Luis arrived at the tavern table.
"Joao, I think there are people who follow me" Says Luis sitting at the table next to Joao
"Follow-up? For a few cruzados? Do I take out the knives? "
"No, that's not it, the guys are super well dressed, almost noble clothes"
"...." - The nightmares: agents of the king? -
"It's already been a few days that they have been instaking somewhere on the market and that they are following me, I think it's related to rubber"
"What makes you think that?" - arghhh -
"It's more that I'm selling nothing but rubber capes right now, and .. It's waterproof, it's new and now I sell them for up to 100 cruzados a cape, but they don't seem to be interested in it otherwise they would have intervened by now."
" ... 100 cruzados? Wait if it's become a luxury, you can get more out of them by selling them at auction.. Ahem.... What I mean is why royal agents?
"What are the king's agents about? So you knew that? " laughs Luis
"Ha no, it's related to my nightmare of the other day... "
"Hey ... were we being pursued by the king's agents?"
"But no, Luis!! No relation ... ok, so they've been following you for a few days, and they haven't asked any questions?"
"yes, that's it."
"When did you notice them?"
"Uh, Luis frowned as he placed his mentine on his closed, pensive mian, about two bears after the .... your special bombs there, after you presented them to the commander"
"Have you been to Maestre Domingos' studio since?"
"Ha no we finished all the capes and your toys a while ago as agreed"
"My toys, as you say, are what attracted these people, agents of the king or not, as to why they don't ask a question: they want to find the workshop, then they would start to ask queisotns, merchants or pirates it's not considered as much as craftsmen for this kind of products"
"Ha so I take them to mestre domingos and then what do I do?"
"When the commander asked me if he could have the recipe for the rubber I told him: "okay a gift to the crown for two or three baron titles"
"Well, why didn't you give it to him?"
"I visited other craftsmen than Mestre Domingos, and: there are not many of them who can make rubber"
Luis turned his head towards Joao who was going to take the same pose as him a little earlier, a little taken aback thinking about the coincidence, -again the Capitan's flair, but with ramifications never reached until now-
"So any ideas, Luis?"
"You might as well approach them, it will be just as fast, right?"
"Ok I'll get the team together, and then we'll meet at the market, do you plan to sell capes again?"
"yes I was going to sell some anyway" he stood up
"Hey! Wait, you haven't paid your conversation fee with me! "
"But you'd make an excellent tax farmer!!"
" tsss "
A few hours later, on the market square.
Luis harangues a few gossips, and obviously inspirate people, who continue to touch the capes, as if to better discover this new sensation, highlighting the first feedback from the first buyers.
Joao arrives and the crew splits up around the square, some close to the suspects Luis described.
Diogo approached one of these richly dressed men, and began to talk with him
"Good evening, have I been told that you are very interested in the products of the company Horizon Brazil?"
"Good evening, sir, yes indeed, and you are?"
"Diogo Sanros, one of the directors"
The man stood up and held out his hand to Diogo, he and Diogo shook hands
"So which product are you interested in? People of your quality who supervise one of our directors, it surprises us a little"
Diogo opted for a fairly direct approach, instead of beating around the bush for 107 years
The man looked a little bored, with a self-mocking smile
"When did you spot us?"
"Three or four days ago, but I have only been personally informed since today," replied Diogo, still in his direct style
"Ha I see, that's it, I'm in the service of the king, directly"
The man took out a small royal insignia.
Diogo looked annoyed and made the agreed sign if they were royal agents.
The man continued:
"In fact, we are looking for the craftsman who produces this .... thing, we don't particularly want to deal with intermediaries"
Diogo threw a tit -o-tat
"We don't have an intermediary, we are the ones who found the formula for rubber" he announced in an annoyed tone.
" Rubber.. Is that the name of this substance?"
The various observers and directors of Horizon Brazil, with the exception of Luis who remained to sell the capes, a huge offer had just been made to him.
"The commander of the garrison spoke of the qualities of your grenades, easy to handle etc ... But he mentioned that these small bags can make powder storage waterproof, which would be very useful for the Royal Navy."
Joao tapped himself on the forehead – why hadn't I thought about that before-
One of the three agents looked at him a little surprised, and then realized that it was probably the young man who had made the presentation to the commander
"And so you decided to survey if we sold it to just anyone ?"
"Ahem...", the agent cleared his throat, also anxious to look for which craftsman they were i assiciatoin with.
"Actually I was the one who had the idea, Luis that you watched there, has rediscovered how to use the rubber, and the craftsman, for his well-being and well, I prefer not to mention it, at least for the moment. This technique is simple but requires precision, I have already consulted a few other craftsmen and they are not many who have succeeded in the operation"
"If that's not too much to ask of you, quite sursurprisingly for the crew the royal agents used the "work with" style instead of the traditional "work for" they expected, how many do you have?"
"A few hundred kilos, but all already processed"
"All transformed?"
"Yes, all transformed: small bags for grenades that I thought the commander would want to adapt the detonation system and projectiles, the rest in capes, and the rest lost in the process of making tests, it's all new for us too"
"And you can't change them into something else?"
"No, we discovered that once the raw material is transformed into rubber, the shape taken after cooling cannot be changed."
"Ok, the royal council reported to the king that this could become an even more strategic product than precious metals" the agent looked inquisitively at the 8 directors of the company present
" ....."
"But from what you're telling it's not that simple" in a tone of questioning
"Yes, indeed, I had to wait 3 months to get 20 barrels of raw rubber, and on top of that, I was lucky that some merchants took a barrel to test the market otherwise I would have had to wait almost 6 months." replied Joao
"What do you know about this raw rubber?"
No need to hide it from the royal agents, anyway it's information that they can find easily, assuming it's not already the case
"What I know about it for the moment is that I have been told about it: a product used by the natives in their daily lives, taken from a tree of which I know nothing"
"And for the transformation?"
"Excuse my candor, but for a few baron titles: about 11... I give it to you"
The crew refrained from laughing as much as possible but the agent beat them to it:
"HAHAHA! Indeed, audacity, do you think it's worth that much?" a little aggressive
"You are there, and this is only a very small portion of what this rubber is capable of, according to our studies they could replace tar for the waterproofing of the hulls, although it is unlikely that this will happen in the near future given the quantity needed for such an undertaking, several tons"
' ....' the agents listened and remained silent, in fact all of a sudden, there was only the noise of the crowd in the market, and a burst of laughter from Luis
And then Mençao Duigero, one of the agents who had remained silent from the beginning
"Hum ... So you have little pomegranate bags, which you made in advance for the guard?"
"It was more for the war effort against the Spaniards and Holland, but they can also be used as small bags for powder"
"How many do you have?"
"Hundreds"
"Would you give it to the crown?" for the war effort," the aggressive agent asked mischievously
"That? I can't decide alone, we're talking about 5000 cruzados anyway, it's not a small sum for our new company"
Diogo sensing an opportunity
"Ha we had already discussed this, if we want to be able to achieve our Brazilian dream we need Portugal to have its independence restored, without forgetting to kick the Dutch out of Brazil!
"Oh yes right, I remember it, but it doesn't seem as urgent as that at the moment "
"It's the way that's a bit annoying there" looking and squinting at the aggressive agent
Noticing the crew attitude
Duigero broke the deadlock
"Ahem, when my colleague talks to you about donations, it goes without saying that the crown will compensate you"
Joao didn't pay much attention to the compensation
"So, we all agree to give the bags?"
The other seven replied in the affirmative, some adding that it was in the company's interest
"Ok then, all the bags are currently stored at the brotherhood of merchants of the grey anchor, you can go and get them whenever you want, we can also deliver them to the armory, or to the port, it's up to you" announced Joao, for him it's an opportunity to know the value of these small bags for the army, especially the navy
"We will send people to look for them, moreover one of our agents is negotiating with, another of your directors to get all that is left of your storm capes, for the navy, but this has nothing to do with the case we are talking about, you can rest easy"
Joao and the other got taken aback, Joao studied the possibilities and a mix came out of it: useful, luxurious, and expensive: for the admirals? The captains?
"Very well Sehnor Duigero, I'm going to warn the grey anchor that by the way it will be delivered to whom? - not the crown does it ? "
"By the crown directly"
"Ha I didn't expect it" Diogo said
"Ha sehnor director, the crown intends to make this product known by proceeding in this way"
"I don't know if I should thank you or not," Joao said
"By the way, you've been pretty serious about these baron titles, but you don't seem to be particularly fond of them?" asked Mençao
"Ha, that's to found a new colony in Brazil: the island of Santa Catarina and its surroundings, I think this title that would help. "
"Ha I know," replied one, agents, it's disputed with Spain, and considered a strategic transport place, you know how to choose your interests" said the third royal agent
Thus the conversation came to an end and the two groups separated themselves, while the crew sat down unexpectedly to obersevr Luis still talking with probably another royal agent....
Suddenly Fernandao said
"If the crown is interested in rubber, there is a chance that they will sponsor the research and collection of these trees, it will greatly increase our rubber production"
"Or will deprive us of it altogether through a monopoly company," retorted Diogo
After thinking of some possible solutions, Joao resumed the conversation:
"What we need here are solutions"
"We get ahead of them, we remove the trees, we transplant them on a plot of land not too far from Sao Paulo or Salvador do Bahia, on hundreds of acres and and so we would be the biggest producers: tada! If there is a monopoly, it would be for us."
"In addition, we are the only ones who know how to make the finished rubber from raw rubber"
"Ha I had already thought of getting ahead of them and I just thought of something else if it's in these regions, we could partner with guys from the grey anchor and a few others, for this company"
"What do you mean?" asked Diogo
"Are there any who know how much it would cost us to make this plan? An approximation?"
"As much as for the purchase of the land it should be cheap, as much for the rest ... no idea...."
"Exactly we don't know anything about all this for the moment, from the cost to simply the feasibility of the project"
"Ha, how many more months before the new boat is ready?" in a bored tone
The question remained unanswered for the moment
"By the way, how many can make quality rubber?"
"Of all the ones I've tried with, 3 counting the genius who got it right the first time, I think if they're interested all of them should manage to do it pretty easily."
"Another 4 to 6 months for the boat, by the way, we'll have to go and look at the progress whenever we have any particular desires, and the name?"
"Horizondao"
"Horizondao?"
"Brazilian dream?"
"Not too early for this one, this one is only a prototype, and then for propaganda it's too early"
"The what?"
"You know that thing that preaches sending missionaries to convert the natives"
"yes it's a bit the same principle, here it's making the noise, the sound, the texture spread: from the Brazilian dream, it's converting a few Portuguese to join us to found the new colony"
"Ok, I'm changing the subject, have you ever thought about a road to go to Sao Paulo?" because the "doldrums" now, it scares me a little bit anyway"
"You're not the only one, but I miss the ocean more than the doldrums scare me"
"yes first stopover in the Azores, then south-southwest to the latitude salvador do bahia, then all west to salvador"
"Then the Name??!!! Joao insisted
"Why wait until it's over to decide?"
"It's to register it in the name of the company"
" Ha in this case: "Dream of Rubber" "
"Seriously?"
"Yes, seriously"
"Hey... hehehehe.. It's an excellent name, completely on the spot, plus as it's a new model it may interest more people to learn about the rubber" jovially reported Joao!
Luis arrived with a smile: from ear to ear!
" hahahahaah !! The windfall!! just with what I did ? I doubled the price of our initial investment!! Hahahaha"
Joao motioned for him to lower his tone, following his overestimation of the value of bags in front of the royal agents.
"Hey, I think we got the name of our new ship: the Rubber Dream! What do you think? "
"ha ... In the middle of theatrical acts, I think it would take a name. which corresponds to us, which represents our true dream: why not hum,
Theatrical hesitation: the Cruzados always more ?
"You have to admit that there is a bit of that" replied Diogo
"I quite agree, it shows our common ambition, as a patent lack of ambition on the Capitan and his flair. By the way, speaking of his flair: he's rather hyperactive at the moment"
"I think there are guys that we went back to India who must have been talking about what we did there, because we had disappeared for what a year?
" about 18 months, no 1 year can be less .... What is the date today?
"August 5, 1652., if by any chnace you have forgotten the year too"
Bursts of laughter
Shipyard.
The small group visited, and learned about the novelties from Manuel Batista, the main news was that he had decided to opt for a narrower hull, while keeping the number of tons, which would reduce the price and the construction time, but as he had never made boats of this size with this configuration, It may also go back to the starting price if he has to redo the structure
45 meters long, 9 meters wide, 5 meters high under the bridge, and an intermediate bridge. For a total free tonnage of 450 to 500 tons, with a slightly more tapered hull.
Performance forecast: 12 to 15 knots
Expected delivery date: December 1652 at the earliest, and the price will rise , February 1653 at the latest, after that the price will fall ....
Enough to launch a few parties that night.
Luis was finally able to place his line: all the capes! All the capes for !!! All the capes all the capes for ??? !!!!
Hahahaha laughed the others, indeed Luis found a customer to say the least: generous: 2000 capes at 120 cruzados per cape: 240,000 cruzados, more than the money from the Seville heist!
" What the ???"
" As I said the Flair of the Capitan is on hyperdrive recently !!!" An alcoholled and limit singing Luis shooted in the taberna
" And.. I will never ever again mention that i can beat Luis in any haggling contest" said Joao, the so called Capitan, almost dehected drinking a massive amount of wine.
It's well worth starting to make some investments while waiting for the delivery of the "Rubber Dream"!
A little depressed not having overvalued those tuibber bags, Joao, began thinking of some future projects: like ... hey ! Like .....
Buying a Mansion, or a villa a little out of lisboa, with fields, to house the crew, and a general quarter and warehouse ? Ha guards .. or redevance ? Guards or redevance ?
Diogo began to sing one of their favorite song during a hacking back in malacca straights, and so he joined !