“Now that she has seen the letter, all that is left is for her men to come with money to buy that ship.” Braydon said, half to himself and half to Nela. Though she looked at him suspiciously.

“You just forgot to mention it whilst we were talking with her, didn’t you?” She knew there was no deeper meaning to his actions, Braydon was not the kind of person to think so far forward. And from the face he was making she was right.

“I have no clue where you got that idea from. Though, what are your thoughts on the Empire’s actions?” Braydon tried to, not so subtly, change the conversation from his incompetence, gaining an eye roll from his counterpart.

“They are trying to keep Shuluk busy for as long as possible, probably to achieve further goals. After all, when unified it is one of the strongest nations in the east, not including the empire. If a coalition formed it would probably be with Serhesh and Shuluk as the backbone, they likely want to stop that.” Nela suggested an idea, one that Lady Shuluk would definitely have thought of by now.

“But they have the strength to defeat the coalition as a whole even if it did form, only with help from the west could the coalition survive, why would they stoop to dressing up as pirates or hiring them?” Braydon did not see the need, if you could do it conventionally, why do that?

“Because it is easier to pick apart their enemies one by one than to fight them all together. The Emperor probably has some strategists who are not afraid of playing dirty to make the job easier.” Nela explained to Braydon, he was good at fighting and winning battles but did not have much experience in thinking through the eyes of a leader. Ever the tactician, never the strategist, unlike Nela who had a natural talent for looking at things strategically.

“Sorry to disturb your riveting conversation but we have arrived.” Gerald said as he knocked on the carriage door, they had stopped moving a few minutes ago but neither one had been paying much attention. Gerald’s casual way of addressing his superior got looks of shock from the two soldiers who were driving the carriage. If they had done something even remotely like that, they would be out of a job.

They stepped out of the carriage to a much quieter port than they arrived at, most ships having left or finished unloading cargo already. As evening was approaching, there were fewer ships around than there was in the day. They would be staying onboard the ship overnight, both out of convenience and as a safety measure. While Narabun was the safest place in the Grand Duchy, that did not mean that Braydon trusted it too much. It would not surprise him if the noble alliance tried to harass the other side every now and again.

After a few hours of rest, a soldier in the same garb as the one who had driven the carriage came to the ship. Behind him were some servants carrying a chest that looked to be somewhat heavy.

“Lady Shuluk instructed me to bring the payment that she owes you.” The man saluted to Braydon as the servants brought the chest on board. When it was put down there was a heavy thud, a testament to its weight.

“Very punctual, tell her it is well received. The ship is already sitting in the port, with that we will be leaving at first light tomorrow.” Braydon said to the soldier who returned the way he had come, followed by the servants. Braydon opened the chest, to look at his payment, which was filled to the brim with coins.

“I know we agreed to this amount but it is seriously a lot when it is all in one place.” Braydon muttered to himself before closing the chest, ordering that it be brought below deck. Nela, who had heard what was going on, came out of the captain’s quarters and stood beside him.

“So what are you going to do with your small fortune?” As someone who had been in Cliforge for a while, she had some awareness of the finances of the territory. While the mine made a lot of money, a significant proportion of that went into the upkeep and payment of Braydon’s expanded army or building new houses for all of the new subjects that he had appropriated from Shuluk vagrants. But the cost of a ship was no insignificant amount for a noble of Braydon’s rank.

“Well part of it will need to go to Lani to replace some of the crewmembers that were lost the other day. But I am unsure of what to do with the rest of it” When he said that, Braydon saw Nela’s smile widen. She already had a plan for a significant portion of it, he just knew it.

“Then how about using it to attract one of the many clergymen twiddling their thumbs around here before we leave.” And there it was, Nela had definitely thought of this when she hinted at selling the galley to Lady Shuluk. If her scheming was anything like what he knew it to be, she would already have been sending letters to said member of the church before they had even gone to Boshil to sort out her engagement. Gaining a large amount of denars to convince him was just a happy coincidence.

“But we don’t want someone who is just hungry for money. They will demand more at some point.” This was Braydon’s only worry. If they bribed someone to come, they would only ask for more in the future.

“Oh, no it is not for him. It is to make sure that his superior looks the other way.” Of course it was. He should have known that she had thought of everything. ‘So this is why I left her to be in charge of this.’

“Then I will trouble you to write them both letters, we will go see them in the morning before we leave.” Braydon was about to go below deck to see what Gerald had gotten himself up to, but Nela stopped him once again.

“Already done, they just need sending.”

“...” ‘So efficient.’