Chapter 434: The Holtweiss Consortium

Three days after Garen Holtweiss walked into the Grand Complex and loudly declared Boren his brother, a carriage bearing the Holtweiss crest arrived for Sage shortly after breakfast.

Garen had insisted that if Sage intended to deal with merchants in the Royal Capital, then sitting inside the Guild and waiting for merchants to come to him would teach him very little.

Sage agreed, although Boren refused the invitation before Garen could finish extending it. Mina wanted to come until she learned they would spend most of the day visiting warehouses, merchant halls and counting houses, at which point her enthusiasm vanished.

Sage therefore entered Garen’s carriage alone and found the merchant already eating sugared pastries from a silver tray.

The journey began west of the Grand Complex before turning toward the Capital’s great commercial quarters, where the streets widened to accommodate wagons traveling in both directions.

Warehouses rose behind shops, courtyards were crowded with carts, and porters moved crates beneath painted signs belonging to merchant houses Sage had never heard of. Garen pointed them out as the carriage passed, identifying grain merchants, cloth houses, metal traders, spice dealers and companies that specialized in goods arriving from outside the Kingdom.

"Most people think a rich merchant is a man with a large shop," Garen explained while brushing sugar from his fingers. "A truly large merchant rarely cares about the shop. The important things are roads, warehouses, agreements and knowing where something is needed before everyone else does."

The Holtweiss Merchant Consortium was a perfect example. It wasn’t one family shop enlarged a hundred times. Beneath Garen were dozens of merchant houses that had joined the consortium through partnership, investment or long agreements.

Some remained family businesses using their own names. Others operated warehouses, caravans or river barges almost entirely for Holtweiss trade.

The consortium bought grain from one Region when harvests were plentiful, stored it, then moved it toward places where prices rose. Iron traveled from mining lands toward cities filled with smiths.

Herbs moved toward places with large numbers of Mages and alchemists, while finished weapons and tools traveled back toward frontier settlements.

Their first stop was a Holtweiss warehouse district large enough to resemble a small fortress. Wagons entered through one gate and left through another while scribes recorded cargo on long wooden boards.

Garen led Sage onto an upper walkway overlooking rows of storage buildings and explained that no caravan should travel empty if a merchant could prevent it.

A wagon carrying Capital cloth toward another Region might return with timber, ore, monster hides or preserved food. Profit wasn’t merely buying cheaply and selling dearly. It was keeping men, animals, wagons and storage useful throughout the journey.

Rivers complicated everything further. Where roads became expensive or dangerous, barges could move heavy cargo more cheaply, but river tolls, bridges, seasonal flooding and territories controlled by different nobles changed the calculations.

Large consortiums therefore maintained people in numerous cities who sent reports about prices, road conditions, toll changes, bandit attacks and local shortages.

Garen explained that a caravan crossing three noble territories might pay three different road charges before reaching its destination, and a lord could make a route profitable or miserable simply by changing what merchants were allowed to carry across his lands.

"Then there are borders," Garen continued as they returned to the carriage. "Foreign goods mean foreign coin, different measures, different laws and rulers who suddenly decide imported wine threatens the honor of their vineyards.

Trade is peaceful until someone discovers a new tax." Sage laughed, but Garen was serious beneath the humor.

The greatest consortiums maintained trusted merchants near border cities and agreements with foreign traders because sending an unfamiliar caravan into another realm without local knowledge was an excellent way to lose money.

Sage began understanding why Garen had looked at the Grand Complex and immediately seen more than restaurants and an Exchange. A Guild branch established along a major road would attract Warriors, clients, travelers and monster materials.

If missions made surrounding roads safer, caravans benefited even if they never entered the Guild. If dungeon information brought Warriors into an area, merchants followed the demand.

If Guild Exchanges eventually recorded prices across several Regions, information that once took weeks to travel could become available far sooner.

Garen confirmed it when they reached a busy merchant hall near the center of the commercial quarter.

"That is why some of us adore you already," he told Sage as they climbed the broad steps. "You gather armed people, give them reasons to clear monsters and bandits, then build places where they spend the money afterward. A merchant could pray for less and still consider the gods generous."

Inside, representatives from dozens of merchant houses negotiated beneath hanging boards listing goods arriving that week. Several recognized Garen immediately, and even more noticed Sage beside him.

Not every expression was friendly.

Garen waited until they entered a quieter gallery before explaining. "Never make the mistake of thinking merchants are one faction. Put ten merchants in a room and you’ll have eleven interests before lunch."

Some wanted the Guild to succeed because safer roads lowered losses. Innkeepers and food merchants welcomed traveling Warriors. Smiths wanted customers.

Smaller traders liked the possibility of selling through the Exchange instead of depending on old merchant houses that controlled certain markets.

Others had reasons to hate everything Sage was building.

One merchant family held an old agreement giving it first purchase rights over monster materials recovered by two mercenary companies.

The Guild Exchange threatened that arrangement because registered Adventurers could seek an appraisal and sell elsewhere. Another group financed caravans through a mercenary company and received favorable protection prices in return.

Several wealthy traders had spent decades building private networks that depended on information remaining difficult to obtain.

A Guild that eventually compared prices between Regions could weaken that advantage.

"And some simply dislike change," Garen added. "A man who has eaten from the same bowl for thirty years becomes furious when someone moves the spoon."

They entered another chamber where a gathering of senior merchants was discussing transport prices.

Garen greeted several by name before Sage noticed a heavyset man across the room watching them.

Unlike Garen’s extravagant purple clothing, the stranger wore dark brown silk with little ornament beyond a thick gold chain around his neck.

His beard was neatly trimmed, his expression controlled, and the merchants surrounding him gave him enough space to suggest importance rather than affection.

Garen’s cheerful expression remained, but his voice lowered. "There. That is someone you should remember."

"Who?"

"Edmund Krail."

Sage looked again.

Edmund Krail was master of the Krail Trading House, one of the Capital’s strongest dealers in monster materials, weapons, preserved magical ingredients and caravan supplies.

Garen explained that Krail had built much of his wealth through long agreements with mercenary companies.

His people bought materials directly after hunts, supplied equipment before expeditions and financed certain large contracts in exchange for favorable shares afterward.

"The Guild Exchange hurts him."

"Already?"

"Not enough to make him poor. Enough to make him notice."

As though sensing the conversation, Edmund excused himself from the merchants around him and approached.

He greeted Garen courteously before turning to Sage. "Guildmaster Alistair. Your name has become difficult to avoid."

"I could say the same about yours. I’ve just been educated."

Edmund’s eyes moved briefly toward Garen. "Then I hope your teacher explained that the Capital’s markets were functioning long before either of you decided they required improvement."

Garen smiled pleasantly. "I haven’t improved anything today. It isn’t even noon."

Edmund ignored him and told Sage that new organizations often mistook rapid attention for permanent influence. Warriors were curious now, merchants were visiting the Exchange now, and the Mana Tower was fashionable now.

The Capital, however, had swallowed countless ventures whose founders believed a crowded opening month meant they had changed the world.

Sage heard the warning without needing it explained. "Then I suppose we’ll find out whether they’re still coming next month."

For the first time, Edmund smiled, although no warmth reached his eyes. "Indeed."

He departed without another word.

Garen waited until he was gone before quietly warning Sage not to underestimate him. Edmund wasn’t a Warrior and wouldn’t challenge anyone with a sword, but he controlled warehouses, buyers, lenders, suppliers and old agreements spread throughout the Capital.

More importantly, he had spent years making himself useful to people who preferred their names absent from ordinary business.

Garen led Sage through markets before returning toward the Grand Complex. Along the way, he pointed out merchants who would compete for business and others Sage should approach.

By the time the towers returned to view, Sage understood something no map had taught him. The Capital’s trade routes formed a battlefield, fought with contracts, access and information.

Sage glanced toward Edmund’s retreating back.

The Capital’s merchants weren’t united against the Guild.

That was good.

Unfortunately, the ones who were against it had plenty to lose.