With its steady pace, it took the carriage another hour for it to arrive at the requested destination, that being The City Traveling Service's main office. Situated on the far west side of the vast city, just a few roads north of Rellunh’s western gates, was a massive five story building with a wide yard full of bustling activity.
Upon arrival, William and Rosena saw that they were far from the first to arrive. All around them many more carriages were also coming to a halt with numerous different figures stepping forth and heading directly towards the double-wooden doors of the main office.
Naturally, William did not linger under the sun’s embrace and promptly entered the lime-stone building with Rosena to his side. Just moments before they had arrived at their location, Vince had already exited the carriage with the goal of immediately seeing through with William’s command.
Now left as a pair, they entered through the wide doors. Almost instantaneously the overlapping of countless voices assaulted their ears. The inside of the main office was rather vast, remaining spacious even as crowd after crowd stepped inside and walked freely about.
Furthermore, upon entry one could witness that every corner of the building had a desk with a few personnel ready and willing to assist whichever person or group alike walked towards them. The clerks numbered in the thirties and were easily distinguishable by the pure white robes which they wore.
Even now, with how bustling the crowds inside the hall were, William was surprised to see that eleven clerks remained free.
Not placing too much thought onto his choice, William promptly walked towards the nearest desk he could find. Situated behind the one he chose was a beautiful woman with lightly-tanned skin, dark hair, and lovely blue eyes. With a myriad of papers before her, she merely looked upon the bustling main hall with a gentle and friendly smile.
When she noticed William approaching, the woman stood, adjusted her white robes then briskly bowed.
“Hello travelers and Sounrans alike! I welcome you to Rellunh’s inner city travel organization where we strive to ensure that no fiend threatens your safety while under our watch. Beyond that, our guides also have rich experience traversing the desert’s great expanse making the chances of becoming lost an impossibility!”
The woman spoke with great delight, her tone sweet. With a confident temperament, William’s handsome face became engulfed by a polite smile.
“That is just what we seek, tell me, what options are there for me to decide from?”
Nodding, the woman reached out for two sheets of papers and handed one each to William and Rosena. She then began explaining their services with a practiced familiarity.
“Our Rellunh branch provides passage to: Dorn-Ru, The Capital of Sounra; Al-Intys, The Central City; and Al-Erytoptya, The Northern Port City. If you wish to travel towards Gurenh, The South Eastern Market City; Vertress, The Southern Port City; or Al-Neryda, The South Eastern Port City, then that service can only be found upon our Dorn-Ru City branch. If you wish to proceed then we provide three package levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold…”
With a third sheet of her own which she placed facing William and Rosena’s direction, she traced where the relevant information was with her finger as she spoke.
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“The Bronze Package is considered as The Common Deal. This consists of 1 guide with less than 5 years of experience, a cohort of 5 swordsmen of the Initial-Rank along with a single Sorcerer, and a second generation fortified carriage. The price shall be 10 Silver Pens, or 100 Copper Pens, or 50 Silver Penlets… Moving from there is The Silver Package, also known as The Premium Deal. This consists of 1 guide with over 5 years of experience, two cohorts of 5 swordsmen of the Initial-Rank along with 2 Sorcerers, and a first generation fortified carriage. The prices shall be double of what was previously stated… Lastly is The Gold Package or The Noble Deal. This consists of 1 guide with over 20 years of experience, two cohorts of 5 swordsmen of the Initial-Rank along with a single Ascended-Rank serving as commander, three Sorcerers, and a first generation fortified carriage. The price shall be triple of the common deal.”
Upon finishing her long explanation, one which she spoke out flawlessly and without a single stutter, the woman took a moment to catch her breath before continuing.
“If you are Sounran then our home discount shall be added, if not then you can also customize a deal to an acceptable level in search for a lower price within any package deal. However, the customization shall need to be approved by our overseer and a damage insurance fee shall be asked. The insurance fee is decided upon hearing the customization request and if all goes well, then upon your arrival the fee shall be returned by our next branch. Lastly, beast-folk are excluded from this, be them Sounran or otherwise. Similarly just having a beast-race individual traveling with you shall disqualify you from the benefits stated above.”
Finally finished, the woman took a step back and patiently awaited their response. Having paid attention to all her exposition, William’s lips curled after a moment of pondering.
Interesting… The Sounran people have truly mastered the art of business.
Such was his conclusion once more. Throughout his time here, William’s keen eyes had not missed out on the many ways in which The Sounra Kingdom increased its profits. Beginning with the market cities themselves, despite being advertised as a place where one could find any type of slave product which they desired, be it a slave which could cook, protect, translate, sew, or simply be sexual outlets, the city claimed to have it all.
However, while not a falsehood, what was not advertised was that these slaves were not the elite products which are famously bred within the city of Al-Intys. No, those could only be found within the capital city, Dorn-Ru’s main market.
What was found in Rellunh, and likely within Gurenh as well, were slaves which were captured and sold to the city by Slave Poachers. The city would not question where the captured individual hailed from and merely purchase them for the purposes of reselling them to the stall owners within their walls. If the owner was influential enough with large pockets then the Slave Poachers could also bypass the city entirely and directly sell to said owner.
From there the newly turned slaves are trained to a level where the services would be acceptable enough to charge a profitable price. However, even then the slaves were only given Slave-Marks, not Slave-Crests. Although similar, Slave-Marks could only be used as a kill switch by the master, while Slave-Crests will allow the master the ability to manipulate the slave.
While Slave-Crests were available, only Slave-Marks were part of the initial deal. If anyone wished to upgrade, then a large price would need to be paid.
Additionally, with The City Traveling Service being the only organization which could traverse the desert with some degree of guaranteed safety, the city made an additional profit from wealthy nobles seeking the high products found within the capital.
Furthermore, the fact that no path directly went from Rellunh to Gurenh meant that those seeking to travel to Al-Neryda, one of three port cities within all of The Gia Continent which have consistent ship transports through the sea routes within The Dragon Sea and onto The Ashden Continent and by result The Integra Continent, then it meant that one would pay double to continue on their journey or alternatively travel back through The Laywin Kingdom and enter either The Nation of Pladus or The Nation of Acos to arrive at the next cities which provided such a service.
Upon reflecting on all the information, William was genuinely impressed by the means which The Sounra Kingdom deployed in order to increase their profits.
I suppose with their economy relying upon slavery so profusely and lack of so many natural resources, then they had no choice but to use such tactics. Still, I understand now why The Laywin Kingdom is so apprehensive of their economic growth within the last three decades.
Truly he had found all of it interesting… However, interrupting his deep pondering was Rosena’s voice.
“Have you decided?”
Snapping out of his contemplative state, William nodded with a smile. He then turned to the woman cladded in white robes and stated.
“I wish to customize The Gold Package…”