The Trusty Advisor was indeed trustworthy, he’d written all the details of the deal on a scroll. He was reading it carefully to get the proper feel of the trade deal.
The humans had requested a very large amount of TomGrapes, actually they’d asked for a continuous monthly supply. By the looks of it, they wanted him to supply an entire Kingdom; which was kind of strange. Was something going on the Human Kingdom? The price they offered was significantly lower than he had at the moment, but since he will be selling in bulk he still will be making a good amount of profit. But even then, he never was motivated by the gold, so as it was now the deal was only so-so. It would put the Spider Kingdom under a lot of strain, he would need to expand the farms and even sort out all the logistics; in other words, they were asking a lot and offering little.
He continued reading, and it turns outs the humans understood the lack of appeal to their proposition. Hence the reason why his ‘royal gala’ was mentioned. He continued reading the back and forth between the Lamia Queen and Vumbeldor, it was quite amusing and he could imagine the headache she gave to the man. He was even surprised that the Queen approached it at the right angle.
First, they would make the ceasefire official. This would recognise the Spider Kingdom as a sovereign realm. Second, they would sign a peace treaty and a trade treaty. Third and most important one, the spiders and lamias would be recognised as the subjects of the Spider Kingdom, meaning that they will finally be treated as people and not monsters. To sum it up, it was an invitation for a warmer relationship between the Spider Kingdom and the Human Kingdom. And the royal gala was just a feast to formalise the relationship.
But this feast was there the Queen was most finicky about. To begin with, Vumbeldor wanted to keep it small, a low budget quick and just official signing of documents. Vumbeldor wanted him, the King of Spiders, to come to the royal palace sign this and that, shake some hands and that’s it; and he would be fine with that, he even appreciated the mage for not wanting to waste resources on pointless frivolities. But the Lamia Queen felt different. She insisted on coming together, and she insisted on a massive show and a feast.
Well, maybe she had a point there. This would cement her image as the Queen (that sneaky lamia!), plus he could mingle with other notable figures in the Human Kingdom, currently his only contact was the Black Hand covenant. And even better, he would have a chance to push his wares to the nobles; and in turn, the nobles would affect the commoners making his wares ever more popular.
“Well, that’s not as bad as I expected.” He admitted.
The Lamia Queen pouted. “Why is your opinion of me sss-so low?”
“Maybe because you nap all the time, and when you don’t - you just make trouble!”
“King, the royal gala is happening soon. It’s better to get ready now.” The Trusty Advisor interrupted the two before they could start arguing.
“You’re right, let's get started.”
“The man told me, sss, I’ll need a dress for the dance.”
No, first they’ll need to tell the spiders to begin setting up the new farms and growing TomGrape straight away. Then he will need to figure out how much of the shipment can he deliver on his first visit; for that, he would need to get the current amount of the fruit so that he doesn’t leave himself short on supply. The road to Human Kingdom would need to be finished, and for that he needed the Ancestral Tree’s permission. Then he would need to prepare the sample wares he could push to the nobles and other crafting projects like that. There was so much to do, he could feel his head spinning.
“The spiders are already clearing the jungle. In two weeks' time, it should start producing fruit.” The Trusty Advisor was already on top of things.
“That’s… That’s fast.”
“You can leave it all to me.” He bowed and then bound the trade scroll back into his book, the one he carried at all times by his side.
“I want emeralds-sss in my dress-sss.”
“Hmm.” He considered her whimsical request. “You’re right. I bet they’ll want to see you just like another monster, and look down upon you and my spiders. But if you looked better than them, if you looked rich, they would be forced to reconsider. Humans are shallow like that.” He wasn’t under any illusions of how humans saw the spiders, and the likely cold treatment he will get in the Human Kingdom.
“Oh, sss, really? I’ve never met a human before.”
“Well you met me, but I guess that doesn’t count anymore.” His current race was Monster King and he even had horns now. “I reckon we come to them full of swagger. Even better, we should outdo them in vanity.” That didn't sound right, but it was probably the easiest way to impress the shallow humans. After all, wealth does project power.
“Yes-sss!” Lamia hissed.
“If the Trusty Advisor is confident about the TomGrape shipment I will sort out the rest.”
“I Have. It. Covered.” He chirped in a spidery voice, the excitement was getting to him.
“Well then, let's melt that pointless gold.”
Yes, the cloth and jelly trade had acquired him a significant amount of coins from the humans, and he was about to turn that into clothing and trinkets. The best forge he knew to do the job was at the Drow Village. He gathered it all into his inventory and Shadow Walked towards the mountain.
Since he couldn’t faze through solid rock he broke the spell right by the entrance. Once, he had planted a Living Wood Seed three, the seed sprouted and with Dryad's help it was already a majestic tree. He didn’t grow it for beauty, or to appease anyone, it was there for resources. “Harvest Material”, unlike the IronOaks the perk worked on this tree. The purple light enveloped a large branch and disappeared it in a shower of motes. He didn’t harvest a whole tree, that would beat the purpose, just one branch of many.
[Living Wood] x25, it gave him neatly cut sticks.
That was alright, but what if he needed planks or cubes? The perk didn’t allow him to specify, but even then, he had enough since he only needed it for crafting research purposes.
A group of spiders passed him, one by one giving him a polite spider wave. Each had a tiny squirrel riding on their backs. How cute, his spiders were keeping pets. Each day they resembled normal people more and more.
He waved them back letting them pass first. Yes, the entrance tunnel was becoming quite busy, soon it will need an expansion.
“I should consider setting a proper outpost here.” It was high time for that. “And a storage facility.” A place to store the goods from Drow and Kobolds before they could be shipped to his Kingdom proper.
But he was already very sidetracked. He didn’t even get to prepare to conquer the Undead Fortress. Eventually, he will! But for now, the undead can wait; that's probably what they were doing for the last century or so – nothing. Hopefully nothing…
Anyway, he walked the rest of the way to the Drow Village, the tunnels leading to them were changing. They were wider, the ground more level and the walls smoother. Not only that but there were the beginnings of engravings on those grey smoothed walls. Nah, it wasn’t rude graffiti of some sort, no, it was art. Someone took a liking in etching various figures of spiders on the walls. They were simplistic like doodles, but there was an artistic style to all of it – a consistent theme giving it a proper feel of art.
“Engravings?” He remembered a proper name for this art form.
One of them depicted a row of spiders carrying bags on their back. Another one had a spider fighting a centipede. A different picture showed a spider bravely protecting a group of kobolds against the cave mole. There was even a lamia being chased off by a party of spiders.
“Well, I know the culprit now.” He carried on through the improved tunnel.
He emerged at the Drow Village, that one had matured already and the Drow were done building everything they needed. Even the Drow Archive was finished, it was a structure stretching from the bottom all the way to the cavern ceiling like some sort of humungous pillar. To call it a pillar would probably be rude because it was more like a grand tower. It had windows, balconies, ledges, covers, columns and other decorative architecture. Considering that the Drow weren’t known for their masonry, they did very well. It was likely the Kobolds who helped to carve all that.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
He only looked at the landmark for a few seconds because there was a commotion happening at the base of it. The Drow had gathered around something and were loudly shouting over each other. He approached the crowd to get a better look at what was happening.
At the centre of attention, there was a group of strange creatures. The best word for them was scorpion men, and no, they weren't like centaurs (half-half). They were entirely insect-like. The scorpion men were covered in light brown chitin from head to toes, no, to claws. They walked on two legs but had four arms. The first set was scorpion pincers and the second was a three digited hand. There was an iconic scorpion tail with a stinger on the back. Their heads were small and mandibled with two big black eyes and two narrow holes for breathing.
But what was the most interesting was the fact that they had leather clothing. Well in the shape of tattered rags, but still clothing never the less. And they even had sturdy backpacks on their hunched shoulders. It was made of one part a huge shell and part of leather. Those backpacks were as big as scorpion men themselves.
“What’s happening?” He asked pushing past the crowd.
“King!” The High Chief replied in surprise. “The timing couldn’t be better. We found these things wandering in the tunnels, but no one can speak their language.”
He looked at the few spiders who were a part of the crowd.
“Can’t. Understand. Either.” The spider warrior explained apologetically.
The scorpion men were chittering something enthusiastically to the nearby Drow.
This was a good time to put his [Language Comprehension] to a test.
“Come one come all, let’s Trade. Trade and Trade.” It waved its mandibles. “No need to Fight, there is enough for Everyone.”
The Drow didn’t like the clacking of the mandibles and backed off from the scorpion man.
“It’s angry. It will attack, watch out.” A drow stretched a protective hand to block the King from approaching.
“It’s fine.” He pushed the hand away. “What are you selling?” He asked the enthusiastic scorpion-man.
“Ah! You speak Well. A Leader, yes?” It chittered snapping the pincers excitedly.
He kind of was, the scorpion man judged well. “Yes, a King.”
“Very good.” It bowed ever so slightly. “Wares fit for a King!” It slammed the backpack to the ground and it came apart revealing the contents. Somehow the wares ended up neatly displayed despite the forceful slam, or maybe because of it. The rest of the scorpion men did the same with identical results.
“They're here to trade.” He explained to Drow the obvious.
Their wares were alien, he couldn’t understand the purpose of half of the things the scorpion men tried to peddle. Some strange shells, peculiar devices, bottles, unknown fruit, tools and weapons impractical for a human hand. But with some effort, he could see how his spiders could use a few of the tools presented, it was obviously made with the insect anatomy in mind.
“What could I get with this?” He retrieved a single gold piece, a Human Kingdom coin.
The scorpion man bit at the gold with its mandible mouth. It snapped in half.
“Soft Metal, not much use. Maybe this?” Scorpion man showed a very sad-looking dried fruit.
“Nah,” He took the ruined coin back. “So not much use for gold. How about this.” He showed an enchanted ingot.
The scorpion man nibbled at it. “Ah! Corrundum, we know of it. But we have better.” The scorpion man pointed a black perfectly symmetrical triangle. “Glem!” It voiced the name of the material.
He took Glem the triangle into his hand. “Wow, that’s heavy.”
“Very hard. Very good. Won’t break, but hard to melt.”
He deposited it in into his inventory.
[Glem Ingot] x1, [Glem Ingot: Heavy, Reinforced]
“Hey.” It clacked mandibles angrily. “Must pay.”
So the single corundum ingot wasn’t enough. He gave one more and the expression on that alien face seemed to soften. By the fifth one, the scorpion man was positively happy.
“You got yourself a Bargain. Glem is Expensive.” It chittered.
There were other baubles he had a mild interest in. Like the glass bottles. They were crystal clear and very well made. The bottles had different coloured liquids in them.
“Grupp-Grupp, Mashig, HP Potion, Blaberg’amesh, Ever Cool Water…” The scorpion man began naming the items. It was a wonder how he could pronounce that not to mention the fact that neither of the bottles had smashed considering the way they were literally just slammed to the ground moments ago.
He wasn’t particularly interested in the liquids themselves, but more in the glass bottles. At the moment he was using the stone ones made by Kobolds, because Human glass was just too expensive for his purposes. The glass this scorpion man had here looked at least two grades better.
“Interested in this?” He showed the scorpion man a TomGrape. “It’s food.”
“Food is Good.” It chittered and ate the fruit. “Sweet!” It sounded surprised.
“Valuable?”
“Maybe.” It was thinking. “Hard to decide.” It shuffled a bunch of various fruits towards him.
So the fruit was deemed to be worth more than the ones the scorpion men grew. Good!
“I want the bottles.” He pointed at what he thought was a ‘Mashig’.
“A sack of this, fruit you gave me. TomGrape?” Somehow it knew the name already.
A sack for a bottle, he had to consider if that was worth it. He was likely paying here for the liquid and not the bottle itself.
“Actually, I want just the bottle.”
The scorpion man gave a curious look. “I don’t sell, Empty Bottles. Why empty bottles?” It asked.
“I need them. A lot of them.”
“Ah, I Understand. Ha-ha.” The scorpion man crackled the mandibles. “The price of the Bottles just went up.”
That cheeky insect!
“Will bring just Bottles next time. Yes?” It asked.
“Yes, I will buy them all.” He will if the price is right.
“So want the Grupp-Grupp or not? Is a good drink. Just a sack of TomGrape, a bargain!”
So it wasn't a ‘Mashig’, well whatever. “Sure why not.”
They made a transaction and he uncorked a fine glass bottle. The liquid was green and had a flowery scent. He took a big gulp and then unwillingly spat it all out to the scorpion man’s face.
“Geh! So strong.” It was an alcoholic spirit.
“Don’t waste, Precious!” the scorpion man scolded. “Take small sips. Meant to be enjoyed.”
“I just needed a bottle…” He didn’t think he’ll be able to drink that. But he was getting curious about other drinks.
He tried them all. Yes, most of them were alcoholic drinks with a few potions mixed here and there. The alcohol, if he wanted, he could import from humans, and even the Drow made their own mushroom hooch.
While exploring the drinks he was testing the barter system. The highest-worth item was by no surprise a Fire Spirit Stone, that was until he took out a stick of Living Wood.
He was no proper merchant but even he could notice how tense the scorpion face became.
“Very precious right?” He asked a leading question.
“Not fungi wood…” The scorpion man began. “May I.” It streched its pincer out. “Worry not, I won’t crush. That’s my good hand.”
He gave the scorpion man the stick. The creature rolled it in his pincer carefully, treating it with considerably more respect than the previous items he had offered.
“Living Wood, I know of this. Taken from the elves, yes? Very precious.” The scorpion man remained tense.
“I’m willing to give it to you. For the right price.”
The scorpion man clacked its mandibles. “No such thing grow in the Desert. You can take all my wares, I’m a rich scorpion now.” The stick glowed yellow and disappeared out of the scorpion's pincers, somewhere to magical inventory or something like that.
So this simple wandering merchant maybe wasn’t that simple if it knew magic.
“Be back with the bottles and you will get another one.”
“That, I will.” The scorpion man pulled at the merchandise shell, leaving the items on the ground. The shell was turned back into a backpack and put on the shoulders. “Good dealings, King. May the Desert Sun be kind to you.” It walked towards its companions who were still trading with the Drow.
Well, he had a tree worth of sticks growing right outside the undermountain entrance, so indeed this was a good deal. Maybe he ripped the scorpion man off, but maybe the scorpion man was ripping him off too. Who knows, who cares, the two of them were happy with the deal. Oh, and after he put the empty bottle in the inventory he found out why they didn’t smash. [Glass Bottle: Protected-15days], it was a timed enchantment of sorts which prevented the bottle from shattering. To test he slammed the bottle to the stone floor and the Protected dropped to 10 days. It was an interesting enchantment, but he had better: Reinforced. Which should achieve similar results and be permanent.
With the small test done, he went to talk with other scorpion men. He tried casual talk just to get to know these alien insect people. But he soon found out that if he wasn’t buying something the scorpion men weren’t interested in replying to him. Regardless, he was able to glean on some valuable info.
They were the people of the desert. There were ten Scorpion Clans each with their city and its surrounding territory. The Scorpion Clans weren’t at war, but they weren’t united either so small conflicts would arise now and then. But as long as everyone stuck to their territories all was well.
They were merchantable people and loved to trade and peddle various items, especially those obtained outside the desert. That was where he was able to confirm his suspicions: to Scorpion Clans the wood, any wood, was exotic and precious – more than metal was.
The small event came to an end and the scorpion men departed from the Drow Village.
“Well, that was random but interesting.”
The High Chief nodded in agreement. “I’ve never known they existed. I assume you blessed us with your presence for a reason?”
“Yes,” he remembered, “I’m here to melt these.” He took out a mall pile of gold coins from the inventory. “Useless gold! Not even Scorpion People want you.” He accused jokingly.
The drow raised an eyebrow, even he knew the value and use of gold.
“With your artisans' help, I’m turning this into jewellery and clothing. I’m going to the human royal gala you see.” He explained.
“Say no more.” The High Chief clapped his hands to call his servant over.