Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 29 Pier
Whether it was because it had offended the tax collectors or not, the Skuas waited at anchor all night and all morning, and was not allowed to enter the port until the sun was setting the next day.

When the pier became visible, Winters began to repack his gear. Only then did he understand why Instructor Nal had said that people no longer used longswords, but instead chose to carry more portable weapons.

Because compared to the swords of Major General Layton and Major Moritz, the longswords used by the military academy were simply too "long".

Winters gestured several times, suggesting it be hung on his belt. A bare scabbard wouldn't look good either.

Should it be tucked diagonally into the belt? The scabbard would easily scrape against the ground, and having a 1.3-meter-long iron bar hanging on the waist wouldn't be comfortable either.

Carrying it on your back? That's strange; I've never seen anyone carry a sword on their back.

Holding it in his hand? He probably looks like a bandit about to engage in a shootout.

After thinking it over, I think it would be more convenient to hang it on the horse.

The major general and the major's swords are both one-handed swords, which can be easily hung on their belts.

Their swords were shorter, lighter, and more ornate than Winters's longsword.

I don't know how effective it is in actual combat, but compared to its portability and decorative appeal, it can easily defeat Winters' longsword.

Winters glanced at Bud and Andrei, then suddenly laughed. He laughed at his own nervousness at the prospect of returning home, so much so that he was at a loss for what to do.

Having figured this out, he stopped worrying about how to wear the longsword in a more stylish way, and simply tied the sword and his bag together, carrying them by hand as he walked onto the deck.

The Skua was very close to an empty berth. The Blue Harbor was full of ships, and one wrong move could result in a close encounter.

So the Skuas had all its sails furled, and the sailors were carefully guarding against a collision with long wooden poles.

Feeling the distance was about right, the acting captain resumed his duties as the first mate, grabbing the rope and throwing it forcefully towards the berth. The dockworkers, who had been waiting at the berth, deftly caught the rope and tied it to a stake.

The sailors on board shouted and pulled together, while several others assisted with long wooden poles, and they steadily brought the ship to a stop at the berth.

The sailors began to lay planks between the pier and the ship's side. Winters had just stepped forward to disembark when the major called him to stay.

Winters keenly noticed that the major's habit of unconsciously fiddling with coins had disappeared, and even his hands were trembling slightly. Clearly, alcoholism and dehydration were taking their toll.

The major's voice had become somewhat hoarse. He said listlessly to Winters, "After you disembark, take your classmates and get them in formation first. Don't let them fall apart all at once. Go to the military headquarters to report first, and then you can go home."

Winters received the order, saluted, and turned to disembark.

He was actually a little confused as to why the major had called him over. Could it be because he had drunk with him before and therefore recognized him?
On the pier, the acting captain was exchanging documents with the customs official at the dock.

As a commercial republic, customs is an important source of revenue for Hailan, and successive ruling committees have attached great importance to customs development.

In Hailan, the tax collector will board the cargo ship to inspect the goods before it enters the port and is responsible for collecting customs duties. The tax collector will keep one copy of the receipt in triplicate and leave two copies for the merchant ship as proof of tax payment and port entry permit.

After entering the port, the customs officers at the dock will inspect the goods again and take away a receipt left by the tax collector for reconciliation and goods inspection. Only after the inspection is completed can the merchant ship unload the goods.

This simple yet effective system has, to some extent, curbed corruption within the customs service and can be considered a model of efficient administration in this era.

After walking across the long pier and finally stepping onto solid land, Winters suddenly felt a sense of unease.

When Winters first regained consciousness, he almost vomited from seasickness. But once he got used to the constantly rocking Skuas and stepped back onto land, he felt seasick again.

Even though there was solid ground beneath his feet, Winters felt unsteady on his feet, as if he were swaying involuntarily.

Fortunately, the situation was not severe. Winters roused himself and looked up at the Blue Harbor docks, surveying his familiar yet unfamiliar hometown.

Hailan was slightly different from the one in my memory, but her temperament was still the same: busy, noisy, and bustling with people.

Everyone was busy with their own things and going their own way. No one noticed or cared that a junior officer who had been away from home for many years had returned to his hometown.

A hand landed on Winters' shoulder, and Bard said with a smile, "Is this the Alliance's largest port? It certainly feels more vibrant than Guitu City."

“Ah, Lord Bard!” Winters placed his right hand on his heart and gave a strange bow, then waved to the bustling crowd at the dock and said to Bard with a smile, “Welcome to the heart of the noble Veneta Republic, the jewel on the inland sea, the city of commerce, the city of wealth—Sea Blue!”

Bard returned the greeting in a strange manner, then jokingly said to Winters, "But I've heard that Aurora is a city of masks, intrigues, assassinations, and secret societies. Isn't Veneta most famous for its assassins?"

“Hey, that’s all in the past.” Winters blushed slightly, but he didn’t argue, because Bard was right.

The Venetians are known for their fiery tempers, their disregard for life and their thirst for revenge. In addition to the custom of wearing swords and masks, they also have a tradition of secret societies.

Outsiders don't understand these customs, but the Venetians don't feel ashamed of them; they are proud of them.

However, Winters had lived in the United States for six years, so he also found the culture of Venetian masks, poison, and daggers not very friendly.

He waved his hand repeatedly and explained to Bard, "That was all during the imperial era. Besides, we Venetians assassinated royalists and old nobles. Those assassins are heroes of the League."

Thirty years ago, before the Catholic Church had split twice, the Venetians' resistance was aroused by the brutal suppression of heresy.

The Venetians, concealing poisoned daggers beneath their cloaks, roamed the streets of Aquamarine, assassinating Catholic clergy in broad daylight. Large numbers of Catholic clergy lay dead in the streets, while the remaining bishops and inquisitors cowered in their fortresses, too terrified to venture out.

When the noble faction and militia within the alliance broke apart, the Venetians also actively assassinated a large number of Gulf nobles. Apart from the members of the pseudo-royal family, the last legitimate heir to the Duchy of the Mountain was killed by a Venetian assassin, directly causing the complete extinction of even the collateral branches of the Frosland family.

"Is it in the past? Why do I still see people wearing masks on the street?" Bard's eyes crinkled into crescent moons as he pointed, "Look, and over there, those people by the carriage are all wearing masks."

Winters looked in the direction Bard was pointing and saw two black four-wheeled carriages parked on the stone path by the dock. These carriages were fully enclosed, painted entirely black with white wooden trim. The small windows were also drawn, obscuring the view of who was inside.

Four people stood beside the car, wearing black tricorn hats and black cloaks. They wore white Fool's masks, which were full-coverage masks except for the lower half, which was slightly upturned and resembled a bird's beak.

Veneta was wealthy and extravagant; everything she wore, from clothing to accessories, was lavishly decorated. The four people and two carriages parked at the dock, though simple, stood out against the backdrop of the other brightly dressed pedestrians and carriages, making them impossible to ignore. "Not everyone wearing a mask is an assassin; wearing a mask is just a custom. You don't understand, do you? Even the ugliest man or woman gains a bit of beauty with a mask. You haven't seen the carnival, have you? Everyone in the city wears masks then." Winters carefully examined the men in black robes for a while, but couldn't figure them out. "They're probably servants from some wealthy family, here to pick someone up at the dock."

“Shouldn’t servants wear uniforms?” Bard asked, intrigued.

Before Winters could answer, a gruff voice broke into his conversation with Bud: "What's it to you? Who knows if someone likes to wear this as a uniform for their servants?"

Without even looking, one could tell it was Andrei just by the sound of the sandpaper. Andrei was carrying a large bag in each hand, which looked extremely heavy. He was already covered in sweat after walking only a few steps after getting off the ship.

"Wow! How much stuff did you bring back?" Winters was startled by Andrei's luggage.

"I brought everything back!" Andrei said breathlessly.

When Andrei put his luggage on the ground, it even made a metallic clanging sound, and no one knew what was inside.

"Don't we have to go back again? Wouldn't it be better to split it into two trips?" Winters was both amused and exasperated by Andrei's stubbornness. He remembered the task the major had given him to organize the team, and seeing that some of his classmates had already come out, he said to Andrei and Bard, "Tell the people who have already come out not to disband yet, but to line up here and wait for the major. I'll go to the pier exit."

Bud nodded, and Winters carried his luggage to the junction of the dock and the ground, where he relayed the major's orders to each of the students who had just disembarked from the ship.

The dock was bustling with people, including merchants, sailors, travelers, and a large number of dockworkers. A burly dockworker dressed in short clothes passed by Winters, and Winters suddenly felt that the man's back looked very familiar. He suddenly remembered who it was and shouted at the back of the man, "Benwei? Benvinuto?"

The porter turned around in confusion, then burst into surprise. He rushed over and hugged Winters with a big laugh.

Ben Vinutto was Winters' good friend from the Army Junior School at Hyland Road. After graduating from Hyland Road Junior School, Ben Vinutto did not continue his education, while Winters went to a preparatory school in the United Provinces. The two occasionally corresponded, but had not seen each other for six years.

"Look at you! You're a real officer now!" Benway punched Winters in the chest with tears in his eyes.

Winters laughed and punched back: "You've gotten taller and stronger now, how's your family doing?"

"I'm doing great! My mom keeps talking about you!"

The two, who hadn't seen each other for years, had so much to say that they couldn't express it all in just a few words, so they simply shared their recent situations. Not far away, Benwei's coworkers were urging him to get back to work.

"You haven't moved, have you?" Benwei asked reluctantly.

Winters quickly shook his head: "We didn't move, and neither did yours, did it?"

"I haven't moved it yet. I'm going back to work now, I'll come find you after I finish work tonight!"

"That's a deal!"

After a brief conversation, the two parted ways again. Winters never expected that he would run into his old friend and classmate at the dock as soon as he returned to Hailan.

Just as he was reminiscing about how life is full of unexpected encounters, the four passengers who had boarded the Skua disembarked and walked towards Winters from the pier.

As one of the passengers passed Winters, he adjusted his hat and nodded with a smile to acknowledge him.

Having fought alongside pirates before, Winters, though unaware of the identities of the four travelers, shared a bond of camaraderie and returned the greeting with a smile and a nod.

Winters watched the four passengers walk down the pier and through the bustling crowd at the dock, heading straight for the two black carriages.

He immediately looked at Bard and found that Bard was also looking at him; clearly, Bard had also noticed the four passengers. The two grinned and exchanged a glance, never expecting that the people these two black carriages were going to pick up were actually these four passengers from the Skua.

Winters turned his gaze back to the four passengers, but what he saw made him gasp.

A man in black robes appeared to be embracing the traveler who had just nodded to him, but Winters clearly saw a blood-stained sword blade protruding from the traveler's back, trembling slightly in the sunlight.

The next moment, the man in black robes and the passengers began to fight with swords drawn. A sharp woman's scream pierced everyone's eardrums, and some passersby also noticed the brutal fight taking place on the dock.

Of the remaining three passengers, one was desperately trying to stop the man in black, while another was protecting the higher-ranking passenger as they fled toward the Skua. The higher-ranking passenger was crying out for help.

Winters witnessed all of this and instinctively decided to do something because he couldn't stand by and watch his "comrades" be killed in broad daylight.

With no other weapons around, he drew his unsharpened training sword and charged forward.

The incident happened in the blink of an eye. Before the warrant officers could understand what was going on, they stood there stunned, watching two men in black robes chasing after two travelers with swords in hand.

Seeing that he couldn't escape, the passenger who appeared to be a guard turned around to fight and tried to stop the two men in black robes.

Seeing the guards stop, a man in black robes also halted, pulling a very short musket from his robes. Without bothering to attach a match, he simply pointed the muzzle at the guards and fired.

A flash of red light, followed by a puff of white smoke, and a gunshot rang out throughout the entire dock. If people were still clueless about what had happened, this gunshot immediately threw all the passersby on the dock into panic.

Although he didn't know how the man in black robes managed to fire the musket without lighting it, Winters knew that at such a short distance, there was no way the shot would miss, and the guard was doomed.

Unexpectedly, the guard who was hit by the musket at close range not only survived but also charged at the man in black with his sword, as if he hadn't been shot at all.

The older passenger, who was of higher status, was screaming for help and scrambling toward the Skua when Winters brushed past him and ran into another man in black robes.

Without time to think, Winters instinctively unleashed a furious, all-out slash. This was Winters's full-force strike; even with an unsharpened longsword, it could shatter bones. His opponent had no choice but to dodge if they didn't want to die.

However, the opponent's one-handed sword bypassed the longsword's path with a flexibility that a longsword could never achieve, and plunged straight into Winters' chest like a venomous snake.

——————I am an inconvenient dividing line———————

Dürer's "Knight, Death and the Devil" shows how soldiers of that era carried weapons. The knight in the painting has a two-handed longsword hanging diagonally at his waist. Interested viewers can find it and appreciate it.

(End of this chapter)