CH 206

Lubek was at a loss. The town was based on maritime trade and now was being blockaded by “pirates.” Ships could not be launched, and even those that were able to take advantage of a window of opportunity were frequently damaged and suffered even greater losses. If you don’t set sail, you won’t be able to support the town, and if you set sail and get attacked by pirates, you’ll come out even worse off.

It can not be helped. It was obvious. Free cities may hire mercenaries to defend their towns or participate in wars. But no mercenary can defeat pirates. Ships are very expensive and valuable. Unlike small boats used for fishing in rivers and coastal waters, trading ships and large ships capable of carrying soldiers are extremely expensive and take a huge amount of time and money to build.

There can be no mercenary group that owns and maintains such a ship. Rather, such a person would be a pirate. Those who own splendid ships and have the talent to operate them will become pirates. Rogues on land are mercenaries because even if they do their best to act as bandits on land, they will soon be subjugated.

No matter how much you run away on land, your opponent can easily chase you. Also, bandits are easy to cooperate with, and if they act too flashy, they will be kicked out and hunted down. There’s no point in being a thief if you’re quietly living a poor life, and if you keep repeating flashy big attacks, the subjugation teams will find you right away.

Pirates, on the other hand, are not so easy to catch. Even if there are pirates on the wide open sea, you won’t find many of them. Besides, the Kingdom of Ploiss doesn’t have enough navy power. If they target the Kamaal Alliance, the King of the Hulk Sea, there will be no place to call port and they will only be hunted down and killed, but as long as they attack the ports and ships of the Kingdom of Ploiss, the Kamaal Alliance will let them go unchecked.

So a mercenary band with a ship and enough crew become pirates. If you attack the ports and ships of the Kingdom of Ploiss based in the ports of the Kamaal Alliance, you’ll lower your chances of being caught.

Trade ships have been attacked by pirates many times before. However, relying on the Kingdom of Ploiss did not provide any effective countermeasures. As long as there are warships on patrol, the pirates will be quiet, but then they will only attack the trading ships far offshore. Not doing something about the pirates is not a fundamental solution.

However, the warships of the Kingdom of Ploiss were unable to catch up with the fast-moving pirate ships and were barely able to drive them away. It’s always like this, but this time it’s even worse. After all, the other party is the Navy of the Kingdom of Hollant, even if it’s a pirate ship. The Kingdom of Hollant, which has a small landmass, seeks the survival of the nation on the seas. The Hollant Navy is from a maritime nation and is overwhelmingly superior to that of Ploiss’s navy.

The country is unreliable and there is no way to break the naval blockade. The Council was in turmoil in Lubek, which was suffering all the losses.

“We’ll have to ask for help from a country now…”

“What can the Kingdom of Ploiss do? The pirates this time are different from usual! The Royal Navy of Ploiss can’t do anything! In the first place, they would have to come all the way here on official business!

“Let’s send a messenger to the Kingdom of Hollant…”

“If we could handle it with that, they wouldn’t have done something like this… then, they should have negotiated before the blockade.”

There is no workable solution. Various opinions flew about, but they were all nothing more than desk theories. At that time, the chairman smiled and raised his voice.

“Who do we know has ridiculously fast ships?” Ferdinand asked.

“You can’t possibly mean our neighbor next door?”

“What can a knight do when the country can’t do anything…?”

Most of the councilors were skeptical of the chairman’s opinion. Certainly, they know that they have huge ships that are strangely fast. Regular shipments are also calling at Lubek, so no one in this town doesn’t know about them. However, even the Ploiss Navy couldn’t do anything against the blockade, and they didn’t think that it would be an opponent that would match a knight of a lone territory.

“Don’t talk like that, there’s nothing to worry about,” Ferdinand said. “Even if they send out a subjugation team and fail, our pockets will not hurt. If they succeed, it’s a good sign, and if they fail, we won’t lose anything. It’s better than staying still. Wouldn’t it be better? Even if they make enemies of the ‘pirates’, it’s fine if they just cause them some damage and force them to withdraw.”

“So that’s what you meant……”

“In that case, if we use the new type of ships called caravels and carracks…”

The councilors also begin to nod at Chairman Ferdinand’s opinion. If you ask if Caan can win, they don’t think they can. But they might be enough to do some damage. If they do enough damage, the ‘pirates’ will also have to pull out. In that case, there is no problem even if you let the cheeky upstart knighthood next door fight.

“But if we ask for reinforcements, we’ll be asked for a fee or a bounty, right? Who the hell is going to pay for that?”

In response to that, the Council becomes noisy again. No one wants to take that kind of money out of their pocket. If the town suffers catastrophic damage, they will lose property, but they do not even want to spend the effort and expense to protect them. If someone would give them a profit, they would take it without reciprocation, but they don’t feel like lightening their pockets.

“We can’t just turn our backs on them… let’s negotiate for the rights to Lubek when they successfully subjugate the pirates,” Ferdinand said.

“Wha…?!”

The assembly hall breaks out into another fuss. What is the chairman saying?! There is a lot of hooting of the sort. The councilors here are as good as a privileged class in Lubek. Nevertheless, if they sell Lubek to others, their privileges will be lost. None of the people here are willing to lose their perks. Even if the town was destroyed by their stubbornness…

“Calm down,” Ferdinand said. “I’m saying that ‘on the day you subdue the pirates’, we’ll have ‘negotiations’. Gufufu,” he chuckled evilly, “do you understand?”

“…! Is that so? As expected of you, Chairman.”

“I see… Then in that case…”

The Councilors finally understood what Ferdinand meant. There is no way the Hollant Kingdom’s Navy can be defeated by the likes of the Caan Knighthood. It may be possible to inflict damage and force them to withdraw, but it would be fine if they complained that it would not count as a total subjugation of the pirates.

And they didn’t promise to give away Lubek’s rights just because they said they would “negotiate.” In that case, it wouldn’t be strange if the negotiations resulted in the conclusion that Lubek’s rights would not be given away as a reward.

“You’re rather evil, aren’t you, Chairman?”

“What are you talking about?” Ferdinand said. “All of you who support this plan is just as guilty, aren’t you all?”

“Kuh-kuh-kuh.”

“Waah-hah-hah-hah…!”

Thus, on this day, the Lubek Council unanimously passed a proposal to request the subjugation of the pirates to their neighboring feudal territory, the Caan Knighthood, on the condition that they will “negotiate the transfer of rights to Lubek once the pirates have been subdued.”

Since the proposal to request reinforcements from the Caan Knighthood was passed, various efforts have been made here and there in Lubek. Even if you suddenly send a request for reinforcements to the Caan Knighthood, there is a high chance that they will be turned down. So, first of all, they decided to have Kruck as an intermediary, as they also have a branch in Lubek.

House Caan should have been contacted through Kruck Trading Firm, and an official response will come sooner or later. Military action takes months, and in some cases it takes years, so it’s impossible to make a request today and have them come tomorrow. After about half a year of waiting for news from Kruck Trading Firm, they got a message.

They head to Cien with Victoria of Kruck Trading Firm. They don’t like Victoria, either. She was just a woman who just happened to marry into a large company called Kruck and took over the company after her husband died, gaining both money and power.

It’s not a good idea to antagonize Kruck, the largest company in the Kingdom of Ploiss. That’s true even for Lubek, who is profiting from the Hulk Sea Trade.

It’s a regretful situation. Someday they’ll make a mockery of this Victoria. Even though they think so, Ferdinand doesn’t put up a hint of their plans and just looks up with a smile. She doesn’t even realize his true feelings and makes judgments based on superficial conversations. What kind of merchant is this old hag? Ferdinand is so much better than her at this.

While he was thinking about such things, he came across some unexpected information at the port of Cien. From now on, he thought that Victoria would somehow make a move for House Caan without making any clear promises… but Sir Caan herself said that the pirates had already been destroyed.

It doesn’t make any sense at all. They were thinking of asking for reinforcements, but they did it without saying anything. There is no way they won’t take advantage of this.

And this little girl named Floto von Caan. She is noble and very elegant and beautiful. If anything, it hinges on the attitude of this woman named Floto, it would be fine to give her financial assistance. The incentive, of course, is her body. No matter how much her opponent is a noble lady, she is still a young girl. She is different from them, who have also done business with nobles for so much longer.

There must be any number of ways to roll over a young lady like this. That’s why they should use the matter of subjugating pirates this time. Thinking that Ferdinand licked his lips in anticipation of the future.

After Ferdinand brought Floto to Lubek, he led her to the waiting room. This place is not originally a place to entertain distinguished guests. They have a proper reception room for VIPs, but they have no intention of entertaining this damnable, cheeky little brat thinking herself a proper Lord. At Cien, Victoria was also there, so they couldn’t perform the full force of their display, but Lubek still wanted to let her know who was in a superior position.

And after tossing Floto into the small waiting room, Ferdinand showed his face to the parliament. He gave the news yesterday, and by now the Council must be in an uproar. What Ferdinand saw when he entered the assembly hall was the expected sight.

“I never thought that the Lord next door would subjugate the ‘pirates’…”

“Isn’t it false information? In the first place, we haven’t even received any information that they set sail for subjugation.”

“What about the reward? If this news is true, and the pirates are destroyed, we can’t just say we were ignorant of it…”

“I don’t like this! Someone will have to pay for it!”

Ferdinand sat in the chairman’s seat while watching the controversial discussion. Once the councilors realized that Chairman Ferdinand had arrived, they closed their mouths.

“Worry not, gentlemen,” Ferdinand said. “Let’s send a letter of appreciation from the Free City of Lubek to House Caan!”

“A letter of appreciation… for such a thing…”

Thinking about it normally, it is impossible to let them subjugate pirates and end with a letter of appreciation. But they are trying to push through the impossibility. Ferdinand continues,

“Have you guys seen Floto von Caan? I’ve met her. She’s just a little girl. I don’t know how such a little girl got a title and a fief, but she’s still just a little girl who is ignorant of the world. We, who have long been doing business with the greatest of nobles, are of a different caliber.”

The assembly hall became noisy. If Ferdinand is right, they feel like they can do as much as they want with Lubek’s power and influence over this little girl.

“Besides, gentlemen!” Ferdinand cried. “It seems that the daughter of House Caan is trying to create a bloc called the Caanza Alliance by adding Lubek and Visvy without knowing their status! Honestly, when I heard that story, I had a hard time holding back my laughter!”

The assembly hall burst into laughter, instead. The Council has already been informed that the pirates have been destroyed and that Goslant and Visvy were cooperating with the pirates. The assembly hall was filled with excitement as the chairman told such a fanciful tale about the Caanza Alliance, to be led by the Caanza Trading Firm, and the councilors laughed even more at hearing the details.

“The Caanza Alliance is all right!” Ferdinand cried. “Let’s have Visvy, who cooperated with the pirates, compensate us for the damage we suffered! And Visvy will be incorporated into the Caanza Alliance, right? From now on, Caanza and the Canaza Alliance will bring Visvy under their control and they will make a profit from it, so they should pay compensation to us for the damages!”

“Oooh!”

“Yes, that’s right, that’s right!”

The assembly hall was even more excited by the proposal of the chairman. Goslant Island will now be under the control of House Caan, Caanza Trading Firm, and the Caanza Alliance. And the Caanza Trading Firm would make a profit out of it. Visvy, the losing side, will pay for the damage they suffered. Since we are going to put Visvy under their control, Caanza Trading Firm should pay compensation to Lubek. The Council was unanimous.

This can’t have happened normally. What kind of idiot is going to claim compensation for the damage they suffered from the partner who subdued the pirates and lifted the naval blockade? In the first place……. there was this: even children will notice that the partners who subjugated pirates that Lubek could not fight against, must have been even stronger than those pirates

But the members of the Council and the chairman here did not notice. Floto’s appearance was too graceful, and she was an elegant, quiet little girl… they’re completely underestimating her. If you threaten her a little, she will capitulate. With the power of the Free City of Lubek, even nobles can’t resist. With that in mind, the Lubek Council unanimously passed the bill to claim compensation from Caanza Trading Firm.