On the twenty-fifth day of July,
The Blue Seagull was a new type of large ocean-going passenger vessel, a trial build from the Oxhorn Bay Shipyard. The ship boasted one hundred and twenty-four cabins and could carry four hundred and seventy passengers at once. It was the first dedicated passenger ship in the history of the Galentea Continent. The
This was the Blue Seagull's maiden voyage. After ferrying Lorist and his entourage to Qilin Port, the ship would continue on to Hidden Gold Bay. Lorist had brought nearly two hundred people aboard—his family, guards, and servants—leaving Duke Cames more than half the cabins. However, the Duke arrived with over two thousand people headed for the imperial capital. Fortunately, Duke Cames seemed to have anticipated this situation well in advance and had mobilized half of the Cames family's large ocean-going merchant fleet to resolve the overcrowding problem.
"Locke, you're only bringing this small a retinue to attend His Majesty's coronation ceremony?" Those were Duke Cames's very first words after boarding.
Lorist was taken aback. "What? Is there a problem?"
Lorist had brought only a hundred-man guard squad this time, along with his five wives, his children, and some maids and servants—roughly two hundred people all told. To put it charitably, they traveled light; to put it bluntly, it was rather shabby. In contrast, for a territorial Grand Duke, someone like Cames showing up with over two thousand people, parading grandly and making a spectacle of himself along the way, was considered the norm. Lorist, however, had always disliked such ostentatious travel arrangements. The simpler, the better.
Duke Cames said with a disgruntled look, "Sure, you're a Sword Saint, so you don't need to worry about safety when you travel. Not like me—I have to keep a thousand-strong guard detail with me at all times. But don't forget, at His Majesty's coronation ceremony, territorial dukes like us are each expected to field a thousand-strong family armed contingent to march in the parade, as a show of loyalty to our king…"
"That's easy enough," Lorist said with a smile. "I can pull a thousand-man garrison battalion from Xiluowas Island and send them to the imperial capital for the parade. It's all for show anyway—nobody's going to take it too seriously. Besides, my family forces only just returned from a distant expedition at the end of last year. They're all on extended leave right now. No need to round them up again and pick people to attend the ceremony in the capital."
"Mm, that works too." Duke Cames nodded. "No wonder I didn't see Shrade and Bodfenger coming along to the capital with you. Every other lord is practically dragging their whole court along to the ceremony to make connections."
I've asked them, but they're not willing to go. Perhaps for them, going to the Imperial Capital for the grand ceremony isn't as good as staying home and spending time with their families. After all, after three years of expedition, they really need the comfort of their families. So this time I only brought Ledi, Genorio, and Commander Pat from the guard detail," Lorist said.
Duke Cames sighed with understanding: "I understand. Three years ago, when I returned to Siedegle Province with what remained of the family's armed forces, I was just like them—staying at home, not wanting to go anywhere. The difference between us is that you returned in triumph, while we were survivors of a bloody war. After getting home, that feeling of having narrowly escaped death just kept lingering in my mind. During that time, I ate and drank constantly and went wild with the maids. It wasn't until half a year later that I slowly calmed down and had the mind to attend to the various family and trade association affairs..."
Lorist said nothing. Back then, everyone had been played by the Second Prince. They had believed that amassing an army of a million troops at the border would force the Commerce Alliance to agree to return the two provinces' territories and reach a peace agreement with the Andinac Kingdom. Everyone thought it would just be a march to the border with their family forces to show strength, and then they could go home and enjoy the generous conditions the Second Prince had promised. Nobody expected the Commerce Alliance wouldn't take this million-strong army seriously at all—they instead initiated the war first, and three years of bloody fighting left both sides battered.
Lorist had been gravely wounded in his fight against the Commerce Alliance's Storm Sword Saint and had to leave the front line. Then a rebellion broke out in the family's territory, so the three great field armies of the family's forces at the front had to return to put down the revolt. Once these three main armies of the Norton Family left, the Andinac Kingdom's allied nobles on the Mana Hill Plains front couldn't hold on. Facing the Commerce Alliance's endless reinforcements and human-wave tactics from their southern provinces, the allied nobles suffered devastating casualties and could barely maintain their lines.
Fortunately, Lorist recovered from his wounds, pacified the rebellion in the family's territory, and marched out again. First he destroyed the Commerce Alliance's invincible fleet, then launched a surprise raid on Hidden Gold Bay and captured
It could be said that without the Norton Family's fighting, there would be no coronation ceremony for the Second Prince today. It was the Norton Family's forces that saved the fate of the entire Andinac Kingdom. Duke Cames knew this well. What he deeply regretted was how he had been so easily swayed by the generous conditions the Second Prince had offered—how he had, in a moment of hot-headedness, followed the Second Prince straight toward the cliff and buried more than half of the family's carefully assembled heavily-armored corps in the process.
His Majesty the King was a man who craved grand achievements and didn't know when to exercise restraint upon success. "We all forgot your wise counsel. If, after we had destroyed more than half of the Commerce Alliance's forces back then, we hadn't pushed on into the Mana Hill Plains, there likely would have been a good chance of reaching a ceasefire agreement with the Commerce Alliance and restoring peace. But His Majesty insisted on marching across the Mana Hill Plains and sacking Morant City, and the result was that we all got dragged into a bloody war. Everyone's family forces suffered over fifty percent casualties and couldn't go on..."
"Fortunately, your Norton Family was willing to lend a hand and send troops to help, so we lucky survivors could crawl out of that meat grinder on the Mana Hill Plains. Every noble in the kingdom's territories knows that without the Norton Family's help, forget about His Majesty holding his coronation ceremony now—three years ago, it would have been difficult enough just to withdraw from the Mana Hill Plains intact. Not to mention that if we had failed, the Commerce Alliance's army would have swept south, and whether the kingdom could even exist would have been a question, since we would have lost all our remaining military strength..."
"The war has subsided and peace has arrived." Lorist cut off Duke Cames's lament. "You didn't specifically travel with me just to complain about this long-past bloodshed. The past is the past—when we suffer a loss, we should learn from it so we don't make the same mistake again, instead of dwelling on old memories. Tell me, what did you really want to talk to me about this time? Otherwise, given your love of gatherings and festivities, you would have rushed ahead to the Imperial Capital to enjoy yourself long ago, instead of waiting so patiently to travel with me."
Duke Cames smiled bitterly: "Don't judge me by how I was before. Since coming back from the Mana Hill Plains, I've lost all interest in those gatherings and the like. But you're right—there are reasons I'm traveling with you this time. First, I want to thank you for supporting
The meeting with Dean Crude had taken place more than ten days ago, so Duke Cames had naturally already received the news. Lorist was not surprised by his gratitude.
"No need to be so formal. You've been doing a decent job as the City Lord of Vanades City — over the years, you've actually developed it into the kingdom's largest commercial city, to the point where I've started thinking about what sort of reward to give you. But what I'm curious about is, how did you convince all those trade associations across the kingdom to set up their branch offices in Vanades City?"
Truthfully, this was indeed one of Lorist's questions. In his memory, Vanades City had been the commercial center of the Duchy of Madrasus, but its scale was incomparably smaller than that of Morant City. The main reason it had been at all prosperous was that the Grand Duke of Madrasus had used Vanades City for grain trade back in the day. After Lorist led his family's forces to destroy the Duchy of Madrasus, he brought Vanades City under the Norton Family's administration.
Later, when the Cames Family swapped territories and relocated from the eastern region of the Northland to Westdegard Province, Lorist negotiated with Duke Cames and appointed him as the City Lord of Vanades City, entrusting the largest commercial city in the northwest region to his management and giving the Snow Salt Trade Association a base to operate from.
What exceeded Lorist's expectations, however, was that Duke Cames had genuinely put his heart into managing Vanades City. He had not only attracted numerous trade associations to establish their branch offices there, but Vanades City had also organically developed into the largest commercial market in the northwest region. Every year, the Norton Family collected three to four hundred thousand gold Fortes in taxes from Vanades City — already more than three times the tax revenue of Windbury Royal City, which housed the largest livestock market in the northeast.
Duke Cames's lips curled into a grin: "Actually, for Vanades City's prosperity, the person we should thank the most is His Majesty the King. Back when he was conquering the four central duchies, in order to raise military funding, he ordered the kingdom's trade association branch office tax to be raised to thirty percent. If you added tolls and goods transport taxes on top of that, merchants would have been paying a combined tax burden of around sixty percent of their total costs. That kind of taxation would turn even the most profitable business into a losing one, forcing the trade associations based in the Imperial Capital to relocate.
Under those circumstances, Vanades City became the best option for most of them. Since Vanades City was under the Norton Family's administration, the branch office tax was only ten percent, and within the Norton Family's territory along with the sphere of influence of our four Northland allies, tolls were collected only once per faction. Even when traveling to other provinces of the kingdom, merchants from Norton Family territories would receive relatively fair treatment and wouldn't be subjected to extra extortions.
So gradually, every trade association in the kingdom chose Vanades City as their base. The more merchants there were, the more prosperous the city naturally became. On top of that, I come from a merchant background myself, so I understand what merchants need most. I strengthened Vanades City's public safety and order, cracked down on robbery and kidnapping, and cleared the bandits and brigands from the trade routes, making merchants feel secure. I invested capital in large-scale urban construction, improved public sanitation, standardized commercial transactions and provided guarantees. Once these things were in place, the city developed at breakneck speed."
Lorist nodded in approval: "I didn't expect that in addition to a merchant's mind, you'd also possess such outstanding administrative ability. Of course, I won't even mention your skills at wooing women and socializing. Oh right — aside from thanking me for supporting Dawn Academy in establishing a branch campus in Vanades City, is there some other reason you insisted on traveling with me?"
"Security…"
"You mean..." Lorist was taken aback.
Duke Camus slowly unbuttoned his collar, revealing most of his chest. His pale skin was wrapped in thick white bandages, with faint traces of fresh red blood seeping through. Lorist immediately understood — no wonder he had kept catching the scent of medicinal ointment.
"Over these past two months, I've survived three assassination attempts. The most dangerous was the one this month. The assassin couldn't get close because our family guards were already on alert, so he hurled his longsword at me instead, slicing this wound across my chest. That's why I've been desperately waiting for you to arrive. The moment I saw you, I could finally breathe easy. Now I no longer have to worry about being assassinated." Duke Camus said bitterly.
"Who did it? Did they catch the assassin? And why didn't you send for my help sooner?" Lorist was furious.
Duke Camus shook his head. "I don't know who ordered it. But the assassin was a first-rank Great Swordmaster. Our family guards couldn't hold him, but neither could he finish the job. As for asking you for help — ha, I couldn't bring myself to lose that kind of face. If the Camus Family needed a Sword Saint to step in, we'd become the laughingstock of the nobility."
"You and your stubborn pride." Lorist frowned in thought. "Something doesn't add up. Why would a Great Swordmaster target you? Given the Camus Family's standing and connections in the kingdom, there shouldn't be any reason worth deploying a Great Swordmaster for an assassination. Besides, killing you would barely affect the kingdom at all. Sending a first-rank Great Swordmaster to risk three assassination attempts in two months — it's just not worth it..."
Duke Camus protested, "Hey, hey, hey — am I really as insignificant as you're making me sound?"
Lorist ignored him and continued reasoning. "The relentless persistence is suspicious. After the first attempt failed, even with your family on high alert, the Sword Saint assassin still tried twice more. That kind of determination implies a deep, personal grudge. Could it be that you seduced some noble's wife and didn't clean up after yourself, so the cuckolded husband, unwilling to let it go, hired a Great Swordmaster to take you out? Hmm, I'd say that's the most likely explanation..."
Duke Camus said irritably, "Quit joking around, will you? What's so significant about a green hat? I actually like wearing green hats. But seriously, that's definitely not the reason. The truth is, I suspect the assassination attempts are connected to the Snow Salt Trade Association."
"The Snow Salt Trade Association?"
"Yes, do you know about that knight Viksas who had an affair with the former queen? The one who turned out to be His Majesty's bastard son..."
Lorist nodded.
"The year before last, didn't he covet the trading market that your Norton Family established at Qilin Port? Last year, His Majesty granted him a Count's title and assigned him land in Majik Province, planning to send him away from the Imperial Capital. But that Knight Viksas clung to His Majesty's feet and wept on the spot, and in the end His Majesty agreed to let him stay, though he stripped him of his position as Royal Guard Commander.
Then this Count Viksas set up a trade company in the Imperial Capital called the Antalio Trade Company. Somehow he obtained from His Majesty the sales rights to two rock salt mines in Kribia Province in the former empire's central region, and in the second half of last year, he launched a commercial war against our Snow Salt Trade Association over salt markets across the kingdom's provinces. I leveraged every connection I had and had Snow Salt slash prices to win that war, costing Count Viksas nearly a hundred thousand gold Fordes." Duke Camus looked rather pleased with himself.
"So you suspect that Count Viksas privately dispatched a Great Swordmaster to assassinate you? That's impossible. First, with his standing, he couldn't afford to maintain a Great Swordmaster. Second, he should know that if the truth about your assassination ever came to light, no one could save him—not even the King could bear that responsibility. He wouldn't be that irrational. I'm still inclined to think this is trouble brought on by your womanizing..." Lorist voiced his doubts.
Duke Camus sighed. "Sigh, I knew you wouldn't trust my intuition."
"Don't worry—from now on, you won't need to fear any more assassination attempts. While we're in the Imperial Capital, I'll arrange for
"All right then, thank you, Locke."
……