Bureaucrat (Level 7) Aulis Freydornov's job had been getting more and more difficult over the last two years, he had worked with Infrastructure's Embassy in Venoa for the past seven years managing trade. For the most part in Venoa and the surrounding environs people bought Infrastructural goods brought down south via state owned merchant ships through the Embassy either directly or with a merchant middle man. They paid in gold and silver, or in a few lucky cases Credits. He, on behalf of Infrastructure spent them on Saltpeter, Iron, Steel, Copper, Zinc, Bronze, Brass, Chromium and a few other metals which the dwarves dealt in, either as ore, ingots, or scrap metal and sent it back to the Coldlands. His job was to make sure that a sufficient amount of those things went north. There were plenty of Venoans and other people from the area who wanted what Infrastructure was selling while mines and metal dealers fought to make contracts to fill up his quotas.



The war, however, made his life a lot more complex. Shipyards, armories and factories all needed materials to keep them humming more than ever to keep the military supplied and so his quotas had been tripled. He correctly guessed that Infrastructure's mines were being expanded as quickly as possible, but that took time and meant that a lot more mining machinery was needed, as well as machines to make and support those machines. The Coldlands were sending him more weapons and sales profits had actually gone up a bit, as well as a fair bit of gold and silver (for the first eight months or so), but despite that the sales were eating up money at a remarkable rate. This was made all the worse by the fact that prices were going up. Admittedly the price of most metals had been steadily going up in value ever since he had arrived, but in the last two years it had taken a sudden jump. Then there was the matter of hiring more ships to take it to Daagsgrad and Borogskov. A few of the Captains he had relied on beforehand were unwilling to risk interception by Dark Elves while the rest demanded higher rates because of that hazard. Not that he could blame them, as some of the ships he hired never returned. The best he could do to cut costs at his was send some of the loads to Norgensburg and let the guys up them sort out the rest of the voyage, which had its own problems with delays and markup. He had also had a few of the more valuable loads insured, though this still cost money in the long run. To keep his quota filled, he had to take measures he had been authorized to do, but did not like.



At ten in the morning he made his way to a building in the central city of Venoa. It was modestly decorated for the standards, though it did have a pair of well outfitted guards. The inside was more ornate and definitely well made, though still subdued by the standards of Venoan elites. The fact that the air was pleasantly cool was a subtle indicator that Elvish builders were employed to do some of the work in it's construction. A servant led him upstairs to an office in which sat a short rounded fat man with a light brown beard in red and yellow. His name was Vintenzio Di'Hanseti and he was the head of one of Venoa's wealthiest families. He owned some lands and a few ships and operated them profitably, but that was just the foundation of a more profitable financial business.



"Good morning, Enlightened Bureaucrat!" Vintenzio said Jovially as the door to his office clicked shut "I've read your note and would love to discuss matters. May I offer you a drink?"



"Yes, tea with lemon would be fine."



"Very well, it will be here shortly. Now about your request, I believe that an arrangement could be made. Your merchandise is profitable to be sure. Even so, you should understand that I have some concerns given your conflict with the Drow."



"Signore, a man of your stature and resources must be informed of the situation. Every time Infrastructures Ironclads met their fleets we have sent their ships running or to the ocean's floor. Their attempts to seal off our ports from trade have been futile. As long as our factories are kept well supplied to make more of them, we can withstand their attacks."



"Well enough and I hope that you continue to enjoy victory in this conflict that has beset your new country, but even so you will forgive me if I still have some worries about the position of your people, as well concerns over the trade situation." Aulis got the message, he thought that the Drow might overrun the Coldland and people under the yoke of the Dark Elvish Empire tend to be slaves.



“We could arrange for you to get a discount on our wares. Distribution of our goods is a proven profitable venture.”

“Indeed it is and I will say that it does go a decent way to relieving my concerns.”

Aulis put down a folder "If you need some more assurance, we can provide some collateral."

Vintenzio soon opened up the folder and looked through the notes with photographs. "Oh, guns and artillery."



"Type-3R/c Bolt Action rifles and Type-3P/e Pistols” he said proudly “the same models used as the standard service rifle of the army. Eight thousand of them are in the city underneath the embassy at the moment with another four thousand on its way and will arrive within a few weeks. The cannons are eight and twelve centimeter rifled muzzleloaders, cast steel. We have thirty six of these. As for ammunition, we have a few drawing machines. Devices which can take a ribbon of brass or copper and turn out dozens of metal cases and percussion caps a minute. Should you keep the rifles for your own troops you will never want for top quality ammunition, should you sell the rifles you will never want for profit from selling them bullets after the fact.”

“Most impressive, though DiAgnellio has worked out machines which can do the same thing for the Armory.”

Aulis grinned “We have seen these machines. They do work but they are much larger and more more ponderous than our equipment. They are less reliable and less flexible. It's possible for a technician to adjust the caliber of casing one of our drawing machines makes in an afternoon. It would take a major rebuild of the Armory’s machinery over a week at least to do the same.”

“Most intriguing, I must say. If that’s the case, let’s see if we can’t work out this loan of yours.” Vintenzio said as they talked. It went on for the next hour and a half as they went over the various fine details and negotiation was worked out. Eventually they came to a deal which covered a loan of some 250,000 Lyra. At the end they shook their hands on their deal.

Athough Aulis did not know it, this was not the first time this sort of thing had happened. Several other Infrastructural Embassies had taken out loans to cover the expenses of meeting their quotas for raw materials over the course of the war. This would not be the last time, nor would this be the only time he would do so.



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