Tunnel Rat Chapter 94 Rough Draft (Patreon)

A short chapter, which might end up having more tacked onto it, sections filled out. But posting it up for now.

Gert made a gesture for her guards to be wary but not attack. It might be a little alarming to have someone leap from a roof to start negotiating, but she understood the need for some people to make flamboyant gestures. This was after all Shadowport, home to thieves and smugglers, pirates and princes.

And he'd said his name was Milo. She couldn't get a good look at him with the cowl over his face, but the description fit. There were some strange stories circulating about him. Not the least of which were showing up with a bunch of engineers and a troll to beat a wolrd boss. His follow up was stealing an airship for Squint.

On second thought, a leaping dismount from a couple of stories up wasn't really flamboyant for this guy at all. Just business.

"What do you have to sell?"

Milo pointed to the warehouse. "Nothing to sell for gold. I don't need money. I need food. You have cheese? Maybe some apples? A hundred bags of flour? I'd like to go shopping."

Gert made a dismissive gesture. "What part of 'Come back in two days.' don't you understand?"

Milo seemed to ponder that question, taking it seriously. "None of it, to be honest. You seem to want to increase profits by waiting for demand to raise prices. Why wait two days? I've got the money now. So why wait? Who knows when a ship full of food comes sailing in and ruins your market?"

Gert waved him forward. "Fine. Come take a look and point to what you need. But if you're wasting my time, I'm waiting three days and people can thank you for empty bellies."

Inside was a full warehouse. Barrels of salted fish and pork. Double baked biscuit for the ships. Hard sausage. Wine, beer, and alcohol of all sorts. Smoked meats hanging from the ceiling. And in one corner, a pile of large wheels of cheese sealed in red wax. A few other kinds were there as well, but it seemed cheddar was back on the menu for a long time. Milo tallied the amount of boxes, barrels, tubs, and hanging carcasses. It would feed a lot of people.

"Ok, i've seen what I need to. Let's go back out. If I'm doing a deal, I want witnesses." Milo was accutely aware of the number of guards in the warehous versus the number of Milos.

Gert scowled. "You think I'd cheat you?"

Milo replied blandly. "I don't know you at all, and you don't know me, so lets not get into judgement here. Having a few witnesses for the transaction protects you as well as me. After all, I can hardly complain later about a deal I made in front of two-hundred people. Gert grunted, and they went back outside to the front of the warehouse. The guards inside immediately checked the doors and windows, even the roof, taking no chances this was a distraction for heist.

Milo approached Brother Ignatious. "So how much would all this be normally?" He ran down the list if what he had seen. Ignatious waved in some of the women from the choir, they knew the market far better than he did, having bought the food for their families for decades. They finally looked at Milo "There's over thirty thousand gold in food inside, she must have been buying and hording long lasting supplies for a long time. And the price has been going up lately."

Milo thanked them and walked back to Gert. "How much do you want for it?"

Gert's eyes narrowed? "Be specific. The cheese?"

Milo looked up at her, standing on the warehouse steps. She was already two foot taller than he was, even before you added a six-foot advantage from being on the warehous loading dock. "No. The warehouse. All of it. How much?"

Gert understood. This guy was a kulag, and as crazy as Squint. At least he didn't have a pair of murder-kitties following him around. "Let's assume I take you serious. How would you pay for it?"

Milo pulled a long rod out of his sleeve. It looked like a golden ceremonial mace. It was studded with diamonds, pearls, and rubbies over most of the head. And especially large diamond was set into the handle. Philistron had made a little trophy holder for it. Milo had simply tossed it into his chest. He wasn't sure what it was, but he doubted the slaver-mage kept junk in his private sanctum.

The golden sceptre glowed in the half light of Shadowport. Gert sucked in her breath and leaned forward. The crowd murmured. Ignacious took three steps to Milo and scrutinized it before saying something in a language Milo didn't know and saying a short prayer. Gert had walked forward, motioning her guards to stay back. "May I?"

Milo handed it to her. Ignatious, eyes still wide, looked at him and asked a burning question. "That is the Sun Scepter of the Order of Mithras. It disappeared from their main temple complex over fifty years ago and hasn't been seen since. It's priceless! Every treasure hunter in the world was looking for it and trying to claim to claim the reward. I believe they raised it again last year to 200,000 gold pieces!"

Gert was trying not to shake. She had a very high skill in both Appraisal, and Identification. Just holding the thing was convincing her. Every gem was reall, the gold was pure, and it identified just as Ignatious had said.

Milo looked at her. "So, we have a deal? My sceptre for your warehouse. I know you wanted 3-4 times value for your goods. That leaves a bit left over for the building. I'll take the warehouse, you get the shiny bauble and can retire. It's heavy to pack around, and no one could make change for it when I tried to use it to buy some cheese."

Ignatious held his breath. Gert looked at Milo. "So many things are wrong with this deal. A legendary item? And you just casually produce it and trade it off for salted fish!!?"

Milo shrugged. "My friends are hungry, and I need some cheese. You didn't break any rules and should be allowed to make a profit. I don't need the thing, and I'm not attached to it. Win/Win/Win deal. The best kind."

Gert handed it back to him. "I can't trust a deal like this. I just can't." The crowd murmured, somewhere nearby a dog barked.

Brother Ignatious looked at her. "Gert, on my oath as a Priest, I tell you that this is a good man who would not cheat you."

Gert looked from the priest to Milo. "And what about him, what does he swear by?"

Good question. Milo wasn't sure about that. His oath as an engineer? He looked over where the childred were sitting, playing with a dog.

Milo placed the scepter back in Gert's hand but held onto the haftt. "I give my word that I bring no deceit to this transaction and wish only to do business, here at the crossroads of the world. I swear upon my life, and ask the Goddess of Travelers to throw me to the eels if I am not speaking the truth."

Gert started to speak, but stopped as a woman only she could see stood in front of her. "Take it. I guarantee what it is, and will give you a blessing on your journey to return it. There will be a boat at the docks willing to make the trip. Pay the Captains fee and you will arrive at the temple of Mithras safely."

Gert's eyes widened slightly, then she said to Milo. "You have a deal."

From the direction of the docks, a commotion was heard. Several people were pointing at a large ship, and several smaller ones that were all sailing into the harbor.