Sturgeon Harbor.

A small cargo ship flying the Shire Maple Leaf flag quickly approached the shore.

"Click~~~Plop~~"

The ship hit the berth hard, and I thought it would vibrate violently, but it was unexpectedly gently pushed away by the black cushion on the berth.

The captain thought it was very strange, but he didn't have time to ask questions. He turned around and shouted to the cabin: "My dear lords, we have arrived at the White Sturgeon Port."

Then, a group of well-dressed northern gentlemen of Willan came out of the cabin, led by Sir Humphrey of Alpine County.

They all had solemn expressions and walked hurriedly. After leaving the cabin, they did not take the sampan hastily built by the sailors, but landed quickly using flying skills.

As soon as we got to the dock, we noticed a row of high-end horse-drawn carriages parked there, no more, no less, exactly 10.

Beside the carriage, a tall knight in a navy blue officer's uniform came up quickly. It was Tato, the guardian knight of the dock.

He smiled broadly, "My Lords, the Baron has ordered me to wait for you here. The Lord said that as soon as you arrive, he will take you directly to Sturgeon Mansion to stay."

"By the way, the lord also said that he will be here later."

The jazz were all surprised when they saw Sturgeon Harbor, which had undergone a complete transformation and was still under construction like a construction site.

But of course they didn't want to show their surprise too much, for fear of being regarded as country bumpkins.

Sir Humphrey waved his hand and said, "Get in the car, let's go to Sturgeon Mansion."

So, each of the ten knights got on a carriage and was taken to the so-called Sturgeon Mansion.

As soon as the carriage started, Sir Humphrey felt something was wrong.

The carriage was very stable, incredibly stable. The wheels rolled over the ground with almost no sound, and the shaking of the carriage was very gentle, even comfortable.

Looking at the interior decoration of the carriage, it is simple and exquisite, using many new things that have never been seen before, and even many pearls are used as decoration.

As soon as Sir Humphrey saw the pearl, his heart bled and he felt a surge of resentment.

"This baron is so evil. He has so many pearls, but he sells them at such a high price in the Northern County. This is simply robbery!"

Although these pearls were indeed of very high quality, as a man he thought they were very beautiful and even paid for a string.

But when he got home, he found that while he reluctantly bought one string, his wife actually bought ten strings without telling him! Then he found that many wealthy families he knew also spent a lot of money on pearl jewelry. The total value of the ones he knew was as much as 50,000 Oger.

There must be a lot that he doesn't know.

Later he discovered that this situation was not unique to Gaoshan County.

The Shire County, Icefield County, Emon County, and even the entire Weilan, are all in a similar situation.

The finest pearl jewelry appeared as if it were free, and even the Duke spent a lot of money to buy a large amount of pearls.

Taking a deep breath and suppressing the anger in his heart, Humphrey looked at Sturgeon Harbor through the crystal clear car window.

The last time he came here, it was still a small dock. In just over half a year, it has taken on the appearance of a prosperous city.

At a glance, new buildings can be seen everywhere, and many of them are even five- or six-story high-rise buildings.

The common feature of these buildings is simplicity. There are no complicated decorations or exquisite reliefs. Each one is angular and square, just like a building block box.

"When I was at the Blue Whale Mansion, I felt that the Baron was extraordinary and must have made extraordinary achievements. But now it seems that these achievements are too extraordinary."

I thought that no matter how much the White Sturgeon Island grew, it would at most be just a wealthy island due to the limited land area on the island.

Even if the princess succeeds in replacing the duke, the baron will only be a regent and will need the support of their northern counties to keep his position.

However, they did not expect that it would quickly grow into a giant and begin to control the Northern County in turn, and even had the potential to control the Weilan Island.

This is really scary.

Sturgeon Mansion is not far away and we arrived there quickly.

There is a small square in front of the mansion. A beautiful fountain sculpture is built in the center of the square. The water sprays up to five or six meters high and keeps spraying.

Seen from the outside, the mansion is square in shape. There is nothing much to say about it, except that it is very tall, with seven floors.

After entering, a servant immediately came to greet him: "Dear Sirs, please come this way."

He turned and led the way, and the Jazz followed.

The interior decoration of the mansion is extremely luxurious, just like a palace.

It can be seen that not only Humphrey was surprised, but other knights were also surprised, and even some knights from poor counties felt a little at a loss.

Because there are so many new things that have never been seen before, people don’t know how to deal with them.

Soon, everyone was brought to a very beautifully decorated, spacious and bright room.

There was a long square table in the room, with fine chairs placed on both sides of the table, and drinks in flawless crystal glasses placed on the table.

After the servant led the knights to the door, he said in a polite and gentle tone: "Please take a seat, knights. The lord will come over in a moment."

The knights walked in and found their name tags on the table, so they sat in their corresponding seats.

After they were seated, the servant closed the door and left, leaving ten knights from various northern counties in the room.

Without outsiders, the knights immediately began to talk.

"Is the Baron going to do something big?"

"I support him in doing great things, but he can't use pearls to trick us!"

"Yes, yes, what's the difference between this and the vampires in the Southern County?"

"If he is like this, why should we support him?"

"The Storm Fleet is about to head north. I wonder if the Baron can handle it?"

Amid the murmurs and discussions, there was a knock on the door and a servant's announcement was heard from outside.

"Gentlemen, the Lord, and Lady Agnet, the Princess of Shire County, are here."

Everyone stopped talking immediately and turned to look at the door.

"Click~~"

The door was pushed open, and a young man wearing a new simple navy blue suit walked in. He had short black curly hair, black eyes, a dignified expression, and a tall and full figure.

When he walked over, he gave people a feeling of being strong and powerful yet gentle and elegant.

Apart from anything else, his appearance and temperament are indeed very impressive, making people feel that this is the perfect example of a lord.

Behind the man followed a female wizard in a lavender dress.

Of course, the knights all knew this female mage, especially Humphrey, who often met her in Morningside City.

He glanced at the other person and felt that he looked much better than before.

Her face was rosy, her figure was graceful and slender, and especially her eyebrows and eyes were relaxed. The trace of resentment that was often seen before disappeared without a trace.

"It seems that this Princess Charles is living happily on the island."

At this time, Lady Agnet sat down beside Sir Humphrey and asked softly, "What's the matter with these people? They look so angry?"

Sir Humphrey spread his hands.

"Anna, the Duke has declared the White Pelican Island a rebellion, and the First Storm Fleet is preparing to head north. Aren't you worried at all?"

Anna smiled slightly: "Didn't the lord play a victory game with Rosen? Doesn't he know Rosen's style of doing things?"

Humphrey was startled: "But this is different."

"What's the difference?"

The speaker was Rosen, who was sitting at the head of the conference table.

Humphrey was stunned for a moment, thinking that this was not a small matter, but a very big one.

But think about it, isn't this what they have been doing all along?

So I was speechless.

At this time, Rosen tapped the table lightly and said loudly: "Gentlemen from the Northern County, I know why you are here."

As soon as he opened his mouth, all the knights who came from earl families and spoke for their own earldoms stopped talking and turned to look at him.

Rosen smiled and said, "I did sell a lot of pearls, and most of them were rare and top-quality pearls. Do you agree with this?"

The lords were speechless, for the pearl jewelry was indeed extremely rare and exquisite.

The reason they are dissatisfied is that they sold too much.

They are everywhere, and everyone has several strings. When you wear them, they just look good.

But how much is a simple good-looking thing worth? They spend a lot of money to buy this thing, what they really want is the sense of superiority of "I have what others don't".

Rosen continued: “Of course, I did sell a little more, mainly because I gained a lot.”

"These are all small matters, but the real big thing that I called you all here for this time is this one!"

As he spoke, he stood up, took a few steps back to the wall, and reached out to pull the decorative curtains on the wall to both sides.

As the curtain slowly moved aside, a new ocean trade map centered on the Golden Ocean emerged.

The trade map was very beautiful and attracted the attention of the knights.

"Please look, everyone. The red line is the main route for Weilan's marine trade."

"The raw materials such as minerals, wool, leather, black stone, and wood from the northern counties, and the cash crops such as cotton, sugar cane, tobacco, and various fruits produced by the plantations in the southern counties, all enter the Witt Continent along the red route."

"Eighty percent of it was obtained by Aaron, and of the remaining 20%, another 80% was obtained by Kao, and finally 20% of the remaining 20% ​​was obtained by Levender."

This is common knowledge known to everyone, and all the knights nodded in agreement.

Rosen pointed to the blue route again.

"We sold the raw materials, and the three kingdoms gave us various magical products in return, especially high-end finished products."

"Magic instruments, high-level magic tools, precision gauges, fine carriages, cargo ships, and luxury goods that are given all kinds of unwarranted meanings."

"Normally, a high-level staff with a fourth-ring enchantment is worth 1,500 Oggs, which can be exchanged for 500 tons of high-quality blackstone, or 600 tons of cotton, or countless fresh fruits."

"Isn't that correct?"

The knights nodded again.

Rosen continued, "But think about it, everyone. Blackstone can be burned to keep warm, cotton can be made into warm clothes, and fresh and sweet fruits can keep us healthy and happy. What can this staff be used for?"

"When it's just sitting there, what can it do except look good?"

As he spoke, Rosen took out an exquisite arcane staff and slammed it on the table.

"Yes, it can give the mage greater combat power, but as we all know, this is by no means Aaron's best magical creation. It is not enough to deal with Aaron's warriors."

"It's just a bone thrown to the guard dog, a bone that looks sweet but is actually worthless, just like the pearl jewelry I sell."

“It’s not worth the high price at all!”

Sir Humphrey said: "We all know it's unfair, but we have no choice!"

Rosen smiled slightly and took out a black stone from his pocket.

He took the black stone and walked to the trade chart, starting from the Shire County Broken Gold Wharf, connecting to the White Sturgeon Island, Hank Island, and finally connected to the East Golden Cape.

A black line outlines a new route.

"Click~~"

The dirty black stone was gently placed on the shiny new table. The young baron gently patted the powder off his hands and looked up at the knights.

He saw deep shock on the faces of every northern knight.

So he smiled and slowly told them the answer they had guessed.

"Yes, I have discovered a new safe route to Levender, a new deep-sea route that the Aaron people can see but cannot touch!"

"It will take at most 15 days to transport the raw materials produced in our northern county to Levender."

“It’s 25 days shorter than the current 40-day shipping time!”

"Crash~~~"

The knights were so shocked that they all stood up, their faces flushed, their eyes wide open, staring at the somewhat simple black stone line, as if they saw a peerless beauty taking off her clothes.

Sir Humphrey could hardly suppress his shock: "Baron, is this true?!"

Rosen smiled: "Is there any sense in lying about such a major event that involves the fate of countless people?"

There is really no point, because it will be exposed very quickly.

Rosen said softly, "Once the new route is opened, Northern County will have another trading partner for raw materials besides Aaron."

"We are free to choose Aaron, Levender, Kao, or other principalities to trade with. We will sell to whoever offers the highest price. We will buy from whoever's finished products are the lowest."

"Staves are not necessary for life. You can still cast spells without a staff. You can wear gems, gold, and arcane without pearls."

"But what we provide is used every day and is difficult to replace, so we don't have to worry about selling it!"

"And my wife, Princess Dawn, has always considered the interests of all of Veran first. She would never be a lackey of the Aarons like Ryder Adrian!"

"So, for this new route, the transit tax we collect will be much lower than that of Dawn City, as low as only one-fifth of the current amount!"

"One fifth?! Is it really that low?"

Some of the knights cried out subconsciously, it was just like a dream.

Rosen repeated: "Yes, one-fifth. This money will be used to maintain the port and fight pirates."

"If you don't believe me, we can sign a sacred contract in the name of Mother Nature!"

He had no intention of making a lot of money from tolls, because that was the most hopeless kind of money and would only produce a bunch of lazy islanders with no future.

He will use a variety of irresistible magical industrial products to reap the profits of the Northern County.

But no one knew his plan, so his promise was very attractive and made every knight's heart beat fast!

Rosen looked at the knights again and said, "As we all know, protecting the new shipping routes requires a navy, and building a navy requires a lot of money, so I have no choice but to borrow some money from you in pearls."

"Here, I apologize to you all and offer you my most sincere gift as compensation."

As he spoke, Rosen clapped his hands lightly.

The door was pushed open, and a group of beautiful girls walked in, each holding an exquisite jewelry box in their hands.

"The Ocean Heart Necklace is made of the finest quality azure pearls, combined with gold, arcane, and hardened mithril to create this gift from the deep sea."

"Believe me, this may be the best pearl necklace in the world."

"Because in addition to being beautiful, it also comes with a five-ring induced pure water shield. It was created by me, my mentor, and several magic masters as a gift to the earls of the Northern County."

As soon as these words came out, the Jazz were once again moved.

The resentment in her heart caused by the pearl jewelry was greatly soothed by this extremely precious five-ring magic weapon.

Everyone has a feeling.

"This baron is really capable. Not only did he open a new route, but he was also able to come up with something as good as this."

"He's a good guy, and the new route is almost free. You can't go wrong if you follow him."

Humphrey was shocked again: "How can there be five rings so high?"

This time it was Anna who spoke up to explain, and because she was a master of magic, her words were more convincing.

"Humphrey, pure water is base energy, and base energy can break focus. This is the latest knowledge in the magic world of Witt Continent."

"It just so happened that we went to Levender from the new route, so we gained some relevant knowledge. After careful study, we achieved the destructive focusing of pure water."

Sir Humphrey suddenly felt that he was far behind the times.

But the backward knowledge was knowledge of tactics and strategies, not military common sense.

"But the Northern County has no navy, so it can't help the White Sturgeon Island resist the Storm Fleet."

Rosen smiled: "But there is a brave army, isn't there?"

That's true.

The army is the most proud trump card of the Northern County, especially the cavalry regiment. From ancient times to the present, it has always made the Southern County cry for help on the front battlefield.

Rosen said the most important words.

"At present, we already have a fairly good navy on the White Sturgeon Island."

"I hope that after we defeat the Storm Fleet in the sea, the earls of the Northern County can clear out the Duke's forces in the north on land and propose to hold a lords' meeting across the island to re-elect the Duke of Dawn."

As soon as these words came out, the Jazz swallowed subconsciously.

They had been prepared for this, but they didn't expect it to come so soon! Humphrey couldn't believe it: "Navy? A navy made up of those fast rune boats?"

Of course he knew about the existence of speedboats, and he also knew that there were many of these gadgets on the White Sturgeon Island, but he did not think that these speedboats could confront warships head-on.

Rosen smiled slightly: "No, it's a naval fleet that is 50 meters long, still running very fast, and equipped with the latest thunder and flame magic weapon!"

Humphrey was completely confused: "Where did this ship come from?"

"Of course it was built with a lot of money, otherwise why would we need money?"

In that case, sirs, look at each other.

Finally, it was Humphrey who said, "This is no small matter. We must see the navy of Sturgeon Island with our own eyes!"

This is a complete break with the Duke and a real rebellion, and the ability of the White Sturgeon Island must be confirmed.

Rosen nodded. "I'll show you one of them. We already have five ships like this, and we're building more, but it costs a lot of money, so I hope Northern County will continue to support us."

A knight said without hesitation: "As long as it is a truly powerful navy, then for the safety of the new route, we will of course fully support it!"

"That's right~ I want to beat up that bastard Reid every time I see him!"

"And those vampire counts in the Southern County, now we finally don't have to be sucked blood by them!"

"To hell with Ryder!"

(End of this chapter)