After some discussion, the task Arthur assigned to gather information was divided among Victar, Vickon, and Zaren.
Victar was acquainted with many Braavosi captains, several of whom had received his help. Assigning him to gather information from the captains was the most suitable choice.
Vickon had long been managing the lumber supply for the weapon factories and shipyards, often dealing with the Sealord's officials. He was responsible for gathering news from official channels.
Zaren, besides probing the reaction of his old acquaintance Sabel Kaffi, also arranged for Cauliflower Ear and the others to collect rumors circulating in the market.
As for drafting proposals, it wasn't something that could be done overnight, so Arthur wasn't in a rush.
After everyone dispersed, Arthur returned to his familiar room and lay on his velvet bed. A wave of peace and relaxation washed over him. Truly, no place like home.
Skipping his magic training with [Creation], Arthur gave himself a break to soothe the fatigue accumulated over these days.
The next day, while Arthur was enjoying breakfast, Vickon was the first to seek him out.
"Following the Sealord's orders, the Braavosi City Watch has arrested several insurance merchants on charges of colluding with pirates and slave trafficking. They say a public trial will be held at the Palace of Truth in a week," Vickon reported.
"Customs is strictly controlling departing ships. Even the Sealord's Purple Fleet has been mobilized. Every ship leaving port undergoes strict inspection to prevent anyone from slipping through the net."
Quite the execution.
When it came to cracking down on collusion with slavers, the Sealord and officials up and down Braavos truly stepped up.
Arthur sighed. "It seems cracking down on slavers and anything related to them has become a consensus in Braavos."
"Braavos welcomes everyone, except slavers." Vickon laughed. "This is carved into our bones, just like your family words 'Winter is Coming'."
'Winter is Coming' are the Stark words, Arthur corrected silently.
What are a bastard's words? Betrayal and Lust? Or maybe 'Growing Stronger'?
Arthur smiled self-deprecatingly and asked:
"How is the proposal for the 100,000 Gold Dragons coming along?"
"I have a preliminary idea, though not fully matured," Vickon introduced.
"As you know, our shipping trade transports large quantities of one or more goods to another place at a time.
"But we cannot stay in a port for a long time just to sell goods. This often forces us to lower prices for quick sales or sell everything at a discount to large buyers."
Vickon paused, observing Arthur's expression before continuing, "This undoubtedly causes us to lose a lot of profit."
"Interesting." Arthur nodded appreciatively, encouraging him to continue.
"My idea is that we can build or rent a warehouse in the ports we frequent. When ships arrive, instead of selling immediately, we move the goods into the warehouse and wait for the right price to sell."
Listening to Vickon, Arthur had a realization. Vickon's idea and logic were strikingly similar to stock trading concepts from his past life: buy low, sell high, building positions, closing positions.
Last night, seeing them all glowing with health and satisfaction while he had been duped by the Black Pearl and inadvertently stung by Pate's words, Arthur had felt a twinge of imbalance, leading to the idea of making them write proposals. He hadn't expected such a fruitful outcome.
"Excellent idea." Arthur patted Vickon's shoulder encouragingly. "Go back and polish the details. Once it's set up, you'll manage the warehouse in Braavos as well."
Watching Vickon leave excitedly, Arthur pondered briefly and added to his plan: the warehouse could also be used to acquire goods when prices were low.
Truth be told, Vickon's idea had real potential.
Mm, I'm investing in this project!
The second person to find Arthur was Zaren, arriving in the afternoon.
"The streets and taverns are full of people condemning and cursing those insurance merchants. Children, women, the elderly, priests—almost everyone is discussing it," Zaren reported.
"Some angry citizens plan to gather and march to the Sealord's Palace tomorrow, demanding severe punishment for these merchants who colluded with pirates and trafficked slaves."
"Those merchants should be out of the game. The situation is clear; now only our old friend Sabel Kaffi remains."
Arthur had worried someone might step in to protect those merchants, but it seemed he had overthought it.
Although Braavos elected its Sealord, the current one had strong control over the city.
Arthur stretched lazily and ordered, "Invite the captains who frequently visit or intend to visit White Harbor to come here in three days. I will offer them an insurance contract fair to everyone."
"Yes." Zaren acknowledged, then reminded him hesitantly, "I feel these captains won't trust us easily, let alone sign insurance contracts with us. Our reputation among them isn't exactly good."
"Not exactly good?" Arthur grinned. "More like terrible. To these Braavosi captains, we are strangers from the Sunset Kingdoms with a notorious reputation for lighting beacons at night to wreck ships.
"In their eyes, we are both strange and untrustworthy. Usually, if they see us, they pretend not to and walk around us."
Zaren coughed awkwardly. "My Lord, you always see the essence of things."
"And our competitor?" Arthur tapped his knuckles lightly on a sandalwood box on the table. There were three such boxes on his desk.
"Sabel Kaffi is incredibly greedy, but he has operated in Braavos for thirty years.
"For thirty years, at least on the surface, he hasn't breached a contract. Those captains are fellow Braavosi; they know each other's backgrounds.
"If you were them, who would you trust? The answer is obvious."
"Then what should we do?"
"How about?" Zaren made a throat-slitting gesture.
If you can't solve the problem, solve the person creating the problem. It was indeed a method.
But Arthur never liked doing that. Violence was always the second-to-last tool in his box, reserved for desperate measures.
Arthur pointed to the three sandalwood boxes on the table and said with certainty, "The contents of these boxes can help us turn the tide. Perhaps opening just one or two will make those captains obedient."
Hearing this, Zaren breathed a long sigh of relief.
In his memory, none of Lord Arthur's judgments had been incorrect. Since his lord said so, he trusted him implicitly.
Zaren didn't even ask what was in the boxes, but brought up another matter instead.
" regarding the proposal for the 100,000 Gold Dragons."
Zaren rubbed the armrest nervously with his webbed hand. "My idea is to take a portion of the money to expand our intelligence gathering channels in Braavos."
Arthur noticed Zaren's unusual behavior and asked curiously, "What exactly do you mean?"
"I want to open a brothel, or buy one, and find willing courtesans to connect with, expanding our sources of information."
"Oh?" Arthur sat up straight, no longer sleepy. This was exactly where he had stumbled before.
"Do you have a target?"
"A brothel I frequent. It seems connected to the courtesan Mermaid Queen." Zaren shed his nervousness and spoke frankly.
"A new mermaid there, after I persuaded her, told me she and her sisters have been collecting intelligence. Some of the information she revealed surprised even me."
Opening a brothel to gather intelligence, earn gold, and satisfy the peculiar hobbies of certain lords—Littlefinger Baelish had used this to gain a foothold in the political arena of King's Landing.
"A new mermaid? Are you in love with her?"
Arthur asked, puzzled. "Doesn't the Mermaid Queen only have four mermaids?"
Arthur still remembered the vigorous dance of the Mermaid Queen and her four partners in the Sealord's Palace.
The four mermaids were young girls in their prime, with graceful figures and fresh faces, dressed richly and generously.
Like other courtesans, each had her own pleasure barge, servants, and handmaidens.
"She told me one mermaid was drowned." A trace of pity flashed in Zaren's eyes. "She doesn't want to be drowned, so she secretly begged me to help her..."
A mermaid... drowned?
Arthur thought of the peculiar hobbies of some King's Landing nobles. Do Braavosi nobles have similar proclivities?
Thinking of this, Arthur felt a wave of chill and disgust.
"I will consider this, but it is not urgent right now." Arthur weighed it for a moment.
"You can exchange some unimportant information with her from time to time, allowing her to demonstrate some value to her Queen."
"My Lord, I thank you on her behalf."
Arthur waved his hand. "No need to thank me. Just be careful not to get played."
Actually, Arthur wasn't too worried about Zaren, a mature man experienced in the ways of pleasure houses and romance.
Otherwise, he wouldn't just give a verbal warning; he would consider forging an [Ice Sword] for Zaren.
Though Arthur had practically tested that the [Ice Sword] was useless in that regard.