Chapter 310: Selling Stolen Goods

After Honoria and her Crew had attacked and ransacked two Imperial vessels, they immediately made their way to the port of Trieste. Trieste quickly became a significant trading hub within Austria, as it was the realm's largest harbor. 

After several days of sailing, Honoria and her Crew finally arrived within the city, where they intended to sell the goods they had captured for a fair price. As such, Honoria, with Melissa and Elfrun by her side, stepped off of the vessel and began to search the marketplace for an appropriate buyer.

The rest of her Crew were waiting onboard the vessels guarding the prisoners and waiting for their pay so that they could get in a little R&R. After strolling through the markets of Trieste for some time, Honoria came across a textile trader.

The Granadan merchant was stunned to see a group of women dressed in pants and clad with weapon belts walking around in the Trieste market. His first instinct was to ignore the three women, fortunately for him, they began to approach the merchant, and as such, he let out a sigh before putting on a friendly facade.

"How can I help you?"

With this in mind, Honoria took out two shipping manifests that she had captured from the Imperial vessels. 

"We have these goods to sell; I am sure you might be interested in our wares."

The Merchant looked through the items listed on the manifests. Initially, he had a dull expression however when he gazed across their contents his dark eyes quickly shined with avarice. The goods on this manifest were of the highest quality of Byzantine Silk and Indian Cotton. 

It was not easy for a merchant from Granadan like him to get ahold of such items, and as such, he was greatly interested in bringing the materials back to the Emirate to sell for a profit. Of course, silk and cotton were not the only things that caught his interest; the purple dye was the most attractive of all the goods that the women had to offer. 

After thinking about it for a few moments, the Merchant began to inquire about the origins of such fine materials. 

"Where did you get such exquisite items?"

If these goods were stolen, it could cause quite some difficulty to the man, and judging by the attire these women were dressed in, they likely weren't merchants. However, to the man's surprise, Honoria pulled out a letter and handed it to the man.

This piece of parchment was the letter of marque and reprisal that Berengar had signed, permitting Honoria to engage in piracy against the Kingdom of Austria's enemies. By now, the term "Privateer" had become quite notorious among the merchants of the Mediterranean. Berengar's introduction of Privateering was an action heavily criticized by various states who had coastlines within the region. 

Despite these protests, many merchants were willing to purchase such wares as they could be resold at a substantially higher rate in their home countries. As such, the Merchant was far from reluctant to buy the goods; if anything, it was in his favor that these women had found him to fence their ill-gotten gains. After thinking about it for some time, the man raised two fingers to name his price for the goods.

"I will pay ten thousand Austrian Thalers for the Cotton and Silk, as for the purple dye, I am greatly interested in it, but the cost is negotiable."

Upon hearing the Merchant's offer, Honoria discussed the costs with her crew members. 

"I think it is a good deal, that is a substantial sum, and is slightly below market value. After all, the Merchant has to resell the goods to make a profit. As for the purple dye, we have five pounds of the substance, and the dye is worth three times its weight in gold; as such, we should demand Guldens in exchange for it!"

Melissa nodded her head in agreement, the Gulden was used for large transactions such as this, and they highly doubted the Merchant had 107,143 Austrian Thalers lying around. As such, she quickly agreed to Honoria's proposal.

"I agree, the Gulden is better to trade with; the amount of dye we have is worth roughly 1,530 Austrian Guldens! This is a fortune! We should ask for 1500, so he can still make a decent profit!"

Elfrun was primarily left out of the conversation; as such, Honoria and Melissa agreed to pose their offer to the Granadan Merchant. Honoria put on a confident facade as she did so. 

"My offer is 1,500 Guldens! If you don't like it, I am sure that other Merchants would kill for the opportunity to buy such a stockpile of purple dye for the price I have offered!"

The Merchant knew the market value of such a precious substance, and it could be sold for an even greater price in Granada than here in Austria; after all relations between Granada and Byzantium were complicated to say the least, as such trade between the two Nations had suffered greatly over the years.

"Very well, if you would transfer the materials to my vessel, I will meet you there with the promised sum. It is a pleasure doing business with you girls." 

After saying this, the man gave them the information on the location to meet up, and Honoria and the others returned to their ship, where they began to gather the resources for the trade. 

Just by selling the textiles and dye, they had gained a substantial profit. If deposited into the National Bank of Austria, they could withdraw the amount of value from the Austrian Guldens in their Thaler equivalent, roughly 490 Austrian Thalers per Austrian Gulden. 

Before long, the members of Honoria's Crew handed over the goods in exchange for several chests filled with Austrian Thalers and Guldens. After carefully calculating the goods and checking to see if there were any counterfeits, Honoria accepted the transaction. 

After returning to the Sloop of War known as Honoria's revenge, the Crew gathered around the multiple chests filled with the large silver and gold coins. They could not believe their eyes, as they gazed upon the pile of wealth.

The wealth sitting before them was enough to buy a manor for several of the crew members and retire peacefully. However, greed was a natural human instinct. After seeing how much fortune they had gained without suffering any casualties, not a single woman among Honoria's Crew desired to retire after a mere two battles. 

Silver and gold had an unnatural effect on the human mind; men and women alike would be willing to stab their siblings in the back for more of the substance. However, rather than turn on each other, these women desired to raid the merchants of the Holy Roman Empire. Reflecting upon her own internal desire to do so, Honoria decided to give a speech to her crew.

"We will be distributing the wealth we have gained to each member of the crew in equal shares. We are all one family onboard Honoria's Revenge, and thus we will share our fortune equally! 

You may do what you wish when it comes to your wealth. However, I will be depositing my share into the National Bank of Austria under an account in my name, and I advise you to do the same. It is far safer under the protection of the Austrian Crown than it is hidden away in some far corner of the world!"

After saying this, not a single woman among the gathered crew members could disagree with Honoria's words. They were privateers licensed by the Austrian Crown and afforded legal protection in that regard. They were no mere pirates; thus they did not have to worry about their assets being seized by the government. 

Before long, Honoria and her Crew had sold all of their goods, including the Carrack they had gained from the Genoan Merchants, amassing a substantial fortune on their first run. With this in mind, Honoria kept her word and divided the shares equally among her crew members. This was the result of the first of many pillages that the wenches of Honoria's Revenge would engage in during the Austrian War for Independence. 

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