Bernadette smiled at Odys's expression, which looked as though he were about to cough up blood. "It seems you don't know much about seagoing ships. If it were an ordinary small ship, I could sell you one for five or six thousand pounds.
"But if it gets caught by the navy or the Church's ships, don't come looking for a refund.
"Besides, the ship you designed will definitely require a large amount of Spiritual Material, as well as weapons and parts custom-made by an Artisan. Those things are all very expensive.
"The price I gave you is already at cost."
Odys scratched his head. He had counted his savings just last night, and he had a total of 13,522 pounds and 7 soli.
Even in Backlund, that was an enormous sum.
He had confidently assumed that after buying the ship, he would still have plenty left over.
Unexpectedly, it was still not enough. He was a full 1,500 pounds short of Queen Mystic's asking price.
Odys smiled. "Could you make it cheaper?"
"If you don't have enough money, give me however much you have now, and I can have the shipyard begin construction first," Bernadette said. "Once you make more money, come back and pay the remainder.
"But the price cannot be lowered. What I quoted can basically only recover the costs."
Odys considered it before saying, "All right. I'll bring the money tomorrow afternoon and pay you 12,000 pounds first."
He intended to keep over a thousand pounds in reserve in case of unexpected expenses.
Bernadette sat on the sofa in the study and asked, "What do you plan to do once the ship is finished?"
"Of course, I'll sail my own ship across the seas." Odys had long had such plans. Now that he was finally free, he