[Chapter Size: 3100 Words.]
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Thrid Person POV
Essos, 296 AC.
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Jon returned to his room and donned more formal attire, leaving his armor on a mannequin in the room, and proceeded back to the Iron Bank, accompanied by his royal guards, the Sealord, and the men of Braavos. They left the palace and headed to the Iron Bank once again, returning to the room from the previous day to resume and continue the negotiations. As they settled at the table, the keyholders initiated a discussion.
"We discussed extensively the possibility of you becoming a shareholder in this institution since we concluded our conversation yesterday..." they began. Jon listened in silence as they continued, flanked by his two ministers.
"We have come to know of your interest in establishing your own bank in Artica, which is quite surprising, yet it still leaves us doubtful about your intention to add another one to our bank as well..." one of the keyholders said, looking at Jon. Jon merely smiled.
"I must know how to manage my money, and anyone who truly understands that, diversifies it," Jon said, after all, he did not want to keep his money in just one place when he could have other alternatives for safety, which any investor would do, even trusting his life for Artica. The men acknowledged this thought, so Jon continued.
"And yes. I plan to create a bank for my people. I have no interest in meddling in the external economy of the kingdom at the moment. After all, my people are a priority, and I want them to get accustomed to a functional economy in Artica with the next generation already born knowing how to handle money. This is a plan where I began by educating my people enough so that now they can embark on their own businesses," Jon said. Jon spoke with a slight smile. Artica would not just be functional with him, his people would evolve on their own.
"That is quite surprising, a kingdom planning to become freely commercial," a keyholder complimented, showing interest in Jon's vision.
"Yes," Jon continued, "Artica is powerful, but it doesn't have all the resources this world can offer. Therefore, we will seek progress through trade. That was the intention behind creating this trading company and my travels around the known world," Jon said.
"Interesting," another Keyholder commented, looking towards the Sealord, who nodded and turned his attention back to Jon. The Sealord then began to give his response on behalf of the Iron Bank.
"We discussed extensively about your integration into the Iron Bank. However, if you deposit this amount of gold, you will become a shareholder above us. And that is bad when a foreigner has too much power..." he said. Jon knew that the amount he offered would make him a prominent shareholder among all those in Braavos, which probably did not please everyone, so he nodded, though he was satisfied with the direction of this conversation, after all, everything indicated that they would accept him as one in the end, which was his initial goal.
"Nevertheless, are you interested in my proposal?" he said with a smile to everyone at that table.
"Yes, we accept half of your offer. You may deposit 5 million gold dragons into the Iron Bank," one of the keyholders replied.
"That's good," Jon nodded. Now, he could start his commercial influence on another continent.
"By the way, King of Artica..." another Keyholder joined the conversation. "We would like to request your weapons in exchange for this," he said with a greedy tone. Jon knew they would not miss the opportunity, despite being rational, after all, he was giving them gold to use as they wished and profit from it, asking for his weapons was too much.
"My weapons are not negotiable. They defend my people, and I doubt that, even if I could tell you, you could produce what we do in Artica. You cannot produce our wildfire, our Eldenmetal or even replicate the strength of our giants," Jon said, to start, the creation of Eldenmetal works with its runes but would need magic to activate them, which happened in Artica without needing him, due to the roots of the Grand Weirwood. The same thing happened with the boxes being able to store ice, confident that no one else could replicate his trade. The wildfire was created through some substances that only Jon could create in some plants and only the soil of Artica could make these plants grow, which made the wildfire much stronger and more stable than what the alchemists' guild could create in Kingsland.
The men seemed disheartened upon hearing this, after all, they couldn't ask for much, and their greed clearly desired Artican technology, yet Jon continued. "However, this does not prevent us from becoming allies," Jon said, as the keyholders exchanged glances. "An alliance between Braavos and Artica might be reasonable," they concluded just with a look, as they always did. Creating an alliance would make both parties quite influential. However, there was still a stumbling block. "As fantastic as that is... I'm not sure if a political alliance is feasible right now, as you are facing a major conflict with Westeros," the Sealord spoke this time. "Don't get us wrong, but we like to remain neutral in this dispute. We are interested in your proposal, but the alliance would need to be formed after the conflicts in Westeros," he said on behalf of everyone present. Jon nodded in understanding. "I perfectly understand... now that the matter regarding my gold in this bank has been resolved, it's time for us to start the real negotiations, right?" he said as everyone agreed.
These men had already sampled all the products the night before, and as always, pleased everyone with novelties like his cigars, new drinks, and fabrics made with the help of ice spiders and dyed with colors produced from trees and plants in Artica, which made the colors even more vibrant than usual. Ice, as always, became the main asset, with these men seeing its potential, and if Jon could sell it throughout Essos, they would already be envious just thinking about the profit, especially when the resource is infinite from his lands.
The negotiation was heated, with the Artican ministers participating in all of it, while Junly, spoke more about the products, Gavron did quick calculations thinking about the profit and how it would affect the national treasury of Artica.
In the end, they had finalized all the contracts, and probably Braavos would be the city where Jon would have the biggest business of all, after all, the flow in this city was very large and although Jon negotiated with the major coastal cities, other traders could distribute his items to smaller cities or even within the continent.
In addition to his exclusive products, his farm items such as food produced in Artica and even the wood were negotiated, which got the Braavosi quite excited about this.
While Jon would start supplying wood to Braavos, the North would have an impact on its economy, after all, they sold a lot of ironwood. However, this could be recuperated by rebuying food that Artica would sell to Braavos, which was much cheaper than in the South, putting an end to the commercial abuse that the Riverlands did, even with Catelyn Stark, being the eldest daughter of the Tullys married to the Starks, the Riverlands never facilitated trade between the nobles there and the northern people. Even the Reach would feel the sales made to the North.
"It seems our negotiation has finally ended... But would you like to negotiate with Braavos, perhaps in a meeting tomorrow? I'm interested in spending my gold in this city," Jon said, after all, now it was his turn to buy things from Braavos.
"That would be very good, Artican King. According to your record, you are interested in metals and books, right?" one of the keyholders said with a greedy look, after all, he had the monopoly on metals.
"Yes... I would also like to hire more people to educate my people," Jon said finally.
"Like your contract in Dorne?" one asked and Jon nodded.
"Exactly. I want people who can help teach the common tongue to my people."
"We can prepare your order then. We will have it ready by tomorrow," they said, and Jon nodded, starting to leave the Iron Bank with his men.
In the end, everyone left the Iron Bank satisfied, while Jon returned to the Sealord's palace. He would stay a few more days. So, he spent that day enjoying a bit of the locale with his wife and talking continuously with the Sealord about various topics.
"I would like to buy a sword from you, like you did with Lord Tywin Lannister," he eventually broached a topic that Jon had dealt with the Lannisters in Westeros.
"I can sell a sword made of Eldenmetal, no problem," Jon said with a calm tone.
"That's great, it's a pity you aren't interested in selling the Valyrian steel ones, right?" he asked and Jon immediately denied.
"My two swords and the Darksister are not for sale," Jon said.
"I understand... still, I want one made of Eldenmetal," he said and Jon nodded.
They continued talking while the man seemed interested in purchasing a few more things from Jon, but he would leave that for tomorrow, especially regarding the proposal to sell some of his ships. At one point, the Sealord expressed his interest in Artica. "You know, I have a son who is 8 namedays old..." he mentioned, referring to his heir.
"Yes, he seems like a strong boy," Jon replied, unable to help but remember when he was 8 years old. It hadn't been a very pleasant childhood in Winterfell.
"I was thinking," the Sealord continued, "but I took the liberty of speaking with your ministers and even your men about education in Artica. From what I've seen, your ministers were educated in the highest positions, and the guards and soldiers are being educated. I'm impressed by your reasoning. I am tempted to have my son educated in Artica, if you would allow it." He said.
Jon heard this, knowing that proposals like this could arise after seeing the results of education at Artica's university. "I wouldn't see a problem with that, and although we haven't opened up to the world yet, we can talk about it. Maybe in 2 or 3 years, if you are still interested, you could visit the city. It should please you. I'll let your son study there," Jon said.
"That's very good," the man spoke at the end with a small smile.
They continued talking for a while longer, and the next day, Jon returned to the Iron Bank, where scrolls about all sorts of things were laid out in front of him, which he could read along with his ministers as they studied everything there, after all, they needed to start buying those things.
"Let's begin..." Jon declared as all 12 keyholders, along with the Sealord, waited to start the discussion.
In the end, 5 hours of negotiation took place while various Braavosi men had to come at this time as they marked everything Jon negotiated to start loading onto the Artican ships.
In the end, they bought tens of tons of steel and iron, thousands of new desert-bred horses, many of which even the Dothraki Kals demanded as mounts, plus 20,000 breeding animals, which would be removed from outside the city, in pastures in the mountainous region, 100,000 books taken from the city with an interview for more than 10,000 lecturers for the common tongue and Valyrian, under the same contract they had with other teachers in Artica taken from Dorne.
"We are very pleased with such a sale..." the men murmured satisfied, seeing millions of gold coins entering the city through the sales.
"That's good... Artica is happy to acquire all these items, anyway... I would now like to negotiate with one of the keyholders," Jon spoke, looking at one of them specifically.
"Yes... the Sealord mentioned your interest in one of his items, I usually wouldn't sell that crown, but you have something I am very interested in," he spoke at the end, and a small negotiation began, in the end, Jon won 10 Artican carracks in exchange for his grandmother's crown.
This item was exclusive and could be obtained from his carracks, extremely fast ships, Jon even refused to win them in the end to keep them even more exclusive and trade for the crown.
With everything ready, they returned to the Sealord's palace once more, Jon asked for some Articans to stay at various points in the city to interview potential teachers and even some artisans hired to teach a few things to the Artican people as well. At night, there was another banquet to celebrate the commercial partnership with more products from Artica.
It was only the next day that they began their preparations to finally depart from Braavos. Meanwhile, ships began to leave the fleet at this time, as the Braavosi people prepared to start collecting all the resources sold to the Articans and leave them at the ports for collection, the main port was not used, but various points around the city began to fill up with ships from Artica.
Things were much calmer now, seeing that Artica posed no danger. Among these ships that left the fleet, 10 of them ended up circling the city until reaching the Iron Bank, where there was high security to receive them. Five million gold coins began to be unloaded, while many high-ranking bank officials counted the bags to verify everything was correct.
The ships continued collecting animals, metals, books, and people for half a day while other ships approached the Seastone Palace, as there was a need to store a huge stock to supply the city during this initial movement, with 50 ships full of stock to deposit in the city.
"So, you want to do it here...?" Jon asked in the solar of the lord of Braavos, as they looked at a map spread out on the table.
"Yes, I believe that will be the best choice," the Sealord said while Jon thoughtfully gazed at that spot.
Their contract did not include a large port like Jon had managed in Dorne, but they had certainly managed to negotiate a giant depot to store their products while their ships arrived in the city. The route between Braavos and Artica was good, despite still having to travel half the distance of Westeros, Artica was remote from all places in the end.
"Here, I can authorize your construction, King of Artica," the Sealord finally said, and Jon nodded.
"Alright... we will do it this way," Jon nodded at the end.
They began to say their goodbyes, with Jon stating he would visit Braavos in the near future to finalize his contract and started to prepare for travel, while finding Ygritte and Arya waiting for him.
"Let's go," Jon said at the end, and they nodded, beginning to store things on the ships that were already alongside the palace.
As everyone began to board, Arya looked aside, unable to see Jon, and followed her gaze to another ship, where Jon was with some of his guards.
"What is he doing?!" Arya exclaimed, slightly bewildered.
"Jon said he would sort some things out... so let's wait for him in the fleet," Ygritte said as the main ship began to move along with others to the west side of the city, while Jon's ship departed to the east and went down to the south, approaching the city center from that side of the waters.
"So, it's here..." Jon murmured, looking at the enormous structure in front of him, as the ship approached, docking at one of the small ports, while Jon felt the massive door of the place opening at that moment with a man coming out and standing at the entrance as if he had been waiting for him.
"It seems we have some reception..." Jon murmured and walked out of the ship with his guards.
They approached the man, who was a middle-aged man with a calm look waiting for Jon to approach.
"So this is the House of Black and White?" Jon asked, looking at the large building.
"You are correct, but that's not what concerns you, is it, son of the dragon?" the man said mysteriously.
Jon was a bit surprised by this, but kept his face serious. "No, I am confident that I and my family would fare well against you... but what concerns me is my people. After all, assassination is not justifiable against the Articans..." Jon replied, he could protect himself, his wives, and children, after all, there was an army of animals for these assassins to get past first, even if they could change voice and face, animals have better instincts and would be killed just for approaching, but his people were different.
And he was not hypocritical enough to say that his people would never die; there would be conflicts, and many would fall with that, but he would not accept assassinations against them, knowing how both his conflict and even the trade he was creating could attract people who would seek retaliation against them and might opt with the Faceless Men.
Jon looked at the man again and continued speaking. "I just want to know if you could be hired to kill some of mine," Jon asked.
"Articans are certainly more expensive than ordinary people. We know this might draw your ire, but still, it's a negotiable price. If the God accepts the contract, it will be done," the man said with his neutral tone.
"I see. Then tell your God," Jon said in a serious tone, "if any of you touch my people, I will come here, burn down this entire place, and kill all of you. I don't care what your God thinks of this."
Hearing these words, the man showed no change in his face. There was no anger, surprise, or fear; he just kept looking at Jon calmly. "I understand," was all he said.
Seeing this, Jon shrugged. "Let's go," he finally said, heading back to the ship there.
It didn't take long for him to circle the city, finally heading towards the Titan, passing under its legs, and finally returning to his fleet, preparing to continue his journey south, then he would move on to the next commercial objective.
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