Reddy stayed for two reasons. First, out of brotherhood: this was Schward's first time shouldering a major responsibility on his own as the director of the leased territory, and it would likely be years before they met again. So Reddy decided to stay an extra two or three months to hone Schward's swordsmanship further during that time. Second, his uncle Galilando simply couldn't bear to let him return to the Northland just yet. After much persuasion, Reddy finally agreed to head north at the end of the year alongside Ail's Royal Guard Legion, sparing the old man the grief of two separate farewells.
Princess Sylvia, Steward Spear, Steward Kordan, and all manner of
Lorist was initially puzzled — how could a penny-pincher like Steward Spear bear to splurge on such extravagance? Steward Spear, who had returned to the family's territory at the end of last year, beamed as he explained the reason. Thanks to the revival of the wholesale market in Morant City, every workshop, mine, and factory across the Norton Family's territories had been thrown into a frenzy of production and expansion. New industrial workshops sprang up one after another, and the family's lands enjoyed a scene of widespread prosperity. In just the past year alone, these thriving industries had brought in no less than three million in additional revenue...
In the past, when the family had been strapped for cash, Steward Spear had been forced to tighten every belt, wishing he could split a single gold coin in half. His greatest fear had been Lorist squandering the family's wealth. But now that the family was flush with coin, Steward Spear finally understood the deeper wisdom behind Lorist's spending and investments — every gold coin invested had a way of earning back several times more.
So when Princess Sylvia approached him about organizing a grand welcoming ceremony, Steward Spear threw his full support behind the idea. With money to spare, it was only right to celebrate in grand fashion — this was a matter of the Norton Family's prestige and the dignity of Lorist, the Sword Saint who was the pillar of the realm. It would also make the soldiers who had campaigned for years feel the family's care and consideration, strengthening their loyalty and devotion...
Once the festivities died down, Lorist noticed that Princess Sylvia and his four concubines had all brought their children and looked every bit as though they intended to settle long-term in North Sea City. Upon asking, he learned that construction of the palace east of Roaring Bear City's main gate — already two and a half years underway — had fallen behind schedule. It should have been completed six months ago, but last year, when Steward Spear found himself in high spirits over the family's surging revenues, he decided that the palace, which was meant to showcase the Norton Family's grandeur, could not be allowed to fall short. He had allocated a massive additional sum to the project. Siloba, the master architect in charge, resolved to pursue perfection and build a legendary palace that would endure for a thousand years — and so the construction timeline began to slip.
Well, Lorist recalled now — last year in Morant City, he had reviewed a financial appropriation document submitted by Steward Spear that must have been about exactly this matter. At the time, his mind had been consumed with strategies against the Commerce League, and besides, he trusted Steward Spear completely, so he had simply committed the matter to memory and scrawled a few words of approval on the document before sending it back. So that was what it had all been about...
Princess Sylvia preferred peace and quiet and disliked staying in Roaring Bear City, which was essentially one enormous construction site. She also loved the sea, so she had brought the whole family to North Sea City and taken up residence in the lord's manor. The manor was sitting empty anyway — no sense letting it go to waste. Besides, while Bull Horn Bay where North Sea City was situated didn't have a Platinum Beach, there were still small stretches of sandy shore, more than enough for Lorist's women and children to play by the seaside to their hearts' content.
That evening, in the luxuriously spacious master bedroom of the North Sea City lord's manor, an exceedingly large bed bore the weight of five bodies. Princess Sylvia and the four concubines channeled all their longing into a vigorous bout of flesh-and-blood combat with Lorist, clinging to him with desperate fervor. Lorist threw every ounce of his skill into fending off the five women's wolfish onslaught, and only after his body and stamina had been drained nearly dry did he finally subdued them one by one...
"Why didn't you take the children to Platinum Beach in Sidigle Province for a summer vacation?" After the passions had subsided, Lorist cradled Princess Sylvia in his arms and settled into idle chatter.
Princess Sylvia's face still carried the lingering flush of satisfaction and climax. She had turned into a languid little cat, curled up against Lorist's chest, savoring the sense of safety and warmth his broad frame provided. When she heard his question, she pressed herself even closer to his chest and said softly, "I don't want to go anymore. Two years ago we made a trip there, and we happened to run into Duke Cammace bringing his family's armed forces back from the Mana Hill Plains. Out of nearly fifty thousand men in the Cammace army, only a little over thirteen thousand returned. The whole of Sidigle Province was steeped in grief.
Not many noble families have visited Platinum Beach since, so the following year I used Queen Cissy's affair as an excuse to go find you in Morant City. We were all so worried about you..."
Lorist was deeply moved — so moved that his little brother stirred to life again. He pressed a gentle kiss to Princess Sylvia's forehead. "It's all right now. You don't have to worry anymore. We won. We've won peace. From now on I'll stay by your side, live a proper life, and won't go off to war again. It's late, time to sleep — let's squeeze in one more round while we're at it..."
Princess Sylvia giggled and suddenly perked up, her hand sliding downward. "You've still got the energy? Weren't you half-dead just a moment ago? Oh my, it really is hard. Lie still — I'm getting on top..."
The next day Lorist felt like he was floating, his legs weak as jelly. Anyone who had spent most of the night tangled with five women, slept only three or four hours, and then endured two more morning greetings would feel the same — even a Sword Saint couldn't withstand it. This was a matter of physiology. Even after ascending to Sword Saint, Lorist was still a man, not a god. It seemed that becoming a Sword Saint hadn't enhanced this particular function. Lorist found himself contemplating this very serious question.
There had to be benefits, though. Take Grand Duke Fisaburen — the old man was a tier-three Sword Saint, past seventy, yet still vigorous and robust, and had no trouble bedding two women in a single night. Perhaps he ought to ask Duke Cammace as well. The man was only Silver-ranked, but he had trained his Silver radiance all the way down to the spear between his legs, earning himself a reputation as the kingdom's most notorious rake — a favorite of those loose noble ladies and young misses in the imperial capital...
His idle ruminations came to an end when Princess Sylvia and the four concubines, fully dressed and groomed, emerged with the children to greet their father over breakfast. Though they had met just the day before, the older children still carried a touch of awkwardness — that rascal Andebel had long since forgotten where he had stowed the father he hadn't seen in over a year. The two one-year-old infants, however, treated Lorist as a fascinating new toy, crawling all over him, and before long, like puppies marking their territory, each produced a steaming tinkle to declare that this was their domain, forcing Lorist to abandon his half-finished breakfast for a bath and a fresh set of clothes.
Since Princess Sylvia and the others had no desire to return to Roaring Bear City — still one enormous construction site — Lorist happily obliged and remained in North Sea City. As it happened, he needed to be at Bull Horn Bay to oversee the reorganization of the family fleet, determining its overall size and structure. In the two-odd years since the decisive battle against the Invincible Fleet off Cape Romanie, the Bull Horn Bay shipyards had designed and trial-built over a dozen new-model warships. After two years of sea trials, Lorist would now use the performance data and operational roles of these new vessels to establish their standardized classifications and the fleet's official complement.
Actually, Lorist was mainly determining the specifications for just three new types of warships. First were the thunderbolt ships, the mainstay of the Norton Family's North Sea Fleet and the very vessels that had made the family's fleet famous, forming the core strength that annihilated the Invincible Fleet. However, the thunderbolt ships newly constructed at the Bull Horn Bay shipyards now featured significant improvements—they were sturdier, faster, and more stable. Lorist decided to commission thirty brand-new thunderbolt ships to replace the existing fourteen.
Next were the medium-sized, fast armed warships Lorist had designated as destroyers. Compared to the older medium-sized fast armed vessels, these destroyers were all equipped with bronze cannons and featured a double-layered hull. Even with all eighteen of their bronze cannons firing simultaneously, the hull remained unscathed. Moreover, their streamlined structure not only withstood the fierce gales and waves of the northern seas but also nearly doubled their speed.
In the northern waters, these destroyers might not find extensive use, as the thunderbolt ships were more than capable of handling various maritime patrol and security tasks. However, Lorist's purpose in constructing these destroyers was specifically to counter pirate vessels in the southern seas. Thunderbolt ships were large vessels, inferior in speed and maneuverability to the small and medium-sized fast armed ships sailed by pirates, unless aided by favorable winds and currents. These pirate vessels could still rely on their familiarity with local geography to evade pursuit by ducking into shallow, reef-strewn areas.
Lorist believed that with these destroyers, he could vigorously strike at the pirates and corsairs active in the southern seas. In terms of both agility and speed, no medium-sized fast armed warship could compare to a destroyer. Coupled with their bronze cannons, any pirate ship spotted would find escape impossible—the end result would be either sinking or raising the white flag of surrender.
There was also a third new type of warship, an oversized vessel designated as a cruiser. This was built by combining the performance advantages of whaling ships and the super-large warships of the Invincible Fleet, known as the Sepnim sea fortresses. The entire ship mounted seventy-two bronze cannons, arranged in two tiers of gun ports, plus four additional bronze cannons each at the bow and stern, making it a veritable fire-breathing monster of the sea. It could also carry five hundred-man maritime assault squads. Whether engaging at range or in close combat, it was truly an invincible behemoth of the ocean.
Besides these, there were three other new types of vessels. The first was a new whaling ship. For the decisive battle against the Invincible Fleet the previous time, Lorist had conscripted all of the family's whaling fleet. After the great battle at Cape Romanie, all sixteen whaling ships were destroyed, scuttled with rocks and soil in the reef zone off Cape Romanie to serve as the foundation for the Schwarz sea fortress.
The whale pods were numerous, and every part of a whale was valuable. Capturing nearly a hundred whales each year brought the family an income of over a hundred thousand gold ferd. A single whale yielded a profit of around a thousand gold ferd, making this a highly lucrative industry the Norton Family would not abandon.
The next two new ship types were, firstly, passenger liners. Comparable in size to the cruisers, they were more comfortable and faster. A route had already been established from North Sea City to White Gold Beach, then to Silovas Island, Kyrin Port, onto Amyterlin Port, and finally reaching Morant City in Hidden Gold Bay. Four of these new passenger liners were planned, with one sailing from North Sea City each month, and another returning from Hidden Gold Bay, the entire voyage taking twenty-seven to twenty-eight days. The four liners would operate on a rotating schedule.
This was the route for the northern seas. As for the southern sea routes, they had not yet been decided. Lorist felt it might be better to contract out passenger liners for the southern seas to private shipowners. The Norton Family would provide the ships, and the private owners would contribute connections and capital for a joint venture. With those private shipowners backed by southern nobles serving as guarantors and supporters, he believed this southern maritime passenger route could become a golden goose.
The final new ship type was an improved version of large ocean-going merchant ships—a specialized large ocean-going freighter. Its cargo capacity was nearly double that of the older large ocean-going merchant ships, with faster speed and smoother sailing. It could also serve as a logistics transport vessel, effectively supplying and providing provisions to the North Sea Fleet on long-range expeditions, supporting their far-reaching campaigns. The plan called for building twenty-four of these new, large, fast ocean-going freighters, which would normally be used to transport goods and raw materials between the Northland and Morant City.
What troubled Lorist was that, for the sake of secrecy, these new warships and vessels could not be constructed at any other shipyard—they could only be built at Oxhorn Bay Shipyard. The Norton Family's military had already made a name for itself across the world, and whether it was the naval fleet or the land-based legion, both had become targets of interest for prying eyes. Only within the family's own territory could the spies sent by various parties be effectively isolated and captured.
Oxhorn Bay Shipyard had expanded to cover nearly half of Oxhorn Bay's territory, employing over ten thousand workers and technical personnel of all kinds. It could be said to be the Norton Family's largest enterprise. But shipbuilding was, after all, a skilled craft—it could not be rushed simply by throwing more manpower at it. According to their calculations, at most just over twenty new ships could be built each year, and that was already them putting in maximum effort.
Yet the shipbuilding plans on paper already totaled over one hundred and twenty vessels, and the production schedule for Oxhorn Bay Shipyard over the next six or seven years was already completely packed. After much deliberation, Lorist decided to expand the shipyard on Silovas Island, assigning all the new passenger ships, cargo vessels, and whaling ships to be constructed there. Only then could he realistically bring these paper plans for warships and vessels to fruition within four years.
Beyond the construction schedule, Lorist also had to discuss the disbursement and oversight of shipbuilding costs with Superintendent Spell. In Morant City, the seven shipyards around Hidden Gold Bay charged approximately six to seven thousand gold Fordes to build a large ocean-going merchant ship. But the Norton Family's cost for building a single medium-sized destroyer was many times that figure. Setting everything else aside, just the construction of the warship's double-layered hull cost fifteen thousand gold Fordes, and with the addition of bronze cannons and the training of crew and sailors, the total cost of a destroyer upon entering service reached forty to fifty thousand.
Fortunately, the Norton Family already held the Schewad Sea Castle Fortress at Cape Romani, which allowed them to legally collect toll fees and escort charges from ships passing along the Golden Sea Route. The annual income was no less than a million gold Fordes, more than enough to keep the expanded family fleet self-sufficient, with surplus funds left over to hand up to the family treasury each year. In addition, the Commercial League's surrendered Armada and the merchant guild ships seized during the conquest of Hidden Gold Bay had been cleaned up and auctioned off in Morant City—nearly two hundred vessels in total, netting over a million gold Fordes. All told, the family only needed to allocate around five million gold Fordes to complete the entire shipbuilding program, and it didn't even have to be a lump sum—funds could be disbursed at a rate of just over a million per year according to construction progress, placing no significant burden on the family's finances.
After more than a month of tireless work, Lorist finally settled on the framework for the reorganization and expansion of the family fleet and completed the arrangements for the construction and production plans of the new warships and vessels. The next focal point was the New Year Celebration to be held at year's end. At this celebration, the Norton Family would be elevating the titles of a large number of vassal nobles, and at the same time promoting a batch of meritorious officers and soldiers to become new territorial nobles.
...