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***
274 A.D.
Volantis
As much as Oberyn would have liked to rush from the first steps to the nearest available skirt, there were more important matters that could not be delayed. The first order of business was to visit the merchant Belicio Taragos, the one the guardsmen in the Sun Spear were talking about.
Volantis itself is an incredibly large city. According to more or less recent records made by travelers from the Citadel, and according to the Volantis themselves, whom I often met in Staromest Harbor, it has three hundred thousand free citizens. And for every one of them there are five slaves who form and maintain the city's economy. If you add in the merchants, travelers, and numerous landless laborers, the city's population is nearly 2 million.
Therefore, its size is correspondingly large. Only by the most approximate and rough calculations, the area of the city occupied almost 50 square kilometers, including the vast territories of the Black Walls, spacious streets-markets, villas of the most noble and wealthy Volantians and "reserve" crop fields located on the island of Balerax, serving as an inviolable reserve of the city in case of sea and land blockade.
Blue Ribbon Street itself was located on the island side of Volantis, in what was known as the new neighborhood. Here lived the "new aristocracy" - numerous merchants and wealthy landowners who gained their wealth through trade and commerce. The main strength and support of the Elephant Party, which had ruled this city for three centuries. Unlike the Tigers, who were old aristocracy, who considered themselves heirs to the imperial ambitions of Valyria and wanted to revive the empire, and who lived on the mainland, the Elephants were merchants and moneylenders, who were against war and in favor of peaceful trade.
So our path lay from the docks on the riverbank across the famous Long Bridge and further inland. Thanks to the Seven, here, as in any city, for a modest fee of a few coppers, it was possible to hire city street kids who knew the city and all its nooks and crannies. So after two hours of wandering through the snake-like streets we reached the merchant's house.
Belicio Taragos was impressive. Seriously. Put on his armor, give him a battle axe and a tower shield, put him on a warhorse, and he would be the ideal of a knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Tall, as tall as me, muscular, with powerful arms and legs, and a red beard reaching to his waist, he looked like anything but a merchant living on one of the most prestigious streets in Volantis.
He received us in a small garden at the back of the house, showing the depth of his master's purse. Still, every square yard on this land was worth its weight in gold and was used as wisely as possible.
«Do you know what is written here? - Taragos finally asked, after re-reading the letter Oberyn had given him. Judging by the frown on his bushy eyebrows and the wrinkles on his face, he was not very happy with what he had read. The Prince of Dornish was already drinking a second goblet of exquisite fruit wine, and judging by the color of the wine brought from the Summer Isles, he was in a state of nirvana due to the lack of constant rocking. Where he had kept the letter that it had not spoiled even after his swim in the Lysenian Straits remained to be seen.
«No." he replied, taking another large sip of wine and looking with interest at a beautiful woman in a revealing outfit who was passing not far away. Either Taragos' wife or concubine. Hopefully Oberyn will be smart enough to think with his head and not his cock.
«Your dearest mother and elder brother write that due to certain circumstances you will be forced to live in Essos for a time. They have asked me to provide you with money, lodging, and my patronage in Volantis and to assist you in all your endeavors. - Judging by the tone and expression on Belichio's face, he didn't much like having such a big problem dumped on him. I can't believe that this merchant, like any self-respecting high-handed merchant, doesn't have his own informants in Sunspear and Ironwood. Surely he already knows why the Dornishman was exiled here and has a good idea of how it might turn out for him.
«That's perfect. - If Oberyn noticed how "pleased" the owner of this house was to see him, he didn't show it, still smiling his cheeky smile that begged for a brick. - I am grateful for your hospitality, Mr. Taragos. I wish I could appreciate your hospitality, but this is my first visit to Volantis. And I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't see all its beauty. Let's meet in a week and a half. You're a very busy man. A businessman and a successful merchant, and the Triarch election is coming up. That must keep you very busy. I wouldn't want to interrupt that.
"Oberyn, fuck..." - I thought, not expecting the Dornish to give such a speech. He had now, in fact, asked to go on a ten-day bender (which Taragos would probably pay for), arguing that the merchant couldn't even look after his guest. And judging by the even more frowning face of our interlocutor, he understood the hint. - "Stop insulting a man in his own house!"
We had to take matters into our own hands and turn the heat on ourselves. As a result, we left Taragos' manor half an hour later, not in the best condition. And if I had a headache from the long verbal battle, where I had to do my best not to fly out of the house with broken legs, Oberyn was quite drunk, having emptied the merchant's stock of half a barrel of Letnian wine.
"Bastard," It flashed through my mind as I dragged him through the alleys of Volantis, following the hired boy provost.
«What's up? - Oberyn finally stopped acting like a drunken drunkard and put his arm around my shoulder, which I immediately dropped. You should always be wary of this Dornish man-the faggot had not let go of his wet fantasies about me. - Brothels? Because of you, I haven't been with a woman in a week. A week! A whole week that would make everything go to hell, a week! You can't do that. So let's go. A good friend of mine tells me there's a girl on Purple Lantern Street who can do a Meereen knot. There's only four of them in the whole world! I can't miss that.
I had to stop Oberyn from rushing forward with all my strength, even though it was clear on the ship that I was much stronger than him physically. That's what spermotoxicosis does to a man.
«Okay, slow down! - I finally calmed him down, shaking him and giving him a good smack, though I realized it wouldn't help for long. Fights, wine, beautiful women and men (no matter in what order) were everything to this Dornish man. Only his family, whom he truly loved, could make him serious for a while. - This was only the first meeting for the day. There was one more person to visit, a person who could not be put off at all.
«Maybe we shouldn't? - And this jerk, who is now seriously making eyes at me and playing the insulted innocence, in the future will become a charismatic and dangerous Red Kite, which my granddaughters all my ears buzzed? I don't believe it!
«You have to. You have to. This man very much does not like to wait and only thanks to him I was able to get such a favorable contract for the bear. - Said I, dragging Oberyn by the scruff of his neck. - You must go to him today, or he will be very offended. And that's very bad for trade. - After another look at the hurt look on the sixteen-year-old ram's face, I decided to give him the carrot he so desires. - He owns and lives in one of the largest pillow houses in Volantis. While we're negotiating, you can entertain.....
I didn't get a chance to finish. I was dragged the rest of the way by Oberyn, who instantly picked up first space speed, urging our little guide on with his dagger, promising to satisfy his sexual hunger on him if he delayed.
***
(Author's note hereafter, all conversations in Valyrian, no matter what dialect, will be italicized, Dothraki in bold, Ibbenian underlined, and Ithian in a different font)
«So, Mr. Atrakes. I have kept my end of the bargain. All that remains is for me to show the goods at the general fair and make a performance on the triarch's part. - I spoke while sipping Balerion's wine, a delicate yellowish-colored wine produced only on the Orange Coast, a famous winery in Volantis, named after the main god in the Valyrian pantheon, and getting a high from three exotic beauties who were naked massaging my shoulders, which had become stone during the voyage. Not far away, literally next door, the squeals, screams, and slaps of several bodies entwined in ecstasy had been heard for half an hour. The Prince of Dorne had had his fill of sweetness.
We were on one of the oldest streets in the city, where my patron's establishment was located. The Beauty of Valyria brothel was one of the three elite and expensive pillow houses of Volantis, whose fame had raged for years throughout the ports of Westeros and Essos. According to the tales of the sailors of Old Town, this great marble house contains within it hundreds of beauties whose looks and skills are as good as the mistresses of Aegon IV "Unworthy" Targaryen himself, whose tastes have been considered the standard of beauty among women for a century and a half. Three floors of the most skillful mistresses in Southern Essos, for one night with whom one must pay in full gold... Still, brothels are a very lucrative business.
«You've fully justified my trust, Mr. Felix. I must admit, I didn't expect you to do it. Many smugglers have sworn by every god they knew to get me such a rare beast, but they just didn't come back. And you not only came back alive and well, but you brought back such an interesting specimen. What did you sacrifice for such a thing? Not your own ass, I hope? - My interlocutor, who resembled one big lard than a human, laughed merrily at his simple joke, supported by all the present priestesses of love and me. I was well aware that no matter how silly the sensible man lying on the couch in front of me looked, he was not to be underestimated.
"Much less anger him." - I thought, fending off another attempt by one of the local prostitutes to get into my pants. Not yet. The negotiations weren't over yet.
I had met Atrakes Belroy, one of the richest businessmen in Volantis and a close friend and assistant to Triarch Alcaro Levak, a year ago in Staromest by chance. Even then I was already known in the harbor as a man who knew most dialects of the Valyrian language and spoke them fluently. Belroy himself, who had come to the city in person on trade business, was in a difficult situation - his Valyrian-Andalus translator had gotten drunk the day before the negotiations and drowned in his own vomit in the city gutter.
Translators in this world are a piece of cake and very expensive. Yes, most Westerosi nobles learn Valyrian as the local Latin - the language of noble and intelligent nobles, and many Essos merchants learn Andalos to do business in the Sunset Kingdoms, but there is always one big BUT. You can't ask the former - they'll take it as an insult and challenge you to a duel to the death, and the latter... what kind of merchant would invite his competitors to his deal as a middleman? Only a complete idiot. So I was the only person who could do anything to help the situation.
Alcaro was negotiating with the Old Town Merchants' Guild for a shipment of slave girls from Yunkai to the local brothels. Slavery is forbidden in Westeros, but in fact... legally most peasants do not differ in their rights from slaves, except that they can't be beaten and killed. And about slave prostitutes from Yunkai... and what are the prospects for girls, from a small age trained only in "the way of seven sighs and sixteen positions of pleasure", who do not know the local language and do not know anything. The answer is simple: none. By law they are free people, but in fact they are still the same slaves.
"Thank the gods that there are few like them," I thought, remembering the faded eyes of that fourteen-year-old girl who spent almost all the time of the negotiations staring at the floor and afraid to move. - "Still, each such slave cost almost forty dragons, and that's a lot of money for a worker of this profession, who in Westeros gets a maximum of five or six silvers at a time.
The negotiations went well and I even managed to hint to Alcaro that the Guild was trying to cheat him by inflating the existing "pillow tax" or prostitute ownership. For which they later paid dearly, losing half of their branches in southern Essos. They underestimated this man with the fourth degree of obesity, short platinum hair and violet beady eyes. A very unusual combination of Valyrian natural beauty and the body of a fat hog gave birth to a very strange picture for perception, subconsciously underestimating the intellectual abilities of the merchant in the eyes of the interlocutor. For my help I was thanked with 15 gold Valar and several future orders for interpreter's help from visiting Volantians, which added to the number of my useful acquaintances.
It was only through his patronage and connections that my scheme was possible. Logically, I could have gotten rich even without this venture. Statistically speaking, there's only one land merchant in Westeros for every 100 peasants. And there's only one sea merchant for every 100 such merchants. The sea is too inconstant, ships and the provisioning of their crews expensive, far-flung lands dangerous and frightening, and good navigators capable of guiding ships in the dangerous waters of the Narrow and Jade Seas rare. But Alcaro's patronage will give me access to the markets of nearly all of southern Essos. So I'll make my fortune much faster, even if I have to give some of it to Belroy.
«Unfortunately, no, sir. - I said, feigning sadness and sipping some more wine. - My ass is too muscular for them. Afraid I'd crush their dick in the middle of the process.
«Whoa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha... - The ensuing roar of laughter, which I couldn't call laughter, of everyone present clearly showed that the joke had gone down well. In this world, at least some semblance of etiquette had appeared only among the lords of Westeros, and that was observed only by the most well-bred nobles and their ladies. In the Free Cities, where the majority of yesterday's uneducated and dirty poor people now own untold riches, it is difficult to count on any kind of cultural behavior. So port jokes here, even in high society, will be accepted with open arms, laughing heartily and not offended.
After laughing and drinking another portion of wine, Alcaro finally returned to our conversation:
«How you managed to get this beast is none of my business. Just fulfill the rest of the bargain. You say you can make this monster the talk of the town in a week. - He said, immediately regaining his serious attitude and staring at me with his most serious look. Almost got me. - Initially I did not believe that you at least the first part of his promise to keep, but so far you have not given me reason to be disappointed in you. Your final reward depends on the furor caused by handing over the beast to the triarch. At best, I will bestow you with gold equal to your weight, with the market price of the monster added on top. But, uh. if it fails, you lose everything. Including your life.
At the last words, all the false impression of him as a nice and not dangerous kolobok disappeared at once. In front of me sat - the right hand of one of the strongest elephants of Volantis, already 5 years sitting in the seat of the triarch, and considered the richest man in this city. With a wave of his hand, preventing me from saying a word, he leaned on the slave girls who had come up and walked away, leaving the last word to himself.
"Scary man," I thought, leaning back on the back of the couch. No matter how many "big dudes" I had met and socialized with in my past life, there was always someone who would make a hoard of goosebumps run down my back with one look. - "Gotta relax. After all, I deserve a vacation."
With signs, summoning the nearest favored priestesses of love with a dash of Valyrian blood, I went to the assigned room. I'd had plenty of women in my two lives, but white-haired and purple-eyed women.... Never.
I need to make up for lost time. The important thing is to take the right medication. No matter how much the owner of the place swears about the cleanliness of his girls, I don't want to get a bunch of venereal diseases in my sixteen years.
***
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