The conflict between Shark and Blacksnake has nothing to do with me. It's best if they all die. That was what Claude thought.
After returning to the wood, he continued his daily routine: patrolling the wood, practicing magic, experimenting with the flintlock, and occasionally picking some mushrooms and other mountain products to go home. At the same time, he would also buy some delicious food for his brother and give his sister some pocket money so that his parents wouldn't drag them down by pretending to be poor.
Mr. Morssen and the other investors sent pensions and compensations to the families of all the sailors and seamen of the mercantile fleet, and gained a great deal of popularity.
Apart from Captain Altroni's family, Eriksson and his mother refused to pay them a visit...
On the 12th of the 3rd month, a supply ship and a survey ship belonging to the kingdom's navy arrived in Whitestag, a rare sight to behold. It was a fast scouting warship.
Two ships were moored at the public dock area, and many people went over to watch the show.
A few naval officers disembarked from the ship and went to the town hall to hand in documents. They said that they had to stay in Whitestag for a period of time due to official business and hoped that the town hall could take care of the necessary logistics.
The mayor, Baron Robert, heaved a sigh of relief. He promised to provide fresh vegetables and meat for the two naval warships, guaranteeing that the navy of the kingdom would be satisfied with their meals.
But when he tried to ask what the two Navy warships were doing here, the answer he got was that it was a military secret.
However, before the naval officers left, they revealed that the Royal Navy would most likely send some warships to Lake Balinga for a secret military operation.
For the next two days, the survey ship wandered around Lake Balinga. Many fishermen saw the sailors on the ship lowering ropes to measure the depth of the lake from time to time. There were also some naval officers drawing the topography of the lake with their men.
As for the other logistical supply ship, two squads of soldiers disembarked and set up sentries at the public dock area, which was equivalent to taking over the public dock area.
The 15th of the 3rd month was a big day for Whitestag. After two months of training, the newly formed garrison could finally be declared an official army.
That meant that in the next two to three days, the garrison from the prefectural capital would hand over the task of guarding Whitestag to the garrison brigade and return to the prefectural capital. Military control over Whitestag would end there and then.
The square in front of the town hall was decorated once again. Colorful flags were flying in the air, and gongs and drums were playing noisily.
After the training, the two hundred and twenty-four garrison soldiers wore dark blue military caps with white feathers on them. They wore dark blue military uniforms, dark black military pants with white stripes, and black leather boots. They carried standard Kemiller Mark III muskets on their backs as they lined up neatly and entered the square to be inspected by the spectators.
Claude didn't join in the fun and Welikro didn't go to watch the parade that was about to take place. Instead, he went to the wood to have a shooting competition with Claude.
If his father, Kubrik, had not offended Baron Robert, the mayor of the town, and been excluded from the formation of the garrison, he would have been one of the members of the garrison being inspected.
The two of them played for half a day before Welikro finally vented some of his frustrations and told Claude about what happened at Eriksson's house.
"Did you know that the jetty doesn't belong to Eriksson anymore?" said Welikro.
It turned out that Captain Altroni had mortgaged his family's private dock to a smuggler before he set sail with the merchant fleet. He had borrowed a large sum of money and had teamed up with a few friends to buy a merchant ship's cargo. Now, they had lost everything.
The smuggler came to them with an IOU that was due and demanded that they either pay back the money or take away the private jetty that was mortgaged.
The debt amounted to a hundred and fifty crowns and Madam Eileen wouldn't be able to pay it back even if she sold her house.
Neither she nor Eriksson expected Captain Altroni to mortgage his private jetty. In the end, they had no choice but to use the jetty to pay off the debt.
The jetty was worth at least two hundred crowns, yet it was sold to someone else at such a low price. Madam Eileen was so furious that she fainted on the spot.
"Is she going to mortgage the jetty to the national bank to get the money to pay off the debt?" asked Claude curiously. Why did she have to suffer such a loss?
"There's not enough time. Mortgaging it to the national bank will take at least half a month.
Captain Altroni signed a half-year loan from the loan sharks. The interest would double every day if he didn't pay it back. She wouldn't even be able to pay the interest if she delayed it for half a month.
In fact, Captain Altroni only borrowed a hundred and twenty crowns and had to pay back another hundred and fifty crowns. Thirty of that was the interest. "
Well, the jetty that was worth more than two hundred crowns was only sold for half the price. It was no wonder Madam Eileen was so furious.
This showed a universal truth of the universe. No matter what world it was, usury was untouchable.
However, Madam Eileen was decisive enough to use the jetty to pay off the debt and prevent herself from being pestered by the loan sharks any further.
Everyone knew that if she continued to be pestered by the loan sharks, she would only end up with more and more debts that she wouldn't be able to pay off even after eight lifetimes.
Now, before Eriksson's health had recovered, his mother had fallen ill and lost the family's biggest asset.
Renting the jetty to other ships when they weren't using it would earn them quite a sum of money. That was more than enough income for Eriksson's family after losing their fishing boat. Claude could only sigh.
Even if he went to visit Eriksson now, the door would still be shut in his face. Eriksson had a stubborn personality and he wouldn't accept his help even if Claude wanted to.
"Is there any other news?" asked Claude.
Welikro shook his head. "No. Even Shark and Blacksnake have stopped fighting in the slums and docks.
The public jetty has been taken over by the soldiers from the two warships, so they can't fight even if they want to.
"Also, today is the day the garrison brigade takes over the town. Butcher Bill has already left the barracks with his fourth band. Shark has to worry about how to escape Blacksnake's pursuit.
"By the way, I met Kefnie when I was fishing at the lake. She said she's working as a cashier at Mermaid Tavern and is in charge of purchasing and paying for all sorts of supplies.
She even asked about you and I told her that you're still in the wood. She told me to tell you that you can sell your game at Mermaid Tavern in the future. She promises to give you a good price. "
"See, this is the benefit of studying," sighed Claude.
"If Kefnie didn't go to school, she might've ended up like her sister and become a servant in the tavern.
But she became a cashier the moment she graduated. That's a high-ranking employee, equivalent to the management of the tavern. "
Welikro was speechless. Didn't you tell us that you liked Kefnie back when we were talking about women?
Now that I'm trying to rope you in, you're sighing about how studying can change your life? There's no point in continuing the conversation. So, Welikro stood up and finished his last mug of rye before leaving.
A few days passed in the blink of an eye. Claude received a letter from Borkal informing him that he had become a member of the garrison in Siromichistan's Bangilia prefecture.
Borkal used two sheets of paper to complain about the abuse he suffered during the two months of new recruit training and how hard it was for him to endure it. It could be said that the paper was filled with tears and blood.
But after the training was over, he was assigned to the logistics department due to his connections or the connections his family bought with money. He was in charge of managing weapons and all sorts of armaments.
Even though he hadn't become an officer yet, he was confident that he could become an independent supervisor in two to three years. He might even be able to control the entire logistics department.
I really don't understand where this guy's confidence comes from. He's new here, yet he's trying to climb his way up instead of acting like a coward. He'll only understand after suffering a little, thought Claude. He flipped to the last sheet of paper and realized that the news of the entire fleet being attacked by pirates had reached Borkal's ears.
Borkal said that he was shocked when he received the news and was worried about Claude and Eriksson's families. He hoped that it wouldn't affect the two of them in any way.
Also, he hadn't been able to communicate with them for the past two months due to the training. Now that the training was over, he immediately wrote to his friends to let them know where they could communicate with each other.
Claude smiled bitterly as he read the letter. The impact had already been felt. At the very least, Eriksson no longer considered him a friend. Claude had no choice but to vent his anger on others. After all, his father was one of the main planners for the new trade route.
The same went for Borkal's father. Claude wondered if Eriksson would tear up Borkal's letter as well.
Life went on as usual. Claude wrote a reply to Borkal and spent most of his time in the wood after that. He rarely went to town.
One day, he was washing a basket of freshly picked mushrooms. He was going to dry them and bring them home in a few days. He didn't think that Angelina would come to the wood.
"What happened?"
Claude was shocked. Angelina's face was still streaked with tears and she was panting heavily. She had been crying as she ran over.
"Bro … Bro, you … you have to go home. Many people came. They all looked really fierce and they even had guns. They said that they wanted me to pay them back.
Dad was really angry and argued with them, saying that he didn't owe them money.
Then, they took out a piece of paper and Dad's face paled when he saw it. He said that it couldn't be like that and that he wanted to go out and look for them. But those people wouldn't let him go and forced him to pay them back, "said Angelina as she panted.
Didn't father say that he had already paid off all his debts and even paid the families of the sailors? Why would he still owe them money?
Claude wondered if his father had forgotten someone he owed him.
As for the fierce-looking gun-wielding men who came to demand payment, Claude didn't mind at all. Those who could wield guns had to have some sort of background. Commoners weren't allowed to carry guns on the streets unless they had a citizen's guarantee.
Claude didn't believe that those people would dare to shoot his father. After all, his father was a citizen and had quite a reputation in town. No one would dare to cause trouble at home.
"How did you get here? Did you run all the way here?" Claude asked.
"No, I took a carriage to the bottom of the mountain before running up here.
Bro, you have to go home. Those people are really scary, "said Angelina anxiously.
"There's no rush. No matter how scary they are, they're not as scary as your brother.
Alright, I'll go take a look with you now. "
Claude went to the stables to get the carriage ready and rushed home with Angelina.
It was just that he had arrived a little late. The people that his sister Anna had said looked very fierce had already left.
"Father, what's going on?" Claude barged into the study and saw Morssen sitting behind the desk with a pale face.
Claude had never seen his father in such a dejected state before.
"I … I seem to have been tricked," Morssen finally managed to say after a long while.
Claude finally understood the whole story as he recounted the events that transpired.
It turned out that one of the merchant ships and its cargo belonged to Sir Fux.
If Morssen was the mastermind behind the scenes, Sir Fux was the mastermind behind the scenes.
However, due to his status as a councilor, he couldn't go to the front of the stage and could only assist Morssen and the others.
After the new route was successfully opened, Sir Fux was the one who insisted on keeping the news a secret. He wanted to organize his own merchant fleet to make a few trips and earn enough money before reporting the new route to the royal capital. The merchant fleet was formed under his orders.
Since it wasn't convenient for him to show his face, Morssen was the best candidate to take care of the ship and its cargo.
Sir Fux had given Morssen 500 crowns to buy the ship and its cargo, and Morssen was supposed to write a receipt.
But he made a mistake and followed Sir Fux's suggestion to write an IOU. At the time, his plan was to mortgage the ship and its cargo to Sir Fux under the pretext of not having enough money to repay the debt. That way, nobody would accuse Sir Fux of hiding the new route and smuggling it.
Claude used to wonder why Sir Fux, the most powerful councilor in Whitestag, didn't interfere with the new route. Now, he knew that not only did he interfere, his father and the others were also under his orders.