(IN) Chapter 053 - The Brunic South Seas Company

Vivian arrived late in the night at Bermont's mansion...

She had set up a meeting, prior to the Consulate Meeting, with Bermont, Lord of Lyons.

Vivian was greeted by the head maid and was guided into a large room decorated with gold and red velvet as she sat on a luxurious red sofa with gold inlaid where she waited for a while with Dan and Bardis standing behind her.

Vivian noticed that Bermont spared nothing in furnishing the extravagant room designed to receive guests.

A large fireplace made from red brick where a shelf was connected to. On the shelf, Vivian saw some intricately made ship miniatures along with some small golden ship sculptures.

[He likes ships huh...] Vivian thought. But then as she saw the different large and monstrous fish and sea-creature heads mounted on the walls, along with Bermont's dignified painting that depicted him wearing his Admiral uniform, different from the uniform he wore on the meeting, with a large and majestic ship painted on the background, Vivian speculated that it wasn't only ships that interested Bermont, it was the sea itself...

*Knock Knock* "Hello ms. Vivian?" Bermont knocked, asking permission before entering the room despite it being his house as was customary in Brune culture...

Going inside a room that had a woman as a guest, especially if it was only her and her servants/retainers, one had to knock first and ask for permission...

Vivian was reminded of Duke's habit of kicking the door open in the study room made Vivian thought: [I should really force him to learn some proper etiquette during our next study session... hehe... Wait! W-Why am I thinking of Duke again! Concentrate Vivian, concentrate!] Vivian once more slightly blushed... This was becoming a weird habit of hers...

"Ms. Vivian, it is good to meet you... What brings you to my most humble abode?" Bermont asked with a bit of wariness present on his face.

"I just wanted to thank you for giving our family a chance to enter into the Consulate again..." Vivian smiled as she began the conversation in an indirect way instead of directly stating her business to ward off Bermont's wariness.

Vivian successfully warded off Bermont's cautious nature as his face lit up from the gratitude he had suddenly received...

"Oh it's no problem, It brings me great joy to see the Pendragons back on track again!" Bermont smiled... [Oh thank god she's not here to talk about business! Phew!] Bermont happily sighed in relief...

"If the Pendragons are getting back into the Consulate, it must mean Maine's doing well! Hahaha" Bermont added as a show of courtesy. To keep a conversation running till the other party stated their goal was customary for Nobles...

[A chance!] Vivian thought as she took the opportunity to talk about things business-related, which Bermont obviously did not have an interest in...

"Back on track huh... In truth, Maine's been having a rough time lately..." Vivian sighed as she faked a troubled expression. [Kukuku, I'm a pretty good actor hehehe] Vivian deviously chuckled in her mind like some villain is a novel... though she'd make a very cute villain.

"What's the matter? If there's anything we the Bermonts can do, please feel free to ask! Except for financial aid... as we too are in a predicament of our own..." Bermont twiddled his fingers as he noticed Vivian staring at the gold-inlaid furniture as she thought to herself [You don't seem to be in a predicament?]

Noticing Vivian's skepticism, Bermont began to explain that: "Oh, those aren't gold ha ha ha... Those are Amber-Brass from the Numid, Amazirh... It's basically just really shiny brass the Numid sell for really cheap..." Bermont's facial expression drooped as he explained to Vivian how the Lord of the richest economical city in the South was actually destitute...

You see... Satrius Bermont, although his name came from the greatest Merchant-Hero Brune has produced, and so did his parent's hoped for as they named him that, Satrius sadly never wished to be a merchant... In the first place, Bermont had dreamed to become, and in fact, became a Ship's Captain.

And he wasn't just any Captain of some random ship. Bermont became the Captain of the Brunic South Seas Company, the finest fleet of ships Brune had produced... Well, at least on paper.

After the war with the Musani ended and the long and very beneficial trade agreement started, the Brunic South Seas Company's ships were slowly exchanged for trade ships as they were cheaper to keep and maintain, but nevertheless, it was still a strong force of ships...

If it was a normal Merchant who was behind the seat of Consulate's Head Chairman, most of the arguments in the meeting this morning wouldn't have ended so simply. But since Bermont was also a respected Admiral, no, perhaps even the most respected Admiral of Brune, Silvan, Deacon, and the other Nobles had to concede, especially if the decision was made fair and square without foul play...

Satrius' face lit up as he told Vivian of his great adventures over the high seas, fighting off Gharibian, Macedonoi, and sometimes even the rare sea-sick Numid could be seen on the enemy ships Bermont faced as the greatest Admiral of Brune...

Bermont's passion for seafaring was evident due to his comically pronounced facial expressions. Whenever Bermont talked of business deals and all that boring mercantile stuff, his face would droop as if an icicle exposed to the sun. But when the subject of the conversation was about the sea and its wonders, Bermont's face lit up as if the Sun shined directly at it...

"And that's how I defeated a Sea Kraken! Well, it was pretty small?... So maybe it was a baby Sea Kraken!" Bermont nagged on and on.

"Uhmm, yes... So what does that, uhh you know, have to do with Lyons?" Vivian restrained herself as her annoyance began to set root because she realized she had been listening to him gab on and on for almost two hours now...

"Oh, yes yes... Sorry about that, you remember at the beginning of my tale I talked about how some huge bosomed (Archaic form of ASS) Pirate fleet ambushed my two boats?"

[Don't tell me...] "Yes?..." Vivian urged Bermont to continue.

"Well, yeah... that's it. I keep losing my poor little boats!" Bermont uttered.

[So you mean to tell me... you wasted two hours of my life... LISTENING TO A DAMNED IRRELEVANT STORY?!! ARGHHH!!!!...] Vivian screamed in her mind. [Well, I guess it was a fun story though...]

"Milady?" Bermont asked as he saw Vivian's face slightly twitch.

"Nothing... Please continue your story..."

"So, the Crimson Sea's infested with Pirates and the damned Musani keep pressuring me to keep their merchant ships safe or else they'll take their business elsewhere they shouted at me!" Bermont lamented his sad fate...

"Pirates attack, we lose money, we fight them, we lose ships, but we need ships to fight Pirates, and where do we get ships?! Money! A single frigate costs me an arm and a leg! And the Grain subsidies... let's not even start with that! It's a vicious cycle I tell you!"

[It'll be an even more vicious cycle if you don't get to the point!] Vivian cried in her head as she wished Bermont could speak as a normal merchant would... You know, straight to the point...

"Vivian? Are you ok? Your face's twitching again..." Bermont sweated for some reason unknown to him...

"No no, please continue..." Vivian once again was forced to smile as she didn't want to offend the poor unaware Lord of Lyons...