Steel and Wood

The room fell silent instantly, with only the rustling sound of Theus drying his hair filling the space.

Alexei pressed a hand to his chest, looking at his lord in astonishment.

What had he just heard? Refuse to pay the sea tax!?

Ever since that Pirate King unified all the pirate factions on the Storm Ocean and promulgated the Thirteen Laws of Gem Bay, every power on the Storm Ocean had been required to pay sea tax to Gem Bay.

This order had been met with swift compliance everywhere—the Black Sail Fleet would anchor in the ports, and the pirates would hold up their documents to read them aloud to the local lords, giving them a choice: leave with the sea tax, or leave with the lord's head.

Refusing to pay the sea tax meant only one thing: declaring war on all the pirates.

It was true that wherever a Border Count was enfeoffed, the flames of war usually followed, but Alexei was the Chief Secretary; almost all the affairs of the island passed through his hands.

Go to war? Castel had made absolutely no preparations for war; what would they fight with?

Moreover, this was at sea; no matter how powerful the Empire's army was on land, it might not be of much use here.

Alexei's face twitched, his gaze falling upon the two pirates.

Just now, Jeremiah had addressed the Pirate King as "Governor," and that was no casual remark; it was a title recognized across the Seven Seas.

Governor was an imperial title, usually bestowed by the royal family, yet when the Pirate King styled himself as such, the usually formidable Empress had uncharacteristically remained silent.

The blades of the Empire could not yet reach the sea, and that Pirate King had no interest in going to war with the Empire, so the two sides maintained a delicate balance: the subordinates of this maritime Governor would occasionally raid imperial fleets, and Border Counts like Theus were given tacit permission to expand freely into the Storm Ocean.

My lord, even the Empress sitting upon the Iron Thorn Throne has chosen silence, and you now wish to wage total war against Gem Bay?

By tomorrow, every inch of the sea you see will be packed with ships flying black sails, and before that, you will have been decapitated by these two pirates to feed the Horse-faced Fish in the sea.

Or perhaps you think you can drag the entire Empire into the water, forcing the Empress to pay the price of losing the Four Western Territories just to fight the Pirate King—never mind that you are merely the illegitimate son of Duke Cohen; even if you were his illegitimate father, it would be useless.

Jeremiah was also stunned by Theus's words; he looked left and right unnaturally, as if a group of iron-clad soldiers were about to jump out and hack him into mincemeat.

How long had it been since he heard someone dare to oppose Gem Bay on the Storm Ocean?

Even Blood Port, where the Candlelight Society had built the Saintis Cathedral, dared not openly oppose Gem Bay, and that was where the entire naval fleet of the Empire was stationed.

Yet this lord before him had the guts to flip the table?

Could this be a trap set by one of his peers? Collecting sea tax was a lucrative job, after all.

Jeremiah would rather suspect that Theus was playing a double game than believe he truly dared to refuse the sea tax, simply because going to war with Gem Bay on the Storm Ocean was such an absurd notion.

Perhaps nations on land could rely on treacherous terrain to seek some neutrality, but this was the sea.

If he could just make it back today, the Black Sail Fleet could be knocking on the gates of Castel by tomorrow.

Jeremiah was already secretly signaling the Tattooed Man, but Theus's next sentence made him pause.

"If Gem Bay is willing to accept fair trade, then we can talk."

Fair trade? You want to talk about fair trade with pirates?

Jeremiah's expression gradually turned hostile; he began to wonder if he was overthinking things—was this noble just a brat who knew nothing?

The Tattooed Man beside him showed no signs of alarm, so it seemed there was no ambush.

Was he overthinking it?

Jeremiah's face twitched.

Jeremiah reached for the scimitar at his waist; he intended to teach this lord a lesson and show him how pirates operated.

But just as his hand gripped the hilt, Theus's slow, leisurely voice came again:

"For instance, steel, or timber?"

Jeremiah's hand froze.

He stared fixedly at Theus, his voice raspy as he spoke: "You're joking, right?"

Steel and timber?

The things most lacking at sea were steel and timber—or more accurately, weapons forged from steel and ships built from timber.

This required blacksmiths and shipyards; Gem Bay did not lack these, but they did lack raw materials.

Although the Empress's power at sea was too weak, it was a different story on land.

The Empire had been cultivating the land with blades and gunpowder, and its outward expansion had been ongoing for a full decade.

Although the Empire still had many enemies on land, the enemies on the northwestern coast were gone, separated from Gem Bay only by the sea, and Border Counts like Theus were now like sesame seeds sprinkled on a flatbread, covering the entire coastline.

Under these circumstances, the Pirate King could basically forget about obtaining a single bit of resources from the land... at least, that was how it appeared on the surface.

If Theus had a way to sell steel and timber, let alone coming to collect sea tax, Gem Bay would even be willing to buy them at prices higher than the market rate—they would take as much as he could provide.

You want free trade? Absolutely no problem; no matter who bought it on the Storm Ocean, it would eventually end up in the hands of Gem Bay.

They would even be willing to open a separate trade route for this, with Gem Bay personally guaranteeing its safety.

On the Storm Ocean, Gem Bay had exactly that kind of influence.

But could he really get his hands on such sensitive goods? Jeremiah didn't know much about the Empire, but steel and timber were controlled resources everywhere; did he really have such a powerful background?

Jeremiah looked at Theus with suspicious eyes.

Wait, Theus, before he arrived, someone seemed to have told him about this lord's background...

Well, for those who go to the territories of the Border Count to collect taxes on behalf of the Empire, Gem Bay usually provides them with a rough profile of the lord. After all, the Border Count is notoriously tough, and there have been cases where direct conflicts broke out on the spot; if those two didn't return, the Black Sail Fleet from Gem Bay would come knocking on the island's door the next day.

He naturally received Theus's file, but he had gone off to drink at the time, and the person who was supposed to brief him on the specifics just mentioned it casually, seeing how drunk he was.

Later, Theus's honest performance in paying the maritime tax put his mind completely at ease.

Jeremiah only vaguely remembered that the lord before him seemed to be the child of some big shot.

Wait, where did he say he was from earlier? It seemed to be... the Duke Cohen territory?

Duke Cohen?

Jeremiah gasped, his knowledge of the Empire limited to only a few names, countable on two hands, yet Duke Cohen was among them.

Duke Cohen's territory occupied a massive expanse in the southern reaches of the Empire, and looking at Theus's youthful appearance, it was obvious that this fiefdom had been obtained through his father, the Duke.

What was his title again? Border Count? How high is a Count?

Jeremiah didn't quite understand the Empire's noble ranking system, let alone the civil and military official hierarchies. Between guessing and bluffing, the way he looked at Theus changed entirely.