Chương 629: 592. Gifts of Silver

The Duchess watched the group leave, ruminating on the meeting. Adam's behaviour was queer, queerer than she had expected. She could sense some distaste of nobles from him, something which would lead to his death within years if he did not hide it better, but there was something else.

Though he had tried his best to hide his thoughts early in the conversation, he had relaxed upon mention of the Iyr, but there was something else which had changed his behaviour, something which had unnerved her, even beside her guards.

"Your Grace, Stone Sword will arrive at noon," one of her guards reminded her.

"Prepare the garden," she said, before a scroll was brought to her. Her eyes scanned the text, refreshing her knowledge about Stone Sword. She had already prepared her offer for the warrior, and then an offer if he refused, and a final offer she would not surpass, even for his abilities. Still, her mind was plagued by Adam's expression. Adam thought about the gifts she had presented in order to meet with them.

He had half expected her to force them to make a deal with her, but upon letting them go, he realised that they had little choice but to work with the Duchess. The gifts the Duchess had presented them were technically not the greatest items, and in terms of pure gold value, technically the other families may have offered more.

However, the Duchess had offered them exactly enough coin to hand a hundred gold between the members of Fate's Golden, including the porters, farmers, the Aswadians, save for the Red River Squad. When they returned back to the guild, the others understood why Adam had met with her. She had offered them weapons made of seabronze, finely crafted by the greatest smiths who worked for her family. Each weapon was very deliberately picked too, with the Iyrmen receiving weapons of their families.

The farmers and porters received the weapons they typically used too, while the archers received bows made of bronzewood. It wasn't just weapons, though, as the Duchess had handed over two items which almost forced Adam to meet with her. Laygak and Jaygak received such weapons, as their companions had, but they had also been gifted plate mail made of fine steel. The plate mail well made, with very few markings, save for the mark of the smith's workshop.

With some minor adjusting, the pair would have the greatest armour available to them.

'How scary,' Adam thought, holding up the silver plaque which had been handed over to him by the knight who had escorted them back. The Duchess had not only gifted them thousands of gold, but also this silver plaque. It was fairly large, about the size of a letter, with various symbols all across it. One was the symbol of her family, but other symbols were also engraved into the silver. There were magical runes engraved all along the edge of the plaque too, which would be used to test its authenticity.

The others had offered similar items, but they had all offered bronze plaques. Bronze plaques would allow them to trade within East Port with very little issue. It also set all gate fees in the region to one silver per person at most, even during war time. It set the tax of goods at a certain rate too, depending on the items to be sold.

"Silver plaques can only be handed out by the greatest of families in each region," Jaygak explained.

"They can be used to set the gate fees in other regions, but business can only be conducted seamlessly in East Aldland."

"Are there other plaques?" Adam asked.

"Gold plaques and platinum plaques," Jaygak confirmed.

"They can be used to conduct business in all of Aldland without issue." Adam had seen only the greatest families had offered them bronze plaques, but the Duchess had been the only one to offer them the silver plaque.

"Can it be used for other things outside of it's formal scope?"

"Yes," Jaygak confirmed.

"It alone can assist us in speaking with other nobles, especially since it's the Duchess' silver plaque. Gold plaques affect the entirety of Aldland, and can only be handed out by the royal family and the ducal families. Platinum plaques hold an even greater power by themselves as they are able to ward off most pirates. If one is awarded a platinum plaque, it means you hold a special relationship with the entirety of the kingdom, and are worth a great amount.

It signals to the pirates that you have great loot on board, and that the navy and army will step in if something were to happen."

"Damn."

"It was a system invented by the one who led Aswadasad when it was at its height, the Shen of Shens. If one carried a platinum plaque, they could travel the thousands of miles, on land and sea, from one end of Aswadasad to the other, without being harassed by pirates or bandits. Even today, if a merchant with a platinum plaque is harassed while in possession of a platinum plaque of either Aldland or Aswadasad, they can be expected to deal with a navy from both lands, and even those from the Confederacy."

"Whoa," Adam whispered.

"What about a silver plaque?"

"A silver plaque does cause pause, but gold plaques will really trouble others, since it means the family may send their personal soldiers or marines to deal with whoever bothers the merchant." Adam whistled.

'Interesting.

"It's a similar system to the Confederacy's Asfarawa ships, the Black and Yellow ships. Merchant ships which are black with yellow paint across the upper portions and the bottom of the ship. They are considered envoys, diplomats, of the Confederacy, though they have no real powers to enact any treaties. However, they have the entire might of the Confederacy if someone were to harass them." This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Adam raised his brows.

"Yo…" Adam thought about making his own system, before realising he didn't have a hundred thousand soldiers. Yet.

"It was put into place over two hundred years ago, and within the first year, in the span of a week, there were three incidents. A pirate group raided one ship, a mighty Sea Dragon swallowed another whole, and the Suruk Empire, east of the Confederacy, destroyed a third ship." Jaygak recalled the story of the Black and Yellow ships she had learned about when she was young.

"The Confederacy flexed its might during that year, and cemented itself as a great power, though it was helped by the fact that its greatest enemies assisted it. The first ship, the ship the pirates raided, held vital supplies for a Tribe State which was suffering under a devastating plague at the time. It was quite quickly dealt with in the Confederacy, but the Tribe State was under great trouble, even causing the Free People and the Confederacy to assist.

When the pirates took the supplies meant for them, a navy was formed between the Free People and the Confederacy, and two Dragons, mortal enemies who had nearly killed each other countless times, joined together to lay waste to the pirates. Ten days, and the pirates were no more. They had taken only half of the crates, fearing the words of the religious sailors on board, but it was enough for the group to act." As Adam learned about the Confederacy, he felt only more eager to go and explore its lands.

'Whoa.'

"The mighty Sea Dragon was assaulted by three Dragons of the Confederacy, spurred into the action due to the situation. The cargo each of the ship was important as it carried vital supplies for Aswadasad, the southern territory also having issues dealing with the plague, which was currently only affecting it. The devastation it caused due to the supplies being swallowed whole was great.

At least a hundred thousand dead, and at least a million more throughout Aswadasad, who had been affected because it had taken longer to deal with." Adam slowly nodded his head.

'They came together during a medical emergency? How nice.' He smiled slightly at the thought of ancient enemies settling their differences for the greater good, which was no doubt, one of the greatest stories to be told.

"The Suruk Empire thought the declaration of the ships was an empty threat, and finding it an excuse to start trouble in order to keep its own populace in check, destroyed a ship to display its might. The Confederacy, even then, had issues mobilising when someone tried to war with the north eastern or south eastern lands. However, there were very few ships which were allowed the title of Asfarawa, and the title came with great emotional weight behind them.

They were, at the time, operated only by the various temples, and used for charity. They sold items, yes, but many items were also donated for those who truly needed it. The plague had almost threatened the entire Confederacy, so they saw the need for safe trade between the lands."

"It wasn't the first time the Confederacy had made declarations, but they rarely acted swiftly to deal with the issue. They had to make the choice at that time. Did they allow a ship to be destroyed? A ship which had held very few vital supplies, for it was only a ship carrying some food to another region, with no great figure on board. Or would they come together to fight against a great foe to their east, one which they had suffered a loss not a decade before, because they said these ships were important?

It was a difficult week, as they had more than enough justification to deal with the pirates and a Sea Dragon, but their great foe to the east?"

"A hard choice to make," Adam admitted.

"Upon the destruction of the ship, various religious leaders of the Confederacy spurred up the populace. It was the priests who had come with the proposal of the ships, to the point they did not even ask for the ships to hold more than just a prayer room for people to pray safely within. No markings on the ships, no flags or symbols of their deities, and they did not even ask for a priest to always be present."

"Within weeks, tens of thousands of peasants formed together in a crusade against the east. The navies of the eastern states began to assault the empire with full force, and the navies of the western states assisted in patrolling their empty regions. It was a difficult fight, one they were no doubt going to lose."

"Yeah?" Jaygak inhaled deeply.

"Aswadasad received the herbs which were found in the Confederacy in greater abundance. They were imported cheaply to deal with the plague. They even escorted the ships to Aldland, though their ships weren't a welcome sight at first, until the situation was explained to them. Aldland, too, was suffering from the plague, brought by the birds and rats. The two great forces had been preparing to war again, so they had enough gold to spend, but the Confederacy made sure the herbs were sold for a measly sum.

They heard of the situation to the far east, thousands of miles from their borders, but the Confederacy promised to bring more herbs to each land so the plague was dealt with, even while warring with the eastern empire."

"Was the Iyr affected by the plague?"

"We Iyrmen dealt with the plague quickly. We lost very few Iyrmen, those who were not in the Iyr at the time. We brought their bodies back to the Iyr." Jaygak smiled, before continuing the tale.

"The Confederacy had never once broken the rules for the platinum plaques. They were the first to carry on the tradition after the empire of the Shen of Shens was broken and lost the territories within the region. It spurred the other nearby realms to follow the tradition too, since such trade was typically vital for the various nations."

"When they finished unloading the herbs, they were rewarded greatly. Thousands of shields, spears, swords, and hundreds of thousands of arrows, brought back to the Confederacy by their Asfarawa ships, and dozens of other ships from both Aldland and Aswadasad. Such cooperation of great kingdoms hadn't been seen since the time of the Demonic Devastation some seven hundred years prior.

The assistance proved quite useful, since the Confederacy lost the war, but the Suruk Empire had paid such a heavy price, that it fell within a few years." Adam whistled, and reached up to wipe a near teary eye.

"A ship was destroyed by an sea kingdom some time later, apparently a storm had brought the ship to a sacred area. Upon finding out what the ship meant, the sea kingdom sent back an apology. It put the Confederacy and the kingdom in an awkward spot, but eventually the issue was resolved when the sea kingdom paid for their mistake, and the ships were painted at the bottom so the sea kingdoms knew.

There was a question if it was enough, but the issue was put to rest as marriages were formed between some of the Confederacy and the sea kingdoms beneath."

"That's good," Adam replied. It would have been easy for one of them to escalate the situation, but he was glad that it had been resolved lightly.

"Lord Morkarai's marriage was one of such."

"Ah?" Adam smiled wider.

"How adorable. The story about the ships are pretty cool too. Do they have more ships now?"

"One ship per state, though some are river boats," Jaygak explained.

"Are the river boats respected too?"

"We Iyrmen are raised with a saying from the story. The Iyr has its children, the Confederacy its Black and Yellow." Adam stared at her long and hard. Adam had understood its severity previously, but now? He couldn't even joke about it.

"Cool."