The story of the black silk female knight

"Your Highness, could you perhaps suggest that the Royal Family establish more naval fleets to escort merchant ships? I think many merchant guilds would be willing to pay an additional maritime security protection tax for this purpose."

"...You are not the first businessman to make such a request to the royal family, my friend."

Elseris was lying on Gina's cool, comfortable lap, and it was her turn to play a card, but her luck was clearly not good.

So the princess looked down at the cards in her girlfriend's hand, and under Gina's helpless yet doting gaze, she took away a few good cards and stuffed her own bad cards into the deck. Then, under the disapproving looks of Tia and Lanzhi, she played all the cards in her hand in one go.

The cards the four of them played were quite similar to the poker games Valensa played in her previous life. Although there were many differences in the details of the rules, the basic rule was that whoever ran out of cards first won.

"Haha, I've won again! I'm so amazing!"

Elseris showed no shame for cheating. She first gloated over her victory, then popped two strawberries into her mouth before sighing and answering Yashiro's question:

"But unfortunately, the royal family can't do it... Do you think we don't want to build more fleets to ensure maritime trade? But we just can't do it."

Why can't it be done?

Yashilo refused to give up, and even stood up, stretching her beautiful figure in her thin-strapped swimsuit in the sunlight, and pointed to the warships around the Seravina:

"Although I am just the daughter of a merchant, I know a little about technology... I can estimate the manufacturing cost and production speed of this kind of ordinary warship, and I can also estimate the reserves of various shipbuilding materials in our Fran through the market."

If I'm not mistaken, with our Franco-François capabilities, launching a dozen or so warships like these every month shouldn't be a problem, right? But the entire Franco-François navy seems to have less than fifty warships. Isn't that a bit too few?

"...Your estimate is quite accurate, but you forgot to calculate a very important factor, my friend."

Elserse then picked up two more cherries, put one in her own mouth and fed the other to Gina. After that, the two exchanged cherries with their mouths before putting down Gina, whose body had gone limp. Elserse also stood up, stretched, and pointed to the surrounding warships.

To be precise, it refers to the magic towers on the warship:

“Building warships is not a problem for us in Fran; we can launch two hundred ships a year if we work at full capacity. The problem is, how will our warships maintain their combat effectiveness? It’s the magic towers on the warships! And who will operate the magic towers? It’s the magicians! We simply don’t have enough magicians deployed in the navy, and that’s the most difficult part.”

"A mage... I remember there are quite a few mages in our Fran region, aren't there?"

Yashilo frowned and thought for a moment:

"Based on my family's market share and annual sales of magical materials, it's not difficult to roughly estimate the number of mages in the entire Fran... If my estimate is correct, the number of mages deployed in the navy is only a small fraction, right? What about the rest of the mages?"

"Well..."

Elsers shrugged and looked at Tia again:

"We'll have to ask our future chief strategist, Miss."

Tia was taking off her socks at that moment, white over-the-knee stockings.

Although it's only the end of winter, it's already quite hot in Fran, especially under the sun on the calm sea.

At this moment, the six beautiful girls on the top deck of the Seravina were all wearing swimsuits with very little fabric.

However, Elsers, Gina, Yashiro, and Lanzhi all chose to go bare-legged, while Valensa and Tia still wore black stockings and white over-the-knee stockings with their swimsuits.

However, Tia's obsession with stockings was not as strong as Valensa's. Even though the white over-the-knee stockings she was wearing today were very thin, they were still a bit too hot. In the end, she decided to take off the stockings temporarily and let her slightly sweaty feet feel the sea breeze.

When Elsers turned her gaze and the topic to Valensa, Tia was deliberately slowing down her movements of removing her white stockings many times over to attract Valensa's attention.

Suddenly being watched by everyone, Tia only blushed slightly before continuing to slowly remove her white stockings, while explaining to Yashiro in a serious tone:

"The military has been registering and managing the number of mages in the entire Kingdom of Fran. More than 65% of them serve in the military, about 20% are adventurers, and the rest are distributed in various professions."

Of the mages serving in the military, less than one-tenth were deployed in the navy, with the rest almost all stationed on the northern frontier.

Because compared to the fleet's warships, the fortresses of the northern defense line need mages more.

When merchant ships engaged in maritime trade encounter shipwrecks, at most we lose some extra income... well, extra income. At least in the eyes of most nobles, maritime trade income is extra income, and even if this extra income is often very high, it cannot change their views.

However, if the northern defenses are breached by wild beasts, we will likely lose not only wealth, but also land and people... These are clearly more important to Fran than wealth.

Therefore, until the problem of the wild beasts is completely resolved, the kingdom is unlikely to consider deploying more mages to the navy, and thus will be unable to build more fleets.

Chapter 24 The Idea of ​​Becoming an Arms Dealer

While Yahiro, Elsers, and Tia were discussing maritime trade, Valensa seemed to be lost in thought.

Valensa also wore a very thin-strapped swimsuit with minimal fabric, and the upper part of the swimsuit even featured a bold cutout design. It was the kind of swimsuit that would be difficult to wear out in public, but could be worn by a small group of female friends like this.

Even while wearing this style of swimsuit, Valensa still wore black stockings, the kind that weren't very see-through and were quite stuffy, and she simply crossed her legs together in the sunlight.

Sometimes it was quite noticeable that the sunlight shining on Valensa's black-stockinged legs was much stronger than the sunlight in other parts of the deck.

The same was true now; the scorching sun gave Valensa the illusion that she had put her legs in an oven, making her waist feel weak and making her feel lazy and unwilling to move.

But at the same time, the holy light energy within Valensa's body was also growing rapidly... Every minute she exposed her black-stockinged legs to the sunlight was almost equivalent to more than ten days of arduous training for a normal paladin.

While being pampered by her goddess, Valensa could also see Tia slowly removing her white stockings. She was extremely comfortable, with a blissful expression on her face.

But this infatuation was only on the surface; Valensa had been paying attention to the conversation between Yashiro and Elserse.

When Valencia heard that the Fran fleet could not be expanded because there were not enough mages, a bold idea suddenly popped into her head.

The main reason the navy needs mages is to control the magic towers on warships. These magic towers are like a collection of equipment such as cannons, missiles, radar, and sonar in Valensa's previous life, and are an indispensable part of warships for combat at sea.

What if we disassembled the magic tower's functions?

Just like a magical version of an induction cooker, such as a fully automatic flameless stove, Valensa thought it would be possible for Friggia to create magical versions of ship cannons, missiles, radars, sonars, and other equipment.

These single-function magical devices might not require magic towers to be operated by magicians of at least the Pearl level, but could be operated by magic apprentices or sailors who have received basic magical training.

In this way, Fran could be freed from the constraints of a shortage of mages and could build more fleets to protect maritime trade.

The kingdom can collect more taxes, merchants can reap greater profits from their investments, and the people can buy more useful foreign goods—it's a win-win situation.

Valensa could also make a fortune from this business... For her, selling arms is much easier than selling civilian products, and she can finally bypass the behemoth that is the Nora Chamber of Commerce, and no longer have to let Yashilo take a share of the pie!

The technology belongs to Freya, so she can use it for free... At most, she can make some delicious dairy products to replenish the magic of the Great Witch, which is close enough to not be considered free.

Production can be achieved simply by finding a stable source of nuclear fuel to power the reactors. The facilities and undead in the underground ruins will suffice, without incurring any human costs.

The most crucial factor is still sales.

Previously, Valencia always had to involve Yashilo whenever she launched a new product because the Nora Chamber of Commerce controlled the entire sales channels of Fran.

But selling arms is different. As long as the fleet expansion plan gets approved by the royal family, the Britannia family can completely control the specific procurement plans for weapons and equipment! It's like Tia is using the royal family's money to buy things from Valensa... Wouldn't that be incredibly lucrative?

Valensa became increasingly engrossed in the thought, seemingly already envisioning her plan succeeding, amassing a fortune in gold coins, piling them up in a large pool, and herself, dressed in black stockings, sunbathing, swimming, or sleeping amidst the gold coins... Occasionally, she would even roll around on the gold coins while cuddling a beautiful girl—it couldn't be more blissful!

Snapped!

Just as Valencia was lost in her daydreams, a very light piece of cloth suddenly hit her face, pulling her back to reality.

When she opened her eyes, she realized that what had hit her face was Tia's white stockings that she had just taken off, and in front of her was Tia's angry face and a glass of juice.

"Honestly, what shameless dreams are you having in broad daylight? You were staring at me so intently that you were drooling... Humph, you idiot, you're making a fool of yourself in front of Elsers and the others!"

Seeing that Valensa had come to her senses, Tia immediately began to berate her without any mercy.

Valensa looked up and quickly scanned her surroundings, only to find that while she was still engrossed in the wonderful prospect of her success, Elsers and the others had already finished their conversation and were now watching her and Tia with amusement.

Showing shyness at a time like this would only embolden those watching the spectacle, so Valensa showed no embarrassment whatsoever. Instead, she reached out, hugged Tia, and kissed her.

"You're my darling... isn't it perfectly normal for me to be mesmerized by you? My Tia looks so beautiful without her white stockings, I want to look at her every day from now on!"

"...Idiot! Is that the kind of thing to say in this situation?"

Tia was even more embarrassed. Right after Valensa kissed her, she bit Valensa, but Valensa didn't seem to be in any pain. Instead, she hummed comfortably.

Tia, feeling helpless, could only raise the crystal glass of juice in her hand and change the subject:

"Oh, right, you idiot, my juice isn't cold enough. Quick, get it chilled for me."

"Okay, darling, mua~~"

Valensa kissed Tia on the cheek again before taking the crystal glass from Tia's hand and glaring at her with her bright blue eyes.

A fake magic trick, [slipping on one's feet].

Its ability to make opponents' feet instantly freeze and slip is more than enough to chill juice.

This juice, which had lost some of its flavor from being exposed to the sun for too long, became delicious again after being instantly chilled.

Tia reached out to take the chilled juice and drink it, but Valensa dodged and drank the chilled juice in one gulp.

"you……"

Tia widened her eyes, about to express her dissatisfaction, when she was suddenly attacked by Valensa... Valensa fed her the juice again, in a shy way that still made her blush and her heart race, even though they had been engaged for more than a year.

You can sense that the gazes Yashiro and Elsers are giving you are even more intriguing.

But... so what? Anyway, all the women on this deck are beautiful, and they all have their own girlfriends. If you're envious, just go have some fun by yourself!

With this in mind, Tia stopped struggling and comfortably enjoyed being fed chilled juice while being held by Valensa.

The two had only taken a few sips when a small figure with long, light blue hair ran up to them and stared at them as they drank their juice.

Chapter 25 A New Secret Technique?

"...Uh, Gina-senpai, what's wrong?"

While playing a game of feeding juice to her girlfriend, Valensa was suddenly stared at by another girl squatting in front of her. Even though Valensa's skin was bulletproof in every way, she was too embarrassed to continue sharing chilled juice with Tia.

"Senior Gina is interested in this kind of game? Then you can go and play with Her Highness the Princess."

“She knows far more tricks than you guys do… I’ve even played games where we’re hanging upside down in mid-air and kissing while we eat, so this kind of feeding of juice is nothing compared to what she does.”

Gina maintained her cold expression as she spoke of her private matters with Elsers, creating a striking contrast between her abstinence and indulgence.

Valensa couldn't help but tighten her grip on Tia's slender waist a little before asking curiously:

"Gina, who are you...?"

"...that trick you used to chill the juice just now."

Gina paused for a few seconds before pointing to the half-finished juice in Valensa's hand, then to Valensa's eyes:

"It seems to be a secret technique passed down in our family? But there are big differences in how it is used... It's a bit like the way a noble illegitimate child comprehends his own bloodline ability."

"Your family's secret techniques?"

Valensa raised an eyebrow curiously... She knew that Gina was also the daughter of a great nobleman, but she had not learned much about Gina's family secret technique, only that it seemed to be a powerful ice spell.

"【Magic Eye. Glacier】, an ice spell that can be activated simply by seeing the target without any incantations or preparations."

Gina gave a brief explanation:

"On the night the wild beasts attacked Bizk Town through the burrows, Mother used this trick to ambush and instantly kill that Radiant-rank wild beast summoner."

"To be able to instantly kill a Radiant-rank Summoner... even if it's a sneak attack, that's impressive. The power of this secret technique should be around the legendary level, right? And it's a legendary spell that can be cast instantly."

Valensa sighed, and at the same time, she suddenly realized what Gina meant.

Gina regarded her as a special case of someone whose bloodline suddenly awakened.

This doesn't mean that Valensa's background has any dramatic secrets, but rather that Valensa may still have a very faint Sharon family bloodline.

Such things are not uncommon among nobles... Marriage is one of the most common ways for nobles to maintain contact with each other. The Badr and Sharon families were both great noble families in France, and it was very normal for them to have marriage alliances in history.

Therefore, it is not uncommon for this to happen among the great nobles... a descendant of one family suddenly awakens the bloodline ability of another family.

But Valensa knew very well that her situation had nothing to do with the awakening of her bloodline; her magic tricks were learned from Friggia, the original Great Witch.

Furthermore, Friggia can be said to be the origin of all magic on the continent of Frenoia. The prototype of the Sharon family's magic eye technique that freezes everything with a glance is very likely the [slippery feet].

However, after reaching the Moon Radiance level, the ancestors of the Sharon family transformed the Demon Eye Secret Technique into some kind of biological information and integrated it into their bloodline, causing their eyes to evolve and making this evolution hereditary.

This is the secret of inherited techniques: integrating a powerful spell into the bloodline causes certain organs in the body to evolve, becoming particularly suitable for releasing this spell. At the same time, it can also biologically encrypt the practice and use of this spell, making it difficult for spellcasters without the corresponding organs to use it. This has led to the formation of various inherited techniques that are restricted by bloodline.

The organ that Gina was born with and evolved is most likely her eyes.

The organ that Tia was born with and evolved was her brain.

Friggia once examined Tia's body and discovered that Tia's brain had a significantly different sensory function than that of an ordinary person... That was the core of the Britannia family's Linking Secret Technique, which made the Britannia family members more sensitive to everything and more likely to establish connections.

To put it another way... if we compare the human brain to a mobile phone, then the phone named Britannia has a stronger signal, faster network speed, and is more suitable for 'connecting'.

Of course, not all inherited secret techniques necessarily require bloodline transmission. For example, another inherited secret technique that Tia possesses—the Card Secret Technique—does not require bloodline transmission. Instead, it can be mastered through teaching between master and disciple and long-term practice.

However, this kind of inherited secret technique is not as quick and stable as the secret technique inherited through bloodline. For example, Tia's teacher—the seventh seat of the Sage Council—has hundreds of disciples, the oldest of whom is over a hundred years old, but none of them have been able to cultivate the card secret technique to the Shining Rank.

While these thoughts raced through her mind, Valensa didn't hide anything and briefly explained to Gina how she learned magic tricks, then shrugged:

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Senior Gina... If we really want to trace it back, we are probably related, but I haven't awakened the power of your family's bloodline. That move just now was just a little trick that the Great Witch taught me, and it doesn't have any real combat power."

"The Great Witch's magic trick..."

Gina wasn't disappointed at all; in fact, her eyes lit up even more... Ignoring the fact that Valensa's girlfriend and her own girlfriend were watching, she excitedly grabbed Valensa's hand: