While Victor and Veronica were beginning to take the territory to new heights, another man was ensuring the stability of the seas leading to Hannover.
Horatio Nelson, the Grand Admiral of the Luxenberg fleet, had spent months patrolling the prominent trade routes into the port city of Hannover. In that time they had barely been in any type of engagements with the pirates.
With the legendary, Holy Trinity, as the flagship of the fleet, no pirate vessel dared to engage such a monstrous ship. The poor few pirates who were stupid enough to do so were sent to the black abyss of the ocean floor.
A reason for the poor economic situation during Duke Vipon Luxenberg's reign was the frequent plundering of merchant vessels travelling to and from Hannover. This was orchestrated by the man known as the Pirate King. However, with the arrival of warships to protect the trade routes he had not been active.
The seas were calm and morale ran high, there was nothing that could go askew for the fleet. Or so they thought.
It had been 1 month since Veronica returned to the Luxenberg Dukedom and there were no other ships in the vicinity. Pirates had become a rare sighting in the last month and none of the seamen knew why.
"Grand Admiral, is it me or is the fact that we have not seen a pirate in weeks a bit suspicious? Where could they have gone?" Asked a deckhand, concerned about the lack of activity recently.
"I agree, before we were deployed here there were supposedly dozens of ships pillaging the passing-through ships." Another deckhand stated. Their concern was valid and the grand admiral agreed with them.
Singing shanties and performing duties, the rest of the fleet's crew were carrying on their tasks as normal. A seaman on the Holy Trinity who was in the crow's nest did his usual check around a cluster of islands near the main patrol route.
Nicknamed The Triplets, these 3 small islands were identical in size and had similar fauna, flora and wildlife inhabiting them. While looking at the islands the seaman noticed that waiting behind the islands were 30 ships flying black sails. Each ship had 50 cannons and was average in size compared to the ships in the Luxenberg fleet.
Alarmed at such a massive pirate fleet the crewman in the crow's nest called out to his comrades to look at the islands. As they passed by from a fair distance the ships were becoming visible.
Staying calm the admiral began to formulate a plan. He knew heavy losses would be sustained if they fought in open combat. They could try to avoid the pirate fleet but if spotted it'd be near impossible to outrun the smaller and quicker ships.
In the spur of the moment Grand Admiral Nelson began to give orders, "Begin to go full sails we can not engage that fleet with our numbers! It's a 2-week journey to Hannover, we must hurry and inform the lord."
With urgency, the Luxenberg fleet began to flee the area, but during the 2-week journey, many merchant ships had been pillaged by pirates.
Victor was doing some work in his office when a servant burst in. "My lord the fleet has been spotted pulling into port," the servant said in his high-pitched tone. Concerned by the return of his fleet Victor hurried down to the port to see Grand Admiral Nelson.
"Grand Admiral, we weren't expecting you for another month and a bit, what happened?" Victor questioned in a concerned tone. Horatio Nelson took some time to collect his thoughts before replying to his Duke.
"2 weeks ago we spotted a pirate fleet of 30 ships near The Triplets. They all seemed to have 50 guns a ship. We could not take them on and guarantee a victory my Duke, I need more ships to deal with the rising threat."
Victor had anticipated that he would need more ships but not so soon. He had 2 more 74-gun ships of the line in construction but they were many months away from completion. This was now a pressing dilemma, Victor needed ships and needed them now.
"Rest and resupply your fleet I might be able to get you some more ships," Victor said in an uncertain tone. Acknowledging his Duke's instructions, Horatio Nelson began to see to the supplying of his 3 vessels.
As Victor was returning to the palace he could only think of 1 solution that could see Victor get some ships in the next 24 hours. Before Victor attempted the coup he was assigned 4 optional quests and only completed 1 of them, the remaining quests were,
'Quest 1: Execute Josephine Luxenberg!'
'Rewards: ???'
'Quest 2: Execute Klaus Luxenberg!'
'Rewards: ???'
Quest 3: Execute Katrina Luxenberg!'
'Rewards: ???'
Victor still had the 3 of them locked in a dungeon, rotting away. He had originally intended to save them for his future war with the Cruyff Dukedom, but now with the threat of the Pirate King and his fleet, Victor could have to use them.
Thinking about the future of his dreaded red-haired family members, Victor's mind debated his options for hours on end until he finally came to a decision. The next day Victor began to visit the deepest part of the Luxenberg prison.
In a dark and dusty cell were Klaus, Katrina and Josephine. They were a lot thinner than before due to only 3 standard meals a day rather than eating delicacies and other expensive food.
They were haggard and almost unrecognisable. The prestigious and elegant look they always had was no longer apparent, they looked as shabby as the homeless people did when the dukedom was struggling.
"It has been a while my dear siblings and stepmother. I hope you all have become accustomed to your new lifestyle these last few months," Victor quipped snarkily at them. Signalling his soldiers they approached Klaus and began to drag him away.
Josephine and Katrina who had grown timid and frail could not even cry out as Klaus was dragged off. To think the wailing witches that cried out on the night of the coup were now reduced to this. Victor scoffed at how pathetic they had become.
"I shall return to take another 1 of you soon, for now, Klaus shall be more than enough," Victor said with a sinister grin. Klaus, who was rebellious and would fight tooth and nail to survive was now complacent. He was a dog with no bark or bite. Victor smiled at his younger brother as he was placed on his knees with his head resting against a wooden block. With his sabre drawn Victor whispered something into Klaus's ear.
"Farewell, my dear younger brother."