The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 255 The Cannon Fires

At Trolop's invitation, Eric, Natalia, and Kasha, who had regained her human form, returned to the beach and enjoyed a delicious seafood feast.

"Putting everything else aside, the merfolk are really good at catching these things; they can catch them as soon as they go into the water, and they can catch them one by one."

Trollope tore into the grilled octopus in his hand, "Even though I'm almost sick of it."

Eric and his two companions sat on either side of the fire, while fish, scallops, and other seafood not commonly found on land were being grilled on a rack in the middle.

Eric glanced back at the ships anchored in the bay. "The captain wants to eat things from the mainland. That should be pretty simple, right?"

“Of course,” Trollope replied immediately. “But Your Highnesses just came from over there, so I think you would prefer this.”

Eric smiled. "The captain really went to great lengths. It would have been great if he had just asked about my gender beforehand."

"Haha, Your Highness really holds a grudge."

"How's the first mate's ear? If it's not better yet, I can treat it." Eric looked around but couldn't see the first mate he had stabbed.

"It's nothing, just a minor injury. A siren's licking it will heal it. Those things like to lick men anyway."

"..."

Natalia frowned, then pretended not to hear and took a bite of the grilled fish in her hand.

Kasha was playing with an octopus that hadn't been put on the grill yet. Her hands were all sticky, and the octopus's head was peeking out from between her fingers, which gave Eric a strange sense of familiarity.

"Marco!"

Trollope looked at the merchant beside him. "You're clever to bring the two princes here instead of Evil Island. How do you want me to thank you?"

Marco took a sip of his drink. "We've been working together for so many years, Captain. It's enough that you remember my kindness."

"That won't do! Every time I talk to you about money, you talk about feelings and how much money I've spent! You have to tell me now."

Marco sighed, "Then, Captain, please waive the escort fee for next month."

"Are you sure?" Trollope glanced at him sideways. "I can promise you now, but I might not remember next month."

Marco gave a wry smile. "Did I have any other choice?"

Trollope chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.

Eric and Natalia on the other side exchanged a glance, then pretended not to have heard anything.

They had almost reached an agreement with Trolop. The pirate captain's pirate forces would protect the recruitment office they would set up on the island and would guide fishmen from the island and surrounding islands to apply. They would also provide some protection on the recruitment ship's return to the mainland—mainly without taking action themselves.

In return, they would regularly provide the pirates on the island with supplies from the mainland and pay them extra gold coins based on the number of fishmen they recruited.

The most time-consuming part of the negotiations was this. Natalia initially offered Trolop one gold coin for every hundred murlocs recruited, while his counter-offer was one gold coin per murloc.

After a long back and forth, the two sides finally reached a result that was barely satisfactory to each other.

Now that the negotiations are over, Eric is just waiting to return to the hotel to set up the first recruitment point—the people who need to be stationed here have already come over on the same ship as them.

"Wouldn't Your Highnesses like to try our own wine?" Trollope raised his glass again.

The two declined, and Eric said, "We'll begin our operation once we return to North Harbor, Captain. We'll need you to write us a letter, or give us a token, so that your men over there can cooperate with our operations."

"Yeah... no problem."

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Trollope handed them a short sword, indicating that his men would obey them upon seeing it.

As they prepared to leave, Eric spotted a pirate on a horse of unknown origin riding ahead of them.

Eric pretended not to see it and calmly said goodbye to the pirate captain.

"You've been playing with the octopus all day, did you wash your hands?"

"washed."

Kasha transformed back into an owl and perched on his shoulder.

Riding on horseback and pulling Natalia along, Eric, led by Marco, headed back.

After leaving the port, Eric finally asked, "Marco, doesn't Trollope have any real gratitude at all?"

Marco paused for a moment, then remembered what had just happened and shook his head. "Trolopp isn't that stingy. But he likes to get the better of others with words. He'll give you what he deserves and make reductions as he sees fit."

Natalia, supporting Eric's waist, said, "What surprised me was that he actually said he would consider having Danvers send troops to wipe out the other pirates."

“That’s also setting a price,” Eric said.

"Ok?"

Eric tilted his head slightly. "The price has been agreed upon now. If he's not satisfied later, he can cause some trouble during the transport and blame it on other pirates, then demand a higher reward. It will be difficult for us to refuse."

Natalia frowned immediately. "A pirate is a pirate."

Eric sighed. "There's nothing I can do. This is their territory, so I'll just consider it a way to save time and money."

Furthermore, this also shows that the other pirates in the archipelago are not yet a real threat to Trollope—conversely, if Trollope felt threatened, he wouldn't be able to think of anything else.

With Marco beside him, Eric didn't say it aloud, and he wouldn't stay there long anyway. The one who really needed to consider these things was Danvers, and he believed the governor wouldn't be unaware of them.

After running for a while, Eric looked down at the horse beneath him.

While they were talking to Trollope, the two horses had eaten a lot of grass and seemed to have recovered their strength. Now, carrying him and Natalia uphill, they were no longer as panting as they had been when they came.

It wasn't exactly easy either.

Eric looked up at Kasha, who was flying in mid-air, and waved the reins.

After traversing mountains and valleys and crossing the central part of the island once again, Eric and his group returned to the North Port where they had landed, and it was already quite late.

However, upon returning here, Eric immediately summoned the assistants Danvers had assigned to him from Westwind City and began working on establishing recruitment points.

When he took the short sword Trollope had given him to his men, they were not surprised at all. Apparently, the pirate Trollope had sent before they set off had come to inform them of the situation.

With the pirates' permission and assistance, the initial plan proceeded smoothly, and before nightfall, the first merman recruitment point was established near the port—it was just a rather rudimentary registration point.

"We want to build the largest transit hub here."

As darkness fell, Eric stood at the harbor, facing the sea breeze, and said this to Natalia.

"The merfolk recruited in the archipelago, regardless of which island or sea they come from, must be transported here to Westwind City and Sunset City, and they will begin to be subject to control from here."

Natalia gazed at the dark sea, then looked back at the port town not far away. "Should we train those fishmen right here?"

“At the very least, we need to make them understand who they should listen to, and what they can and cannot do once they're ashore. After completing this initial training, we'll send them to the mainland for combat training near Lutia,” Eric said.

Natalia looked at him and nodded. "Then we'll need a lot of space... and quite a few houses for the merfolk to live in."

“We also need to provide food every day,” Eric added.

Natalia took a breath. "Training, food, lodging, and transportation all cost money, not to mention arming them before sending them to the battlefield... I feel like the aid we've received is far from enough."

Eric turned around and smiled, but didn't say anything. "Go back, we have to get up early tomorrow."

Kasha had already arrived at the tavern and prepared food for the two of them.

"I think we can eat some cheap local food later."

"...We're not that poor, Your Highness. But I don't mind changing things up once in a while; you can't even get this kind of seafood in Oren City."

"You can't get it in Lutia either."

"Really? So even royalty can't eat seafood?" Eric couldn't quite control his tone.

Natalia seemed to want to roll her eyes, but she held back. "Anyway, I've never eaten anything from the seaside as far back as I can remember."

"We've discovered a blue ocean."

Eric tore at the leg of lamb in his hand. "Looks like we can develop inland fresh food transportation after the war. This world has magic and divine arts, so keeping things fresh shouldn't be a problem." Or maybe we could just let the winged people handle air transport, he thought.

Although she didn't fully understand, Natalia took it as a joke, but it reminded her of some past events, and she gradually fell silent.

"I wonder how Your Majesty is doing all alone in Lutia," she murmured.

Eric wiped the oil off his hands. "His Majesty may be a little lonely, but he is absolutely safe. Your Highness, please eat quickly. Perhaps when we return to the hotel, we will receive a letter from the mainland."

He planned to stay here until he sent the first batch of merman mercenaries to the mainland, which would take at least another half month. He couldn't let the connection with the mainland be severed. Fortunately, the location of the island was fixed, unlike a lone boat at sea. The winged people would simply have to fly a little further across the sea, and the news would be delayed by a day.

Natalia nodded and continued with her dinner.

Back at the hotel, there were no letters from anyone, but there was a summary of intelligence from the mainland.

Natalia took the intelligence upstairs and went to Eric's room to look at it with him.

"The old king of the Kingdom of Arsha is critically ill?" Natalia suddenly came across a piece of information that was of particular interest and read it aloud.

Eric was taken aback and quickly moved closer.

"..."

Natalia glanced at his close-up face and turned the intelligence report in her hand toward him.

"Does Your Highness think the old king can pull through?" She lowered her voice unconsciously.

"It won't last much longer."

Eric's gaze remained fixed on the intelligence, and his reply was much more decisive than she had expected, "The next time we receive relevant information, it should be the obituary of this... well, this King Al-Ghabi."

Based on the few scattered memories he had of the Arsha royal family, at the time the game launched, the new king of Arsha had been on the throne for three or four years and had begun to hunt down his rebellious younger brother throughout Arsha.

Conversely, the old king's death occurred around this time.

"Perhaps it's because the old king is seriously ill that he hasn't responded to our request for a joint resistance against the demons," Natalia speculated.

Eric dismissed it, saying, "The old king is gone, but the young king is still handling state affairs. There's no reason why he wouldn't have time to reply to a letter."

Natalia looked at him: "Your Highness means..."

“Arsha is currently under the rule of the eldest prince, Alaric, who is unwilling to lend a hand. When the old king dies and he becomes the new king, he will still have the same attitude,” Eric asserted.

Natalia frowned, raising her voice slightly, "Is Your Highness certain?"

Eric looked away from the intelligence report, only to realize he had been too close. He pulled back slightly. "This is just a guess, but I think it's highly likely. Would Your Highness like to make a bet with me?"

Natalia wasn't in the mood for that. "That wouldn't be good for us."

Eric shrugged. "Although I also feel it's a pity, upon closer inspection, even if Arsha were willing to help us, there's not much they could offer."

"Arsha is bordered by the Empire of Dorne and Kogano to the north, the Chaotic Lands to the east, and the Southern Kingdoms to the south. Its borders have never been peaceful."

"It is a small country that has become independent from the empire and is too busy to take care of itself. Your Highness should be grateful for their sincerity in sending a hundred cavalrymen to support us."

Natalia paused for a moment, then sighed, "That's true..."

But then she quickly remembered something. "I remember when we were still in Lutia, His Highness mentioned the Kingdom of Arsha when he talked about our journey south. Wasn't it because he had some expectations for them?"

Eric thought for a moment, "Perhaps it's because it's closer and safer to travel through the Kingdom of Arsha to the southern kingdoms?"

"Ok."

Natalia seemed to have given up on something, and sighed softly.

Eric glanced at her impassively, almost wanting to laugh.

The enormous expense required to recruit soldiers seemed to have really spurred her on.

After reviewing the intelligence reports in their hands, the two exchanged them and reviewed them again, but there was nothing else of greater interest.

“There’s still a lot to do tomorrow…” Natalia was about to go to rest when Kasha from next door appeared at Eric’s door.

"Are you ready to rest?" she asked.

Natalia didn't know if she was asking herself or Eric.

...Or perhaps this is some kind of hint.

"OK, good night."

Eric sensed that her tone had suddenly become harsher, paused for a moment, and felt deeply wronged.

Kasha just came to say a casual greeting before going to bed.

He had already told her that if it was an ordinary night without a storm, they would rest separately, since the room wasn't well soundproofed and he was quite concerned about Natalia's feelings.

But this matter cannot be explained.

"Goodnight. I need to rest too," he said to Natalia and Kasha.

"Goodnight." Kasha waved to him and Natalia respectively, then went straight back to her room.

Natalia opened her mouth slightly, glanced at Eric, said nothing, and went back to her room.

After illuminating the ball of light from the previous session, Eric reviewed the intelligence delivered that day before going to bed.

The next day, Eric and Natalia got up early and continued to work on setting up a base and transit station.

They found a large open space near the port town and had the men sent by the pirate leader Trollope fence it off for the initial training of the merman mercenaries.

Finding accommodation is a bit of a hassle. Since we're going to set up a transit point here, we need to be able to accommodate a considerable number of fishmen. Staying in hotels would be too expensive, and there are very few vacant houses on the island, especially near the port, that can accommodate so many fishmen.

After discussing it, Eric and Natalia decided to build some houses next to the training grounds for the fishmen to live in.

"It just so happens that if there are no dormitories next to the training ground, it feels like something is missing... I might as well build my own, since I have everything I need. It doesn't need to be too nice, just something that can keep out the rain and wind and provide a place to sleep."

Including their own hotel, most of the buildings on the island are wooden houses, which are relatively quick to build.

Construction began around the training grounds, and Eric and Natalia had to prepare for the supporting facilities, such as the most basic one, the canteen, and arrange for people to prepare food.

After several busy days, when the few roughly made wooden cabins were completed, Eric and Natalia even went inside to experience them.

Looking at the makeshift bed made of logs with bark still scraped off, Natalia frowned: "This can be considered a bed?"

“The fish-men have tough skin, so sleeping on this is no different from sleeping on a large bed with goose down underneath,” Eric said.

“Okay…” Natalia didn’t say anything more in the end.

Eric himself, looking at these makeshift bed boards, also felt as if the skin of a fishman was turning black.

He could only console himself with the fact that the fish-men who came here were doing so voluntarily, and that they would even pay him.

"Let's go check out the recruitment point at the dock."

"it is good."

Upon arriving at the recruitment point, the recruiters were loudly proclaiming the generous rewards for becoming mercenaries on the mainland and serving the empire. There were quite a few merfolk watching, but few were interested; their expressions were as numb as those of laborers carrying heavy loads.

Eric wasn't in a hurry. The dormitories for the fishmen were now completed, and once the first batch of fishmen arrived, what they gained would be known to all the fishmen who were watching.

What greatly propelled this process was a group of fish-man pirates sent by Trolop, who, to put it bluntly, were planted.

Although their reformation was fake, the food they received every day was undeniably real. To the fishmen watching from the outside, it was a more powerful temptation than any verbal incitement—for a considerable number of fishmen on the island, even daily sustenance was a luxury.

The number of fishmen who signed up quickly surged.

“Screening? Of course we have to screen.” Eric answered Natalia’s question. “The standards are being established, and those that don’t meet the criteria will be eliminated. The archipelago has no shortage of merfolk, so we won’t miss a few more.”

"And it's not just about the selection criteria, but also a series of subsequent processes. At the very least, we have to verify that our ideas can be fully implemented before we can leave here."

(End of this chapter)