The port of Paraven, the largest port in Swadia. Just a mile away from the capital city of Parabun, it has a thriving harbor market and a wharf that can berth two hundred merchant ships at once, and nearly a thousand ships from all over the world set sail and berth here every year, and the collection of duties and commercial taxes from here is enough to maintain the entire expenses of the profligate Svadian royal family, and is known as the king's pocket.

Winter is just around the corner, the weather is getting colder, and there are fewer boats coming to and from the port of Paraven. The soldiers guarding the port also became lazy, after all, when there were fewer people, there were not so many disputes for them to solve, and there was no oil and water for them to fish.

As usual, Hank from Dehrim still fulfilled his duty as a militiaman on a tower in the port. He was not a member of the Standing Army of Paraven, and his duty was to maintain law and order in the port area. In the event of a thug fight, or if a thief is caught, he can also accept bribes to make some extra money. When it was time for war, they didn't have to follow the king to the front line, and they always needed manpower to keep the port safe. At this time of constant strife, it is already very good for the average person to have such a job.

Looking down from the tower, you can see the bazaar in its entirety. Since the establishment of the Swadia Kingdom, Paravon has grown from strength to strength, and this small seaside village has grown into a separate town, managed by King Haraus's nephew. The market is larger than that of Paraven, and the stalls of this market can be reached by the sea routes, whether it is seafood from the Parabun sea, smoked fish and sea salt from the Nord coast, velvet and southern fruits from Rhodoc, or mink from Vicchia. Many times, even the traders and wealthy people of Parabon would come out of the city to buy goods.

Every day, Hank patrols the streets of the town and passes through the noisy bazaar. Although there are fewer ships at this time of year, business in the market is still good. His favorite thing to do when standing guard at the watchtower is the bunting in the middle of the market from above, which is a unique sight to behold with the flags of the Swadia families and the motifs of ancient legends. They were erected by the King of Valangia when the port was built, and the flags representing the lords of Rhodoc still stand here, which is a testament to the strength of the nation and the best pretext for successive Swadian kings to declare war on the southerners. In particular, the black lion flag, which symbolizes the death of the Aditya royal family, is the highest and largest among all the flags, making it very eye-catching when seen from a distance.

"Hank, you're looking at those flags again, aren't you tired of it?"

Hank, who was staring intently at the buntings, was startled by the sound coming from behind, and when he turned around, he saw the sergeant's somewhat unhappy face.

"I'm sorry, sir."

Hank immediately lowered his head, and under normal circumstances, he would not have to scold. The sergeant had warned him many times before, and if he was still deserting, he would be locked up in the cellar. But even then he never stopped doing so, and the sergeant never really dealt with him. Generally speaking, after a scolding of the head and face, it will be fine.

This time, however, the scolding he had been expecting never came, and he could not help but glance up, only to find that the sergeant was no longer where he was, but had come to the edge of the tower, his eyes fixed on the distant sea.

He looked back and saw a dense line of dark shadows on the surface of the sea in the distance, and they were coming straight through the deep water surrounded by mist, heading straight for the shallow sea.

"Is that a merchant ship? That's too much, isn't it? ”

Hank couldn't help but ask.

The sergeant did not look back, and his face gradually became solemn.

"Ring the alarm bell and let everyone go up to the walls."

Hank didn't dare to wait, and immediately ran to the bronze bell and rang it hard.

With the dull sound of the bells, the patrols that had been in the various parts of the bazaar rushed to the walls of the quay, climbed the stone and wooden watchtowers, took out the arrows in the chests, took the spears that were propped aside, and took their respective defensive positions.

The people in the bazaar also looked curiously at the sea, and they were also a little apprehensive, and they, like the soldiers, hoped that it was just a misunderstanding.

As the strange fleet drew nearer, Hank saw the tall dragon-shaped bow, with a sturdy and narrow keel, with a large sail full in the wind, and sailing swiftly towards the shore with the ship. On that wide square canvas was a standing crow, the messenger of the Nordic gods, the family coat of arms of King Ragnar.

"It's a Nord! Hurry up to Paraven to report to His Majesty the King, the Nords have come from the sea! ”

The panicked soldier walked briskly down the wall, trotted all the way to the stable, drew a horse and rode it in the direction of Paravon.

"Crossbowmen prepare, bring the javelins and the stone baskets! Where are the engineers? Get your ballistas and trebuchets ready and smash those ships! ”

The sergeant shouted at the top of his voice, giving orders to his soldiers. The lord was now in Parabun to deliver the customs collected by the king during this time, eating and drinking and chatting. And the consul of the town did rush to the city walls, but he did not understand military affairs and could not help much. So, now the supreme commander of the militia patrol of twenty soldiers and sixty-five people in this port is actually this sergeant, and the fate of these people is now in his hands.

Sweat trickled down his sideburns, and the large Nord-style longships sailed through the foggy seas like a sledgehammer striking his heart again and again. As an officer in the harbor, he had been on a Nord warship, but he could judge the number of people these brisk sailing ships could carry. The largest ships in the fleet could carry about fifty people, and there were at least fifty such ships. In addition to this, there are larger warships that can carry twice as many people.

"There are three thousand Nords waiting to land outside our harbor, and they are menacing, and there is no other possibility than plunder."

The sergeant muttered to himself in a somewhat trembling voice, and Hank's heart rose beside him.

"Where is our navy?"

"Don't count on them, half of the ships in the last war sank to the bottom of the sea, and the other half were set on fire by Rhodok's spies and boats while they were being repaired, lest we land south of Aaron, right in our harbor."

The sergeant sighed, naval warfare was not Swadia's strong point, not to mention that King Haraus had been reducing the number of warships all these years in order to save money. Now, when the time comes to the greatest need for warships, they have no navy to meet them. To make matters worse, despite such a lack of coastal defenses, the defenders of the port of Paraven have never increased. More than eighty light infantry and militia fought against about 3,000 Nords, and he did not expect to win, only hoped that the knights of Paravon would come to their aid as soon as possible, before their troops were dead.

"Lord Consul, I'll open the armory, I need you to arm the townspeople, we have too few men."

The sergeant threw a key to the soldier next to the consul and told him to open the door to the armory. And the consul was very cooperative with his actions, and at his call, dozens of local residents soon entered the armory, armed themselves with soft and chain mail, grabbed the weapons around them, and climbed the city wall according to the request of the sergeant. They don't have much combat experience, but at least they have a lot more men.

Nord's horn came from the sea, the sails were lowered, and the ship rushed into the shallow sea, approaching the dock.

The sergeant waved his flag, and the ballistas on the four watchtowers on the shore were aimed at the Nord longship approaching them, and heavy stone projectiles were fired from a distance. One of them hit the bow of a longship, smashing the dragon's head to pieces.

In the second round of shooting, the accuracy of the ballista was improved a lot, and the stone projectiles opened several large holes in the two long ships, and the long and narrow warship could not withstand too heavy damage, and soon there was a tendency to sink. However, they were undermanned and did not have enough ballistae to cause significant damage to this huge fleet.

The fleet is still advancing.

。 Nine Heavenly God Emperors