Jonas, sitting in his office, sighed again after he read the report he was given for the fifth time. How could he forget something so important? Yes, he probably is the richest person on the subcontinent, but it wouldn’t last forever. Any sane person would never let such a great opportunity like this slip out of their hands.

And he had let it get away from him. All that gold, silver, silks, and treasure gone.

He sighed as he put the paper down. They only got a tenth of what was on the ships, and that was still a fortune. Just thinking about the rest sinking down to the ocean made his chest hurt. They recovered five large chests of gold and silver and twelve large bundles of silk from the single ship they hadn’t burned and sank already.

And even then they couldn’t save most of what was there without risking the lives of the soldiers.

“Stop sighing, it’ll make you look old,” Ash said as she walked in. “Get ready, the fops are back and they seem to be quite happy.”

“What? Already? Why? I’ve already had a bad day, I don’t want to deal with them, it might actually kill me,” Jonas said in desperation. “Why don’t you deal with them this time, your far more qualified, yea?”

“Nope. You aren’t going to dump this on me, young master. Either way, they won’t speak to a woman, much less one of common birth. Straighten your spine and raise your chin some, wouldn’t do for them to see you like this.”

Jonas couldn’t help but sigh and do what she told him to do. Another meeting with those idiots will give him a heart attack. He was sure of it.

“Bring the idiot again,” he said, a bit louder than necessary for a certain someone to hear.

The overly dressed-lace and all-and powdered fop walked in with a brisk and confident face. It was like the insult had simply bounced off the extra ten layers of clothes he had on. Something he had not expected to see from a quick-tempered group of idiots.

It made Jonas quite suspicious. What did they have to be so happy? Did they know something he didn’t? He’d have to get Medulis to keep an eye out for anything they unusual in the next couple of days.

The man didn’t even bristle at Jonas sitting and not getting up to greet him ‘like proper high culture demands’.

“Greetings, we have arrived at a unanimous decision after much deliberation and unparalleled conflict! You have truly been blessed by the Father to have such fortuitous luck, Monsieur Markus!”

Without waiting to be shown to his seat, he plopped his dandy self on the extra uncomfortable chair Jonas had prepared for him. The man didn’t grumble at the lack of high culture furniture and cushioned seats for guests.

“It is unlike anything I have ever witnessed before. The sheer acceptance and unification the courts have found in such a distressing time! I cannot overstate the-”

“Cut to the chase. Have you agreed to my demands? I don’t have time to waste on your unnecessary flamboyance, I have...more important things to do,” Jonas’s eyes flitted towards the folded report near him. He’d have to reread it a few more times to get over the incredible loss he had incurred.

The nobleman’s smile widened, almost happy that Jonas cut him off. Sitting with an overly proper stature, the fop tried to nod sagely. It didn’t help that the extra fluff on his hat bounced up and down with his head, it made him look like a clown.

“Yes, yes, someone of import such as Monsieur Markus must have very little time indeed. Especially with all the offshore naval skirmishes he has been having lately,” The guy had a smile from ear to ear like he had let out a bombshell.

Well, he kind of did, but Jonas would never let him know. How in the hell did they find out about his few battles? That was something he kept as quiet as possible. Do they have someone to scry as he did? Or worse, was he simply not as surreptitious as he had thought himself to be.

Not seeing anything on Jonas’s face, the nobleman’s smile dimmed a bit but never lost its full strength. With as much pomp and flare as he could in a seated position, he pulled out a thick piece of parchment from a pocket in his outer coat.

“We have come to accept your demands, one and all. We believe we can come to quiet the powerful alliance against the savages that have taken to calling our port home.” The nobleman looked around on Jonas’s desk. “You have ink and quill, yes. It’s the least you could do.”

Frowning, Jonas pulled out a bottle of black ink and two gorgeous quills of a golden color. The nobleman appreciated their design for a moment before dipping one into the ink bottle. Pulling it out, he tapped it a few times on the edge of the bottle and was about to write on the empty parchment he had brought.

But, before he wrote anything down, he looked up with an embarrassed expression.

“I seem to have forgotten the exact terms you have demanded. we wouldn’t want to make any mistakes, now would we. Please, remind me of them again.”

Jonas looked at Ash, then turned back towards the fop with an enormous smile of his own. So that was what they planned. How obvious could they get? It boggled his mind how bad they were at this.

“Ah, yes. The terms. They were quite one-sided you see,” Jonas said but was interrupted by the nobleman.

“Worry not. Monsieur Markus. We will accept them all.”

“Then, if you don't mind. First, you get five buildings and surrounding yards of the Harbor, and only the Harbor. The surrounding lands are all mine. Second, each building cannot be larger than three-stories tall and fifty paces wide. Third, you can only have one level of basement, a maximum of fifteen feet in height and not greater than the length and width of the building.

Fourth, all transactions directly within the buildings will have a thirty-five percent tax, regardless of the item. Any business, regardless of situation and time-friendly or actual business-is taxed, sixty percent regardless of the item sold. To dock on the harbor will incur and fifty gold weekly rental, to bring anything down to or out of the Harbor will incur a three gold price of movement.

Anything left unattended for longer than a day will incur a tenfold increase in price for the item. It must be moved to one of the five buildings as quickly and orderly as possible. Any negligence or skimping on these rules will result in the loss of a building by right and incur a price of five hundred gold penalty.

Any soldier stationed at the buildings will cost you seven gold pieces each. A knight will cost seventeen gold pieces and a mage twenty-five. Anyone of the third stage of the path and beyond will result in a seventy-five gold cost.

The pathways down to the upper layer of the harbor and third leading to Petrous will cost you a gold coin to cross to and from for every ten people and another gold coin for every ten wagons. So, a silver per person toll and a silver per wagon. Any breach in the contract will cost five hundred gold pieces and the loss of a building’s rights.”

The nobleman had his mouth hanging open before he got control of himself again. The fop's smile returned with more menace than before as a cold glint crossed his eyes then disappeared as quickly as it had come.

“Yes, we will have a wonderful partnership. I can feel it already. We will prosper.”

He looked down and finished writing everything Jonas had just said. Though his hand clenched the quill far too hard, Jonas thought it was going to break in his grip. He couldn’t help but chuckle.