outright banned slavery; it was illegal and carried a punishment of twenty-five years to life. 

There were many reasons for this, but to put it simply, Berengar wanted to avoid the centuries of domestic issues that followed American slavery in his previous life. Thus by holding what was little more than a slavery contract in his hands and boldly declaring that the young woman belonged to him, he was committing a serious offense. 

Secondly, Honoria was against the idea of treating women as nothing more than slaves; after all, she had been lucky with Berengar, who allowed her a much greater degree of freedom than women of the period were typically allowed. Thus when she approached the man, she was far from in a diplomatic mood. Without even addressing the man, she ordered her guards at once.

"Guards, arrest this man! He has openly stated that he is engaging in slavery, and Duke Berengar has made his stance on such immoral acts abundantly clear!"

The moment the young nobleman heard this, he turned around with shock in his eyes. He had not even noticed Honoria or the guards nearby. By now, everyone in Kufstein was aware that Berengar had taken a white-haired beauty from the Byzantine Empire as a lover. As one of Berengar's women, Honoria held the authority to order her guards to act in such a manner.

The man immediately tried to declare his innocence. However, the guards grabbed hold of the man and sequestered him.

"You don't understand! This is not slavery! It is a simple business transaction; the girl will work off her parent's debt to me until it is fully repaid!"

However, Honoria was not buying his lame excuse and instead looked at the contract given to her by one of the guards who had seized it from the young nobleman. After reading it thoroughly, Honoria stated the conditions of the contract.

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"In return for absolving the Schneider family of their debt owed to Oswald von Fieberbrunn, Landolf Schneider agrees to sell his daughter Elfrun into the service of Oswald von Fieberbrunn in perpetuity... A lifetime of service to a master that sounds like slavery to me!"

The man's eyes shrank as he heard this. This deal was supposed to be silent and secret, yet by chance, one of Berengar's lovers was walking by with her guards and witnessed the whole thing. He could be facing a minimum period of twenty-five years in a labor camp while, the maximum sentence carried for slavery was life imprisonment, which meant that he would be forced to work in back-breaking labor until he died.

Despite his Noble Status, under Berengar's legal reforms, he was not afforded any special treatment regarding the law; as such, the man was terrified of the outcome and began to panic. However, he was restrained well by the nearby guards who awaited the arrival of the law enforcement officers to take the man into custody. With no other options, the man began screaming at the young girl he had attempted to buy in a fit of fury.

"You bitch! You better pray I never escape! For if I do, you will die a bloody death!"

There were several eyewitnesses to this man's response, and he had foolishly just stated intent to murder the victim of his crime. Thus, to make an example of him and all potential slavers. Berengar's courts would eventually use this as an excuse to throw the book at the man and keep him in a labor camp until the day he died. 

Though the man's family would protest these actions, there was nothing they could do in response to the overwhelming power Berengar held. After all, they were a minor noble family climbing the social ladder due to the wealth they gained from owning a few small businesses in Kufstein. 

After the man was dragged away in chains by the law enforcement agents, Honoria approached the young girl named Elfrun, who was in tears. She was thankful that her life had been spared from a horrific experience of sexual slavery.

However, she also lamented the fact that her family was willing to condemn her to such a cruel fate due to their debt to the minor nobleman. With no options, the girl began to despair, and Honoria knew this to be the case. As such, she presented a viable alternative to the girl.

"You are a free woman now, and thus the choice of what you do in the future is up to you, but if I were you, I wouldn't want to stay with a family who so easily sold me into slavery either."

As Elfrun wept, she spoke the thoughts on her mind to the beautiful and comforting young woman next to her.

"I have nowhere else to go, but I can never look at my parents the same way after this!"

With a gentle smile on her face, Honoria clasped the girl's shoulder, causing her to look up at her with shock. Honoria proceeded to drag the girl into her arms and hugged her while stroking her long dirty blonde hair.

"If you have nowhere else to go, then you can join me. I am putting together a crew to set sail across the Mediterranean; adventure and glory await. Are you up to the task?"

Upon hearing this, Elfrun had a glimmer in her eyes; the offer enticed her, and as such, she swallowed her tears before nodding with firm resolve. Such a fate was better than lying around in Kufstein waiting to be sold off to another man.

"Aye..."

With that said, Honoria had gotten her first crew member, she just needed a few dozen more, and she would have a full-sized crew to man her future Sloop of War. Of course, training these wenches to be an effective Privateer Crew was another story entirely.

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