“If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.”
Thomas Aquinas.
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 sa ti, 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 called Caelus was ntally rubbing his hands in glee. “Who knew they would be so competitive?”
“The compass kingdoms hardly sound like they are particularly 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 contemplated 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 rchant tier as well adding a level to Singer and Sailor as well which ant 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. Status locked 62 months. It would have been nice if, after all this ti, the system noticed my maturity and allowed to allocate my hard-earned stats. Still, it was nearly a hundred months less than the first ti 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 island. Although I did not have full access 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 rchants here at the sa ti. That reminded I needed to test my probabilities again to see how they translated into gas 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 island and beyond the influence of luck I was unsure of how skills would affect any gas of chance.
Level: 33
Title: Lord
Métier: Singer Lv 9
tier: Sailor Lv 6
tier: rchant Lv 2
Na: Callen Kai Caelus Silversea
Age: 6 years (Old world 8yrs) 2 month
General Experience: 200 /1,638,400
Health: 1120/1120 Stamina: 1120/1120 Mana: 1120/1120 Psi: 1120/1120
Trait: Long-Lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana, Quick Witted, Celerity, Durability, Supre Strength, Charming, Lucky
Vitality: 112
Endurance: 112
Strength: 112
Dexterity: 112
Senses: 112
Mind: 112
Clarity: 112
Magic: 112
Charisma: 112
Luck: 112
Free Points: 371 (Locked)
. . .
Looking deeper into my skills, I enjoyed the condensed version consolidation that had allowed to form. There were still so 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 eting ran through my mind.
“I, too, wish to be a rchant for your house.” Captain Kashif bowed low.
“You cannot seriously be considering this . . . man to be a Silversea rchant.” rcurio 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 seed indifferent, Lady Acacia seed to be deliberately leaving it up to us, surprisingly it was only Namir who had sothing 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 rembers both our warnings and our abilities, I believe he would be true to his word.” It was hardly a ringing endorsent but honest enough. Aleera deferred to my judgent, 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 slavery, but better the devil you knew than the one you didn’t. While he was not exactly a force for good, it didn’t an that we could use him to create so.
“All of life is a risk.” Kashif countered, “And to sail the Azimuth Ocean, doubly so.” He said, referring to the ocean that surrounded the compass continent as well as the sea encounters with man, monsters or r, which could end both journey and ship. “If you want to reach the zenith, you have to take so risks.”
“You are hardly convincing .” I dodged, not yet convinced enough to commit. I wanted reassurance from the rogue captain before I risked tying our fate to his future, no matter how lightly the ties were made. “rcurio has been honest enough even if for any rchant, their honesty is only another form of financial speculation. Why should we let you sail under the Silversea na? What will it be worth for us?” rcurio began to nod his head in appreciation before he realised that the statent 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 vehently against his competitor, gaining a similar standing to his. Would it make any difference to him if another secured similar 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 na 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 rcurio. Unsurprisingly, rcurio was no longer arguing against the Libeccian, 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 rcurio was paying us for the pleasure of his company and escaping the grasping claws of the Ponentian nobility. Hopefully, a quarter of his profits would be enough to aliorate any damage this new relationship 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 earlier comnts and that no further reminders of acceptable behaviour befitting our noble crest are ever needed again.” We cautioned the piratical rchant against possibly returning to his forr profit-making thods. We now had two ships sailing under the Silversea Crest; we were now a multinational noble family.
After that, the eting finished quickly, as did the petitioning, with eager and quick to review my own progression. rcurio made no more waves, clearly worried that if he rocked the boat any further, his taxes might be raised to truly create so equality between the two captains and our house.
. . .
On board the Swift . . .
“That pirate must be part r,” curio 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 ti before departure.
Looking across the water within the cliff cove they were docked within, his first mate replied, “Looks Libeccian enough to from when I saw him. He’s certainly no Siren.” He countered, already used to the rchant’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 perford better with an audience he viewed as his equal. Working for the man ant that he would never be that and was resigned to listening to his complaints a little longer while the n unloaded and loaded the Swift.
“Well, how else do you explain 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 r. He’s no noble!”
If there was one area that the rchant 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 the commoners, 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 r, 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 a land out of myth and legend where even their lords fly, or so I’m told.” The first mate aired so of the things he had noticed himself and heard since landing.
“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 Church last year. The longer they last, the greater my profit and your cut of it.” Captain rcurio cautioned.
“Right, if we are going to have so competition, 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 rchant might not have a nation, but that doesn’t an I don’t want to see the Princedom of Ponente perform poorly.” The rcurial rcurio switched from lanting his future losses to attempting to mitigate them.
“At least we are not laden to the gunnels this ti.” 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 rcurio commanded, turning aft to his cabin to plot a shorter course to the capital.
. . .
anwhile, on board the Safina
Captain Kashif was likewise watching wares he would have bought be loaded up onto the Ponentian rchant’s ship. So much treasure for the plundering made his fingers itch, but there was nothing to be done sailing this far from the Libeccian coast. He would never outrun any retaliation, especially as full to the brim as his boat beca with his own treasure. Slaves 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 gas of the hundred lords of Ponente, certainly,” Captain Kashif casually answered, unconcerned. “The House of Lords in Ponente is finely balanced with the Prince playing 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 Libeccio’s favour or simply improving the current poor relations, the Emir would do far more to gain such favour under the Caliph's eyes.” A Pirate Captain Kashif might occasionally have been, but no idiot was he. The power of politics was worth far more than half of a single rchant’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 ointnt was that with the Lord’s grandfather present, he had been forced to pay the complete 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 relatively large bolt of exquisite golden sea silk accompanied 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 that laid the golden eggs. A single score now would prove that pompous Ponentian rchant right and cost him a lifeti 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 play it straight for the foreseeable future. That didn’t an 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 be laden up to the gills, and ruse would beco a reality. Unable to outrun any pirates in the Libeccian 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 et for a second ti this year on the Azimuth Ocean. Nevertheless, we had ventured forth to ensure that the two competing captains did not re-enact the conflict between their two countries within our sight, at least.
“Ti will tell.” Lady Acacia prevaricated, allowing to stew a little longer before answering more openly, “Namir might lack so 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. rely one who will chase profit over morals. In the future, the Silversea na 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 rchants from the neighbouring kingdoms. It would not hurt to build those relationships with those a little further afield in Libeccio and maybe even as far as Ostro. The whole world was our oyster, and we were busily harvesting pearls.
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