Church

After the fighting in the city-gate district ended, Paul led Schroeder and the others on horseback into Franklin Harbor.

He looked around and carefully studied the port town. In terms of built-up area, Franklin Harbor was more than twice the size of Lakeheart Town. The residents' houses were arranged in an orderly yet varied fashion, and were generally taller and more attractive than the homes in Lakeheart Town. From the city gate, a winding avenue led west toward the docks. What was more, the avenue was paved with stone—far better than Lakeheart Town's Central Avenue, which turned into a muddy mess whenever it rained.

Although it had apparently suffered pirate extortion for a long time, the town had still not lost its vitality. No wonder the Shark Gang had taken a liking to this place and refused to leave, no matter what.

As for why the Lord's Manor had not been established here, the threat of pirates was certainly an important reason. But more importantly, the lords of the Northwest Region generally did not build their residences in prosperous towns. Many lords lived in solitary castles or manors with not even a single civilian house around them.

In Paul's memories of his previous life, the European lords of Earth's medieval era had generally done the same.

Now was not the time to admire the scenery, so he put those thoughts aside. At that moment, Cecil, the Intelligence Director who had accompanied the army, made a rough estimate of the pirates' prisoners, dead, and wounded before reporting, "My lord, the pirates' effective forces have basically all been accounted for here. Based on my deductions, no more than fifty of them remain."

After a brief discussion among the officers, two cannons and one company were left behind to guard the city gate. The rest of the troops spread out through the town by platoon to search for any stragglers. In particular, they needed to find Shark, the pirate chief. After briefly interrogating the prisoners, they learned that the cunning pirate leader had incited his underlings to fight to the death, then quietly slipped away himself.

Schroeder suggested, "I think we must seize the docks immediately. Shark may quietly escape by boat from there."

Paul found that reasonable, so he ordered Schroeder to lead a company on a forced march to the docks and seal off the harbor.

The other officers also led their own soldiers in searching for the remaining pirates. Paul himself, meanwhile, led two platoons, including the musketeers, toward the church in the center of town alongside Cecil, the Intelligence Director. Intelligence indicated that the church was the pirates' temporary headquarters. Paul hoped they had hidden something there—perhaps glittering gold coins, or glittering gems. In all the legends, didn't pirates love hoarding treasure?

By then, the residents of Franklin Harbor had all tightly shut their doors, afraid of being caught up in the fighting. The streets were silent, save for the running footsteps and hoofbeats of the marching army.

The church gradually came into view. The soldiers at the front suddenly made a warning gesture, and the platoon behind them immediately surrounded the earl and Cecil.

The church's doors were tightly shut, and two corpses dressed like pirates lay at the entrance. It was indeed strange. They should have been the first troops to arrive in this area. Had the pirates fallen into internal conflict? Soon, the church doors were forced open, and the soldiers rushed into the main hall, carefully searching every corner.

But aside from a few pirate corpses, they found nothing.

"It looks like there really was an internal conflict. Another group must have taken the valuables and fled."

That was Paul's judgment. Anxious, he secretly prayed, "Lord of Light, although I wasn't very respectful toward your brother on Earth in my previous life, you must bless Schroeder and let him stop them this time. I'll definitely offer you three sticks of golden incense afterward... No, I mean I'll donate three gold... silver coins to the church. Forget it, copper coins will do."

Unwilling to give up, he wandered around the church with two soldiers, hoping the pirates had left something behind.

After personally checking several rooms, he arrived at a room on the second floor and glanced inside. Apart from a bed, a square table, and an old wardrobe, there was nothing else.

"Lord of Light! Show me a miracle, or you won't be getting those three copper coins."

He complained as he spoke, then kicked the wardrobe in frustration.

"Ah—"

A clear cry rang out. It was not loud, but it was unmistakable.

The two soldiers and the earl all widened their eyes.

"Who's there? Come out!"

One soldier shouted as he kicked the wardrobe hard, while the other quickly moved in front of the earl to protect him. Dense footsteps sounded outside the room. The soldiers elsewhere had heard the noise and were rushing over.

A tearful voice came from inside the wardrobe. "Stop kicking it! I'm coming out! Please spare me! Please spare me!"

Then the wardrobe door opened, and under everyone's watchful eyes, a middle-aged man in a white robe and with a receding hairline crawled out.

He staggered a few steps, then dropped to his knees in front of Paul. Clutching Paul's leg, he cried with tears and snot streaming down his face, "My lord, I'm only an itinerant priest. I was staying here for a few days and have nothing to do with the pirates living here. Please don't kill an innocent man by mistake!" After saying that, he began wailing. The sound was enough to break the heart of anyone who heard it.

"Get up, get up!" Paul kicked him away.

This was far too exaggerated. Paul really couldn't stand seeing a greasy middle-aged man kneeling in front of him and bawling his eyes out. Still, the man's eye for people was pretty sharp. The moment he came out, he had recognized that this half-grown boy was the leader of the group.

The man ignored him completely and continued wailing, "Father in Heaven, your servant is about to ascend and serve you!"

There was nothing Paul could do. It seemed that his King's Aura truly was no joke. Although he had been doing his best to restrain it, even a little leakage was enough to make ordinary people unable to stand.

The earl ostentatiously raised his right hand and smoothed his hair back, lifted his chin, and struck what he considered a handsome pose. "I am the lord of this land. I have come here to exterminate the pirates who have plagued this region for a long time, protect the territory, and keep the people safe—not to kill and burn indiscriminately." Heh heh, continue basking in my aura.

"The lord?" The balding priest abruptly stopped wailing and raised his head to examine the person before him. Huh? He had been too busy crying to look carefully. Now that he did, the man's movements and bearing really did resemble a foolish son from a wealthy landowner's family.

"Ahem!" He stood up and cleared his throat to cover his embarrassment, then straightened his clothes.

The balding priest spoke leisurely. "So you are the lord of this land. May I ask how I should address you, young lord?" There was even a trace of arrogance on his face, reminding Paul of the Royal Commissioner he had once outwitted. Speaking of that fellow, he had disappeared after the pirates attacked. Paul had no idea where he had run off to.

"Standing before you is the kingdom's frontier lord of the Northwest, the nemesis of pirates, the one who summons thunder—firearms—the spreader of the Gospel of Heaven—papermaking—the Earl of Alarda Territory: Paul Greiman." Should I add the title of Liberator of Rear Ends? After thinking it over, Paul decided against it.

The balding priest's face immediately crinkled into a chrysanthemum-like smile. "So you are an earl!"

He clasped his interlocked fingers before his chest and looked at Paul as though he were an angel descended from heaven. The trace of arrogance from before vanished completely, as if it had never existed.

Paul looked the self-proclaimed priest up and down, then waved at the soldiers and said, "You may leave first. I have something to discuss with this priest alone."

Seeing the soldiers hesitate, he patted the firearm tucked at his waist. "Don't worry. It's fine!"