Current Wealth: 196 gold 19 silver 32 copper
“You’re aware I do not usually deal with people like this.” Wilskasai noted, sipping from a glass of wine. He didn’t offer me one. Prick. “I am, you see, rather a busy man, and frankly I accept a scarce few of the numerous offers thrown my way.”
I believed exactly half of that, but letting him know would only piss the old bastard off, so I stuck to my dull smile instead.
“Well, I believe you will find this one of particular note, my Lord. My brothers and I have recently mastered the ability to convert barely-processed iron into true steel in large quantities. Magic, of course, but a uniquely un-strenuous kind. I’m afraid our efforts to teach other magi have yielded little fruit, but…Well, we can still benefit others with just the ability known to ourselves.”
His eyes couldn’t have lit up more brightly if someone had put a torch behind each one. Greed tended to do that to men, and particularly it tended to do that to the men who already had the most. Lucky then that they were the ones I usually ended up most incentivised to manipulate.
“And you are choosing to share this with me.” He noted. “Why?”
Not the sort of question a man asked without reason, and I was perhaps the best person in the world to detect this one. Paranoia.
Solitaire talked sometimes about how he could smell people’s emotions. I didn’t think he was being literal, more likely it was just the best approximation for some empathic intuition he felt. More instinctive than deductive, more robust than precise. I couldn’t do that. All my knowledge of others came from hard work and observation, which was why I paid particular attention to all the tiny ways in which Wilskasai’s face twitched itself away from the norm I’d come to see in it.
“Because, frankly, you seemed the best option.” I replied, carefully gauging his reaction. “Even putting aside your monopoly over the mines- which was no small factor- there’s your relation with Lord Byror. He has no small amount of animosity towards me, and though he has yet to move against me overtly, or give me cause to suspect that he will in the future, I don’t think my innovations would be well received by either him or any of his allies. You, though, stand apart from them all.”
It wasn’t flattery, but it was flattering. That was the best way to stroke a clever person’s ego- so subtly that it seemed almost accidental.
Wilskasai had clearly been given a lot to chew on, and he did the smart thing of taking his time. I waited patiently, and without giving any indication that I was waiting at all. Finally, I got an answer.
“What sort of proposal would you be making?” He asked.
Really, it wasn’t the sort of response he should’ve needed any time to consider in the first place. I didn’t let that coax my guard down, though. Some clever people were slower than others, that didn’t mean their judgements were less sound. Just more careful.
Intelligence 6.
Wilskasai was smart, much smarter than most. I’d be an idiot if I wasn’t extremely careful in how I handled him.
“You provide us with the iron for free.” I suggested. “And in exchange, you receive half of the profits we make by selling the steel it turns into. Assuming a twenty percent loss in material, that would be…What, five times your investment with each delivery of material? Seven?”
He eyed me at that, studious, thoughtful.
“Two thousand pounds worth of iron.” He began. “Would be equivalent to around twenty silver pieces. You’d offer to turn that into over two gold?”
“Two gold, just for you.” I promised. “And we can process quite a bit more than just that. Give us ten thousand pounds if you want, and we’ll be making you twenty gold a day.”
It was a very near thing, but I kept myself from adding how that would likely triple his current profits. Either he’d worked it out already, which meant it would impress, or he hadn’t. If he hadn’t, and was in the process, doing it quicker would only irritate him. This was the worst stage possible to do something as stupid as irritate him.
He already looked too torn on the offer for my liking.
“Did you know that Lord Byror had already requested a meeting for me before you?” He asked suddenly.
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I hadn’t, and I didn’t like where this was going at all.
“No my Lord.” I replied, hiding my apprehension. He didn’t seem to be in the sort of mood for noticing it, either way, fingers suddenly drumming.
“Indeed, I was surprised myself. He told me about you, quite a bit about you. And in particular, he stressed how…Disadvantageous he would find your growing influence among the nobility.”
My heart sank as Wilskasai continued.
“Double whatever you offer, that was what he promised. Lord Byror is an individually wealthy man, and the coalition he and his peers have formed…Collectively, they control most of this entire city’s money. I do not doubt for one moment that they can make good on their promise to purchase my iron for double the returns you are offering.”
Well, there was Capitalism for you. Once a ladder was scaled it wasn’t hard at all to kick it down and keep others from following. Byror had more money than me, probably by a factor of many hundreds of times. Perhaps thousands. If he felt his interests were best served by buying tonnes of iron at a loss, then he could just go ahead and do it.
That was a problem for me, but only if Wilskasai remained confident he stood to gain from Byror doing so. If his offer wasn’t believed by the man receiving it, then its validity wasn’t relevant in the slightest. Truth was no match for deception. This was why we lied.
I let him see surprise, first, then just a slight whiff of confusion. Then, once I was sure he’d taken both in and started considering them, I finally spoke.
“I see. Forgive me, my Lord, but do you believe they are so wealthy as to match our combined potential?”
Wilskasai clearly didn’t get the implication all at once, and as I’d suspected he was the sort to get irritated when he thought someone else was holding more cards.
“Explain.” He demanded, sharply.
I explained. It was promising to see him hooked so quickly, but still not a guarantee, and so every word left my lips with the utmost care.
“Two golds a day is a handsome sum, to start with, but my brothers and I are still developing our powers. We will one day be managing double, we might one day be managing many times that. How long do you think Byror will be able to challenge that sort of profit with nothing but stored wealth and income? Perhaps weeks, maybe even months if he’s willing to liquidate some of what he already owns, but eventually his wealth will dry out.”
Wilskasai was thinking, I could see that much. Step one complete.
“You’re selling me an alliance, at the cost of angering the most powerful people in Elswick, all on the promise of some unrealised potential?”
“Yes.” I told him, figuring that flat honesty would go the farthest here. “It’s a risk from your perspective, but I doubt you reached your current position without taking risks.”
Clearly my guess had been correct, and that was the way to approach things. Wislkasai looked moved, but he still took his time in consideration. Every moment that passed left me closer to a fucking freak-out than the one before.
I hadn’t banked on Byror poisoning the well for us, and that threw everything into question. It wasn’t easy to make a promise capable of matching tangible offers of the sort he could throw around. I just had to hope my assessments had been right, and that Wilskasai really was as greedy as I’d guessed.
Eventually, I got my answer.
“I’ll give you the first load to haul back to your mansion with you, if I don’t get my two gold by tomorrow then we’re never dealing with each other again, and I’ll deny ever having so much as agreed to give you a chance. Is that clear?”
I relaxed, but only barely.
“It is, my Lord. Thank you.” It was a struggle to keep my expression or voice from twisting to match the awful tension still eating me alive from the inside-out.
“Good. Now begone, and let my servants lead you out through the back entrance. We never met, and this agreement was never formed, understood?”
“Understood.” I nodded again, hastily. I made a show of leaving in a hurry, as if intimidated by the old bastard, and it wasn’t until we were already in a carriage with the pile of iron that I finally spoke to Phelia.
“That went…Well.” I began. It was hard to even say that much, every word left me somehow convinced that the entire thing would crash down around me as I said it. Phelia, though, smiled.
“It went perfectly.” She breathed. “Beyond perfectly, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
I’d just like to say that having a gorgeous woman stare at me the way she did while saying that did not have the effect on me that it would have had on a lesser man.
That’s a damn lie, obviously, but it feels good to at least keep up the pretences.
“Thank you.” I replied, about as intelligently as ever.
“This…This changes everything.” She continued, barely even seeming to hear me. “Everything. This is serious income, sustainable, p…Permanent, even.”
I could see the gears turning, and watched as Phelia slowly ran through each one of the realisations I myself already had. She really was clever.
“What can we use this income for?” I asked at last. She considered it.
“Well, you’re recruiting, aren’t you?”
We were, but that was something we’d already had the funds to do more of. The fundamental issue was that Byror could still out-bid us, and that meant anyone we hired was suspect as a traitor. Unless…I grinned.
“Solitaire’s new weaponry should make it a bit easier to instil loyalty.” I observed. People were far less likely to betray people who owned the world’s only cannons, I imagined. We’d done a lot today. A lot.
It was a whim, really, that had me pulling up my Appraisal once more. I hadn’t expected to see anything.
[Appraisal]
- Class: Emperor
- Level: 15
- Condition: Fine
- Modifiers: +6 Toughness, +4 Strength, +4 Speed, +2 Alertness
- Statistics: Strength 10, Speed 10, Dexterity 6, Stamina 5, Toughness 10, Alertness 10, Charisma 9, Intelligence 9
- Inventory: Local wear, plate armour, repeater, shortspear
- Class abilities: Appraisal II
- Current Experience Points: 173/500
- Unspent Skillpoints: 2
Well shit.