05.10 .274 Quart
The oldest and richest port city in the east of Essos, greeted us with an open port and open arms. Situated in a strategically important place - on the shore of the Jade Gate Strait, connecting the Summer and Jade Seas, it was the gateway connecting the East and the West. This city of great wealth and luxury, considered a wonder of the world in itself, promised me good profits and new acquaintances.
Oberyn was delighted. Having spent a whole month on a ship, in the company of stern men, for pestering whom they promised to shove his hands up his ass, he almost kissed the ground with joy. And when he saw the local women with beautiful skin, the color of fresh milk, dressed in silk and tiger fur and leaving one breast open, his roof, like most of my sailors, was blown away completely.
The next three days, the Prince of Dorne, in my not very resistant company, spent at the villa of one of the local aristocrats, a member of the Pureblood Council. I will only write that in bed, the Qarthian women stop being those arrogant, well-mannered and pampered snobs, turning into predators, not inferior in their lust to the Dornish women.
At least, that's what Oberyn said. The locals were delighted with the goods brought. The residents of Qarth, who love to flaunt their wealth, surround themselves with luxury and have lost their sense of moderation from birth, almost tore off all the skin and amber that I brought, paying five times more than expected. But this did not even compare to the excitement when short-cropped unicorns, more or less feeling good in the hot climate of Qarth, were hatched from the depths of the ships.
As a result, four of them were given free of charge to the four main factions of the city - the Council of Purebloods, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, the Spice Guild and the Thirty. So my descendants and I received the right to be guests of Qarth and its vassals until the end of time, to freely pass through the Jade Gates, paying the standard, not increased, duty, and to freely trade in Qarth without joining any of the guilds.
What can you do... the locals were too proud, greedy, and loved luxury and various curiosities. For them, for the sake of these animals, it cost nothing to issue a few pieces of paper (which could be easily cancelled) to a lone merchant who visited the city for the first time and brought such a unique product.
Surely in a month, half of the brought skins and amber would end up in the I-Ti empire, sold at a price much higher than mine. But never mind.
As my old merchant friend used to say, "A successful deal is when both parties feel they screwed each other." For the remaining six unicorns, all three ships were filled to the brim with spices, silks, ivory, gold, and precious stones.
By the most modest estimates, my first visit to Qarth ended in super profit – my ships had goods worth forty thousand dragons in their holds. A week later, my ships, with their sides completely scraped clean of all nastiness and new sails, were on their way to a new destination. Local Africa was waiting for me.
07.11 .274Pearl Palace, Kodj Island , Summer Islands.
The Summer Islands greeted me with tropical sun, emerald-green sea and hospitable islanders, who were more happy about the arrival of ships than their crews, who had spent almost a month at sea. The books in the Citadel were not lying at all. The locals turned out to be strong, tall and handsome people, with anthracite-colored skin like tar.
With black curly hair and such dark eyes, believing mainly in the goddess of love and fertility, whose name is unknown to anyone, the Letians received us as the most welcome guests. I even met and talked with the local ruler, a descendant of the great local discoverer Maltar Xak. We stayed here for a whole week, instead of the planned three days. Most of the sailors liked the hospitality of the local women and the opportunity to visit the local Temples of Love too much.
Oberyn was even thinking about staying here longer and living in one of the temples. But seeing how I calmly sharpened my axe and looked at them with a VERY telling look, most of them decided to return to the ships. Several local young men even asked to join us, having long wanted to see the world beyond the islands. As a result of the trade, half of the supplies of silk, spices and elephant tusks disappeared from the ships' holds.
But the emptiness was quickly filled with bags of multi-colored feathers, barrels of emerald wine, pearls and the skins of spotted panthers and red wolves bought from the locals. And the chest in my cabin was replenished with several more bags of gold. Now our path lay north. First to Oldtown, and then to Lannisport.
24.11 . 274Oldtown
I did not stay in the city for long. I only needed to send a message to Lannisport and pick up a few maps from one of the scholars in the Citadel.
On my instructions, for a few gold pieces, he found a copy of a very rare book, "Nine Voyages," describing the most important voyages of Corlys Velaryon, authored by Maester Mathis, and made several extracts and sketches. I desperately needed information about the northern coast of Essos and the culture and life of the peoples living to the east of Lorath.
Although a century and a half had passed since the death of the Sea Serpent, I doubt that the ethnic composition there had changed much. Oberyn wanted to stay in the city longer. According to him, there was a whore living there that he really liked, but I did not want to waste time. He promised that in Lannisport we would go together to the most elite brothel.
30.11 .274Lannisport
The City under the Rock has not changed much in these three years. The same high gray walls, the same wide streets, the same low stone houses with the thatched roofs typical of Westeros, the same people going about their daily business.
The only thing that was noticeable was the decrease in the number of ships in the port. According to rumors, the ironborn are becoming crowded on their islands, so they have begun to rob passing ships more and more often. And nothing can be done about it - the Golden Lion is far away in the capital, ruling the state instead of Aerys, and Quellon Greyjoy, despite his considerable authority, was a supporter of the New Law, which most of the islanders did not recognize and did not intend to follow.
So the three ships, filled to the brim with exotic goods, were met by local merchants almost with applause. Some of them were even bought by the Lannisters themselves (local, naturally), paying for everything in solid gold, enriching me by a good twenty thousand dragons. At such moments, I simply adored the local system of maritime trade, when merchants for generations used only one trade route, not risking sending outside their sphere.
The same spices, silks and ivory from Qarth are delivered here by repurchasing them first in Volantis, then in Pentos, King's Landing and only then delivered to Lannisport. Only because of this, the markup increases almost 5 times. And now it has quietly migrated into my pocket. At the end of the trip, my expenses on iron in Myr, which cost 3,000 silver deer, turned into a profit of 60,000 gold dragons.
Even with all the costs of customs, bribes, accommodation and sailors' salaries, the net profit was 4200% of the initial costs! I love medieval trade! Even Oberyn, when he saw the columns of figures in the ledger, quietly sank to the floor. According to him, in one cycle I received a profit equal to all the income of the Martell house for a year. The main thing is not to stop delighting the rich with new trinkets and such adventures will always end in success. So, having bought from the best city craftsmen, a week later I set off on my journey. Faraway Ibben awaits its guests.
12/17 .274Lorath
The poorest, most sparsely populated and backward of all the Free Cities, almost completely isolated from all the others, did not greet us very friendly. The current city leaders - the Prince of Harvest, the Prince of Fishermen and the Prince of Streets, have been pursuing a policy of tightening isolation from the rest of the world for several years.
The only thing that allowed my ships to calmly enter the port and begin unloading was a trade license acquired in Braavos and allowing free trade in Lorath and Pentos, which had been in almost vassal dependence on it for many years. But all these emotions instantly disappeared as soon as I saw the Labyrinth.
Created by unknown builders, the Labyrinths from hewn stone blocks, extended structures of amazing complexity, were the calling card of this city. If my memory serves me right, Loracion, the second largest island of the archipelago, is home to the largest labyrinth of all that currently exists, occupying the area of two Volantis.
With four underground levels, and a depth of almost 500 feet in some places, this monument to an ancient civilization has still excited the minds of learned men from all over the world. Unfortunately, my further plans to sail to Ibben had to be postponed.
According to local fishermen who often visit Morosh, the only colony of Lorat in the east, on business, an epidemic of white death broke out on the islands, and going there would be a big mistake.
My ships, if we survive the journey there, will be burned at the first port. So I had to change my plans and sell the jewelry bought in Lannisport and steel tools, such as harpoons, nets and many other things here, and not on Ibben, where there have always been big problems with metal. In the end, there was almost no profit - all the proceeds went to buying whale skin, ambergris, walrus tusks and other junk, actively obtained by local whalers.
17.12 . 274Braavos
This time the visit to this city was completely routine, without any special purpose. It was necessary to put those fifty-eight thousand gold, which had long been lying dead weight in the secret chest of my cabin, into the deep vaults of the Iron Bank. The remaining two thousand I left for everyday expenses, such as bribes to customs officers, officials and guards so that they would not jack up tariffs when entering the port, paying salaries to the crew, captains and navigators, and lastly - providing for all the whims of Oberyn.
Even on the Summer Islands, one of the Dornish merchants who then visited Koj, gave me a letter from Doran Martell, very politely " asking " me to look after his unbearable and stupid younger brother. He didn't promise any reward, but even an idiot can understand that for such requests in the future one could ask the Martells for a lot... and I even know what. In conclusion, the arsenal was inspected, where the foundation of the ship had already been laid and the hull had already appeared, gradually becoming covered with boards.
28 .12 .274Tyrosh
Tyrosh, a city of slavers, adventurers and lovers of dyeing their hair blue, I didn't like right away – I had never seen such a concentration of people who only thought about how to cut their neighbors for the sake of a purse hanging on their belt.
But Oberyn was delighted. As soon as we stepped ashore, he, in the company of some sailors and a crowd of northerners, rushed off towards the city center, shouting at the top of his lungs something like "blue-haired beauties, I'm running."
Looking for him in a place no smaller than Myr or King's Landing was a thankless and frankly useless task. He returned a few days later, when his money ran out. Having habitually sold the contents of the holds, which added a few more bags of gold to my reserves, I did what I had sailed to Tyrosh for – find a slave trader.
Tyroshi mercenaries and merchants can be found anywhere in the known world. Including beyond the Wall. Yes, yes, my dear diary, my next target was the beasts of the Wall - the famous direwolves, several times larger than their fellows, the twilight cats that ruled the snowy forests under the cover of night, and the polar bears, whose very appearance could scare the shit out of any seasoned warrior.
In the Free Cities, Slaver's Bay or the I-Ti Empire, they would be snatched up and asked for more. Right now, the most important thing for me was to find at least one of those crazy slavers sailing to those lands for live goods and having connections among the wildling tribes.