Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

At night, John's troops marched across the vast plains. Although it was generally unwise to travel at night in the Middle Ages, John did not want to stay in Nord any longer.

Although Grant is a small island, except for a small volcanic area in the middle, most of the rest of the island is plains. Coupled with the long coastline, it is very suitable for building more ports.

In addition to signing the contract, John went to Nord for a personal reason. He wanted to see the young Fire Dragon Knight. However, as of now, the Fire Dragon Knight may not have shown his strength yet. Maybe it will take a few years for him to become a warrior with the power of the dragon.

After walking all night, John's troops returned to Qiusda. After several days of cleaning, except for the city walls, the various facilities in the city were basically restored to their original state.

Since John was not going to release the prisoners of war and the Yoda civilians, the streets were filled with patrolling soldiers, many of whom were Viking raiders with round shields and axes and blue tattoos on their bodies.

Those Yoda prisoners of war and Yoda civilians were still being held in various warehouses, living on the meals distributed by the soldiers every day, basically three meals of porridge with black bread a day.

Originally, the Yuda residents living here were the families of local soldiers. Although they were still beaten and exploited by the nobles in their homeland, they were the upper class on this island, and the Grant people were the lower class. The food, vegetables, and livestock they ate were all produced by the Grant people working under the whip on the farms. However, with the capture of Chusda, all these good days came to an end with entering this warehouse.

Of course, some people thought about escaping and seizing a boat to return to Yoda, but none of them succeeded. Instead, they were hanged and became the sunny dolls at the port. Whenever the Yoda people came out to get food and looked at the port, all they saw were the corpses of the Yoda people.

Just as John was about to take a break, a soldier ran over from the direction of the city wall, knelt on one knee and said, "Sir, there is a strange ship heading towards the port. According to observation, it is similar in size to the Sea Wolf."

"Huh?" John suddenly no longer felt sleepy. Who would come here by boat so late at night? Could it be Yoda's warship?

Thinking of this, John immediately led his soldiers to the south city wall. Although the south city wall had not been repaired yet, the stairs were intact, allowing John to climb the wall and observe the outline of the ship in the distance with a telescope.

"Hmm..." Under John's observation, the outline of a ship as big as the Sea Wolf appeared on the sea, but as the ship got closer and closer to the port, John discovered that this ship did not seem to be a warship.

As far as John knows, the surrounding countries have basically installed cannons on their warships, and ships as large as the Sea Wolf have been converted to two decks to accommodate more cannons.

However, this ship does not have all the characteristics of the above-mentioned warships. There are no openable gun ports in the middle, which means that this ship has no deck or is not mainly used for combat. In addition, the huge cabin at the back makes John believe that this is a merchant ship.

While John was observing, the two warships patrolling outside the harbor immediately headed towards the unknown ship. When the distance was close enough, the unknown warship immediately folded its sails and stopped in the water. Then, one of the two patrol ships approached the unknown ship, while the other remained on guard on the spot.

Through John's telescope, as the boarding deck used for landing was lowered, soldiers on the patrol boat headed for the opposite ship. After a few minutes of negotiations, the two ships separated and headed towards the port.

Just when John was confused, a soldier who was observing nearby ran over and said, "Sir, according to the flag signals, this ship is a merchant ship coming here for trade."

"Are there any merchant ships coming here to trade late at night?" With this question in mind, John arrived not far from the port under the protection of the soldiers and waited until the ship docked at the port before entering.

A man wearing a gentleman's hat with a white feather on his head and jewel-encrusted clothes walked down from the boat. Looking at his attire, he looked like a wealthy businessman.

When the man looked at John, he immediately trotted over, took off his hat and saluted a few meters away from John, saying, "Ramon, a merchant from Is, greets Count John."

"How do you know that I am Earl John?" John asked curiously.

"As a businessman, I have my own way of judging people. I know you are Count John by your clothes." Ramon said. However, he had actually heard that John was a child. Now a group of strong men were protecting a child. He didn't know who he was.

"Why did you wait until morning if you wanted to do business?" John continued to question.

“Aren’t you afraid that your business will be taken away?” Ramon replied.

"So, what business has driven you to come here and risk being bombarded by my warships?"

"As a maritime power, we in Is have always been keen on maritime adventures. Thanks to the Duke of Is's pioneering policy, whoever discovers an uninhabited island and is the first to report it to the principality will own the island. As a result, more and more islands have been occupied by the principality."

"Most of these islands will be sold by adventurers to nobles or merchants in the Principality of Is. They will build manors on the larger islands and carry out agricultural activities. A lot of the food in the Principality of Is comes from hundreds of small island manors."

"But." Ramon changed the subject:

"These estates require more manpower to operate, but the population of the Principality of Is is too sparse for Mitlan and Yoda..."

"So you heard that after the war here, people came to me to buy slaves?" John interrupted him.

"As expected, Earl John is very intelligent. That's what I wanted to say. Do you have any slaves you want to sell? As long as they are qualified, I will definitely buy them at the most suitable price."

After Ramon finished speaking, he took out a list and handed it to John, which listed the purchase prices of various slaves.

"Adult male, healthy and healthy, with all teeth intact, 1 silver coin..."

Looking at the prices in the list, John knew that he was not cut out for business, so he said, "Can you please stay for a while? I'll have my financial manager discuss these matters with you. It may take a few days."

When Ramon heard this, he thought that the price was not good enough and wanted to wait for other peers to come and further increase the purchase price, so he quickly said:

"Sir, we can discuss the price later, but you must sell me some slaves anyway, considering that I came all the way here at night and risked being sunk..."

Listening to Ramon's nagging, John replied impatiently, "Wait for news," and returned to Chusda under the escort of the soldiers.

Early the next morning, John and most of the soldiers boarded a ship at the harbor, while the defense of Chusta was handed over to the newly recruited Nordic mercenaries.

As the sails were raised, many warships began to sail southward. Not far from the fleet, some ships were heading towards Chusda. According to John's observation, these ships were flying the flag of the Principality of Is and entered the port under the escort of John's navy.

Watching Chusda gradually disappearing from his sight, John stretched himself and prepared to embark on a new battlefield.