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 versation, he had rexed upoion of the Iyr, but there was something else which had ged his behaviour, something which had unnerved her, even beside her guards.

  “Yrace, 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 sed 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 gued 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 upoing them go, he realised that they had little choice but to work with the Duchess.

  The gifts the Duchess had presehem were teically not the greatest items, and in terms of pure gold value, teically the other families may have offered more. However, the Duchess had offered them exactly enough 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 uood why Adam had met with her.

  She had offered them ons made of seabronze, finely crafted by the greatest smiths who worked for her family. Each on was very deliberately picked too, with the Iyrmen receiving ons of their families. The farmers and porters received the ons they typically used too, while the archers received bows made of bronzewood.

  It wasn’t just ons, though, as the Duchess had handed over two items which almost forced Adam to meet with her. Laygak and Jaygak received such ons, as their panions had, but they had also been gifted pte mail made of fieel. The pte 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 avaible to them.

  ‘How scary,’ Adam thought, holding up the silver pque 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 pque. It was fairly rge, 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 pque too, which would be used to test its authenticity.

  The others had offered simir items, but they had all offered bronze pques. Bronze pques would allow them to trade withi 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 oems to be sold.

  “Silver pques only be handed out by the greatest of families in each region,” Jaygak expined. “They be used to set the gate fees in ions, but business only be ducted seamlessly i Aldnd.”

  “Are there other pques?” Adam asked.

  “Gold pques and ptinum pques,” Jaygak firmed. “They be used to duct business in all of Aldnd without issue.”

  Adam had seen only the greatest families had offered them bronze pques, but the Duchess had been the only oo offer them the silver pque. “ it be used for other things outside of it’s formal scope?”

  “Yes,” Jaygak firmed. “It alone assist us in speaking with other nobles, especially si’s the Duchess’ silver pque. Gold pques affect the ey of Aldnd, and only be handed out by the royal family and the ducal families. Ptinum pques hold an eveer power by themselves as they are able to ward off most pirates. If one is awarded a ptinum pque, it means you hold a special retionship with the ey 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 somethio happen.”

  “Damn.”

  “It was a system ied by the one who led Aswadasad when it was at its height, the Shen of Shens. If one carried a ptinum pque, they could travel the thousands of miles, on nd and sea, from one end of Aswadasad to the other, without being harassed by pirates or bandits. Even today, if a mert with a ptinum pque is harassed while in possession of a ptinum pque of either Aldnd or Aswadasad, they be expected to deal with a navy from both nds, and even those from the federacy.”

  “Whoa,” Adam whispered. “What about a silver pque?”

  “A silver pque does cause pause, but gold pques will really trouble others, si means the family may send their personal soldiers or mario deal with whoever bothers the mert.”

  Adam whistled. ‘Iing.

  “It’s a simir system to the federacy’s Asfarawa ships, the Bd Yellow ships. Mert ships which are bck with yellow paint across the upper portions and the bottom of the ship. They are sidered envoys, diplomats, of the federacy, though they have no real powers to enay treaties. However, they have the entire might of the federacy if someoo harass them.”

  Adam raised his brows. “Yo…” Adam thought about making his own system, before realising he didn’t have a huhousand soldiers.

  Yet.

  “It ut into pce over two hundred years ago, and within the first year, in the span of a week, there were three is. A pirate group raided one ship, a mighty Sea Dragon swallowed another whole, and the Suruk Empire, east of the federacy, destroyed a third ship.” Jaygak recalled the story of the Bd Yellow ships she had learned about when she was young.

  “The federacy flexed its might during that year, aed 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 pgue at the time. It was quite quickly dealt with in the federacy, but the Tribe State was under great trouble, even causing the Free People and the federacy to assist. When the pirates took the supplies meant for them, a navy was formed between the Free People and the federacy, and twons, mortal enemies who had nearly killed each other tless times, joiogether to y 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 federacy, he felt only more eager to go and explore its nds. ‘Whoa.’

  “The mighty Sea Dragon was assaulted by three Dragons of the federacy, spurred into the a due to the situation. The cargo each of the ship was important as it carried vital supplies for Aswadasad, the southerory also having issues dealing with the pgue, which was currently only affeg it. The devastation it caused due to the supplies being swallowed whole was great. At least a huhousand dead, and at least a million more throughout Aswadasad, who had been affected because it had taken loo deal with.”

  Adam slowly nodded his head. ‘They came together during a medical emergency? How nice.’ He smiled slightly at the thought of a 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 decration of the ships was ay threat, and finding it an excuse to start trouble in order to keep its own popu check, destroyed a ship to dispy its might. The federacy, even then, had issues mobilising when someoried to war with the north eastern or south eastern nds. 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 . The pgue had almost threatehe entire federacy, so they saw the need for safe trade between the nds.”

  “It wasn’t the first time the federacy had made decrations, 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 anion, with no great figure on board. Or would they e 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 choiake,” Adam admitted.

  “Upon the destru of the ship, variious leaders of the federacy spurred up the popuce. It was the priests who had e 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. Ns on the ships, no fgs 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, ohey were no doubt going to lose.”

  “Yeah?”

  Jaygak inhaled deeply. “Aswadasad received the herbs which were found in the federa greater abundahey were imported cheaply to deal with the pgue. They even escorted the ships to Aldnd, though their ships weren’t a wele sight at first, until the situation was expio them. Aldnd, too, was suffering from the pgue, brought by the birds and rats. The two great forces had been preparing tain, so they had enough gold to spend, but the federacy 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 federacy promised t more herbs to ead so the pgue was dealt with, even while warring with the eastern empire.”

  “Was the Iyr affected by the pgue?”

  “We Iyrme with the pgue 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 tinuing the tale. “The federacy had never once broken the rules for the ptinum pques. They were the first to carry oradition 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 federacy by their Asfarawa ships, and dozens of other ships from both Aldnd and Aswadasad. Such cooperation of great kingdoms hadn’t been seen sihe time of the Demonic Devastation some seven hundred years prior. The assistance proved quite useful, sihe federacy 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 eary eye.

  “A ship was destroyed by an sea kingdom some time ter, apparently a storm had brought the ship to a sacred area. Upon finding out what the ship meant, the sea kingdom sent ba apology. It put the federad the kingdom in an awkward spot, but eventually the issue was resolved when the sea kingdom paid for their mistake, and the ships were pai the bottom so the sea kingdoms khere was a question if it was enough, but the issue ut to rest as marriages were formed between some of the federad the sea kingdoms beh.”

  “That’s good,” Adam replied. It would have been easy for one of them to escate the situation, but he was gd 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 expined.

  “Are the river boats respected too?”

  “We Iyrmen are raised with a saying from the story. The Iyr has its children, the federacy its Bd Yellow.”

  Adam stared at her long and hard. Adam had uood its severity previously, but now? He couldn’t even joke about it. “Cool.”

  What's this? A region Adam won't travel for at least fifty years?