Chapter 34

When it became clear that these people were anxious to do business with us, I had had no idea that they were talking about the ruling class or, in fact, the new Royals. Not just some Nobles, but Royals. The Royals. It seemed that we had been extremely lucky as we had wondered if we would just be able to buy things with our gold and silver. It was just a lucky coincidence that that the coffers of the nation were almost empty - oh, they did have copper coins, just as many as they wanted to mint, but almost no silver and gold. The continuous conflict between those two other Royal branches had managed to empty the coffers to the point that the economy was barely functioning and the local merchants handling the banking system were way too aware of the situation. They had done their best to milk everything they could while the new ruler did not yet have the power to tax the greedy bankers the way they could have been taxed.

It was almost funny, since we - our people - had really not that much use for the gold and silver, while all the business here was based on it - especially on gold, whose value was enormous even when compared to silver, which was valuable enough.

Another good thing was that the things these people were selling were quality products including wine, brandy, dried herbs - and olive oil. More than enough for the businesses we would be delivering them to and, without doubt, they would probably be able to make a small fortune with them. Besides the products, we got plenty of information on how to store the them properly so that they would remain useful for a longer period of time. The only meat product we took was a specially cured ham. Meaning ham that had been stored in a cave and a pile of salt for ages. I had been a bit suspicious at first, but after tasting the ham, I was convinced.

The thing I didn’t like so much was that we - meaning both captains, Linnea, Roar and me - were asked to participate in a celebration party that would be organized in honor of the great deals we were going to make. It seemed that our hosts had gotten the idea that Linnea and Roar were a couple and neither of them wanted to correct them, not even Roar’s fiancée who stayed on board with most of the women. The captains had identified themselves as married men with wives waiting at home - which was funny, since I didn’t remember seeing any ceremony there. On the other hand, if I were in relationship either with Mylaela or Immianthe I would certainly say that I was married. Unfortunately, that left me - and our hosts wanted me to be happy.

“Please explain to me, Sir Stian, how come a young man like you is in charge of a trading attempt like this?”

It had taken me a moment to get used to the idea that I should keep my attention on the people actually asking these questions and not in the woman translating for us. In fact, during these days here in Syracs I had learned to understand some of Romance spoken here - I just had to force myself to forget everything I had thought that I knew about the way the words should be pronounced according to the damned book we had.

“As you perfectly well know, Princess, I’m just a representative of the merchants living in my own country. Besides, I’m no ‘Sir’, just Mr. Elder or Stian.”

Again, I was sure that the woman teasing me understood Anglon - and she really was one of the Princesses here. She had been widowed because of a former failed attempt to create a balance of forces here in Sicels. Since she didn’t seem to see the loss of her husband as any kind of tragedy, I couldn’t help wondering if she had assisted in what had happened.

“Sir Stian, are those rumors true that some of those merchants are women?”

“Yes, Princess, that’s quite true. Women can own businesses in our country and some that I know are very successful.”

As soon as those words were out of my mouth, I regretted them as I had seen the flash in the eyes of the princess. I had seen that kind of flash before. Internally I cursed the smooth wine and tasty brandy that had been offered us, and the fact that it would have been impolite to decline.

“I see, Sir Stian, I see. So, could there be a possibility that you just happen to know some of those women especially well.”

I almost started answering before I realized that it hadn’t been the translator who had been speaking, but the princess herself. Her pronunciation was just a bit more accented than the one of the translators and definitely far, far ahead of my skills in Romance. I lowered my head as if I had been ashamed while I really tried to figure my way out of this.