In the Name of Empress

Although Jes moved swiftly like the wind, David's madness exceeded his expectations.

Perhaps sensing something was wrong, David acted in advance, pouring prepared alcohol, gunpowder, and kerosene around the warehouse and quickly setting it alight before hastily retreating with his confidants.

If not for Jes's timely warning, this sudden fire would have burned down the entire warehouse zone.

The blaze would not only engulf over three hundred soldiers guarding the warehouse but also consume more than one hundred thousand tons of temporarily stored food.

This is life-saving grain capable of helping hundreds of thousands of people through a famine period.

Fortunately, Jes detected it in time, and the cavalry sent to rescue were equipped with simple firefighting gear, bringing the blaze under control quickly.

Although the fire was effectively contained, two independent warehouses were still destroyed, resulting in a loss of over seven hundred tons of grain.

In this fire, one warehouse guard unfortunately perished, and three others were injured.

The enraged Jes swiftly led his cavalry unit to take control of Labert and others remaining in the port area.

However, he encountered some trouble when taking over the ships.

Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, David fled under the cover of night aboard a convoy ship.

The stationed sub-fleet pursued overnight, but the convoy ship was lighter and faster, allowing him to escape.

Besides the fugitive David, there were thousands of crew members disarmed.

Labert's guard unit, seeing their boss captured, quickly collapsed and surrendered, but a few diehards attempted to recapture Labert.

They were met with a neat, multi-tiered volley of firearms.

Jes was not a Knight, so he wouldn't bind his own hands.

Even if he were a Knight, he wouldn't talk about knightly spirit with these scoundrels.

With reasonable suspicion that all Samaritans might be accomplices, Jes took out the Silver Short Sword bestowed by the Empress, took charge of the port forces, and rounded up all Samaritan Merchants.

Faced with overwhelming force, the usually arrogant Samaritan Merchant armed forces were terrified, not daring to resist, only continuously proclaiming their innocence.

Merchants from other countries and trade associations didn't stay smug for long; Jes ordered them to proceed to Hansa City for examination.

The reason he didn't detain them too was because the prisons were already overcrowded.

As the sun rose, Jes's swift action had already controlled the entire Port Authority.

He even placed the Port Authority Director, Schmidt, under house arrest.

The reason was simple; even a one percent possibility of Schmidt colluding with the Samaritans, the consequences would be severe. With such a major incident last night, Schmidt also bore responsibility.

Schmidt wanted to explain that he had arranged manpower in advance, but facing the imposing Jes, he knew any explanation would be useless and helplessly accepted to be confined.

The residents of Emre Port were awakened by the disturbances in the second half of the night, running out to witness the spectacle of flames erupting and quickly extinguished.

They didn't know this wasn't a regular fire, but the fuse for a worldwide inferno about to ignite.

Jes also didn't know that as he acted, a scout released a carrier pigeon overnight back to Hansa City, informing them of everything happening at Emre Port.

Shortly after he acted, the hunting operation in the Three Overseas Provinces commenced.

The only regret was that Jes's sudden move caused the Fourth Fleet, which didn't receive timely news, to act half a beat slower, allowing Samaritan Merchants at the Northern Port to escape quite a bit.

The day the operation ended, Jes wrote a personal letter detailing everything that transpired at Emre Port, voluntarily acknowledging responsibility and expressing willingness to bear the consequences for any repercussions due to the hasty action.

Not long after this letter was sent, Brigadier General Dailong arrived at the port zone, assumed command of the troops, and requested Jes to return to Hansa immediately.

Looking at the calm expression of Jes, Dailong spoke softly, "Jes, because of your rash actions, the hunting plan's nine primary targets ran away two, and fifteen secondary targets ran away three."

Jes remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking, "I will request the Lord Governor for punishment. But under the circumstances, I had no choice. I couldn't stand by and watch comrades potentially in danger without helping."

Dailong looked into Jes's determined eyes, sighed lightly, and said somewhat helplessly:

"Jes, what was Lord Governor's order for you?"

"Inspect, monitor Emre Port's food handover, and report any issues immediately," Jes's voice gradually lowered.

What he did indeed exceeded the order's scope.

If he didn't consider the three hundred warehouse soldiers, he could have completely ignored the situation.

After all, the warehouse had fire prevention measures; it wouldn't completely burn down.

Even if it did burn down entirely, these losses were lesser compared to the losses caused by his arresting Samaritan Merchants, which led to some merchants fleeing.

If he hadn't apprehended them, and merely followed standard investigative procedures, these merchants wouldn't have been startled and fled.

"Saving a few injured little rabbits, yet letting the wild boars about to enter the trap escape, is a tactical win but a strategic loss."

Jes opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a word.

He really wanted to ask about those three hundred warehouse soldiers?

The words froze at his lips.

All actions demand a price, these people are likely the price.

Seeing Jes slowly bow his head, Dailong sharply interrupted his chaotic thoughts.

"Don't overthink, Lord Governor wouldn't use any soldier as cannon fodder. It's just no one could've expected these men would go so far as to burn the warehouse to settle accounts."

Dailong sighed lightly, reminding, "You weren't wrong to fight the fire; those are our comrades, of course, we should save them, but after fighting the fire you shouldn't have reacted so intensely. Pretending not to catch anything and securing the dock to avoid alarming the Samaritan Merchants would have been better."