Numisley woke up, bewildered, and immediately opened the brown book to read the entry about Themes and wrote in his journal. Cultrost entered the room, having woken up much earlier.

  “Got something good.” Numisley turned to Cultrost. “Apparently, I can ‘promote’ someone in the company, and I got a Theme. I think it’s related to when I discovered I’m a blue-blood.”

  “Oh?” Cultrost sat down on one of the beds.

  “Hmm…so…Says here I might get something if I continue with my path of trying to prove my lineage. As for the promotion-Feat…you’ll gain a leadership or ‘higher’ Role.”

  “Cool. I haven’t gained anything yet. Probably because I didn’t fight for the last few days.”

  “Hmm…want a promotion? I want to try out this Feat. Also, I might need you to take over our front. Selling goods I mean, while I’m away to ask Thewardn about the gangs in the town.”

  “You sure you won't need me?” Cultrost asked.

  “I’ll be safe. And I can only trust you to manage things while I’m gone. Hold the fort and all that. Am I right?”

  “You can count on me.”

  “Well then. [Company Promotion: Cultrost Gildin].” Numisley pointed towards Cultrost. “Let’s eat breakfast.”

  Numisley and Raudaeiz went to Thewardn’s safehouse after their fulsome breakfast from a nearby inn. Beforehand, Numisley gave Cultrost a list of tasks that needed to be done today. The Dwarf graciously let them in, happy to gain a new business associate.

  “How much is the information regarding the port’s crime scene? A list of them and where to find them.”

Thewardn raised an eyebrow.

  “A list of them would be expensive, even if I let you have it. Client privacy, remember?”

  “Yes. I remember.” Numisley reassured the Dwarf.

  “What are you planning?” Thewardn asked.

  “I plan to take over the town’s smuggling to Libertalia, if there’s any.”

  “One gold coin.”

  Numisley slid a coin on the [Information Broker]’s table.

  “If you’re going to do that…In this town, the local gangs do business with Libertalian [Smugglers] that come to port from the ships. Smuggling goods from here to the Shore’s ports. There’s ten that I know since they do business with me.”

  “If not all of them, can you give me a name?”

  “Gold coin.”

  Numisley sild another coin, next to the gold coin on the table.

  “Find someone named Joerze Estrar. Involved in smuggling with a Libertalian gang. He mainly does business in the Est Provés district. You can start from there.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Also, someone’s asking for you earlier. Someone northern. Ersenwyen. He has long hair and a beard. Wheat-colored. You won't see him at first since he’s an [Spy] of some sort from Ernyen. Stealth-Feats. I mean, I told him you have info, from the book. Not that I mentioned the book. He’ll come to your building later.”

  “Thank you.”

  Numisley exited the safehouse, walking out of the alley.

  “Raudaeiz. You’ll meet with that guy. As I said before, you will represent me in the underworld. Meet that guy, and ask about the smuggling business. Rebuild your gang here, and grow it. For my–so we can benefit.”

  “I’ll do that. I’m using you to take revenge against my family.”

  “I know. I’ll let you go after your revenge.”

  [One Good Lie]. Numisley’s Feat clicked in his mind, twisting on the tip of his tongue.

  Raudaeiz left Numisley at their headquarters after they discussed further about the plan, and his men rushed to accompany him.

  “Where’s Cultrost?” Numisley asked Palden, who was lifting a crate.

  “Oh, he’s buying goods. As you said.” Palden replied.

  “I see. I’ll be at my office if you need anything. I’ll have a customer coming later. Blond, long-haired, bearded. According to the [Information Broker].”

  “I’ll watch out.”

  “Thanks.”

  Palden watched Numisley limp up the stairs, heading to his office. Numisley finally sat down in the office, reviewing his   documents and reading the black book. A couple of minutes later, someone knocked on the door.

  “Come in.”

  A man with blond shaggy hair, tied in a ponytail, and a short beard silently shuffled into the office, escorted by Graten. His face was unassuming like he can blend within the crowd for being too mundane. The work of either his Role or Feats. Graten shut the door behind him and watched the [Spy].

  “You are the client?” Numisley asked.

  “Yes. I will give no name.” The [Spy] stated. “Can you order your guard to leave? This will be private information.”

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  “Sorry, but he’s here to stay. He’s my security. Here to protect me from harm. Anything that’s spoken in this room will remain in this room. On my word. If you want him gone, prove that you don’t have weapons.”

  He removed his robes and showed Numisley what was inside every pocket or the folds of his pocket. Scrolls, a wand, a dagger, bundles of string, listening runes, potions, enchanted amulets, and various supplies in a Belt of Holding.

  “I’ll let Graten have your stuff. While he’s outside. I’m now convinced that you’re not here to kill me.”

  “Fair.” The [Spy] watched Graten exit the room, carrying his things.

  “So, do you have information about the schism between Scoth’s House Thurn and Syean? Relevant information? About Ernyen’s involvement in the matter?”

  Numisley pulled out a document from the pile of paper and quickly reviewed it.

  “Some of the information in this is outdated. However, this is a trustworthy source, collected, verified, and annotated by the [Information Broker] you talked to earlier. Five gold, please.”

  Begrudgingly, the [Spy] passed five gold coins on the table.

  The report was from six [Informants] six trials ago. Relevant information…House Eargen was involved in destabilizing the two counties. To prove it, ask Count Vanr Vareg Guins, and Count Sefth Eargen’s Shield-Brother Raigf Efaulsson under truth-Spell or Feat about the schism you mentioned.”

  “This is good enough.”

  “If anyone you know wants information, ask Thewardn about “Trader of Secrets”, and he will give you the passphrase. I will not be always in town, since I will be traveling regularly.”

  He handed the [Spy] the copy of the document.

  “A pleasure doing business with you.”

  The [Spy] left without saying anything. Graten gave him his belongings.

  “Too bad the black book has a lot of outdated secrets.” Numisley sighed, as he waited for another customer.

  Cultrost felt more authoritative and confident when Numisley applied his Feat on him. He gained a bit of Numisley’s wit and silver tongue. Although he seldom ordered people around, he ordered some of Graten’s men without his usual hesitation.

  He walked into the fish market, within Wharf Reagusha, the same wharf where they got tricked into buying the barrels of rotten fish.

  “Aie! Don’t kill me! I was being paid by the lord–”

  “Yeah, we know. We’re not holding it against ya’.” Graten reassured the panicking [Fishmonger]. “I’m here to buy fish. We’re delivering it to Ascogres. For fish sauce.”

  “Fish sauce? Sound’s nice.”

  “Barrels of salted fish, to be exact. Got any?”

  “How many?”

  “Five barrels.”

  “That would be…twenty gold coins.”

  “Wouldn’t it be cheaper? You’re close to the ocean after all.”

  “Demand is higher. Everybody on the coasts loves eating fish.”

  “Salt. Where did you get salt?”

  “From the sea. Although you need to be a [Salter].”

  “I still think twenty is still too much. How about fifteen. Think of it as compensation for tricking us.”

  Cultrost was surprised that he sounded like Numisley right now. He looked inwards and thought hard enough that and saw:

[Appointed Role - Trader].

[Appointed Feat - Basic Haggling].

  He never heard that there was a Feat that gives others a Role and Feat with their position. He is, after all, the co-owner of Gildin Trading by name, although Numisley mostly does the accounting work that he is bad at.

  “Well…I guess I’ll give you this. Just once. Fifteen gold.”

  “Thanks.”

  Cultrost held his hand up and shook the [Fishmonger]’s hand. He helped Graten’s men who accompanied him, Weriens, and Tarast in lift the barrels to the cart. For the rest of the day, Cultrost went to accomplish the list of things to buy for the company.

  A foreign gang strutted within the Est Provés district of Ovespuerot. This section of the town was distant from the profitable districts of the port town, and far from prosperous. The sight of street children running among buildings worse for wear was familiar to the Libertalian criminals. They can sense eyes watching them, from the kids peeking from the alleyways to the suspicious vendors sitting in their shops.

  One of Raudaeiz’s men gave an aspiring [Thief] a glare, and his hand backed off.

  “Know any ‘Joerze Estrar’?” Raudaeiz asked, tossing a silver coin. The kid caught it with his hands and nodded, pointing to an alleyway.

  “[Fast Hands].” Raudaeiz’s Dragonkin [Thug], Texion remarked, seeing how the boy’s hands blurred. They followed the boy into an alleyway, and through the streets of the district. They arrived at a fish market at the edge of the district. The port was small, with only a few fishing boats.

  The boy pointed toward the man butchering large fish, beside the other two burly men mashing chum on a tall mortar and pestle. He stared at the boy with his reptilian eyes that were running away as fast as he can and turned towards Raudaeiz and his gang.

  “What’s a Libertalian doing here?” The man held his knife steadily, hovering warily over the fish he was chopping off. The two burly men held their pestles like thick wooden cudgels.

“I’m here for Joerze Estrar. Here to talk business.”

  “Business? I’m what you’re looking for.”

  Raudaeiz stared at the man named Joerze Estrar. He noticed that the other half of his face is dotted with orange scales. Joerze maintained a level of vigilance and suspicions of the foreign stranger; never letting go of his butcher’s knife.

“I’ll smuggle to Libertalia.”

  “To? Are you not receiving?”

  “I want to establish a smuggling route to Libertalia.”

  “For?”

  Raudaeiz took a moment to remember what Numisley needed for the Veohantaye Tribe. He avoided asking which Libertalian criminal group he was in contact to, to avoid suspicion.

  “Magic items and metal. My contact is someone named ‘Greis’ in Baunt. We’ll send the goods and her payment to her.”

  “Hmm…” Joerze scratched the scales on his chin. “I’ll need fifty gold. The minimum downpayment will be ten gold.”

  Raudaeiz gave him a portion of Numisley’s funds, paying the hefty fee. Joerze counted the coins on his wet fingers and placed it beside the fish that he was butchering.

  “This is enough. I’ll contact the people that I know.” Joerze said.

  “I’ll send the products once they arrived,” Raudaeiz replied.

  Raudaeiz and his gang left the district after that deal. The boy from earlier peeked from an alleyway and ran throughout the town until he arrived at a nondescript shop. The boy whispered to the [Shopkeeper] about the newcomers in the area. The [Shopkeeper] then wrote a letter that the boy grabbed for delivery and sent for a handful of people to tail the foreigners. Soon the letter found itself on a ship docked anchored away from the district of Est Provés, being read by a [Pirate].

   Within the same day, a Duke stranded in the port-city of Baunt had finally boarded a ship, accompanied with an [Ambassador].

  Numisley had two other mysterious customers at the end of the day that bought information from him and Cultrost had secured a number of goods to sell inland: barrels of salted fish, textiles from Lemuria, sea shells and such and another cart and horse. Raudaeiz reported that he established a deal with the man named Joerze Estrar. He winced at the expenses that they spent and accumulated that day, with Numisley’s secret-brokering today barely compensating the cost. Numisley finalized the balance sheet for today and wrote an entry on his journal.

  Tomorrow, they made plans set off for Ascogres, to the neighboring county of the Barony of Kaminor at the House Commerro’s north to build their influence in the kingdom.