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Gaius Polfenios loved the clamor on the docks of Delos.

He could smell spilled wine and the stink of the unwashed slaves newly arrived from Trace and Skithia.

Here the chattering of a dozen different languages, practically feel the massive quantities of money changing hands with every transaction.

All of it, from the sound of shattering amphorae to the clink of

coins to the reek of spoiled produce, reminded him of the profits to be made here in the east.

Pulfinius had come to the island two decades before, from Brindizia in Italy, one of the first

Oskan merchants to make the journey around Greece, into the Aegean, and onto the docks of Delos.

It was a duty-free port where no taxes could be levied on imports and exports, and it didn't

take a genius to see the benefit to that for a merchant like him. He had, however, been at the

front of the pack. The cargo of cheap oil and low-grade pottery Porfinios acquired by Hook

and Crook for his first voyage, hadn't brought

him much in return, but it had got his foot in the door. The Black Sea slaves he purchased

with the profits had made him his first fortune when he transported them to Sicily for sale.

A new acquaintance, his future father-in-law, an established Delian trader, handled the transfer

of funds for him. He never even had to

grab a handful of silver to get rich. By the time his many rivals from Brundusium arrived in

the months and years to come, Pulfenios was already on his way to becoming an upstanding member of Delos's

resident community of merchants. He didn't have to head down to the docks in search of a good deal.

Most of his business was in money transfers like his father-in-law.

But sometimes the itch still struck,

...