Chapter 8. Brothers

The shop didn't stay busy, but George made plenty of money from his commission due to the price of the jewelry made by his father-in-law. Gold was not a rare resource in this town due to its proximity to a mountain range that had lots of gold ore just lying around it. The merchant caravans provided a steady flow of this ore and gold smiths made lots of jewelry for the merchants to sell elsewhere on their routes.

The main reason for the traveling merchants to visit the villages is just to get the precious resources that are in abundance in the mountains. The rest of the services that can be attained from the villages and the goods they purchase are actually not enough to get traveling merchants to visit them. Even the refining of the raw resources can only be done in the city at the base of the mountains, the villages have their own way of doing a rudimentary refinement but nothing that would sell in the rest of the kingdom.

The villages know this fact and therefore do their best to gather these resources in abundance so the caravans will continue to trade with them. While the caravans do not need their services and don't make enough money from the trades for it to be worth it without the raw materials they are able to acquire cheaply, the same can't be said about the villagers. In order to get specialty goods, they need the caravans so they do their best to keep the caravans happy.

The reason such skilled craftsmen even live in the city at the base of the mountain is so they can refine the raw materials that the merchants gather from the mountains first. This way, they don't have to wait around for the raw materials and they can get them at a cheaper price.

George's father-in-law, Quin Balnot, has been a goldsmith in Foothold City for about 40 years. His lineage in this city goes back several hundred years that can be accurately traced and every generation has produced at least one master goldsmith.

The Balnot family has an amicable relationship with the caravans which has resulted in the prosperity of the Balnot family. Fen is just one of his many children and had been a worry for the family since she had not found anyone to marry even though she was already 19 years old. The family learned how George was courting her and Quin approached them with the marriage offer. They both agreed and this is how George was now working in one of their shops.

Today, George had not had many customers so he was checking with his supervisor to see if any deliveries needed to be made. The main caravans that they sold to had already left to distribute their goods to the kingdom so there had not been much work for the Balnot shops for a few days.

"Adam, it's nearly closing time and I am ready to go home. Are there any deliveries that need to be made today?"

Adam had been running this shop that was on the road that lead outside the city to the small farm that George lived on with his wife.

"George, I received a letter from the branch that the West Caravan has set up their shops in the market district today. I can send you with a small part of the order today since your father has not completed their usual shipment yet. It seems that we will be having you deliver the good for a few day in a row to get it all to them this time."

George nodded his head, "It sounds like they are going for a longer trip around the kingdom this time."

George had not been with the shop for long but he had already figured out how things work.

He thought to himself, 'Merchant caravans don't want to carry more than they need since extra weight can slow them down but if they are going for longer trips then they will take more stuff with them.'

Adam replied, "Yeah, I heard that they were renting more wagons and horses as well as a dragon-rhino. They must be taking a safe cart with them as well. Anyway, here is the stuff."

George just grabbed the goods he was going to deliver on the way home and waved goodbye to his boss.

It was a short walk to the market district that just required a short detour on a loop that would bring him back to the road that led to his house.

He quickly identified the quartermaster of the caravan that took care of the goods and received the orders from the various shops in the area.

"Mr. Artin, its good to see you again. The caravan has been in the mountains for a couple of months already."

"Haha, George! It's nice to see that you have gotten comfortable in your position with your father-in-law's store. Last time I got orders from you, it seemed like you were worried you would lose the goods."

George was happy to be complimented by one of their best customers and he showed Dean Artin, the Quartermaster, the sack of goods he had for them.

The gold jewelry had been individually wrapped in a special wax paper that sealed it from any abuse it might endure so the quartermaster just had to open a couple before resealing them to ensure a good product.

He had never had a problem with the Balnot shops so he just had to check a couple of random pieces of the goods to ensure the quality as a formality.

As they were chatting and getting the delivery taken care of, Bo walked up to see who was already delivering to their caravan.

"Well if it isn't the Balnot shop, we just got in today and you have already brought us part of the order! You must have people watching the gates and the market at all times hahaha!"

Bo slapped George on the back as he joyfully greeted him.

"Oh, Master Bo, yes sir we surely take care of our best customers. You can expect the rest to be delivered in just a few short days this week."

Bo was glad to hear news on one of their most important suppliers, "Thank you, George, it is always good to know we are being treated right. By the way, let me introduce to you my assistant and the person who will be taking over this caravan within the next few years."

George was interested in seeing who would be the next caravan master when Bo finally decided to retire so he said his goodbyes to Dean and followed after the current caravan master.