Elija Hearthbound P.O.V.

In the past seven years since I first met the boy named Ajax I have been more nervous and stressed than I had been in all the decades as a merchant before that. Not only that but the amount of work I put in rivaled some of my busiest seasons. The profits I made however were bigger than I ever expected I could make in my lifetime. I had apologized to Silvia and Sam the day I met after their return to the capital but I still didn’t think I did enough to make up for my earlier mistakes.

Having watched Ajax in the arena yesterday almost gave me a heart attack from the way my blood pressure jumped. Still he had done his part, he won the tournament, he prevented the war and he had gotten us the spoils. It was now up to me and Judy to make the most of them.

A slight nod from her as we stole a glance at each other was all the communication we needed as Ajax leaned back in his chair to relax after passing the attention of the nobles onto me. It’s for exactly moments like this that I wish I could have brought Aurora with us but somebody had to stay behind to ensure everything ran smoothly, Alana and Silvia simply didn’t have the experience necessary yet.

Of the nine spots we had to trade, a few of them were already spoken for, Xavier, Anna, Benedict and of course Lexi would be getting one of those spots. The only question was just how much they would pay for them.

Judy was the first to make a move as she simply took Lexi off to one side. That negotiation was going to be easiest of them all but it would also go very differently from any other. It wasn’t hard to admit that when it came to the matters of how nobles' houses traded in exchange for magical knowledge she had me beat.

“Lord Steelblade.” I greeted the first of my first trading partners and the easiest one to handle by a long shot.

“Lord Hearthbound.'' The older man greeted me in return with both his son Richard and his nephew Benedict at his sides. “I was looking to discuss purchasing two of those dungeon spots from you today.”

That was simply a non-starter, no family was going to be getting two of those spots. We were already down to five and giving two to any family would also mean we would have to sell two to the royal family just so it wouldn’t look like we were playing favorites. “I’m sorry to disappoint you but we will be limiting the transactions to one spot only.”

I could see Richard hold in the disappointed sigh, getting to join in on the delves throughout the Republic before the tournament had helped him make great progress but he knew that Benedict as an heir for the position of house head would be prioritized.

“That is disappointing, yet not entirely unexpected.” lord Steelblade nodded. “What are you looking to gain in exchange for the spot?”

While the Steelblade family would be the easiest to negotiate with in terms of the negotiator they presented a bigger difficulty in terms of things we needed. As such a martial house they had plenty of skilled warriors, impressive armor and dangerous weapons they had stockpiled throughout millenia, the problem was that we had nobody who could truly make use of them.

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Trading them for retainers would be beyond foolish as anyone we gained would instantly become our strongest people. Any armor and weapons we could get would either not be valuable enough or so powerful that they would become crutches for our own retainers and limit their growth by getting them so early. I focused first on settling on a minimum amount of money that would be part of the agreement as I thought about something more exclusive that I could trade for.

“Twenty thousand gold coins should be a decent sum to cover the monatery part of the deal.” I offered.

“Twenty thousand is something that we would be agreeable to, depending of course on what the non-monetary part is.” The man in front of me gave away nothing, he hardly even took a moment to consider my ask. His experience as a supply officer in the family army was showing.

“We would like House Steelblade to share their knowledge in regards to the expeditions they have made outside our kingdom's borders into the untamed lands.” I finished my offer.

I knew that Ajax was going to be heading out in search of a bond of his own after he finished delving into every dungeon he had access to. As such a militaristic house the Steelblades had kept their people sharp by sending out more expeditions in the untamed lands than all the other noble houses in the kingdom combined. Their maps and scout work should not only make it easier for Ajax to travel but it would also give him a direction to head in as he searched for his bond.

“That…” I could see that my request had taken them by surprise. This wasn’t a request they had expected. Even Ajax was surprised at my request, I was also glad that he was still sitting in his chair out of sight of the Steelblades as his face would have given away just how valuable this part of the deal was for our House. “Is something we can agree to. On the condition that your house doesn’t spread the information further.”

A handshake sealed the deal, Ajax also standing from his chair and joining us for this to finalize the agreement. It was hard to gloat a little when I saw the Steelblades victorious mood drop after he noticed how excited Ajax was about the information he had traded, no doubt he realized he could have asked for us to drop the monetary amount by half and we would have accepted.

With the first discussion finished I moved towards the next house. Annabeth Goldmancer would be bartering for her own spot yet I had no doubt that despite being more than five times her age she was not someone I could take lightly.

Unlike the previous conversation this one was much longer as the discussion moved from one offer to the next. Halfway through Judy joined us having finished her own bargain with Lexi who went to help Ajax relax after the stressful day he had.

“Fifteen thousand gold coins as well as help with setting up your international trade roots seems like a fair deal.” Anna said after more than half an hour of us going back and forth.

That help was something we would surely need. With Ajax’s renown throughout the Republic and Sylvanthal following this tournament it was vital that we establish trade with both as a way of showing Ajax’s willingness to work with others and help take a target off his back. Even with all that it still felt like the deal favored the Goldmancers even if just slightly.

Judy seemed ready to accept the deal but I wanted a little more. “You’ll also let us buy the best growth elixir your family has in store for Fluffy at a fair price.” After a certain point scarcity of certain goods became so high that while the market price for them wasn’t obscene because of how niche their use was, it always took favors to be able to buy them. There was a good chance that almost all of the money we got from the Goldmancers on this deal would be returned for their growth elixir.

With two three slots already traded I was starting to already feel the fatigue. When I saw the crown prince approaching it took everything I had not slump a little.

“Perhaps it would be best if we end the dealings here for the night.” the prince said. “Relax for the rest of the evening so that you can be well rested when dealing with Sylvanthal tomorrow regarding the tournament winnings. Our offer for a delving slot can wait until after that.”

Despite the soft words the prince’s voice carried throughout the room and swayed everyone else in attendance from attempting to approach us for a deal for the remainder of the evening.

This afterparty was the first time I actually got to see Ajax enjoy a noble party. While not everyone was pleased with our results when it came to the tournaments nobody had anything to complain about Ajax. He had spent the evening eating, drinking, dancing and being congratulated on his performance by everybody he talked to.

“Where did your brother go?” I asked Judy after I lost track of Ajax.

“Lexi pulled him away half an hour ago.” She answered.

“OH!.” I chuckled at that thought. “I see.”

“It’s not what you're thinking.” she said, but then corrected herself. “At least not right away, her patience ran out and she pulled him away to talk to him about his theory on the sonic mana affinity.”