Her Beasts Volume Four

Trade Route Negotiations Part Two

Iris knew a good bit about the sort of things the mermaid tribe had available to potentially trade thanks to the previous harvest festival. Iris had visited several of the market stalls being run by those from the mermaid tribe and had a good memory of what was available. There were fresh fish, dried seaweed, dried kelp, salt, seashells, mother of pearl, fish bone jewelry, fish bone needles, and the all too rare luminescent pearls. Those pearls had cost Iris a pretty penny, but she was still benefiting from the purchase even to this day. Not being able to see in the dark and there being no form of electricity was a pain in the ass.

"I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed you couldn't bring any examples of the other products you sell. I'll really miss the nice furniture and beauty products you had in your city while I'm away. Even the buildings seemed a lot better constructed than our brother!"

Iris pinched her lips together as she looked away awkwardly as she explained

"Yes, well, I didn't think there would be much use for soaps when you were living in the water. It is also quite difficult to move most furniture. If Ember and Birk weren't both having to carry us and they only had to bring one or two pieces of furniture, it might've been possible, but, otherwise, it is too much to carry such a long distance."

Boreal nodded in understanding as he produced a pouch from seemingly nowhere. He quickly offered

"Well, I can't do anything about that, but please do sell me the games you have brought. My mate and sister should enjoy them quite a bit. I won't accept them as a gift either as it is already too much that you have given us the food items."

Iris had been about to protest, but Boreal's words stopped her in her tracks and she could only nod before letting Basil sort out the payment negotiations. Ember felt quite satisfied that this male was behaving properly towards his mate. While he had been slightly bothered by Boreal addressing their mate before them, initially, he was now fine with it after seeing how he was otherwise polite and sensible. It was only right that their mate be treated as the leader that she was and it wasn't as if Boreal was drooling over his mate. Yes, Ember nodded to himself, this male was quite satisfactory.

After the negotiations finished, Basil began to steer the conversation to their main objective.

"Well, you now know what we have to offer and can see what sort of value agreeing to a more permanent trade agreement with us might hold. I can assure you that I will dedicate some time to developing medicines that might be more specialized to your tribe's needs after we return. Additionally, as your sister can attest, our family has a habit of regularly developing new things, so it is likely that we will only have more interesting things to offer you in the future. However, we have a few more peculiar requests to make of you as part of the trade agreement. 

I'm not sure if you have heard, but there has been a particularly dangerous group of wild beastmen attacking the weaker tribes near our city. Our city has strong enough beastmen to prevent them from doing much damage and we will also be taking further measures to strengthen our city's defenses before your sister returns, so I assure you that her safety isn't something to worry about. However, as part of these recent events, we have accepted refugees from the Owl Tribe, including Birk here.

We plan to have our own merchants rather than contracting a new group from the Golden Tradesmen group. As part of the agreement, we would like you to agree to us using our own merchants. I understand that this may seem suspicious, but we don't much like outsiders in our city. We, generally, require anyone who wishes to become an official citizen of our city to swear an oath to follow our laws, but things are more messy when we have to use outside groups like those from Golden Plains City. So, we would prefer to have those who are already citizens of our city and can be trusted be the ones who are employed to do the work."

Boreal furrowed his eyebrow as he asked

"Wouldn't you have to send them to Golden Plains City for training anyway? That would take several years and would make this conversation pointless to have now."

Iris shook her head as she replied

"No, we can do any training in our own city. My mates have knowledge of reading, writing, and basic math and aren't under any sort of contract to limit that knowledge being taught to others. We plan to have temporary schools set up this cold season, so they will be able to learn everything at that time. We can't offer the selection that the Golden Tradesmen groups that usually trade with you do since we won't be obtaining goods from outside our city to bring to you, but we also won't be stopping you from continuing to trade with them either.

However, a bigger concern, is that I would like to build a proper road between our city and here. It would be made of stone brick and I would like to build lodging along the road and here so that our merchants have somewhere to stay out of the elements and in relative safety."

Boreal felt confused as to what a road was as well as what sort of potential threats or benefits such a thing might bring. He looked nervously at his sister to see if she had any insights to add. Pearl laughed before replying in her pleasantly melodic voice

"I don't think you have to worry too much about it, brother. Stone bricks are sturdy and good for building, but they aren't particularly dangerous. A road is just a pathway to walk on and would make it easier for land beasts to know where they are going. It won't make it any easier for them to attack us since they still can't breathe underwater.

Honestly, having some nice buildings built on the shore would be nice as well. We could have hearths built in them so that our males could learn how to cook some recipes. Some of my males have such knowledge and I'm sure they could teach the others whenever I'm here. Maybe we could even store some of the less water-resistant items onshore as well or allow our tribesmen to simply live by the water instead of in it. I know some of the females in our tribe enjoy spending time under the sun on occasion."

Borreal looked thoughtful, but, eventually, just sighed as he turned back to Iris as he inquired

"Alright, I'm willing to consider it. However, we don't have the resources and it is difficult for our males to help with the construction. They aren't used to traveling on land nor are they familiar with your building practices. We tend to have our own ways of building under the ocean since most materials aren't suited to being submerged in water."

Iris smiled as she nodded excitedly and reassured

"Not a problem! We are fully prepared to handle all resources needed as well as any labor costs. I can certainly set up a few buildings with hearths when we build them, but we will likely just be building them to be like the inns. If you want things like homes or storage buildings, I'm afraid we will have to work out a separate contract for such a thing where you pay for the labor and material costs. It is difficult to transport the stone bricks and clay long distances and it can take quite a while to build things as well."

Boreal nodded, he hadn't expected Iris to agree to building unnecessary buildings anyhow. If his sister or any of their tribesmen wanted such unnecessary buildings, they could discuss it with Iris themselves. The land was free to those who were able to defend it and were the first to claim it. The only time Boreal could reasonably complain was if it brought about unnecessary danger to his tribesmen.

With everything agreed to, Basil helped Iris iron out the final details for a contract. Ember wanted to remain so that he could keep Iris safe, never one to trust strangers, so Birk took it upon himself to go out to hunt and forage for food they could prepare for their next meal.