45
A maid quietly stepped forward.
Her translucent gauze dress rippled gently with her steps as she lowered her head and led them through the noisy hall.
Parrots shrieked one after another, announcing information about the goods and their prices. Deals were contracted here, with that maritime power overseeing delivery.
Those who broke their agreements-
Sank forever into the shadows of the deep sea.
They did not linger in the hall.
After they passed through a corridor, the air suddenly grew quiet.
Heavy wooden tables and carved chairs filled the second floor. Wine gleamed darkly in glass goblets, and the sweet scent of fruit platters mingled with the incense on the maids' hems.
Looking down from here, the figures milling around the auction floor below resembled a swarm of ants.
Brilliantly feathered macaws perched on table edges and chair backs, pecking at scattered fruit.
At their center stood a parrot nearly as tall as a person, its head held high, its rolling eyes surveying them condescendingly.
A gentle male voice came from among the parrots.
"The Family's people have finally arrived?"
The middle-aged man reclining on a couch raised his eyes.
His voice was as mild as a schoolteacher's.
At first glance, he looked the part, too: a plain white robe hung from his body, its sleeves swaying gently with his movements. Give him a book to hold, and anyone would have taken him for a learned scholar.
Ochoku.
A bounty of 3.278 billion Beli.
A black cloak lay over his shoulders like a curtain woven from the night.
He casually turned a wineglass between his fingers, yet he seemed like a black mountain sunk into the earth, utterly immovable, leaving others unable even to contemplate challenging him.
"Have a seat."
He raised a hand in a casual gesture.
But