Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World

Chapter 345: The Fleet Has Arrived

TL: Etude

Lady Knight Leah was escorted home by her parents, leaving only the royal family in the living room, sharing their heartfelt thoughts.

However, the family was not yet complete.

“It’s a pity that my sister is in the south at such a time. Father, how is the situation in the south?” Eileen sighed and couldn’t help but worry about her sister Catherine.

“Don’t worry,” Rodney reassured her with a smile, “The royal army will surely defeat the rebels, and then your sister will be able to return.”

The king didn’t elaborate on the specific situation, and Eileen didn’t ask further. While in the Northwest Bay, she had learned from discussions between the Administration Council and the army that the royal troops and the rebels were at a stalemate, with neither side able to gain the upper hand.

Rodney then asked, “By the way, Eileen, what kind of person is Count Paul Grayman?”

After Catherine led troops south, information about Eileen’s activities in the Northwest Bay was regularly submitted to the king. Although Rodney had a general understanding from the intelligence reports, he still wanted to hear his daughter’s own description.

“Paul… uh… Count Grayman, how should I put it?” Eileen tilted her head, thinking.

“He’s quite a dull person in everyday life. Unlike other nobles who indulge in socializing, parties, or knightly tournaments, he either stares at piles of charts or buries himself in his office drawing and writing. He has a bit of a reclusive scholar’s air about him. His knowledge is diverse and broad, not specialized in one area but often with surprising insights.”

“He also has many interesting and practical inventions. Paper, porcelain – these have already become popular in Crystal Shine, right? And canned food, which, as I know, has already begun to be supplied in large quantities to the royal army. There’s also a mirror that allows you to see tiny organisms, and…”

She was about to mention firearms and cannons but remembering Paul’s repeated instructions not to discuss new weapons with others, Eileen stopped.

“Oh? He sounds like a talented individual,” the king commented, stroking his beard.

He then asked, “What was last year’s war in the Northwest Bay all about?”

Eileen pouted, “It’s all because of someone named Kent. He used to take advantage of the trust of the previous Duke of the Northwest to do wrongs, and the lords of the Northwest were angry but dared not speak out. Before the war broke out, he even sent people to extort Alda. I was on the battlefield when his envoy came; you should have seen how arrogant that envoy was.”

“Later, the Duke of the Northwest died mysteriously, and the title unusually passed to this outsider, Count Kent. It all looked like a conspiracy. The Duke’s own brother came forward to reveal that Count Kent used witchcraft to murder the Duke, and then the war broke out.”

Is that so? The king nodded, as his daughter’s account matched what he had learned through royal commissioners.

…

After meeting with the king, Hansel rode on horseback the next day to the west coast with documents, and two days later, he encountered the royal army led by his brother Harrison, marching to eradicate pirates.

Hansel relayed the plan for joining forces and the king’s orders to his brother, asking him to choose a stationing location close to Port Kiel after reaching the war zone. Harrison agreed, being a pragmatic man and welcoming any additional support. This was his first time being assigned to lead independently, and he felt a bit unsure.

Although the brothers had not seen each other for a long time, due to the urgency of the military situation, they had a meal together and then Hansel departed for Port Kiel.

Upon arriving at the port city, Hansel first visited the local city hall and presented the king’s orders, negotiating for the Northwest Fleet to enter the port. He then arranged for many people to go to various coastal cities to watch for the fleet’s arrival. According to the original plan, the fleet was supposed to depart four days after he left Lakeheart Town. If there were no accidents along the way, they should have already reached this area and be wandering near the coastline. The fleet would often send people ashore to purchase supplies and leave messages, making it easier for Hansel to find them. Although they declared themselves as the loyalist fleet from the Northwest Bay, they refused to allow port officials to board for inspection, and thus, no port dared to allow them to dock until they received clear instructions from Crystal Shine.

Two days later, a pigeon brought news that the lookout personnel had made contact with the fleet, and they were now heading towards Port Kiel.

On the evening of January 25th, 1992 of the Holy Calendar, Port Kiel in the Kingdom of Ordo welcomed a fleet of 12 ships, flying red dragon banners. Due to rumors of pirates, few ships were entering or leaving Port Kiel, and the sudden appearance of such a large fleet attracted many onlookers.

The first to enter the port were six galleons, followed by six full-sail ships. Since the rise of maritime trade in the Northwest Bay, residents of major ports in the south had become familiar with these new types of ships that did not require rowers.

People felt a sense of solemnity from the black metal tubes protruding from the sides of the ships. Although they didn’t know what these were, their intuition told them that these vessels were probably not here for transporting goods.

Alda, for the first time, was projecting her power beyond the Northwest Bay.

Hansel stood on the dock, waving a handkerchief towards the fleet, flanked by his brother Harrison and the Mayor of Port Kiel.

Harrison commented, “Is this the fleet from the Northwest Bay? Such strange ships.”

The Mayor added, “I’ve seen a few of these merchant ships over the year, but these are warships, right? What are those black tubes?”

Listening to their discussion, Hansel felt a sense of superiority: Haha, they have never seen such a thing before, that’s a cannon, capable of blasting a group of people into pieces with a single shot.

“Hey! Baron Abbott!” called a man from the closest berth, an Aldan naval officer who walked over the gangplank to the dock, waving at Hansel.

“Colonel Tirpitz!” Hansel stepped forward to shake his hand, “Are you commanding the fleet this time?”

“Haha, out of the three fleets, mine has the most operational ships, so I was appointed to command this operation.”

“Let me introduce you, this is my brother…”

After the introductions, Tirpitz asked the question he was most concerned about: “Lord Harrison, what is the current situation with the pirates?”

Harrison replied, “We have scouts monitoring the routes in and out of the Port West. Recent signs indicate they are less active than before, seemingly holed up in the city doing who knows what.”

Tirpitz thought to himself that Harrison was quite cautious. Others at his age might have already launched an assault on the city.

“Lord Harrison, I have brought you a generous gift.”

“Oh?”

“We recently encountered a pirate ship at sea and captured some of them. Perhaps we can extract some useful information from them.”

Harrison was overjoyed, “That’s excellent news, let’s organize an interrogation immediately!”