Chapter 186: Early Spring

Although Nohan was close to the Northern Lands, its winter was not really considered long. Looking at the changes that occurred in these short three months, it still gave people the feeling of riding a roller coaster.

At the beginning, just as George and Knight Val had worried, the “original owners” who had their ships stolen by pirates started coming to their doors one after another. Among them were relatively rational merchants who were willing to buy back their ships at about thirty to forty percent of the original price.

Of course, there were inevitably some guys with an overly high opinion of themselves mixed in, who wanted to exchange their so-called friendship of unknown value for the ships.

On the contrary, for the most expensive three-masted warship, the Republic of Tutker did not claim ownership of it. After sending people to confirm Cliff’s death, they just left a large bounty and left without dragging their feet at all. For a nation established by merchants, time was money, and efficiency brought profit!

For the first type of people, there were civil officials in Bolerum Territory who specialized in bargaining with merchants, engaging in a tug-of-war with them over every penny. Although George had verbally said earlier that they wanted at least eighty percent of the price, that was just an opening bid. Did they think those bastards hiding here and there could give their ships any decent maintenance?

Of course, this was not because they did not want to take good care of the tools they used to make a living and live in. It was that they lacked the external conditions needed to provide good maintenance. Added to that were the various damages that inevitably occurred during the looting process, the condition of the ships captured by Bolerum Territory was not very good even after removing the new damage. Even if they were to be sold, they would have to stay in the docks of Morbihan Port for a long time first.

This included using oakum and tar to plug and seal leaking decks, checking and repairing sails, and repairing the main structures of the ships—such as the hull planks. There was also sprinkling vinegar and sulfur on burning coal to fumigate the cabins in this primitive way. The most important thing was to clean the marine organisms boring into the bottom of the ship. This was a very important repair work for sailing ships. Except for that three-masted warship whose bottom was wrapped in thin copper plates.

The tug-of-war with the Merchant Guild lasted only about a week. After all, the other party could not consume manpower and time on this issue indefinitely. Five of the armed merchant ships were taken back by the Merchant Guild at sixty percent of the original price, plus a not-so-large repair fee.

As for those few noble playboys who clearly had too high an opinion of themselves. After the first meeting ended on a sour note, according to George’s order, the civil officials in the territory left those guys out in the cold.

According to the intelligence provided by Knight Val, these guys who behaved arrogantly. Their families posed no threat at all to Bolerum Territory. Basically, they were all obscure nobodies. They were used to being local tyrants in their own small patches of land, thinking they could throw their weight around wherever they went! One had to say that sometimes, reality was more amazing than fiction.

After this cold treatment, those self-righteous guys did think of using unconventional means like causing trouble to achieve their goals. Unfortunately, they were all suppressed by the knights in Bolerum Territory.

After spending nearly a month, in the end, even more profit was obtained from these guys than from the Merchant Guild. Of course, what was harvested at the same time was their hostile gazes. But sometimes being glared at a few times would not make one lose any flesh; compared to the benefits gained, this was nothing. At the same time, just as Knight Val said, their families were nothing to worry about. On the contrary, the forces behind the Merchant Guilds that negotiated from the start were more powerful. Was this a case of a dog that bites doesn’t bark?

As for the performance of the envoy from the Republic of Tutker, it fully embodied what it meant to be a “local tyrant”. For them, killing the pirates who took their warship was far more important than the three-masted warship itself. This act of not caring about money at all made even George, who was far away in Brandenburg, have the impulse to shout, “Rich guy, let’s be friends!”

Of course, besides that three-masted warship, there were two other ships whose original owners and their families had long disappeared into the vast sea of people. George reluctantly took them for his own use. It just so happened that Bolerum Territory still had a certain gap in its maritime transport; it could not support ten more ships at once, but two ships just happened to make up for the shortage.

In the following three months or so, the docks of Morbihan Port were operating at full capacity. After all, Bolerum Territory’s accumulation in this aspect was seriously insufficient; the most important craftsmen, even with the addition of those from the original pirates, still gave people the feeling that there were too many monks and too little gruel. Even with the premise that the major repairs of the three unsold ships were temporarily put on hold, the docks of Morbihan Port could not perform any maintenance on the merchant ships coming to the port.

Thirteen days after the war, the anti-collision plates on the pier were installed. This made the speed of the ships that previously had to dock carefully much faster. The efficiency of the pier seemed to have improved slightly. But the most critical crane could not be put into normal operation until the 19th day after the war. During this period, the cargo throughput of Morbihan Port was only about thirty percent of the previous peak.

Although this seriously affected the income brought by Morbihan Port, the bodies of those pirates hanging on the rock walls greatly boosted the reputation of Bolerum Territory and Morbihan Port. It seemed that in the future, even without the reason of looking for an ice-free port in winter, more and more caravans would set their trade route nodes at Morbihan Port.

As for whether the influence caused by George’s previous agreement to compensate the merchants for some of the damaged goods was greater, it was still unknown.

In short, if it were not for the heavy casualties caused by this attack, it could really be said to be a gain of both fame and fortune!

And far away at the border between the Duchy of Nohan and the Kingdom of Lucia, these three months had always shown a picture of swords drawn. The soldiers on the side of the Duchy of Nohan were ready day and night to guard against possible surprise attacks from the other side. As for the Kingdom of Lucia side, although they kept increasing troops on the border line, they did not make any actual movements.

Although it was said that the Taiswei Mountains were the dividing line between the Kingdom of Nohan and the Kingdom of Lucia. But it did not form a favorable terrain close to a natural barrier like the hills in the north. In between, there were quite a few relatively wide valleys or long and narrow wildernesses.

This made the “door-blocking” type of fortress like Brandenburg unusable here. Even with that much funds to build a medieval version of the “Maginot Line” here, the Duchy of Nohan could not produce so many soldiers to fill the defense line!

What Mencius said, “To secure the state, one does not rely on the dangers of mountains and rivers; to guard the people, one does not rely on the boundaries of borders; to awe the world, one does not rely on the sharpness of military weapons.” His main intention was to hope that rulers could treat commoners well, not that these things themselves were unimportant. For the Duchy of Nohan, of course, they hoped to have “the dangers of mountains and rivers” between themselves and the Kingdom of Lucia! It was just that the heavens did not grant their wish.

During this period, the situation between the two countries seemed to be intensifying, as if a single fuse would ignite two huge powder kegs. But at the high level, both sides maintained considerable restraint, which was a stage of strategic stalemate.

If originally only the high-level officials of the Duchy of Nohan knew about the ambition of the Kingdom of Lucia and the possible threat of war. Then now the other side’s obvious performance had fully conveyed this information to all the people of insight in the Duchy.

The knights of Nohan were not afraid of challenges, let alone threats. Therefore, those nobles in the Duchy who had previously coveted the land of the Kingdom of Coruz naturally changed their past positions after this battle. And after George caught the handle of the Kingdom of Lucia, the negotiations under the table between the two countries had never stopped.

However, although this hurricane was caused by George, it seemed to have opened a considerable distance from George for the time being. At least in the following nearly two months, it did not cause any impact on George’s daily life. Knight Val did not pass any messages to him either, as if it was like a stone sinking into the sea.

The weather was getting colder day by day, and the so-called “training in the coldest days of winter” was just the right time. Unfortunately, the current George could only practice alone outdoors. Whether it was Hiren or Ben or those little companions, none of them were willing to exercise with George in the snow.

In winter, the weather was relatively cold, and the temperature was low. Affected by the low temperature, the human body had to save its own heat to maintain survival. This was the body’s own reaction. Reducing exercise could reduce the consumption of heat, thereby storing more heat to avoid loss. Therefore, people became lazy in winter. In fact, it was the same principle as those hibernating animals. Those hibernating animals hibernated to reduce heat consumption. It was not without reason that winter made people lazy.

Therefore, although the other Squires maintained high-intensity training every day under sufficient diet. But they all placed their training grounds in the Watchtowers or the stone houses of the tunnels. Of course, this could not be said to be entirely the inertia of Human nature, but since there was a better environment, most people felt there was no need to deliberately suffer!

So when George moved and jumped in the snow that was over his ankles, and the Longsword in his hand shuttled through the sky full of flying snow like a flowing rainbow. There seemed to be some gossip spreading among those nobles in Brandenburg.

The most widespread one seemed to be a statement derived from the blessing George had previously received in the Temple of the Lord of Justice. It seemed to say that this blessing was a variant of the “blessing of poverty”, requiring ascetic practice in a harsh environment to maintain the long-term effect of the blessing.

Of course, the most likely person to spread this rumor seemed to be Hiren, who only had a smattering of knowledge about the inside story. As for the later rumors that George whipped himself with a whip dipped in cold water, or slept on a bed of nails, George adopted the attitude of “the pure will be pure, the turbid will be turbid” and completely ignored them. However, his negative attitude of avoiding battle seemed to make the rumors have an increasingly fierce trend. Even Green started to use these rumors to tease George in his words.

As for the reason why George did this, it was because according to the records of the Eastern Martial Arts obtained before. Practicing in the snow helped with the mastery and improvement of the Steel Soul Style in the school. Although the specific reason was not known yet, with the attitude of “better to believe it exists than not”, George still trained unremittingly. After all, it was a method passed down for thousands of years and practiced by countless people, so it must have its value of existence.

“Knight Val, why did you drag me back in such a hurry?” George, who was on duty, was dragged into the stone house by Knight Val.

“Good news! Great news!” Knight Val showed unprecedented excitement in front of George.

Seeing Knight Val’s behavior of losing his composure like this made George feel a bit surprised.

When Knight Val noticed that George was staring at him with a strange look. He cleared his throat slightly and said: “Cough! Cough! The results of the negotiations between the Duchy and the Kingdom of Lucia are out. However, because it is a secret treaty, under the guarantee of a special Contract, we cannot know the specific content. But judging from the reward for our Bolerum Territory, the Duchy indeed made a huge profit!”

“Oh! What kind of reward?” George was also interested now; no one would be indifferent to this. Especially since even Knight Val was moved by the reward.

Knight Val took a deep breath and said: “It is Greywood Town! Greywood Town has been merged into Bolerum Territory from now on.”

“Territory expansion, it is actually territory expansion!” George’s excitement for a moment was no less than that of Knight Val.

Although Greywood Town had just suffered a severe blow, it was not so easy to be granted to a subject. This was the first time in nearly 50 years that there was a territory expansion in the Duchy of Nohan! The magnitude of the merit was imaginable.

Although George wanted to return to the Territory right now to handle the takeover matters. But he still patiently waited for the end of the border defense.

The dance steps of Aylouth, the Daughter of Frost, gradually slowed down under the effect of the Applethwaite warm current, and Pelor, Sun God, seemed to start stretching after dozing off for a winter.

Gradually, Shantiya also woke up from that deep sleep, opened her sleepy eyes, and began to tidy up her neglected garden for a season. The leaves were no longer the golden yellow of the old days; after sleeping through the winter, the wind and frost had faded their colors, densely covering the muddy ground, and spring revealed her shy green in the cracks.

Thousands of small lives were stretching complacently, stretching their bodies that had rested for a winter. The impatient ones had already poked their little heads out early, mocking the icy and snowy land that was already strong on the outside but weak on the inside.

The north wind and blizzard that had been following Aylouth began to retreat, and the ports of the Northern Lands unsealed one by one. All this represented the fading of her authority. The final waltz of Aylouth, the Daughter of Frost, was about to come to an end. Every year at the spring equinox, the solid ice that constituted the Sword of Winter began to melt and drip, eventually leaving only an exquisite rose. This flower could transmit the power of life, rain, and hope to the earth that had just woken up.

The frost and snow melted slowly. Below the slopes where the snow melted, clear snow water gathered into a trickling stream, like a small waterfall, flying into the depression at the foot of the mountain.

The waterfall that poured into the calm lake was the laughter of Ada, the Goddess of Singing Springs. Like someone who had just been liberated from a long-closed environment.

In Bolerum Territory, on the uneven roof tiles, there were still some unmelted spring snow. Looking further, there were distant mountains wearing white hats, and the two rows of trees drawing new branches standing by the mountains and waters, and the river water flowing back on the east, west, and south sides of the Territory combined to form a scene of early spring.

The spring sunshine gently soothed the earth that had been tortured by the cold winter. All things gradually recovered from the cold and lonely deep sleep. On the dark black land after the ice and snow melted, the power of Shantiya made the seeds in the frozen soil sprout tender green seedlings that stood tenaciously in the slightly cold morning wind. The earth was covered with a thick green carpet. Unfortunately, there was still residual snow on the shady side of the surface. The earth was mottled, like a spotted cow lowering its head to graze in the pasture.

Songbirds with loud voices sang happily and flew among the blue sky and white clouds. The animals that woke up from hibernation endured the burning torment of their stomachs, rushing impatiently from their hiding places to the vast natural world, greedily preying on all the food that could fill their shriveled bellies. Fresh tender leaves, green berries, plump insects, and energetic wild rabbits and elks, they constituted the stable foundation of the pyramid link by link on the food chain.

And the daisies blooming on the wilderness, she was like a pure and innocent shy girl. Although she was not the kind of woman who would immediately attract people’s attention, the more one looked, the more one could discover her beauty and merits. This was the moment when Sheila Perill put down the “Thorn of the Oak” in her hand and showed her gentle and feminine side.

The civil officials of Bolerum Territory began to get busy for the harvest of the new year. After discussion and consultation with the few Druids in the Territory, it was determined to adopt targeted and effective methods for this year’s spring plowing. Thus, the experienced civil officials immediately began on-site guidance for the farmers who had become active with the rising temperature.

At the same time, as the Acting Lord, George finally reached the moment to return to his own Territory. The things that happened this season were more than those in the previous year. George could already imagine the mountain of documents in the Territory and the myriad of things waiting for him to go back and handle!