The tall, burly Northerner looked rather mismatched with the small document pouch in his hand. Alexei stared expressionlessly at Jeremiah for several seconds before finally nodding.
Jeremiah grinned, patted him on the shoulder, and walked out. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Alexei casually shut the door behind him.
This guy...
Jeremiah wanted to say something else, but the clerks queued up behind him shoved him out of the way.
"Damn it, doesn't he ever get tired? I doubt even the great pirates of the Pirate King's Court have this many people waiting to see them."
"Alexei." Only after glancing at the closed door did Theus speak. "How is the investigation into Nora going?"
When Nora left, she had said she would bring people back in about a week. It had now been well over a week.
Combined with Chloe's warning, Theus suspected she might have run into serious trouble and needed help.
As for Nora, Theus still felt that if he could help her, he should do his best to do so.
First, she had offered him a helping hand when he had asked for aid—deeds mattered more than motives. Whatever her reasons had been, she truly had helped Theus.
Second, there were the refugees she intended to bring.
When Nora had first prepared to set out, the island had only just established its olive oil and soap factories. Labor had not been much of an issue then; islanders could simply switch trades and become workers.
But now that the nitroglycerin production line and steelworks were being built, manpower immediately became scarce.
Even with steam engines in use, the population problem had become increasingly urgent.
For now, the skilled workers Beatrice had brought could fill the gaps and barely keep things running. But no matter