Army of the Damned

VOLUME 13 Chapter 3

Walking through the sidewalk, with the kiss of the afternoon behind them. The carriages rolling through the major street in front were no longer just full of hide and food. Now the variety has exploded and many other types of goods are rolling. Jackson even notices one carrying large bones that's sticking out of the carriage as it passes his field of vision quickly and the volume of people he hasn't seen before has quadrupled since then while the people has started to wear less and less heavy clothing though he on the other hand could still feel a bit of shiver even in his suit and fedora.

As they reached the main road, they also could see an entourage of the Holy See had entered the city. Their convoy was full of armored carriages with spikes and iron bumpers and in the middle was affluent wagons with glass windows and metallic tint on the side and bottom with polished wheels and hubs driven by well dressed Ministers.

"It seems that most of the snow has thawed, M'Lord. This is usually the primetime my own Companies' Wine carts would arrive."

"Ah, so we might meet more Vampires from Rose then?"

"Sadly not, M'Lord. They are manned by Humans and hardened Mercenaries. I simply cannot allow a Family under the Minuit House to be subjected to the harsh conditions of this place."

"Eh? Your Vampires though. You could live in Hell with no problem if you want to."

"Yes, but that'd be against the elegance of the Eternal Nobility. Hence the Vampires here are the ones whose Families take joy in the experience of travel to the heart and they are but a numbered few."

"I see... so you have two methods of transporting goods to here. One via ship, and another via the roads... nicely done."

"Oh why, thank you, M'Lord. This has to be done as there are times when the river would be frozen and we'd have no choice but to transport the Wine through the main roads even though that is far more riskier."

"Though... since you are Vampires, can't you just break the ice?"

"We could. We actually did that before. But as I've grown, I've noticed we could save a lot on the Blood for the crew if we could just cut the trip short and have them transported via carriage."

"Ah!" As if he could completely relate, the two looked eye to eye understanding the language of one another. "I get it. Hm. The trip alone takes very long, right? How many barrels of blood you'd need and then the weight would also lessen the amount of Wine you could transport." Hearing this, Alana blushed a little as she had a wide grin to her face. "Correct! Indeed, M'Lord this is partly the reason. Also included is the size of the crew. We could simply save a lot more if we could cut the trip and let trusted Humans do the rest of the transport."

"Ahahahaha, hm. I do know of that myself... And..." he then walks to her and leans in. "This is also to not pay as large a tax right? A convoy of carriages is worth way less than an entire Galleon full of wine." she just nodded and gave him a thumbs up. "Ahahahaha, though the only problem there would be the security I guess."

"Indeed it is, M'Lord. But usually as long as you double the pay to Mercenaries, they are more loyal than to their own mothers."

"I see. And the branch you have here, do they usually make profit?"

"Errrrr... that is debatable. Though last we were in my Manor, the profit was coming in as the Nobility were stockpiling to the ceiling... I cannot say it's always like that as there's moments of drought with the buyers. Gareth most of all with its love for war. It usually affects the coffers of everyone, Commoner or Noble."

"Sheesh, you have it hard huh? Me and my employees usually have no choice when it comes to profits. I've slept in crummy small apartments in HongKong with my board members before." He shrugs as he smiles. "Can't say it was a bad experience. Fitting five dudes in a small tight place like that with the beds up next to each other with one bathroom. But we bagged the deal and went home with a few million Yuan Dollars to our company."