CH119 Dealing with government officials.
The small, sailor-suited doll returned to the ship, and Alex released the possession. Ariel emphasized the importance of a watch schedule at sea, though Alex found the idea of staying awake all night just watching to be boring and a good way to fall asleep on deck.
For dinner, the black-haired magical girl prepared berries and raw fish. Merumeru and Ariel entered via the moon pool, avoiding the need to surface the bathysphere. This process was tricky: opening the bottom hatch without the snorkel closed and sealed would cause water to rush in and sink the vessel.
“Looks like it is the old goto for dinner.” Alex plated some food, giving it to Ariel and Merumeru.
“Meru!” Merumeru inhaled the food.
Ariel ate the food with a fork. “Not bad, it might be better if cooked but there is something to be said for raw fish.”
Alex shrugged. “I’ve got quite a bit of practice with making sushi. And making a fire to cook would be a bad idea for multiple reasons.” She regarded the enclosed sphere and shuddered. A fire on a submarine brought up some terrible maritime stories from back on earth.
“If they are able to build that clipper full sized there should be a nice galley.” Ariel plopped a berry into her mouth. “Properly stocked, that ship should be able to be at sea for years.”
Beneath the water, a splash and a bang echoed loudly.
“What was that?” Alex flinched
“Let me go check.” The sea elf closed the snorkel valve then dove into the moonpool.
“Meru!” Merumeru jumped in after her.
Ariel came back a minute later. “Looks like some imps were trying to be sneaky and set a fire in the harbor.”
“On the toy ship?” Alex sounded worried.
“No, they were going for the wooden structures closer to land.” Ariel smirked. “According to the nereids, they do this every once and a while. Fire clan imps see wood and can’t help but try to burn it. They think they can make a fire and cultivate there. Even though their seniors tell them that the harbor is not the kingdom domain.”
“What happened to them?” Alex asked.
“Well, Professor Copperpot has a new strain of swine flu.” Ariel explained. “So the imps we’ll let ‘escape’ after exposing them to the virus.”
Alex gaped. “That is really sneaky.”
“Aqua has some samples, this one variant is designed to have a long incubation time.” Ariel waved a webbed hand. “Professor Copperpot wanted to try to get a mild variant spreading throughout the whole kingdom then use his skills to get it to start mutating more aggressively.”
That made sense; the exponential spread of the disease would require mosquitoes and infected pigs or demons to act as vectors.
After discussing potential pandemic plans, the group retired for the night, relieved to find the toy ship intact in the harbor. Alex began the 30-second cast time for the [possess doll] skill. The toy boat contained several backup inscriptions, though two were theoretically sufficient. This would allow for a switch if one doll were destroyed or became stuck.
The toddler-sized sailor doll ascended to the toy ship's deck, then lowered the gangplank. She descended the wooden plank to the pier and proceeded through the mist to shore.
“Miss wood golem.” A harbor guard approached her. It wasn’t the same one as last night. They must have switched shifts. “The night shift gave me a heads up. What should I call you?”
Alex panicked but went back to the old, hopefully not too compromised alias. “Call me Alice. Can you take me to see the harbormaster?”
The guard nodded and led them to a bigger building uphill and further ashore. He looked like he wanted to pick her up because of her small size but put his hands back by his side, obviously second guessing himself.
"You can register here." The guard opened the door, which was a relief since door handles were no longer a convenient height.
The doll stepped into the dusty mariner's office. An elderly man, appearing half-asleep, occupied a desk amidst neglected, dusty decorations. These forgotten relics, remnants of a bustling international port, stirred an urge in Alex to clean, an urge she fought to suppress.
“Hello, are you the harbormaster? My ship just arrived and I’m looking for the master shipwright.” Alex-the-sailor-doll said.
The harbormaster had to stand up to see the diminutive wooden doll from the desk. “Who are you? Some kind of golem?”
“Alice.” Alex sounded slightly annoyed. “And I’m here for business. They told me to stay the night and talk to you in the morning.”
The harbormaster hummed. “The mooring fee is 1 gold per night. Also tariffs are 50% for imports and the same for exports.”
Alex would have frowned but the doll didn’t have that kind of capability. “I only stayed the night because they said you were not available.”
“Okay, maybe 10 silver then for the fee?” The harbormaster shrugged. “Also, what do you plan to export or import?”
Alex shook her head. “I don’t have any gold or silver. And I made a model ship hoping to see if the shipwright wanted to build the full sized version.”
“Why did you even stop here?” The man rolled his eyes. “The shipwrights guild has its own drydock further down in the harbor.” He paused, considering. “However, they can’t build a ship without approval from officials. “I’m sure old Donald would love to have a new project but any timber that you import they’ll want to give to the fire clan for their bonfires. And it is not like the dockyard has any expertise except for wooden ships.”
“So they are okay with having people who have classes that build ships just not having anything to do?” Alex was puzzled. “That doesn’t sound right.”
“Who is they?” The old man sounded jaded. “The fire clan doesn’t care. Some of the princelings might. The king certainly wants to keep trade going with other races but he’s really smitten with his harem. They are the ones really making the decisions on this kingdom’s big policies if you ask me.”
“Fine, we can go find this Don guy and see if he has any idea.” Alex didn’t sound happy.
“1 silver for the night in the harbor.” The man held out his hand.
Alex just gave a blank expression, which was really easy as a doll.
“Can’t hurt a guy for trying.” The man shrugged. “We can’t afford to keep the piers repaired. And every time too many demons come down here the river floods. It just washes away more of the shore. They know they are supposed to stop doing that but imps are not great at following orders.”
Alex didn't see it as her problem and turned to leave, repeatedly jumping to reach the doorknob.
Finally, the harbormaster rose and opened the door for her. "You are made of wood. I suggest you avoid entering the city. Some imps are as likely to set you on fire as to greet you."
Alex stomped back to shore, trying to convince herself that the harbormaster was simply doing his job, not being a crook. Still, it wasn't a promising start for conducting business in town. After she boarded her toy ship, the guards offered assistance with offloading or buying supplies, but Alex waved them off, intent on heading straight for the drydock. A pang of sadness hit her when she saw the guard's disappointed expression. She knew it couldn't be helped; the harbor likely saw little activity, and a rare ship, even a small one, stopping by only to leave might have made them feel unneeded.
A few hundred yards downstream, the drydock was in even worse condition. What should have been a peninsula was mostly washed away, with areas previously above water now sunken. Crumbling, roofless stone buildings made the area resemble ruins. Some piers still stood, but the area was very shallow, with rocks spread across formerly dredged sections. While it once could have accommodated several ships over 100 feet long, it was no longer capable. Fortunately, the toy boat had little draft, and Alex found a spot at a stone seawall that was just deep enough to avoid running the ship aground.
Lowering the gangplank, she got out and looked around. “Hello?”
After a short wait, another old man came out of a stone building. “Who is making a racket so early in the morning.” He held his head, looking like someone that had a hangover.
“I’m Alice!” Alex straightened up her wooden doll body. “I’m looking for Donald.”
“If you are looking for Donald Mckay, that's me.” The man squinted. “Luckily it is a very misty morning. Otherwise it'd only make the hangover worse.”
“I made a model of a ship.” Alex pointed back to the ship. “I was wondering if the kingdom would be interested in building the real sized version.”
The man perked up. “A new design you say?” He glanced down at the mini-flying-cloud. “I’d be interested in considering it. He stumbled down to the waterline to inspect the ship
“What do you think?” Alex asked.
The man poked and prodded the model ship. “It is a very interesting design. Looks like it is built for speed more than anything else.”
Alex nodded. “Yes, do you think the kingdom could use it? I’m not a shipwright and all the carpenters told me I should go and seek out a shipwright.”
The shipwright snorted. “Decades ago they would have been right.” He gestured all around. “But the guild is not what it used to be. We haven’t had more than a few repairs this year. And any major repairs, we just don’t have the lumber to do.”
“What if the lumber was provided?” Alex hoped that Donald might be able to help.
The hungover man scratched his head. “The fire clan would just want to take it. They would say it is a tax.”
“But the tax is 50%” Alex thought even that was high. “Wouldn’t you get to keep at least half?”
The downtrodden man grumbled. “They would just make some excuse to take it all. The only real way to not get that to happen is to deal with another faction not backed by the fire clan.”
“How does that work?” Alex had no idea.
“Must be nice not having to tiptoe around all the arrogant demon factions.” Don chuckled. “The fire clan is the most numerous but they don’t keep the kingdom going.” He looked around before whispering in the doll’s ear, which required leaning down too much to not ruin the effect. “You didn’t hear this from me, but the real leaders of the kingdom are demons posing as humans. Get one of them to back this project and they can tell the fire clan to pound sand.”
“Do you know how to meet one?” Alex thought Don was kinda dancing around the question.
“It is a not so well hidden fact that some of the king’s harem members moonlight at high class brothels.” The shipwright proclaimed the scandal. “You could stick around and we could check out one of these establishments.”
Alex’s eyes would have gone wide at that, but the doll wasn’t equipped to make such a gesture. So she was able to keep a poker face. “Um, sure! What could possibly go wrong?”