“You also have to add some butter and egg white. Otherwise, you won’t be able to get the soft and waxy texture,” Roland added, “How much saltpeter is there this time?”
“Still only one vessel,” the business woman shook her head. “The Alchemist Association is still wantonly purchasing saltpeter; the Imperial Prime Minister even sent out the patrol to help plunder the saltpeter fields. Even though that group is carrying the mighty name of sage; there is still no difference between them, and a gang of robbers, this one ship of saltpeter also came from Redwater City.”
“So, this month’s goods are for the largest part washing stones?”
“That’s right,” Hogg drained the cup of white spirit in one gulp and then poured himself another before saying, “Although the amount may be a little too much this time, it is still deeply engraved within my heart, that you told me to get as many as possible last time. In addition to washing stones, there are also the best iron ingots and lead ingots. Recently, apart from you here, there are very few cities and towns which need this stuff,” he sighed, ”The mining business is getting worse and worse.”
“Oh, that’s right, what kind of problems have recently occurred in the Western Territory?” Margaret suddenly asked.
“What happened?”
“When the fleet was on its way to Border Town, we met a lot of… well,” she paused for a moment, considering the words she should use, “a lot of ‘floating corpses’. They were dressed in rags and were mushy from rotting. Furthermore, there were so many of them floating that they covered the whole river channel from one side to the other. Apart from the corpse, there were also some broken planks and ropes that were floating on the water surface. It looked as if a ship had hit a reef, sunk, and thus ceased to exist. However, there is no reef in the river, so I thought…”
“Well, those were the remains of Timothy’s fleet which he used to try and invade the Western Territory with,” Roland put on a look of indignation, and told the story of the fight a week ago. “They have gotten the punishment they deserved.”
In order to avoid blocking the ship channel and spreading a contagious plague, he had transferred Anna and Lily from Border Town, after cleaning the battlefield. One was responsible for burning all the remains of the ships, while the other was responsible for purifying the water. But since Margaret still saw the floating corpses, she mustn’t have been far away from the actual fight to have passed the place so soon after the end of the battle.
“So that’s the reason,” the merchant said with a smile. “It seems as if Timothy has hit a wall on both sides.”
“On both sides?”
“There was also Garcia’s Port of Clear Water — the latest news I received was that the looters who attacked the cities of the Eastern Territory were actually Garcia’s men. After looting everything from the Sea Wind Region and Valencia, the Black Sail Fleet went further North along the coastline instead of returning to the harbor, who knows where she finally landed.”
“North…” Roland asked in surprise, “Did she leave Graycastle?”
“For now that seems to be the case. Timothy’s troops have already thrown themselves against an already evacuated Port of Clear Water which left it as a ghost city.” Margaret stated, “There were a lot of rats within the force he brought along, so that’s why all of these are well-known secrets within the streets. No matter what, you are the only thorn left remaining in his side, thus in the future, it is quite possible that his attempts to invade the Western Territory will become even more and more frequent.”
“If you ever want to leave Graycastle, Crescent Half-Moon Bay will welcome you at any time,” Marlan offered.
“That’s right,” Gammon agreed while patting his chest, “The island is sufficient enough to contain ten Border Towns, and we are even willing to provide for you and your people free of charge.”
