Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 57 Chartering a Boat
The women's march in the capital ended with the violent death of the Duke of Dacros. The Emperor was furious and personally issued an important decree to severely punish the murderers of the Duke.

The guards went out in groups, armed with knives and guns, knocking on doors and entering to drag out the women of the house who were cooking for interrogation. Within a few days, hundreds of people were arrested.

Various media outlets heavily criticized the protesters, calling them "thugs," "executioners," and "criminals deserving of hellfire." The Amazon Association, previously known for its tough stance, did not stubbornly confront the headwinds in public opinion.

Her Majesty the Queen remained completely silent on the matter. When asked about it at a salon among noblewomen, she simply said, "Act according to the law," and said no more.

Anyone with a brain can realize that giving the Dacros family an explanation and appeasing the anger of the nobles in the capital is already a consensus among the bigwigs.

Commander of the Imperial Capital Garrison, Rein Fahre, resigned in disgrace, and the court quickly announced the name of his successor:

Rello Dacross.

As is well known, the famous Imperial Chancellor Nemorton, during his more than forty years in power, brought the Darkcross family's prestige to its zenith—meaning that it could only decline from then on.

After Nemorton's death, none of his descendants ever held any court positions, clearly indicating that the royal family would not allow a second Nemorton to emerge.

It can only be said that Duke Darkros's death was truly brilliant, perfectly breaking the royal family's control over the Darkros family. His death was greater than all the contributions he made to the family throughout his life.

Although Raylor Dacros shares the same surname as Raynor, his personality is completely different; he is the kind of aloof and unapproachable young master.

On his first day in office, he announced that he would reorganize the finances and re-examine the accounts, and ordered all the guards of the capital to hand over all the security tax and cleaning tax they received to the public.

Magus subtly hinted to him that, according to past practice, a portion of the two taxes would be set aside as fieldwork expenses for the guards. As a result, Rello berated him and threatened to "kick all of you tax thieves out of the camp."

This caused quite a stir.

With the meager salaries of the capital's guards, it's certainly not enough to support their families. Everyone relies on collecting taxes from shops to make a living, and now this new commander comes in and just bans things like that?
Brothers, we've rebelled!

An open rebellion was out of the question, so the Gold Robe captains held a private meeting and decided to write to Raine, who was returning to the River Bend province, to inform him of the situation in the capital.

There can't be two suns in the sky; in our hearts, there's only one sun: Renn Fahre. As for that guy Rello... he's someone we don't know. Is there any way to get rid of him?
When Renn received the letter, the family caravan was temporarily resting in the Riverlands.

On the return journey, they carried many imperial gifts bestowed by Her Majesty the Empress, and had to be wary of bandits in the surrounding area, so their journey was much slower than the way there.

After reading the letter from Magus, Ryan pondered for a moment, then quickly picked up his pen and wrote:

"No matter what orders the new commander gives, first preserve the corresponding evidence, and then execute them with 200% effort."

As he was writing the letter, Ellina happened to be sitting next to him and caught a glimpse of his reply out of the corner of her eye.

With the intelligence of an elf princess who had received a complete court education, she certainly understood what "200% execution" meant.

Raylor Dacross won't be in this position for long.

That's how cunning necromancers are—inherently evil. Luckily, that Lei Luo wasn't exactly a saint either. Two villains fighting each other, regardless of who ultimately loses and goes to hell, will be a good thing for the world.

Ellina thought so, and even considered herself one of the villains who deserved to go to hell.

Ryan, come with me.

The group arrived at the banks of the Changshui River, where a fleet of ships bearing the banners of the Nightshade Legion had been waiting for some time.

Ellina couldn't help but look at Rein's profile again.

The fleet came to pick him up? When did he contact the Nightshade Legion?

Unfortunately, since getting answers from Raine would require owing her a favor, Ellina could only rely on observation, guessing, and deduction. Raine wouldn't do anything pointless, so his trip wasn't a casual visit to the Nightmare Legion's headquarters; he had business with Legion Commander Claudius.

So what could it be?

Considering that Rennes is going to the rainforest peninsula next, the answer is obvious:

Borrowing a boat.

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"As you can see, our Nightshade Legion does indeed have many ships." Legion Commander Claudius led his men on a tour of the harbor by the Long River, "but the vast majority are in service and cannot be deployed."

"The total area of ​​River Bend Province is roughly the same as the combined area of ​​the four territories of the Empire. Moreover, it is crisscrossed by rivers and has a dense network of waterways. If the supply of ships is insufficient, it will severely restrict the mobility of the legion's soldiers."

“Hmm.” Ryan knew perfectly well that the other party was telling the truth. “I don’t want to lease ships that are still in service. What about those that are past their service life?”

As soon as he heard that Ryan had hit the nail on the head, Claudius knew that he couldn't fool this guy.

All military equipment has a lifespan, and ships are no exception. Every year, the Empire's allocation to the various garrison legions includes the cost of replacing military equipment.

As for whether the old military equipment was completely broken and unusable, or whether it was taken by the legion for other uses, the Empire wouldn't interfere too much.

The Nightmare Legion's approach was to sell them.

In the river-strewn Reach, traveling by boat is often more convenient than riding a horse. Both nobles and merchants maintain a considerable number of merchant ships. Some have even privately told the Nightshade Legion, "We'll take as many ships as you're willing to pay, price is negotiable."

Of course, the Nightmare Legion's fundamental goal in stationing itself in River Bend Province is to ensure that the nobles of River Bend Province do not pose a threat to the Empire. Therefore, it is absolutely unacceptable for them to provide long-term financial support to a few noble families, causing their power to grow too strong. Such a thing would be asking for trouble.

So, what about the Fahre family?
As a noble family guarding the southern border of the Fertile Lands, the Faher people are actually the type of people the Nightshade Legion trusts the most. This is because they are constantly under threat from the wild elf tribes in the southern mountains.

If they were to rebel one day, Fahr's army might enter the Fertile Lands and then the savages might steal the city of Sea Rock.

From a political standpoint, this deal is certainly possible; the only remaining issue is the price.

Claudius, after careful consideration, quietly gave Renn two hand gestures and said:

"Number of ships, price."

"Are they all small boats?" Renn asked to confirm.

“Of course,” the legion commander said decisively. “Larger models are not going to be sold to nobles. But as far as I know, your Sea Rock City has no shortage of shipbuilding capacity.”

Yes, the Fahre family's shipyard on Salt Island certainly doesn't lack shipbuilding capacity, but what it lacks is shipbuilding efficiency.

All the lizardman refugees in the rainforest peninsula had to be transported out, and the family's few fleets were simply not enough. The White Walkers obviously wouldn't wait for Raine to spend several years building enough ships before launching a full-scale attack.

Therefore, renting a large number of ships from the Nightmare Legion is a necessary deal.

Renn quickly recalculated the rental price and discovered that the legion commander was offering a friendly price.

make a deal!

(End of this chapter)