Road to the Crown 171 Talks in the chamber

"Punny prince or not, when I heard about the history behind him, I couldn't help but be amazed. It's not that easy to take over the country the way he did. In fact, I would much rather have a competent ruler already experienced by the hardships than someone used to living in luxury and everything going his way…"

At this moment, I couldn't help but feel an insane need to pull out a cigarette, light it up and continue while smoking… Yet getting my hands on tobacco was something that could happen only in my dreams. Even if I were to send someone for the long and perilous journey across the entire continent to hook up with some of the sailors returning from the Americas in hopes that one of them would have some in his possession, the chances of such expedition succeeding were smaller than me becoming a damned king in the coming election!

"I can't refute that, but I don't really think he will have any chances at doing so. But for now, let's stop this topic. I want to talk about those projects of yours. With how I had to play a drunkard before, I didn't really get the chance to ask for explanations before. Mind if we change to some more… comfortable location?"

It was only given that now as we established that we kind of shared the interest at least in the political sense, there was no point in standing at the front of the ship where not only the waves but also the sound of the engine going made it quite harder to talk properly.

"Good idea. How about in our chamber?"

Thanks to the atmosphere clearing out a bit, I finally dropped the handle of my sabre and pulled Elia with me, guiding our guest towards our chamber.

Since the ship was mainly used to transport the cement powder neatly packed in simple jute sacks, most of its deck space was occupied by the huge load of the building materials required by the road project, yet I made sure that while temporary, it still had two small sheds build on top of it. 

Inside the one in which I lead our guests, there was barely any furniture. Outside of the spacious, comfortable bed - the one thing I wouldn't compromise on - only a simple desk and a pair of stools were located.

"Please, have a sit."

Showing him one of the stools, I made sure Elia could comfortably sit down on our bed while taking the other stool for myself.

"Also, I think this is the point when we should formally introduce ourselves. As you might already know, I'm Mike of Tarnow."

Despite the fact that normally introductions should be made while standing, I limited myself to reaching forward with my hand over the table that stood between us.

"Nataniel Zamoyski, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Only when I heard the last name of the magistrate did I realise what kind of jackpot I just hit with this meeting! 

If my memories didn't trick me right now, Zamoyski family were the greatest winners on the lottery of the elections! Not only did they managed to push the Zboros family completely out of the picture, not only they managed to take their spot near the seat of the power as the most trusted assistants of the future, new king, but their glory lasted all the way to the downfall of the commonwealth itself!

"Going back to what you wanted to talk about. What do you want to know about my investments?"

With no cigarette, the one thing I could do was to actually reach under the bed and bring a drinking set that regretfully had only two mugs. In order to deal with the situation, I took the barrel and poured the beer to the two of them before passing it to Elia nad Nataniel before angling the entire barrel over my mouth and taking a huge sip.

"Obviously, I'm not going to ask you how did you figure out all the stuff that is happening there. There is no point in learning where do you source your knowledge, since its already working. But what I want to know, how much do you think you can earn from it?"

Nataniel didn't waste his time. Right off the bat, he went to one of the most important questions that anyone else would ask. Yet this wasn't the question that I hoped to hear from him!

"Earn? And why do you think I'm doing everything to get every last gold coin from the royal treasury? All my profits from trading the beer, all the support I receive from Jan Bone and all the income that the carpentry plant will start making soon, will be tunnelled back into my projects! The only thing I hope will be profitable is the water road between the Hungarian border and Tarnow. Just on the customs alone, I can make some good profit, not to speak about the development of the lands around the market that will be established at the riverside… But most of all, did you ever thought about the reason why despite how most of those projects are still growing, I'm already making the boats?"

Since we were speaking about the income-related matters, there was no point in attempting to hide how I was going to profit of the logistics between the border and the huge market that I was going to establish beside Tarnow. 

"To move the wares from that mining area… Wait, don't tell me…"

"Yes."

Seeing that Nataniel stopped speaking when the realisation struck him. Just from this fact alone I could judge that using him as not only the magistrate but also most likely Zamoyski family envoy tasked with looking for potential allies was a good choice.

"While the design is still flawed and needs to be worked on, I'm going to use those boats to establish a proper connection between the border and Tarnow, and offer people the ability to use them to move their wares for just a slight fee!"

Chapter end