Chapter 345: The Fleet Has Arrived
TL: Etude
Lady Knight Leah was escorted home by her parents, leaving only the royal family in the living room, sharing their heartfelt thoughts.
However, the family was not yet complete.
“It’s a pity that my sister is in the south at such a time. Father, how is the situation in the south?” Eileen sighed and couldn’t help but worry about her sister Catherine.
“Don’t worry,” Rodney reassured her with a smile, “The royal army will surely defeat the rebels, and then your sister will be able to return.”
The king didn’t elaborate on the specific situation, and Eileen didn’t ask further. While in the Northwest Bay, she had learned from discussions between the Administration Council and the army that the royal troops and the rebels were at a stalemate, with neither side able to gain the upper hand.
Rodney then asked, “By the way, Eileen, what kind of person is Count Paul Grayman?”
After Catherine led troops south, information about Eileen’s activities in the Northwest Bay was regularly submitted to the king. Although Rodney had a general understanding from the intelligence reports, he still wanted to hear his daughter’s own description.
“Paul... uh... Count Grayman, how should I put it?” Eileen tilted her head, thinking.
“He’s quite a dull person in everyday life. Unlike other nobles who indulge in socializing, parties, or knightly tournaments, he either stares at piles of charts or buries himself in his office drawing and writing. He has a bit of a reclusive scholar’s air about him. His knowledge is diverse and broad, not specialized in one area but often with surprising insights.”
“He also has many interesting and practical inventions. Paper, porcelain – these have already become popular in Crystal Shine, right? And canned food, which, as I know, has already begun to be supplied in large quantities to the royal army. There’s also a mirror that allows you to see tiny organisms, and...”
She was about to mention firearms and cannons but remembering Paul’s repeated instructions not to discuss new weapons with others, Eileen stopped.
“Oh? He sounds like a talented individual,” the king commented, stroking his beard.
He then asked, “What was last year’s war in the Northwest Bay all about?”
Harrison commented, “Is this the fleet from the Northwest Bay? Such strange ships.”
The Mayor added, “I’ve seen a few of these merchant ships over the year, but these are warships, right? What are those black tubes?”
Listening to their discussion, Hansel felt a sense of superiority: Haha, they have never seen such a thing before, that’s a cannon, capable of blasting a group of people into pieces with a single shot.
“Hey! Baron Abbott!” called a man from the closest berth, an Aldan naval officer who walked over the gangplank to the dock, waving at Hansel.
“Colonel Tirpitz!” Hansel stepped forward to shake his hand, “Are you commanding the fleet this time?”
“Haha, out of the three fleets, mine has the most operational ships, so I was appointed to command this operation.”
“Let me introduce you, this is my brother...”
After the introductions, Tirpitz asked the question he was most concerned about: “Lord Harrison, what is the current situation with the pirates?”
Harrison replied, “We have scouts monitoring the routes in and out of the Port West. Recent signs indicate they are less active than before, seemingly holed up in the city doing who knows what.”
Tirpitz thought to himself that Harrison was quite cautious. Others at his age might have already launched an assault on the city.
“Lord Harrison, I have brought you a generous gift.”
“Oh?”
“We recently encountered a pirate ship at sea and captured some of them. Perhaps we can extract some useful information from them.”
Harrison was overjoyed, “That’s excellent news, let’s organize an interrogation immediately!”