Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 481 of 619

The bar was open and the shops were mended. Ajax stood in the great hall with Aldric and Tucker, and he laid out the question that had waited too long. "The rooms hold now. The town stands. But what do we do with it? A market with no rule is coin left on the ground." Aldric set the ledger on the bench. He turned it to face Ajax. "Nine shops," he said. "Two are yours already. The other seven sit empty. Traders will come once word spreads the water isn't cursed. The question is how you take your cut." "Two ways," Aldric went on. He tapped a line. "A fee for each shop. A flat sum every month, paid whether the trader sells much or little. Or a commission. One part of every sale passes to you." He closed the book. "A fee is simple. A commission is fair. Fair keeps them longer." Tucker leaned on the cask, chains catching the firelight. He knew how to read a room, and he read this one. "Fee scares off the small ones," he said. "They can't pay a lump before they've earned it. Commission lets a man start poor and grow. He grows, you grow." He grinned. "And a man who owes you a share on every sale tells you what he sells. That's worth more than the coin." Ajax weighed it. A fee filled the vault faster now. A commission built a town that stayed. He thought of Black Oak, of the low tax that drew ships to his dock over years. "Commission," he said. "One part in ten of every sale. Same as the road east. Low enough to fill the shops. We hold the grain store and the well, so no man moves goods without us knowing." Aldric wrote it. "And repairs? The wall still cracks in three places. Two shop roofs leak. Bran's masons can close them in three days." "Finish them," Ajax said. "A leaking roof drives a trader out. Then set Bran on the last wall stretch before the tide turns cold." Chalam came in from the dock, staff in hand, satchel at his belt. He set a small pouch on the table. Rings clicked inside. "The gnome delivered," he said. "Six caller rings. One for every Council man who lacked one." He looked at Ajax. "They reach any of the Council. They can reach back." Ajax lifted one and turned it in the fire's light. Now every leader could reach him across the sea. He handed the pouch to Aldric. “Make sure they all have one.” The question was answered. The shops would fill on commission, the walls would close, the rings would reach his men across eight days of water. Ajax had a settlement that could pay for itself and speak with one voice.