Chapter 20: Braavos part 2

(1,200 words)

- Percival Bolton POV -

- Braavos - Free Cities - Essos - 276 A.D -

"So you want to buy my company?" a greasy man with a swarthy complexion said to me. He was Magister Vonyo Volaris. He specialized in cloth, being the largest cloth exporter in Braavos, but he has a small fishing company that I was interested in buying into. It handled about 0.10% of the production of goods from the sea, be it fish, mollusks or some other kind of substance.

"That's right" I said with a smile. Behind me was Silver and Qyburn, while the Magister had three Unsullied on his back. Unsullied soldiers hailing from Astapor, from Slaver's Bay.

"I have not seen or heard of you before. You are a Westerosi new to this place. And you come, here, to try to buy my fishing company?"

"I already answered that question," I said once more. Beside me, Qybur released a poison in the air of suggestion. To make it more... easy, our negotiations.

"150,000 golden dragons" he told me, and I let out a chuckle. A curious thing about this world is that, although I don't know why, everyone uses the same currency. Both in Westeros and Essos.

(Author: I did this because there is no information, or I could not find, that talks about the currency exchange. And there are many different currencies. They are not worth changing, so they will all be golden dragons.)

The real price of the company should be between 30,000 to 50,000 dragons, but obviously the guy is charging me more money. The company would earn no more than 1000 gold dragons a year. Which means that Braavos produces 1,000,000 gold dragons a year from fishing. Which is quite a lot, considering that in the original series, the crown owes 3,000,000 dragons to the Iron Bank. But of course, we're talking about the Sealord's business and many other Magisters.

"Isn't that too expensive?" I asked smiling.

"Maybe you are still too green to trade with a Magister" he told me in an arrogant tone while giving a smirk.

"1,000 gold dragons" I said with a smirk, and his face turned red with anger as he pounded the table.

"You mock me!"

"Oh, no, forgive me. It's 1,000 plus something else, just not money" I said, and, though he remained annoyed, he began to pay attention to me. He wouldn't be a Magister if he couldn't return to calm after getting upset.

"Speak, but watch your words."

"Sure... It's 1,000 plus the fact that I don't kill and rap* Helena of Lys, Claria Volaris and Marcelia Volaris" I said smiling, and his eyes widened in surprise as he gestured to the Unsillied who pointed their spears at us. Gregor also drew his sword, and began snarling at the men in front of him. A real dress.

"How do you know them!" he shouted at me, and that's because the names I said are the Magister's secret mistress along with his two daughters. They live in a cottage on the outskirts of Braavos, and are Vonyo's true family, whom he loves with all his heart.

I had spied on the Magister using my magic to possess animals. With that, and the help of an eagle, I had found out about the existence of this group of women, who after killing the guards who were guarding them and kidnapping them, began to sing their relationship with Vonyo like little birds after the torture and the serums Qyburn gave them.

"That doesn't matter, but they are in my possession now. If you don't want to lose them, you should sign the document for 1,000 dragons" I said smiling, as I handed him a document with the transaction.

"What!" he shouted upon seeing it. "Not only do you want my fishing company, but also the cloths!" he shouted again.

"What can I say Magister, I am an ambitious man" I replied.

"You may win this company this time, but this will not go unnoticed by the other Magisters, if they are threatened, especially with a foreign threat from Westeros, they will finish you off without hesitation, and not even the laws of the Sealord will save you from them. I will get mine back!" the Magister told me angrily as he retreated from the hall.

The total value of the persqueras company is about 40,000 gold dragons, while the cloth company is about 1,200,000. In the last month when I was preparing this move, I had already prepared charismatic workers who infiltrated into the company, so the ownership transition would not be difficult.

My annual profits with the fabrics should be 40,000 to 50,000 dragons according to my research, so in total it was that number plus 1,000. Pretty good for only a month in this Braavosi city.

"Was the poison laid?" I asked Qyburn.

"Yes my lord, it will be a heart attack as were the experiments with the poison you created. There will be no evidence, even better than Tears of Lys, and it will affect from 30 minutes, before it reaches your family" he told me.

"That's good, then give the order to kill them, their existence is no longer necessary. Also finish off the list of men loyal to the Magister using the poison I gave you and the trained crows. They will be in charge of delivering the pecks and the poison to their targets. But not only them, also all their families. We have to show that we don't play games," I said, and the guy nodded with a big smile. He is capable, loyal and unscrupulous. The best subordinate you could ask for. Did I say how I love medieval laws? Even if the guy dies the properties still belong to me because of his signature.

After that, we headed to the Iron Bank, as well as Sealord's Palace, where we went to corroborate the documents and to definitively take over all of Vonyo's industry and properties. I was surprised he signed it so quickly, but it seems he loved his mistress that one too much. Love is always a weakness, unless it is used as motivation. But motivation by love is flawed, it is much better to use the hate product of a lost love, that is more potent. The officials gave us looks of suspicion, but they could do nothing, because the Magister died of a simple heart attack, and many people witnessed that. There was nothing they could do.

I renamed the Magister's companies, and now everything belonged to the Immortal Group, as I decided to call my group of different companies, it was Immortal Fish and Immortal Cloth. Simple but concrete names.

According to my study, the fishing sector is 72% of the production in Braavos, while the cloth is only 5%, with annual earnings of 69,000 gold dragons, of which I earn about 50,000 approximately. So the first step is to take control of the cloth, and then expand to other materials with less relevance to fishing, such as agriculture, which is quite poor in Braavos.

As there is no industrial revolution in Planetos, almost all production is focused on the primary sector, which is the extraction of natural resources, with little to almost no percentage in the secondary sector other than crafts and the like. Blacksmithing and steelworks, but it is not industrial as such. All that was left was to wait for the future.