Last Words chapter 76 (Patreon)

Two hundred and fifty thousand. Exactly. I’d admittedly had to reinvest some of my proceeds in ice cream to top up a few times, but after a week of sales, I’d officially cleared out my entire original stock, plus refilled my shelves, and my profit had been JUST enough to get me back to a million dollars even.

More than that, the sales had spiked my sell skill by a whopping eight, proving once and for all that I got a lot more skill experience from making real world deals than I did selling directly to my power.

I’d also been spending quite a bit of time with the Brownies, grinding up my contract and fae bargain skills, and the results had been substantial, to say the least.

Speaker - Tin Rank. Verbosity: 66/100

Skills: 

Fae Bargain- Level 13: barter for services with the Fae.

Purchase- Level 14: Pay a commensurate amount of money for things of value.

Sell- Level 20: Exchange goods for currency.

Contract- Level 19: Form an agreement with another party, involving compensation for a specific task.

Perks: 

Tier 1 Contract perk-Empathic read: Discern the basic emotions and intentions of the target of a negotiation.

Tier 1 Mana Body Perk-Mana touched: Double mana regeneration.

Tier 1 Sell Perk- Analysis: obtain basic information about potential purchase items once spotted

Tier 1 Purchase Perk-Treasure sense: feel an instinctive tug toward valuable materials.

Tier 1 Fae Bargain Perk- Friend of the Fae. Decreased mana cost for summoning, increased contract favorability. 

Unaffiliated Skills: Beginner Mana Body- Level 17: A body imbued with a wisp of mana, minorly increased strength, speed, and endurance. Natural mana generation.

Mana: 8.2/8.2

Funds: $1,000,000

It was fantastic progress, I was growing like crazy as a speaker…but I wasn’t growing at ALL as a mage, and it was a problem. I didn’t have time to invest in training, and as nice as the money was, it wasn’t ENOUGH. Not long term. I needed more, needed to push further. Which was why I was currently at Esther’s meeting with Ridley to talk with the Silent Pond.

Sure enough, I found him at the counter, devouring some of Esther’s stew, and when I sat down, he didn’t even bother to look up from his feasting when he spoke to me. “Gus,” he mumbled through a full mouth. “Good to see you.”

“You too,” I nodded to him in amusement. “Good to see you haven’t lost your appetite.”

He finished the bowl with a loud satisfied belch, then pushed it away and finally looked my way. “Enjoying your food is the best compliment you can pay a chef. You should try it sometime. Bet Esther would appreciate it.”

“Esther appreciates when you keep your meal in your MOUTH,” the innkeeper scolded him as she swiped the bowl and then wiped down the counter. “But I appreciate you thinking of me.”

I grinned at her, tapping the counter to order my own bowl of stew. Esther had been working the shop for a while to help me bring in customers, but once word got around she wasn’t needed anymore she’d swapped out for Bran, who was surprisingly good at upselling customers. All in all, we’d gotten him trained up enough that I wasn’t needed to man the store and was free to come up for this meeting.

“So, what did you need,” Ridley asked with a yawn as he leaned back on his stool. “I’ve been a bit busy. If I didn’t owe you I wouldn’t have bothered making time for this.”

“Bullshit,” I said wryly. “You made time because your group wants a piece of my new business venture.” He didn’t bother pretending to be ashamed, just shrugged. “You’re in luck, though, because that’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Investment? I wouldn’t think you would need it.”

“I don’t,” I admitted. “But that’s not what I meant. I’m more talking about connections. Market share. Derkholme is…small. Even with the Lord deciding not to interfere, I can only make so much here. I need more. A bigger stage.”

He frowned at that. “That’s not an easy request,” he said flatly. “Derkholme is small, not much here. We helped you get your current foothold, but beyond that, you were able to slip in so seamlessly because there wasn’t much in the way of competition. Especially in your chosen field. Luxury goods weren’t a profitable market in a town this small, so there was no profit in establishing a base. That won’t be the case elsewhere. Established forces won’t take kindly to the intrusion.”

“But it’s an intrusion you can facilitate,” I stated bluntly. “If I’m willing to take that risk. So if you had to pick a place, knowing all that, where would it be?”

He sighed, rubbing his chin. I took a bite of the bowl of stew that had just been dropped off. It was hot and delicious, of course. Ridley grimaced. “Drexel Bay,” he said eventually. “Nasty place, lots of conflict, but the constant influx of ships and merchants means no one has ever managed to get their hooks in TOO deep. There are established protocols for interlopers, and as long as you don’t push it too far, you could operate in moderate safety.”

“Drexel Bay,” I sounded the name out slowly. “Sounds…piratey. I’m guessing there are quite a few pirates?”

“Privateers,” he corrected. “They don’t much like the other word. Get you stabbed if you use it too much. But yes, there are quite a few privateers. That and…other things. Drexel Bay is on the ocean, and the mana density in the water isn’t as stable as it is on land. The tides swirl magic like the most terrible storms, and the results are…unpredictable. Strange things lurk in the water, coming ashore with sea mist when the tide rolls in just right.”

I groaned. “Haunted pirate haven,” I said grimly. “Because that’s what I need. You sure this is the place I should go?”

“Yes,” he said immediately. “You aren’t strong enough to stand up to any of the major power players. If you try to move into a city under proper dominion, you’ll be dead within a month of arrival.”

“So, Drexel Bay,” I sighed. “How do I get a foot in? I’m guessing I can’t just show up?”

He snorted. “Gods no. You can GO anytime you want, but they  won’t give you an inch. Just because they have rules for dealing with interlopers doesn’t mean they make it easy. That place is a snake pit. Their bureaucracy has bureaucracy. You’d think pirates would be against paperwork, but surprisingly the ones in charge down there love it. They’ll bury you in forms before burying you at sea. Though they will ALSO do that if you step out of line.”

“I take it you have an in there I could take advantage of?” I asked with amusement. He wouldn’t have suggested it just to shut me down.

That got a shrug. “I have a cousin who works on the waterfront. Owns a little shop. It’s nothing impressive, but it's his free and clear. To be clear, this isn’t a favor. Not for you. If anything, you’d be doing me one. Chester’s place isn’t doing so well and he’s been getting some pressure from his neighbors to sell. He needs the money, and the support. You and your people can take care of yourselves, and maybe take care of him too.”

If there was one thing I appreciated about Ridley it was his completely lack of subtlety. For a guy who worked for an organization with a name like ‘The Silent Pond’, he was surprisingly loud and straightforward.

It was nice that he didn’t bother to prevaricate about what he wanted. Still, I felt the need to ask. “So this is your arrangement, not the Pond’s?”

He nodded. “Yeah, this is all me. The Pond has a branch up there, and they COULD help you, but if they did it would be like I said, an investment. This is more like subletting. You’ll pay a bit up front and keep an eye on my cousin, and in exchange you essentially own the space for the duration of your stay. No overhead.”

Which was appealing, not least because I had zero interest in an investor looking over my shoulder monitoring my nonexistent supply lines. “I won’t commit to anything up front,” I warned him. “But…I’ll meet with your cousin. Assuming that’s possible. How far away is Drexel Bay. I can’t leave the shop here unattended for too long. Is it close enough for me to be able to get back in a reasonable time frame?”

My door home was here, as was my camp and the compound my friends had been building, not to mention my house. I needed a rough estimate on distance before I could commit to anything too extensive in terms of traveling.

Of course, if I could GET that estimate…well, there was a lot of benefits to moving to a major trade hub. Drexel Bay sounded like a classic pirate port, and the influx of goods on a daily basis would be substantial. I’d have a steady supply of new goods from this world to learn about, and just like I was running the drugstore here, I could use that to open a shop back home. I could think of plenty of people who might want to buy.

“A day by Korai,” he shrugged. “Maybe two if you stop for breaks.”

I’d gotten a decent handle on Korai speeds talking to Bran during my stable mucking days. The carnivorous animals were FAST, clocking in at about fifty miles per hour, a bit less than twice as fast as a normal horse. They also tired a lot slower. If I assumed he was taking into account feeding times for the Korai I was looking at maybe a thousand miles.

That wasn’t a short distance, but I had some advantages that most people didn’t. I didn’t need to use Korai, I could use a car. Or a motorcycle maybe if needed. And with no traffic or anything I could make the trip straight through. I was looking at a ten or twelve hour drive maybe. Not fun but not impossible. Hell, if I picked the right car I could cut it down even further. It was a feasible enough idea that I was willing to take the meeting at least.

“I’ll meet with him,” I said after a minute of reflection. “But I’ll need a letter of introduction or something. I’m not waiting for a courier to make the trip, especially since I KNOW you don’t have the money to hire one direct.” Couriers between cities weren’t exactly rolling in money. Between the dangers out on the road (wild animals) and the lack of business, most of them just tagged along with shipping convoys. I didn’t know when the next convoy out was, but I was guessing it wasn’t tomorrow, which is when I’d probably leave.

He snorted. “I can write a letter,” he said dryly. “I’ll give you something to take him to prove you came from me. Just…be patient with him? He’s had a hard time of it lately, and I don’t foresee him being thrilled about needing a stranger to bail him out.”

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Fantastic, just what I need, going into business with someone who resents me. You make it sound like a party.” But I didn’t argue with him. I knew I’d got anyway. Partly because of the opportunity for new goods, but mostly because as soon as he mentioned Drexel Bay I’d thought of something I hadn’t considered before. With my Friend of the Fae perk, I had expanded my summoning capabilities, and there were a whole lot of fae who operated in the ocean. I couldn’t wait to see what kind of new bargains I could make once I got to the seashore.