Chapter 107: Ch 50 Northern Wolf Shipping Part 1
The city of Bravoos was famous around the world for many things, from the gigantic Titan statue which roars every hour to its vibrant markets and its rich seafood, to the countless canals sprawling across the hundred islands, the numerous temples on Isle of Gods, the Arsenal and of course, the Iron Bank.
But the thing that attracted the most attention, particularly among the male population whether they be Nobility or rich merchants, were its courtesans, who were renowned across the world for their skills, and beauty. They were not like the common bedwarmers found on every other street in Lys, here the courtesans were a lot more sophisticated. Every courtesan here had her own barge and numerous servants to work in them.
The courtesan were public figures here with a lot of admirers. And the fans of particularly famous ones such as Nightingale are said to be fanatic enough to kill you if you say any other woman is more beautiful than her. There may even be a courtesan with Targaryen blood in here, someone called Black Pearl, said to be a descendant of Aegon IV Targaryen.
Today Darrio, the banker, was in a barge of one such courtesan, but sadly he wasn't there to satisfy his base desire but had come here to meet someone.
Darrio was sitting alone in a luxurious reception room with his hands folded on his legs. The premium tea placed on the table in front of him had gone cold while he was waiting for his target. If it was just a few weeks ago he would have already thrown a tantrum at being made to wait for so long but now... sadly for him, he didn't have the leeway he used to have as now he answered to someone.
The man he was here to meet was one of the last ones on the list that Jon had given him, but he was also the hardest to convince.
The list was the first task that Jon had given him and it was filled with names of all the prominent merchants in Bravoos that Jon wanted to cooperate with in his new business, but since he didn't have the necessary influence in Bravoos to convince these people easily, it had fallen on Darrio to do this work. And so Darrio had been on a streak for more than a week going from one place to another to meet with all kinds of big and small merchants to persuade them to invest in Jon's new Company and now he was finally here on the last one.
His target this time was one of the richest merchants in Bravoos, with connections and shops in almost all free cities in Essos and a few of the major cities in Westeros. This man was someone who regularly sat and ate with all kinds of magisters, princes, and lords so he wasn't someone Darrio could easily bully into accepting his terms like he had done with the others. He had to be convinced using softer tactics which Darrio wasn't quite skilled at but he had to do his best nonetheless since it was a task set by his new... master.
Just as Darrio was lost in his thoughts, the door to the room suddenly opened and in came the target he was waiting for.
He was a middle-aged man with brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing purple garbs that weren't able to hide his fat belly. He had quite the pleased and satisfied expression on his face but all the happiness went away from his face the moment he saw who was waiting for him in the room.
"You are quite the persistent one, my friend. Aren't you?" Mario asked with a wry smile while closing the door behind him.
"Thank you," Darrio replied with a stiff smile.
"That was not a compliment." Mario said dryly, "I've seen your face more times than I did my wife in the last few days... which is not a good thing." The merchant grumbled while taking a seat opposite Darrio, "You're young, you're rich and you just got yourself a position in the Arsenal. You should be out there enjoying life and not be in here trying to scam honest old man like me into investing in your business."
"My uncle wouldn't have reached where he is if he stopped to enjoy every little accomplishment he got. And I am not trying to scam anyone. What I am doing is giving people a chance to be a part of a new business that is going to be guaranteed to be fruitful."
"Sure you are," Mario said, his voice thick with sarcasm before he shook his head, "But my answer wouldn't change, it's just too risky for me to hand over the precious good that I've gathered over two months to this new company on its very first journey. If I was still young and reckless, I would have thought about it but now..." Mario shrugged with a sigh, "Now I just want to put my money in safe and secure hands; sure the returns may be little but at least they are steady."
"But that's the thing, this company is the safest bet you could make," Darrio urged passionately, "I guarantee that your goods would be a hundred per cent secure and will reach their destination without a single dent in less than half the usual time. You would be able to make three times more profit than before."
That's right, he was here to persuade Mario to invest and provide goods for a new shipping company, Jon's new company.
Bravoos was quite well known as being one of the wealthiest port cities in the known world with a naval strength that only a few like Volantis could rival, but there was one massive thorn in its side hindering it that even it couldn't easily get rid of... The Pirate Dens in Stepstones.
In and of themselves this small chain of rocky islands was worthless - however, almost all the major sea lanes between the narrow sea (the sea between Westeros and Essos) and the Summer Sea (the sea south of Dorne) have to pass through the straits between the Stepstones, making them strategically very important. All the sea trade to the east coast of Westeros and to five out of nine of the Free Cities has to pass through the Stepstones to reach the other major markets of the world.
It is said that the one who controls the stepstones can control half the world trade which makes it as heavily contested as the Disputed Lands. It has been vied by most of the free cities at one time or another but none have ever succeded in fully controlling them, at least not for long enough.
This power struggle created a gap for the low lives to thrive in this global crossroads; sailors, mercenaries, pirates, adventurers, and exiles from all across the known world could be found in the Stepstones. Even the Ironbron reavers have found the Stepstones to be good hunting grounds to seek their fortunes making this part of the sea as dangerous as it is profitable.
But of course, money always finds a way and the way that the Merchants here have found was to form a fleet.
Once every five to six months whenever the time was ripe and when they'd collected enough goods from their various sources, the richest merchants would pool together their resources to form a fleet and then hire many mercenaries and the mighty warships from Bravoos to be their bodyguards to sail through the Stepstones.
No matter how strong the greed of the pirates may be, they would never dare to confront a fleet of merchants protected by Bravoosi warships so the merchants are almost always able to get to their destinations safely. They will then sell and buy as much as they can in the cities on the other side of Stepstones... and make at least enough profit for them to come back again after a few months.
Of course, hiring the warship was absurdly costly which means that their profit margins were not as good as they should be for such an elaborate trip. But they had no other options as it was either this or choosing a few of those smaller fleets with daring(or reckless) captains to trust. But choosing them was the same as gambling as the chances of their goods reaching the destination were less than half as they would either end up at the bottom of the ocean or worse... wake up to find themselves being sold for a few coppers.
Jon had recognized this gap where there was a lot of easy money to be made and had decided long ago to open up shop here. But of course, the most important things for a shipping company weren't the ships or even captains but the customers, which was where Darrio came in... Jon ordered him to use the full might of his connection to find people and make them trust his new company with their good on his maiden trip.
"Yeah, Yeah, I know. I heard about that leaflet outside of your shop about your "Hundred Percent" guaranteed safety," Mario said with a scoff, "But every single captain always boasts about that... until they run afoul of pirates and then—then they run with their tales between their legs while throwing the cargo behind. And change their tune to, "Oh, but it's just business, and profit and loss always happen in businesses—" CHE!! I am telling you, the number of times I've heard this thing..."
"But you know me! You know who I am; who my uncle is. I am not some charlatan off the side of the road trying to scam you out of your money. I am telling you that I have complete confidence in this succeeding—"
"Oh, but that's the thing. I don't know what exactly makes you so confident." Mario suddenly said with his eyes narrowed, "Did you make some kind of a deal with some private who would allow you unhindered passage?"
Most of the smaller shipping companies survive this way; they choose the way of compromise by paying the pirates a hefty protection fee to secure a passage. But there was no assurance of guarantee of safety in this as the pirates weren't an organised bunch, you could pay one pirate group to leave and then immediately run into another one who wouldn't think twice to attack you. After all, they are pirates at the end of the day.
"Who is the one you made a deal with? Was it Salladhor Saan? But... then with his exorbitant prices, you wouldn't have been able to offer the shipping prices that you are offering. Then is it one of those other petty pirate kings?" When Darrio still shook his head Mario frowned trying very hard to think who it could be, "Then who is—Wait! Don't tell me?! It can't be the Crow's Eye, could it? Because everyone how mad and unpredictable that man is, you would be better off drowning your money in the ocean than making a deal with him."
"No! There was no deal made with Euron Grejoy. As for the secret behind my confidence..." Darrio shook his head silently signifying his desire to keep this a secret.
"Fine! Keep your secrets." Mario said with a sigh, "But then it would be tough for me to hand over..."
Darrio's eyes unconsciously went towards the position of the sun through the window and he started to become desperate. Jon had wanted the ships to set sail this very week and had given Darrio an ultimatum to fill every single one of the spots on his ships with cargo before then and... he didn't want to find out what would happen if he didn't.
"I... How about I guarantee with my uncle's name," Darrio forced out his ultimate trump card. The difference between his status and that of his uncle was very significant but it was just that... he didn't actually get the go-ahead from his uncle... but now that it had come to this he just had to bite the bullet and do it while leaving the consequences to his future self.
"Are you sure— No, I mean Deal! You got a deal, My friend, HAHA!" Mario immediately cut short his doubts and quickly accepted the deal with a wide smile. And as if afraid that Darrio would back out, he immediately had a servant bring him ink and parchment and quickly wrote down the contract, "My Friend, you just need to sign here to acknowledge what you just promised me..." Mario said while looking at Darrio with an expectant look.
For people like Mario money stopped being their highest priority, and only power could stimulate their emotions now. And this paper represented power; it was an opportunity to have the vulnerability of a member of the secret council in his hands. It didn't matter now if the ship sank with all of his good... in fact, he was even somewhat hoping for it now...
"Perfect! With this, I'll sleep worry-free." Mario said cheerfully while tucking the parchment in his pocket, "And don't worry, I'll support your company with all my might. In fact, I'll send my men right this evening to transport enough goods to fill up all your ships."
"Thank you," Darrio said with a forced smile. He stayed for a few more minutes there to hash out the rest of the details such as the exact price Mario would pay per crate of goods before leaving the barge with a list of all the goods.
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