The earth rumbles and skitters part 1
collab with
@no. (Gaius/
Zeno)
After weeks of travel, hindered by the sheer mass of our army, we come to the last town called Vounoplagiá. Xia is extremely excited, as shown by her skipped steppes every now and then, which she consciously stops doing the nearer we approach our destination.
Our scorpion army is no different, becoming stiller with every step towards the drill. Before ling we can see the town just over the corner and our scorpion army lies in ambush behind the nearest dune, ready to strike any would be attacker from the shadows.
The rest of our caravan with goods for trade advances forward toward the town, in hopes of trading some exotic goods, like Shen kingdom wool, and fruits of paradise in exchange for masses of spirit stones. Even from outside the city our approaching caravan can see the spirit stone piling up into a small mountain of its own. As we approach the suns glare from them sets a small hut on fire, testing the fire fighters in town and showing their apparent trained routine.
Normally no mere merchant, like my disguise Wang Ren, would dare to directly want to trade exotic goods, most of which benefit only cultivators at Foundation Establishment and above. The small number of these cultivators in the home country of Princess Xia means they have an abundance of goods to sell. Selling these goods through our wayward princess would mean more legitimacy for her future rule and more importantly for me, more wealth for our clan.
Most of the time, as a merchant in Jingshen territory, my entire caravan is checked top to bottom. They open every crate, activate various talismans, and even check for dead-spirit-curses, which could be used to "spoil" inanimate goods of their spiritual value after a time. That spoiling commonly happens after a few weeks of the good exchanging hands. The curse is commonly known and therefore easy to get rid of, but not checking for it is almost asking for a disaster.
Nothing like that happens once they confirm the authenticity of my caravan. Shen Kingdom trade is apparently really liked in this distant town. They just let us in after confirming the number of cultivators in our caravan.
I can´t deny my disappointment in this. Where is the reasonable paranoia in an important clan asset of the Jingshen and more importantly for our future negotiations, through what topic can I buy us enough time in negotiation, so the drill can be properly rigged?
The curse was supposed to allow both parties to maintain face in this scenario by claiming to work together on defeating Golden Devil shenanigans through checking for more of this curse together over multiple days. I can´t repeat how common this has been in every other town until now and at this crucial moment I had to meet the one lazy guard captain in Jingshen territory, ugh.
At least we are well received and after my obvious wish to quickly begin negotiations. Everyone knows that a true merchant knows his time worth in spirit stones and I intend to show them the best stereotype they can believe. Since I am officially a Jingshen vassal, trading under the directions of the Shen kingdom with trade goods to match my mercantile pedigree, they will believe a lot. Their response to such an opportunity is swift, as expected.
"Of course, honourable merchant, we have all the spirit stones in the world to trade. Please, the governor awaits you with anticipation."
"Lead the way then, so we may both come out of this richer." As if, we travelled off the main path wherever possible. He just senses an easy hit.
With a smile on her lips the governor's guard leads me and my bodyguard Xia to her boss's office, while my people ready our cargo. Meanwhile I start convincing her that taking our wares for the presented rates are most generous. The dust of sandstorm doesn´t show our goods in the best light after all.
______
Over the city of Vounoplagiá (or at least, that's what the Golden Devils called it), the black of night slowly gave way to the rosy red of dawn. Like clockwork, a young (or rather, young-looking) man sat up in his bed, ramrod-straight, and opened his eyes. The fatigue drained out with a few disciplined breaths, and in half a minute, awareness was fully established.
This man's name, theoretically, was Ren Yuhan. It was very crucial that he be Ren Yuhan at all hours of the day, from the moment he left his bed to the moment he returned. For long past the thousandth time, this man - who was not yet Ren Yuhan, but soon would be - internally recited his life.
"Head secretary of the treasurer. Cultivator with some talent, but not so much as to be exceptional. Slouched posture, unflappable demeanor. A dull bureaucrat, but not so dull as to invite pity, scorn or suspicion. An unambitious man, beneath notice. Planning to ascend to Foundation Establishment at the Tenth Heavenstage. Upon doing so, will be married off to an esteemed noble house, so as to increase his family's standing. Until then, I am a secretary. I am Ren Yuhan."
Said man does not exist, save for the presentation of the one who wears him as a mask. That man is one we know well, but Gaius Antonius would not speak his own name, and would not write it either, aside from at the top of the scrolls he handed off to the carrier birds every evening.
Reaching into a bag at the side of his bed, the double-man retrieved a featureless white pill, unidentifiable by sight, and swallowed it with a practiced ease. A dull ache ran down Gaius' skull from top to bottom, as his face, which had begun to return to its natural shape as he slept, once more perfectly assumed the face of Ren Yuhan. His hair, which had begun to curl and lighten, darkened to a perfect, straight black. Finally, the melanin once more faded from Gaius' skin, and he became his disguise in body and mind.
Ren Yuhan emerged from his bedroom, taking a brief trip to the washroom to prepare himself for the coming day. After completing his morning grooming with well-practiced efficiency, the secretary returned to his bedroom and put on one of dozens of drab but well-made robes. His look was completed by a small hat that served to make him look a bit more servile and disarm other further. Strolling down a short hallway into his well-furnished living room, Ren Yuhan wondered if he was perhaps forgetting something.
"...right, food." He nodded to himself, turning from the door and opening a cabinet to retrieve a small wicker box of dumplings, leftover's from yesterday's dinner. He consumed them quickly and efficiently, but carefully, not letting a single fleck of oil or dough touch his robes.
As the secretary of treasurer Dai Wei, he did not hold authority himself but saw the same things as those who did. Access and invisibility, the two best tools of a spy. Every single day, countless documents passed under his watchful and deceitful gaze. Tax documents, imports, exports, salvage - everything of consequence that entered or left Vounoplagiá was known to Ren Yuhan, whose job was to review and organize these documents, send anything Dai Wei wanted his way, and inscribe any copies that were needed.
Nobody who saw a secretary making a copy of a document thought anything of it - the sane line of thinking was always 'That is a secretary performing his duty. Someone told him to make additional copies.' Thus, no one ever dug deep enough to realize that the traitorous Ren Yuhan was consolidating Vounoplagiá's economic data, day after day, and taking the pilfered information home.
Once a week (or rather, once every 5-9 days) on the evenings, a Cloudhawk decloaked and landed on his windowsill, at which point he would give it a scroll inscribed with all of the relevant information. Through a system he did not possess the full knowledge of, that information would reach a Golden Devil outpost within three days and the Dawn Fortress within a week. On its own, this leaked information was not only boring, but useless. But when combined with the efforts of a dozen other spies in a dozen other Jingshen cities all doing the same things, patterns began to emerge. Tracking the entire economy of a sprawling Great Power was impossible, but tracking trends in this fashion allowed the Jingshen's actions to be more accurately predicted ahead of time.
Ren Yuhan left his house and strolled down streets of smooth grey bricks on his way to work The Ministry of Commerce was fairly close to his home, just a twenty-minute walk if he took his time, and a five minute one if he did not. Neighbors greeted him, asked about this and that, and he replied in kind, like an automaton. He played the show of being Ren Yuhan flawlessly for each and every one of these people, as he had for the past three years.
It was so dreadfully dull. Effective, perhaps, but not once in his life had Gaius truly understood the unfathomable immensity of the world before this, when he took on a mission to act as a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of an effort to outmanoeuvre a rival perhaps 5% more often. In that name of that cause, he became another man, lived another life. It made The Seeker understand the nature of duty in a profound way that he never had before. That didn't mean it wasn't a fucking bore.
Entering the sprawling government building with little fanfare, the secretary traced a well-remembered path to his little out of the way room. It was mostly unfurnished, with a desk, a mat for kneeling on and a few paintings to liven up the decor. Already, the documents had begun to pile up on his desk and needed to be attended to. Next to the mat was a simple but robust one-way broadcasting array, which would transmit orders from the treasurer or other superiors. Ren Yuhan slid into place like a key into a lock and began his daily task.
One might ask how Gaius of all people - the extremely diligent cultivator, he of the rigid block-schedule, the regimented inventory and the meticulous notebook, could even process boredom. The reason was simple: this wasn't his life. It was someone else's; he was pretending to follow a different path, and while that did not outright clash with his Dao, the hint of disloyalty produced an inevitable friction. Being Ren Yuhan ground against the inside of Gaius' skull, ever so slowly, like being gently caressed by sandpaper. This discontentment was expressed mostly as boredom, simply because there was no other strong emotion he could feel under these circumstances, so empty of passion was his mission.
So, when a voice chimed in through the array to explain that Secretary Ren Yuhan was being summoned to inscribe notes for a major trade negotiation between Vounoplagiá's governor and a bigshot travelling merchant, he was delighted. Even if it was just yet more economics, any change in his slow descent into madness was welcome.
With a bit more pep in his step, the beuraucrat quickly zipped over to the governor's estate nearby, going as fast as one could without breaking a businesslike gait. The distant sounds of heated debate reached Ren Yuhan's keen ears the moment the guards opened the mansion's thick, decorated double doors for him, and he picked up the pace further.
On the way, a short old man with a luxurious beard and thick round-lensed glasses crossed the secretary's path from the other direction, causing him to snap to attention and bow. This was the treasurer, Dai Wei.
"You made it quickly; that's good. Kong Feng's a clever fellow; for him to need my help, this merchant must be a master dealmaker." The official mused, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Best not to keep them waiting any longer, then."
With that, the pair made their way to the governor's office together, with the assistant opening doors for his superior, who walked at all times with both hands folded behind his back. After finally emerging at the end of the labyrinthine mansion, the secretary opened one final door, revealing a huge and luxurious office, filled with all manner of exotic plants, beautiful artwork and incredibly well-made wooden furniture.
Three people stood within. First among them was the governor, Kong Feng. A somewhat portly man with a large frame and rugged features, he had distinguished himself as an officer with two centuries of military service before being given this city as a reward. Before him stood a small, well-groomed man in somewhat loud orange robes, and a beautiful, demure woman in a fine purple and grey dress behind him. Judging from the tenseness in their shoulders, some spirit debate had already taken place before their arrival.
"Governor. My apologies for making you wait." The treasurer greeted with a bow, which Ren Yuhan mimicked in turn, but deeper. He quickly slid into place next to the governor and one step behind, with his assistant standing on the opposite side, prepared to take notes.
Immediately, negotiations continued, numbers flying back and forth from three mouths at a breakneck pace. Ren Yuhan's charcoal became a blur as he committed the conversation to shorthand with machine-like precision. The woman only spoke up occasionally, seemingly not a merchant or economist herself.
As he went, the assistant's mind began to wander; a hazardous thing in such important meetings, but he needed to cling to sanity somehow. There was something about that merchant which he couldn't place, something about his accent perhaps? At first glance he seemed to speak in a typical Jingshen accent, but there was a lilting quality to his vowels underneath it. And the way that man wore his hair... it was amateurish, locks falling over his eyes repeatedly rather than remaining tucked away. Was he used to keeping it short? That was rather odd for a Jingshen merchant to do.
...oh.
Oh dear, that was another Golden Devil. Now that made things a lot more complicated. Perhaps Gaius shouldn't have been so desperate for something
interesting.
____
We are quickly lead inside a spacious and ostentatious office with far too many jade green carpets hanging from the walls. I know that these carpets are luxuries only the richest can afford to get from the Ma clan in the plains, but really, 50 of them in varying sizes. Isn´t that a bit too much?
Thankfully, my actions don´t betray my thoughts and the governor arrives quickly from a backdoor in the room, with the guard quickly approaching him. Xia stands guard behind me, while the guard quickly reports the wares on offer and my given rates. After some back and forth, to confirm my rates the governor calls for his treasurer. Not long afterwards a tall man, garbed in a well-worn blue robe with a small flat hat, enters the room. If it wasn´t for this man's robes, I would have trouble noticing him in a crowd, come to think of it.
The governor, content to start with some inane power play I swear every Jingshen learns to do in their live, starts the negotiations by ignoring me. The treasurer quickly picks up the conversation and leads us to his desk with the only guest chair nearby. That can´t be a coincidence.
Judging by the small mountain of papers on his desk in comparison to the neat stacks of his superior, the workload is clearly divided, showing me who knows the actual income, but sadly doesn´t possess the authority.
"So, what brings you here, merchant Ren?"
"The spirit stones, of course. Few places can match the wealth Jingshen gains with the drill after all." Let´s see if he bites.
"True, the drilled wealth is unmatched in volume, compared to other sources. I certainly wouldn´t be here without a job." His tone is telling me a longing for something else, but what?
"Ha ha! Absolutely true my friend. This truly is a golden opportunity for all of us, isn´t it?"
"Very true, merchant Ren and the wealth flows steadily, yet!" So, a Golden Devil in disguise then? Interesting. No Jingshen would have that glint of happiness inside their yes, when hearing about gold after all. They are all about the spirit stones.
"To commemorate this unprecedented deal, I have brought with me a princely sum of the finest wool this side of the desert!" Xia, the helpful soul that she is, hands a sheaf of paper to the treasurer, with the seal of Shen to ram in just how royally important this deal is.
Seemingly unimpressed he sets the paper aside. "Since this Shen east-side wool isn´t top quality wool for carpet linings like it´s contemporary we are prepared to buy it in bulk for a quarter Spirit stone per ton."
Trying to squeeze an easy profit out of it to impress your target? Not with me! "Don´t sell us both short. The seal shows our quality. Four Spirit stones per ton of wool!" The chair of the governor creaks.
"If I may, honoured guest. I have way to make us all richer without needless haggling."
"What could possibly arouse you from your work, noticing our presence as guests?" The governor, not ignoring his lack of face towards us, continues with an inclination of his head; showing the right amount of deference his standing allows.
"Our city has always been hounded by bandits of various stripes over the centuries. This Falling Vulture gang is different and sacks our city whenever they please, since their endless sandstone-barrage array means meaningful reinforcements in necessary numbers become casualties quite easily. This means we have to avoid combat with them, when possible. We meet our quotas regardless and the clan cares not from where the Stone flows."
"Then you want to hire my and my guard to take care of them?"
"Yes, you suppose correctly honourable merchant!" What a quick turn. "This governor would pay any price to see them gone from our fair city!" He caved in far too quickly. So, the bandits are a trap then, but nothing we can´t handle.
"I want the raw spirit stones for half of the refined market value. Surely their extermination is worth you that much." And a smug smile to crown such an arrogant statement. The governor shows me only a tense smile.
"W-what. Please, be reasonable. We would be begging for scraps by the end of the month should we agree to that!"
"How about we keep it simple, and you will always have favourable rates for amenities with us instead? The amenities aren´t cheap as we all know; you may even cut out that business expense further by filing it with the association under special taxes with such a small amount!" His rotten cheer is almost palpable.
Before I can refute such an idiotic assertion a sudden step behind me brings us out of our reverie; a shocked expression appearing on the governor's face within the same breath. "You dare snub the eighth princess of the Shen Kingdom with such a paltry offer?" The ring under her gloves all the confirmation anyone would need to confirm the truth.
"We would not dare!" I didn´t expect this old man to bow that low, but our plan is all the better for it.
The wares of your splendid self, of course, are worth far more than we would have offered other merchants, please forgive this lowly bureaucrat for his lacking sight!"
With grace, this old man before us would need to scour heaven and all the turtles, to match it, she acts. "Ren´er was quite forward with taking half of your income of the month. What would you say would be amenable to this situation?"
Not taking the price we wanted in the first place now, would make us lose face and I don´t want to give this idiot more than necessary. "My lady, a fourth of the refined stones price would suffice to present a sum worthy of a princess to your esteemed father."
"And the Falling Vulture gang, my lady?" His momentum gaining speed, as we head back to familiar territory.
"Consider them a gift for future relations between us."
"Words cannot capture my gratefulness for the blessing your grace has bestowed upon our fair city today."
"I am sure that your hospitality could give it a try, while we wait for the good news." The portly mans eyes glint with greed at Xia's statement.
"Haha, we sure can. Treasurer, ready yourself for the journey while we entertain our new guest!" The treasurer and I leave the hall shortly thereafter.
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words: 3529
@Mochinator ,
@Alectai
