If he was going to doubt even this consistent of a story, any other deal would be difficult as well.
On the other hand, he might just be fooling himself.
Only merchants, constantly scheming and being schemed upon, had to worry about such things.
“Understood,” he said, exhaling the breath he had been holding.
He noticed Eve’s shoulders move ever so slightly.
He was confident that this wasn’t an act on her part.
No merchant was capable of remaining completely expressionless in such moments.
“Let’s discuss the particulars of the deal,” he finished.
“… Yes, let’s.”
Lawrence got the sense that in the shadow of her cowl, Eve smiled.
She extended her hand.
Lawrence took it; it was trembling ever so slightly.
Subsequently, Lawrence and Eve with Holo in tow ventured out into the town.
Their expedition was not to celebrate their newly established contract. Merchants do not celebrate anything until profit is in their hands.
There was no way of knowing exactly when the Council of Fifty would make their decision public and unleash the rush of merchants trying to monopolize the fur trade, so they needed to secure the necessary cash as quickly as possible.
So out into the town they went to call upon the trading firm that would lend them the money with Holo as collateral.
The trading firm was called the Delink Company.
Though it was situated conveniently close to the port, the building was rather small and had no loading dock.
The only thing that identified it as a trading company was a small flag hanging unobtrusively in the doorway.
However, the building’s stone construction was so fine that not even a single hair could slip between the stones, and though it was fully five stories tall, it did not seem to lean against the adjoining buildings.
As Lawrence examined the flag more closely, which was dimly lit by the flickering light of an oil lamp, he could see that it was an embroidered piece of the highest quality. Set against mist-gray stones, it gave the trading house the presence of a small giant, not some come-lately business.
Lawrence wondered if this company’s approach to publicity was different from other houses’.
“I’m Luz Eringin, representative for the Delink Company.”
Merchants who dealt with different goods had widely varying customs.
Four men from the Delink Company came out to greet Lawrence and his entourage, each of them dressed fit to represent their company, not a one of them standing out among the others.
Lawrence had heard that groups dealing in human commodities always had multiple people judge the quality of their goods. These four were no doubt the managers of the company.
“I am Kraft Lawrence.”
Lawrence shook hands with Eringin.
The man’s hands were strangely soft, and a vague smile stuck to his face, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Sheep merchants had loud voices like a barking dog. So was this the smile of a slave trader?
Holo shook hands with him next, and his eyes as he regarded her were reptilian – a lizard’s or a snake’s.
Eve removed her cowl but exchanged no particular greetings. Perhaps this firm had brokered the deal when she had been sold to that newly rich merchant.
“Do have a seat,” invited Eringin, and they all sat on felt-covered chairs, fine ones, stuffed with cotton. “I have already heard the particulars from the honorable head of the Bolan house.”
“So let’s not waste time with empty chitchat,” he seemed to be saying.
Lawrence had no intention of negotiating the price. He knew nothing about the market for young noble girls.
“I would ask you one thing,” said Eringin. “I have heard that you, Mr. Lawrence, are a member of the Rowen Trade Guild?”
The three men behind Eringin stood there without so much as twitching, staring at Lawrence.
While none of them wore any particular expression, they collectively gave off an aura that was altogether unsettling.
Even Lawrence, well used to signing contracts, felt the pressure.
Perhaps it was a technique of theirs; having been sold off to this company, one would have a hard time lying to them.
“Yes,” answered Lawrence briefly, and the oppressive aura of the three men immediately vanished.
It seemed they truly had been trying to wring the truth out of him.
“Rowen, then. I do believe Lord Goldens has dealt with you many times. Perhaps it was he from whom I heard yours is a keen-eyed guild.”
Lawrence couldn’t help being unsettled at the mention of one of the guild’s central figures – even though he knew Eringin brought it up to make Lawrence feel as though escape was impossible.
“If you’re attached to such a guild, you’re a man to be reckoned with indeed, and your companion is a girl from the nobility. Now, if I might explain what the four of us have decided.”
Eve said she wanted 2,500 pieces.
Eringin’s affected smile widened.
In any world, it was those with money who were strong.
“Two thousand pieces of trenni silver.”
It fell short of the goal, but with two thousand in their war chest, the plan would yield incredible success.
It was all Lawrence could manage not to broadcast the way the strength drained from his nervous body. Eve seemed to be doing likewise.
She forced her face to be expressionless.
“Ms. Eve proposed 2,500, but we’re unable to deal in that amount with individual merchants. This is for that… fur business that’s going around, is it not? Thus, in exchange, we will waive our standard commission and lend you the full amount. But as we do not have that much silver on hand at the moment, the remittance will be in the form of sixty gold lumione”
A single piece of lumione gold was worth roughly thirty trenni. Lawrence wasn’t sure of the details of Lenos’ marketplace, but when used in exchange for goods besides other currencies, the lumione possessed a singular might.
Depending on the circumstances, it might garner significantly more fur than two thousand trenni would have.
But what surprised Lawrence even more was the fact that they were willing to lend the lump sum.
The mere possession of high-value coins held value. Gold or silver currency was a versatile asset that could be melted down if necessary and was far superior to records of money on paper.
When one signed one’s name to paper and borrowed money, it was usual to have to pay a fee as well.
But not this time.
“That’s generous of you,” murmured Eve.
“This is an investment,” said Eringin, deepening his smile. “You’re a clever person. You’ve managed to pull profit from the state and arrangement of this town. There is little doubt you will use this success to reach still greater heights, and we wish to share that good luck. And” – he turned to Lawrence – “you are a fortunate man. It was nothing less than good fortune that led you two to meet. And you are not losing yourself to excitement about a deal this large. We believe this is because you’ve become accustomed to good luck. In our business, the element of fortune is a very important one. Unless one is accustomed to such fortune, one can make mistakes. On that count, we trust you.”
Even as Lawrence admired the man’s method of estimating value, it did not escape him that the only thing being praised about him was his good luck.
He tried to decide whether to feel pleased or aggrieved and suddenly got the sense that beside him, Holo was snickering at his expense.
“Our job is not unlike prospecting for a gold mine. To find partners, we won’t shrink away from investing some money.”
“So, how are we to accept the money that will silence so many wagging tongues?”
Eringin smiled at Eve’s question, and for the first time, he seemed sincere. “You’ll be buying up fu
r from the Arkieh Company, correct? You certainly have a good eye. I would love for you to tell us your secret–”
“My voice is a bit hoarse these days. Makes it hard to talk,” said Eve.
It did not sound like a joke. Eve’s words were hard, and Eringin’s words were sly and menacing, like a snake.
It was a strange conversation, different from any Lawrence had experienced before.
Of course, there was no need for negotiating parties to get along particularly well, but basic human courtesy was lacking between these two.
As long as they made their money, each cared not one whit for the other’s welfare.
It was as obvious as air.
“The transaction? That will be at your preference.”
“What do you want to do?” Eve asked, looking at Lawrence for the first time.
They hadn’t conferred ahead of time, so Lawrence said what came to mind.
“’Tis hard to sleep with such brightly glittering coins lighting the darkness.” It was Holo’s presence next to him that helped him straighten up a bit and manage a thin smile.
Eringin made an impressed face, then smiled, shrugging. “A memorable answer! As one handles larger and larger amounts of money, one’s pride rises as well. Such freedom makes it easy to become haughty and sarcastic. But your words, modest yet incisive – that is true freedom. We must all learn from your example.”
Did Eringin handle such terrifying amounts of money on a daily basis? Even the service charge on two thousand silver pieces would be a significant sum, but he had waived it without a second thought.
When a merchant rose in the world, was this what awaited?
“Well then, shall we remit it to you immediately before you go to buy up your fur?”
Wondering what Eve was thinking, Lawrence didn’t immediately answer in order to give her a chance to speak up if she chose – but ultimately, she said nothing.
“Yes, if you please,” said Lawrence.
“Very well.” Eringin extended his hand to shake.
Lawrence accepted it. The handshake was ever so slightly stronger than the one that had preceded it.
Instead of turning to Holo, Eringin faced Eve and offered his hand, which Eve accepted. Despite the sharp negotiations, it seemed there remained the barest hint of civility.
“Let us pray for a successful transaction,” said Eringin, closing his eyes, though it did not seem as though he believed in any sort of god.
There was something divine about that spirit, that merchant’s spirit that pursued profit above all else and trampled any god in its path.
“An unpleasant man,” declared Eve as they left the trading house after having signed various papers.
Her words brimmed with such feeling that Lawrence found this a bit unusual.
“I’ve never met his like before. It made me realize just how small a merchant I am,” confessed Lawrence honestly. Eve looked at him past her cowl and was silent for a time.
“… Do you really think so?” asked Eve.
“Yes. Here I struggle to make a few hundred silver pieces, but now I’ve seen an entirely different level.”
“And yet you managed to have quite the wit with him.”
“Oh, that business about the gold coins?”
Eve nodded and began to slowly walk.
Lawrence took Holo’s hand and followed his new partner. Holo seemed to have perfectly understood the role she was to play and had been obediently silent the entire time. When Lawrence took her hand, though, he noticed it was hot.
She must not have liked Eringin’s gaze, either.
“It was quite refreshing to hear such wit,” said Eve. “You threw Eringin off balance. He won’t underestimate a traveling merchant again.”
“I’m honored,” answered Lawrence. He heard Eve’s rough laugh.
“Are you sure you’re not the son of some wealthy merchant house?”
“There are evenings when I feel like that.”
“I give up,” murmured Eve, and for once, the eyes beneath her cowl were not harsh as she spoke. “Are you not thirsty after such speech?”
They hadn’t completed the entire deal, but the first barrier had been overcome.
Lawrence was not so dry as to disagree.
Even after nightfall, there were many stalls still selling liquor near the docks.
Lawrence ordered three cups of wine, and the three of them sat on discarded packing crates nearby.
“Here’s to success,” said Eve, raising her cup in a toast.
The three of them merely pretended to bump their chipped wooden cups together before drinking the wine.
“I suppose it’s a bit late to be asking this–” started Eve.
“What’s that?”
“Where did you pick up your companion?”
“Wha–?”
Lawrence was unable to conceal his surprise but not because he was relaxing after tense negotiations.
It was simply because he had never expected Eve to care about such things.
“Is it that odd for me to ask?” inquired Eve with a rueful grin. Thankfully, Holo merely held her earthen cup in both hands and said nothing. “I did say I wouldn’t pry, but I am curious.”
“Yes, well… people often ask.”
“So where did you pick her up? I won’t be surprised if you tell me she’s the daughter of some rich landlord, overthrown in a peasant uprising.”
It was the kind of joke that could only have come from Eve, herself being fallen nobility, but even so it was surprising. Lawrence heard a faint swishing sound coming from Holo’s back, and ever so casually, he stepped on her foot.
“Evidently she was born in the north. She lived for a long time in the wheat fields of the south.”
“Oh?”
“I’d done many deals in a town in the area, so I stopped in on my travels to see a friend, but then she snuck into my wagon bed.”
Thinking back to that time, Lawrence realized Holo had been snuggled in among the furs he’d been hauling at the time.
Perhaps her tail gave her some kind of strange connection to fur.
“She said she wanted to return to her homeland, and after various twists and turns, I wound up acting as her escort.”
It was a simple story to relate. There were no lies. Holo nodded, and Eve took a sip of her wine.
“Sounds like an encounter dreamt up by some two-copper bard,” she said.
Lawrence had to laugh.
It was true, after all.
And yet what had happened after that was something that couldn’t be turned into money.
It was absurd, it was delightful, and Lawrence wanted it to continue for the rest of his life.
“It’s those twists and turns that I wonder about,” said Eve. “But I doubt you’d even tell that to a priest.”
“I certainly couldn’t tell a priest would be more accurate.”
It was the truth, and yet what Lawrence meant and what Eve assumed were two very different things.
Eve laughed loudly, but the port was not so quiet as to give someone cause to turn and look.
“Well, you’ve surely dressed her nicely. It’s clear enough it was an encounter you cherish.”
“The moment I let my guard down, she bought them herself.”
“I don’t doubt it. She seems a clever girl.”
No doubt the clever girl was smiling to herself beneath her hood.
“And you seem to get along well,” continued Eve. “Though I’d recommend you keep your voices just a bit lower in the inn.”
Lawrence’s hand froze just short of bringing his wine cup to his lips. For a moment he wondered if he and Holo’s exchanges had been audible to others in the inn, but then he realized Eve was trying to trick him into revealing something.
Holo now stepped on his foot, as if telling him not to fall for the trick.
“It’s to be treasured. Money can buy companionship but not its quality.”
Lawrence’s gaze strayed
to what lay beneath Eve’s cowl.
Her blue eyes peered out at him – a rare, fine blue they were.
“The rich merchant who bought me was a terrible man,” she said, looking away, glancing at Holo before her eyes strayed to the docks. It was her self-loathing smirk that finally drove Lawrence’s gaze away from her profile. “If I claimed not to want your sympathy, I’d be lying, but it’s ancient history now. And he died soon after.”
“Is that… so.”
“Yeah. You probably know this, but in my homeland, it’s the wool trade that prospers. He made a fortune competing with foreign rivals in wool futures, and just when he’d gotten gold sufficient to boost his own status, he went bankrupt when the king changed policies. The deal was huge, an unbelievable amount to fallen nobles like us, who had trouble even buying bread. But he was a proud man, prouder even than the nobility, so when his ruin was certain he slit his own throat. That was the only part about him worthy of the Bolan name.”
Eve spoke with neither anger nor sadness nor grim amusement at the fate of her nouveau riche master. She sounded almost nostalgic.
If this was an act, Lawrence would never be able to believe anyone again.
“The marriage ceremony was grand. My butler cried, saying how it was one of the finest in the history of the Bolan house. Of course, to me it was a funeral. But there were good things about it. I didn’t have to worry about how I would eat. And I didn’t get pregnant.”
Blood ties were more important to the nobility than to anyone else.
Children were not gifts from God, but rather political tools.
“And nobody saw me stealing money from his coin purse, bit by bit. Once he was bankrupt and the entire household was forfeit, it was enough for me to start on my own as a merchant.”
To have enough wealth to buy a noble family outright, he must have owned a grand trading house indeed.
For a noble girl like Eve to choose the path of the merchant, she must have had the help of those within the firm so that she could arrange such things.
“It’s my dream, you see, to build something bigger than him and his company,” said Eve plainly. “It was only good luck that allowed him to buy me. In truth, I’m not so cheap as to be bought by a merchant like him, and I want to prove it. Childish, no?” she asked in her hoarse voice, and when she smiled, her face looked very young indeed.
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