“This is such a rotten place.” When stronghold emissary Petrov stepped out of his cabin, the smell of decayed wood hit him in the face. The surrounding air was damp and oppressive, causing people to feel entirely uncomfortable. He lifted his head up and inhaled through the nose. The sky was completely overcast, and it seemed that heavy rain was incoming.

“The last time you came here was a year ago,”said the assistant to the ambassador while he graciously put a wool coat on the ambassador’s shoulders, “There is nothing here, except stone.”

“It was a year and a half.” Petrov corrected. “Every season the Duke chose a different person to come around. The last time I was in Border Town, it was summer. But in addition to ore they have more, like a good variety of furs, and…“

“What?” His assistant had a blank look on his face.

Petrov shook his head and did not answer. He crossed over the side of the ship, stepping on the pier covered with moss, and a plank gave off a creaking sound from under his foot. The wood would probably continue to support the dock for a few years, but then it would break down, he thought. Border town not only had stone and fur, but even… land.

But speaking about this hadn’t any meaning, the assistant was only an unknown city hall officer, he was unable to see this point.

Between Longsong Stronghold and Border Town was a large area of wild land, which still needed to be cleared for cultivation. On one side was the impassable mountain range, while on the other side was the Chishui River, long and narrow like a corridor. As an outpost for the stronghold, if they assumed responsibility of the defensive line, it would also bring the wide expanse of land into the possession of the stronghold. The land had not been cultivated, so it didn’t require any recuperation before plowing. Instead, many circles of crops could be planted, and on top of that, it had a natural line of defense on both sides. In the end, to produce enough for everyone to eat, it was not required to expend much effort. The food shortage in Border Town was just a way to relieve the stronghold of the problems caused by a growing population. In the future Border Town and the stronghold should become one territory, rather than the two separated territories they are now.

The only drawback was that it would need a three to five year-long operation, as well as large sums of money in advance.

Unfortunately, when talking about the foresight of investment, most of the nobility were bad businessmen.

“Hey, how can it be that the yard is empty?” The assistant pointed to a distant piece of land. “Shouldn’t they have the ore ready?”

Petrov sighed softly, “We will go to the castle, and have an audience with His Royal Highness.”

“Wait… Mr. Ambassador, do you know if he will receive you?”

He didn’t know if His Majesty would, but in his heart he didn’t want to say it.

“Let’s go, the stables are just in front.”

Trouble came now that the stronghold and Border town were divided into two separate territories. Because of the King’s order to fight for the throne, the 4th prince was left in solitude. How would a normal aristocratic or royal member ever be here? Of course they would take all of this land for themselves.

Selling minerals and jewelry in exchange for food and bread? I am afraid that the prince’s eyes only can see gold royals.

If it was himself, he would do it. To helplessly watch as one’s own territory output is exchanged for only food… The ambassador was afraid that nobody would accept this situation. In addition, the products didn’t have to go to the stronghold. Most of the nobility forgets the fact that the Chishui River didn’t end at the Longsong Stronghold. He could sell the ore at market price in Willow Town, in Dragon Mountain, or even in Red City, then take people from their cities as new refugees – it was nothing more than a little further down the river.

What could the Longsong Stronghold do then? Block the river, and cut off the prince and his party? It would simply be a defiance of the royal family of Graycastle! Everyone knew that the 4th prince was least likely to become the king, but without a doubt, it would still not be good to defy him because he was still of the king’s blood. .

The Ambassador and his assistant rode on rented horses, coming slowly forward on the stone road along the river. The stables only had old horses of mixed colors; even if they rode slowly, the horses would still tremble. And for these two stupid horses, he had still to pay a deposit of two gold royals.

“You see, sir, is that a boat from Willow Town?”

Hearing his aide shout, he looked in the direction he pointed, only to see a ship with a willow leaf on their green banner, hanging on their single pole, slowly sailing down the river. The hull waterline was very high, indicating that it was loaded with cargo.

Petrov blankly nodded, but his heart sank, the prince moved faster than he had expected. If the prince had begun to contact those towns and cities downstream, the bargaining chips in his own hands lost value. He originally intended to acquire the ore for 30 percent lower than the normal price, so that he would still earn something. Not to mention, after the stones were turned into polished jewelry, the price of luxury goods were several times higher. Unfortunately, this was not a monopoly, nor was it only his family who had the final say. Participating in the mining project in Border Town were six noble families. If they lacked majority consent, then there would be no resolution.

However, they were slow in reacting, thinking that the situation was the same as before… Or, they thought the mining project was not worth that much attention. Anyway, the remaining five were indifferent, even his own father confidently rejected him. In fact, they were wrong, the low reward of the mining output was mainly due to few other trading possibilities, if they transitioned to the normal trade, they could earn more. And if you earn more, you will be likely to produce more ore next year.

Could they achieve the monopoly scheme they thought out before? In all likelihood, no, it certainly couldn’t be realized. Petrov thought, since he could see the empty yard, the prince did not intend to let these minerals be exchanged for poor quality wheat, he had to contact the other buyers.

If they still wanted to hold this line of business, a thirty percent discount was his best bargaining chip. Since the distance between Willow Town and Border Town was further, this would end in an increase of the transportation costs, but Willow Town had more than one source of ore; the first price they would offer would likely be lower than the market price by half. As for Dragon Mountain and Red Town, the price would be even lower, so the 4th prince would agree to Longsong Stronghold monopoly – especially for the gem trade.

But the problem was, if he signed a contract, would his father agree with it? The other five families believed that it would be a simple matter to let Border Town surrender, should he dismiss the interests of the family to get the contract?

After all, in their eyes, Border Town was still controlled by their own Longsong Stronghold, and everything could be given or taken away by them.

They slowly crossed the town, heading toward the castle located in the southeast corner. It was not Petrov’s first time here, but this time the owner had changed.

When the guards saw the ambassador, they immediately went in and informed the Lord.

4th prince Roland Wimbledon quickly summoned Petrov, and when the two were guided into the hall; the prince was already sitting at the main seat waiting.

“Mr. Ambassador, please sit down.”

Roland clapped his hands and let the maid bring hearty meals. Grilled whole chicken, a wild boar leg with mushroom stew, butter bread and a large bowl of vegetable soup. Obviously, in this borderland, the royal children hadn’t the slightest impairment of personal enjoyment.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Petrov naturally didn’t hesitate, he traveled by ship from Longsong Stronghold to Border Town, and even with favorable wind it took two days; if it was a multi-masted cargo ship, it would have been even slower, maybe three to five days. There was no kitchen on board, so it usually came with eating dried meat strips or wheat bread. Seeing the billowing hot dishes, he felt saliva surging in his throat.

But thanks to years of training in aristocratic culture, he could maintain perfect dining etiquette. On the contrary, His Highness’ eating habits were a lot worse – in particular his use of the knife and fork. Petrov noted that in addition to the carving knife, the 4th prince used a pair of small sticks. When the slicing was completed, he used the sticks for all the other moves. And it looked like… two sticks were much more convenient than a fork.

“What do you think?” At the end of the meal, Roland suddenly questioned the ambassador.

“Uh, what?” For a moment the ambassador lost his spirit.

“This,” Roland shook the hands with the sticks, before answering Petrov, “The iron fork, for most people it is a luxury, not to mention a silver fork. When you are eating directly with your hand, it is very easy to put dirty things together with the normal food in the belly. Disease enters by the mouth, you know? “

The ambassador didn’t know how to answer, he didn’t understand the meaning of ‘diseases enters by the mouth’, but according to his understanding of the previous sentence, Roland was probably referring to the dirt stuck on food, and it would be easy to get sick when eating it. But when someone tried to diagnose the sickness, no one knew the reason why they died.

“How many sticks do you think you can get by cutting down one oak tree in the forest? These sticks are clean and easy to get. I’m going to promote this in the town.”

The prince sipped his wine and continued, “Of course, now my people don’t get much meat to eat, but I will slowly change that.”

Petrov felt relieved, he now knew how to answer. Routinely, he expressed his support and blessing, but in his heart he did not agree. Let all the people have meat? That would simply be whimsical, even Graycastle could not do this, and this Border Town was in this desolate land.

The banquet went on.

There was a fairly harmonious atmosphere during the dinner. The 4th prince didn’t talk about ore trade as he found it inconvenient to say anything.

When the prince told the maid to deliver the dessert, Petrov tentatively mentioned the trade.

“Your Highness, according to the previous procedure, today should be the day when you deliver the ore, but I don’t see any ore in the terminal yard.”

Roland put down his small wood sticks and nodded, “Unfortunately, the northern slope mine collapsed a while back, this month my people can only try to resume production. However, the gravel from the collapse has not been cleared yet. According to the schedule, we will be able to start mining again at the beginning of next year.”

The mine collapsed? For a moment, Petrov was stunned, was that a coincidence? However, he quickly realized that the prince did not have the need to lie. Otherwise, if he himself went to the North Slope Mine, everything would be clear, so it was obvious that with a lie Roland would only beat his own face.

“Then… what happened to the ore from before the collapse?“

“That wasn’t much, the amount mined was according to the convention, my people were unable to mine more than the amount set by the convention..” Roland emphasized the words in a practiced manner, “Mr. Ambassador, you should also remember what happened during the Months of the Demons two years ago, right?”

Of course Petrov remembered it, the cold lasted for four months and in Border Town nearly one out of every two people starved to death. The cause of this was municipal Administrative Governor Reynold’s avaricious and insatiable greed. Between the aristocracy there was naturally internal opposition, some nobles even wanted to punish governor Reynold afterwards. But at the end of this incident nothing happened, only because he was the husband of the Duke’s second daughter.

Now when this was mentioned by the prince, Petrov got a bad feeling.

“This time it will be even worse,” Roland sighed, ” with what we could mine before, it was probably only enough for two months of food. I will try to support my people,but I’m afraid they won’t survive the winter, sir. The old ways of trade must be abolished!”

Petrov opened his mouth, but he didn’t know how to refute. He wasn’t a professional diplomat. In face of such a good reason, he really couldn’t point out any problems, so he could only delay the matter for the time being, “Your Highness, I have to express my regret. This time will not be a repeat of the tragedy before, I can afford to loan you a month of food, and when your people are able to resume production next year, they can slowly repay the debt. “

“I already sold the ore to Willow Town, we can slowly repay you with their money.”

“But…”

“There is no ‘but’, however,” Roland immediately interrupted him, “they are willing to buy the ore with gold royals, and at the same time they sell wheat, cheese, bread, honey and more at market price… which we can buy with the royals we got from the former transaction. But,Mr. Ambassador, even if you are willing to lend us a month of food, would the other five factions agree with your decision? As far as I know, it isn’t even easy for Duke Ryan to reach an agreement with the other families.”

Petrov kept silent, the 4th prince had put it right. Not just the remaining five, he even feared his own father wouldn’t agree. If they wanted to maintain the monopoly, it would be necessary to modify the trading scheme, but he did not know how he could have the last word. He was called an ambassador, but in reality, he was just the spokesperson. Perhaps the Duke did not want someone to come to any private agreements with Border Town, right? Whether it was during the time of the former governor or now with the 4th prince, he assigned a different candidate every season, and these people were never the rulers of their families.

Regardless of the outcome, he had to try, so when he thought up to this point, Petrov spread out his last cards.

“Thirty.” he held up three fingers, “Longsong Stronghold will buy the ore and rough gems for less than thirty percent of the market price. I think this price should be higher than the price of Willow Town, Your Highness.”

Roland responded, “Indeed it is higher, but there is still the old question, can you guarantee the agreement of all 6 families?”

“I will immediately go back to Longsong Stronghold tomorrow. After I get an agreement, I will come back with a new contract.”

“But my people are unable to wait that long. You should know, that if you want to reach an agreement between the aristocracy, it is usually very time consuming.”

“Your Highness, the cooperation with Longsong Stronghold would be a better choice for you and your people. Willow Town is too far away, so you and your people can also escape to them during the Months of the Demons,” when speaking up to this point Petrov felt that his throat became dry, “but the road isn’t easy… it is quite dangerous.”

Good God, what the hell am I doing? Petrov’s heart pounded madly, did he really threaten the prince?

“Ha ha ha ha!” surprisingly, Roland did not fly into a rage, but instead laughed, “Mr. Ambassador, you seem to have mistaken something, I never thought of retreating to Willow Town.”

“What do you mean…”

“Of course, I didn’t intend to go to Longsong Stronghold either.”

Roland watched the ambassador’s expression with interest, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Petrov momentary doubted whether his ears got it right or wrong.

Fortunately, the prince didn’t let this awkward silence continue for long, and he then explained, “This winter, I will always stay in Border Town. Border Town will become the new border of our kingdom. Do not be so surprised, my friend, I’m not spouting nonsense, I can show you the new masonry walls at the Northern Mountain Slope . “

“City… Wall?”

“Yes, connecting the North Slope Mountain and Chinshui River is a twelve foot high and four foot wide stone wall. With this, we can defeat the demonic beasts here at Border Town.”

Petrov felt his brain power wasn’t enough, when the former ambassador got back last season, he did not mention any city walls. No, at that time the lord of Border Town and the people were at Longsong Stronghold, how could they build the wall with the limited manpower they had? In other words, when the 4th prince arrived, he immediately began to build the city walls? Even so, until now it had only been only three months, so how could they have built something in this short amount of time?

Also… What was it His Highness just said? Twelve feet high and four feet wide, connecting the North Slope Mountain and Shishui River? Petrov estimated this in his heart, building a wall of this size wasn’t something possible to be done in less than 3 to 5 years, and first of all he did not even have enough stone masons for cutting and grinding so many stones! Even more, Border Town was only a mining town, most of the people living here were only common people.

When he hadn’t even digested this news, Roland’s next sentence also shocked him incomparably.

“As for the ore sales, starting next year, I will be willing to reduce the price by half, sir, but we will not only sell to Longsong Stronghold, because you don’t really need that much ore. I think compared to the low profits of ore, you would prefer some more metal products, such as spades, shovels and the like.” Here again he paused, waiting until it seemed like Petrov understood the meaning of his words,” As for rough gems, we will sell them in the form of an auction, the businessman with the highest bid will be able to buy them. I would prefer to polish the stones myself, but unfortunately in the current Border Town there is no one with such an ability. “

But you’re saying you have the ability to build the wall in this few months! Petrov’s heart nearly burst from anger, and what does he mean, that Longsong Stronghold doesn’t require so much ore? It’s a mere output of one thousand gold royals, even if the production would be increased, Longsong Stronghold could double it! Two thousand gold royals cannot be handled by Longsong Stronghold? That is a bit too arrogant!

He forced back the grievances of his heart, and tried to maintain a composed look, “Everything you said I have remembered, Your Highness. I will immediately go back and negotiate with the six families. But, the city walls you mentioned before… I first want to have a look. “

“Of course,” Roland smiled, “but do not be into too much of a rush, let us first enjoy and finish these kingly flavored pastries. After that, it wouldn’t be too late to start, right Mr. Ambassador?”