- So, Lord Atrakes. I have fulfilled my part of the deal. All that remains is to show the goods at the general fair and play out a performance from the triarch's side.
- I said, sipping Balerion's wine - a delicate yellowish wine produced only on the Orange Coast, a winery famous throughout Volantis and named after the main god in the Valyrian pantheon, and getting high from three exotic beauties who were naked massaging my shoulders, which had become stone during the voyage.
Not far away, literally behind the next door, for half an hour now I could hear squeals, screams and the slaps of several bodies intertwined in ecstasy. The Prince of Dorne got his hands on something sweet. We were on one of the oldest streets of the city, where my patron's establishment was located.
The brothel "Beauty of Valyria" was one of the three elite and expensive pillow houses of Volantis, whose fame raged for years in the vastness of all the ports of Westeros and Essos. According to the stories of the old town sailors, this large marble house contains hundreds of beauties, whose appearance and skills are not inferior to the mistresses of Aegon IV "Unworthy" Targaryen himself, whose tastes have been considered the standard of beauty among women for a century and a half.
Three floors of the most skilled mistresses of Southern Essos, for one night with whom you need to pay full gold ... Still, brothels are a very profitable business.
- You have fully justified my trust, Master Felix. Frankly, I did not expect that you would be able to do this . Many smugglers swore by all the gods they knew that they would get me such a rare beast, but they simply did not return. And you not only returned alive and well, but also brought back such an interesting specimen.What did you sacrifice for this? I hope not your own ass ?– My interlocutor, whose body shape was more reminiscent of one big lump of fat than a man, laughed merrily at his simple joke, supported by all the priestesses of love present and me.
I understood perfectly well that no matter how stupid the intelligent one looked lying on the sofa in front of me, he should not be underestimated.
"And even more so to anger." – I thought, fighting off another attempt by one of the local prostitutes to climb into my pants. Too early. The negotiations were not over yet. I had accidentally met Atrakes Belroy, one of the richest businessmen in Volantis and a close friend and assistant of the triarch Alcaro Levak, in Oldtown a year ago.
Even then, I was known in the harbor as a person who knew most of the dialects of the Valyrian language and spoke them fluently. Belroy himself, who had come to the city in person on his own trade business, found himself in a difficult situation - his translator from Valyrian to Andalos got drunk the day before the negotiations and choked on his own vomit in the city ditch.
Translators are rare and very expensive in this world. Yes, most Westerosi nobles study Valyrian as a local Latin - the language of noble and intelligent nobles, and many Esso merchants study Andalos to conduct business in the Sunset Kingdoms, but there is always one big BUT.
You can't ask the former - they will take it as an insult and challenge you to a duel to the death, and the latter... what kind of merchant would invite competitors to his deal as an intermediary? Only a complete idiot. So I was the only person who could somehow help in that situation.
Alkaro negotiated with the Old Town Merchants' Guild to supply the local brothels with a batch of slaves from Yunkai. Actually, slavery is prohibited in Westeros, but in fact... legally, most peasants do not differ in their rights from slaves, except that they cannot be beaten and killed just like that.
And as for the slave prostitutes from Yunkai... what are the prospects for girls who, from a young age, have been taught only the "way of seven sighs and sixteen positions of pleasure", do not know the local language and do not know how to do anything else. The answer is simple - none. By law, they are free people, but in fact they are still slaves.
"Thank all the gods that there are few like them," I thought, remembering the dull eyes of that fourteen-year-old girl who spent almost the entire negotiations looking at the floor and afraid to even move once more.
- "Still, each such slave cost almost forty dragons, and this is too much money for a worker of this profession, who in Westeros receives a maximum of 5-6 silver coins at a time."
The negotiations were successful and I even managed to hint to Alkaro that the Guild tried to deceive him by inflating the existing "pillow tax" or the ownership of prostitutes. For which they later paid dearly, losing half of their branches in southern Essos. They underestimated this man with the fourth degree of obesity, short platinum hair and violet beady eyes.
The very unusual combination of Valyrian natural beauty and the body of a fat boar created a very strange picture to perceive, subconsciously underestimating the intellectual abilities of the merchant in the eyes of the interlocutor. For my help, I was thanked with 15 gold Valars and several future orders for the help of a translator from visiting Volantenes, who replenished the number of my useful acquaintances.
Only thanks to his patronage and connections did my idea become possible. Logically, I could have gotten rich even without this adventure. Statistics are as follows - in Westeros for every 100 peasants there is only one land merchant. And only for 100 such merchants there is at least one sea merchant. The sea is too inconsistent, ships and the provision of their crews are expensive, distant lands are dangerous and frightening, and good navigators capable of guiding ships in the dangerous waters of the Narrow and Jade Seas are rare.
But Alkaro's patronage will give me access to the markets of almost all of southern Essos. So I will gain the required state much faster, although I will have to give some part to Belroy.
-Unfortunately, no, sir . – I said, pretending to be sad and taking another sip of wine.
– My ass is too muscular for them. They were afraid that I would crush their dick in the middle of the trial .
– Uha-ha-ha-ha-ha… – The laughter that followed, and it was hard to call it laughter, clearly showed everyone present that the joke had gone down a treat.
After all, in this world, at least some semblance of etiquette has only appeared among the Westerosi lords, and even then it is observed only by the most well-mannered nobles and their ladies. In the Free Cities, where the majority of yesterday's uneducated and dirty poor people today already own untold wealth, it is difficult to count on any kind of cultured behavior.
So even in high society, port jokes will be accepted with open arms, with a hearty laugh and no offense. After a good laugh and another glass of wine,
Alkaro finally returned to our conversation: - How you managed to get this beast is none of my business. The main thing is to fulfill the rest of the deal. According to you, you can make this monster the talk of the town in a week .
- He said, immediately returning to his serious mood and staring at me with his most serious gaze. Almost got through to me.
- Initially, I did not believe that you would keep at least the first part of your promise, but so far you have not given me a reason to be disappointed in you. Your final reward depends on the furor caused by the transfer of the beast to the triarch. In the best case, I will reward you with gold equal to your weight, adding the market price of the monster on top. But ... if nothing works out , you will lose everything. Including your life.
With his last words, all the false impression of him as a cute and harmless bun disappeared at once. In front of me sat the right hand of one of the strongest elephants of Volantis, who had been sitting in the place of the triarch for 5 years already, and was considered the richest man in this city. Waving his hand, not letting me say a word, he, leaning on the approaching slaves, left, leaving the last word to himself.
"A terrible man," I thought, leaning back on the back of the sofa. No matter how many "big uncles" I met and talked to in my past life, there will always be someone who can make a herd of goosebumps run down my spine with just one look.
- "I need to relax. After all, I deserve a rest." With signs, calling the nearest priestesses of love with an admixture of Valyrian blood that I liked, I went to the designated room. In two lives I had many women, but white-haired and purple-eyed ... Never. I need to make up for lost time.
The main thing is to take the necessary medicine later. No matter how much the owner of the establishment swears by the purity of his girls, I really don't want to acquire a bunch of venereal diseases at sixteen.