Herald of Steel-Chapter 1494: Meeting Vidiyan Once Again

"So are you saying it will be too difficult for you to cover all routes at once?" Finally responding to the pirate captain's analysis, Alexander chimed in, giving him a penetrating look.

He did not doubt what Vidiyan said was true, but Alexander also suspected the man might be exaggerating things a bit.

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After all, his cargo ships had to be attacked in a significant way till now, and just being 'new' did not explain it all.

In fact, one could even argue being new was bad for business because the pirates would see the unknown flag as fresh meat- someone whose prowess was yet untested.

So surely a few should have taken a nibble, even if just to have a taste of the insides and then see his reaction.

Yet… his trade routes had remained mostly untouched.

So Alexander thought the pirates around those parts had been mostly pushed to the side.

What he did not know was that because his cargo was so valuable and expensive, the importing states would go out of their way to clear the way for him while the other rival powers had yet the time to launch a large scale attack.

They were of course preparing for it behind the curtains but had just yet to organise themselves.

However both men in the study remained unaware of such a distant scheme, and focusing on the moment, at Alexander's question, Vidiyan quickly flashed his palms and begged with a slight panic in his eyes,

"No, no! I can still do it, my lord. I was just informing you of the situation at the sea. Then… how many cargo ships do you have in each route? Knowing that will help me to delegate the appropriate number of ships and deal with any unforeseen consequences."

"....." Alexander slightly paused at the question, taking a bit of time to think about the answer.

A part of him did not want to reveal this number as it was a strategic secret.

Saying it would show which route was the most lucrative and with some clever guesses, one might even work out his yearly revenue.

However, given the pirate captain was going to be protecting his route, Alexander soon found such considerations were too much,

He also noticed the desperation and fear in the captain wishing to please him and although the sight pleased Alexander- he was dealing with a pirate after all, so it would not do good to get too chummy with him, but at the same time, a part of him also felt bad for pushing the man around like so.

So with a small sigh in his heart, he turned to give a more amenable answer,

"We have a significant number of ships. But if they prove too much trouble for you, you can leave the Galiosos, Midshrire route. That entire place is a Sybarian den anyway and given your recent history, I think it would not be wise for you to make an appearance so soon."

"I certainly do not want the Heeats knowing you are with me and then sending warships to hunt both you and me down."

As soon as he made the compromise, Alexander watched Vidiyan's face visibly glow up, like a leaf that had just been sprinkled with fresh spring water.

When he had first heard of Alexander's demand, the pirate captain thought this would be the thorniest of routes to manage. There were too many big fish to deal with, and the place had few safe ports to dock and resupply.

This latter was perhaps the biggest problem as his smaller ships needed to regularly stop once or twice a week to get fresh water- a common problem for most pirates.

Vidiyan doubted he would find too many friendly ports along the small island. Not to mention the risk of his old master discovering him within that tiny boundary.

Hence, the man was trying to quickly rake his brain to find a good solution when he could hardly believe that the problem had solved itself just like that.

What a pleasant surprise!

As for Alexander, he made this concession not just out of pure altruism but also because this trade route was his least profitable one.

Lady Miranda had become quite poor after failing to hold her family together, and now, rather than importing from Alexander directly, she had just become the middleman.

Now, she would take Alexander's goods and then redistribute them wholesale to many of the traveling merchants, off loading the burden of sale to these third contractors.

This helped significantly reduce her risks, as the other powers naturally had difficulty in tackling so many of these independent merchants, many of whom they also did business with.

So not only was going after all of them logistically not feasible, it would even hurt their own business.

Thus many of them just cut a deal with these 'sea peddlers', promising protection for a portion of the goods.

In this way, the pirate problem was largely mitigated for the lady despite it being a hot presence.

The only caveat of this strategy was that Lady Miranda had lost a lot of her revenue as the final price was set by these merchants, not her.

But given her current situation, this was indeed the best strategy.

And thus, instead of sending his goods in lone ships as per demand, Alexander planned to send the cargo in large, bulky convoys, mitigating much of the risk.

….

Alexander of course did not bother to explain his true thoughts to the pirate captain, content to let the man make up an impression of a generous master.

Instead, he continued, noting with a gentle swipe of his hands,

"The main point is… most of my ships go north of here. So I want you to focus there Captain Vidiyan. Destroy the surrounding pirate fleet, scare them into submission, pay them off… do whatever you need to do, I simply want my trade routes safe. You must ensure it."

Alexander repeating the same words to emphasize the point left little doubt in the pirate's mind of the order's importance.

While giving the main objective, Alexander then also followed it up with the promise of perks,

"I will also arrange for some safe ports along that part of the Adhania for you. So you can easily resupply and even fence your goods without coming all the way here. I will let you know the exact details in a few months."

These 'safe' ports naturally referred to the one at Agnirat ruled by Lady Inayah and the various ones in Pasha Farzah's domain.

This was a topic he planned to bring up when he met them in a couple of weeks in Adhan and hopefully get the permission without much fuss.

For now, Alexander quickly turned his attention to the captain and continued,

"Now, speaking of fences and stolen loot, I do not have a particular target I want you to after go right now. Maybe I will have some later, but now… hahaha, I could say my ships are much more valuable than any booty I can hope to plunder," Alexander gave a small proud chuckle saying this, giving a sneaky, sliding glance to see if the other man produced any greed hearing this.

However he was disappointed to see only a mask of deep concentration on Vidiyan's thick beard covered face, who seemed to be hanging onto every word with great attention.

Whatever the man truly felt, he was not showing.

Hence Alexander also swiftly moved past this observation and waving his hands decreed,

"If I need you to target a specific group, I will let you know. If it happens it will most likely be around here, just east of Zanzan but… for now, I am giving you free rein to hunt as you please."

"Just know that you cannot take from me, the Adhanian king Ptolomy and Pasha of Matrak, Farzah…. Oh and the Margraves sisters… both of them. I have a treaty with them."

"Other than that… everyone is free game. You will only need to give 20% of your plundered goods as fees for letting you use the ports, and we will buy the goods from you at a 20% discount. Is the rate satisfactory?"

"....." Vidiyan of course wanted to haggle on this, as a part time businessman, it was in his blood.

Particularly the 20% mark down on all goods seemed a bit excessive. He wanted to bring that down to 10% or at least 15%.

However the man also understood reality.

Given that Alexander was his only lifeline and his demands also did not cross that red line, the pirate captain swiftly accepted, producing an appreciative grin.

However this was not enough to fool Alexander, and sensing some bitterness from the pirate captain who thought he was being taken advantage of due to his circumstances, the pasha dangled an additional fruit,

"Mmmm, also tell your men as long as they have not committed too great a crime, such as wanton rape and murder, they can make a deposit of 20,000 ropals to become a Zanzan citizen."

"It can be paid in lump sums or in many deposits into a…. new counting house I am building. It is called a bank, and they can open an account there."

"I will even give them back that money once they become a citizen!"

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