Perhaps it was the good fortune brought by Saint Sis. Ever since the Grace warship arrived in the waters near Withered Wood Port, the dock had not been quiet.

Merchant ships chased around by the great storm gradually discovered this unfamiliar continent.

And they found this port located on the Northern Coast just by slightly cruising around the coastal areas or asking directions from some fishing Tide Clan Lizardmen.

This port, true to its name, resembles a piece of rotting wood lying on the beach; every place from the dock to the port buildings is marked with carelessness.

Yet, even so, to those ships that had just escaped the vortex of the Vast Ocean, this place was considered a "Holy Blessing Land" granted to them by Saint Sis for rest.

And so, one by one, ships dragging shattered sails and twisted masts drifted into the harbor, ghost-like, through the gray mist of the morning fog.

Some had only half of their hulls left, some couldn't even hold their flags, yet they stubbornly struggled on the waves, gliding into the harbor with just a few wooden stakes for a dock on their last bit of power and the sailors' will.

Baron Ticky stood atop a wooden box at the port, hands on hips, his cloak fluttering in the wind, his face beaming with enthusiasm.

"Welcome to Withered Wood Port! I am the Baron here, enfeoffed by the honorable Prince Rocksey Colin!"

Facing the sailors gasping on the beach, he spread his arms mercifully, smiling as he continued.

"... No matter where you've come from, where you're going, whether poor or rich, as long as you have a pair of hands, there's food to eat and a place to stay here."

And indeed, he kept his word.

As long as someone was willing to work, whether repairing bridges and roads, carrying goods, or logging in the forest, Captain Kaidesen, the greatest "overseer" under Baron Ticky's command, personally assigned them tasks, as well as work sheds and hot porridge... ensuring everyone had endless work.

And for those unwilling to labor, they would not be chased away and could pay silver coins for food and lodging.

If short on cash, they could barter with goods.

However, bartering goods meant selling "textile finished products at pure wool prices" or "rum at sugarcane prices," which was practically a giveaway.

But this wasn't much of a problem.

Little Withered Wood Port already couldn't handle such vast amounts of goods and definitely didn't have a vault of infinite purchasing power, so they were thankful Baron Ticky accepted their items at all.

After all, if this esteemed gentleman didn't take them, the goods might only end up feeding fish and shrimp at sea, and they wouldn't get even a copper coin back.

The only thing criticizing captains had to say was that food and lodging prices here were unreasonably high!

And no credit was allowed!

"These prices are enough to stay in the biggest hotel in the Holy City for a week!" a man wearing a captain's hat couldn't help but mutter as he looked at the prices written on the wooden board.

"Then why don't you go to the Holy City instead of coming here?" Rolling his eyes at the foolish question, Kaidesen skimmed down the list, "Next."

That captainly figure gritted his teeth but eventually put the barely warm silver coins into the hat on the counter beside him and took the key from Kaidesen's hand before leaving.

On the distant shallows, looking at the rows of damaged sailboats on the water, Ticky soon smelled another business opportunity.

He put up a sign in the most prominent place in the harbor, which read "Harbor Ship Repair Shop."

Repairing a ship with a broken mast was priced starting at 500 silver coins, while repairing a steam boiler would add an extra 0.

This was undoubtedly a racket!

But the captains had no choice but to accept.

After all, not only were the nearest ports unknown in distance, but there's no guarantee they could get repairs there.

Such a storm affected not only the vessels floating on the sea but also left it uncertain how many complete ports remained along the eastern coast of the New Continent...

In this way, Ticky made a fortune with his ship repair business from the merchant ships docking.

As for the jobs accepted, they were assigned to the "Gutaf United Kingdom engineers" using the Crystal Ball handed to him by Lord Demon King.

The agile Lizardmen were very efficient, often fixing the paralyzed engines in no time, even making them better than before the breakdown!

Due to their excellent skills, even though the numerous captains felt the pinch, they endured it, knowing that a repaired ship allowed them to leave and make money from selling tickets.

Later, Ticky heard from a departing captain that his pricing wasn't all that exorbitant; the colonies on the New Continent basically pegged it as market rate.

Plus, their engineers weren't that skilled; ships repaired there were riddled with issues and needed more repairs upon return to the Imperial mainland.

Realizing he'd been duped, Ticky was silent for a long time but ultimately only sighed.

These damned greedy merchants!

No wonder he went bankrupt!

Thus, a week passed, and Kaidesen, flipping through the accounts, stared blankly at the staggering figures.

"One week... we've actually netted a hundred thousand silver coins?"

He gazed at those numbers in astonishment, his mouth twitching slightly.

This sum was enough to commission a brand-new medium freight sailboat that could carry 250 tons from the Royal Shipyard!

If buying second-hand, they could even get a larger model with a steam boiler included!

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