[hider=A few too many]William found the environment of the royal party to be a little more withdrawn than he had hoped. When the messenger first approached him with the king's invention, William and Jain had barely had a moment to appreciate the dry land, that's the issue with having such noticeable ship. he'd expected a little more of an upbeat atmosphere, he'd drank almost triple the quantity of most of the other guests. And he was feeling it. He'd lost Jain about an hour ago, this is why he usually ignored plus one inventions but Jain needed to experience a little more of what the land had to offer after all he was a long way from home. 
But where did he go, William pondered over his half full glass. to get food? a refill of alcohol? Or was it to chase a woman? Probably that one, William told himself with a gleefully childish smile. However he soon realised that his smiles and chuckling outbursts had attracted uncertain looks from some of the better dressed guests. William found the faces of the displeased nobles to be quite sobering, and with that he stood from his table, finished his drink. And walked through crowds of fine gowns, silks and cheerful voices. Until he heard what he was looking for. A complaining noble. Like a preacher to the wealthy, William stepped forth.[/hider]

[hider=Mutually assured profit] Isabel had been separated from her betrothed after Goodwin had been called over by a servant to speak to his father, no doubt to ask how the current state of things were between him and his new wife to be. As far as Isabel could tell she had been successful in ‘seducing’ Goodwin; the man who had been incredibly surly upon meeting her now had difficulty leaving her side. It seemed he was a simple man, driven by his desires and would be easy for Isabel to manipulate towards the betterment of House De Reimer. She was currently in a conversation with Charles Du Paraquette and his wife Ellen Du Paraquette. Isabel had been working with both of them over the past couple months had had found a certain level of respect for their skills in regard to money handling. 

“The slums have become a severe issue as of late” Charles said “as far as we can tell none of the residents living there are even attempting to look for work. They either choose to beg and pollute the streets of Nyhem with their stench or worst still they resort to crime making them an danger to the hard working citizens”

“If they were willing to work hard then they wouldn’t be in the slums in the first place” Isabel said with a laugh “we had the same problem in Cawaport and I say we deploy the same solution. We make begging illegal and press those caught breaking it into the army. That way they are at least of some use to the empire, even as arrow fodder”. While Ellen nodded in agreement Charles was less certain

“Surely there are other ways in which we can solve this problem, what if we set up some sort of industry within the slums themselves and force those vagrants to work for living”.

“Do you think I haven’t tried”? Isabel replied “No one willing to invest in that area, and who can blame them, what self-respecting person would want to invest in such a cesspool

It was at that moment William realised that this was not just idle chatter between nobles to reinforce their wealth. This was Isabel De Reimer, treasurer to the high council, one of the few people who could actually be an invaluable business partner to William. So with a drunken deep breath he stepped forth. 
“My lady if I may interject” William had to bite his tongue it was very rare that he was the one going into a deal with someone richer and more powerful than him. “I wish to purchase the dockland within the slums despite the plethora of problems you have most graciously outlined”. Both Chalre’s and Ellen’s eyes widened as they questioned William's sanity, who was this man who thought he could so casually approach Isabel De Reimer.

Isabel turned to see a tall large built man with jet black hair held loosely in a greasy ponytail. From his appearance he almost looked like a commoner, surely not here!

“Who are you” Isabel said with no emotion in her voice, if this man had been invited to this party then he must of been of some importance, as such she would remain civil and wouldn’t order Ulf to throw him from the ramparts, at least not yet. 

“William Flin, merchant Lord of Akki, you've probably heard of me my lady” William's confidence was starting to break above his drunkenness.

“No”, Isabel responded without hesitation, “i’ve never heard of you”. While the man appeared to have some status to him, the fact she hadn’t heard of him meant that he wasn’t important enough for her to be seen mingling with him. In response she turned her back and hoped he got the message.

This took William aback yet again, first Jain, now Isabel. He was starting to doubt his reputation. And he hated it, but this was just more motivation for William to proceed.
“My offer is to create a merchant guild, a hub for imported goods, bringing exotic goods to market places around the city, renovate the docks, clean up the beggars and give them work. I'd hire my own guards and pay all who get employed fairly, and give them a taxable wage.” William had found his flow, he knew that his offer was better than anything else that could be offered for the docks, and it was clear from the grumbles of the surrounding nobels that their opinion of William had changed. 
“May I sweeten the deal by offering local farmers and produce makes double the standard rate for their goods, and the guild will also pay 3% of its annual income as taxes”. 

Isabel was about to order the guards to remove this man from the party for daring to disturb her again. However as he spoke she became more and more intrigued, even Charles and Ellen had shown an interest in this strange man. Once William finished Isabel kept her back to him while she considered what he had said more closely. Finally she turned back around 
“It would seem you have put a lot of thought behind this, and here I was thinking you were a drunken fool, you still might be, time will tell. How much are you willing to pay for the dockland”. 

William reached into his pocket and removed a scrap of stained parchment and handed it to Isabel. 

Isabel looked at the ragged parchment and hesitated for a moment, and then gestured to a nearby servant who took the parchment from Flin before handing it over to Isabel. Though she could have just taken it from him she needed to remind him of his place. Unfolding it slowly she stared at the yellowed rag.
“This is less than half what I'd expect for a piece of land this large. And you did not mention your logging permissions.” There was an undertone of anger behind her words.

“Think of it as an investment you will receive much more than you expect in the long run and as for the logging, as you said the docks are dilapidated.” William knew that this deal was his, but he had to keep his confidence to a minimum. 

She pondered for a moment, on one hand this man could just be a overconfident merchant who would ulterly fail to deliver on his promises, on the other if this were the case Isabel had nothing to lose; if he did fail then all she needed to do was repurchase the land back off him once he became desperate enough. “your lucky I'm in a generous mood, it's better than any other option I have, I will send a messenger to you tomorrow with the rest of the details. This has been an unexpected pleasure, but if you please I surround myself with a certain caliber of people, and you are certainly not that. 

With a loud laugh from both of the Du Paraquette’s and drunken bow from William, he turned, and walked the way he came, only this time he was a richer and happier man. 
“I'll celebrate with a drink” William said cheerfully to himself, laughing loud not caring about the stares.[/hider]
In collaboration with [@TheDuncanMorgan]