Her being there was as much something that she didn’t have much desire to further spend time than what she had already. Circumstances were out of her control here, to her dismay. Discussions and negotiations with Alisa, the guild master of Blue Pegasus, were going rough, if that were a generous way of describing things. The fact of the matter was that there was little reason or her to remain confident that they would result in anything being of worth. However, she had to try, and that was the only thing that was keeping her in this place, this port city. A hope that the efforts, the motivations for why shew had first arrived to meet with Alisa would pay off. If so, it would be just the first step in what she knew was to be the first of many trials to inevitably happen. That was the price though that she was going to be wiling to pay for what the reward she assumed and believed that it would.

So long as Alisa would be there to give her some aid. If even just a means of pointing her in the right direction, that would be a value that she doubted Alisa would ever fully appreciate herself. Or for that matter, even realized.

A scent penetrating through the air gave her a disgusted shudder. That would honestly be something that she would have preferred than whatever sort of information than that of what Alisa would provide. An excuse to leave this place. A chance to leave the smell of salt water, fish, and a miserably dirty feeling that penetrated through with every single gust of the wind as it carried filth from the sea, staining her clothes, her hair, everything of her person.

There was no denying the smell. Not even those within the city itself would have denied that there was definitely a scent to their home, but they managed well enough, to the point that they hardly even gave it a second thought. Even those whom travelled there somewhat frequently, they found that the nature of it was tolerable, if not even maybe a little bit enjoyable. It was at the very least unique to the city, something that few of the other areas within Fiore could have claimed, though one would have to wonder if that were something to celebrate.

Certainly not if it were Astrid, whom would have given it as enough of a reason to see this place reduced to nothing but ash, whether in a literal or fictitious sense

426/1500 (-20% Censor of Dragon's Blood, -20% Frosch the Exceed)

There really was no good condition about being here. It was hardly Crocus, in a number of ways, all of which she rationalized would have been a better justification for being in that city than that of here. In fact, the only thing that it seemed that Hargeon had of worth at all were Alisa herself, an attractive woman, no doubt, but one who was also stubborn, if not deliberately annoying. There was something to appreciate about her though, something that was unexpectedly difficult to endure. As a guild master, perhaps she were someone that people could get behind, could rally to, but she had seen those guild members that she ruled over. Not a single one of them that she would have wanted to be a part of anyways.

Hell, even Phantom Lord was hardly something to speak highly of. The more and more time she had spent within the Senate of Crocus, the less and less she found any reason to support the guild, to support Iblis, or anything of the sort. The guild did their part. They had gotten her into a position of power within Fiore’s most powerful body of government, and she returned the favor in kind. The situation in Oak Town was going to be better than anything that it had benefited from in the past generation or two, at the least.

What they were going to do now with that surge of power, in the same mindset of how Hargeon was going to recover from the depriving of resources that it once was able to utterly benefit from, also by her own hand, that was not something that she hade to worry herself with. After all, this was not her home. It was not a place that she much cared for, even if under different circumstances. All that mattered was that she got done with what she needed, and ideally she would not have to return here again.

What would come of her and Alisa? That was the only unknown to that idea. Would she stay in Hargeon for her? She doubted it. Astrid had no shortage of lovers, no shortage of fun that she could indulge in wherever it may have been that she were to go. A loose harem within Crocus against that of a woman that she would as much want to rip out her throat as she would want to rip off her clothes? That was a very simple question to answer.

839/1500 (-20% Censor of Dragon's Blood, -20% Frosch the Exceed)

In the meanwhile, nothing to do other than investigate the area, hope for something of interest, something that she could have done to pass the time. Little options presented themselves, at least at first glance. The smell did not much help in finding something appealing; almost everything stained in her mine by the scent that as much made her want to vomit in disgust as anything. It made her search all but impossible to achieve, a fruitless endeavor that for as much as she may have wished to not be there outside of genuine obligation and reason, she could not help but wonder if the Blue Pegasus Guild Hall would be a better option for her. It was more and more seeming like it, sadly.

But, there was no doubt the reception she received would have been nothing short of awful, certainly not enough to think that she would have been content with that. No, for as bad as things seemed to have been, this was the best option when all was said and done; Astrid forced to spend the time within the city that never realized how close to its own destruction she had been responsible for.

Perhaps an unexpected boon then that she had found an rea of the city that not only were to her own benefit, but also was something that she had not factored into at all in her assessment of the city. So foolish even of her, that in her disdain and hatred towards the sea water that she would find that there were a boon in the form of the ships that were moving goods in and out throughout, including those that were considered to more be contraband and other goods that seldom few would be interested in. At least, seldom few that weren’t her.

No, this was an idealized situation for Astrid, stumbling upon a massive supply of ships and crews that would be willing to move all sorts of goods throughout Fiore, including those to Oak and Crocus, the two areas that she had come to spend most of her time at this point. There was precious little benefit or reason for her to have been anywhere else, and though there was certainly chances that crews would be willing to move their goods elsewhere at her beckon and call, that she only wanted one of two locations, it made her life easier. It made negations all the more simple.

1247/1500 (-20% Censor of Dragon's Blood, -20% Frosch the Exceed)

There was a small matter that had to be addressed first before she had to go ahead and secure the trade routes and personal shipments for her benefit alone; a number of pirates and that patrolled throughout the seas that would have sought to crush ships and impede the travel of those who were venturing through and ferrying goods. Whether it were designed to leave the ships with nothing or threatening them to the point of rendering them having to part with their most valuable goods, the ships that were engaging in piracy had begun to take a more interesting, if not more refined approach to acquiring goods. But more importantly, it was something that they were doing in conjunction with support at the port itself.

It was the only explanation. Otherwise too many ships would have been able to simply get through the waters without problem. Once they were identified as being a ship of value, then it would be almost certain that a ship transporting goods out of the harbor would be ambushed. Astrid knew that this was obvious enough to stop, it was hardly something that was hard to figure. The problems that ships had were that they could not afford to wait out those who were obviously sending the records to others.

She did not have that same worry. And it was only a short time before one of these pirate spies had revealed themselves, to which she made no shortage of time in dealing with the matter. Her eye may have been something that she was not too keen on testing out in significant capacity, but upon a quick look at the man who was inspecting the cargo of a ship that interested her, rare brandy that was being shipped out to distant lands, it was just a simple command, to not interfere with any ship that she had expressed interest in to make sure that her goods were no longer at risk.

And it was enough of a threat and show of force, even if by the power of Magic and through control, that the crews, even if they may not have agreed in the immediate moment before, they were put in a position to where they were no longer able to argue anything. The control that she exerted on the spies who worked with the pirates to so effortlessly force them to stand down, just what could she have done to make sure that they would have supported her. It was a case of where they had no out, and Astrid made sure that was made clear. Without any further negotiating, the deal was made and she finally had come to find some value in this city.

1701/1400 (-20% Censor of Dragon's Blood, -20% Frosch the Exceed)