RLQ - Chapter 31
Chapter 31: Rebuilding the Navy
A silver light flashed.
In the nick of time, the black-haired guard drew the sword from his waist, blocking the Archbishop's fatal blow with its vine-patterned metal guard. Archbishop Rhodri's reaction was equally swift; with a flick of his wrist, the sleeve sword slid out like a viper, striking at the imposter from another tricky angle.
Even though Archbishop Rhodri usually wore a monk's robe, one shouldn't forget that as the former Vice-Commander and current Commander of the Temple Knights, he was far from as easy to deal with as he appeared.
"How surprising," the intruder disguised as a guard said, showing no panic at being exposed. While dealing with Archbishop Rhodri's attack, he taunted, "Since when did the Temple Knights start using assassins' weapons?"
The Archbishop's answer was a dangerous glint of steel.
"Wait!" The sound of fighting attracted nearby guards. Seeing several muskets aimed at himself and the Archbishop, the newcomer quickly retreated, shouting, "I mean no harm!"
"Stop, all of you."
Adele interrupted the farce. Having watched until now, she could roughly guess the identity of this imposter.
Archbishop Rhodri frowned disapprovingly, still watching the intruding imposter warily. The latter, upon the Queen's command, immediately dropped his sword, leaned against the wall without any psychological burden, and readily raised his hands.
Only then did the Archbishop retreat to the Queen's side, but he still didn't put away his sleeve sword.
"I believe you are here to see me," Adele said, examining this unusual visitor before her. "Mr. Saran Drake."
The notorious pirate captain immediately smiled. He carried an air of reckless abandon, even casually whistling with over a dozen muskets pointed at him. He ignored Archbishop Rhodri's sleeve sword pointed at him and shamelessly said:
"Thanks to my good brother, you've actually heard my name. This is the greatest honor of my life."
Dalton, who had rushed over, happened to hear this and nearly drew his pistol immediately, ready to fulfill his duty as a former naval officer.
—To hell with "good brother."
"Thank you, sir, for helping me discover the patrol's oversight," Dalton said with a forced smile, then turned and bowed to the Queen. "As Knight Commander, committing such a serious oversight regarding your safety is my failure. Please allow me to take this person away for interrogation."
The word "interrogation" sounded quite biting.
"Hey, hey, hey!"
The Raven Captain, who had dropped his sword, wore an expression of disbelief.
"Wasn't my entrance interesting enough? Not impressive enough? How could he treat me like this? As expected of—"
Dalton showed a strange smile.
The next moment, he landed a solid punch on the scoundrel.
"With all due respect, Your Majesty." Archbishop Rhodri pressed his lips together, with a hint of displeasure he himself didn't notice. "Cooperating with pirates is not a good choice, especially a notorious pirate group like the 'Raven'. They are always known for being unruly, and it's hard to believe such people can loyally complete any task."
"Your view is not wrong, Mr. Archbishop," Adele replied. "Extraordinary people always have their pride."
That brief interlude had clearly allowed the Queen to make her own judgment.
No wonder Dalton was particularly reluctant when writing the letter. This Captain of the Raven Pirates was exceptionally skilled, but also extremely arrogant and proud. The Queen could guess without much effort the purpose of his brazen intrusion into the Summer Palace—he wanted to personally assess the person he would serve in the future.
Perhaps also with the intention of showing off his abilities.
Unfortunately, what this pirate gentleman didn't know was that even if he had fooled Archbishop Rhodri, he would not have been met with the Queen's praise, but with the guards' muskets.
—Archbishop Rhodri himself had personally experienced the Queen's sharpness.
In fact, Adele didn't mind how Mr. Saran Drake, the pirate gentleman, appeared before her. She didn't value the cumbersome court etiquette, nor did she care whether he would be loyal to her—Heinrich's years of teaching had left something with the Queen. Compared to those superficial things, she focused more on practicality.
As long as this pirate gentleman could successfully open the door to trade with the New Continent for her, then she didn't care for what reason he served her.
However, she did not stop Dalton from taking him away for "interrogation."
The reason was simple: No matter what, she was the ruler of this empire, the Queen of this empire. She could tolerate talented people retaining their defiance and arrogance, but she absolutely could not give the impression in public that offending the monarch's dignity would go unpunished.
For a monarch, that would be fatal.
"The 'Raven' Pirates are active near Keximia Port, which is a convergence point for trade between the Tuva Duchy and the Rute Empire," Adele mused. "They are more eager than us to form an alliance and cooperate, otherwise, once the Rute Empire extricates itself from the conflict with Yage, they will face encirclement and suppression by the Rute Navy."
"In fact, the Rute Empire had already encircled and suppressed the 'Raven' Pirates five years ago."
Archbishop Rhodri knew a bit more, because the Raven Pirates had a slight grudge with the Temple Knights.
It was a very realistic matter: Out of livelihood or greed, pirates existed in almost every sea area with frequent merchant ship traffic, especially after the Age of Sail arrived. In 1553, a group of new pirates plundered a batch of supplies belonging to the Temple Knights not far from the Rose Strait.
This incident angered the Temple Knights, so every single one of those pirates was put on a wanted list.
Later, to avoid retaliation from the Temple Knights, that group of pirates left the Rose Strait and went north to Keximia Port—the name 'Raven' came from this incident.
The Archbishop recognized the pirate captain at a glance precisely because of this old feud.
What the Queen cared about was another point.
—The Raven Pirates could survive the Rute Empire's encirclement and suppression; this ability was much better than the current Roland Navy.
Since 1543, after the Roland fleet suffered a crushing defeat by the Yage Kingdom, neither her father nor her short-lived royal brother had the power to revitalize the navy. By the time the Queen took over, many wooden ships in the Royal Navy had not been maintained and had now largely rotted away. The navy's tonnage had decreased to only about seven thousand tons, and the number of ships had dropped to just over twenty. Furthermore, not to mention a whole mess of problems, such as docks and shipyards in disrepair due to age, a scattered navy, insufficient sailors...
After her death in her previous life, the empire fell into thirty years of chaos, and its eventual demise was not entirely accidental.
An empire without a strong navy yet extremely dependent on the sea simply could not survive for long.
"You have taken over an empire riddled with holes."
Archbishop Rhodri said softly in his heart.
He understood why the Queen attached such importance to those notorious pirates—
She wanted to rebuild the Imperial Navy.
Forcing the great families to concede and hand over control of the ports was just the Queen's first step. She still had much, much more to do. So much that it seemed unbearable just looking at it, and felt tiring just watching.
"Glory Above All."
The motto of the Roland royal family was fully embodied in the Queen.
"Auction the real estate of the St. Lorrain Abbey," Adele said, not noticing what Archbishop Rhodri was thinking. She was thinking about what needed to be done next. "Once the Port Regulations are revised and completed, the first batch of docks and shipyards must be repaired, and usable warships must also be repaired. This batch of land from the auction can provide the first required funds... But be careful, don't let the buyers be too concentrated..."
"I will be mindful of that, Your Majesty."
The Archbishop subconsciously touched the gem on his cuff, and then quickly let go.
He was glad the Queen hadn't noticed he had set the gem into a cufflink, but also felt a little disappointed.
Adele, at this moment, felt genuinely grateful to Old Father Balde and those Old God Sect radicals...
If they hadn't plotted those previous assassinations and protest incidents, giving her the opportunity and reason to confiscate the abbey's property, then, with the current royal finances, wanting to come up with such a large sum of money really wouldn't have been easy.
After that pirate gentleman suffers a bit, the Queen will naturally see him.
For the new market, and also for the Imperial Navy.
The pirate gentleman currently suffering was squatting in Whitehall Prison.
Saran was now 100% certain that Dalton, the weapon of war often rumored to be impotent, truly held a certain special feeling for the decisive Queen.
He had reason to suspect that throwing him into Whitehall Prison was Dalton using his position for personal revenge.
Although they were secret cooperation partners, given Saran's vile character, it was truly a very difficult thing not to offend people—Saran was quite self-aware about this.
No doubt about it, the moment Dalton no longer needed to get gold coins from the Raven Pirates, he would immediately throw him onto the gallows.
Today, Dalton looked like he really wanted to do that.
But as for taking a punch, Saran sincerely felt wronged.
Gods above, was it his fault for admiring a woman with ruthlessness in her bones? As a pirate who roamed the oceans, wasn't liking blood and excitement a very normal thing?
Footsteps gradually approached.
"Brother, your sweetheart is really something."
The black-haired pirate gentleman with a large bruise on his cheekbone was lazily lying on the straw pile, his long legs crossed and propped against the wall, his chained hands clasped behind his head.
"You... here... are... also... really... something..."
A strange voice echoed in the cold and damp prison, making one's scalp tingle.
"Damn."
Captain Saran leapt up, looking in astonishment at the person standing outside the bars.
"Why is it you, fellow?"
The magician with a smiling clown puppet on his shoulder looked at him expressionlessly: "You've caused me trouble."
He paused.
"The Queen wants to see us."
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