Chapter 201: Sardines and Pirates
Sardines swarmed the sea in front of Vandus territory.
The sea turned white with the eggs and milt spewed by the sardines.
“There are so many of them! Half of the sea is sardines! Sardines!”
“They are black as far as the eye can see!”
The fishermen rushed to get their nets and set sail when they heard the report.
They were still afraid of the pirates, but they couldn’t resist the temptation.
“Do you know how much a barrel of salted sardines costs these days? That’s all money, money!”
“Let’s go catch them quickly!”
It was a hard time for everyone, with war and harsh winter.
If they could catch a large amount of sardines at this time, they could make a huge profit.
Old fishing boats competed to go out to sea, and countless nets covered the sardines.
Sardines here, sardines there.
They could fill their boats with just one cast, so there was no reason to hesitate.
In fact, behind the fishermen’s enthusiasm for fishing, there was a declaration by Lord Leopold.
“From now on, I will only take 70% of the taxes. The rest is yours.”
70% tax was a bit better than the neighboring territories, but it was a different story if they could catch a lot of sardines.
Moreover, the lord declared that he would not touch any surplus products.
“30% is yours, and you can use it for your livelihood or sell it to the market. I will not interfere at all. However, if you sell it, you can only do it through the association.”
This was a plan to prevent excessive competition by creating a single window.
If they opened too many sales outlets in a short time, the price would drop due to oversupply.
The people didn’t know that much, but it was an opportunity to get their share anyway.
The sardines that filled the sea looked like money to their eyes.
The people who regretted not listening to the lord’s order and neglecting their boat repairs and net maintenance cursed themselves.
“I should have followed the lord’s instructions from the beginning…”
“Can’t we get permission now? I trust you, Mr. Carson!”
Carson, the administrator, suggested it, but Leopold refused.
“There are already too many people involved. The others have different tasks to do, so don’t be impatient.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Carson looked at the lord again.
He had boasted that the sardines would come back, and it became a reality.
Could he be a prophet?
His doubts were gone and a little trust was built up.
The amount of sardines caught by the fishermen in one day was enough for the whole territory to survive the winter.
And even after catching them, the sardines still filled the sea.
They also caught many other fish, mostly predators that followed the sardines.
There was no way that sea monsters would miss this feast.
Leopold frowned when he heard from the administrator that most of the sea monsters were inedible.
“You can’t eat dragon turtles or crabs?”
“They are dangerous and poisonous. According to the fishermen who tried to eat them, they smell terrible.”
It meant that deodorization was needed.
If it were the 21st century, he would have added a process to make fish cakes, but it was inefficient in this era.
Leopold ordered Arma.
“Just block the approach of large monsters. And what about the shadow elves?”
“They detected that the sardines have gathered, but there is no specific movement yet.”
“They ride on galleons. Where is their base?”
“There are thousands of islands in the western sea of ??the continent. They hide their power in those archipelagos and avoid subjugation. There is no subjugation these days anyway.”
The lords who suffered from the shadow elves gave up on subjugation and evacuated their people from the coastlines.
They were not just raiders.
They kidnapped fishermen who could be used as laborers, plundered their wealth, and set fire to their houses.
They were a total disaster and it was impossible for them to confront them with their weak forces.
It was fortunate that they didn’t use Goliath yet.
“I’ll have to deal with them someday, but not now.”
“Then I’ll just keep an eye on them.”
“And there’s one more thing I need you to do for me.”
It was about distributing the caught sardines.
There was no refrigerator or well-paved road in this era, so most of the distribution was done by horned carts.
Countries with advanced ether engineering transported goods by freight trains, but that had nothing to do with this rural territory.
Therefore, most of the food, especially fish, had to be salted and distributed.
Salt itself was expensive and fish prices were not cheap either, so it was difficult for anyone who was not a noble to taste fish in the inland.
The biggest problem was that there was not much supply because of those damn pirates.
Anyway, to distribute the sardines, they had to fill the barrels with salt and ship them.
Most of the merchants who visited the territory were skeptical and bought the barrels of sardines filled with salt water.
They didn’t want the sardines to rot during transportation.
There were also some tricks, such as filling the bottom with dirt, based on the fact that the merchants only checked the top of the barrel.
The point was that it took a lot of effort and money to distribute fish, and he wanted to reduce that.
She nodded.
“The only way I can think of in this era is brine preservation.”
Brine is salt water made by boiling seawater.
If they removed the guts and spines of the sardines and stored them in a barrel with brine, their freshness lasted for a long time.
It also reduced the salt consumption drastically, which lowered the price of sardines significantly.
Thanks to this preservation method, which was first invented in the 16th century Netherlands, the Netherlands was able to lead the maritime industry despite its small territory.
At its peak, hundreds of sardine fleets and escort fleets roamed the distant seas, causing friction with England and others.
Leopold didn’t hope for that much.
“Gather the women and give them knives and teach them how. They will flock to do it if you pay them a fair wage.”
“I understand. I’ll show them how it’s done.”
Arma was a hot topic among the people of the territory.
They had never seen such a beautiful lady living by the lord’s side, so rumors spread.
It didn’t matter if she was a simple maid, but it was a bit troublesome if she was a concubine who served him at night.
She had to take on a lot of work in the future.
Anyway, when she stepped forward, the process of distributing sardines changed drastically.
The problem was making barrels to store brine, but they managed to make them by blocking them with oatmeal and beeswax.
The women who were mobilized to make them were amazed by Arma’s skill in dismantling sardines.
“She looks like she can’t even open a clam, let alone a fish…”
“I heard from the servants that she has a firm grip on the mansion. She’s good at counting money and managing household affairs. She’s more than ordinary.”
“With that appearance, she could go up to the capital and live a glamorous life.”
“Maybe she’s a former slave?”
They were all curious about her, but they didn’t show much reaction to the new preservation method.
They doubted how long it would last to store them in seawater.
But when the merchants who visited the territory bought the barrels of sardines filled with brine with suspicion, things started to change soon.
The merchants who bought the Sardines barrels hurried back.
“Arma, Arma! Can’t you sell us more Sardines?”
“We’ll pay you as much as you want, just one more barrel…”
“How about signing an exclusive contract with our company?”
The old-timers who had been running the company for a long time were making such a fuss because they were sure that this Sardines barrel would be a huge business.
Sardines was a fish that had a high preference but a low supply.
Not only Bagran, but also neighboring countries and even the Zaium Empire knew well about Sardines and had widely spread recipes.
The preference increased as it went inland, but unfortunately, the supply was scarce due to distribution problems.
It was not cheap to transport it by soaking it in expensive salt.
But in the Vandus domain, the Sardines association run by Arma lowered that cost to a fraction of a tenth.
There was also a huge amount of water that could fill dozens of wagons.
It was expected that there would be a lot of profit if they just took it, but there was only one Sardines association for the distribution channel.
So there was no negotiation, and they had to give Arma whatever she wanted.
She announced in front of the merchants that there was no negotiation.
“One barrel of Sardines for one gold and five silver. I can supply you with a little more later. And it’s fine to make deals with the fishermen behind my back, but you shouldn’t get caught.”
The domain was too small to avoid being caught if they made deals behind her back, and that meant expulsion.
The merchants complained that the price was too high, but they had to buy it anyway.
They had to build trust first, and then ask for more supply later.
“There won’t be much profit left, but it will start when the supply increases.”
“Sardines is a delicious fish with a high preference. It will be a hit if we take it to Zaium.”
“Why didn’t I think of this simple thing?”
The Sardines barrels sold so well that the Vandus domain was filled with rare vitality.
The domain became richer and naturally the people’s shoulders straightened and their expressions brightened.
Most of all, there were more people and they started spending money.
There were not one or two guards and workers escorting the merchants who came to buy Sardines.
It was good until then, but there was no worry-free thing.
The merchants did not lower their guard while buying Sardines barrels so that they could run away at any time.
They were worried about when the notorious Shadow Elf pirates would attack.
—It’s so noisy that those damn elves won’t know.
—It’s booming now, but it won’t last a month before a massive attack. Then it’s over here too.
—We have to sell as much as we can and get the money out of the domain by then.
But there was no specific movement from the lord.
Rather, he tried to strengthen his power by taking care of the wounded soldiers in the domain and buying weapons.
The merchants clicked their tongues at his futile actions.
It didn’t matter as long as they made money anyway.
***
The Sardines barrels also arrived at the palace of Bagran, which was devastated by war.
Normally, the royal family gets the best things first.
Prince Ruad didn’t like Sardines, but he was interested in its excellent preservation.
“They transported it to Zaium by horned wagon and it’s still fine? Is that true?”
The palace official bowed his head.
“Yes, Your Highness. It is said that it maintained its freshness even though it was soaked in salt water. The taste is good too. There is a craze for Sardines dishes in Zaium now.”
They started and dragged on such luxury in war time.
Of course, in a place like Zaium Empire, there are people who are not affected by the war at all.
And those kinds of people start wars.
Prince Ruad felt nauseous but held back and said,
“That’s amazing. Bring the barrel to the front yard. I’ll check it myself.”
Soon after, the barrel was opened in front of Prince Ruad.
He didn’t care about his hand getting wet with salt water and took out a Sardines and checked it and smelled it.
“Hmm. It’s very fresh. It’s better than salted ones. I wonder why they left the guts here.”
The knight Granden who was watching quietly added,
“That’s because it’s often used in cooking. It’s very delicious.”
“Oh, Sir Granden, do you know something about Sardines?”
“As much as anyone else.”
Granden Olmus, with a full beard and tired eyes, was Bagran’s guard knight and Prince Ruad’s childhood swordsmanship teacher.
He had excellent swordsmanship skills, but he had such a fiery temper when he was young that he was called a devil among his subordinates knights.
He had softened his personality a bit by getting older and having a daughter, but he had become cynical, which was a flaw.
The two started to fiddle with the Sardines.
“Think about it. It’s true that the place that supplies this Sardines barrel is only one domain for now, but won’t it increase soon? It doesn’t seem to be hard to make it like this.”
“Well, it’s just removing the guts and soaking them in salt water. If you have a salt mine, you can try it. But there’s one problem.”
“What is it?”
“Pirates.”
As the Shadow Elves were mentioned, Prince Ruad’s face twisted.
“Damn, there was such a problem.”
Sir Granden put the Sardines back in the barrel and wiped his fingers.
“What are you going to do with it? I want to send a knight under that crazy lord.”
“…Your Highness, I only have one daughter…”
Prince Ruad smiled.
“What should I do? I’m curious about the lord of Vandus. What is he going to do with that airship? I don’t understand why he killed the mercenaries who threatened his domain.”
“And the last thing is Sardines.”
“Isn’t that enough reason?”
And there was also what the saintess of the Church said…
He wondered why she suddenly appeared and looked for a tall man at this time.
Granden nodded sadly.
He had to go because most of the knights were on the front lines during the war.
The prince didn’t have many people he could trust.
“Don’t be sad when I leave.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll play with Eily well.”
“Lately, Eily has been playing with a sword because of you.”
“If you’re a noble, you should wield a sword, right? Your daughter will surely be a great knight.”
“Eily is four years old.”
Prince Ruad coughed and turned away.
“Anyway, come back soon. I want to know more about the lord of Vandus.”
He seemed to have no choice but to leave for a remote rural domain.
He bowed to the prince and left.
***
You should always prepare for the future when things are going well.
In that sense, the lord of Vandus was quite alert.
He was happy to sell Sardines well, but he insisted that they had to prepare for the pirates.
It was unusual that the people of the domain claimed that, not the lord himself.
But they couldn’t afford to lose this opportunity.
They could make money they never dreamed of by just catching Sardines in the sea.
Why would they let that be interrupted?
So they built watchtowers and fences in the coastal villages with soldiers as their main force.
“We have to sharpen our spears and swords. We can’t let those pirates steal our money.”
“Make the fences three times higher! Those elves are very agile!”
If elves and humans fought, elves had an advantage 95 out of 100 times.
The whole race was strong as trained knights, and they could use ether as well.
Their long lifespan was a great advantage in itself, and the knights who faced the elf army on the front line were astonished by their skillful movements.
“Damn. How can we beat them when they train for years?”
“This is not a fair fight from the start.”
Elvrande showed how scary it was when elves used their long lifespan properly to the whole continent.
Compared to that, Shadow Elves were a bit inferior, but they were not a match for the people of the domain.
But the people of Vandus had something they believed in.
Goliath.
It was originally owned by the Harpy Claw Corps, but now it belonged to the lord.
It didn’t move much, but when it got up, the ground shook.
The people of Vandus were infinitely proud that this overwhelming giant was on their side.
And also that the knight who controlled it was their lord.
Anyway, they didn’t want to be robbed, so they prepared for battle desperately and waited.
But the pirates didn’t show up easily.
“That’s strange. They’re not ones to wait like this.”
“They must know about us here.”
Shadow Elves were as fast as their movements in spreading information.
There was a rumor that they used communication crystals that only rich people used to exchange information.
No one knew what was really going on in their base, but it was certain that they smelled better than kobolds.
“Then why don’t they come?”
It had been a month since Sardines came and Vandus domain made a lot of profit.
The rumor had spread not only to nearby domains but even to the palace.
They should smell it by now, right?
The people of Vandus were anxious as they finished their fishing work.
But in fact, those pirates were struggling in the sea.
They had boarded galleys for a quick raid, but they were swept away by high waves.
They didn’t know why this sea, which was known to be calm, suddenly turned fierce.
They didn’t know that there were some exploration ships deep under the sea that caused waves.
And even deeper down, there was a spaceship 700 meters long.
The elf pirates repeated being drowned and rescued by hundreds of them
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