Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

13. The Wealthiest Pirate

Cal worked through the night after everyone had gone to sleep. He had to make for lost time and he still had so much to do. He spent most of the night dissecting the three book the fire clan had left for him. He made a myriad of notes in the margins and he felt like he was back in college.

These books would be instrumental for his disciples. Naomi, Yvette, and Seamus. On the journey it was game over for their break from their raid on the Dravenkin and it was time to get right back into polishing them. The first was a text book-like beginner's guide to learning magic over several fields put together by Sinder and the mages. The second book was a 42 Volume thesis by Sinder on the various forms and nature of magic and how they have changed or developed over time especially over the course of the last 250 years. The third and thinnest volume was for his personal use, and he was honestly disappointed by how thin the volume was compared to how much more important it was compared to the others.

Seamus, he was just going to teach him what he knew about Druidry for better or for worse.

Now that he had time to get to know both of the sister's strengths and weaknesses, he knew which capacities he wanted them to serve in.

Ophelia ended up spending the night on the couch since she didn't like sleeping alone anymore. Before she fell asleep he had fixed the door with a little earth elemental magic.

The morning was spent formulating actual plans and he had papers stacked all over his desk.

His pen flew over the papers like the world was about to end.

Tiki came in and watched over Ophelia while she slept in a little longer and Wendy came in to bring him breakfast.

She was glowing and was wearing a charming layer of make-up. Not only was she wearing lipstick, but it was smudged as well. When Cal pointed it out she merely grinned with a big blush on her face.

Wendy set the tray on the table.

"I'm just glad it didn't go to waste," she smiled wiping away some of the smudged parts of the lipstick while looking in a hand mirror. "I know the situation is just one big mess, but thanks for meddling as much as you have." She put the mirror away and began pouring him some tea.

"Thanks Wendy." Cal said as he rubbed his temples.

"You know sometimes I hardly recognize you. When we were getting acquainted, I thought you were the laziest man I'd ever met. Then you disappeared for two weeks, and I had no idea what to make of the man who ran off with my daughters into the dark forest. Then you came back, and everything changed. Now my daughters get along, Peter is putting in a serious effort into our marriage, and you are some kind of workaholic."

Cal laughed, "some men were born great, and some men are royally boned by greatness."

Wendy giggled. "Is that another one of those wise saying from your father?"

"Nope, that's an original by yours truly." He sipped the mint tea giving him a bit of a wake-up.

Wendy went to wake up Ophelia. But Cal stopped her.

"Leave her be, I didn't get all the details unfortunately, but she strained herself yesterday. This is also the most I've seen her sleep without tossing and turning. For a girl plagued by night terrors let her have her rest."

Wendy leaned over the girl who was cuddling the stuffed fox as big as her.

"She looks so peaceful. She's even smiling." Wendy whispered.

"I know, it's super cute and distracting. I had to block the view with a pile of books, just so I could get anything done." Cal ground his teeth.

"I'm impressed. Well I'll leave you be." Wendy left, and Cal nibbled at his food while his pen flew over his papers.

*

That day Ophelia woke up refreshed and jumping all over the house full of new life. Cal met with some representatives from the Lamia and the Arachne while Wendy trained the new guild workers and Yvette trained the waspkin who had come to work for the café. While he was meeting with them, the guild members that were out on the quest returned with two whole carts full of skins and dried meat.

Cal was having the Lamia and Arachne open a business nearby one-part tailor and one-part food processor. They left with a druid from the council to sort out the details on the location and permits while the new guild workers took inventory of the haul. And the younger guild members helped with the heavy lifting.

That night Wendy and Cal looked over the finances and decided on the base rewards for quests to be issued to who for what and set a standard for the future. But at the end of the day everyone was quite happy with their first guild rewards.

Wendy on the other hand was astonished by Cal's personal wealth. The café made plenty of money, thanks to Cal's input to their menu, the attractive staff, and the novel aspect of being a loft over a guild there were many loyal customers.

Receiving an invoice from Kadoka's fluffy dragon for a wall repair nearly set her off until Cal laughed and easily brandished a few rare gold coins to pay them off. She inquired just how much gold he had, and he complained that the hardest part was that it was too valuable. But when she pressed him for a number she gagged, coughed, wheezed, and nearly doubled over when he listed off not only his ridiculous number of gold coins, but silver coins, rare gemstones, bars of gold, silver, copper, and other precious metals.

He also had a list of liquid assets in storage of the original guild vault that only he had access to. And teased that the catacombs under the city weren't there when he joined the guild, and they were never considered barren. Lastly, he mentioned that pirates always keep hidden caches for a rainy day.

She had known that Cal had wealth but now that she understood a part of it, she was overwhelmed. He could have anything he wanted. But Cal explained, that's not how power worked. It was dangerous, if he began buying everything with gold coins he'd darn near break the economy, they only reason he was giving these to Kadoka was because of Gerald's business savvy mind and their trade with the human kingdoms.

He also couldn't go liquidating his gems and other things, not only would it put a bigger target on his back, but it would hurt the economy in a different way. And many of the precious materials he owned, went into crafting, and he was one of the best crafters in the city. The catacombs were another story all together. That's where the slimes lived, they were only allowed on the surface when they had proven capable of self-control, which meant traversing them was left to the foolish, and policing them was left to the other slimes and the foxes.

Cal knew his power and he knew its risks. Spending the money from the café was the most logical thing to do in their circumstances. But it was far from their only means of income.

Then something occurred to Wendy as she looked at the ratty clothes the wealthiest man in the city wore.

"So why do you dress like that?" she asked without thinking.

Cal looked down at himself and back at Wendy, "What's Wrong With The Way I Dress!!!"