An Easy Negotiation

"Those who believe that only money matters in business are foolish."

"They will never be able to use their creativity to use different things as leverage to become truly successful."

"A shrewd negotiator uses everything at his disposal as sometimes favours can be worth more than mere coin and be bartered for far more than expected."

"But this favour must have a special value."

"Something that even money cannot buy."

Reginald Coulan, creator and head of House Aurellion in dynasties online.

….

"50 gold!"

A gruff voice shouted over the bustle of Garthram's marketplace where two people were haggling, one young with the fire of youth burning in him while the other was older and more wizened, his long brown beard denoting a man of many years of experience as he looked on the youth before him with cunning eyes wanting to fleece the young boy for all his worth.

"Are you trying to scam me? 30 gold is more than enough!"

A much younger voice shouted back, breaking occasionally as all teens' voices do from time to time. While the young lord of House Aurellion was negotiating, two other men loomed behind him, but one was much larger than the other. The bigger one standing over 6 feet tall resting a large Morningstar on his right shoulder was Norfaelor implying the rather bloody consequences the merchant would suffer if he tried to scam Railius.

"You think I have the audacity to do such a thing? One swing of that thing, and I'll have my head caved in!"

The merchant shouted shamelessly, pointing at the large spiked weapon that was bigger than his arm and casually rested on the large man's shoulder; the giant-like man acting like this was a perfectly normal state of affairs to casually have such a thing out in public as he yawned, being bored due to having to accompany his young lord when he went to negotiate despite preferring to fight in the dojo.

Some nobles or influential people with their egos stroked would happily take the compliment and then go with the 50 gold suggested by the merchant. To them, it was like counting pennies anyway, so a few more would not harm them in any way whatsoever. Unfortunately, this merchant was not dealing with a proud noble but the calm and eccentric young lord of House Aurellion, who cared little for pride over the clinking of gold coins when he was working with such a tight budget.

After registering with the merchants' guild of Nathia, Railius quickly got to work. Of course, he registered under a false name, but as his fake identity was made through official channels, no one would know that it was fake as a large percentage of the money made over the years had been paid in bribes to officials to get their people's counterfeit identities legitimised.

In the last thousand years of Dynasties Online history, merchant guilds began to appear that, alongside kingdoms' laws, helped to govern the merchants, though it was still a very loose affair with merchants facing far less regulation than they do in the modern world.

Apart from customs duties on the goods they sold and tolls imposed at critical checkpoints, merchants faced little other tax and only needed to pay for a stall and start trading. Guilds were formed when a group of merchants decided to get together and establish rules and regulations for them all to abide by. The guild also helped to act as an intermediary between merchants and the noble class, allowing them to understand the local laws of the land more easily.

A few gangsters had heard of this young man buying a horse and wagon and planned to fleece him to gain a quick buck, but when they saw the sizeable menacing-looking Morningstar-wielding man, they immediately scattered. A sense of self-preservation overcame the men's greed who did not want to have their brains scattered across the streets by the imposing giant.

It was lucky they didn't make any trouble; otherwise, in the night, they would be 'visited' by Leon and Aldorus, who would make quick work of them and even Vice Count Valentine, renowned for his investigatory skills, would only be able to find the bodies of the deceased with their throats already cut but not who had sent them the grave.

Railius, after sleeping in a bit, immediately got to work and began to find a wagon that he could use for business purposes. He quickly found a cheap cart, horse and wagon, buying it for a small sum of 15 gold before leaving it in the capable hands of his good friend Vegrif, who was left on guard duty while Railius found some merchandise to peddle.

The Duchy of Detarnor was known for making many agricultural products like the rest of Nathia. Thanks to the Narth River, Nathia had a vast expanse of fertile land available to be cultivated, leading to many counties envying them for their bountiful land. It also happened that they were perfectly between the hot deserts and tropical islands of the east and the cold west, allowing the old kingdom to develop all kinds of different products being able to grow foods from both a Mediterranean and temperate climate.

But what it was most famous for was its wine; the vines of grapes burst with juices and fruity flavour, its cultivation method being perfected after thousands of years of development, becoming some of the best alcoholic beverages in the world. It could even sell for thousands of gold if taken to the right place, though one would have to travel over the treacherous sea and avoid the abundant amount of pirates that preyed on these international trade routes, especially as the eastern sea route was frozen for half of the year.

The only other route was through the marshes that make up the continent's centre. However, its treacherous terrain and chaotic fighting between the local nobility made any attempt to travel over land as dangerous, if not more, than the pirate-infested sea route.

The price of this premium wine, however, had gone down over the years thanks to House Aurellions scheme and the presence of Sigismond Security Service; the duke no longer completely controlled its supply as before because every merchant had to go through him paying extortionate bribes in addition to any tolls paid to noble lords along the way to be able to trade the price and demand for this product was high while its supply was low.

Now, because of the support of many powerful nobles and with the protection of a mercenary group that was not afraid of the powerful duke, commerce flowed far more freely than it once did, ironically leading to an economic boom of Duke Ridorfin's territory.

Because of this, the rich vintages of Detarnor no longer sold for several hundreds of gold, but it was still a very profitable business as many of Nathia's decedent nobles, with all their wealth, did not look at a few hundred gold as much for them to enjoy the luxury of this rich wine. Hence, the cunning merchants liked to prey on these spendthrifts to make a nice profit for themselves.

Due to being around the sons of merchants for his teenage years, Railius was intimately familiar with the prices of various products throughout the kingdom as the young masters and heirs to these wealthy entrepreneurs regularly talked about these sorts of things at Leon's dojo.

While these people hated Railius and did not talk to him much, the astute lord of House Aurellion was smart enough to take note of their conversations to keep up with all the latest news disseminated throughout these businessmen's circles.

Thanks to this, he knew all the information he needed to start a successful enterprise and knew that the 50 gold the man wanted for one barrel of wine was far above the market price; instead, it should cost around 30-40 gold for one.

"My good sir, may I ask if you have a son or daughter?"

Railius asked with a scheming smile that Jordis was all too familiar with. Once his young master smiled like this, even the most cunning noble needed to be careful, as no one could predict what kind of eccentric trap Railius had set up for them.

"I do, actually; my little boy is 8 years old. Such a strapping and good lad he is. I am but a small merchant trying to make his way in the world. I ask the young master to show mercy and help an old man get a good education for my son."

The wine merchant said shamelessly though his affection and love for his children were genuine, it was obvious to anyone with a brain that he was using them to guilt trip Railius into paying him above the market price for his goods, making the young relatively inexperienced university student, pause for a second surprised to have found someone who has as thick a skin as he does if not thicker.

A typical peasant family could live off 2-4 gold a year, yet this person who regularly sold wine for sky-high prices and made at least 10 gold with each barrel purchased was actually complaining about being poor!

How could that be considered poor?

It is like someone from America and the developed West complaining about being insulted or over petty things like being unable to afford the newest iPhone while taking their university degrees and education for granted, not realising that in other countries, such things are privileges of the select few where slums, starving people and diseases are the norm. Not realising the great cost that comes with keeping their supermarkets stocked throughout the year.

He had always assumed that it was a stereotype that all merchants were like this, but it seemed that in Dynasties Online, many would do anything to get ahead or make a profit to the point of using their family to guilt trip you into paying more.

"Maybe I could offer something more….. Do you know who the man behind me is?"

Railius said, gesturing to the silent, cold man behind him without any drawn weapon, quickly getting back on topic after being surprised by the merchant's shamelessness, who looked at Railius in visible confusion at why his bodyguard had anything to do with their transaction.

"No, but I don….."

"He is Jordis Zhou. Surely you have heard of his father, Master Zhou's dojo?"

The merchant began before he was cut off by Railius, who spoke decisively, maintaining his smile. At this point, Jordis could already see where this conversation was going, and yet again, it would be his father or someone else who would have the consequences of his actions and negotiations.

Hearing that, the merchant's eyes widened visibly as who in town did not know of that dojo and its master, who gave out lessons for a fee.

There were only limited spots, so it was tough to get one unless you had personal connections with the dojo master himself or could pay for one, and they were highly sought-after even by people who were not in the duchy.

The young man implied he had a way of getting his son to learn self-defence from Master Zhou, a rare opportunity that even hundreds of gold could not earn you, so the merchant immediately turned serious.

"What kind of deal are you talking about."

The merchant asked rubbing his hands together in anticipation of making a good deal.

"How much wine are you selling?"

Railius replied

Hearing the young voice and the scheming smile that never left this young man's face, the merchant's heart turned cold, finally realising he was not dealing with an ordinary youth but an experienced negotiator. It was lucky he did not know that at merely 10 years old, this boy in front of him negotiated successfully with a duke and allowed him to escape pursuit from an empire, or he may have fainted on the spot.

To say that when it came to negotiation, he was out of his league would be an understatement, as in Dynasties Online negotiation skills only helped and did not guarantee that a deal would go through. It was what you offered that mattered more, and Railius, who had bargained with the most powerful nobles, was far superior to this merchant who mainly dealt with other merchants and didn't have the habit of trading favours for things as most transactions were in gold.

After hesitating for a moment, the cunning merchant finally decided to reveal all the cards he had at his disposal.

"50 barrels! However, I cannot afford to give you them all, even for the opportunity you are offering."

"Who said I wanted all of them? Do you think I am that heartless? I'll just take 20, okay?"

Railius asked as if he was the most virtuous man in the world only for Jordis to cough to disguise a laugh as the young son of the Grandmaster of Loyalty knew that his lord was perfectly capable of doing something so heartless and shameless, just as he was giving his loyal father another problem to settle for him.

'I have to admit even I am in awe at his ability to offload his problems to others!'

The young soldier thought to himself as he reflected that all the moves that Railius had made had, in one way or another, been blamed or dealt with by others.

He blamed his escape from Chavaria on the Duke of Planetaria and the Beastmen. He blamed his involvement in the Detarnor banditry issue that stirred up such a storm that even the royal family investigated it on Count Nidor and the merchant Ralston.

And now he had casually shifted his debt for getting 20 barrels of high-quality wine onto Jordis' father as if it were the most natural thing to do in the world.

This was not a master of offloading his problems onto others. This was the god, even the god of sloth Aergarvia, who had long done nothing but sleep and sit on his ass, deigned to give this lazy shameless man his attention, something that happened once in a blue moon!

While Jordis was contemplating it and Norfaelor stood around paying little attention to the conversation, the two had come to an agreement arguing back and forth until he merchant finally gave in, and immediately had porters who, alongside Railius' friends, began to load the wine onto the newly purchased wagon.

As they were working, Jordis took some time on one of his breaks to ask his young lord something that had been bothering him for a while. After checking, they could not be overheard began his questions.

"My lord, how will we get that man's son a spot? They are all taken."

Jordis asked. Seriously, he wasn't going to force someone out, was he? That could have harmful aftereffects that could affect the whole dojo! Which had not only become a good money maker but an excellent front to give them an excuse to train up the future Pelican Guards who were minors."

"He will take mine, of course! It's not like I'll need it anymore anyway. I don't intend to ever return to the dojo as a student anyway."

Railius said as if it were the most natural thing in the world, not knowing how many people would spit blood if they knew how lightly the young lord took to being taught by a grandmaster!

They would only be able to curse at the martial house of Aurellion who could make getting taught by a grandmaster as easy as obtaining a chicken.

Railius then looked at Jordis with a smile and continued as if something had come up as an afterthought.

"While we're at it, I imagine you won't have an issue if I use your spot in a later negotiation, right? After all, the money at our disposal is rather low, as I would rather not have to stifle our development by taking funds directly from the house."

Railius said casually, deciding for Jordis as if he were not there like it was the most normal thing for him to do, which led to him looking at his young lord with a 'Are you kidding me?' face.

'You may be my friend and lord, but I am still a human with feelings, you know!? I could cut you down in a second, and there would be nothing you or anyone else would be able to do about it. The least you can do is ask me about these things first!'

Jordis thought, and as if Railius could read his mind, the young player spoke again.

"You have a problem? To think you actually have feelings too! You're so cold to everyone they think you are a robot who only knows how to follow orders?"

Railius joked before turning serious again as Jordis wondered what a robot was.

"You're not going to let me gallivant around with only Norfaelor and Vegrif, will you? You know I trust you the most out of everyone. Anyway, no matter how realistic training is, it's nothing compared to fighting for real on the battlefield and actual life and death experiences."

Railius said, shuddering slightly while remembering the Battle of Brunag and how bloody it had gotten to the point that he even had a few nightmares about it when he tried to sleep. While he was overbearing at times, what he said was true. If Railius were not going to go back as a student, then Jordis, as his close friend, bodyguard and part of the Pelican Protectors, the personal guards of the lord, would not either.

Jordis merely nodded in affirmation and said, in his usual cold voice.

"You can use it if you need to; my place is guarding you wherever you go."

At this, Railius smiled though decided that he would ask in a much nicer way next time while he could get away with it with House Mantelon and his subordinates being so arrogant with others will not leave a good impression.

As the lord of House Aurellion, it would actually be very easy for him to get the money for his venture if he so desired. Just one contract with Sigismund Security Service alone could bring in thousands of gold, and technically, all of these funds could be allocated by him, so raising enough money to build a business was surprisingly easy for him.

But as one might expect if they knew of Railius' eccentricity, the lazy lord couldn't be bothered to deal with such monotonous paperwork. He just got Malwin to give him monthly reports, and after reading them and making sure the good baron was not skimming a little off the top, left everything else to his capable subordinate, so in practice, nothing had changed since the days of Railius' regency.

So, in this way, by using his position in Leon's dojo, he managed to secure his first batch of goods and headed out to sell them accompanied by his friends and the Pelican Protectors, who stayed near but hidden.

....

Added edited author's note. 

Any fanart or art for any of Railius' or anyone else weapons or armour is encouraged as aesthetics is what I'm worst at just look at my reply to reavers comment in the previous chapter the other one (the good one) is something I found on google and would not be able to make cannon as it is not my own work.