Chapter 167: A merchant has no country
<em>“If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.”</em>
<em>Thomas Aquinas.</em>
They gave one another a wide berth as they left the hall. Neither was happy to leave until they knew that the other would be leaving at the same time, but they were not willing to get any closer to one another than necessary. I could already tell that I had made a killing in terms of my profits, skills and experience.
The version of me called Caelus was mentally rubbing his hands in glee. “Who knew they would be sopetitive?”
“Thepass kingdoms hardly sound like they are particrly peaceful.” Callen shrugged. “Looks like racial along with geographical prejudices are as rampant here as they have been throughout earth’s history.”
“Whatever the reason, it was certainly profitable.” I grinned.
We sat inside my mind fortress, having a break from reality as we contemted our gains. We had finally ticked over enough experience to gain a level with our general experience. Not only that but we had started to level our Merchant Metier as well adding a level to Singer and Sailor as well which meant we had nearly 400 points awaiting distribution once the world finally recognised as being old enough to do so. At this rate, we might be able to double our attributes by the day we turned ten (16 years old). I was looking forward to the day.
I checked the lockout once more. <strong>Status locked 62 months. </strong>It would have been nice if, after all this time, the system noticed my maturity and allowed me to allocate my hard-earned stats. Still, it was nearly a hundred months less than the first time I looked so there was that. We returned to my status to enjoy the glow of a very well-rounded character sheet. At level 33 I was stronger than anyone younger than 30 on the ind. Although I did not have full ess to my locked-out strength I more than made up for that with my traits and skills. Maybe it had even been my luck that drew the two merchants here at the same time. That reminded me I needed to test my probabilities again to see how they tranted into games of chance. The house always wins, but what if I was the house? I was not sure about the pros and cons of introducing gambling to the ind and beyond the influence of luck I was unsure of how skills would affect any games of chance.
<strong>Level: 33
</strong>
<strong>Title: Lord </strong>
<strong>Métier: Singer Lv 9</strong>
<strong>Metier: Sailor Lv 6</strong>
<strong>Metier: Merchant Lv 2</strong>
<strong>Name: Callen Kai Caelus Silversea</strong>
<strong>Age: 6 years (Old world 8yrs) 2 month</strong>
<strong>General Experience: 200 /1,638,400</strong>
<strong>Health: 1120/1120 Stamina: 1120/1120 Mana: 1120/1120 Psi: 1120/1120</strong>
<strong>Trait: Long-Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana, Quick Witted, Celerity, Durability, Supreme Strength, Charming, Lucky</strong>
<strong>Vitality: 112 </strong>
<strong>Endurance: 112 </strong>
<strong>Strength: 112 </strong>
<strong>Dexterity: 112 </strong>
<strong>Senses: 112 </strong>
<strong>Mind: 112 </strong>
<strong>rity: 112 </strong>
<strong>Magic: 112 </strong>
<strong>Charisma: 112 </strong>
<strong>Luck: 112</strong>
<strong>Free Points: 371 (Locked)</strong>
. . .
Looking deeper into my skills, I enjoyed the condensed version consolidation that had allowed me to form. There were still some skills to consolidate, but I was not in any rush. The longer I left them to grow, the more thresholds they would have passed when I consolidated them into a higher-tier skill. It would be worth the wait.
. . .
The end of our meeting ran through my mind.
“I, too, wish to be a merchant for your house.” Captain Kashif bowed low.
“You cannot seriously be considering this . . . man to be a Silversea Merchant.” Mercurio hesitated, visibly searching for a suitably polite word to use in our presence.
“It would be a risk for our house.” I hedged looking to Aleera and our advisors for their opinions on the matter. Arawn seemed indifferent, Lady Acacia seemed to be deliberately leaving it up to us, surprisingly it was only Namir who had something to say.
“He was honest enough after a gentle reminder. I do not doubt that the ship has seen its fair share of notoriety, but . . .” Namir looked pointedly at Kashif. “Provided he remembers both our warnings and our abilities, I believe he would be true to his word.” It was hardly a ringing endorsement but honest enough. Aleera deferred to my judgement, and I was left wondering whether this was a wise decision or not. Would it be worth it to take the risk on the man? We were not huge fans of very, but better the devil you knew than the one you didn’t. While he was not exactly a force for good, it didn’t mean that we could use him to create some.
“All of life is a risk.” Kashif countered, “And to sail the Azimuth Ocean, doubly so.” He said, referring to the ocean that surrounded thepass continent as well as the sea encounters with man, monsters or Mer, which could end both journey and ship. “If you want to reach the zenith, you have to take some risks.”
“You are hardly convincing me.” I dodged, not yet convinced enough tomit. I wanted reassurance from the rogue captain before I risked tying our fate to his future, no matter how lightly the ties were made. “Mercurio has been honest enough even if for any merchant, their honesty is only another form of financial spection. Why should we let you sail under the Silversea name? What will it be worth for us?” Mercurio began to nod his head in appreciation before he realised that the statement was as much criticism as praise.
However, that did not deter him from arguing, “Any pirate can prevaricate the truth and cite the Lore of the Lodestar for his own purpose.” He argued still vehemently against hispetitor, gaining a simr standing to his. Would it make any difference to him if another secured simr taxes? Doubtful. Would the taxes we could levy against Captain Kashif be worth the potential conflict it could cause? Possibly.
“I would be happy to pay 10% taxes of all profits to your Lordship for the privilege of sailing under your name and ask for nothing more.” Captain Kashif started.
“40%.” We countered, already happy that we would be earning more from Captain Kashif than we had once bargained for from Captain Mercurio. Unsurprisingly, Mercurio was no longer arguing against the Libian, possibly in fear that we might renegotiate his taxes if he continued to cause a scene.
“15%”
“35%”
“20%”
“25%”
“Agreed.” We argued back and forth, finally settling on a quarter of profits made by his vessel. It was a win as far as I could tell and over twice what Mercurio was paying us for the pleasure of hispany and escaping the grasping ws of the Ponentian nobility. Hopefully, a quarter of his profits would be enough to ameliorate any damage this new rtionship might cause.
“Thank you, Lord Silversea, for the privilege of sailing under the Silversea Crest.” Captain Kashif bowed low.
“On behalf of the Silverseas, your gratitude is noted. We hope you have, in turn, noted Namir’s earlierments and that no further reminders of eptable behaviour befitting our noble crest are ever needed again.” We cautioned the piratical merchant against possibly returning to his former profit-making methods. We now had two ships sailing under the Silversea Crest; we were now a multinational noble family.
After that, the meeting finished quickly, as did the petitioning, with me eager and quick to review my own progression. Mercurio made no more waves, clearly worried that if he rocked the boat any further, his taxes might be raised to truly create some equality between the two captains and our house.
. . .
On board the Swift . . .
“That pirate must be part Mer,” Mecurio muttered to his first mate after returning from the Hall of the Silverseas. The sales had been made, and they knew their trading partner well enough to trust the goods arriving and leaving were as stated. However, he would be checking them one final time before departure.
Looking across the water within the cliff cove they were docked within, his first mate replied, “Looks Libian enough to me from when I saw him. He’s certainly no Siren.” He countered, already used to the merchant’s tirades when business or life was not going his way. He missed sailing with Alderman Cadmus. The man had been a poor sailor initially, but his presence had curbed the captain’s bemoaning the turns of fate, be they weather, monsters or man. The captain always performed better with an audience he viewed as his equal. Working for the man meant that he would never be that and was resigned to listening to hisints a little longer while the men unloaded and loaded the Swift.
“Well, how else do you exin the charming offensive he managed in the Silversea halls? The man has to have unlocked the Charisma stat to have swindled such good fortune for himself. That, or be part Mer. He’s no noble!”
If there was one area that the merchant was most bitter about it was the fact that he had yet to be able to unlock the Charisma stat, and it still galled him that selling the patent of nobility had been enough to give an infant the stat. True, it set apart the nobility from themoners, and there was no way he would have been able to survive operating alone without substantial amounts of subterfuge or hidden support had he used the patent of nobility for himself. Besides, he would never have been able to amass enough funds to purchase the patent without the noble family he had worked under finding out and putting 6 feet under or dropping him to the bottom of the Azimuth.
“I noticed no gills, no colouring, neither were his hands webbed. If he is part Mer, then it is several generations back. But business makes strange bedfellows of many a man. Especially if beached on unfamiliar shores. What else would you call Wester Ponente than and out of myth and legend where even their lords fly, or so I’m told.” The first mate aired some of the things he had noticed himself and heard sincending.
“I’m not shipwrecked yet—no need to run your mouth on those rumours. The Silverseas hardly need any more attention on them after the visit by the Lodestar Churchst year. The longer theyst, the greater my profit and your cut of it.” Captain Mercurio cautioned.
“Right, if we are going to have somepetition, then the sooner we make headway, the sooner we can return and make our next journey. We might need to take a more direct route if we are to keep the majority of the Silversea products for the people of Ponente and not let other nations profit off of them. A merchant might not have a nation, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see the Princedom of Ponente perform poorly.” The mercurial Mercurio switched frommenting his future losses to attempting to mitigate them.
“At least we are notden to the gunnels this time.” The first mate gestured to the other ship that was still being loaded with vast quantities of salt. “We should be ready to set sail soon.”
“See to it then.” Captain Mercuriomanded, turning aft to his cabin to plot a shorter course to the capital.
. . .
Meanwhile, on board the Safina
Captain Kashif was likewise watching wares he would have bought be loaded up onto the Ponentian Merchant’s ship. So much treasure for the plundering made his fingers itch, but there was nothing to be done sailing this far from the Libian coast. He would never outrun any retaliation, especially as full to the brim as his boat became with his own treasure. ves had never made him such a profit before, and that was not counting the other goods he was trading from the southern and southwestern coast of the Compass continent.
“Will Emir Ishtul truly let the Safina sail freely so easily?” asked his first mate.
“For links to a new noble not yet bound into the games of the hundred lords of Ponente, certainly,” Captain Kashif casually answered, unconcerned. “The House of Lords in Ponente is finely bnced with the Prince ying the Western Coastal Lords against the Eastern Landlocked Lords. With the possibility of putting a finger on the scale and influencing the policy of Ponente in Libio’s favour or simply improving the current poor rtions, the Emir would do far more to gain such favour under the Caliph''s eyes.” A Pirate Captain Kashif might asionally have been, but no idiot was he. The power of politics was worth far more than half of a single merchant’s taxes. However, he had been making a lot more recently. Still, the Emir did not need to know just how profitable his recent trips had been now that he had the Silversea crest to sail under. The only fly in the ointment was that with the Lord’s grandfather present, he had been forced to pay theplete 25% of his profits rather than being able to get away with paying less of the 50% he usually managed to do.
“I’m sure the gift from the Silverseas to the Emir will also smooth over any ruffled feelings or pride.” The first mate continued. Referring to the rtivelyrge bolt of exquisite golden sea silk apanied by a set of deep-sea pearls. A princely gift indeed and worth enough that Kashif was sorely tempted to fleece the Silverseas for it alone. Still, he was wise enough to know not to kill the goose thatid the golden eggs. A single score now would prove that pompous Ponentian Merchant right and cost him a lifetime of wealth that was only just beginning. He had his pride and a healthy dose of respect or fear for what Namir and Arawn might be capable of if suitably motivated. He would have to y it straight for the foreseeable future. That didn’t mean to say that he could not take out a few pirates of his own if they were foolish enough to attempt to board his vessel if it looked like they could not run. That in itself was a fun enough tactic. He looked over the side of the boat at the markings on the hull disappearing under the water as the mounds of packaged salt on deck rose. They would soon beden up to the gills, and ruse would be a reality. Unable to outrun any pirates in the Libian waters, they would find an unpleasant surprise if they attempted to board his Safina.
. . .
“Did I make the right decision?” I asked Lady Acacia as we watched the Swift disappear over the horizon, and the Safina started to set sail. The Swift was loaded heavily, though lighter than the Safina. With the quicker ship already disappearing over the horizon and their divergent bearing, it was unlikely they would meet for a second time this year on the Azimuth Ocean. Nevertheless, we had ventured forth to ensure that the twopeting captains did not re-enact the conflict between their two countries within our sight, at least.
“Time will tell.” Lady Acacia prevaricated, allowing me to stew a little longer before answering more openly, “Namir mightck some subtlety, but he is still a good judge of character. Every man is shaped by the society that surrounds him. While rough around the edges by the standards of Ponente, Captain Kashif is not an inherently evil man. Merely one who will chase profit over morals. In the future, the Silversea name will earn him more money than any others, and he will not wish to jeopardise that.”
“I hope your right,” Aleera whispered, worried about whether the gift we had sent would ever end up with its intended Emir. We already had trade links with the Royal family of Ponente, the Lodestar church and now two merchants from the neighbouring kingdoms. It would not hurt to build those rtionships with those a little further afield in Libio and maybe even as far as Ostro. The whole world was our oyster, and we were busily harvesting pearls.