Chapter 133: A New Problem – Opportunity? Trap?

“The interpretation of Eastern Martial Arts data is complete… starting content analysis…”

George was still busy with his official duties when he received this news. He paused for a moment with his quill pen, leaving a dark spot on the parchment.

‘Come on! Why does this System never finish its sentences! Is it fun to play games and only show half the picture every time?’ George complained in his heart. At the same time, he frowned at the ugly spot on the parchment. He took a special trimming knife and scraped a little yellowish ointment from a common clay jar. He spread the ointment evenly over the spot that needed fixing. Then he stood the parchment up and blew on it. After waiting for it to take effect, he continued writing.

“You actually changed your own document! That is really rare! What happened? Did you meet a problem you cannot solve?” Viscount Bolerum had somehow appeared behind George. He was watching George’s actions with great interest.

“I just suddenly thought of some things related to the content on this document, and I accidentally made this mistake.” Saying this, George pretended to shake the parchment in his hand.

However, Knight Val took the parchment from George’s hand. After looking at it, he said, “It is the problem of expanding the port again. Didn’t you already plan to build a new stone dock before you came to Karada this year?”

“Yes! There are more and more ships now. I thought that after winter came, the back port would freeze, and the number of ships coming and going would decrease. So the docks inside the port plus the new one should be enough. But I heard that this winter, many ships heading north might unload at Morbihan Port in Bolerum Territory and then switch to land transport. If that happens, even in winter, the port might not be free at all. We need to prepare early for the docks and ship berths.” George said this while holding his head as if he had a headache. This was a problem he had already figured out before he started writing, so he used it to answer Viscount Bolerum’s question.

“Hasn’t something like this happened in the past? Why did it suddenly become like this this year? What is going on with those merchants?” Viscount Bolerum fell into thought after saying this. However, his action of stroking his beard looked more like he was showing off. This habit formed over many years was probably used to solve his own physiological problems! George could not help but complain about this.

“It must be because the reputation has spread! Morbihan Port used to have no fame, and everyone didn’t know it. But over the past few years, through continuous construction and expansion, it has become a good port. Plus, the security here is good, and the support policies and taxes are quite favorable. In the past three years, the number of merchants has been steadily rising. As these merchants come and go, the reputation of Bolerum Territory has gradually spread. After years of accumulation, this news spreading out was only a matter of time and was not unexpected for me.” George immediately interrupted Viscount Bolerum’s show-off behavior, but he also muttered quietly, “But it seems a bit too early!”

“You say it is too early? This might be the influence of the pirate trouble in the South recently! Didn’t many ships get stuck in the South during that time? When they had nothing to do, didn’t those bored sailors gather in the taverns? That was a very large place for communication. Maybe the reputation spread from there!” Viscount Bolerum gave the answer he got. While speaking, he reached out and patted George’s head.

George moved Val’s hand off his head and asked back, “That is possible. If that is the case, should we thank those pirates who made the shipping routes difficult, Father?”

After hearing George’s words, Viscount Bolerum was shocked. “You don’t mean to arrange our small defense fleet to join the crackdown on pirates, do you! This is absolutely out of the question. Look, even the Southern Lord Organization led by Count Broadhead sent a joint fleet to clear pirates multiple times, and the final result was still not a complete success! Although the frequency of attacks on merchant ships has decreased a lot compared to the past, they still happen from time to time. We must not get involved in such a muddy water. The risk of this kind of reputation-building method is really too high.”

“I don’t have such thoughts. I was just joking about that possible thing before.” George hurriedly explained after realizing Viscount Bolerum misunderstood him.

“It is good that you don’t have such thoughts. Your experience is still too little. You who have not traveled on the Continent cannot understand what a truly powerful navy looks like. Although our fleet looks well-trained, that is just ‘good’! They can handle small tasks like bullying small pirates in the Gulf or clearing small sea beasts near the port during daily patrols. But when it comes to participating in large-scale sea battles, they are not ready. The gap between them cannot be made up in a short time!” Viscount Bolerum said these words with emotion, but there was no sign of being discouraged. This also fits with the current Continental Strategy popular on the Western Continent. After all, people still live on land. Whether occupying other countries’ land or defending our own territory, we need the army. Nohan is also a famous land-power on the Western Continent, but its navy construction is much worse, of course, with much less attention.

George smiled bitterly and said, “Although I haven’t seen a true sea power, I know that an army that has not experienced major wars is hard to form real combat power. As for the fleet in the territory, my hope for them is simple – as long as they can stop small-scale foreign invasions with the coordination of the port forces, that will be enough.”

“I understand! Although you always appear very rational in front of us, young people always have impulsive moments. If you do something you will regret later, it will be terrible. You know that if such a thing happens, it is very easy to affect your state of mind. You have already passed the Path of Questioning the Heart, so it is best to seek stability now.” Viscount Bolerum’s tone became serious and heartfelt. It seemed that the noble class of the Duchy had very different training methods before and after the Path of Questioning the Heart.

Before the Path of Questioning the Heart, nobles usually raised their children in a semi-free manner. Except for strict control over daily lessons and the speed of strength improvement, they would not interfere in other aspects as long as the children did not do anything that ruined the family’s reputation or committed evil deeds. This was to keep the children’s natural nature and let them find their own path more easily.

But after stepping on the Path of Questioning the Heart, they would be sent out to walk and see more. By learning more things, they could reduce their confusion on the Path. Of course, each family also had its own unique Secret Art inherited through bloodlines to increase the chances of passing the Path. This was a family secret and could not be told to outsiders. However, even if they knew it, most could not use it, because such Secret Arts were usually fused with the family’s own bloodline inheritance.

However, this is also the critical period when Squires are most likely to encounter various problems. The Path of Questioning the Heart has many branches; do not go down the wrong path and ruin your life! Except for those specially trained by certain evil cults, most evil Knights were produced because they walked the path controlled by desires on the Path of Questioning the Heart and could not correct it in time. So while traveling inside the Duchy, each family usually sent special personnel to supervise their daily lives twenty-four hours a day. They reported and corrected any possible mistakes at any time.

Once they successfully passed the Path of Questioning the Heart, life would focus on seeking stability. According to those who have been there, Squires who have passed the Path are not as firm in their chosen path as Formal Knights. The experiences during this period might have a big or small impact on them. Some good experiences could perfect their path, but there were also harmful ones that made them confused about their path again. If such a situation occurred, it was like walking a hundred li and then suddenly getting trapped on the road by continuous heavy rain at ninety li. It would not ruin all previous efforts, but it would drag on for a few years.

As for Squires who could never pass the Path of Questioning Heart, they would either serve as a Quasi-Knight for a lifetime – even so, they could still get a middle-level officer position in the army. If they went to become Mercenaries, they might even get a title like “King of Mercenaries” in the mercenary world. Of course, some people took other paths – the most common one was to enter the Iron Rank through melee classes like Swordsman, Berserker, or Guardian. But this not only required perseverance and talent, but their strength was also much lower than Knights of the same Rank.

“Rest assured, Father! I know what I should do myself.” George could only comfort Viscount Bolerum verbally for his concern, because this kind of thing could not provide any substantial evidence.

Viscount Bolerum’s optimism that followed was probably to comfort himself or not to put too much pressure on George: “Yes! You are so smart, you should be able to see your own path clearly and not be shaken by external things, right!”

This was the third time Viscount Bolerum had brought up this topic in the conversation these days. It is really pitiful how parents worry about their children. However, although George was very troubled by this, he really had no good way to solve it.

So George had to bring the topic back to the right track: “But if so many merchants really come, the road to the North might not be able to handle so much load! You know that road is not like the two gravel roads from the port to Poitou and then to Karada! And even those two roads would need to be strengthened and maintained under such traffic.”

“Is it really that exaggerated? Those merchants should not be unaware of the problems that might happen here, right?” Viscount Bolerum said with some disbelief. In his own experience, merchants were quite smart and should not make mistakes like this.

Seeing Viscount Bolerum’s reaction, George said helplessly, “You have had contact with merchants for a long time, so you should understand what blind merchants look like! Since there is a relatively convenient cargo transfer place like Bolerum Territory, will they not rush in like a swarm? They are afraid of being one step slower than other merchants and suffering in the competition later. Few of them consider the capacity of Bolerum Territory’s infrastructure in advance! Even among the few who do consider it, there are still those influenced by luck and following the crowd. Now I am worried that the road to the North in the territory this winter might be completely blocked by cargo wagons and ox carts.”

Knowing that George would not talk without reason, Viscount Bolerum also felt troubled. He stroked his chin and said, “If we repair the road to the North now, as long as we pay a price, it should still be in time. But this really comes at a bad time!”

“Yes! This really is a bad time!” George also said this. It was really a time of many troubles! At this critical moment, mobilizing manpower to repair the road on a large scale was still a bit hard to decide. If war broke out immediately, this small accumulation might even become the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

But if this road was repaired well, and as long as it was maintained properly and the port was managed well, it would only take a few years for Bolerum Territory’s financial situation to make up for this loss. After that, Bolerum Territory’s strength would also be improved to a certain extent. Whether it could go one step further was hard to say. Because in this world, money had far less impact on a Lord’s strength than in the world before he traveled through.

George thought back and forth for a while before giving his own suggestion: “Forget it! I think it is better to repair that road again. Father, you don’t want to be blocked on the road by those caravans when you need to use it this winter, do you! Other problems are actually not big. As long as we spend more money, the people of the territory will not complain. But if we prepare to do this, we need to buy grain from outside now to be prepared for unexpected needs.”

“Do as you say! I believe you will handle this well.” Saying this, Viscount Bolerum patted George’s head to show his support.

It seemed he did not have much confidence in the decision on this matter, but he just supported whatever decision George made. If this matter succeeded, that would be best. If it failed, it would also be a good lesson for George’s growth. Of course, the most important reason in this aspect was that both of them could afford to lose. As long as the grain supply in the territory was guaranteed, for a territory like Bolerum Territory that did not value Mercenaries, money had little impact on the war. On the other hand, no one had ever heard of a Knight being confused about his path due to official duties.

The afternoon sun was warm and made people feel sleepy. Having finished all his official duties, George started his Knight training on the training ground. But until now, that damn broken System had not given any hint about the result of the content analysis.

Sunlight, the training ground, and a young man sweating – sorry, this is not a youth inspirational drama. It is the prelude to a truly bloody battlefield. The longsword that waved fast but made no sound of cutting the air surrounded him like fireflies.

George, who could not find Hiren and Craig to practice with, could only train by himself on the training ground. After all, the remaining time in Karada was not much. In these last few days, the two Knights had relaxed their control over their children a bit. They wanted to let them not leave any regrets in the prosperity of Karada. Although they would not never come back in the future, the chance to come once every few years was still quite rare.

Feeling that training alone was really boring, George put the training longsword back on the weapon rack. Then he muttered to himself, “Didn’t Knight Val say he would prepare a gift for me before the banquet? How come there is still no news at all? Could he be so busy that he forgot? No, he doesn’t seem to have any official duties recently.”

“Never mind! I have already finished today’s basic training. I cannot do the sparring training alone, so let’s just take a vacation for myself!” George found an excuse to slack off and left the training ground.

‘I don’t know how Elena is doing under Head Maid Sarah’s teaching. I hope she can give me a surprise when we go back!’ Of course, George did not say this sentence out loud. Because at this moment he had already returned to the corridor inside the Manor. If anyone heard these words, it would cause a lot of trouble for the Little Maid.

After all, jealousy is human nature. For a clumsy child like Elena, whose appearance was not outstanding among Maids and whose skills were at the bottom, it was even easier to be hated by others. In their eyes, Elena had nothing to show off. The fact that she received such love and privileges just because she followed George a few years earlier was hard for them to accept.

In fact, George himself was not so sharp in this regard. It was only after Head Maid Sarah reminded him that he realized it. The legendary palace intrigue was indeed everywhere! Perhaps this was just a weakened version. In George’s name, everyone dared not go too far. At least on the surface, they would not do anything, but doing small tricks behind the scenes was inevitable. And with Elena’s somewhat confused personality and not-so-smart brain, she might not even know who did it in the end.