“Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.”

Boris Pasternak

The letter we held in hand was written and followed our guidelines. Ramil mentioned the failure of their mission, the teams' demise and his capture without mentioning where our island was or how they had been defeated. Hopefully, his family, friends and business partners would respond financially, but if they responded militarily, they would come in blind. It would be something to pass on to Captain Kashif, whose arrival had already been announced before he ever entered our hall. The protocol and procedures of our burgeoning palace slash citadel were growing more structured and routine with each new visit.

Captain Kashif bowed low as he presented himself in front of the dais. “I see congratulations are in order - a fine addition to your fleet.” He referred to the Libeccian galley we now had moored in our docks. Currently, without a crew, we could fully trust. It sat empty and out of the water. We were working on incorporating the ship’s crew and former enslaved into our community before we would attempt to sail the ship.

Adversity only sometimes builds character; sometimes, it could twist or break them. Nevertheless, we would try to crew it with an equal amount of family, friends and former sailors when we started to use it to do short legs between our islands while Captain Kashif and Merchant Mecurio were on their more extended trips.

“It’s a new acquisition,” Aleera replied calmly. “You might be aware of its former owner, Sinbad.” She spoke of the deceased pirate who had led the chase across the ocean for a cabal of political and business interests in Libeccio, unimpressed by the fortune Captain Kashif had found.

“I had heard of him,” He answered cautiously, unsure of the correct answer to appease his hosts, us. “I’m glad my absence could help your negotiations go so well.” He answered humbly, putting his absence in the best light. He had been asked to leave Wester Ponente and sail his ship, Safina, to Wester Levante for what was effectively busy work to keep him and his boat out of the way while we dealt with the slavers’ arrival and removal.

“Yes, well, everything ended well in the end. However, it could have gone significantly worse. They were hunting you, and their presence endangered us. Were you aware you were being followed?” So, despite the positive end outcome, we were less than happy that Captain Kashif had led them here.

“No, of course not.” Sounding both shocked and slightly offended that we could even consider the possibility. “ I would never deliberately lead competitors to such a rich source of resources. Sharing with the Ponentian merchant, Mercurio, is enough for me.” He candidly replied.

“Yes, it would appear you have a trackston onboard or underboard as it is affixed to your hull. They have been using to follow you across the Azimuth ocean.” Now that the former crew worked for us, they had told us how they had followed Captain Kashif to find out who and where we were.

“Thank you for informing me; I would never have knowingly led anyone here.” He informed us deferentially. “You must know that?” He checked that we understood.

“We accept that you would not do so on purpose, but we trust that you will not allow it to happen again by a failure of security again.” She reinforced her point. We had no desire to take on the world and were not ready to do so. We were still relying on obscurity and distance to protect ourselves from interference. Although we grew in personal strength and developed powerful allies, we were far from being untouchable.

“Indeed, not. It will not happen again. I promise.” He pledged. “In support of your newfound house, let me present you with a friendship gift from Emir Ishtul, my former patron.”

He bowed low, presenting a jewelled case hastily passed forward from one of the sailors who had accompanied him. He no longer walked around on our island, surrounded by enslaved people.

“He was most impressed with your gifts of fine sea silk and deep sea pearls and hoped to form a more profound, long-lasting friendship with such a prosperous pioneering island.” He rapidly returned to the charming, smooth-talking merchant now that his metaphorical verbal disadvantage was over, and he was once more sailing smoother conversational seas.

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“He is not troubled by losing the patronage of your person and your ship?” I asked, surprised. We had expected more resistance or cost to effectively coopting a merchant from Libeccio from his former patron.

“He is a wise man willing to look past any possible short-term loss of face in losing the services of a Captain such as myself for the potential long-term profit from a strong relationship with a newly minted Lord of Ponente. Our two nations have an antagonistic association at best, and any method to bypass both the pirates and tariffs of the militant border lords would be worth its weight in gold, silver, salt and pearls over time.” The verbose flattery made me wonder whether his words would somehow be reported or repeated to Emir Ishtul.

“What does he want?” I asked, cutting to the heart of the matter to the despair of my etiquette teacher, Lady Acacia. The benefit of my youth, at least to outsiders, was that I was already so far beyond expectations that I never broke any more when I was more direct than was possibly polite.

“He would also be interested in creating a trade route between Libeccio and Ponente utilising your unique location and pioneer status to avoid such stifling problems such as the tariffs levelled by both countries.”

“He wants us to become a den of pirates and smugglers,” Aleera stated, singularly unimpressed with the idea after our most recent run-in with the slavers that claimed to be merely merchants and sailors.

“No such den of iniquity. Rather a legal and perfectly acceptable trade haven due to your unique status as a pioneer island.” He objected.

“Such a trade haven would only last as long as our pioneer status still existed.” I pointed out.

He shrugged, “Nothing lasts forever, but hopefully, it will last long enough for both sides currently posturing for a permanent solution to our differences to see the profits available from a mutually beneficial relationship.” The captain was more intelligent than I would have given him credit for, or perhaps working at a higher level for this Emir Ishtul than we had realised.

However, all this political posturing and economic philosophising detracted from what we should have been focusing on, our new gift.

The bejewelled box.

I reached for it only to be stopped by Arawn picking up the box before us. “Trust but verify.” Holding it away from himself, he opened it to show Captain Kashif and then turned the open chest to us, revealing its contents. Had something unholy jumped out, it would have taken out the captain first before being decapitated by my grandfather.

But nothing moved.

It was an egg.

It sat alone in the box, filling the space with its weight. It was smaller than I had expected or somewhat smaller than expected for what I hoped it contained. The smooth, hard surface shone like black onyx and sat on a red velvet bed. It was polished to a fine shine and drew the light into it as much as it drew my gaze.

“A dragon egg?” I asked excitedly.

“Emir Ishtul felt that the sea silk and deep sea pearls should be returned in kind.” Captain Kashif offered. Aleera’s eyebrow rose, and they continued, “He did not like to consider himself indebted.”

I was too focused on the egg to focus on anything else.

A dragon egg!

My mind flew in flights of fantasy about what might be possible with a dragon by my side. But my dreams had already been tempered by the academic lessons we covered with Lady Acacia. Although Dragons in the Compass Kingdoms were similar to those I had imagined, their size held them back. Never growing much larger than a dog, the majority of them remained the size of a large cat. As a result, I would not be a dragon rider anytime soon in the future.

Still, it was a dragon egg.

I grinned with unabashed excitement.

“Thank the Emir for his generous gift.” Aleera continued the conversation I had forgotten in my greed and haste to hold the present and inspect its surface. How long would it be till it hatched?

“Does the egg require anything to help it hatch?” I asked, focused on the young life in my hands hidden behind the black shimmer of the eggshell.

“The egg requires nothing special to hatch. However, a warm environment and a higher mana density help them hatch quicker. Though there is not much difference in the timings between the two.” Lady Acacia stepped into educating us before Captain Kashif could reply.

Heat and Mana. A few areas might work well on our island. However, I would not take it to the reef with me. I may need to excavate my own to find a better area under our mountain.

“Yes, thank the Emir for his extraordinary gift,” I added my tuppence now that the initial surprise and focus had passed.

I couldn’t wait for it to hatch. It was like knowing what you were getting for your birthday but not knowing when it would happen!

I returned the ransom letter, "If you could see that this makes it back to his family, that would be fantastic." I said abruptly, leaving my chair to pick up the box.

It was time to scout the tunnels to find the best place for my egg.

I could leave the politics up to others and scampered off.

. . .

Note from Notlimah

Thanks for reading. Bonus Chapter 183 and 183 continued at https://www.scribblehub.com/series/338257/singer-sailor-merchant-mage--litrpg-progression--from-the-very-beginning/