[Hanako] Chapter 6: Birkensen Trading Company

[Throndir]

《Chapter 5: Slave Owner's Assets

Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Trudy and Her Hero》

《Chapter 6: Birkensen Trading Company》

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Hanako's Room
Date: Day 6 - 7 AM

You woke up the next morning feeling excited about finishing the book, you read through the rest of it while both Minette and Hanako had begun reading their own book. Hanako was finishing up hers, while Minette had begun reading through the book about the 'Shifting'.

It was a lazy morning, with all three of you reading a book while still in bed. In the middle of it, Trudy had gone out to get some breakfast for everyone, and soon enough the three of you were eating some light breakfast while continuing the reading and research.

The rest of the book you read begun explaining more about the Velethen Empire, in the perspective of the archaeology work, along with research from the original author of the book. Klein and his translator didn't seem to make much progress in deciphering everything, and it seemed like Klein had managed to act on the hint of the city. Though, there were questions such as wasn't the land they were on part of the original Refedoria kingdom? What happened to the original city that was there?

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Hanako's Room
Date: Day 6 - 11 AM

It was through the reading the rest of the book that you noted a couple of things:

• The Velethen Empire was rich in technology and magic. They seemed to make a combination of the two called 'Magitech'. Many of the artifacts of the original New World were actually tools and weapons from that era long ago.
  
• The Velethen Empire existed thousands upon thousands of years ago. It seemed like around 6,000 or more years. Though, even that estimate wasn't clear.
  
• The cities of the Velethen Empire were huge, they spanned high in the skies with tall buildings, and even floating islands. They also had underground sections of their city.
  
• Some cataclysmic event had happened late in the Velethen Empire's reign, and it seemed like much of the world was affected then. Humanity seems to have went through something close to a dark age, which eventually resulted in the forming of smaller countries, which, over the course of a few hundred years, became the birth of the Old Felothian kingdom.

Minette and Trudy had given their report as well, of the books they had read.

Trudy who read that Refedorian book about heroes told you some bits of information, but many of it didn't seem to be as important. It seemed to include tales of heroes from the Refedorian Kingdom.

• The Refedorian kingdom and its neighbors at the time had summoned heroes in the past, each time was during times of crisis.
  
• Various tales and opponents the heroes had fought.
  
• They are said to be summoned from the goddess herself
  
• They are summoned from summoning circles that take time to 'recharge' in order to be used again. Usually once every couple hundreds of years.
  

Minette, who understood the language of the Idorian Magic Kingdom, had decided to read the book about the 'Shifting' by Eloise Renaud. She told you the following.

• The shifting is the term used to describe the fact that random countries, peoples, land features, appear out of no where. Replacing whatever was there currently.
  
• Unknown what happens to the places that were there.
  
• Underground things are affected as well. Cases where a moist swampland was replaced by dry desert ground, going deep into the earth. Though, climate itself remains similar to the original.
  
• The shifting can occur to summon small pieces of lands, and sometimes big. It seems to be random. There were actually a couple of cases where a small patch of land was 'Shifted', and it had only included a summoning circle.
  
• Some potential theories and links. It seems many of the lands that were summoned had some sort of link to heroes. Either people who believed in heroes, or had a similar set of gods in their pantheon that they had worshipped.
  
• Most peoples that were summoned believed in the Goddess of Light, though, that isn't always the case.
  
• The last 10 years had seen the most summoning both in the Idorian Magic Kingdom's world, and from the perspective of the original New World inhabitants. Though, it notes, that it is probably due to the war with the demons.

[Asta]

There was a lot of info to pour over, and most of it just brought up new questions. The prospect of seeing what might be buried in the mine that Klein had marked was both exciting and frightening. More than anything though it complicated Hanako's exit strategy from Refedoria.

"We've got some interesting stuff here, and I'd like to go check out that mine before we get out of Refedoria. We can have that conversation later tonight though, and after we meet with Sofia we'll have to hammer out the fine details of our plan. For now, lets get the day started in earnest. If you can meet me later for training Trudy, I think I've almost got the hang of it. I can help you with your Japanese later as well if you'd like, Minette."

[info]Hanako will do one normal session on longsword, one normal session for the Power Attack feat, and tutor Minette for one normal session[/info]
[info]Training Longsword:
This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d20+7 : 13 + 7, total 20
Training Power Attack:
This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d20+7 : 11 + 7, total 18[/info]
[info]Training Minette on Japanese:
This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d20+7 : 1 + 7, total 8[/info]

[Throndir]

During the first session, you manage to completely train your longsword proficiency. You were able to start counterattacking, and deflecting each of Trudy's attacks. Trudy herself was very impressed. mentioning to you that it's rare for someone to be able to get the hang of using a weapon so quickly. In just a few days as well. She made it seem like you were some sort of prodigy.

During the second session, Trudy had begun trying to teach you how to do powerful strikes, but still maintaining quickness and agility. You had made progress with that as well.

Moving on to teaching Minette, you didn't do avery good job at explaining, however, Minette was able to keep making progress on her own from all the notes she had taken, and using you as clarification for vocabulary and her writing. She was making fast progress.

Trainings
Longsword Proficiency: Learned
Power Attack: 1/8
Minette's Japanese: 4/8

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Hanako's Room
Date: Day 6 - 11 PM

It was late evening again once you finished with all the training and teaching. You managed to find yourself some clothing as well, courtesy of Amarille.

[Asta]

After a full day, Hanako found herself once again in the bedroom where she seemed to end up having every strategy meeting with Trudy and Minette.

"Ok so we have that meeting tomorrow with Sofia. As Trudy pointed out I don't think I'll be able to go dressed in a uniform so I'll be wearing more normal clothing when I go along. If anyone asks, I'm Isikawan and acting as an envoy for Klein who is I'll. Like I mentioned before, I'm planning on figuring out how much Sofia is willing to work with us toward our plan to get out of Refedora and then offer her a sizable stake in all of Klein's holdings."

She sat up straight to stretch out her back, which was a little sore from training earlier. "Second to that, once we have a clear plan in place for our exit I'd like to try and check out that mine. Presumably nearly all the slaves there are Kleins, which I plan on getting out, but the oversight is an unknown variable to me. I imagine we can't just waltz in and say we want to take a look around. Plus getting the people free from there is another problem. We need to know the layout of the mine, where the slaves are kept, and how to get past the overseers and into the actual shafts to take a look around. If we have any information on that already, it would be a good place to start."

[Throndir]

Minette nodded.

"Yes... We have all of that information... The blueprints of the mine... The mining shafts... The mining and drilling plans... There are a variety of locked down buildings that serve as homes for the miners. The security is tight, and the guards are on horseback to catch up to any potential jail breakers. The problem... would be the hired hands..."

It was Trudy this time who continued.

"Yes... it's not a problem for our estate with the owner nearby... If he wanted any of us dead, he could just think it. But at the off-sites... One of the reasons why we didn't tell everyone too, is that there are some soldiers who aren't slaves, but are paid well for their services on keeping everyone else in line. No one likes Klein... but we can't fully trust everyone either. This is even more so true at the mining sites where they're surrounded by wilderness... Most of Klein's soldiers there are still slaves, but the Busch Metall group actually have slave owners on-site, who themselves are slaves to owners here in the city."

"Unless... there's been recent changes... I can get you the floor plans... along with our list of personnel at the mining site operated by Busch Metall, along with an estimate on how many soldiers Busch Metall have. Other company records aren't usually given out in the open... But I think... I can make a guess."

[Asta]

Hanako rubbed her temples and sighed. "This is such a headache... Okay, if you can get all that info together for me that would be great. We'll have some time before we try to escape here so we can still come up with a thorough plan for getting in and out. I'm sure we can come up with something after all the details are laid out before us. We can look at it when we get back from dealing with Sofia. For the time being, lets get a good nights rest and we can get all set up to meet her in the afternoon."

It was out of the frying pan and into the fire yet again. At this point she was beginning to wonder if she had ever been in the frying pan to begin with. One day at a time Hanako... One day at a time...

She slipped under the covers, and waited for the warm close presence of Trudy and Minette to settle in beside her. After a few days it almost felt like it would be harder to sleep alone. Hanako assumed this was a good thing. Probably.

[Throndir]

The other two others snuggled with you. Minette took no time at all to move herself very close to you, though while Trudy usually stayed close but with enough distance, this time around she seemed to have taken Minette's actions personally, and decided to reach out for your hand. Trudy's grasp was awkward at first, but eventually she found a position where she could hold your hand comfortably under the covers. Trudy herself seemed to be slightly turned away, but you could tell she was blushing.

Soon enough sleep came.


Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Hanako's Room
Date: Day 7 - 7 AM

Just like the previous nights since you arrived, you had dreamt again about Erato, that being that first summoned you into this world. It seemed like she had been apologetic about something, but you couldn't quite remember the details at all.

That next morning you realized Minette had already left. Trudy was still asleep next to you however. More than likely Minette was already looking into the records that they had.

Feel free to state any specific actions/etc. It'll be an hour til Minette completes retrieving the information.

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Where-ever Hanako is
Date: Day 7 - 8 AM

Minette eventually came back, bringing forth a stack of papers. She began detailing out the information that was requested about the mining site that overlayed on top of both the red 'X' on Klein's map, along with the marker in the book.

• 350 total of Klein's 'assets'
  
• -Among them, 300 were slave miners. 50 of them were soldiers.
  
• -Among the 50 soldiers, 30 of them were slaves, while 20 of them were hired soldiers without collars.
  
• Busch Metall had 150 workers, and from Minette's best guess, about 15 to 20 soldiers.
  
• Blueland Processing had 50 workers, and about 5 soldiers.
  
• A rough map of the camp, along with the blueprints of the mine itself. There was one primary entrance, it then headed down at a steep angle, and there were plans for mining straight down as well.
  
• The mining site was rich in precious stones.

I'll need to create the gridmap, but assume you have it.

[Asta]

Hanako awoke, and sat up slowly so as not to disturb the remaining occupant of the bed. She brushed the hair out of her face and yawned wide the last remnants of the previous nights dream fading with the morning sun. There was that dream again...

She slid out of bed and found a wide enough spot in the bedroom to do some light calisthenics, the kind most people back home did in the morning while a pleasant woman on the radio guided you. Usually she wasn't the type to exercise, but today she felt like she needed to be alert and ready to go from the start. Once she was done, she went to go wash her face and brush her teeth and returned to the bedroom to wake Trudy.

Finally she went downstairs to get breakfast.


Over breakfast she looked a the information Minette had provided. "Hrm... So at one site alone we're looking at probably forty potentially hostile and armed soldiers, the other thirty are collared slaves which I could free but it would use up most of my mana. The workers for Busch Metall are another unknown factor here. I assume they are slave labor but if commanded they would probably fight. There's too many to free at once if they are in fact slaves so the odds are really stacked against us here. Chances are we might need to try to lie our way in, pretending to be there on Klein's orders to observe how things are going."

She took a big bite out of a slightly sweet breakfast roll and chewed it pensively. "As far as freeing all those people, we could potentially make 'official' transfers from the mine to another location under the pretense that they are to be labor elsewhere. We can have our people oversee that. In reality we would be getting everyone ready for our great exodus. About how many people do you think we can be moving at a time without drawing suspicion?"

The question was open ended to both Trudy and Minette, both of their opinions had become important to her over the last few days and their advice was heavily weighed in Hanako's mind.

[Throndir]

"Historically... when Klein would meet with slavers, he would buy anything from 5 to 20 at a time, along with a hired soldier or two. then he would send them straight to the mines... unless he sees one he fancies. Klein hasn't had a reason for a mass transfer of slaves yet..."

"If we have a valid set of paperwork, we can probably move more than 20... Maybe we are transferring more miners to our other mining site, or perhaps we need more workers at the foundry, here."

Minette spoke next, working off of Trudy's thoughts.

"Maybe... we can make a large order of ores... from Busch Metall or Blueland Processing... to have an excuse for bringing in more foundry workers from the mines..."

"Yes! Then... Maybe we can get Wendy to question each of the soldiers at the foundry, to see who can be trusted? W-well.. umm... Not that I want to put Wendy in a tough spot... But she does work there primarily, and probably know more of the soldiers... She seems to be popular with the other slaves..."

Don't forget about the Klein's signature Technique for any transactions or written orders, otherwise I'll by rolling hidden Linguistics for your forgery attempts.

[Asta]

Hanako smiled at her companions, "That sounds like an excellent idea. I'll need to work on my forgery of Klein's signature but I think I can get it down pretty quickly. If one of you can pass this idea along to Wendy and get her on board, Ill work on getting his signature down before we head over to the meeting with Sofia."

She finished up her breakfast, and prepared to work on her forgery skills. "Lets head over to Sofia's around two, I think the three of us and at least three others should come along. We'll have to collar up again. If you can find us some balanced soldiers to come that would be great."

[info]Until its time to go meet with Sofia, Hanako will work on getting Klein's signature down. Three expedited sessions.
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+7 : 11 + 7, total 18[/blockquote]
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+7 : 19 + 7, total 26[/blockquote]
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+7 : 2 + 7, total 9[/blockquote][/info]

[Throndir]

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Minette's study
Date: Day 7 - 2 PM

While you were practicing faking Klein's signature, Minette had begun her own self studies for Japanese using the notes from all the previous sessions. She made progress with her own learning, and you did as well. Your signatures were starting to look much, much closer to the real thing.

You can either let me do the Forgery rolls with Linguistics, or you can try rolling yourself using the Untrained Usage rules.

Eventually 3 others were chosen. You recognized them as the same ones who were with you when Sofia first arrived at the estate. There was an older experienced looking gentleman. A woman who looked to be a few years older than Trudy. And lastly, a man who had thick frame.

Wendy and Amarille said their goodbyes and well-wishes to you, and soon enough a carriage was prepared. You, Minette, and Trudy were in the carriage itself, with Minette and Trudy flanking you on each end of the carriage. The other 3 soldiers were either driving the horse on the carriage itself, or had been riding on their own, with both of them behind the carriage.

Since this was premeditated, I'll assume we put on collars early enough in the morning so we have full MP.

Trainings
Klein's Signature: 2/4
Minette Japanese: 5/8

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Estergen City
Date: Day 7 - 2 PM

The sights and sounds of Estergen city was loud, at least, in this particular section of town. Where Klein lived was near the outskirts, in a district with other nobles, but the Birkensen Trading Company wanted to be in the middle of where all the merchanting business were. The sounds of hammers being flung, or the whirring of large gears turning, were audible. You noticed as well that there were some large red-skinned beings, that looked almost humanoid, though were exceptionally bulky, and had horns growing at the top of their heads. Anytime a human neared them, they would simply brush them aside, and at time the demons would purposefully follow individuals, laughing in a low grumbling and unearthly sound as they did so.

Stealth or Bluff requested to seem inconspicuous. The other NPCs with you will do their own matching rolls with Aid Another.

[Asta]

Hanako peeked out from the carriage while trying her best to remain out of sight. "So those are the demons huh?"

She had to admit, they were as imposing as the name would imply. Certainly she wanted to avoid dealing with anything of that nature, and could see why so many nobles would have simply rolled over and collaborated.

[info]Requested Stealth:
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+9 : 10 + 9, total 19[/blockquote][/info]

[info]Presuming nothing bad happens, Hanako will stay out of sight until they get to their destination.[/info]

[Throndir]

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Estergen City
Date: Day 7 - 2 PM

Thankfully the demon only glanced at you passingly. You could tell both Minette and Trudy had tensed up over the gaze, but the large demon was already back to harassing the people out on the streets.

"That... was... close..." Minette whispered quietly, keeping her head straight.


Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Birkensen Trading Company HQ
Date: Day 7 - 2 PM

Eventually arriving at the HQ, it was Trudy who first stepped out. She did so rigidly and formally, acting her part as a soldier. There were guards at the gates of the HQ, but like before when you first saw them, they weren't wearing a specific uniform, though they did keep sabres to their side. The guard saluted Trudy anyways.

"Please inform Frau Sofia Leiningen, that the representatives of master Herr Klein have arrived." When she finished saying this, she handed the guard the same letter of invitation. The guard took the letter but seemed to have been expecting you and your group.

He motioned to a few other guards.

"Thank you, please follow me in. One of us will take care of the carriage."

With that Trudy saluted once again, while the other soldiers with you hopped off the carriage.

The Birkensen Trading Company Headquarters was a large building, in fact, it seemed like the building had interconnecting hallways to yet more buildings on the entire block. The HQ itself was designed like most of the city, lots of metallic sheets that made up the walls, with sharp rigid corners. It looked to aim to be more more utilitarian than for any specific aesthetic. You also noted the fact that a wall surrounded the buildings on the block, with barbed wire at the top of the walls.


Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Birkensen Trading Company HQ
Date: Day 7 - 2 PM

Eventually you were ushered into a waiting room, while the person at the front desk came by with a variety of snacks and drinks. According to one of the guards, the food was okay, if not a bit bland, but having lunch just a bit earlier, meant that you weren't necessarily hungry. It was then that Minette spoke.

"This company... started off small. They focused mainly on apparel and jewelry... But after the war started, they grew and grew, cornering the market for weapons during the height of the war while we still had our government. They... Profited off the war... Afterwards... when the demons came into power, they continued to expand. Their most recent ventures are into the slave trade..."

[Asta]

Hanako decided not to partake of the refreshments. "I see... what sort of weapons do they manufacture? And are they mostly selling or buying the slaves?"

[info]If you wanna advance the scene after Minette answers by all means do so.[/info]

[Throndir]

"They produce all sorts of weapons... and from what I heard have been experimenting with other kinds too. Things like mounting cannons on carriages... But during the height of the war... They stuck with the conventional ones, such as swords, sabres, spears, and the like. Many of the Refedorian people were drafted for the way, and many of them needed weapons...

At first they assisted the slave traders in selling slaves... But I know they have been buying slaves as well, since many of Klein's dealings with slave traders usually have competing offers, and the Birkensen Trading Company are mentioned..."





Soon enough, a familiar face appeared. It was Sofia Leiningen

"Ah..." Sofia's eyes scanned the various individuals in the room, as a hint of recognition came to her. After all, everyone here, with the exception of Minette, had been ones she met the first time.

"I'm quite pleased that representatives of Herr Klein accepted my offer. I very much know how... traumatized... the man must have been when he was dissuaded from going through with the summoning ritual. I take it... That he hasn't yet recovered?" She continued though, as if already knowing the answer.

"But it's been a week hasn't it? I take it things are still fine in the estate? Always know that I, Sofia Leiningen, would always be willing to lend a hand to Herr Klein in his time of need. We are business partners after all..."

"But in his place, I suspect the five of you will report back to him? I would very much like... To show you something... A new facility... With the expansion of the Birkensen Trading Company, and perhaps to Herr Klein's benefit as well?" Her eyes seemed to smile, but her face was impassive.