Chapter 214 – Silver Token
The now exhausted-looking chief focused her attention back on me.
“How much are you selling these for?”
This was a good question. The price of fish in Alfiro was five times that of Ekidos. It might seem a lot, but it made sense considering the travel time and effort. However, it was all fish that had preservation cast to it and weren’t fresh anymore. I planned to sell mine two times more, meaning 3.5 silvers a kilogram, which I just needed to round to get a nice number.
“Five silvers per kilogram.”
No matter how high I charged, I didn’t expect to generate large profits with this. At most, I could run this operation once a week, which wouldn’t truly be worth it in the grand scheme of things. The whole point was the right to open a store here. Once it was given, they wouldn’t take it back from me unless something exceptional happened, like a change of policies or if I made a big mistake. Possessing a shop was completely different from running around selling goods and would mark the beginning of my trading empire.
The reaction of the crowd around me was once again explosive.
“This is theft!”
“You can’t be selling at that price!”
“I can get some time with a man at the brothel with that money!”
I let everything pass before smiling brilliantly.
“You don’t need to buy if you don’t want to.”
That silenced everyone, but only for a short moment.
“It’s expensive but… fresh fish.”
“Five silvers isn’t that bad, right?”
“I’ve always wanted to try it.”
Only Zhuri didn’t say anything, taking out a gold coin from her pocket and trying to sneak a large purchase while everybody else was hesitating.
“Ah, the chief is being sneaky again!”
“She’s flaunting her high salary!”
“First come, first served!”
She was defiant about it and didn’t stop this time. I pocketed the gold coin while she chose the fish she wanted. This created a wave of panic amongst the gallery.
“Wait a second! Let me get some money!”
“Me too! I’ll be back in a minute! Keep some for me!”
“Uh… Why am I not richer?”
Some adopted another strategy. A young woman came to me, grinning seductively.
“Your name’s Tila, right? I was there when you sold the iron ingots. Can you get fish that fresh again in the future?”
“It should be possible.”
“Do you want to become my partner? I’ll treat you well.”
“Do you want the fish that badly?”
“You can only say that because you don’t know. Our greatest national regret is not having any coasts!”
“Well, sorry, but I’m not about to become someone's partner to give them easy access to fresh fish.”
“Tsk. You don’t know what you’re missing. I’m amazing in bed.”
“Don’t listen to her. I’m much better! You can become my partner instead.”
“You? What a joke.”
“What did you say?”
I let them fight again while others progressively came with the money. Just like the merchant in Ekidos said, the felines aimed for salmon, cod, and redfish first. That didn’t stop latecomers from buying everything I had, no matter what sort of fish it was. As for me, I happily priced everything at five silvers regardless of the circumstances.
Soon enough, my stock was gone, and the few who didn’t manage to buy anything let out a groan of disappointment. Zhuri had patiently waited until the craze ended, her large bag of fish next to her, and signaled me with her hand.
“Come, Tila. Let’s talk about what I promised you.”
“Alright.”
“You can leave the carriage here, the guards are going to protect it. Follow me.”
We made our way inside the castle until we arrived at her office, a large room in one of the wings.
“Sit down.”
She put her bag of fish in a corner before pointing at the chair in front of her desk. She began looking through her drawers and shelves, only finding what she was searching for after some time. She then gave it to me. It was a similar token to the one I received previously, except that it was made of silver this time.
“This is yours now. This token means the duchy acknowledges you as a valuable person. It gives you some rights, including owning property inside our territory. You can be proud. Except for three great merchant companies, you’re one of the rare few to possess it.”
“That sounds great. Thank you. What other rights does it give?”
“No need for thanks, you earned it. You’ll be considered almost a normal citizen of Makji. Except for a few things related to our kingdom’s security, you can consider having the same rights as any other person born here. Of course, this only applies in Chian.”
“I understand. Do you know of any location I could buy to start my shop?”
She waved her hand distractedly.
“You’ll need to find that out for yourself. You can go now. I have some fish to eat before it goes bad.”
I left her office and the castle after one last greeting. It was almost night now, so I wouldn’t be able to do much of anything else for the day. I decided to teleport to Suuru’s house and prepare dinner.
The menu was, without any surprise, fish. The two women looked at the strange animal with wonder.
“What’s this?”
“I’ve never seen this creature before.”
It made sense, considering the domes were completely isolated from the outside world. Even if they were initially built next to a sea or river, the water would have dried up a long time ago with no new influx from outside.
“It’s fish. An animal that lives in the sea.”
“Oh… It looks weird. Can you really eat that?”
“You’ll see for yourself. Time to make use of your state-of-the-art oven.”
Frankly, I had no idea how to prepare them correctly. I just put some random spices over them after cleaning them and placed everything in the oven, hoping for the best.
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