Struggle in the Steam Age

After packing a carriage for a hasty look at several important scenic spots in the city and having lunch, Lawrence returned to St. Sklodowska Cathedral with his new companions. Along the way, he found that the dwarf was a warm-hearted and kind man, except that he was a little talkative.

In the afternoon, under the leadership of an official priest, Lawrence and the others went to the Consulate of the White Eagle Federation in the New Hansa Republic to join the contestants who had rushed here from other places.

The New Hansa Republic is a commercial republic established in the New World by the famous North Sea Chamber of Commerce in the Old World. After the end of the Dark Ages in the Old Continent, with the formation of various modern countries along the North Sea coast, the Free City, which was originally controlled by the Chamber of Commerce, gradually separated from the Chamber of Commerce and belonged to each country.

At that time, the era of great voyages had just begun, and the Beihai Chamber of Commerce, unwilling to withdraw from the stage of history, simply concentrated all its efforts on exploring the New World, hoping to find shelter on the other side of the ocean.

After decades of exploration, struggle, and construction, a small commercial republic has successfully stood on this archipelago with a total area of ​​more than 35,000 square kilometers.

At the same time, I felt that the biggest reason for being squeezed out of the Old Continent was internal disunity and the unreliability of mercenaries and citizen troops. After arriving in the New World, the New Hanseatic Republic made great reforms to the inadequacies of the past.

Regarding the former, the Republic abolished a series of policies such as the dual consuls left behind by the Chamber of Commerce in the past, and the one-vote veto system for members of the Great Council, and established a set of policies imitating the most advanced Briton Kingdom at that time. modern state system. To avoid spending too much energy on internal friction.

As for the latter, given that the new Hansa is inherently a small country with few people, the casualties after the outbreak of the war in the industrial age are simply not something it can bear. Therefore, the new Hansa simply gave up the idea of ​​​​organizing a standing army. It is to prevent the aggression of other countries by embracing the thighs of several powerful countries and establishing itself as a free port.

It has to be said that the consul who proposed this idea at that time was a person who could see the situation clearly, especially when the New Hansa Islands were neither on the traffic arteries nor had any precious resources, as a newborn trade and financial hub The Republic managed to maintain its independence.

Of course, apart from the balance between the countries of the old and new continents and the complete trade network built by those merchants over hundreds of years, what keeps them independent is their strength.

Although this country has given up its standing army, it does not mean that it has completely given up force. After all, in this world full of supernatural beings, it is easy to go wrong without force protection.

On the one hand, this island country with only about 300,000 people maintains an elite police force of 2,000 people, capable of handling a series of incidents such as criminal cases and small-scale extraordinary creature invasions.

On the other hand, when the New Hansa Republic left the old continent for the new continent, in addition to taking away its own power, it also chose to merge with the North Sea Knights who were in the same situation as them at the time and were in a dilemma. After owning this well-known knight order in the Old Continent, the New Hansa Republic is already one of the best in terms of the extraordinary power of the Sea of ​​Stars.

Not to mention that after the founding of the country, the New Hansa Republic vigorously invited various Orthodox churches to go to the land of the country to establish activity sites and preach freely. And as a free trade port, a large number of people did attract those churches to establish a foothold here.

Under such a series of operations and management, the New Hansa Republic not only successfully gained a foothold in this place, but also became one of the best countries in the Sea of ​​Stars. In many sea beast rebellions, the Republic not only successfully defended its own territory, but also provided help to other surrounding countries and protected a large number of innocent people.

But all the glory of this cannot change the fact that this country is a small country. As the capital of the country and the largest city and port, the Freeport of New Gdynia is a rich and beautiful city, but it is also a city with only 70,000 people. It is a small city, so the overall area of ​​the urban area is not very large, and it can even be said to be a bit pocket-sized.

That's why Lawrence was able to visit several of the city's famous sights in one morning. The consulate of the White Eagle Federation was established around the Waves Plaza where the Great Council Building in the center of the city was located.

So after driving for about ten minutes in the carriage, Lawrence and the others came to the consulate of the White Eagle Federation. The consulate is a three-story colonial-style building with cream-yellow walls and sky-blue roofs. It stands out among the surrounding red roofs.

After waiting in a living room for five or six minutes, all the contestants have arrived here. Unlike what he had imagined before, the number of people participating in this competition was not that many.

For example, in the case of the Black Iron class, Lawrence thought there would be several hundred participants. But after the staff finished sorting the categories, he discovered that theoretically speaking, there were only more than 20 participants in the White Commonwealth of the black iron class competition. Considering that one of the top countries in the New World of the White Eagle Federation only has more than 20 places, then the overall number of participants in the Black Iron competition will definitely not exceed 500.

After arranging the living room according to different competition levels, the staff of the consulate left. But before leaving, these staff members informed Lawrence that they will mainly fight in a small team of 4-5 people in the black iron level competition of this competition, and now they gather these contestants to let them get acquainted with each other and select team members of.

Most of the participants in the black iron class competition were young people of similar age, so apart from the awkwardness at the beginning, everyone in the living room chatted together within ten minutes. After an afternoon of getting to know each other, five teams were formed.

Lawrence successfully became the captain of one of the teams. In addition to him and the dwarf mechanic named Cog Gear, the team also included a ratman rogue, a paladin of the God of Suffering and a A warrior from the Witcher's Guild.

Among them, the paladin of the God of Suffering named John, who was wearing a full-body plate armor, and Reso, a soldier of the Demon Hunters Guild, had known each other before. Activities in the mountains.

In addition to training themselves, they also help those settlements scattered in various places, far away from densely populated areas, to solve various problems related to the transcendent that they encounter.

If Lawrence remembers correctly, he had seen these two names mentioned in an internal announcement of the Church of Knowledge a while ago as role models for young superhumans, so their characters are definitely strong enough, and as teammates they are trustable.

And the reason they chose Lawrence was the same, because his previous contributions convinced the two that Lawrence was a kind person. So they are willing to form a team with someone like Lawrence who agrees with their three views.

Otherwise, with the strength of the two of them, there are countless people willing to team up with them. It wasn't that there wasn't someone who looked stronger than Lawrence.

And the Ratman wanderer named Laka took the initiative to find Lawrence, because her surname was also Androk, and to be precise, she was a cousin of Fatina who had a good relationship. Before coming here, I had already learned from my cousin that Lawrence would also participate in this big competition, so when the staff announced that this black iron level competition was a team battle, I directly approached him.

After the formation of the team, the following week was reserved for these personnel to adjust. The White Eagle Federation specially rented a plantation in the suburbs as a practice place for everyone. In a tense atmosphere, the time for the game finally arrived.