“Twenty thousand?” Grendel said as he wiped his brow with a linen cloth. “That is too high a price. The Crane Company—no, not even the bank itself—can pay so much for a single bar.”
“I know it is,” Melody replied with a shrug. “But since your offer was so ridiculously low, I thought I’d play your game.”
Grendel laughed at that; at first nervously, but then with genuine mirth. “I had forgotten about your previous occupation, Lady Melody.”
“Just Melody,” the Beastkin replied.
Aziel glanced at Celia, who only shrugged. “Oh, she can fight that battle now. I lost it long ago,” the Succubus replied.
“Miss Melody, then,” Grendel corrected. “My apologies for my disingenuous offer. May we start afresh?”
Melody glanced back at Aziel, who nodded. He was thoroughly enjoying how Melody had handled herself so far, and was glad she was here to do so.
“Thank you. Then let me ask you one question first: how many bars do you have to sell?”
Melody once again glanced Aziel, and he realized he had not told the Beastkin of his stock. “I have six standard bars of drained… unrefined… aranite with me right now,” Aziel replied for her, patting the box by his side.
“Six?” Grendel repeated, stunned. “Where did you find so much?”
So much? Aziel held back a chuckle. This hardly represented a fraction of the stockpile he had created from the aranite gates. “Six is only what we have on offer at this time. I will make more available in the future if the need arises.”
“You can supply more?” Grendel glanced down at the bar he held, now almost speechless.
“I can,” Aziel replied.
The trader stayed silent, his gaze fixed on the bar before looking up at the Beastkin. “Three thousand,” he said.
“Seven,” Melody replied.
“Four point five.”
“Six thousand five hundred and we give the Crane Company exclusive access to our supply for a year.”
“That is only worth it if you can actually supply more,” Grendel shot back, raising the bar for emphasis.
“We can,” Aziel said calmly.
Grendel licked his lips, considering. “Five thousand per bar and exclusivity for three years, with the right to renew the agreement before you seek other partners. Also, a minimum of five bars must be made available for purchase by the Crane Company each month.”
Aziel smiled at this blatant attempt to test how much they could supply.
“Getting greedy, Master Grendel,” Melody said, her tail puffing up. She glanced quickly back at Aziel, uncertain herself if they had so many.
“Although doable, the Fallen will not accept a minimum supply quota,” Aziel answered, his fingers now rhythmically tapping the box.
“Doable?” Grendel replied with a deepening frown. “Forgive me, Lord Aziel, but your word is not enough. Unless you found the stash the last Caelian Emperor mined from the Great Wilds—” Here, Grendel paused, his eyes opening wide as he looked around the hall again. “Stien’s magnificent wings… this is Rolani, isn’t it?”
“You are the first to call it that, but from what you have told me, it is indeed likely one and the same,” Aziel said, seeing no reason to keep this a secret. “As for our capacity to supply aranite, my word is all you will receive for now. I am under no obligation to prove anything to you other than the quantity I am willing to sell now.” Aziel opened the lid of the box and tilted it in Grendel’s direction. “Including the one you hold, that number is six bars.”
Grendel took a step back, then cleared his throat. “My apologies, if this is truly the mythical Rolani palace… the treasures you must have found here…”
Aziel gestured for Melody to take over again. The Beastkin, however, did not speak. Instead, she trotted back to Aziel and leaned in close. “Lord Aziel… I can’t do this if I don’t know what I have to sell,” she said, in a low voice.
She was not wrong, he realized. If he was going to entrust Melody with managing his finances, then she needed to know all the Fallen had at their disposal. “Three thousand eight hundred standard bars,” he whispered back.
Melody inhaled sharply. “Why just six?” she asked, after a few moments of silence.
“Do you think we should sell more?”
“I think the Fallen needs to grow, and quickly. Large sums of money can help with that, especially if you partner with a major merchant company of Tijar.”
Aziel tapped the box thoughtfully. Again, she wasn’t wrong. The geopolitical situation had grown far more dangerous in a short period of time. With the Jannatin Empire invading Maiv, there was little doubt in Aziel’s mind who would be next. The Jannatins wanted the Central Wilds. The Fallen were incredibly weak at present. The faction had little in the way of structure or true control over its claimed territory.
“How many do you wish to sell?” he asked.
Melody revealed a confident, almost predatory smile. “I have little doubt Grendel had been ordered to secure the aranite, no matter the price. It’s just a matter of how friendly a relationship you want with the Free State of Tijar. I have an idea which should help with some of the problems I noticed on the way here from Fes.”
Aziel tilted his head, watching the Beastkin closely. She seemed to have embraced her new role very quickly. “Very well, Melody. I will trust your judgment,” he said, and Melody’s ears pricked up before she faced Grendel again.
“I have a proposition for the Crane Company and the Bank of Tijar, Master Grendel,” Melody said.
“I am eager to hear it,” the trader replied.
“We will set the price at six thousand gold per unit. I am sure you agree that such a price is reasonable.”
Grendel opened his mouth to reply, but Melody didn’t allow him the opportunity. “As a one-time gift and for the purposes of a long-term relationship between the Fallen and the grand company you represent, we will sell you ten bars of aranite at five thousand gold per unit. We will also provide two additional bars in exchange for access to highly skilled individuals of certain trades.”
Grendel fingered his linen handkerchief, clearly tempted. “Twelve bars? Truly?”
Aziel turned to the single female Grauda in the throne room. “Would you bring an additional six bars?” he instructed.
The female Grauda snapped her mandibles, and two of the Grauda male guards sprinted to the levitation platform.
Seeing this, Grendel let out a light laugh. “Truly magnificent,” he said. “What sort of trades?”
“Civil, mainly. The Fallen is in dire need of infrastructure, as I’m sure you have noticed,” the Beastkin said. “We also need to discuss a supply of foodstuffs.”
Aziel winced inwardly as Grendel and Melody continued their negotiations. Having their situation expressed so openly stung a little. Astrel was working as hard as she could to build up the Fallen. But Melody was right; even at the remarkable pace the Grauda had set, it was still not enough to tackle the challenges ahead.
“Celia,” he whispered, to catch her attention. The Succubus had been uncharacteristically silent during the exchange.
“Yes, Master?”
“What do you think of all this?”
Celia draped herself across the backrest of the throne, looking thoughtful. “I think Melody is doing very well. She’s right—we need roads, waterworks, housing, fortifications, and many other things, and quickly. We need to build up our food production levels even more quickly. I would even class the latter issue as dire. I think Melody knows this, which is why it is so comforting seeing her negotiate for those things. I feel like saying I’m proud of her… isn’t that strange?”
Aziel glanced over at Melody, who was still discussing terms with Grendel. “I wouldn’t say that. She has exceeded my own expectations.”
Celia chuckled. “That’s because you had no expectations.”
Aziel smiled. “I wouldn’t put it quite that way. They appear to have reached an understanding,” he ad
ded as Melody turned back to him and began listing the terms.
“Ten bars at five thousand gold per bar and the Fallen will give the Crane Company exclusive access to our supply for one year and entertain requests to put more aranite up for sale. But the decision to do so is entirely ours to make. Three additional bars for the Crane Company to provide access to experts in the planning of civil infrastructure for the whole Central Wilds, along with professional labor for the actual building of roads in the southeastern portion of the region. And finally, two bars for the import of food and other essential materials.”
Fifteen bars. Aziel looked to Celia, who nodded. “I accept these terms as stated,” he replied, causing Melody to smile and jump in place.
“Please excuse me,” Grendel said, holding out his hand. Another man, wearing similar silks to Grendel had hurried forward to place a thick rectangular device into the trader’s palm. Grendel took the device and moved it close to his mouth, simultaneously pulling what looked like a moderately-sized air crystal from somewhere under his many layers of silk, which he slotted into the device’s side. He then began to whisper into it.
“It might take them a few—” Grendel tried to say, but before he could finish, the device beeped, and a thin strip of paper slid out of the base. Grendel ripped it free. He nodded a few times as his eyes scanned its contents, before passing it to the scribe keeping the record of their dealings and handing the device back to his second aide.
“The Crane Company will accept this agreement and certify it with the Bank’s seal,” he instructed the scribe, who produced another sheet of paper. Even from his seat, Aziel could sense the mana in it—the paper had its own vessel, albeit a small one. The scribe wrote something carefully on it, before pulling out a rectangular stamp from a case he kept at his side. This was pressed to the bottom right corner of the sheet, before he offered it to Grendel.
Grendel reviewed it quickly, before offering it in turn to Melody. The Beastkin trotted back up the steps to present the sheet of paper to Aziel.
“It all looks clean, you just need to mark it here,” she said, pointing to a patch of what appeared to be black wax in the left bottom right corner.
Aziel read over the terms, and—satisfied that they were as discussed—he pressed his thumb into the wax. As soon as he did, the wax solidified, and a notification formed before him.
The Fallen have entered into a binding agreement with Tijar. Breaking the terms of this agreement without just cause may bring your faction untold hardship.
So, the Seed not only kept track of agreements between people, but between factions too. There was no clear explanation as to what would be considered a just cause, but it was still a relief. Whatever the threat of this “hardship” entailed, it meant that Aziel could trust the agreement would be conducted in good faith. Though, just as he had when the Dryad Blossoms gave their word, he wondered what the consequences in fact would be.
“Congratulations, Lord Aziel,” Grendel said, beaming. “With the completion of this agreement, you have become one of the richest individuals in the Eastern Peninsula. If you would suffer me for a while longer, I have three agendas I wish to bring to your attention. One is personal, the second economic, and the third, political.”
Aziel considered this as Melody returned the signed agreement to the scribe, so that he might make a copy of it. “Begin with the personal, then,” he said.
“You have my thanks,” Grendel bowed his head. “As you probably already know, Melody is a debt slave.”
Melody went still, her tail curling inward at this.
“When she was imprisoned in Tijar,” Grendel continued, “I paid off her debt from my personal coin in order to secure her release. It was also at my request that she was not re-collared by the Coin Guard, as she now owes me the sum I paid.”
Aziel frowned as he glanced between the trader and Melody. The Beastkin stared at the ground, doing her best not to meet anyone’s gaze. “What sum?” Aziel finally asked.
“Two thousand gold. Rounded down as a courtesy to you,” Grendel added.
“Two thousand,” Celia muttered beside him. “That’s a fortune. How did her father get into so much debt…?”
Aziel did not know, and neither did he care. “Take this amount from the sale of aranite,” he said immediately. “I also expect this to be the end of this matter. Melody’s debt is now paid in full; she is not expected to owe me this amount.”
Melody stared at Aziel with visible shock. Celia quickly moved to her, her arms wrapping around the brown-haired Beastkin as tears began to silently fall down her cheeks. “This is good, isn’t it?” Celia murmured.
The Beastkin choked on her words as she looked first at Celia, then back at Aziel.
Aziel smiled and nodded for Celia to take care of Melody as he continued with Grendel.
“You have my thanks,” the trader said with a bow, a warm smile appearing on his face as he witnessed Melody’s joy.
“On the contrary, I am grateful to you for helping Melody in her time of need. It is only fair to pay back what you settled on my behalf, even if you were not instructed to do so.” At that moment, two Grauda entered the throne room bearing armfuls of aranite ingots, which they placed on the scribe’s table before stepping back to take up their defensive positions around the throne room again.
“That makes twelve. I will need an additional three bars,” Aziel said. The Grauda female once again clicked her mandibles, and a male ran off to do her bidding.
Grendel’s smile spread from ear to ear at the sight of the ingots. “A perfect time to move to the second point,” he said as the scribe passed him another sheet of paper. Like the one Aziel had marked for the trade agreement, this one had its own vessel. “The Bank of Tijar wishes to build a branch in your capital,” Grendel continued. “This will of course bring you many benefits.”
“Such as?” Aziel asked with a raised eyebrow.
“For one, it would make payment of your gold possible.” At this, Grendel’s aides produced four chests. “These chests contain your gold; each holds two thousand, which means I would need to supply twenty-five of them to just pay for the first ten bars. I of course do not have so much gold with me. Traveling with such sums would entice emperors, never mind bandits.”
Aziel frowned. “Are you saying you made a deal for ten, but could only pay for one and a half bars?”
“Of course not,” Grendel replied, before plucking a piece of paper from the scribe’s table. “This is a Tijarii bank note. If stamped, it alone is worth a thousand gold coins and can be exchanged at any Tijarii Bank branch. There are other denominations, naturally. Ten thousand is the highest.”
“Unless I accept you building a branch here, that note is useless to me,” Aziel said with a shake of his head.
“I assure you, Lord Aziel, these notes are the future. All factions in the Eastern Peninsula, with the exception of the Ejani and Maiv, use these notes to pay for large-budget projects. It is simply much more convenient than coins. The sheer weight alone involved in moving so much gold brings its own costs. This is especially true for your faction, as it has no access to a port. Moving things by land is slower and more expensive, even when the Caelian roads are used. And let us not forget that any routes to your lands go through the Jannatin Empire, who are not exactly your friends at this time.”
Aziel had read a considerable number of economic volumes, though he had quickly discovered that logistics and commerce was not his strong point, but this was the first he had heard of notes being used in exchange of precious metals. Thankfully, there was a simple solution to this issue, and it was still staring at him with tear-filled eyes. Aziel stood and moved toward Melody, the switch in his attention causing Celia to release the Beastkin. Melody brushed away her tears and smiled at him nervously.
“Kneel,” Aziel said.
“Uhm,” Melody said, before Celia bent to whisper something. Her fluffy ears twitched as she listened, then her eyes opened wide before she q
uickly knelt before Aziel.
“Melody,” Aziel said, placing a hand on her head. “Do you swear to serve the Fallen and become my follower?”
“I do,” Melody replied, without a moment’s hesitation.
“Good.” Aziel smiled. “Then, as promised, and as a reward for the service you have already conducted for the faction, I offer you the position of Economic Minister. Would you accept this post?”
Without moving her head, Melody’s eyes shot up to meet his, her feline pupils dilating as she did. Aziel knew exactly why she was surprised: he had promised her access, perhaps as an advisor to him. Instead, he was now offering her a major officer position. As Economic Minister, she would be in charge of the development of the entire economy of the Fallen. It was a position Aziel thought the Beastkin would discharge well. For one, she had real experience in commerce—which was more in the way of qualifications than Niyela had had when he appointed her to Captain of the Guard.
“Are you sure?” Melody asked as Celia leaned against Aziel’s side, her head resting on his shoulder as she looked down at Melody with a gentle smile.
“I would not propose it if I wasn’t,” Aziel replied. “Will you accept?”
“I accept,” Melody replied, before jumping up and wrapping herself around Aziel. This response came as a complete surprise, even to Celia, who had to move aside to avoid being struck. Aziel cleared his throat before awkwardly embracing the excited Beastkin back. Celia began to giggle at the sight, delighted.
“Thank you, you won’t regret this,” Melody mumbled into his chest before slowly letting go.
“I have little doubt I will,” Aziel replied as a notification appeared before him.
Faction officer position: Economic Minister has been assigned.
Aziel turned back to face Grendel, who did not seem to mind being kept waiting.
“Congratulations, Miss Melody,” he said, with real warmth.
“Thank you,” the Beastkin replied before stepping forward. “Now, about that bank branch.”
The two immediately launched into fresh negotiations as Aziel sat back, grateful that he did not have to handle the increasingly technical conversation himself. He looked over at Celia and smiled, satisfied at how things had been concluded.
Fallen Ambitions Page 42