110 Lord, Governor, King (1/2)
Before Corco got anywhere close to the inner city's harbor, he could already hear the gunshots from his soldiers' salute. Even though his preparations for the harvest festival were still far from completed, his guests wouldn't wait on him, and so he would have to make do with whatever Saniya had available. With any luck however, the most recent arrival should bring a few materials with him which would make Corco's banquet a much nicer affair. Thus, he had decided to come down from Rapra Castle in person, just to welcome his newest guest and take a look at the wares.
By the time he arrived at the edge of the pier, the tall, burly lord with the gray streaks in his hair had already set foot onto dry land and was immersed in a conversation with Atau, who had welcomed all the other guests so far. Even though it might have been poor manners, the old lord broke off conversation with the captain and instead moved towards Corco as soon as he spotted the king come towards them.
”What a pleasant surprise! Lord Huaman Queru greets King Corcopaca!” Lord Queru said with a frank, toothy smile.
”Saniya welcomes Lord Huaman of Vallunaraju,” Corco replied, as the old lord trudged towards him.
”Good, good. Now that the greetings are out of the way, let us make away with the formalities. I have hoped to speak with King Corco ever since the king's speech during his return banquet back in Arguna.”
”Yeah, that one was pretty good, huh?” Reminded of his rebuke against the Chutwa scholars, Corco laughed in a self-satisfied manner. Meanwhile, his cousin Atau retained a neutral smile in the background, since he hadn't heard the speech himself and wouldn't have shown much interest anyways.
”Indeed it was,” Queru said. ”A rousing call to arms for the united lords of Medala. What great misfortune then that the elders didn't see things in the same manner as us, maybe because they failed to hear the grand speech themselves.” Rather than answer, Corco just smiled through Queru's speculations. Accusing the ancestral hall here wouldn't gain him any favors, as much as he wanted to rant.
”Truly a shame that I could not speak in greater detail with King Corco since then, as most talk about alliance during the succession had to be handled through Governor Sonco, may his path be clear of hurdles...” For a second, everyone within earshot lowered their heads in remembrance, although for most it would be more of a custom, or a reflex, rather than a proper gesture of deference. Just to reinforce the notion, the old lord Queru soon raised his head again and resumed his monologue.
”At least King Corco could prove himself again during the nobles' assembly and reinforce the status as the most capable and selfless of all the princes. Especially King Corco's war against Prince Pacha made this old man's blood boil. It reminded me of the adventures of my youth, if I dare say so myself. Even more so however, I am quite sure that all southern lords found great respect in King Corco's gesture of solidarity during the proceedings, truly an example worthy of imitation.”
With a grin, the lord gestured his head down towards his arms. Like many of Corco's ghost warriors, and the king himself, Lord Queru had also decided to wear his sleeves short and had his tattooed biceps exposed, with only his forearms covered by white fur sleeves. ”In any case, I believe King Corco isn't interested in an old man's ramblings. This lord is honored to see King Corco making the journey from his castle all the way down here to the inner city. After all, it's a long trek just to greet some shine-free old man from the bitter south.”
With a smile, Corco looked up to the old lord, and then over to the ships the man had arrived on. Unlike most of the other lords who would appear today, Queru had come with multiple ships. In return, his entire fleet completely lacked any decorations, being entirely functional in nature.
”If today's arrangements are a success, Vallunaraju's lack of silver won't be a problem for long. After all, the unique treasures of House Queru's territory will be a key to the success of our harvest festival.”
”Ahaha, we're more than happy to help,” the southern lord answered, though the slight waver in his voice told Corco that Queru was still not convinced of the true worth of his lands. ”Vallunaraju does not have much to offer, so we're very glad to trade whatever we can. Still, some of the products requested by King Corco are quite strange, are they not? A return to days past, so to say.”
With a wistful look, Queru turned back towards his ships. Over there, his servants had begun to unload the product King Corco had demanded to buy off their lands, the ones he had called 'treasures'. Through groans, two especially strong warrior servants shoved a giant cube of ice down the plank and onto dry land.
”In fact, I believe you have no idea what kind of treasures you have there,” Corco smiled. ”Iceis useful for a good number of things. Most importantly, it'll be instrumental in the grand finale to tonight's banquet. It's good for cocktails too.”
”Is that so,” the lord replied with a strained smile, obviously unaware of what a cocktail was.
”Yeah. Your estate has all kinds of goods. Amber, fish and whales from the sea, Ice and lifestock from the land. In the future, our two lands will be intertwined like the strings on a rope!”
*And co-dependent, just like the estates around Porcero,* the king added in his head.
After a good while, Corco was still lost in thought, transfixed by the precious cubes and all the possibilities they held. Only when his cousin Atau cleared his throat did Corco wake up again. With great haste, he turned to see that Lord Queru had waited without complaint, so he just gave the man a nod before the two made their way along the Mayura River, towards the bridges that would bring them into Rapra Castle.
”Anyways,” Corco picked the conversation back up again, ”ice will always be something desired by the rich and powerful, especially in a warm year like this one. But Saniya, and the entire west coast for that matter, are far away from any mountains, so the south is by far the most convenient way to get ice these days.”
”Apart from the saltpeter,” the southerner added with a bitter voice.
”That's how it used to be. It's true that you can cool a room down with some saltpeter, but these days, the stuff has become too important as gunpowder to be wasted like that. These new weapons, the cannons and the guns, will only become more and more important in warfare as technology progresses. As a result, saltpeter becomes rarer and so it will be more and more expensive as well. No one will use it to cool their house any longer, not even the spendthrift lords around Sallqata or Huaylas.”
With another look back towards the harbor, the large man nodded his head with a smirk.
”That would be why King Corcopaca fired all of these shots in greeting?”