Chapter 7: Chapter 1 - Part 6
With the Company's business finished and the contracts signed, Daliant wrote a check for nine hundred and sixty gold coins and collected the exact number of children, men, and women he had purchased. He spent the rest of the day buying two caravans, enough clothing for all the slaves, and tools for work. He ended up paying another seven hundred coins.
Once night had fallen, he rented two rooms in a famous inn in the city.
"My lord," Saud began the conversation as they dined suckling pig. "after watching you today, I wonder if you really need me by your side."
Daliant managed a smile.
"You have guided me through the entire network of streets and presented very good merchants. Of course I need you by my side."
"I do not deserve such words, but I will accept them with humility."
The old man took a good portion of meat to his mouth, which he savored for a minute.
"I must say that I had never seen a person as determined with his finances as you. Your pulse doesn't falter when it comes to making decisions involving hundreds of pieces of gold, you always remain calm... almost giving the impression that you are a seasoned merchant."
"I had to learn by force. Trading in Heresia during the campaign taught me some interesting tactics. At the end of the day, the battlefield is only a very small part of the war we wage. Most battles are fought with words and not with swords."
Saud laughed.
"Interesting, very interesting! I am sure you will become the greatest nobleman of this country, my lord."
"Oh, I'm sure I will."
That night, the earl slept peacefully. He got up late and after having breakfast, he went to one of the most modest districts of the capital, to end up entering a smithy that was hidden in a seedy alley. From the entrance, the sound of hammers working steel and the shouts of a foreman prevented his voice from being heard.
"Excuse me! I come to buy!" He screamed as loud as possible.
"What? Oh yeah, buy! Come here!" A large man, bathed in sweat and well into years led them to a small room away from the forges. Tell me, how can I help you?
"I need a dozen good steel swords. Five bows, lots of arrows, and a dozen of dwarf heavy armors. Also a battleaxe.
The man scratched his head.
"Dwarf armors are quite expensive right now. There is a lot of demand."
"Calculate the budget and tell me the price."
"Right away, sir."
After a couple of minutes, the man accessed from a side door, paper in hand.
"Three hundred gold. I've included half a dozen leather armor as a gift."
"Perfect, we have a deal."
Daliant extended his hand and received a handshake that reminded him of the ones the commander used to give during the war campaign.
It only remained to buy seeds, grain and other basic foods. The earl knew that the purchase was not going to be cheap, not after the miseries that the kingdom had experienced and the famines that were ravaging the southern lands. But if he did not want the same situation to occur in his territory, he would have to spend all the money that was necessary.
"Two hundred coins," the clerk said. "Although you have bought in such quantity, I am not going to make any discount. Business is bad enough already."
Daliant gave her a bag full of gold coins.
"Here are two hundred. I'll come to pay and pick up the order in a couple of hours."
The woman nodded.
"Very well. This is how I like clients: straight to the point and with payment in cash."
Organizing a tremendous number of slaves and transporting them to the place where the huge caravan was located was not going to be an easy task. The slave owner had had the detail of giving them a bath the day before, so he only had to distribute the new clothes and make sure that each and every one of them had perform the blood contract. The dwarves, clad in their new armors, kept to the fore and rear of the formation, which advanced toward the outskirts of the city. Twenty wagons, drawn by a good number of horses, moved slowly, as if it were a parade. Hundreds of people gathered in the streets and watched the convoy from a distance.
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