World Development System 116 46. Problem of Pirates.

Fjord, "Hmm... so even the big pirate fleets are facing losses against those ballistas. No worries we will start using our magicians against them so as to break the bottleneck we are in right now. Tell Grim and Ralph that they can hire and bring Magicians at will for their raids from now on. That count thinks that just because he has one weapon he can win a war? Then he is quite naive. I will make sure he pays for his offense against Laguna house."

Just now Darius came to the court, A lot of ministers were surprised after watching Darius injured. Duke Fjord also took an opportunity to ask as he thought if there were any problems during the Fleet raids, "Darius, did you get injured and lost your left eye by Morgan family's men when you were raiding their ships. Did they get aggressive because of all the harassing we did at night? This might be our chance."

To this Grim came near Duke Fjord and whispered in his ear as he explained the earlier situation to him.
Duke Fjord's face was pretty scary when he heard about the incident.
There were a lot of gossips being whispered when people saw Darius enter the court with his injured left eye.
One of the bureaucrats whispered, "I heard he lost his left eye when he and his knights tried to raid Henry's family on Duke's orders. Henry's wife was the one who injured him when he tried to take..."

The minister of commerce interrupted, "Shh... don't talk this taboo topic, see Duke Fjord's face, he is already quite scary because there aren't any good results from the raids on Morgan Family ships. And now he got another humiliating topic by this left eye of Darius, people will talk about this topic whenever they see his eye. Already a lot of people in Laguna town know about this incident. Nowadays Duke is rallying all the lords for men so that he could start a war with that Count in case Duke Sapphire decide to pincer him"

The bureaucrat nodded and spoke in a very small voice, "Yeah, I heard Henry's wife took her own life instead of getting captured by Darius and his men. Though the Duke's personal knight order might not show any remorse. A lot of previous mates of Henry are quite enraged because of the petty politics played by Darius and Prince Grim. As for gathering Lords, its obvious that he wants cannon fodder so that he can loot the North-frontier town with minimal losses."

The minister made a motion on his lips to quiet the bureaucrat down and whispered to him, "Look, be quiet, don't talk on this topic anymore. This is quite a sensitive time, at least not in front of those knights, they are already vying for power since got an opportunity for a war on land."

Duke Fjord roared as he heard Grim, "Damn this whole family of traitors. Haven't we faced enough humiliation? Look for that Demon brat of that traitor as well. And try looking for that traitor's father in law. As for you Darius, Can't you handle a mere woman and child? You should be ashamed to lose an eye to that woman with so many of our men around. Initially, I thought you had lost an eye because of Morgan family's men."

One of the knights whispered to his mates, "I don't think we could find Lucy's father as he has been wandering for years now after Lucy ran off with Henry and married him."

The other guy spoke, "Whatever. Let the duke keep his face. Don't mention it loudly over here."
****
Meanwhile, Eric was having headaches as he complained, "Damn, these pirates just won't stop coming. I guess they are quite greedy for these ballistas to rule the seas after watching its power. Even that Shannon of Duke Fjord's naval fleet was salivating for these cannons after facing defeat."

Sean meanwhile spoke, "Well, it is still better as the morale of the crew is high because of all the victories we have had at this fleet nowadays. And we can't stop those pirates with force these days anyway because we know the feeling of ruling the seas because of these ballistas."

Eric laughed a bit, "Haha, quite true and to the point Sean. Well, we still won't have to worry right now atleast. However, those pirates are quite big nuisances these days. From now on we will increase the intensity so that they can get a lesson. Look another pirate crew came here. Tell the men to get ready. We will start with this crew. They should already know the difference between a lizard and a Dragon."

Sean saluted and got back to give the orders to the crew, "Yes. Right on it, Captain."

*****
At the same time in North-frontier town,
Tornwall meanwhile was laughing hysterically in his workshop, "Hahahaha, I am sure lord would be quite happy after watching this in action. I should immediately inform him."
People outside workshop whispered, "What's going on? Did that old drunkard got senile after getting his freedom?"
One of the Municipality Minister exclaimed after hearing him, "Nothing, He either got a new and better wine or he discovered something stupid again. I would rather spend all the money on the well being of people rather than all these useless experiments."

People sighed as they heard Jean's more political bullshit, "Well, it's good that he is not a corrupt and hence he got his position. I guess the higher ups just bear his bullshit and don't listen to it as long as it isn't useful."

Tornwall left his workshop as he headed immediately to John's Mansion. Eva saw Tornwall.
Eva looked at Tornwall who was in a hurry in the market as she called him out, "Hmm... looking at your face, I can see that you either got a box full of those new wines or you made some discovery while experimenting."

Tornwall stopped the carriage as he spoke to Eva, "haha, I guess you are right, but Miss Eva as I am in quite a hurry I would like to meet Lord first. I will meet you later."

Eva smiled and spoke as she saw Tornwall leaving in a hurry, "Hmph... Well, you can go to John's Mansion but you won't be able to find him over there. Today he will be at the market relaxing a bit after inaugurating the Administrative headquarters. I guess you were cooped up in the workshop as you don't know about today's plan. I too am going to meet him right now as I was not able to meet him for a long while and it was also Grandma who insisted on meeting him today."

Tornwall perked his ears as he heard Eva and stopped the carriage, "Miss Eva, would you be kind enough to direct me to Lord so I can inform him of the latest developments at the workshop?"

Eva spoke as she saw Tornwall changing his tunes immediately, "Well since you are insisting, I will not be petty, I will take you with me."

Eva said to the man handling the carriage, "Take us to the Administrative Headquarters."

Tornwall spoke as he knew about some of the things, "It seems Mayor Sam's work for the Administrative Headquarters has finished, I guess he will be in charge of the implementation of Courts and Laws to all the departments. That brat Ryfon too will be hovering around my house now that he has finished building the Headquarters for the new wines."

Eva laughed as she heard Tornwall speak about Ryfon, "You don't have to worry about that, nowadays Ryfon is directly heading to Hope as Hope too offers new wines so his dilemma is solved. And because of his phenomenal work recently, he is given 1 year's worth of free wine at Hope. I think you should contact Redbeer as he is handling the winery nowadays. This wine is selling for a lot in the black market nowadays outside of North-frontier city because of its low supply."

Tornwall thought as he heard, "I guess this is because people can only buy it small quantities daily. I think it is 2 bottles a person and it is quite expensive so mostly it is the rich traders in the city who buy them and they are also employing people to buy them. As for speaking of Ryfon, that brat is only reaping the benefits of my work. This winery wouldn't even have started without me so everyone should praise this Lord. I wish I too can get free wines for a year, that way I can save some money for the new house near the institute. There have been a lot of houses, mansions and buildings being created in our town. I guess people have a lot of choices and interests."

Chapter end