Chapter 94: A Merchant’s Secret War.
"Many people are jealous of merchants and think it is easy for them to make money."
"Little do these people know of the schemes, conflict of interest and secret wars behind the scenes that constantly happen between them."
"And that these wars can be just as deadly as battles in the courts of royalty."
"Where one wrong step can cost you your life."
Parmenio Paretti an Italian player and head of House Ryemire a merchant family in Nathia.
....
Ralston Ryemire looked at his caravan with a sigh of despair after finally going through 2 dynasty history quests to get himself a caravan and some vineyards and had spent years meticulously brewing some high-quality wine to sell to the wealthy nobles and courtiers in the capital he now faced ruin because his opponent had gotten in with the corrupt Duke of Deterner.
Ralston, a player originating from Italy, had done business in the Duchy long enough to know that those without the protection or goodwill of the Duke are prone to unfortunate ’accidents.’ Whether it through increased tolls, taxes or even banditry, many a merchant had fallen trying to get access to this vital thoroughfare that connects the southern part of Nathia to its prosperous capital.
However, those who could navigate through this political web of intrigue were rewarded with the fastest trading route possible that cuts at least a week off the journey, meaning that many who take this route get to the capital first and can sell their goods for the best price allowing them an efficient trading route that makes business very profitable at the cost of a small toll to use the road alongside a small ’gift’ as appreciation to the duke for his hard work in keeping order on the trade route infested by bandits.
What was unfortunate for this player was that he had failed in his dynasty history side quest to get the duke on board and now had to face the many trials this cunning noble would send his way the problem for him was that no one without this man’s support had ever been able to leave the duchy successfully their caravans either stopped or destroyed by bandits.
As a result, instead of making use of the Duchy of Deterner as a base to expand throughout the kingdom, it is likely that his corpse will join the thousands of others, all of whom have the same ambition and failed.
The main problem was that very few mercenary groups and caravan guards were willing to provide security for him on the road out of fear of offending the Duke, who had many shameless and scheming ways of dealing with them.