Vivian arrived at a large building that smelled of wheat and grain, it was the Southern Consulate for Wheat and Grains. A building that started as off the largest Storage Warehouse for keeping Grain and was eventually changed into a place where most of the exported Wheat from the South was checked and monitored by the Southern Grain Moguls.
As Vivian was entering she could overhear groups of merchants complaining and rallying against the Consulate's Nobles.
"You told us you'd lessen the price this year! Don't you damned greedy idiots, realize?! There's a drought! There's a fucking drought!" An older merchant with a bear-like physique and a grizzly beard emotionally cried out.
"I'm sorry, but there was never a deal that we would lessen the price... Nothing was ever written on paper, now was it? As for the drought, that was your fault, not ours. You just didn't prepare enough..." The Noble Merchant on the consulate's side condescendingly answered.
"Prepare enough? Prepare ENOUGH?! PREPARE WHAT?! The poor farmers have barely anything ta fucking eat! Let alone store for the Winter! And now you're saying you're gonna raise the price again on OUR Wheat?! The Wheat we farmers grow and our companies transport to your corrupt asses?!" The angry bearded Merchant leading the rally shouted in anger.
"Your Wheat? Ha!" The Noble scoffed.
"That wheat is property of the Consulate, you farmers and merchants should be grateful you can plant on our lands and sell our products! Now begone! I have no time for your rabble" The Noble scoffed one last time as he immediately turned around and left.
"Hey! Come back! What about your promise?! HEY!" The bearded Merchant tried to continue the dialogue but was blocked by armored guards working for the Consulate.
As the gate closed on the Merchant a look of utter devastation was seen on the old bearded Merchant's face.
"What now?" Another rallying Merchant asked the bearded man.
"I... I don't know" The bearded Merchant answered truthfully.
"Excuse me? What happened here?" Vivian went closer to the group of Merchants that were rallying and talked to the bearded Merchant.
"Oh, hello there young miss, ah well... We're gonna have a harsh winter I guess..." The bearded Merchant who was passionately angry in the beginning now only answered Vivian in a hollow voice, devoid of any power he had in the beginning.
"A harsh winter?" Vivian asked, pretending to be unknowledgeable about the whole situation.
"We're local grain merchants you see... We're the ones who buy from the Consulate and sell to the People, as you may know, it's illegal to buy it directly from the farmers. But then the Consulate started to sell it for ludicrous prices! It was already high before! But now..." The Merchant sighed.
"But wasn't the man you talked to, also a Merchant?" Vivian asked, feigning ignorance.
"A Merchant?! Bah! More like a dirty tax collector! That little liar's no Merchant, he's just another Noble dressing up for his little tea parties... We started off as farmers our selves, but after we noticed the Grain we buy from the Markets are too pricey compared to the Grain we sell to the Consulate, we reckoned that if we become Merchants ourselves, maybe we can lessen the Price for everyone and still get a profit at that... After we learned you needed to be Consulate Merchants to sell Grain, we applied and got in, but later on, we find out that the Consulate higher-ups are keeping prices up on purpose! And since we're not "Nobles" we STILL need to buy grain from the Consulate! What use was applying for a consulate certificate in the first place?! A damned hoax I tell ya... A damn hoax... We sell to the consulate what WE grow for almost nothing, and now they charge us to buy back that grain to eat, for an arm and a leg! This is injustice I tell ya! This is..." *Sigh* The Merchant suddenly sighed and stopped his ranting. [What use is disturbing this nice lady's day with my problems...] The Merchant thought.
"Muron..." Another Merchant patted the Muron, the bearded Merchant on the back, comforting him on his failure to persuade the Consulate to cheapen the price.
"... Sorry about that lil' miss, I probably disturbed yer business with my mindless rant..." The sad Merchant-Farmer sighed.
"It's alright, I'm sorry about what happened to you guys... Ah yes, my name's Vivian by the way, I'm an aspiring Merchant" Vivian gave her condolences as she introduced herself before the Merchants left, reaching out her hand.
"Hoho, so you wanna be a Merchant, eh? Well if a bunch of old farmers like us can make it, I'm sure a smart lass like you can too... Although you might wanna hire more bodyguards... The Market's climate is somewhat, shall we say a bit too rough for such a pretty lass such as yourself. With the thugs and gangs going about..." Muron shook his head in disappointment. The Markets weren't always as dangerous as they were today but after Maine's downfall and the Pendragon's lost their position of power, the South became rowdier, getting infested with thugs and gangs inside cities, while Bandits roamed outside the walls and ravaged the countryside.
Muron shook Vivian's hands as he and the other Merchant-Farmers with him went back home to tell their families of the bad news...
Vivian finally entered the Consulate after a rocky first visit.
Nobody would've minded Vivian much in that Noble filled area, that was if she wasn't a woman.
The moment Vivian entered the Consulate filled with men, all eyes fell on her immediately. With thoughts such as:
[What is a woman doing here?] or [Is she lost?]
But Vivian paid their condescending stares no mind as she confidently entered the Consulate... Or at least she tried...
*Wobble wobble* Vivian became conscious of the stares as she tried to keep the posture of a refined lady, sadly her days spent on sitting down and reading books outnumbered her time in ballet practices and etiquette class which made her a tad bit clumsy at times, especially when she was nervous. And boy was Vivian nervous right now.
Luckily for her, the interests of Nobles were fickle, and most of them didn't notice her, nor pay attention long enough to see her display of clumsiness.
Except for two snakes...
Silvan, a son of the Medici, the leading family in the Eastern Region of Brune, who was accompanying the blatantly ignorant and disinterested Deacon who was a Grain Mogul...
And Darius, Lord of Milan, who was also a Grain Mogul...