Volume 6 Chapter 100 - Frozen Northern Port
After the new years, the winter cold covered the entire Sines Continent.
The Marlow Empire was in the far north, so every year during winter, it would be much colder than it was in the southern countries.
But for Stasom Town that was the furthest north in the Marlow Empire, it wasn’t just a problem of being a bit colder than the rest of the empire, but rather it was a completely different world.
The cold wind that came from the endless seas to the north, even just a single breeze was enough to make one shiver. For Stasom Town that faced this cold wind, if the wind blew onto your face, it was like a cold blade that was painfully slashing across it.
“Si!”
With a cold breeze, Hogan and Dicardo couldn’t help taking a cold breath and they couldn’t help wrapping themselves up tighter while shrinking back their necks. They couldn’t even help narrowing only their eyes that were revealed to the wind as they looked to the north with slits.
“Hey, Dicardo, on such a cold day, even if we’re supposed to meet with this transport fleet, what kind of goods will they be bringing?” Hogan’s voice was very m.u.f.fled from his mask, which sounded a bit strange to Dicardo.
But this wasn’t what Dicardo cared about now. He was looking into the distant seas where he couldn’t see a thing as he shook his head with a bitter smile.
“We can only take it one step at a time. Who told those transport fleet fellows to not follow the plan and come two months late. If they arrived two months ago, the weather wouldn’t be as good and this would be easier to handle.”
Hogan was silent for a bit before giving a sigh, “You can’t blame them since Stantine is so far away. They had to run around the continent, there must be many different things on the seas for such a long trip, so they couldn’t avoid something happening in the middle. To be honest, it’s already very powerful that they were able to arrive safely at all.”
“Un…...You’re right.”
Dicardo replied before looking at Stasom Harbour in the distance.
This harbour was the biggest harbour in the north of the Marlow Empire. After the Frestech Chamber of Commerce signed a contract with the Marlow Empire last year, they had invested three million gold coins to expand it, creating a harbour that could anchor large ships.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s fleet had been led by Narvil to explore the north, with this harbour as their destination.
According to the plan, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s first transport fleet led by Narvil should have arrived in October of last year.
The Marlow Empire was still in early winter then and the weather was considered normal.
However, the first fleet was stalled on the seas for two months, even one losing all contact. It made the Frestech Chamber of Commerce almost think that some accident had happened to them and they had been buried in the endless seas.
It was a good thing that the two Magic Airships that Xu Yi gave them really helped them then. In the middle of last month, which was during the half a month the fleet had disappeared, the Magic Airship had flown to Marquis Southgate’s territory with news on the fleet.
After receiving this news, Hogan who was the vice manager of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s branch in the Marlow Empire, as well as Dicardo who was the leader of the transport team had come to Stasom.
They had been waiting for half a month now and they had been in close contact with the Magic Airship and the fleet every day. Finally they received the confirmation three days ago that the fleet would safely arrive in Stasom today.
Although the wind was cold today and the temperature was enough to freeze someone to death, they had left their warm beds early in the morning to come to the Stasom Harbour.
After Dicardo watched the scene in the Stasom Harbour for a bit, he gave a sigh.
“It’s a good thing since I was worried before that as the weather got colder, the harbour would be frozen and there would be no way to anchor. Seeing it now, even if the weather was colder, it would be impossible to completely freeze the sea.”
Hogan revealed a smile when he heard this, “We were scared by the rumours of those Marlow Empire fellows before. They said that once winter came, the sea would be completely frozen and there would be no way out. I thought that they meant a layer of ice on the sea, but now it seems like there is still ice, but it’s all in pieces. It isn’t anything incredible at all.”
“You can’t say that they’re completely wrong since the fishermen here only have small boats, those boats might shatter just from a single hit with these pieces of ice.” Dicardo said while laughing, “When they see our Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s steel ships, they’ll know that these pieces of ice aren’t a problem at all.”
Hogan gave a shrug, “There’s no other way, who told them to have no experience. When the fleet gets here and they see the magic machines that our company makes, I don’t know how surprised they will be.”
Dicardo and Hogan looked at each other before breaking out in laughter.
Before the two of them came to the Marlow Empire, they felt a deep inferiority towards this large empire, but after coming to the Marlow Empire and spending half a year here, they found that other than the Marlow Empire having more territory, there were many places that were lacking compared to the Lampuri Kingdom or the Stantine Duchy.
Normally the people they came in contact with were the n.o.bles or the large merchants of the Marlow Empire. These people were at the highest level in the Marlow Empire, so their lives would be quite luxurious.
However, to Dicardo and Hogan, even if these people lived luxurious lives, there were many parts that were quite backwards. There were many parts of their lives that were considered very convenient.
After the two of them had been here for half a year, not only did the awe they felt for the giant Marlow Empire disappear, they even felt a strange sense of superiority.
Marquis Southgate and those n.o.bles and merchants around him already made them feel superior, not to mention the n.o.bles and merchants of a small place like Stasom.
They had been in Stasom for half a month and met with all the n.o.bles and merchants here, which gave them quite a strong impression of inexperienced hicks.
Of course, these fellows lived even worse than most of the farmers of the Lampuri Kingdom and the Stantine Duchy.
At least the farmers of the Lampuri Kingdom and the Stantine Duchy would not seem so overjoyed just to eat some meat…...
They waited patiently for another twenty minutes before a familiar sound came from the sky in the distance.
The two looked up and saw a dark spot in the sky to the northwest that was quickly approaching. It turned into a Magic Airship that landed on the plains outside of the Stasom Harbour.
“Right, Hogan, the wind is so strong today, how can the Magic Airship still fly so steadily in the sky? Don’t you find it strange?” Dicardo suddenly asked.
Hogan was prepared to walk over, but he was surprised after hearing this. Tilting his head to think for a bit, he then shook his head, “I’m not someone from the magic research facility or the development center, how would I know if you ask me?”
“That’s right.” Dicardo gave a shrug, “I’ll just ask captain Yinsen later then.”
The two quickly came to the Magic Airship which had already opened the door and the captain named Yinsen that Dicardo mentioned earlier came out. He walked over to them and loudly said, “Manager Hogan, the fleet will be here in an hour, please make your preparations!”
Hogan nodded, “Alright!”
They didn’t waste time talking and turned to prepare the workers, making the final preparations to welcome the transport fleet.
Actually, they had already been prepared for half a month, so they only need to go over it once again now that they need it.
Dicardo and Yinsen who were left behind began talking about a few things.
They mainly talked about whether the fleet needed anything special, like supplies, repairs, or such before confirming the various arrangements for the fleet after they arrived.
For example, according to the plan, the fleet would first unload all their cargo in Stasom Harbour which would be first sold in Stasom and the surrounding cities. Then they would decide how much to transport down into the Marlow Empire.
This sea voyage for a trade route that had taken four months to complete, although they could also make contact with all the other countries by the sea along the way, the main responsibility of this mission was to link the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to the Marlow Empire. Then with the land route that they built, it would create a complete market.
After the two talked for a bit, Dicardo suddenly thought about the question he had thought of earlier and asked captain Yinsen.
“How it’s able to stay stable in the air?” Captain Yinsen laughed before waving his hand, “Manager Dicardo, you wouldn’t think that the magicians back at the magic research facility wouldn’t be able to think this through, right?”
“No, no, no, of course I know that they know, but I can’t think it through. The wind is so strong, how can the Magic Airship still remain stable?”
“This…...Actually there’s an aerodynamic balancing system on the Magic Airship, but don’t ask me what that is since I don’t know either. I only know that when there are strong winds, we can activate this system and then it’ll cancel out most of the wind, to let the Magic Airship remain stable in the air.”
“It’s this amazing?” Dicardo was surprised for a bit. After thinking about it, he guessed, “The Magic Airship is flying in the sky with Wind Magic, so this aerodynamic balancing system should be relying on Wind Magic as well, right?”
Captain Yinsen rolled his eyes, “Don’t ask me, I just know how to use it, I don’t need to know the principles behind it.”
Dicardo thought about it for a bit and still couldn’t think it through. He could only give a helpless sigh, “Alright, even the people in the company can’t understand the things that our company makes. I think that if those fellows from other companies wants to copy them, they are dreaming!”