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-VB-

Hans von Fluelaberg

It started.

The first sign of it was Prince-Bishop Gion talking to me about Bavaria.

The second sign was the Compact\'s own merchants refusing to accept Upper Bavarian coins regardless of when it was minted. The merchants were so upset with the coins that several of them sent me letters asking for a ban on Munchen coins in the wider Compact. Yes, merchants were sending me letters, and a few came from as far as Disentis and Toggenburg, the literal other side of the Compact.

The third sign was a huge convoy of formerly Munchen merchant\'s guild begging to join my city.

I found myself in another meeting after the court session I held earlier today, and looked across the table at the merchant who\'d come with all of his belongings and associates from Munchen. Personally, I didn\'t think that he was a spy.

But at the same time, I couldn\'t just let him in.

"Mister Luhr," I spoke to him after he made his case. Manipulative and silently greedy noble, unstable markets, fearing future crisis… None of that quite mattered to me. Even if the crisis he foresaw was what I made clandestinely, I sympathized with him. But my sympathies can\'t be allowed to disrupt the currently fragile stability that the previous migrants achieved. "While I understand your circumstances, allowing your guild and its associates to settle here in Fluelaberg would be against the city\'s welfare. I am not against your people settling but the guild as an organization like you operated before… no."

"But why, milord?" Anton Luhr, the Bavarian merchant, asked me in confusion.

"Because there is no such thing as guild privilege in my city," I told him bluntly.

He stared at me with surprise.

Guilds had privileges in cities. This was a fact of medieval city life. It ensured that only those with standards the guild approved of could sell their goods but this measure also limited innovation and trade as guilds, like all organizations with power, held onto their power jealously and ruthlessly stomped out any change that would shake their hold on power.

"B-but that would mean that your city\'s artisans operate without a standard found in any other city!"

"Yup," I told him. "I even wrote it into my city\'s laws to ban such monopolistic organizations not directly under the control of the city\'s ruler. By the very law I\'ve written, you cannot operate as you did, expecting privileges that do not exist in this city."

He stared at me and then gulped. "And outside the city…?"

"If you want to settle outside the city? Sure, go for it. I\'m not stopping you from operating." Then I leaned in. "But understand that if you try to pressure or force anyone from the Compact to join you, then that would be breaking the law." I wanted that kind of thing nipped at the bud from the start. Allowing any organization to have a monopoly would be the death of the Compact in the long run, especially if it was related to commerce.

"T-Then how would we compete and survive? We are newcomers without any connection," he begged me. Fuck, he was almost tearing up.

I leaned back into my chair, putting up my best nonchalant and indifferent mien. "And why would that be my problem?" I asked him. "Did you send a letter asking if you could come to settle here? Did you buy property before you came? Do you even have anyone buying property right now?"

He stuttered. "I… I just wanted to avoid the bloodbath…"

"Commendable," I told him. "Acting on what you saw was clearly coming. The Compact as a whole is unhappy with the duke\'s behavior. We\'re actually planning on sending him a letter demanding reparation for the loss of profit he\'s caused with his coins. I do not doubt that all of the Free Cities close to Bavaria will do the same."

Anton grimaced. Yes, my words only confirmed what he had speculated. The damages I\'d wrought upon the Duchy of Upper Bavaria would make it and Duke Louis the enemy of all surrounding states, including those held by his own house.

"But your commendability in dodging the crisis has nothing to do with me in the end," I said but then leaned in. "So be the merchant you are. Negotiate with me. What can you offer me for me to offer you work?" �

Was this the equivalent of kicking an injured dog after beating that dog? Maybe.

But my people came first and my enemies and their assets were potential future acquisitions, not a guaranteed one. Anton and his people were rogues who would disrupt the stability that I needed before launching an attack (financial or otherwise) into Bavaria, so I couldn\'t have him stay unless he could offer something tangible to offset his presence.

"W-We have many blacksmiths. People who know the salt trade route. Contacts that you might not have, milord. I can offer those!"

I tapped the table. It wasn\'t what I wanted, but that didn\'t mean his offer couldn\'t be useful.

"Anything else?"

He grimaced and began to talk. "I … I might know of many smugglers. Including a few inside your city."

Now, we\'re talking.

-VB-

Isabella von Fluelaberg

"So you settled them outside the city?" she asked her husband while seated in a rocking chair he personally made for her. Her hands were around her comically blown pregnant belly, and she sighed.

She felt so bloated and fat, and despite Hans\'s constant reassurance, she felt ugly for it. The weird things about "jormons" didn\'t help either. Just because she knew why she felt this way didn\'t mean that she stopped feeling it!

Ugh, men.

"Yup, and I gave them a job that\'s been sorely lacking for the sake of the Compact."

"Oh?" she spoke up curiously. "And what job would that be?"

He grinned as he looked up from the latest book he was writing.

"Mailman! Or should I say the department of information?"

"... What weird thing are you making now, husband?" she asked him.

His grin didn\'t fade away. "See, you know how people send letters back and forth using merchants, couriers, or designated city messengers, right?"

She blinked. "Yes." Then she extrapolated what he just said and connected it to this "department of information." Her eyes widened. "Wait, did you just make a bunch of outsiders handle the Compact\'s information?!"

He snorted. "Of course not, love. I\'m not stupid. What made you think I was stupid?" he asked with a pout.

She stared at him for a moment before giggling. "Well, if you must know, I remember someone wearing odd disguises that no one bought…"

He blinked. "Wait, what?"

She stared at him again. "Wait, you thought people actually believed you were someone else? Everyone with an eye that was you, honey!" she laughed.

A blush slowly crept up from the bottom of his neck up to his face and covered it all. He slowly buried his face in his hands and silently screamed.

She laughed harder.

"Ugh," he muttered as he let his hands drop.

"So," she said with a smile and maybe a tear in her eye. "Go on. What is this about a department of information?"

"Well… it\'s something I\'ve been planning a little, but I didn\'t have the unoccupied educated people to get on with it at all. Essentially, their job is to handle the menial flow of information. I\'m going to get several buildings built right in between Fluelaberg and Davos, and it\'ll serve as the place people will go to for non-essential information. Like what the laws of my city are, what the laws of other Compact members are, what roads are safe, what the expected level of taxes are, and all of that kind of stuff. They will also handle the job of representing other people in court who have no idea what they should be doing in court. Like a blacksmith who might not know where his liabilities start and end or a farmer who might have been dragged to court because an accuser said the meat he sold was spoiled."

"Oh, so advocates! My father\'s city and many other Italian cities had those as well."

"Yup, so they\'ll be paid to work as guides, librarians, lawyers, and advocates. They\'ll also train other people who want to hold such positions." He sniffed. "It\'ll actually take a few years before they get settled in and be able to do their jobs properly, but all things take time, so I\'m happy to wait it out. It gets them paid, they get to hold some sort of a higher position instead of being dropped down to nothing, and they don\'t have to fear losing their position as long as they do their jobs well"

"... Wait, I -."

Then there was a splash.

They both paused and looked down.

"Oh. My water just broke."

There was a second before Hans shot up. "MIDWIFE!" he yelled as he ran out of the room. "You, go grab the midwife! The baroness\'s water just broke!" he shouted to whichever guard who had been outside. Soon, she heard rapid footsteps as they ran off to get the midwife. Hans came back to the room and quickly helped her to their bed.

"It\'ll be okay," he whispered.

She giggled, but even to her ears, she sounded strained.

"Says the man who nearly ran off shouting-."

Then there was a squeeze and a push.

Finally, it really started to hurt.

"Oh… oh dear," she muttered.

This was going to suck, wasn\'t it?