53 A merchant's day II

Warning

Aleksanteri crucifies a slaver and branded him with a hot iron in the street

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We will see mc again in the next chapter.

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Every 250 power stones and you will have extra chapter

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Klaus merchant POV

''Well I think I'm done, master'' said my apprentice showing me his book.

''Let me see, mhh yes it looks like you did well'' I said checking the basic mathematical calculations.

''Why do you pay your workers so much I have heard that your competition pays around 35 stags of silver to their perfumers, but you pay much more, it is not a bad expense'' my apprentice asked

''No, it is never a bad expense to invest in your workers, well paid workers are happy workers, and they will take care of treating my customers well, so I don't have to worry about the bad mood of a poorly paid worker or worse who prefers to go to work for my competition'' I said while opening the chest with the silver coins to pay the salaries.

''Help me separate the coins, today we are going to close early, and I want everyone to go home with their wages'' I said as I started to put silver coins in the bags.

''Immediately master'' said my apprentice.

We spent almost 10 minutes counting coins until we had finished making the bags with the salaries.

''Boss there is a friend of yours outside who wants to talk to you'' said a worker who came out of the door

''Send him in'' I said as I prepared to leave for the ghetto.

''Klaus, come quickly to the port, the king's ships have returned they are loaded with goods, our investment was a success'' a merchant friend said

''Really, great, let me finish here, and I'll go to the port right away'' I said as I hurried to pay the wages.

''Well I'm on my way I want to check when we get paid, since I invested almost everything in this venture'' said the merchant as he was leaving

''Come on, we have to pay the wages and close'' I said to my apprentice.

I walked quickly to the center of my store, where I had 80 workers working in the production of perfumes.

''Ok people, we are done for the day, I have things to do, and I don't want to leave you alone, so you are going home early, get in line we will pay the wages'' I told my workers to stop working.

They quickly stopped and looked at the happy faces of a reduced working day.

With the help of my apprentice, we paid everyone their wages and started to close the store

''Ok finish for today, take your wages'' I said handing him a bag

''Here is an extra golden dragon, you have made a mistake master'' said my apprentice

''I have not made a mistake, it is your salary, I have been giving you more responsibilities in the future, I will entrust the store to you, as I need someone trustworthy'' I said to my apprentice

''I see, I thank you master'' said my apprentice as he went back home.

It's a real pity that losing his parents has affected him so much as soon as you show your feelings, but luckily, he is a good worker, maybe he will find a woman like Mya to warm his icy heart.

After finishing my work I went running to the ports, when I was half way, I could see the masts of the galleons that were anchored to the port, I had invested a great part of my fortune in this expedition and if it goes well, I could gain a lot.

When I was arriving to the port, I could see how there was an enormous amount of merchants that were waiting, possibly to buy the spices and to be able to be the ones who sell them.

It seems that I am late, and I am not going to be able to enter to speak with some official, but I saw a line that was shorter and there was little agglomeration of people and I decided to approach

A guard stopped me

''Are you an investor of the expedition?'', asked the guard.

''Yes I am'' I said confidently.

''Do you have the document?'', said the guard.

''Yes let me look for it, here it is'' I said while showing him my expedition investment document

''All right, go ahead'', said the guard letting me pass.

I quickly passed to a sector of the dock that was reserved for the king's ships where there were other merchants waiting for me.

I was greeted by my fellow merchants and we waited for quite a while.

During that time we watched as the sailors began to unload the goods and began to store them in the warehouse of the harbor.

After about 30 minutes the figure of Friedrich von Roon appeared escorted by his knights.

Friedrich began to talk to some naval officers until he signaled that we could approach.

''Well, what we are going to do is simple, we are going to return everything you invested, and we will give you a share in percentage to how much you participated in the profits, you can prefer how you will be paid in gold or in spice at a more favorable price so that you can make a profit'' said Friedrich von Roon with an imposing tone.

''When can we withdraw our share'' asked a merchant.

''First we must get the accounts for the next few days you can visit the quartermaster officer who will be in charge of processing your payments, if you have no more doubt you can go to the warehouse to buy spice right now'' said Friedrich.

Most of the merchants went to the warehouse, since being able to buy the spice with discount means that they could have more benefits than the, most of them could take advantage that the price of spice is high before the offer will bring the price down considerably.

''Klaus, what's wrong do you have a problem?'', said Friedrich with a worried tone.

''If it wasn't 30 galleons that went out, there are only 15, something happened,'' I asked worriedly.

The other 15 are in the king's landing, since they are going to be sold in that area as well and then they will leave for Essos and finish the sale, so you have nothing to worry about, your investment is secured'', said Friedrich with a proud tone.

''Yes, but why does that galleon look half burned'' I said, pointing to a ship that had some of the wood scorched off.

''Good question, I guess Johann must have had some trouble'' said Friedrich as he scratched his chin and looked at the ship.

While we were concentrating on the burned boat, a very smiling man approached us.

''Friedrich, how has the day been treating you'' said the smiling man.

''Johann, all good, can you explain to me what happened there'' said Friedrich as he pointed to the burned ship.

''Ha, ha, ha, ha well, we had a bit of trouble on the way back, some pirates tried to steal our cargo and in the naval combat we used ''that'' which caused a very strong reaction to hit a ship as well''' said Johann while smiling

''The king ordered you not to seek combat, why this insubordination Johann?'', said Friedrich with a serious tone.

''Hey I can't control those pirates wanted to commit suicide against my forces, I just defended myself and almost massacred them leaving all the ships that chased us to suffer a lot of losses'' said Johann smiling

''Well, let's hope it is as you say, klaus, if you have nothing else to do around here I will kindly ask you to leave, we will be busy, and we don't want any trouble with the civilians'' said Friedrich turning to me

''Sure, I'll take care of coming back when I can withdraw the payment in gold, see you Friedrich'' I said as I was leaving the port

So, the pirates of the summer islands are too crazy to try what they did, they must have been many to muster the courage to take on the Prussian naval force.

I looked at the clock tower, and it was too late to go to help the homeless relief house, and quickly started to shift towards the outskirts of the city.

After leaving the city you could immediately notice the difference between Neu Danzig and its ghetto, the houses that were built with a standardization here had not arrived, and you have poorly built houses with a lot of problems and even the smell of urine is in the air.

Walking a little bit I saw how several houses were being demolished, a squad of builders is digging to expand the sewage system of the city, that meant that soon we will see an expansion in the city, but they were demolishing the houses where people who have not been very lucky lived, and you could see how a group was very upset because they were demolishing the houses

''Why do you have to tear down our house we worked so hard to get it up'' shouted a woman.

''Yes because you waited until now to make improvements'' shouted a man.

There was a good group of people who were shouting at the powerful figure of a Teutonic knight who stood in front of them with his arms crossed, the knight approached the crowd, and you could notice the difference in size, as the knight was almost 30 cm taller than everyone in the crowd

''This land is property of the king in Prussia, not yours because you built a house without authorization, it doesn't make you the owners, the king only allowed it because he still had no plans to expand the city, but now things have changed'' said the knight showing his imposing size.

''But what will become of us'' shouted another woman.

''Ask anyone who cares why all these houses will be torn down by the end of the next moon, so withdraw now'' said the knight.

Finally, the group began to disperse, as I don't think anyone in their right mind would try to take on such a giant.

They went to gather in an area, where many of them started to cry because of the situation.

''Excuse me, you can go to the new homeless shelter that will be opening soon, there will be food and beds for you to spend the night'' I said with a kind tone.

''We don't want your crumbs Prussian I had a house, a place to call home, and we lost it all for you'' a man said very annoyed

''Look, I'm not the one who forced you to build on my king's property, but I'm offering you help, so you can spend the night'' I said a little bit annoyed

''If you want to help us, you'd better hand over your coins'' said another man.

People started to crowd around me, and I quickly took my dagger and pointed it at the first idiot who approached me.

''Well, who will be the first asshole I have to kill,'' I said with an angry tone.

When I saw doubt in the faces of these beggars, I quickly escaped and headed back to where I was supposed to go.

Damn bastards, one tries to help and they almost end up robbing me.

When I walked a little further my attention was drawn to the screams coming from a brothel that were followed by sounds of fighting, whatever is going on in, there must be serious it sounds like a battle.

Many people came to observe what was going on

After 10 minutes of fighting, sounds were followed by silence and many Teutonic knights started to come out of the brothel carrying bodies that had their skulls smashed in.

Then a large group of women came out into the street, until the Finn came out of their carrying a group of 5 men in chains.

The knights pulled out 2 logs of wood, I knew specifically what was going to happen now.

They tied one of the prisoners to the logs and began to hammer nails into his hands.

Screams of pain filled the mournful silence until the Finn began to speak.

''People of Neu Danzig today we see how the worst crime that can be committed against people is punished, slavery, this scum that maintained this house of pleasure by bringing slaves from essos and forcing women to practice prostitution to maintain their business, and now we give them their just punishment'' said the Finn as they began to lift the cross with the man tied and nailed to it.

''Let it be clear whoever dares to take him down will suffer the same punishment'' said the man as the knights approached him with a brazier.

The Finn took out a red-hot iron and showed it to the man and proceeded to put it on his chest.

Screams and the smell of burning flesh were present now many people began to vomit at the smell.

Slaver were the words that were placed on the chest of the man who was crucified.

''The rest of the executions will take place tomorrow if anyone is interested'' said the man smiling.

The Finn began to take the prisoners away and the women began to speak in another language, the Finn laughed at them and left them to their fate.

It was clear that they were the slaves they had brought from essos, and he probably abandoned them, since he had no use for them.

I thought about guiding them to my destination, but I remembered what I had gone through trying to help, and I preferred to continue my destiny in safety.

Finally, I arrived at this soup kitchen where the poor would be fed, this was built by many donations from merchants, this one of the 4 that were built to help with the growing influx of migrants

I was helping with all the duties of this soup kitchen for a couple of hours until I considered it was time to go to my common tongue classes, before I left I was stopped by the priest who controlled this place

''Klaus, I know you made a big donation to maintain this place, but I feel obliged to ask if we can count on your charity for the next moon'' said the priest.

''Yes, consider my help I will donate the same as before so don't worry if you are short of gold to buy what you need to help the poor you know where to look for me, I will deliver what is needed to keep this place running'' I said to the priest.

''I am grateful for your concern for the needy, God will keep a place in heaven for you, Klaus'' said the priest humbly.

I nodded and headed to my classes.

Before leaving, I saw the dining room that was full of people who were eating, this was the first day of operation, we did not expect it to be full, but apparently more people need help than we thought, since whole families are eating here.

I just hope there are no more problems, I want to go back home and see my wife.

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