Aemode Island.

Port.

The early morning mist had just lifted, and many ships began to sail out one after another, most of them were merchant ships of three masts or more, and between these merchant ships, there were many small boats shuttling back and forth, picking up and transporting people and goods, and there were also sales.

Although everyone complains that the tax of the port is getting higher and higher, it does not affect everyone's enthusiasm for making money, and the whole port is also very dynamic, because there is a reduction and exemption for the tax of the mage, so many merchant ships are docked in the name of the mage.

Just like in the Song and Ming dynasties, many farmers hung their fields in the names of famous scholars to avoid taxes, which was actually a kind of tax evasion. In the end, it will only lead to the people who are really at ease paying more taxes, while the tricky people will not pay taxes or pay less taxes, and the end up receiving much less taxes.

And if you can't collect taxes, you will think about raising taxes, and in the end it will be those who will be hurt by those who keep to themselves, and these taxes will only fall on their heads.

Almod now has such signs, here, it is impossible to do business if you want to keep to yourself, the heavy tax pressure and the risk of sea trade will swallow everyone who thinks so, and almost all the surviving fleets are attached to a mage organization.

It is also because of this that in Elmod even gave birth to mages who simply rely on affiliation to obtain income to maintain their own research, they do not have their own fleet, and the Chamber of Commerce is just an empty shell, only providing names for people to anchor with.

However, the anchor will not attach the entire fleet to the mage, and will also leave some of it out to contribute to the port's taxes.

These undocked ships are almost exclusively launched to pay protection fees, so as not to make the port unable to collect taxes and end up making a profit.

It seems that the people who do business in the port and the big men in the city have formed such a tacit understanding.

However, this is not that everyone thinks about each other, but after several frictions and confrontations, a temporary delicate balance between blood and fire, which everyone is carefully maintaining.

If someone docks all the ships, there will always be some surprises when sailing on the ocean. For this kind of accident, unless it is the direct fleet of the mage, the mage master will not care.

The port is busy and tense, but everything seems to be in order, but if you look closely, you can see a lot of people staring at the port inside, paying attention to the ships coming and going.

They don't look like people with business in the port, they all look like they're waiting for something.

......

"Eriksson, they're back. ”

"Really, Eriksson is back. ”

"What happened to Eriksson?"

"You don't know that, they've come back from exploring the Devil's Sea. ”

"Devil's Sea?

Suddenly, the whole port became boiling, the ships in the middle of the port got out of the way one by one, and a big passage was made out of the middle until the dock, and the ships that were a little farther away were crowded towards the passage that was made, and all of a sudden, the two sides of the passage were crowded with ships, but the passage was very clean, there was no boat, like a red carpet passage, and both sides were crowded with fans.

The port, which used to be relatively orderly, has now become a mess, and many ships that were originally unintentional are squeezed in the middle, and they cannot leave if they want to, but can only be forced to watch.

Hearing the sound from inside the port, all the people on the dock put down what they were doing for a while, gathered together on the shore of the dock, and stared at a black and brown sailboat slowly moving in front of them.

The people who had gathered at the back of the dock were now all crowded to the front, and they all came with a purpose.

The speed of the sailboat is not fast, especially here in the harbor, although someone has already made way of the channel, but the space is limited after all, and as the sailboat approaches, you can see that there are many injuries on the hull, and the front of the leading ship is obviously broken a large hole, but it is hurriedly repaired, and the fence on the deck has broken several gaps, like the teeth of Venom - of course, the world has not heard of such a thing as Venom.

The most important point is that it was rumored that they had three ships in Eriksson, but now there are only two left, and the latter one looks better, or at least more complete.

Standing at the bow of the ship, with a tricorne hat crooked on his head, and a short, stiff beard on his face, circling around his mouth, adding a sense of fortitude, this is the leader of the fleet, Eriksson.

"Erry, have you really arrived at the Devil's Sea?"

Eriksson had just approached the pier, and before the boat had stopped, someone couldn't wait to ask.

"yes, have you found a new channel?"

For a while, the voice of the dock was a little louder, and the topic was still scattered, but now it has all turned into a discussion about the new fairway, and there is also a question about whether it has really reached the Devil's Sea.

Eriksson didn't answer their questions, and slowly approached the dock, and as soon as the boat stopped, someone got on the gangplank, and then several people got on his boat, without asking him about his wishes.

The person who came was a little arrogant and pointed to an old man behind him who was neatly dressed but plain in color and said, "This is the steward of the City Lord's Mansion, our City Lord heard that you have made a lot of efforts to explore the new channel, and we want to meet you." ”

As soon as these words came out, the people who heard it next to him couldn't help but be a little excited, the city lord is going to eat alone, although most of the people here can't get any benefits directly from this, but the city lord's mansion's approach still caused everyone's dissatisfaction.

"Don't, let Eke talk about the new route first, what are you doing in such a hurry, it's still early. ”

"yes, yes, it's early. ”

When the old housekeeper heard this, he didn't speak, just looked around, and the surrounding sounds immediately became quieter, in this port city, the obscenity of the city lord's mansion is still very heavy.

On the side of the small building, there were two people sitting by the window, one of them was the "adult" from last night, and the other was supposed to be a guard or something.

Seeing that the City Lord's Mansion wanted to control Eriksson, the guards said anxiously to the "Lord" on the side: "Captain, will this be a problem? If Eriksson is controlled by the City Lord's Mansion, it is estimated that the president's plan will be aborted." ”

This captain seems to be a Sven man entirely, and it is more important to say that he is a nobleman than a captain, and if no one explains, there is no force at all.

The captain was not in a hurry at all, and said slowly: "Don't worry, Almod is not only a force in the City Lord's Mansion, and he can't take it away." ”

Even the City Lord's Mansion is not the most powerful force.

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a young man wearing a mage's apprentice robe walk out, and he said to the butler who was forcibly inviting Eriksson, "Captain Eriksson has just returned, let him rest for a while, don't be in a hurry to meet the city lord, for this kind of heroic figure used for pioneering, the city lord should be a little more patient." ”

As soon as he saw this little mage apprentice, there was a sudden silence underneath, and then he immediately began to mumble quietly again.

"It's from the Skoll Chamber of Commerce, and there's a good show to watch now. ”

Someone saw the badge of the Skoll Chamber of Commerce on the other party's robe, and immediately showed a look of good fun.

"What can be a good show, does the City Lord's Mansion dare to offend the Skoll Chamber of Commerce?"

The bottom shouted and said a variety of things, but the butler's face was not very happy, although most of the time the status of the archmage was incomparable to that of a city lord, but being said so by the public made his face not very good.

"Isn't the Skoll Chamber of Commerce focused on trade, should it also meddle in the new shipping routes?

He is just a steward, and he has no right to make any decisions, especially since the Skoll Chamber of Commerce is said to have a relationship with the legendary mage, which makes people even more afraid to act rashly.

If it weren't for the Supreme Council's restrictions on mages, a small butler wouldn't dare to say anything about the Skoll Chamber of Commerce's practices.

The Supreme Council has a clear rule that high-ranking mages are not allowed to seize the territory of the owner, and although the new channel is theoretically ownerless, it was not discovered by the mage on his own initiative, and theoretically it should be regarded as the kingdom of the first person to land on that small island.

Of course, these are all theoretical, if a legendary mage really wants this channel, even the Supreme Council will not do too much to obstruct it. It's just that at this level, everyone consciously upholds the authority of the Supreme Council, and those who don't do it are almost eliminated.