Drazzit gave Wolfe an intrigued look. "What sort of fun do you have for us today?"
Wolfe sighed. "I am afraid that there isn’t much fun to be had today. First, I have a eting with King Petros, about all of you, ironically, and then there are two trade delegations who will be eting with us."
"Us?" Jessica, the lithe brunette mage candidate, asked.
"Yes, us. The point of this exercise is to have the candidates sit in on our daily schedule so that we can see how they do in all situations that they’re likely to encounter. None of the information will be top secret or anything, and there will normally be other assistants in the room as well as notaries, who record the conversation.
The eting with King Petros would normally be a private one, but I think he’s as interested as I am in how everyone is going to react. He had his people vet all the young ladies of his world, so it is only natural he would want to see how well they were selected."
The girl looked like she might pass out at any minute, but Drazzit was as relaxed as Wolfe had ever seen her.
Wolfe led them to the eting room, where King Petros would be arriving in a few minutes, after he fetched his assistants from back in the Palace. Saint Josephine was opening the portal for him, as she knew the trick to making it easy, and the running joke that they were waiting for King Petros to figure it out on his own was catching on.
He ca in with four Saints, all Generals of the Fallen Army, and eight assistants, all humans in matching suits. Wolfe called in the servers to bring around drinks and so snacks, as he was so rudely chased out of bed, and the two Candidates sat down on either side of him for the eting.
King Petros nodded at them. "It’s good to see everyone getting along well. But, let’s get right to the point, as we all have more etings today, and for my team, it’s already late in the evening.
We are hoping to open more permanent businesses here, under the purview of the crown. I will soon be requiring all rchants who are not permanently stationed in Forest Grove to go through to do business here to reduce the smuggling and dangerous items issues, so I would like to arrange a number of permanent shops in my na."
That was sothing that Wolfe and him had already gone over, but not with the advisors present.
The ones on Petros’ side looked sowhat nervous, as it would be pushing the limits of their trade agreent, but they didn’t know that the fine details had mostly been ironed out already, and this eting was mostly a formality to make it official.
Drazzit gave a pointy toothed grin at the ntion of the limitation. "Do the humans hold a trial of arms to see who is worthy of the spot? I suppose for rchants and crafters, they would need champions, wouldn’t they?"
King Petros laughed. "It’s more of a political thing. They have to prove that they are reliable and trustworthy so that they don’t give our people a bad na with low-quality products or shady business dealings."
The Dark Elf looked confused. That was not what the word politics ant in her language. Anything from treachery or assassination to simple bribery was all politics.
"I see." She announced after a few seconds, clearly not quite understanding.
Wolfe leaned over to whisper to her. "I will get you a book on human customs."
Drazzit nodded happily and determined that she would remain silent, and not get excited about the chance to watch a combat trial for the best shops.
"Naturally, we will expect you not to stop those who are going to set up a permanent shop here, as per our agreents, but there is no reason for to stop you from vetting vendors who wish to rent spaces from you.
I do have so available, and I can give you the list of them to choose from." Wolfe agreed.
Jessica was still looking a bit queasy. Being in the presence of King Petros made her realize that Saint Noxus was also an incredibly powerful and important person, even though he didn’t give off that feeling of unapproachable dignity that most High Nobles did.
"Will the girl be alright?" One of the servers asked quietly, ready to get her dicine if she needed it.
"She’s having a panic attack around the King. Do you have sothing for that?" Wolfe whispered back.
The Witches made all sorts of redies, they should have sothing to calm the nerves.
The server nodded, then a few seconds later, another approached with a cup of tea for Jessica, who cald imdiately as she took the first sip.
Other than the fact she was too panicked to speak, she was doing a decent job of keeping her polite smile in place, so Wolfe wouldn’t hold that against her.
Drazzit, on the other hand, was genuinely interested in the tea, but not because she was nervous. Her people took pride in suppressing their emotions during business so that they didn’t make emotional mistakes.
Clear-headed decisions were the best way, in their minds, and Wolfe could see that while she was young and had very little experience with such etings, Drazzit was not uncomfortable here, only a little embarrassed that she didn’t know much about humans.
Wolfe set out the sheet with the stalls which had already been rented long term by people from Petros’ world, as well as the ones that had been set aside in case he wanted more for himself.
There were clear markings of which were local vendors, which were foreign permanent resident vendors, and which were reserved for transient vendors during events. The city’s population more than doubled during festivals, and that was only increasing as more cities in this world got portals activated.
"I believe my people would like a few minutes to look this over before we make a decision." Petros announced.
"Of course. There is a private room to your right. You may retire there to deliberate, and we will wait for you."
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