Buying a ship

 After lunch, Omar and I returned to his house. On the way, I looked at the system message and realized that despite completing the mission, I only gained experience points. Only then did I understand that my system was still at level 0. If there was any benefit, I needed him to reach level 1 first to find out. Omar said that it would be his first time going to his father and that he preferred to go alone for now. He also said that he always received his allowance from a servant and that he didn't know how his sisters would react if they saw him personally going to his father's estate. Remembering that the Brown brothers were also a problem for me because of Omar's complicated status, I quickly accepted his request. The last thing I wanted was to end up in a Velaryon prison being tortured by two troublesome girls while I waited for my doom. I asked him to give me most of the coins he had at the time. He gave me 11 gold coins and another 20 silver coins, before I could ask him he exclaimed:

"I didn't tell the truth in front of Madame Liz... Do you know how much a night with her costs? She's one of Madame Rose's daughters, I had to bargain a bit and regret that my monthly allowance was almost gone hehe. Besides, she doesn't usually meet just anyone, I saw how she looked at you, if you're interested just let me know and I'll arrange a meeting between you two." 

My look is one of surprise, I ignore the last part of Omar's comment and focus on the name Madame Rose... Not only was she famous in the last two decades for her "services" to a huge amount of noble clients, but there were also rumors that even some Dragon Lords were seduced by the beautiful whore. Of course, her time had passed and she no longer had the beauty of her youth, but she was easily the most famous prostitute in the city, and using part of her fame and important connections she now controlled most of the pleasure houses in the entire Valyrian Freehold. Another important fact was that she had 12 children and most of them were bastards of important noble houses or wealthy merchants. The fact that Madame Liza was one of these 12 children, and still does the same job as her mother did, shows that she wants to follow in her mother's footsteps and even hopes to inherit her business.

After putting away the coins, I say goodbye to Omar and arrange to meet him around 4:00 pm in front of the headquarters of our district bank. Before heading to the port to look for a ship, I also stop by a designer clothing store and buy a beautiful outfit, unlike the linen rags I wore before, this one is made of high-quality animal skins, the shoes in particular are extremely comfortable and durable. I look in the mirror and see myself wearing pants that look like black jeans and a long-sleeved shirt made of a dark blue silk fabric. I feel that my appearance in the mirror is extremely appropriate, scammers always dress well, don't they? I smile and before leaving the store I buy a red cloak and a black full-length cloak that I plan to wear in the next few days. I put them in a cloth bag with a long handle that the store provided me, it is quite common and is usually used by merchants in the city. The clothes cost almost 2 gold coins, I also take the opportunity to stop by a store that sells maps and buy a good amount of paper and some maps of the entire region. The papers are for other purposes, and since they are expensive goods, they cost me another 1 gold coin. 

I head to the port ready for the scam, I mean; ready to do business! I plan to be honest and pay for everything I'm going to buy next month and I'm even willing to use my old man's house and his little shop as collateral... It wouldn't be my fault if most of the creditors aren't alive to collect the debt later hehe. After asking some passersby I find a perfect place as soon as I arrive at the huge port, it's a representative office for ship owners, located near one of the local docks that builds, repairs, sells and resells ships. As soon as I enter the place the man introduces himself politely and begins to explain the advantages of each ship; such as cargo capacity, passenger capacity, durability and most importantly, speed. I soon find a sailboat that I really like. In addition to having an entire deck for cargo, it has another one for the crew and several cabins for passengers who want a more comfortable and private trip. Among the cabins there are 4 that are large and luxurious for important passengers. I am surprised by the quality and size of the Valyrian ship, I do not know much about medieval ship construction, but its design with 4 masts and huge sails guarantee a good speed for the distance and destination I have in mind. 

While I personally see the ship we start the negotiation: The starting price is 85 gold coins that I quickly lower to 45, the man almost spits blood in anger before reducing the price to 75. I keep it at 45 and insist on the fact that the ship is already used and has possible wear and tear issues and the need for repairs soon. He grits his teeth before reducing the price again, this time to 70. I hold back my smile before pointing out the mold I saw on the cargo floor, saying that it causes diseases and that I will have to use some special cleaning products to ensure that the cargo is not damaged and the passengers do not get sick. At this point, the man seems to be mourning the loss of a blood relative before lowering it again to 65 coins. I complain a few more times before making it clear that the only one who loses is me, since such a ship would need at least a crew of 20 to 40 people. So, after sighing deeply one last time, I agree to the final price asked. Then the payment method begins to be negotiated, and when I ask for the payment to be made in several installments the man complains again before I add 1 extra gold in interest to each installment. The greedy salesman soon sees the opportunity to recover the gold he lost in the initial negotiation and even tries to extend the installments for almost 1 year. I once again hold back a smile, since that was my purpose all along since the beginning of the negotiation. After a few more details we close the deal and I agree with him that tomorrow my partner and I would return together to sign all the documents.

I leave the small office near the dock before looking at my new sailboat, the "Wind Hunter". A proud smile forms before turning into a serious face as I look in the direction I should go. There are several scowling men and they are all tall and strong, they control part of the manual labor done in the port. In addition to honest work involving muscles, they provide some shady services outside the law, I take a deep breath, keep a neutral expression and go towards them.

(Curiosities of Valyria part 4:

Valyrian hierarchy:

-40 dragon-riding families

-Families of noble blood

-Slave traders

-Influential traders

-Commoners

Note: The position and ranking of the most powerful families among the 40 is based on 2 factors:

Number of Bloodmages

Number of Dragon Riders)