The Asshai's Bloodmage

As I'm about to leave, Omar runs to my carriage to report the situation in the Lords' library.

"You're lucky, they're leaving the island for their "vacation", if we had left it for tomorrow, we wouldn't have been able to even talk to my father or Tom. Besides, I heard that all of my father's soldiers and knights are taking their families and that many of them borrowed money to invest in the new land… Hahaha."

I laugh too, it seems that Lord Leo used everyone's greed to get rid of their possessions and take out loans. Maybe I can use this to lure my old man.

—So what day can I go and how much time do I have? I ask.

"You will go in with Tom today and you will have 2 hours to write down everything you need. If anyone asks anything, you must say that you are collecting information for my father."

—That's enough, thank you!

Before I go, I also give Ted instructions to check the ships going to Westeros and send a message to my father. I take the carriage and less than an hour later I arrive at the Sleeping Dragon. I tell the coachman to have lunch and put it on the bill for private room 3. I look at the clock and it's already past 12:30. I'm a little late. Before going up the stairs, I remove the poster I left yesterday and put up a new one. This one is much better than the one from yesterday. I can say that the marketing used in this poster promises an incredible adventure in the land of magic.

When I arrive at the entrance to private room 3, there are four men waiting for me. One of them asks me if I'm Rafael, the Captain of the Valyrian Sigh. I wave and enter the room, telling them to come in. I sit at the table and take out the papers I prepared, pen and ink. I ring a bell for the waiter to come and serve me and ask if any of the 4 men are going to buy a cabin by themselves. None of them answer, so I tell them that the cost of the ticket is 2 gold per person and that they will have to share cabins with other people. They agree and then start giving me their information. None of them catch my attention, the only one with a slightly different story besides looking for "new opportunities" says he wants to sell some personal items there. I ask him how much the cargo weighs and he says it won't be a problem.

The waiter brings my lunch before I even finish filling out all the information for the new passengers. They leave and I finally get to taste 2 new types of meat, this time it's oven-roasted lamb and spit-roasted wild boar. As a side dish, I order some cooked grains that resemble chickpeas and for the first time since I arrived in this world I eat a salad hehe. I don't need to like eating leaves to know that it's necessary to eat from time to time. I just repeat yesterday's drink, but I plan to try others later after I finish eating.

Time passes slowly and I almost take a nap before they knock on the door again, I open it, and to my surprise Jack is back! I greet him as he sits down and he pulls another bag out of the shadows! I don't mind smiling a little in front of him when I see something I want. I repeat the same trick as yesterday, a few words in Latin followed by a red glow and another bag is free of its previous owner again. I drip the drop of blood again before looking inside. This time the contents of the bag shock me a little, there is an entire gold bar inside along with over 80 gold coins. I see jewelry, precious stones, silver coins in the hundreds and copper in the thousands. There are documents, a painting, a beautiful sword as well as a beautiful shield and not just 1 but 3 gold watches, 1 of those watches is full of precious gems carved into the gold, probably something a woman would wear. I dump it all on the table without consideration and let Jack look at it all. I can tell for the first time that he is breathing heavily. He is also surprised by today's harvest. I hand him the gold bar before taking the 80 gold coins and the thousands of copper that are almost spilling from the huge table. In the end, there is silver left, I do a quick calculation before taking most of it and he is left with less.

Then I realize that he is still looking at the painting.

—Do you know what painting this is?

I look again at the painting of a woman wearing a purple dress whose eyes are the same color as the dress. She is sitting on a rock with the blue sky behind her. I take the opportunity to save the painting in the new system function and then he finally speaks:

"This is the Valyrian Lady, a painting stolen about 20 years ago. Not only is the painting almost 3000 years old, but its price is estimated at at least 15000 gold coins."

At that moment my jaw almost drops.

—I didn't know that the Valyrian art market was so appreciated by the Lords. If I had known, I would have made a different partnership with you." I sigh, while speaking somewhat sarcastically. He laughs at my speech and says:

"Not all art is worth so much money, but this one is among the top 10 most valuable, and there are many rewards for anyone who can find clues, find the thief, or even the location of the painting. As for selling such a valuable work, forget it... Among so many potential buyers are many spies from the defense force hoping to recover the painting and return it to its owner, who happens to be a dragon rider from an important family. Another reason why the painting is worth so much is the magic or method used to preserve it for over 3,000 years. Among the valuable items in all of Valyria, those with such magical effects number no more than 7, and not even the current Blood Mages know how this painting was made."

—So what do you want to do? Do you want to try to sell it? Collect the money for the clues and turn in the man whose bag you stole? If you want my opinion, I have a different plan.

He looks at me, then takes the papers from the bag and begins to read. After a while he says:

"Selling it won't be possible, that's why that slave-driving pig didn't try. I can report him before he wakes up by selling the information to two people at the same time, and maybe we'll earn 300-600 gold coins. As for the painting, just keep it hidden or get rid of it."

 He stood up and then asked if he could keep the papers with the names of buyers and defense force guards. He said that this list also has a value when it comes to selling information. Regarding this, he will give me my share tomorrow, so I agree with him taking the documents. When he leaves, I think about the possibility of him trying to sell me along with the painting, but this thought doesn't worry me because now that I have the system's storage, no one will ever find this painting unless I want them to. I put everything back in my bag and then allow my system to devour it. The space that at first was just a two-door cabinet and evolves twice during the system's level 1 and level 2 upgrades now gains more space again. I see its width, height and length expand before my eyes and I smile with satisfaction.

While no one comes again to buy more cabins, I send a message to Black Cat asking him to look for some magic books for sale in the city, reinforcing that they can be basic stuff for beginners. It doesn't take long for him to send a message saying he'll try, but he can't guarantee the veracity of most of them, but that he knows someone, that he knows some apprentices of the Blood Mages and will try to get something from them.

I think a little about my monetary condition, my coins have fallen below 300 after spending on my blacksmith's forge and the alchemy items. But now they've recovered again to almost 360 gold coins and I have a huge amount of silver and bronze coins too.

I reply to him to send me the names of the books and their prices and I'll tell him whether I'll buy them or not. I also say that if after I pay he reduces the prices, the discount will be a profit for him as his fee, I'm sure he wouldn't ask for anything in return since Magnus said to help me in any way he can, so he should be satisfied with the arrangement.

Soon two girls arrive to buy an entire cabin. This surprises me since they're quite young and aren't wearing the extravagant clothes of someone rich. I continue with the sale and then I discover that they are sisters. The older one worked as a prostitute in the city for a while and saved enough money to leave with her younger sister. She hopes to start a new life in another city, leaving her past behind here and hopefully finding a good husband. When I fill out everything and give her the documents, menus and rules of the ship, I take the opportunity to ask if she would still do this type of work on board, but she says no, because it would create rumors in the new city and would defeat the whole purpose of moving so far away. I also ask her why she is going to Asshai and not somewhere else. She replies that she heard from a client that magicians accept apprentices there, and she plans to use all her savings to try her luck and see if she and her sister can find a master. I feel sympathy for both of them and wish them luck in their dream, so I tell her that if things don't go well there, she can come to me to find an honest job at the company I plan to open.

They say goodbye and leave and 50 minutes later another woman comes in, this time an older lady wearing very daring clothes.