Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 321 of 619

The three near rooms held masters now. The far wall still stood rough and empty, three frames waiting for floors and walls. Ajax stood beneath the carved vines and did the count in his head. Three finished. Three unbuilt. And above the whole bar, room to raise two large suites with balconies that looked out over the sea. A merchant would pay well to drink his wine above the waves. But Ajax had spent his silver on carving and lodging already. He called Tucker, Marco, and Aldric to the bar at first light. "Finish the three rough rooms," Ajax said. "Then two suites above, one over each end. Wide balconies. A master looks at the sea and drinks all night." He set his palm on the raw stone. "But the vault is thin after the carver. I need coin before the stone goes up." Aldric frowned. He counted on his fingers the way he counted everything. "Balconies mean cut beams and iron rail. That is not cheap, and we have no beams cut." He looked at Ajax without softening it. "You want two grand rooms and the money for them at the same time. Pick the order." Tucker thumbed a gold chain and grinned. He had run rooms his whole life and knew how coin moved. "The order sorts itself," he said. "Three masters upstairs right now. Two paid double. Take their coin, finish the three rough rooms this week, sell those beds, then build the suites off that silver." He shrugged. "A house pays for itself if you let each floor buy the next." Marco leaned on the bar. He read men the way Aldric read maps. "The tall master in the corner room," he said. "He is not sailing tomorrow. He wants what we don't have yet. A room above the water." He looked at Ajax. "Rent him the suite before it stands. Don’t sell." Ajax weighed it. Renting a room that wasn't built was Tucker's kind of trade. But it worked. "Do it," he said. Marco walked to the corner master and spoke low. The man laughed, then set down a purse. Tucker weighed it and nodded. That silver bought the beams. Bran and the carver worked the far wall for six days. Three rough rooms took floors and doors. Then the stairs climbed higher, and two suites rose over the bar, each with a balcony of iron rail above the sea. Aldric priced the beds and set the rates in his ledger. The first master to soak in the sea room paid triple and stayed three nights. He spilled two rival routes and the name of a shipwright looking for a quiet port. Ajax stood on the near balcony at dusk. Six lodging rooms below, two suites above, every bed full. His warhouse fed his fighters now, and his brotherhood held without a raid. The house had built the house.