We Can Afford It

Dom awoke in his bed as usual, grateful that his sneaking had worked last night and he hadn't disturbed the two women downstairs. The last few days had been exhausting, and it felt strange that he was still in game rather than having to log out as he had expected. He wondered how the game had made it possible that he could complete the quest in such a short amount of in game time and how that worked with his brain, but among many other things about World Conquest Online, he just had to accept it as it is.

Dom put on a clean outfit, strapping his belt around his waist and attaching his sword to it. He left behind his Slaying Spear and his armour for now, planning to grab those before he departed later in the day across the bridge towards the Ancient Underground City. The journey would be much faster than previously as he had his Red Hare horse, as well as the fact that a clear pathway had been marked towards the city and the Legionaries and some Lumberjacks and cleared a path for easier excavation and transportation.

He headed down his stairs towards the living area, where he was surprised to see that it had been cleaned by the cleaners and that no one was around. He had expected that Meritamen would be waiting for him, but she seemed to have disappeared and he was interested to see what she had got her self up to.

He then headed down the final set of stairs in to the now clean great hall, where the smell of fresh bread reached his nose immediately. He saw that some had been placed near his chair, as well as a small bowl of fruit, which he gratefully grabbed and ate as he walked towards the exit of the Town Centre.

Here he saw Lucius stood with a large crowd of nearly one hundred people, a combination of men and women of different colours and cultures. Beside him was Meritamen and he was loudly talking to the crowd and pointing out some key locations in Riverside as he noticed Dom's arrival.

"Good Morning Lord Lazarus." Lucius welcomed, "Please say hello to our new arrivals."

"Good Morning everyone!" Dom announced loudly to the crowd, "Welcome to Riverside, we are grateful to have you and hope that you find our settlement as a great place to start your new lives. I will leave you in the very capable hands of Mayor Lucius and Diplomat Meritamen."

Meritamen flashed him a grin, before she turned back to the crowd with Lucius who continued to then tell the new arrivals about where they should head next and what the next steps for them would be. Meritamen had decided to shadow Lucius today and get a better understanding of Riverside and the way it was ran, so she could both be a better diplomat for Riverside, but also a better wife to the Lord.

Dom decided to first head over towards the Market, where he had arranged with Cassius the Head Merchant and Crassus to make some key purchases for Riversides growth. As he walked he was flanked by his usual guards, this time Gregorios and Trojan. He was greeted by many people as he walked, and Riverside was much busier than usual.

He noticed hundreds of people working with both Wang Shu and Lars to help build houses, which were now being built slightly further out of Riverside than usual. A large section of tents had been set up between the Farmland and the Merchant District where the Hittites had been sleeping overnight as the next phase of houses were completed. Dom had discussed a timeframe with Wang Shu and he had been confident they would be in a good position by the end of the week, however with more people now involved they hoped they could have some form of housing for the majority of people by the end of the next day.

They had decided together that they would create a welcoming housing area, where new Riverside members would be able to move in to for the first couple of days, whilst permanent housing was chosen for them. The locations of the permanent housing would be based on their work skills so they had less time to travel to where they worked.

Dom soon reached the Market and saw that Crassus was already there, combing through a Market stall with Cassius and Makali the fruit seller. Crassus was eating some exotic fruits and laughing boisterously as Makali showed him some other items on his stall.

"Good morning Lord Lazarus!" Cassius welcomed. Dom was a big fan of the Market Manager and Head Merchant, who had helped them with Banas's tribe, as well as supporting with the growth of the Sabre Tooth Tiger Cubs that were now living in a house that had been built near the Farming District, where they got a regular amount of milk and small amounts of meat.

"Hey Cassius, how are you feeling?" Dom asked kindly.

"Tired after last night." Cassius laughed, "but we thoroughly enjoyed the feast. Makali here is just showing us some more of his fruits."

"Did you enjoy the ones I supplied yesterday?" Makali asked, "I'm expecting a shipment to arrive within the next day or so with more fruits!"

"How will it arrive?" Dom asked seriously, excited at the thought of merchants arriving in Riverside and it helping with the growth.

"By merchant ship!" Makali replied, "It will easily dock at the docks. I'm expecting a large amount of fruits, vegetables and seeds. If there are anything you want in bulk, please let me know as soon as possible so I can place it on my next order."

"How far do they have to travel to get here?" Dom asked.

"I can have them arriving every week if needed." Makali replied, "As can most of us, I can not confirm where they are in direction to us, but they are at least three days by ship to the north of us. I am a proud member of Riverside though now, so those that I trade with are trading with a Riverside trader."

"It's great to have you here." Crassus stated, as he took another bite from his food.

"Cassius and Makali, do any of the merchants sell anything like Schematics or Slaves?" Dom asked.

"Schematics, not on hand." Cassius replied, "I suspect you'll need to purchase them from an architect or an expert from a larger city, however this is something we can request, is there anything in paticular?"

This put a downer on Dom, as he was hopeful that he could purchase some new building types there and then from the Market that they could construct. In hindsight though, this probably wasn't a bad thing as they had an overflowing building schedule as it was.

"We can always put the feelers out when the ship arrives tomorrow." Makali stated, "Maybe someone will be willing to come to Riverside and sell some on one of the stalls. You are also building shops so maybe some people will decide to emigrate to Riverside and set up shop here. I know I may upgrade to a shop once I have some money."

"Ahh yes, money." Crassus commented, "I'll send some to you shortly from the bank."

"Slaves however, we can help you with." Makali continued, a smile on his face at Crassus's comment of money. "I do not deal with slaves, but Mathias can definitely help."

Makali pointed them in the direction of the exotic animals stall, which was covered in small cages and baskets. Dom hadn't really had chance to inspect the Market in detail yet and headed over towards it, followed by Crassus and Cassius. Makali did a brief introduction of Mathias, an overweight greek man with no hair on his face except for his overly bushy grey eyebrows.

Inside the cages where a variety of small animals, from colourful lizards and tortoise, to different varieties of birds, owls, small monkeys, ferrets and many others. There were also a couple of larger cages that were covered in fabric.

"Welcome to my stall Lord Lazarus!" Mathias stated, bowing his head low and Dom could see the layers of sweat that were gathering on top of it. "I am grateful that you have graced me with your presence, please let me show you my wares."

Mathias then showed them around some of the cages, with Crassus casting a keen eye over some of the exotic creatures.

"I would love to purchase some of these when I have my villa build." Crassus stated, "Can you order me in creatures as well?"

"I can!" Mathias replied, "If you want it, I can request it from the ships who will then purchase or request hunters to catch animals for you. Some are also bred and sold at the bigger markets and can be purchased and then sold to me."

"What are in the big cages?" Crassus asked, greed in his eyes. At this point Cassius bid them farewell and headed across to some of the other Market leaders to discuss with them work related things. Dom had explained to him that they wanted to develop trade quickly and that they had money to spend.

"Some of my more special items." Mathias replied, as he headed towards the crates. He lifted the first blanket that covered a cage to the left of them, revealing a light brown dog like creature with dark brown spots covering it. It had large round ears and when it opened it's mouth in a yawn it revealed long demonic like teeth. It opened its large black eyes and made a strange laughing noise as it growled at them.

"A Hyena?" Dom asked in shock, an animal that had been extinct in the modern times for over a hundred years.

"Yes a Hyena my Lord!" Mathias replied with a bow, "You are very cultured to know of these exotic creatures from the plains, these are imported from many thousands of miles away."

"I'll take two!" Crassus said in reply, looking at the strange dog like creature in front of him.

"Of course Master Crassus." Mathias stated, "I only have the one currently, but I can get another."

"I want a breeding pair at least." Crassus stated seriously, already planning on creating a collection of exotic animals. Dom didn't argue against this spending, even though he knew right now it was coming out of his funds and felt that it would be interesting for Crassus to collect them, creating a private zoo within Riverside. He would discuss this with Crassus later and see if they could find a plot of land to collect rare and interesting creatures.

Mathias then showed them a few more cages, showing other smaller animals such as Lynx, a rare type of wild cat with long pointy ears and a pair of baby Sun Bears. Crassus offered to buy them all and Dom could see that Mathias now had a regular customer.

"Now the real reason we have come over Mathias, is that we want to purchase some slaves." Dom stated, getting to the point after Crassus had offered to buy most of the stock.

"I heard that Riverside doesn't agree with slavery?" Mathias replied with a raised eyebrow, whilst internally rubbing his hands together.

"We don't." Dom replied sternly, "however, I am willing to investigate the option of bringing them in so they can earn their freedom and join Riverside freely."

"What type of slaves are you looking for?" Mathias replied, "I can easily supply you with plenty through my contacts, however looking at the amount of people arriving here daily, I expect you don't need normal people."

"No, you are correct Mr Mathias." Dom stated, "We want tradesmen and skilled workers."

"People often fall on hard times and have to sell themselves to get out of debt." Mathias replied sadly, "It's a hard world out there, I am sure the opportunity to join Riverside would be a fresh opportunity for many of them, I know I am grateful to be here. Let me reach out to my contacts when the ship arrives with Makali and the others stock tomorrow, and I'll see what I can do. There are also those that are captured when a kingdom falls and are sold in to slavery, such as ex warriors, commanders and government staff."

"We can afford it." Crassus commented seriously, a threatening glint in his eye. "But I know what I am looking for, so make sure they don't try and sell me faulty goods."

"I understand, and I won't let you down!" Mathias replied with a bow. "I can see if we can get some batches bought, and also see if I can get a list of any high value ones available. There are often auctions as well."

"It may be worth us visiting one of the trading ports and joining some!" Crassus replied, thinking up some options.

Just as Dom was about to continue the conversation, he was interrupted by the arrival of a Hoplite who had ran towards them, sweating heavily in the morning heat.

"Lord Lazarus, come quick, Commander Tomoe has discovered something interesting in the Silver Forest!" The Hoplite stated through ragged breath.