Chapter 40:
White Harbor, the North.
As the North's only prosperous port, House Manderly's domain was currently like a boiling furnace.
The sea wind carried the salty scent mixed with a never-before-seen, pungent smell of coal smoke.
The docks were sealed off by fully armed Pompey soldiers.
The massive shipyard was covered tightly with black tarps. Only the continuous clanging of metal striking metal could be heard from inside — the symphony of steel meeting steel.
"Lord Pompey, are you sure this thing can float?"
Lord Wyman Manderly, the Lord of White Harbor who weighed over three hundred pounds and was jokingly called "Lord Manderly the Eel," held a plate of eel pie and looked doubtfully at the covered giant.
"I've built ships all my life and have never heard of laying hundreds of tons of iron on a hull and expecting it to sail. It will sink like a stone!"
"Stones sink because they have no 'heart.'"
Victor Pompey stood on the observation platform of the shipyard, with Tyrion flipping through blueprints beside him.
"Lord Manderly," Victor straightened his collar, which had been ruffled by the sea wind, "I heard Euron Greyjoy's 'Silence' has been quite arrogant lately? He seized three of your wine transport ships?"
At the mention of this, the fat lord's face twitched, and he gritted his teeth. "That damned madman! His ships are too fast and appear like ghosts. My galley ships can't catch them!"
"Then don't chase them."
Victor snapped his fingers.
"Pull back the tarps!"
Whoosh——!
The huge black tarps slowly slid down under the pull of the winches.
In that instant, everyone's breathing stopped.
What appeared before them was not the familiar wooden warships with tall masts and white sails.
It was a black steel behemoth crouching on the water!
It had no masts, no sails.
The hull was low and streamlined, covered above the waterline with thick, cold-gleaming riveted steel plates.
In the center of the hull stood a massive black smokestack.
At the bow and stern, each had a 360-degree rotating twin-gun turret. The black muzzles were as thick as an adult's thigh.
[System Warship: Monarch-class Pre-Dreadnought (Prototype).]
[Name: Black Prince.]
[Displacement: 3000 tons.]
[Power: Triple-expansion steam engine, twin-screw propulsion.]
[Armament: 2 twin 203mm main guns, 6 × 75mm secondary guns.]
[Armor: 150mm cemented steel belt.]
"Seven Gods above…"
Lord Manderly's eel pie dropped to the ground. "This is… a ship? It looks like a floating iron fortress!"
"It is the future of the sea."
Victor walked down the platform and patted the cold steel plating.
"No sails, so it fears no headwind."
"All steel, so it fears no fire attacks."
"As for Euron's wooden ships…" Victor sneered, "in front of this 'Prince,' they are nothing but matchsticks waiting to be burned."
…
Woo——!!!
As the boilers ignited, thick black smoke billowed from the Black Prince's smokestack. The steam turbines began to roar. The massive propellers churned the seawater, slowly pushing the 3000-ton steel beast out of the dock.
At that moment, a messenger galloped into the harbor and tumbled off his horse.
"Report——!!!"
"My lord! Urgent military intelligence!"
"A fleet flying the golden kraken banner has suddenly appeared in Bite Bay! At least fifty longships! They are attacking the grain convoy from Braavos!"
"The lead ship… is Euron's 'Silence' itself!"
Lord Manderly's face changed drastically. "What?! My grain ships! Those are the winter supplies for the North!"
"Quick! Assemble the fleet! Even if we can't win, we must try to save—"
"No need."
Victor raised his hand, stopping the panicked lord.
He turned to look at Tyrion, then at the steel behemoth that had just been launched behind him.
"Tyrion, do you want to experience… what a dimensional downgrade in naval warfare feels like?"
Tyrion looked at the smoking steel monster, his eyes shining with excitement. "If I don't get seasick, I'd be delighted."
Victor strode up the gangway and boarded the deck of the Black Prince.
The sea wind blew through his long hair.
He drew his command saber and pointed it toward the horizon.
"All hands, hear me!"
"Target: Bite Bay."
"Full speed ahead!"
"Let's go turn that arrogant octopus… into grilled squid!"
…
Bite Bay waters.
The sea was ablaze with fire.
More than a dozen Pompey merchant ships were burning.
Around them, dozens of Ironborn longships flying the Greyjoy banner were hunting like a wolf pack.
On the deck of the Silence.
Euron Greyjoy, the mad captain known as "Crow's Eye," was drinking a blue hallucinogenic wine (shade of the evening).
Only one of his eyes was visible; the other was covered by a black eyepatch (rumored to hide a magical eye beneath).
"Burn them! Burn them all!"
Euron laughed wildly. "Kill all the men! Take the women and gold!"
"This is what happens when you cooperate with that lad called Victor!"
"Captain!"
The first mate suddenly pointed at the northern sea. "Look over there! What… what is that thing?"
Euron narrowed his single eye.
On the distant horizon, a thick column of black smoke appeared, as if the sea itself was on fire.
But beneath the smoke, there were no tall masts or sails.
Only a low black shape, moving at an unbelievable speed (15 knots), charging against the wind!
"No sails? And it's smoking?"
Euron frowned. "Is some poor ship on fire?"
"Never mind it!" Euron waved dismissively. "Send two longships over. If it's a fat sheep, rob it. If it's a wreck, sink it!"
Two Ironborn longships immediately broke formation, waving curved blades and grappling hooks, howling as they charged toward the "black shape."
The distance closed rapidly.
1000 meters.
800 meters.
Inside the bridge of the Black Prince.
Victor stood at the fire control station, watching the two reckless little wooden ships.
"They're too close. I don't even want to use the main guns."
"Secondary guns, prepare."
"Free fire."
Boom! Boom!
The 75mm quick-firing guns on both sides of the hull roared.
There was no slow, arcing flight of cannonballs.
Almost the instant the guns fired, violent explosions erupted on the two longships in the distance!
Bang! Crash!
High-explosive shells struck the fragile wooden hulls directly.
There was no suspense.
The two longships disintegrated instantly! Wood shards flew, limbs scattered!
The Ironborn who had been howling just moments ago became floating debris on the sea the next.
"What?!"
Euron's wine cup froze in mid-air.
He hadn't even seen clearly what happened.
And that black monster had already burst through the smoke, revealing its ferocious true form.
That pitch-black steel hull, those towering gun turrets, those black muzzles…
It was like a steel shark from the abyss that had entered a goldfish pond.
Victor stood on the bridge, his voice booming through the loudspeaker like the decree of the Sea God:
"Euron Greyjoy!"
"You wanted to see something more fun than cannons, didn't you?"
Clank clank clank—
The forward main gun turret slowly rotated. The two 203mm giant cannons locked onto the distant Silence.
"This is called — caliber is justice!"
BOOM————!!!
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