Chapter 839: Armed merchant fleet

Number 1 gave a big salute to the crystal ball, stepped back, and stopped talking unnecessarily.

He went back to the door of the queen’s chamber and lightly knocked on it. The voice of the queen came from inside, asking, “What did he say?”

Number 1 whispered, “He said that we shouldn’t engage in these petty conspiracies and should focus on city development and naval expansion.”

The queen remained silent, seemingly contemplating the issue. After a few minutes, she spoke in a deep voice, understanding the situation, “Overseas cities ultimately require support and backing from our own kingdom. If we develop our navy and control the seas, the naval forces of the Kingdom of Norma won’t be able to support their colonies on the new continent. In that case, what’s the point of subverting those colonies? They will collapse on their own.”

Number 1 listened quietly without expressing an opinion. After a while, he heard the queen ask in a low voice, “How are the preparations for the coal supply ports on the new continent?”

One replied, “The coal vein discovered by Godfather in the Titan Mountains has already begun large-scale mining. It is transported from the newly built Shuangqing City to the ports via railways. According to the reports, the ports have stocked enough coal to supply our steel warships for five voyages. Our steel warships are now capable of crossing the ocean and roaming around the new continent.”

“Excellent!” exclaimed the queen. “With the steel warships as the core, we will form a large fleet and sail along the coasts of the new continent, demonstrating our strength. Only then will the People of Norma dare not mess with our merchant ships.”

Several days later, on the new continent.

The once captured port town, after extensive development, had become quite prosperous. Due to the gradual development model proposed by Robb, the Kingdom of Gran only had five cities on the new continent so far, including the two cities of Westwind, which were established later.

One of them was the port town, another was a small town for mining Saronite, followed by Jingguan City controlled by Robb for mining Mithril, and Shuangqing City built in the Titan Mountains for mining Titansteel, coal, and iron ore. Lastly, there was a gold mine being constructed under the leadership of the fugitive knight, but for now, it was only a simple mine and hadn’t developed into a village yet. The mine housed some miners, and even for purchasing other items, they needed to travel by railway to Shuangqing City or Jinguan City.

Among these five cities, the best-developed one was Robb’s Shuangqing City, as it was responsible for mining and thus the most lively and commercially prosperous. However, the most bustling port, where all the ships traveling between the two continents stayed, unloading goods such as sugar and cloth produced in the Kingdom of Gran, and loading cocoa beans, gemstones, gold, and other items purchased from the new continent, was under the control of the queen. They would then set sail back to the Kingdom of Gran.

A merchant convoy, loaded with goods, has just set sail.

This convoy consists of three armed merchant ships, jointly funded by two sea merchants. They are close friends who used to engage in trade in Lost City but have now relocated their headquarters to the coastal city of the Kingdom of Gran.

This time, the two merchants set sail together to the new continent to purchase a large quantity of cocoa beans, aiming to make a big profit.

Each ship captain has a daughter who also accompanied them on the voyage. These two young girls were originally the little dark nuns from Westwind City, but since the incident of the Church of Darkness rebellion, they have begun to question their lives. Now they have returned to a secular life, wearing ordinary women’s dresses and appearing sweet and lovely.

At this moment, the two ship captains, or fathers, are commanding the sailors, while the two young girls are leaning over the bow of the flagship, gazing at the vast and expansive sea. They hold two pieces of chocolate in their hands.

One of the girls says, “The new continent is such an interesting place.”

The other girl smiles and says, “The chocolate made by Godfather here is delicious. I’ve fallen in love with this kind of snack.”

“It’s just expensive!”

“It’s not too bad. It’s quite cheap to buy in the new continent, especially the chocolate made by the Maya people.”

“These Maya people are quite clever. They know to buy sugar from us and turn it into chocolate to sell back to us. They definitely didn’t naturally possess this skill. Godfather must have taught them.”

“Hahaha! Godfather enjoys teaching others various peculiar skills.”

As the two girls talk, they start to miss Godfather a bit.

One of them pouts and says, “We haven’t seen him on this trip to the new continent.”

“I heard he went to Shuangqing City, a city located deep in the western mountains. There was no chance for us to meet him.”

“Ah!”

The two girls gaze towards the west with effort, but at this point, the fleet has already set off, heading towards the vast sea. The new continent in the west is getting farther and farther away, and they can no longer even see the coastal areas, let alone the western mountains.

The two of them feel a sense of melancholy…

“Never mind, we’ll see him next time we come to the new continent.”

The three armed merchant ships sailed eastward, covering hundreds of nautical miles in no time. The journey had been calm and peaceful until one noon when the two young girls were fishing by the ship’s side. Suddenly, they heard a sailor responsible for lookout shouting, “Oh no, warships from the Kingdom of Norma! Five large sailing ships from the Kingdom of Norma!”

The sailors on the ship immediately became tense!

Warships from the Kingdom of Norma were not to be trifled with. With their large number of wooden sailing ships, the Kingdom of Norma had always held dominance near the vicinity of the new continent. Whenever they spotted a merchant ship from the Kingdom of Gran, they would rush over to plunder and pillage.

It was said that the King of Norma had even issued “letters of marque” to some of their warships, allowing them to plunder any non-national ships. Under such circumstances, most vessels from the Church of Darkness and the Kingdom of Gran would travel in groups or set sail under the protection of their own fleet.

However, recently, the sailing schedule of the Kingdom of Gran’s First Fleet did not align with the fathers of the two young girls. So the two fathers decided to take a risky move and sail on their own, hoping that luck would prevent them from encountering the Norma people.

Unfortunately, their luck seemed to have run out, and their fears became reality.

“Steer the ship, turn back on the same route…”

“No time, they’re warships, much faster than us. We’re still hundreds of nautical miles away from the port, we can’t escape.”

“Prepare for battle!”

“What about the cannons? Get our cannons ready.”

“Attack while attempting to flee.”

All the sailors on the ship began to take action. The two young girls were also terrified, but having experienced many things in Westwind City, they weren’t completely overwhelmed. They followed behind their fathers and shouted, “Father, we can help too. We know healing magic.”

“Good, you’ll be responsible for healing the injured sailors.”