Franklin Harbor

Franklin Harbor

Dean Issac turned into an alley beside the main street. After confirming that no one was following him, he walked to the door of a residential building and knocked three times in succession. After a brief pause, he knocked twice more.

The door opened, and a young girl poked her head out. After glancing both ways down the road, she grabbed Dean by the clothes and yanked him inside.

"Hey, hey! Easy! You're going to tear my clothes apart!" Dean protested unhappily.

"You've got some nerve saying that. You were gone for so long that I thought something had happened to you."

The pink-haired girl frowned deeply and planted her hands on her hips, clearly a little angry.

"Huh? Huh? The sun's rising in the west. Is the Regiment Commander worried about me?" Dean asked in exaggerated surprise.

"You—believe me or not, I'll beat you up!" The girl's face flushed as she raised a flail completely disproportionate to her build.

Dean immediately raised both hands in surrender. "Spare me, spare me!"

"Hey, hey! You two can flirt later, can't you? Susan's grandfather is still in the pirates' hands." A tall, blond young man standing nearby spoke helplessly.

Then his face met the girl's flail in an "intimate embrace."

"If you don't say anything, no one will think you're mute, you 'fly.'" The girl held up the flail and spoke ominously.

The blond Scene Kid clutched his swelling cheek and said miserably, "Yes~~ Regiment Commander, I'll never dare do it again."

As soon as he finished speaking, two more people emerged from the back room: a girl wearing a pointed scholar's hat and another girl with a ponytail. The ponytailed girl was the only one in the house wearing civilian clothes in the style of Northwest Bay. She said happily, "So Dean is back, after all."

Seeing that Dean had returned safely, the two girls could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The scholar-dressed girl asked, "Dean, did you find out anything?"

"I really did get quite a bit of useful information."

Everyone gathered around the table, and Dean continued, "Franklin Harbor has been placed under a full lockdown. No one is allowed to enter or leave. I heard the pirates hit a snag a while back."

"Who asked about that?" the flail-wielding girl asked unhappily. "What about Susan's grandfather and the target of our mission?"

"Don't rush me. I'm getting to it. I got a pirate underling drunk and pried some information out of him. Susan's grandfather and our target are both being held in the church. I took a look around the area, but the pirates have it tightly guarded, making it difficult to get close. So we have to find the right opportunity."

The flail-wielding girl began shouting in dissatisfaction. "Why make things so complicated? If you ask me, we should just charge in, drag out that 'Shark,' beat him senseless, and make him hand them over!"

Dean gave a helpless, bitter smile. "Regiment Commander, you have to consider the difference in numbers between the two sides."

The flail-wielding girl glared at him. "Then what do you suggest?"

Dean remained unhurried. "I do have a plan, and it goes back to what I mentioned at the beginning. Do you know how badly the pirates were beaten recently? They lost more than four hundred men! That's nearly half of the Shark Gang."

The bruised and swollen Scene Kid clutched his cheek and asked, "Who was that powerful? It wasn't the local lord, was it?"

Dean spread his hands. "That underling didn't know. You served in the army before, didn't you? You should understand. When it comes to people at the bottom, those above them often don't want them to know too much. If the enemy is too strong, some might desert, so they're only informed right before battle and shoved to the front as cannon fodder. He learned about the loss of more than four hundred men from an acquaintance close to one of the leaders."

The flail-wielding girl said, "Could it have been the lord's army, Su...?"

"Don't joke around. Would the lords here care about the lives of coastal commoners? They sold us to the pirates more than a decade ago."

Before the flail-wielding girl could finish asking, the ponytailed girl cut in with a blunt remark.

The girl's expression was entirely different from before. She looked disdainful, perhaps resentful, and one small hand was clenched tightly into a fist.

"Those shameless nobles still have the nerve to come here every quarter to collect taxes. As the town mayor, Grandpa has to satisfy the pirates' greedy appetites and deal with the tax officials sent by that pigheaded lord. And even after all that, many townspeople still complain about him."

As she spoke, the girl's eyes grew moist, and tears helplessly gathered in their corners.

The young scholar immediately placed a hand on the girl's back and comforted her. "Don't be sad. Everyone is probably only complaining aloud. They understand your grandfather in their hearts. Otherwise, why would they nominate him as mayor every year?"

The ponytailed girl wiped away her tears and sobbed, "Mm... I know everyone means well. Being extorted by both the pirates and the lord inevitably gives people something to grumble about."

"Ahem!" Seeing that the mood had grown heavy, Dean cleared his throat to draw everyone's attention and continued explaining his plan:

"Regardless of who made the pirates hit that snag, judging by their recent preparations—reinforcing their defenses and banning entry and exit—it seems that whoever it was will soon be coming to Franklin Harbor to deal with them."

"There are only a few hundred pirates in town now. According to the information I pried out of that man, most of them will be sent to the city gates to conduct defensive operations when the time comes. Only about twenty people will remain in the church."

"We can't tell whether the newcomers are good or evil. Since Susan said the local lord is utterly incompetent, I suspect it may be another pirate group coming to fight them. We can only rely on ourselves. When the time comes, we'll take advantage of the chaos and do this... then that..."

After everyone had discussed the details of the operation, the flail-wielding girl made the final decision. "Hmph! It's simple enough! We'll do it that way. Sigh, if only the other members of the group were here. If we gathered together, I think we could force our way in right now."

"Can't be helped. Who told you to accept two missions, Commander?"

"Hmph! I was thinking about the future of our adventurer group. But speaking of which, what did our target—the young master Foster of the Horn Bay Alliance—come here for? He's nothing but trouble."

"What other reason could there be? A rich young master like him has probably had his brain burned out by knightly adventure novels. He fantasizes about slaying dragons and rescuing princesses every day. He couldn't find a dragon, but there are plenty of villains here. Wasn't this once Edward's territory? I heard many people challenged him before, but none succeeded. They all ended up as fish food. Our young master sure is unbelievably lucky—he arrived just when Edward was away."

Ponytail said, "Brother Dean, Sister Meilu, I want to help you, too. Besides, my grandfather is among the people being rescued. Let me go with you. I'm very familiar with the inside of the church."

"No! It's too dangerous. Susan, just stay home and wait for our good news."

The flail-wielding girl flatly refused, a solemn expression appearing on her face.

"I—Meilu Heimer—swear on the name of the Lichman Adventurer Group that I'll return your grandfather home safe and sound."

At that moment, the church in Franklin Harbor had become the Shark Gang's headquarters. The gang's leaders, large and small, had gathered in a room for a meeting to discuss their recent defeat.

Dressed like a classic pirate, with a face full of coarse flesh and an eyepatch over his left eye, the leader known as "Shark" said resentfully, "No wonder 'Loach' ran back to sea in such a panic. It turns out the boy from the Greiman Family really does have some tricks."

One of the underlings said, "Boss, we should retreat to the sea, too. The men below are getting nervous. Rumors that the enemy has a wizard helping them have spread everywhere."

Shark flew into a rage and smashed the cup in front of him to pieces. "Pass down the order! Anyone who dares spread that nonsense again will have his tongue cut out!"

"Do you want to return to drifting around at sea, never knowing where you'll sleep or whether you'll have enough to eat? After finally seeing that busybody Edward leave, I absolutely have to swallow this fat piece of meat called Franklin Harbor."

"But this land belongs to the Greiman Family..."

"I don't care whether they're Greiman or Seiliman. Once I occupy it, it's mine."

A former Quirk Gang leader who had defected to them looked frightened. "But Boss Shark, their 'wizard'..." He suddenly remembered Shark's order against spreading such rumors and hurriedly shut his mouth.

Shark looked as though he hated them for being useless. "Use your brains. If they really had a wizard or magic, the Church would have gone after them long ago. Would they still have time to deal with us?"

Then he said confidently, "They're nothing more than some uncommon weapons. I carefully questioned the brothers who experienced them firsthand and came up with a way to counter them. As long as you wear heavy armor, or even thick clothing, those iron nails and fragments can't cause much damage. As for those tubes that fire iron pellets, they're basically like bows or slings, except they fire faster, hit harder, and are extremely scarce."

Although Shark sounded tough, he was secretly afraid as well. He had seen a pirate from Quirk's side who had taken a bullet. The man's entire arm had nearly been crippled, and he died a few days later from a persistent high fever.

But he absolutely could not show that openly. Otherwise, how could he trick his men into throwing their lives away? So he delivered another stirring speech, promising them all sorts of benefits after they occupied Franklin Harbor permanently.

Shark's men were roused by his speech, and Greiman's secret weapon no longer seemed so frightening. One after another, they declared that they would follow their boss and fight Greiman's army to the death.

"By the way, how are that old mayor and the young master from the Horn Bay Alliance?"

"The old man still refuses to cooperate. No matter how brutally we torture him, he won't acknowledge your title as lord. The young master, on the other hand, has been completely obedient. He writes whatever we tell him to write."

"Hmph! Once we stop that dog-headed noble's army, I'll have plenty of time to play with the old man. By then, it won't matter whether he acknowledges me or not. And keep a close eye on that young master. He's our money tree."

"Yes, Boss!"