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Chapter 5: Sailing Back to White Habour
🕑 Added 2023-04-18 14:10:09 +0000 UTCDamian used sixty Gold Dragons in his possession to buy ten normal humans of first-men descent who could speak in 'Common tongue' and 'low Valyrian'. He spent an extra coin for them to have a second language. Their age varied from twenty to twenty-five and their build was what an average healthy and well-fed human should have. he bought them so that they could be used as labour on the ships.
He summoned another seven humans of first-men descent that cost 12 Golden Dragons each. They cost more becasue they had knowledge of seafaring and how to work a ship. Damian could have probably hired more people in the real world with that amount of coin but loyalty and secrecy were much more important factors to him for now.
He had spent one hundred and forty-four golden dragons on these seventeen people and that left him with only 56 golden dragons in his inventory. They seemed really pricey now but Damian knew he could earn many more coins with their help.
. . .
Damian exited the space world through the space door and appeared back in his room.
After that, he immediately walked out of the inn to find a place where he could bring his subordinates into the real world.
He nearly spent an hour finding a secluded place and had almost walked out of the city. He was now standing in a small woodland near the foot of a mountain south of Bravos. Damian immediately summoned them and they appeared in the clearing with each person wearing leather armour over their clothes and equipped with a cutlass sword and a short knife. Damian had to buy some quality castle-forged steel weapons from the system and well-made leather armour so that they can protect themselves. That cost him around 5 gold dragons.
Damian had already seen their ability to use a weapon and he was not impressed. He had to spend another 17 Gold dragons to give them that ability which left him with only 39 gold dragons.
He would need to take a loan from the Iron Bank if he wanted to buy any goods for trading and sell them in other ports for a profit.
The rest of the day, Damian did just that. First, he went to the Iron Bank to take a small loan of three hundred Gold dragons at a very high interest of twenty-four per cent per month.
He had nothing in his name that he could give as collateral or guarantee that he could return the money and run away with it. Thankfully, just knowing that he was the younger brother to Lord of Winterfell, they agreed to give him a small loan that he need to return in a year with the interest or else there would be consequences.
With the loan money, Damian purchased a lot of perishables goods that were in high demand in the North. Yes, he has decided of going back because well you know, the Ironborn is going to rebel this year. The North will have a high demand for food and weapons to feed and arm the army.
Damian was thinking of first profiting from his homeland. Of course, he won't rip them off like others. No, he will sell them at a very low price and still profit from it. How?
Well, he was thinking of buying perishable goods such as lots of fresh meat, poultry, fish, fruits, cheese, green vegetables, etc. They are in huge demand in the North but due to their shelf life, almost a quarter or a half of the goods go bad, especially fruits and vegetables which are in great demand all year round, before they reach Winterfell or other castles in the North. Therefore, the merchants and Lords from the South charge more than a pretty penny to deliver them to the North. Some goods are sold for ten times their market price in the reach.
Damian's warehouse makes it possible to keep these goods as fresh as he had bought them from a farm and the large quantity of such goods which he could bring with him on a single ship on each journey brings his cost of transportation to almost nothing.
After five days of bargaining with different suppliers, Damian spent all of his coins the three cogs to the brim. The goods included cheese, fruits and vegetables from a Pentoshi merchant and lots of fish from native Bravossi merchants. This alone cost two hundred dragons and the rest 100 dragons were used to purchase swords and shields from different Bravosi smithies. They were enough to arm five hundred people.
Any merchant who could bring these goods safely across the narrow sea to the white harbour could make approximately 800 gold dragons and upwards depending on the demand. The cost of goods plus the transportation cost which is the salary of the crew during the journey as well as a few other expenses such as docking fees and tax on goods takes away a chunk of merchants' profit. Still, they are left with a good amount and earn more in case they find a lot of demand. They would only incur a loss if they lose a ship or two to storm or piracy or if their goods go bad. Damian was sure he could easily make around four hundred gold coins in profits.
It took one more day for Damian's men to load these goods on his ships, pay any docking charges and leave the city.
He used the map and the compass to steer his three ships, which were very understaffed, in the direction of White Harbour.
After going out of sight of other ships, Damian brought everyone on a single ship and stashed away the other two in his warehouse with the goods. He also stored the goods on his ship in the warehouse to lighten the load and gain more speed.
With eighteen people on deck, including him, it was much easier to handle a single ship that he named Merry Go.
It took him three days to cross the narrow sea and spot the island of the Paps. Even after keeping almost a straight line, Damian was slowed down due to the headwinds. If not, he could have easily reached crossed it in a single day. Thankfully they didn't encounter any storms or pirates on their journey and safely made it to the bite. Knowing that he would encounter ships of other merchants, Damian took out his two cogs from the warehouse and sailed towards the White Harbour.
It took him another two hours to cross the bite after which the white Harbour came into his sight. This time winds helped him a lot and with almost no load, his ship travelled faster than normal.
Before entering the harbour, Damian made sure to fill the three cogs with the goods in his warehouse. Without having his own port, Damian did not want to attract attention to him by bringing an abnormal amount of goods that just cannot be loaded on three small cogs. So he left half of the goods in his warehouse to sell at other ports.
"Ah, it feels good to be back," Damian said as he came down from the ramp and stepped on the solid ground
"Damian?!"
