The battle lasted fifteen minutes. The pirates' mortar exploded their own magazine. The sandbar became a smoking crater. With the pirates gone, the Three Bridges awakened. The central bay was now a secure, glassy lake. Adalric built a massive warehouse on the sandbar's ruins, turning it into a neutral trade hub. Ships from the Western Keep could offload tools directly to the Southern Spire's ore barges. The Eastern Garden's wine reached the monastery in under a minute of sailing time.
Serafine laughed. "That's the secret, old rival. The best map isn't the one you conquer. It's the one that lets you stop fighting the geography and start building ." anno 1404 best map
Island Three, the Eastern Garden, was the jewel. Fertile lowlands for hemp and flax, a massive meadow for cattle, and a vineyard hill that faced the sunrise. It also had a ruin—a crumbling Abbasid fortress—that promised a free nomad market if rebuilt. The battle lasted fifteen minutes
The flaw was the center. The beautiful, deep central bay had one tiny sandbar. On it sat a single, hostile Bedouin pirate outpost. It didn't block trade, but its cannons covered both narrow straits. Any ship entering or leaving the inner sanctum would be raked by fire. The Three Bridges weren't a paradise; they were a cage. Adalric played the long game. He ignored the central bay. He landed on the Western Keep first, building a lumber camp and a fishing hut. He ferried stone from a tiny neutral island outside the northern strait. He did not build a single warship. With the pirates gone, the Three Bridges awakened
Island One, the Western Keep, was a highland plateau crowned with cedar forests and iron veins. Below its cliffs, a single, wide river delta promised perfect irrigation for date palms and, crucially, a clay deposit for bricks. The eastern beach held not one, but two fishery nodes.
Adalric looked at his three perfect islands, their harbors glittering. For the first time, he put down his ledger book and poured a glass of Eastern Garden wine.