Chapter 86
Loiza's POV
We were at the lagoon, Maco brought a third of the order Pasha made for the rings and Holy Hades, she brought A LOT of treasure.
"Maco, what do you think? Queen Pasha, by the Goddesses, I think you over did it!" She gives me a knowing smile, in private we are Pasha and Loiza, in front of our respective people we are Alpha Loiza and Queen Pasha. I gave her a wink so she knows we're in understanding.
"Your Highness we can hand you a third of your order today, another next week and the remainder the week after that, we were definitely not expecting such a large order. But my sister is right only a tenth of all of this will cover your order." And Phoebe linked me this is a snippet of what they have!
"Your Highness, we will keep the amount my brother said, but you can take everything else back." She cocks her heads.
"I will be able to contact the Alpha with this ring, yes?" She asks looking at the coffers of rotting wood.
"Oh yes your Highness, you will be able to contact anyone who has a ring as well and we are still collecting the data from Sybil's ring, so far the range reached Venezuela, right Sybil?" Maco asks the mermaid.
"Yes Maco I reached Margarita Island, I also swam the other way and the range reached Georgia." He looks at the ring and writes some notes on his tablet.
"Thank you for this favor Sybil! I'll input the data, keep the ring and if you can give us more data we are willing to add updates on them should we find ways to increase the range and any technical support should they fail just bring it here and have someone else contact us and we will repair it for you." Sounds like a good deal, Sybil's information is valuable to us, improving our technology is vital.
"So your not keeping all of this?" Pasha asks looking at 15 coffers full of gold and gems of all types and they were careful not to include silver.
"No Your Highness, the price was met and we don't steal from allies, but we will need time for the rest of the order, deal?" I ask.
"No." She says. Huh?
"If you want the whole order you can take it all back and return in three weeks, we will have the complete order by then. And we thank you for the information, it's very valuable to us." Maco says as he puts the ring on a sensor on his tablet taking all the data from it before returning it to Sybil.
I get in the water and go close to Pasha and signal to talk in private telling those with me to go far and Pasha does the same. Hell they'll still be able to hear something!
"Pasha what's wrong? It's a fair price." I whisper to her.
"Loiza, it's heavy and bothersome." Huh?
"You're talking about the coffers?" And she nods.
"I'm sorry but by the Goddesses Pasha, that is A LOT, I am not going to steal from you!" We keep talking in whispers.
"Will that help keep the shores nice and pay for things my people want like the helados? We don't want to take it back, plus we have more and we don't have use for it. Could we swim up the rivers and explore with safety?" Well this is unexpected.
"CAN you guys go in sweet water, and I thought you guys live on human flesh?" She nods.
"We can roam any water, but it's dangerous in other places. Keep that and my people can buy with their word anything and roam the waters of Karaya and we eat humans, but we can eat anything else, we want to try what you eat, we have a deal, yes?" That's enough to buy them a lot!
"Ok, let's do this, your people will use the rings like debit cards. Can your people read numbers?" And I call Phoebe over. And I explain the situation.
"We can read numbers both Roman and Arabic." I look at Phoebe. And Phoebe goes to Maco and explains and he looks up and chuckles and tells us to come over.
Pasha and I go to the shore. And Maco has this goofy smile and shaking his head.
"Queen Pasha, we can put an encryption inside your particular rings so your people can use it as sort of a debit card. We will serve as basically a bank for YOUR treasure and I will codify it to our own systems so you don't have to carry the gold and such and that way your people will be able to use the rings to buy anything until the treasure is depleted but I will have to take these rings back to add the correct coding, is that okay?" She looks at her sisters and they all seem happy with the deal.
"To swim up the rivers we will keep 15% as tax allowing you to swim were you please, but the same rules apply as to salt water shores, and for holding your money, making you partial citizens of Karaya, is that a fair trade?" She scratches both her heads. What now?
"Can we bring all of it and you add it to our debit? We can't buy anything with it anywhere anyway. And we can also keep helping with the range of the rings, they are more valuable to us than all of that." Well this was a turn...
"Your Highness, keep one so that you can contact the Alpha when you bring everything and she will let you know when the whole order with the add ons for the debit system allowing all of you to have fun shopping is ready, what do you think?" And she gave a large smile.
"Yes! We have a deal, we will continue to bring everything, including silver, you could use it for those who are not allergic or for punishment, we have no use for it and in a month we have all our rings, yes?" Maco nods and gives his assistant his tablet and extends both hands to seal the deal, Pasha knows what to do and they shake on it. And she and I shake.
"I will order that your people not be harmed inland and that you guys will soon be shopaholic mermaids with cash to spend, so don't be surprised if people come up to you, they will be looking to sell you just about anything! Don't make any shopping deals until you get the rings and try to get good bargains. I will also put out an order so that you are given fair prices and not get duped, stealing among our own and allies is frowned upon, but there are a few idiots who I wouldn't get it past them." Maco gives Pasha her ring basically as a sample now and she looks so happy with it!
"I will call Alpha Loiza when we bring everything, but that will take time as well, so every time we bring treasure--" I lift my finger.
"Every time you make a DEPOSIT to your account!" And she understands.
"Oh, I see! So every time we make a DEPOSIT to our account we will call, yes?" Shopping mermaids with a very large account! This is to funny.
"And remember Your Highness, that also pays for the fines we talked about in the original contract. But again, I hope you all use your money for enjoying yourselves and not paying for breaking the law, agreed?" I see her look back at her sisters with scorn.
"No law will be broken! We have a deal tell everyone. Any who breaks the treaty risks banishment, yes?" She tells her people.
"Yes my Queen!" They say in unison. This will definitely be a huge boost to the economy! We have gold to melt and mint coins and the rest of the treasure we will definitely make use of it. But I link to Maco that this debit ring system is a good idea for everyone. He agrees and makes notes for changing the ring system and making it compatible with the banking system.
"If you bring other items from ships we can see if they are worth anything to the Anthropology Department at The University and we will definitely give you credit for it. My brother will make cameras so that you can record the wrecked ships so that we have as much information of them as possible of them, some might be interested in joining with expeditions if you guys serve as guides! We like to keep a museum with interesting things of our people and things that happened in our waters! How's that for an extra deal with adventure added!" Pasha couldn't stop nodding and the others got closer to see the ring that soon each will have and then I get the link from Tía Ayiti.
'LOIZA ANANI MIRABAL REAL!' Uh oh... It's NEVER good when you get called by your Tía or any parent for that matter by your WHOLE name, even my middle name! Shit! What did I do?!
"Uh, guys I have to go now. Maco keep explaining the features, tech support and add a warranty. Phoebe stay with them, ok?"
"Yes Alpha." She responds with a little knowing smile.. damn it!
"Queen Pasha I am sorry, I really have to go now, ask my brother any questions you have!" I go upstairs knowing that I'm going to get it bad! I may be Alpha, but my Tía and Isla still hold a certain power over me... Shit! This is humiliating!