Theft and assault

"Mr. Rafael, Jack has arrived. Can I ask him to come in?"

As I savor the bread seasoned with various spices and finish my dragon's blood with one last sip. The waiter holds the door open and lets a masked man enter the room. I tell him to sit down and order another glass of dragon's blood from the waiter. I ask the man if he wants anything, but he says he's fine. So I begin:

—Mr. Jack, I chose you for this job because I learned of your skills. I plan to steal an item that few people in each district have. Many don't even dare to steal them, but a man with your talents must know where these objects are. You are free to choose your targets personally. I plan to steal 1 of these per day for the next 3 days. You will need to go to the East and West districts to steal them. Bring them back to me in the afternoon. I know that today is a very short deadline and you only have a few hours left, but this will also be a test to confirm your capabilities.

The man doesn't move and I can't see his expression due to the mask, then an aged voice comes out of him:

"An item that few people have, but I can freely choose my target, are you talking about storage bags?"

"Very clever of you to find out so quickly, you need to drug your targets so that they sleep for a few hours. Until you bring the bag to me, after that I will remove the magical effects of the bag, when we are done and the target wakes up it will be too late for him to track it and its contents will be ours. You can keep half of everything inside the bag. I will keep the bags, but I will give you compensation for them. As for other goods, it will be dangerous to try to sell these items here in the city… So, are you confident?

"Are you sure you can remove the magical effects? If you can't, the bag will attract the entire defense force to the Sleeping Dragon."

I nod, saying that I prepared the meeting place here precisely because I am so confident. I also reassure him that if it doesn't work out, all he needs to do is leave quickly, leaving her behind.

"Alright, but I have one small request. I'll bring you 4 bags in 3 days and I want one of them for myself. I'm happy to keep only half of the gold from the 4. Anything else belongs to you."

"Okay, we have a deal then, oh just one more thing Mister Jack... I said you can choose the target, but please avoid the Lords and prioritize merchants, especially the slave traders."

The man nods and leaves quickly. I receive my second drink that I ordered from the waiter and go to the window of room number 3 and look down.

The masked man put on a hood to further hide his face and mounts a sturdy black horse, he then rides away at high speed. I nod in understanding, if he used a carriage, it would be slow and very conspicuous, especially since his masked figure was not at all discreet during the day. Soon someone knocks on my door again, I give them permission to enter and I see a Valyrian couple. They saw my ad that I posted on the tavern's bulletin board and came to buy a cabin. So I calmly explain:

—Each cabin costs 10 gold coins and you can take up to 5 people with you. If you don't want to buy the entire cabin, you can pay the fee of 2 gold coins per person and wait until other people join.

"We don't need it, it'll just be the two of us."

—Okay, then cabin number 1 belongs to you two, we leave on Sunday night, boarding time starts at lunchtime and goes until sunset. Don't be late, we won't wait for anyone. 

I receive all 10 gold coins immediately, and ask some questions that would be considered simple in my previous world. I use the image system for the first time to create a very realistic drawing of the two, while I fill in their names and basic information such as age, height, allergies, profession and marital status to find out if they are siblings, friends or married. If they want separate beds in their cabin, if they have ever had any problems with the law, if they have relatives in places other than Valyria, this question is so that in case something happens at sea, I can warn their family and friends. 

They question the reason for so many questions, but I say that it is only for the safety of all passengers, some modifications in the cabin and changes in the cabin menu. As for the reason for the trip, they only say that they are traveling on business. Before finishing, I confirm that they are indeed a newlywed couple, so I give them 2 tickets and the list of the ship's menu that runs from Monday to Sunday with many variations in its 3 meals. In addition to a pamphlet with notes on hygiene and how to behave in case of attacks by sea beasts or pirates. They both seem surprised by the details and care for their safety and well-being before thanking me and leaving. 

After the couple, it takes almost 1 hour before a man alone come in, he wants a shared cabin. I write down his name and repeat the procedures of the previous couple before taking the two gold coins and finalizing everything. He doesn't give details about the reason for the trip, but he seems to be fleeing Valyria. Twenty minutes after he leaves, Black Cat finally returns with a man with black hair and oriental features. He introduces him as Captain Shang, a pirate from Yi Ti. As soon as we finish the introductions, Black Cat leaves us alone and leaves the room.

—Captain Shang, as I made clear, once we start this, there is no turning back. If you try to give up or leave, I will put a lot of gold coins as a bounty on your head. Of course, I will also honor my part and will not give up the service or change partners.

"Since I have agreed to the terms, I will not change my mind. Even though I am a pirate, I have my own code of honor. So tell me what we will do. Even if it is to steal a dragon egg, I will not back down."

I almost spit out my drink, this old captain is crazy and bold indeed…

—Captain Shang, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but we are not going to steal any eggs. Have you heard of the Golden Dragon ship?

"Hmm, so that's the plan? Go on…"

He runs his hand through his smooth beard as he nods in understanding, while I continue:

—The ship arrives once every 1-2 months bringing the most valuable cargo to the entire city, not only is there the best food and drink from all the Valyrian regions and colonies but also fabrics, tapestries, works of art and even a lot of gold, jewelry, weapons and armor. Of course, these last 3 are out of the question because they are unloaded and sent to the Bank on the same day and time the ship arrives. Which will also be next Sunday now, the ship should arrive in the early afternoon and everything of greatest value will be unloaded in the afternoon. The rest of the cargo will only be unloaded the next day, on Monday morning. That's when my plan comes into action, we will enter and exit the ship in a period of just 2 hours in the early evening and take what we can in that period. I need you and your men to take down the few guards silently. I will take some of the food and drink and you can go for what you think is most valuable. After that, we have to leave the city quickly and make sure that they only find out about the robbery the next day. By then, it will be too late.

"The ship belongs to the Five Fingers Conglomerate, the 5 most powerful Valyrian families. Why do you think it will be too late for them to follow us?"

—There will be a certain event the next day that will take all the attention away from the robbery. I guarantee that if we are discreet and not too greedy, we can get in and out and take enough without attracting attention. I will cause a delayed fire that will burn out only a few hours after the robbery during the early hours of the morning. If we carry out the robbery early in the evening and leave quickly, the fire will delay the investigation in the morning, and by noon all the guards and investigators will be too busy with this other matter.

"That's why you won't let the person leave. Knowing that such a thing will happen, I could easily plan other safer and less profitable robberies, but that's okay, I accept. If everything goes as you say, this robbery is enough to retire me."

A sinister smile appears on the old captain's face. As I continue to explain the entire plan to him. Forty minutes later, Captain Shang leaves, carrying some notes with him, and I am satisfied with the deal.

Leaving aside the gold I already have, some might say that I already have enough and should just leave already. But the cargo of the Golden Dragon is something on a whole other level, just the wine, rum, and other spirits easily reach 5-20 gold coins per bottle, if we include 5 and 25 liter barrels of other drinks. We are talking about drinks that easily exceed 100 coins! The drinks, exotic foods, and spices are all food destined for the Dragon Lords and their families. If this robbery works, Omar and I would be true tycoons in Asshai, having a lot of money never hurts. Leaving aside the sale of these items, Asshai is poor in food and drink, having a good stock of quality food is not something I can pass up. Besides, once we get there, we do not know if there are any safe ways to make money. So this is a necessary path and I am confident since I have calculated all the possibilities and kept two crucial pieces of information of the plan just for myself.