Betsy didn't like their predicament and was loudly complaining about it to Kurt.

"It's just a damn bribery scheme now," said Betsy. "Each damn lord, and who knows what they want."

"What can we do?"

"I guess we should start strong and go with Belwark Harbor."

"Why them?"

"Because we control Branson Port now."

"But we can use the gate."

"It's not about what we can use anymore, it's about what we can stop them accessing. We have more leverage over them because we can tell this port to stop sending cargo. Or make a tariff."

"So we can disrupt their daily operations."

"Yes, and if we establish a baseline that's on favorable terms."

"We can mitigate, but won't they see that?"

"We don't have a lot of options," said Betsy.

"What does Carl say?"

"I mean he definitely wants to meet now. And I don't know what to say anymore. We are approaching the end of our terms with him as well."

"So he's going to want to make sure he still has interests. That's fine."

"You shouldn't encourage it."

"We don't have a lot of options, he may be an opportunistic son of bitch, but he is the one we know."

"What about the other continent?"

"Ohh Exloadia?"

"Exloadia?"

"Ohh sorry, it's got a lot of names."

"Whatever, what about them?"

"We'll trade there, so there are a lot of ways to move through what we control. If the war had a decisive end we would be well positioned, but until then I would rather invest resources here. With the refugees and all."

"That makes sense."

"So set up a meeting with Carl, he might know some weaknesses."

"Right now we have limited access from my understanding, they are choking us because we technically can use the wyverns in the country, but we have no permissions yet. So one area isn't enough."

"So what do you think will happen in the end?"

"We will have to bribe them, but their folly is thinking that each lord in their realm is equal in our eyes."

"What do you mean?"

"If we cut off a whole region the region will react. And not every lord is as rich as the others. Some lords have a lot to lose if they miss out on a different lord."

"Miss out?"

"Well, we only really need some corridors to get to major cities. What those lords think is that we will obviously have to deal with them. But we don't. We can find the poorest nearby lord and directly deal with him. And the indirect benefit will greatly increase their influence. And they won't need to demand so much."

"So we can put them against each other."

"A bit, we will have to pay these bribes though to each one of them. And they will all try to call it something else, tax, passage fee, whatever."

"And they don't see this coming?"

"I think they believe they will all get a bite but the terms don't say that, they have to individually say access to their city directly is better than the much cheaper access to the next small town and have those guys get rich walking it the last miles."

"And since flying is so fast we actually don't need to fly straight across."

"You see it now, we can avoid whole sections of the country if they make us."

"So we negotiate with the Harbor first because it's our most obvious advantage."

"Yes. But we need a few people to negotiate all this. We will still have a worse deal than we had as long as they all don't gang up, I think we have some foundation for negotiations. And I think they overestimated their values."

"Overestimated?"

"Like the big trade centers have established well-maintained routes, and they think we need them directly. Because they represent the largest volume of trade already. But we can actually just let them continue without us."

"And watch everyone else grow around them."

"I also think they overestimate our willingness to move around quickly, we can stay somewhere longer."

After a detailed explanation of the ins and outs of what Betsy was thinking they had arranged a meeting with Carl. Kurt knew that Carl was already trying to be one of the more aggressive movers on the news. He already has a contract and for most lords their quickest communication point.

Layla and Sara attended the meeting with Carl as well. After a round of familiar greetings. Betsy had decided start the real conversation.

"Carl, I want you to know, you are not the only trader out there. And your position is not guaranteed, the contracted period is rapidly approaching and the clauses for non-renewal are more than fulfilled by recent events."

"Spoken like a true businesswoman," said Carl, "So my competitors are already at the door."

"Yes. Would you like me to list a few of them?"

"That's enough," said Layla, "Carl, I believe you know the situation. And the seriousness."

"Yes, your majesty."

"Do we have to go through this," said Sara. "You didn't come here without an idea of what to do, so out with it, Carl."

"I have been contacted by many Lords and Ladies of Hamlet."

"Are they individuals or groups?" asked Kurt.

"You're getting sharper Kurt, it's a bit of a mix."

Carl brought out a detailed map of Hamlet where the borders of the lords were indicated.

Betsy and Carl were immediately at odds.

"Stop pretending like this isn't a map of Montgomery Company Influences."

"What do you mean?"

"What about this lord?" pointing at a place on the map.

"He's a minor lord, I have spoken to him."

"Yes, but the terms allow each lower lord the power individually, to us the ranking doesn't exactly matter."

Carl was giving Betsy a look.

"She's right," said Sara.

It started to become clear that Carl was mostly the old guard to everyone. As Betsy pointed out other options that Carl didn't seem to have considered.

"Betsy, if you do this the entire political environment changes."

"And there it is," said Betsy. "It's already changed, Carl. You're being short-sighted."

"What do you mean?"

"The head of the Montgomery company visits this lord and starts negotiating a wyvern breeding center. This lord is barely holding on, we can offer a nominal passage fee. You also have really efficient routes you don't need to pad more."

Carl took a second to think about what Betsy was saying. "To do this I would have to go back and tell them all no and that's risky."

"We can always play hard," said Layla, "what happens when our resources are completely cut off and the Branson Port becomes troublesome to get through?"

"Branson Port? Why would they become troublesome?"

"Didn't you hear? They officially submitted it to us a few days ago."

"So it's not just Helmsbrig?"

"No," said Kurt, "not anymore."

"And you're planning on staying?"

"For the stability of the region of course," said Layla, "we would have to eventually mount an attack toward the Shadow clan."

"And at the end, you would control a portion of the continent," said Carl.

"It is clear that many of the lords realize they are at a disadvantage in outright confrontation."

"We plan to stay with the Belwark Harbor," said Betsy. "What do you know about them?"

"Tough bunch, port fees are practically unavoidable, but if they know you can disrupt some of their fees it might be enough to get something through."

"From there," said Layla, "it's an issue of connecting to either Dakota Springs or Lake LongBow. And we would need one of them."

"This will piss off some of the more powerful lords?"

"They should have seen this coming," said Betsy, "they had the most power before they decided to try and squeeze us."

"We could start defending some of the smaller keeps, it would be beneficial for us to have wyvern dens prepared," said Kurt.

"It's going to take a lot more time to set up," said Carl. "And I don't have as many connections to some of the smaller lords, we would have figured out how they work."

"I think that some of the better parts," said Sara, "a lot of these smaller places have no real power. So it should be easier to convince them that having a gate stop, and some wyverns is already a massive boost to their positions. It's still faster flying than making a crooked path."

"That's true."

"And since they are all under the crown they can't exactly threaten them too much," said Betsy. "And the way the terms are worded is clear. In fact, some of these people may not be completely aware of their new power under the law."

"I'm starting to see a way this could work, we should ignore all of the larger lords. It's better if we get one or two of them. We don't want them all united together pressuring the King."

They continued to discuss where and which lord would most likely have the most to gain and most to lose by the circumstances. And where to go and what to send.

"How do you feel about a lord's son taking an outpost here?" said Carl.

"What do you mean?" said Layla.

"Well, if you were to take a lesser son, like a second or third as a commander or Count for you. Few lords might make things more favorable."

"Is this like the marriage thing?"

"Yes," said Talia.

"Would he be loyal to me?" said Layla.

"For the most part, the idea is that it also gives them some influence in your court. They wouldn't help attack their own family."

"I see," said Layla, "I'm not sure where we would put him. Other than in Exloadia."

"Just an idea," said Carl. "Something like that might make things go a little more smoothly."

"We also have a guardianship we can offer," said Layla. "Technically the well is in BrightFlame Castle."

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