Chapter 274: Assembling a Crew I (1/2)

While Berengar and Adela were away at the Royal Court of Granada, Honoria was tasked with another objective. To put it simply, the runaway princess turned Privateer Queen was in the middle of searching for a crew.

At the moment, she was within the City of Kufstein; as per usual, she was flanked by Berengar's guards and protected from any possible threat. The beautiful white-haired princess was no longer dressed in some extravagant noblewoman's dress.

Instead, she was dressed in something loosely resembling the naval uniforms Berengar had provided to his sailors. His sailors were dressed like the old Elizabethan Seadogs from his previous life. However, Berengar had custom-designed uniforms for Honoria and her crew rather than have them outright cross-dress.

When designing Honoria's privateer attire, Berengar wanted something lightweight, comfy, and easy to move around in. Ultimately, what he created for her was a pair of slim black velvet breeches with minor golden embellishment and a couple of thigh-high black leather boots.

For her upper attire, she wore a charcoal gray silk shirt with a black velvet jerkin that was designed for the female body; this jerkin was slightly embellished with golden embroidery. Honoria did not feel like wearing a hat most of the time, but it would be a matching cavalier hat when she did.

Honoria also wore a black leather baldric that contained a frog for her sword scabbard to be attached to and a holster that held her four-shot repeating flintlock, which was based upon the Belton Flintlock action from Berengar's previous life.

These weapons were an enormous expense to produce, but Berengar had opted to outfit her and her crew with such expensive and effective weaponry for Honoria's safety. After all, if they ever found themselves in close quarter's combat with men, they would be at a severe disadvantage. Thus he felt the need to equip them with multi-shot weapons.

While Honoria was walking through the city of Kufstein, she noticed a young girl slightly younger than herself being forced to sweep outside a run-down shop. The girl had a pitiful look in her eye, and at the moment, there were a series of screams going on within the shop.

From one glance, Honoria could tell this girl was in some trouble and thus opted to approach her. However, despite doing so, the girl refused to look up from the ground as she swept. That is until the door slammed open, and a young man in extravagant attire walked out with a slip of paper in his hands.

This young man had a smug grin on his face as he boldly announced to the girl in front of him the fate that awaited her.

”Your parents have decided to pay off their debt to me by selling you into my service.”

However, after saying this, the girl refused to do as she was told and continued to sweep outside the shop. She was aware that so long as the Duke's guard were nearby, no harm could come to her, even from the hands of a nobleman.

The man had not seen Honoria or her guards. Instead, he was too focused on the young and cute girl who had taken his fancy. When the girl did not go willingly with him, the man resorted to violence. He latched upon her wrist and tried to force her away.  Immediately the young girl resisted, and for doing so, the man slapped her across the face and began to raise his voice at the girl.

”You belong to me now! You are nothing more than a slave that I have purchased for my amusement, and you will do what you are told!”

When Honoria heard this, she began to frown and instantly approached the man. She was greatly displeased with this scene. For starters, Berengar had outright banned slavery; it was illegal and carried a punishment of twenty-five years to life.

There were many reasons for this, but to put it simply, Berengar wanted to avoid the centuries of domestic issues that followed American slavery in his previous life. Thus by holding what was little more than a slavery contract in his hands and boldly declaring that the young woman belonged to him, he was committing a serious offense.

Secondly, Honoria was against the idea of treating women as nothing more than slaves; after all, she had been lucky with Berengar, who allowed her a much greater degree of freedom than women of the period were typically allowed. Thus when she approached the man, she was far from in a diplomatic mood. Without even addressing the man, she ordered her guards at once.

”Guards, arrest this man! He has openly stated that he is engaging in slavery, and Duke Berengar has made his stance on such immoral acts abundantly clear!”

The moment the young nobleman heard this, he turned around with shock in his eyes. He had not even noticed Honoria or the guards nearby. By now, everyone in Kufstein was aware that Berengar had taken a white-haired beauty from the Byzantine Empire as a lover. As one of Berengar's women, Honoria held the authority to order her guards to act in such a manner.

The man immediately tried to declare his innocence. However, the guards grabbed hold of the man and sequestered him.

”You don't understand! This is not slavery! It is a simple business transaction; the girl will work off her parent's debt to me until it is fully repaid!”