Lord Harland

In mid-March of the year 3284 of the Dawn Calendar, it was the spring plowing season of the Kingdom of Harland. The steam merchant ship, which had been drifting on the sea for more than a month, hurriedly sailed to Xinghui Castle.

In mid-March, the harbor outside Xinghui Castle had already thawed, but the middle and upper reaches of the Black River were still frozen and would not be open to navigation until early April.

If you want to take a boat to Heihe Fort, you need to wait for at least twenty days.

However, now that the Harland Kingdom Xingpa Railway has been opened to traffic, taking a train from Xinghui Castle to Black River Castle will only take a day and a half at most.

With Richard's strong support, Xinghui Castle has developed extremely fast. In just a few years, the total population of the East Coast Province has increased to 1.4 million.

Xinghui Castle is the capital of the East Coast Province and the focus of development. After the major heavy industry factories were put into operation, the population increased again by 50,000 to 60,000, and now the total population of Xinghui Castle is close to 200,000.

Although Xinghui Port is frozen for forty days a year, and the Heihe River is open to navigation for only half a year, the location for developing sea trade is not superior, far inferior to Sawyer Castle in the Rex Province. However, driven by the powerful local engines of the Kingdom of Harland, Starlight Castle is still the largest seaport city in the Kingdom of Harland.

In just a few years, Xinghui Castle has established a large number of heavy industries such as ship manufacturing plants, machinery processing plants, motorcycle manufacturing plants, and steel plants. The total number of craftsmen and technicians transferred from the Fort William and Black River Fort areas in a few years exceeded 2,000.

After the merchant ship entered the port, it immediately came to the ship repair shop.

The steamship had been at sea for several months, and its masts had been broken and its decking had been damaged. To be able to persist in returning despite the ship's condition being so bad, this ship is extremely lucky.

Although the magic ship continued to clean up and hunt the monsters in the coastal areas, there were countless monsters in the ocean. This time, the steamship encountered a fifth-level spiny shark. A hole was made in the side of the ship and the mast was broken. If it hadn't been for the magic crystal cannon installed on the ship, which scared away the spiny sharks, the merchant ship would have been in danger of sinking on the spot.

Due to the threat of ocean monsters and fish-man tribes, the oceans in this world are far more dangerous than in Richard's previous life.

A steamship equipped with six magic crystal cannons is still very vulnerable when sailing alone in coastal waters. Only when a large magic ship is in the ocean can you feel a little safer.

The difficulty of ocean navigation makes ocean trade more difficult, and communication between port cities is very difficult. Therefore, the economic development speed of coastal areas is very average.

If it weren't for the fact that the northern and southern territories of the Harland Kingdom were more than 2,000 kilometers apart, and separated by the Grant Kingdom, there was a need to develop maritime trade, and Richard would not vigorously develop the shipping industry.

Today, there are more than a hundred steamships registered in the Kingdom of Harland alone, and there are even a few private shipping owners.

Giggs, who comes from the province of Rex, is a private shipping industry owner. He was originally a naval officer on the east coast. After the defeat on the east coast, he led his soldiers to surrender the magic ship. After surrendering, he was incorporated into the navy of the Kingdom of Harland and served for three and a half years.

Giggs himself was a hereditary nobleman who had lost his title due to the defeat on the East Coast. Because it was too slow to accumulate merit in the navy and he couldn't make much money, Giggs decided to go it alone to see if he could find an opportunity to turn around and make a lot of money.

Three months ago, Giggs retired from the Navy and decided to buy a steamboat and enter the shipping industry.

Due to insufficient funds, Giggs only purchased an old ship from the Naval Logistics and Transportation Bureau. Unexpectedly, we ran into trouble on our second voyage.

This voyage of Giggs was to explore the market in the Kingdom of Palame. When he returned past Silver Moon Island, he was attacked by a spiny shark and almost sank in the northern waters of Silver Moon Island.

After fortunately returning to Starlight Port, Giggs arranged for manpower to repair the ship while preparing to return to Fort William to see if he could recruit an intermediate magician. If there is a mid-level magician stationed on the ship for protection, a lot of problems can be solved. At least the fifth-level spiny shark encountered this time will not be able to break the side of the ship.

Compared with magicians who can adapt to various battlefield environments, the adaptability of warriors and knights is far different.

Giggs himself is a sixth-level knight, but unfortunately he is not good at water combat and cannot exert his power on the ocean. The magic crossbow in his hand did not hit the spiny shark at the first time, but was tricked by the spiny shark and easily broke the side of the ship.

If it weren't for the magic crystal cannon that scared away the spiny sharks, a whole boat of people would have to feed the fish and turtles.

Although Giggs knew in his heart that inviting an intermediate magician was extremely difficult and almost wishful thinking, he still wanted to give it a try.

As of March this year, the Harland Mage Association has 2,100 official members, and the number of magic apprentices has increased to 20,000.

It is worth mentioning that Richard's eldest daughter Margaret was successfully promoted to the seventh ring in January this year.

At the age of twenty-seven, Margaret's talent and luck were evident when she was promoted to the Seventh Environment Realm.

Compared with magicians of the same level, Margaret has drank the water of life, the legendary Styx potion, has more than forty points of mental power, a high-level magic item, and her combat power is better than that of ordinary nine-ring wizards.

The number of magicians in the Kingdom of Harland has exceeded that of the east coast before the country was destroyed.

In January of this year, the Harland Kingdom's army was reorganized again. This time Richard followed the example of the Holy Radiance Empire's ace legion, and incorporated a group of three hundred mages into one legion.

However, the quality of the mage group in the Kingdom of Harland is slightly inferior, with only one hundred mages and two hundred mage apprentices. Mage apprentices only need to rely on magic arrays and energy projection weapons to fight. Compared to the ace legion of the Holy Radiance Empire, its ability to interfere on the battlefield is somewhat inferior.

Although the number of magicians in the Kingdom of Harland has increased to 2,000, there are only less than 300 members of intermediate-level magicians and above.

Most of these mid-level magicians serve in official departments, such as the military, intelligence system, civil inspection system, magic academies, and magic research institutes. It is difficult for them to give up their luxurious life and stay on a boring ship for a long time.

Although he didn't have much hope in his heart, Giggs still came to Fort William and began to contact the target candidates.

The vast majority of mid-level magicians have signed service contracts with the Kingdom of Harland, so there are only a few candidates that Ziggs can choose. These people are all veterans of the Mage Association and have been members of the Mage Association for at least fifteen years. They have a comfortable life and good treatment, and it is impossible for them to agree to Giggs' conditions.

As soon as Giggs opened his mouth, he was rejected unceremoniously.

Over the next month or so, Giggs visited more than thirty candidates. Even if he hits a wall at every turn, he still cheers up and continues to visit the next candidate.

It wasn't until he met Heath that he considered agreeing to his conditions.

Heath has been a member of the Harland Mage Association for twenty-five years. He is considered a veteran of the Mage Association and was originally a member of the Tower of Death. He is now sixty-seven years old, and his professional level has been promoted to level five.

Heath's magical talent is average and he has basically been unable to advance in this life. He has served the Kingdom of Harland for twenty-five years and does have plans to retire.

After receiving Giggs' invitation, Histon was immediately touched and wanted to go to sea and have a look.

Heath's life was very simple. He was born into a serf family when he was young. He was taken into the Tower of Death at the age of twenty-two and promoted to the second ring at the age of forty. My life for the past forty years did not leave a narrow confinement, as if I was in a prison.

If he hadn't been lucky enough to join the Harland Leader and receive guidance from highly qualified magicians such as Richard and Sophia, he would never have been able to advance to the mid-level with his talent.

In the early years, Heath studied the Book of Death. Because there was no one to guide him and the conditions were harsh, his body was eroded by negative energy magic particles, and he almost died in Harland Hospital.

After joining the Harland Territory, Richard personally wrote the Book of Meditation Curse for them, and stopped their dangerous mission. Only then did Heath gain true freedom.

For the next twenty years, Heath spent most of his time in the hospital, and occasionally signed up to fight on the front lines. He learned many healing spells and devoted himself to serving in Harland.

After joining the Harland Territory, Heath also started a family in the territory and married a twenty-eight-year-old widow.

Heath's income was very high, and he later served as the director of a hospital and was proficient in various healing spells. For more than twenty years, he has had a wife and two lovers in Harland, and has given birth to seventeen children, two of whom have magical talents.

Over the years, Heath has created a sizable family in Harland.

Now the older children have married and started a business, and the two children with magical talents do not need to be taken care of. For the remaining young children, Heath has also left them a generous fortune, enough for them to have enough food and clothing for a lifetime.

Heath no longer needed to worry about family matters.

After careful consideration for a period of time, Heath still wanted to see distant places. He could not refuse his inner desire and finally agreed to Giggs' invitation.

Of course, Heath, a veteran of the Harland Mage Association, needs to sign a confidentiality agreement before leaving the territory. All the knowledge learned from the Harland Mage Association and the papers he has read cannot be leaked.

After making all preparations, Heath and Ziggs returned to Starlight Castle together. At this time, most of Ziggs's steamboat had been repaired. The mast and sails have been repaired, and the ship's planks are still being replaced.

After Heath inspected the steamer, he decided to negotiate terms with Giggs.

After finding Giggs, Heath went straight to the point: "What conditions are you going to give me?"

"How about a salary of three hundred gold coins a year?"

With a professional level like Hiss, serving the Kingdom of Harland, his monthly salary is as high as twelve gold coins, and there are various subsidies for a year. In addition, meritorious service will be awarded for killing enemies, and some battle mages are not far away from being knighted.

Mages who can engage in scientific research are valued more by the territory, and their remuneration is much higher than that of battle mages. For example, the famous magic mechanic Bonova has now been successfully knighted, and his own wealth has exceeded 100,000 gold coins, and he can compete with capitalist nobles.

A salary of three hundred gold coins a year, and having to face unknown risks, are not attractive to a five-ring magician.

Even if the salary is 500 gold coins a year, it will only be 50,000 after working for a hundred years.

An investment of fifty thousand gold coins cannot be exchanged for a hereditary baron.

Now if you want to be granted a title in the northern region of Pulilan, if you don't have a capable armed force, you have to invest at least 120,000 to 30,000 gold coins.

When the undead on the northern ice sheet are wiped out, there may not be a policy of exchanging gold coins for meritorious deeds. By then, no matter how rich you are, you will not be able to jump in class.

Seeing that Heath looked at him as if he were a fool, Giggs spread his hands and said: "Dear Mr. Heath, of course I know that this treatment is worse.

But our business has just started, so I can't offer you a big price. But I can agree to give you 20% of the shares. "

After hearing the conditions given by Giggs, Heath immediately refused.

"Twenty percent is too little, I want fifty percent."

When Giggs heard that Heath wanted half of the shares, he immediately declined: "Dear Mr. Heath, half of the shares is too much. You have to know that in order to buy this ship, I invested up to 12,000 gold coins. In addition, I also It employs more than a hundred crew members, including four retired artillery sergeants and one artillery officer. The cost of hiring these people is more than 4,000 gold coins a year. If you want half of the shares, please invest resources in this ship."

"Since I dare to ask for half of the shares, of course I will bring changes to this ship." Heath took out a magic core from the space bag on his waist and said very confidently: "This is a sixth-order Galax fish. Human magic core, with this magic core as the core, we can transform this steamship into a magic ship.

Let me talk about my suggestions for modification. First, steel plates need to be installed on the bottom of the ship. Secondly, using the Galath murloc magic core as the energy core, a protective force field magic array is drawn on the side of the ship, and ice blade magic is drawn on the steel plate on the bottom of the ship to strengthen the ship's defense. Finally, a magic speargun is added. If I encounter danger, I will personally go into the water to fight.

In addition to this sixth-level magic core, I can also provide two thousand gold coins as funds for ship modification.

I think what I paid is enough to get half of the shares. "

Seeing the magic core in Heath's hand, Giggs couldn't open his eyes. Although this magic core was only level six, its price on the market was as high as four to five thousand gold coins.

The most troublesome thing is that things like magic cores have a price but no market. It takes opportunity and time to buy one. What's more, even if you get the magic core, it is still very difficult to modify the magic ship, because the magic shipyard does not accept orders from new people.

"Dear Mr. Heath, can you modify the magic ship by yourself?"

Heath nodded and said: "Of course, our ship has steam power and does not need to use magic power. The structure of the magic energy core has been simplified a lot and is not too difficult. Using one magic core as the energy source to drive two magic arrays, As long as you learn magic inscriptions, it's easy to do it.

Of course, this kind of magic ship is disposable. After the energy of the magic core is consumed, it must be dismantled and replaced. "

Although it was a one-time magic ship, Ziggs was still very happy when he heard it. Because there is a protective array on the ship, it can protect the safety of the crew. Seeing that Heath took out a sixth-level magic core, Giggs readily agreed to the 50-50 condition.