“Then we have reached an agreement.” Lady Shuluk said as she clapped her hands, servants appearing with food and wine not long after. Ordinarily, Braydon would have turned her down but he had just been on a ship for several days, where food is tightly managed. Anything other than dried meat and almost stale bread was a welcome change. The noise that his stomach made told everyone what he was thinking, much to his chagrin.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Lady Shuluk.” Nela said as the food was set before them, using Braydon’s hunger to segue into more polite conversation than cutthroat things such as trade talks.

“It is not a problem, will you be staying for long? While there may not be much to see of my country at the moment, Narabun is still relatively well off.” ‘Not much to see’ was an understatement, it would be more fair to say that half of her country was on fire. But there was no need to say something that would purposefully offend her, Braydon wanted to trade with her, not finish it before it started.

“Unfortunately, I do not want to risk staying too long. The longer that I am not in Fiveria, the more likely it is that our deal gets found out. There is still an embargo on trade between us after all, there are any number of people who would be more than happy to see me taken down a few pegs. We will probably spend the night in Narabun before heading back.” They only had a small ship and the time it took to travel was relatively short, restocking on supplies would be finished by the next day without any problems. Though there was still one thing that they had to deal with.

“What are we going to do about that galley?” Nela asked, it was a valid question, they had nowhere to keep it, Milmond was not a good option. Lani might accept for a couple days but it was no long term solution, galleys were very long and took up more space than most ships other than carracks. And what would a landlocked noble do with a ship built for naval combat? Not to mention that they would need to hire a crew and men to row the ship.

Those who had been rowing for the pirates were slaves, there was no way that Braydon was going to sit on top of the problem of owning illegal slaves. They had been released as soon as they got into port, with enough food to last them a few days. It was just not feasible to try and send them all back to where they had been taken from, that was a venture that could take several months as a short estimate. There was no way they were from the same place, or a guarantee that their homes were even still there by now. This was the best that he could do.

“Hmm, well, there is no way to take it back, I have no crew nor a place to store it.” Braydon replied. He had caught on to what Nela was thinking.

“I could buy it from you, I might need it if there are pirates who have decided to move into the area.” Hook, line and sinker. Nela had definitely asked that just for an offer to be made. Very few merchants would buy a galley, even fewer nobles had the money to finance one after they bought it. But the ruler of a nation? A nation on the coast with a weak navy? There was no way that she would not be interested.

“That would be wonderful. Though, if you do not mind, may we eat before we discuss the price.” Braydon was trying to hold himself back but the pork on his plate was calling out to him. And Nela was on her third glass of wine, if they didn’t eat soon, he might have to carry her to the carriage. Apparently the wine from the Rosy Glasshouse had awoken a great love for good wine in Nela.

“Huhuhu. Of course, you have suffered the journey to come here. Do not let it be said that I starved my guests.” Lady Shuluk could not help but chuckle at the almost salivating young lord in front of her, it was not often that a noble lord would be so straightforward in her presence. Though that was mostly because she was royalty, most noble lords she met were her husband’s subjects, or now her subjects. Not including the ones in open rebellion, there was little they could do to be more straightforward.

“That was an interesting pair.” Alima thought to herself once the young viscount and his aide had left the hall. She remained seated as the servants busied themselves with cleaning the table before disappearing as swiftly as they arrived.

“It seems that Fiveria will not be peaceful for much longer. Not if there are more people like them in the new generation of nobles.” Lady Shuluk continued talking to herself as she stood up, making her way out of the great hall and heading to her study.

“Not that it is any of my concern right now, there are enough people aiming for my throne as it is, damn that wretch who calls himself emperor. Ruining all of my plans. Just a few more years and that idiot would have been dead anyway, and I would control this land. Now I have to deal with this mess.” Her thoughts turned in a different direction as she reminded herself of the situation in her own country. She knew that chaos was what Emperor Kailum wanted to see in Shuluk, but that only made her even more resentful. The power that was so nearly hers was now on the brink of destruction at any moment.

Only she knew how truly precarious her position was. One strategic blunder and the rebel armies could be knocking on her door, asking for her head. Even if she won the war, there was an even chance that the Barakhil would choose that moment to invade and try to reassert their dominance after several centuries. Shuluk would be at its weakest point and would have no allies. None of the other countries nearby would want to form a coalition against Barakhil with her if she would go on to lose a civil war, that would just be gifting the country to the empire.

“My Lady, it is from Viscount Braydon. He said that you might want to read this.” It was just as she was about to reach her study that a servant came up to her with a letter.

“That’s odd, why did he not bring it up when he was talking to me?” As she owned the letter and read the contents, her annoyance that had only just calmed down started to flare up again.

“Damn that Emperor!”