They came to the city and left the boat at the river harbor. Rufus and Haley were like little kids in an amusement park. They were extremely excited to be in another city and wanted very eagerly to go to the tower where all the flying ships were.
"Oy, Haley! Weren't we supposed to do some work here?" Edward yelled out to Haley and Rufus who started to run toward the tower.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But doesn't mean we can't sight-see a bit,"
"I'm with Haley. Let's go see that tower," Rufus yelled.
"Yeah, hey you guys. Look around the city and look for anything that could be profitable. Report back to me," yelled Haley to a couple of gang members who had accompanied them.
Edward felt like he was a parent taking care of a bunch of kids. For Edward visiting, another city wasn't anything special, but for a couple of slum kids, it was a huge thing.
"And where do you think you're going, lady?"
"I'm not here to hang with some gang's business. I'm here to do an important mission. Look after those two idiots for me," Doreen said and then left.
"Aaargh...That woman really drives me mad. Oi! Haley, Rufus. Wait up!"
Rufus and Haley got to the tower with Edward running behind them trying to catch up. At the feet of the tower, you could see people unloading cargo to be sold to local trading companies and merchants. The ships were docked to platforms that were built on the sides of the tower. From there the crew unloaded the goods that were then carried down.
Many people of different races were under the tower dealing with local merchants who were willing to buy the goods. It was the merchant's job to buy the goods from ship captains or arrange deals for a gravity ship captain to import something from a distant world. This was how the trade worked mainly in the universe. Independent gravity ships move cargo around the universe and traders and merchants are the ones who employ these ships.
Many merchants worked completely independently only hoping for a local trade company or merchant to buy what he had accumulated in their cargo holds. These were riskier with having the full responsibility of the endeavor on his own shoulders from paying the tariffs to buying the goods. The plus side was the captain would be able to set his prices and not have to rely on pay given, by a trading company.
There were elves from their world of Heather bringing in handcrafted tools and items from farm tools to weapons. Humans from the world of Swarga Loka brought ivory and exotic pelts. There were people from many corners of the universe.
Rufus and Haley were so amazed by all this that they didn't look where they were walking. Haley accidentally bumped into a person.
"Oh. sorry sir," said Haley and then looked at the person.
The person wasn't a human. He had the upper body of a human but was covered in fur. A face that looked like a mixture of a goat or a bull and a bear or a wolf. One had hooves as legs and large horns that were decorated with small ornaments, the other paw-like feet and razor-sharp teeth. The creature was accompanied by two other males of its race. They were wearing all battle amour and had large weapons on them.
"Hey. Little girl. Why did you bump into me?" asked the thing in his own tongue.
"It….it was an accident. I'll be careful next time," Haley said who understood from the tone of the creature what it was saying.
Rufus and Edward joined in. Those creatures looked extremely dangerous and violent. Haley was getting nervous.
"Accidents are not permitted, by the great beast," said the thing and was just about to attack Haley with his huge battle ax.
"Hey! The great beast may not accept accidents, but we are not on the great beast's lands. His rules don't apply here," said a person who also wasn't human in the creature's language.
This person had even thicker fur that was bright red. The face had a small nozzle and looked partly like a thickly furred hyena or a cat walking on two legs. The creature was wearing a kimono and was smoking a pipe. He had golden jewelry all over him from earrings to bracelets to rings.
"The great beast's law is everywhere. Do not meddle in this, you ignorant slave."
The red-furred person didn't care about the slave comment. He just sucked on his pipe.
"Do you want to start a fight here, you a dumb animal? You can't sell your services if you are hunted down, by the local authorities for a stupid fight in the market," the red-furred person said and then pointed at the guards stationed nearby.
The horned person felt irritated and decided to leave with his two companions. They didn't want to end up in trouble.
"Thank you, sir. You saved us," Rufus went and thanked the red-furred person.
"No matter. Always fun to irritate a berserk,"
"So those were berserks," said Edward and looked at them walking away.
"Ooooh…seems like even the people in this backwater world know of them," said the red-furred person.
"Yeah. Not much. Just know that they really don't do much other than fight." explained Edward.
"You are not wrong. Going to their world of Behemoth could be considered even suicidal. Elves sell their tools, the anashims from Swarga Loka sell the riches their jungle provided and the berserkers sell their services as the most bloodied mercenaries in the universe. They only care about battle, and the rules of their god the great beast are more than law, it's their creed. Way of life." explained the red-furred person.
"So what kind of creature you are?" asked Haley obliviously.
"Hey! You can't just ask that." Edward yelled.
"Hahahahaha! it's fine. I am a gallian. My name is Kassim Bane. I am the captain of a merchant ship called the Red Fox," Kassim laughed and then pointed to the sky.
Upon the platform of the tower was a ship painted in red paint. The sails were black and it had the name 'Red Fox' written on its side.
"Oooooooooooh. You are a captain of one of those. That's so cooooooooll!" Rufus and Haley yelled at the same time with star-spangled eyes.
"Wanna come on board and see my ship?" said Kassim to the three of them.
"YEEEEEES!"
"Oi…you two. Don't we have a job here to do," yelled Edward.
"It's fine. I already sent out the few guys we had with us to go and scout something interesting and report to me when they find it. They were people who previously worked with trading companies. They understand this area of business anyway better than I do," Haley explained.
They entered the tower with Kassim. The tower was completely hollow from the inside except for a big wooden elevator in the middle that was used to get to the top platforms and also to move the cargo. They took the elevator to the second platform. The entire tower had only five platforms so only five gravity ships could unload or load their goods at once.
They came out of the elevator and entered outside to the platform. Only a small rail prevented a person from falling. They climbed onto the red fox and started to look around.
"She is a beauty isn't it," said Kassim.
"It's sooooo big," said Rufus and Haley.
"Well, it's nothing really. Heard the military-grade ships are five times the size of this ship," said Kassim and laughed.
"How is this hip able to stay afloat in the skies," asked Rufus.
Kassim took the three of them under the deck. He showed them the main pillar that held the ship's mast together. In it, a bowling ball-sized rock was placed. The rock was a large purple gem-like stone that was floating in mid-air. In t was connected a piece of machinery.
"That is a gravity stone," Kassim explained.
"What is a gravity stone?"
"It is maybe the most-priced mineral in the universe. When it is hooked on to this machine it enables ships to negate gravity. The sails are also made from expensive firefly cotton. It makes it so that the sails can catch the divine winds that happened naturally in the universe," Kassim explained.
"Have you seen been to different worlds?" asked Haley.
"I've been here and there, I guess. I go where I smell profit."
"So what smelled like profit in this backwater world," asked Edward.
"Silk from the Jade world. Heard the nobility of this world love to spend money on frivolous things," explained Kassim and showed a roll of red silk.
"Hahahaha. Even the entire universe knows our country's nobles are a sack of shit," laughed Edward.
"Well, this world is pretty unknown. This was only one of three gravity ship docks they had in this world. You should see the port in the city of Kart-hadasht in the Phoenicia world. It can hold up to two hundred gravity ships easily," Kassim explained.
"So what is anything worth buying in this world? A ship should never move with an empty cargo room," asked Haley.
Kassim was surprised.
"What an insightful little girl you are. You truly have an eye for money," laughed Kassim," So what business are you all in. Maybe you can help me scout something I can fill my ship with?"
"Crap….we can't tell him we are gangsters," all three of them thought at the same time.
"Oi! Boss! Lady Haley! I think we found something that might interest you," came one of the gangsters Haley had sent off to scout for some investment opportunities earlier.
"SHIIIIIIT!" they thought again at the same time.
"Ooooo. A boss. Seems like I did make a good choice in befriending you," said Kassim happily.