The Asshai's Bloodmage

 Rafael couldn't believe his luck. After showing the boat to Omar and closing the deal with the representative, the Windhunter was finally theirs. Now it no longer had that name. Rafael had renamed the sailboat to Valyrian Sigh. The representative would change the name as a way of thanking him for the successful sale of 15 gold coins and 7 installments of 10 gold each. Installments that would never be paid. Thinking about this, he even thought about whether it wouldn't be a good idea to buy another ship, but there was too little time to prepare a second crew and their cargo.

 After that, he went to meet Magnus in the hope of using his new company, the "mercenary company", as a way to get another 100 or 150 coins out of the criminal. He even arranged some signals and questions with Omar and told him not to talk under any circumstances, leaving the entire deal to him. Little did he know that Magnus would throw so much gold into his pockets! "Haha Rafa, I still can't believe you didn't know anything about my father's business, I almost believed for a moment that you really knew everything, luckily he was paying attention to you or I would have given everything away just by the look on my face."

—I was caught off guard for a moment, but I managed to react in time, the moment I let him explain I already had a plan B too. The most important thing is that this time we were lucky. Who would have thought your old man would be so cunning? His plans really benefited us this time, a new colony... HAHAHA. Remember to let Tom know if Magnus asks him anything.

"Yes I know hehe"

—Here take your share!

I take 4 bars out of the cloth bag for Omar, he tries to refuse saying he didn't need it, but I said we should be fair if we were partners.

—Speaking of partners I'll let you convince little Fatty about the disaster, I haven't spoken to him since all this started, but I doubt he'll give up his inheritance so easily. Since I still have to convince my own father, Zhang will be his responsibility. 

The person we were talking about was a third friend of ours, he has been busier since he inherited a shop on the same shopping street my father works at. The problem was that Fatty was very greedy, ever since he inherited his shop and improved his life he has only been spending all his profits on extravagant food and visiting pleasure houses almost every day, that's why we haven't seen him. So convincing him to sell his lucrative livelihood won't be so easy. Omar took his 4 gold bars, so I asked him to keep 2 more of them in his shadow bag. I would exchange the other two for coins at the Bank we had just arrived at.

"I was already thinking of going to talk to Zhang and your father, they can make a good profit selling the materials and cargo we will need to supply the ship."

"Well, I'll leave this one to you then, remember that I haven't spoken to my father yet, so just give him a summary of the situation. Here, take this, take out 3 papers and pass them to him.

"A menu? You know that the crew and common passengers don't eat so well? We'll lose profit if we provide 3 meals."

—Look at the back, there's a list of ingredients that aim to reduce cost and weight in the cargo, there are also details on how to prepare and store these ingredients more efficiently. We only need some altered animals... I'll leave the rest to you and your captain since you're more experienced, just remember to leave 1/5 of the cargo available because I see a possible valuable cargo. Another important thing is that grains and dried or preserved fruits are rarer in Asshai, so try to prioritize this type of cargo. The second paper contains details of a space on the deck that will provide us with a small water source, it's still a test, it won't be as efficient at sea, but we'll make better use of it when we arrive in Asshai. The last one is a paper advertising the sale of cabins, post it at the port when you return.

As soon as I finish the explanations and Omar answers some questions, we arrive at the Bank's cashier and quickly withdraw our gold coins, I 150 and Omar 350 then I also exchange 2 gold bars for another 200 coins. The Bank provides us with a small trunk and Omar helps me carry it outside and into the carriage. He then heads towards some carriages around the Bank hoping to rent one too. I say goodbye to him and let him know that I'll be at Dragon Dorminhoco all afternoon in case he needs anything.

After we go our separate ways and I'm alone in the carriage again I open the chest and wave my hand putting away all 350 gold coins, I have about 383 in total. I hope I don't have to spend too much, I'll visit the auction house where they sell the slaves tonight. There was still about an hour and a half until lunch, so before heading to the popular tavern in the northern district I went to a tailor where I ordered a huge batch of cloth masks, towels, and other hygiene items. I hoped that each passenger would be able to have their own hygiene items to avoid illness as much as possible on board the ship. As for gloves and hats, I didn't make many, as they were only intended for the kitchen team.

Then I went to a store that sold alchemical products and also ordered some barrels of alcohol. I was very specific that I wanted this alcohol for cleaning and hygiene and not for drinking, I emphasized that it needed to be strong and flammable, and not tasty, to prevent sailors from drinking it in secret. The man at the store didn't quite understand at first, but when I told him that it could help with disease control by cleaning hands and other places a patient had been, it would prevent the disease from spreading. The alchemist was quite fascinated by the new information, I asked for a period of 3 days again, before also asking for a lot of soap. I ordered enough for each passenger to have a small pebble every 1-2 weeks. I took the opportunity to buy some alchemical products that I recognized from the land, I had my own purposes in creating some items that could defend myself.

Taking advantage of the location I was in, I visited another blacksmith and ordered around 170 metal mugs with handles, this was to ensure that each passenger also had their own cup. I ordered some huge barrels with taps installed to be placed in the crew area for drinking water and other drinks, to be honest I didn't know if Omar would take care of something like that, but it wouldn't hurt the safety measures. In a world without antibiotics, a disease in the middle of the sea could exterminate our entire crew, that scared me a little more than any bandit or pirate.

I ordered some of these smaller barrels to also be installed inside the cabins.

Last but not least, I ordered some giant crossbows similar to scorpions, there were no cannons in this world, so giant crossbows would be the best option for sea creatures, dragons and other hostile ships. I had already written the details on paper and told the blacksmith the importance of secrecy, if I couldn't meet the deadline he should only ask for non-important parts from other blacksmiths, I also threatened that if anything leaked from the plants everyone would suffer the consequences. The final instruction was to install the 3 small scorpions in the ship overnight and cover them immediately with a cloth. So that the people on the dock wouldn't see the weapons that shouldn't already exist in the current period, I suppose, since I don't know which year they were created. All I remember is that during the beginning of Aegon's conquest they were used by the people of Dorne.

All the simplest items like masks, towels and mugs didn't cost much less than 4 gold coins. The alcohol was a little more costing me 5 coins and lastly the 3 small scorpions and their ammunition cost 7 gold coins. The cost of the items was inflated due to the short lead time. But I didn't worry too much, because Omar would pay for half of everything I bought today, I asked for proof of everything. The last item I needed before going to lunch was a small stamp, I stopped at a place where a carpenter was making some furniture and showed him the design. It took less than 20 minutes to carve a flame symbol with a drop of blood inside, below my name Rafael was written in letters from my world. This was to avoid false passages on the ship and ensure that I could sign important documents without the possibility of fraud, it was also a way of creating my own coat of arms for letters.

At the alchemy store I had already bought a very special paint that I mixed creating a very different color. With my system of notes and images I would have a database and record of each passenger and crew, so I had another layer of extra protection. I finished everything and finally went to the famous Sleeping Dragon, at that point it was already past noon and I still had a lot of things to do.