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Erntezeit-20-2493
"Let's see… what's this? Looks like… the first of the dawi ships has reached Marienburg. Apparently they had one ready for delivery and decided to send it right away. And I have to pay… damn, half a million crowns for the vessel," I said, staring at the price of one of the ships I had ordered. I had commissioned three.
"What do you even want ships for? I thought it was the Emperor who spent his income defending the ports. Spending extra gold on defense seems rather unnecessary," Katarin remarked as she helped me review some permits.
"Being a trade middleman is lucrative, yes, but it's far better to be an active participant. Using my privileged position as the Empire's trade port I can acquire goods at prices no one else can and easily turn that difference into coin in my coffers. I need ships moving from Marienburg to the city-states and to be the one selling there. One must take advantage of the peace we have before dealing with the dawi, because that battle will be difficult," I replied, signing purchase orders for Tilea. They wanted to load several ships with cattle—apparently they were preparing for a banquet and did not want to slaughter their own herds for the festivity.
"I see… by the way," Katarin said, showing me one of the reports from the dwarven order concerning the trains. "The first shipments of furs have arrived, as you asked. They're being sold at almost a giveaway price… we're paying our debt."
"Leave the Kislev permits here. I'll review those myself. I don't want to find out you've accepted any unilateral privilege for Kislevite merchants," I told her, while continuing to sign reports and permits that interested me.
"Hmm… interesting," murmured Katarin, leafing through one of the documents in front of us.
"What's interesting?" I asked without looking up from the papers, focused on finishing that tedious work as quickly as possible.
"Apparently a merchant from some settlement in Lustria, after several failed attempts, managed to reach port a couple of days ago. His ships are badly damaged and currently in a shipyard for repairs. It seems he brought many things and wants to offer them to you first," she said, standing and placing the paper in front of me.
"Lustria…? Rare indeed are the voyages that make it back from there in one piece. At best they pass through Ulthuan, but Lustria… that must have been an interesting voyage. He probably brings something plundered from those lands. It's said there are massive temples full of gold… surely he has something curious," I answered, shrugging. "Tell one of the guards to bring him. It will be interesting to see what he offers, so long as it isn't dangerous."
Katarin left the office to alert the guards while I sped up my work. I had reached the point where only warehouse rental contracts and trade permits in the city remained to be signed.
At last Katarin returned, and we remained in complete silence, finishing the mountain of paperwork that had piled up. The volume was enormous, fruit of all the time I had neglected my administration and left it running on autopilot under my counselors.
Finally, they brought in the merchant from Lustria. He turned out to be an Imperial from one of the colonies established on that continent. He wore the typical broad-brimmed hat, now adorned with brightly colored furs: reptilian scales, judging by their texture and sheen.
"Blessings of Sigmar, my good lord. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for granting me some of your most valuable time," said the merchant, doffing his hat with an exaggerated flourish, practically overflowing with confidence.
"Blessings of Sigmar. I hear you've brought goods from a voyage to Lustria… I suppose it must have been a hard one," I answered in a neutral tone, looking him straight in the eyes.
"It seems our lord Sigmar was merciful to this humble servant, my lord. Save for a storm that nearly tore down the mast, I can say it was a quiet voyage: no pirates, no sea monsters. Clearly we were blessed by His grace," he replied as his assistants moved to open several crates.
I remained seated, observing. I felt the call of Chamon in those wares: an intense accumulation of gold.
"The finest adventurers of our illustrious city managed to defeat the two-footed lizards in Lustria and seize one of their temples. We thought that, given your illustrious title, you might be interested in such extraordinary objects," he said as he showed me statuettes of the lizardmen, carved in gold and inlaid with rubies or emeralds.
One glance with my magic was enough to see that gold had been smelted recently, no more than a year ago. Forgeries, crafted to deceive some credulous noble into believing he was buying ancient relics.
I shook my head as he displayed more statues, until finally I found something that truly seemed authentic. I felt it old, at least a century in age. Enough to rule out a human hand in its creation or a recent forgery.
It was a helm of gold and bronze, clearly belonging to a lizard warrior. It bore no magical energy, so it must have been merely decorative, perhaps a war trophy or the ornament of a temple guardian who had fallen in its defense.
"Meh… don't you have anything more interesting? So far it's only gold. I could ask an honorable dawi to forge me pieces just the same, and he'd make them with much better quality," I said coldly, while the merchant opened another crate, growing more nervous as he saw nothing capture my interest.
"Well… I have some reptile skins, but not much else. If you'd like spices… I have cacao, my lord, if that interests you," said the merchant, rummaging through what little remained of his possessions.
"How long did your voyage take?" I asked with interest.
"Two months, my lord," the merchant answered.
"Two months… those cacao seeds must be well dead by now. So then, how much did you bring? At the very least it will serve as something interesting to eat," I said, trying to diminish the value of what must have been a very costly product.
"We have a large quantity. An entire ship loaded with this product. Name your amount and we'll sell it to you," said the merchant.
"Fine… I want it. One ton of those cacao beans," I replied seriously.
"Well, that would be…" The merchant pulled out his abacus and began shifting the pieces. "Fifteen thousand crowns, my lord," he announced once his calculation was complete.
"Have the luxury tax deducted, and the difference will be paid. Move that cargo quickly to my warehouse," I ordered.
The merchant nodded, satisfied, and hurried out of the Marienburg palace.
"So you weren't interested in any of those strange artifacts from Lustria. Even my father would have bought one or two just to decorate and flaunt foreign influence," said Katarin, eyeing me with a mix of curiosity and reproach.
"They were forgeries, most of them. Perhaps he wouldn't have known, but I could feel it. That gold had been smelted recently, with mediocre techniques full of impurities. The helm was the only authentic piece, and it was obvious it had been crafted with magic—too perfect. But tell me, Kat… do you think a mage of Chamon will get excited about a gold statue when he can do this?" I showed her a lead bullet and slowly transformed it into gold, the shining metal replacing the dull gray beneath my fingers.
"Yes, but that's temporary… and impossible to tell apart for anyone who isn't a mage of Chamon," she replied, watching the bullet with interest.
"Yes, temporary. Well… we need to go to the capital. I'm going to hire some mages, because now I need them more than ever," I said, closing the mountain of papers I had finally finished.
"Do you have something in mind for the cacao? Because clearly that was the only thing that caught your attention," said Katarin, lifting her ice staff.
"Of course. A mage of Ghyran could try to bring some of the cacao beans back to life and make them sprout. All we'd need is to adapt a greenhouse to the right temperature, humidity, and soil. With that, we could produce something very delicious… and, most importantly," I added, stepping closer to Katarin and taking her hands, "we'd count on your valuable skill to freeze things."
Katarin sighed heavily. "Once again you'll have me lowering temperatures… My magic isn't for that, Albrecht. Remember you had me chilling your laboratory for two days when you made nitroglycerin."
"Oh, come now, my beautiful ice princess. You have one of the greatest talents of magic, just below Chamon and Ghyran… well, perhaps Hysh too. But you're among the most important," I said as I held her hand and guided her toward the train.
"And what do I have to do?" asked Katarin, quickening her pace to keep up with mine.
"Nothing extraordinary. Grind the beans, mix them with a little cow's milk and sugar, heat them gently until they become a cacao paste, shape it, and then… that's where you come in, to cool it and make it perfect in the molds." I turned toward her, lifting her chin gently to meet her eyes. "So you're very important… for making coins, of course. We'll be able to sell this for a fortune."
Katarin fell silent, clinging to my arm as we walked quickly toward the train station. We loaded part of the cacao, enough to experiment with, because I had another objective in mind: to speak with several magisters of the Colleges of Magic. I wanted to recruit the younger ones for a very specific project. Likely I would have to found my own college, a valid excuse to gather mages of different lores in my city.
I feared neither witch-hunters nor the mages themselves. With my knowledge of biology, chemistry, and physics, combined with magic, I could achieve things no one else in the Empire had ever imagined.
Ghryan could be used for plants… though, of course, they had to be kept properly nourished. Otherwise, accelerating their growth too much or altering their properties excessively could result in crops that were tasteless or of little nutritional value.
But, truthfully, that wasn't my main priority. The real reason I wanted to go to the capital was to recruit young mages—those who already controlled their magic but were still learning spells. That was the ideal moment to take them and shape them into something useful, away from the dogmas of the Colleges.
Especially those of Light. Integrating them into my forces, particularly among the newest recruits, was vital. Having a considerable number of battle mages dedicated to specific roles could mean the difference between victory and defeat. Jade, Light, even the Grey… every lore had its place.
And if I had to spend the entire loan I had taken on establishing the conditions to found a college of battle mages in Reinsfeld, I would do so without hesitation.
Obviously, I wasn't naïve enough to think the Colleges would simply hand over their apprentices. I'd have to negotiate with magisters, convince some of those lores… and for that, I needed to offer them something they desired but could not obtain: materials and conditions forbidden or restricted by the Cult of Sigmar.
I could produce valuable dyes and chemical compounds—elements and reagents useful for enchantments—thanks to the processes I was developing with the dawi. If I supplied those alchemical materials in great quantities, I could ask in return for periodic shipments of young mages. In exchange, I'd provide them with everything they needed for their experiments: infrastructure, raw materials, safe facilities, and relative freedom to research.
While traveling with Katarin toward Altdorf, I was already preparing and writing down the necessary formulas for large-scale production: Reikland Blue pigments, special dyes, and other compounds I had been modifying with the help of the dawi. With those resources in hand, I would at least ensure they heard me out.
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
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