"Is every minister in your Avalon as self-centered as you?" Elena asked, sipping tea, watching Merlin do the same thing, holding his pinky finger out while raising the cup to his lips.

"I am not self-centered; I am just clear about my abilities. In addition to teaching and being the headmaster of Avalon's first public school, I oversee the direction of education and all the city's projects. This includes all the tasks the Sovereign passes down through me before I delegate them to the correct department."

"So you are being worked like a slave."

"If you want to look at it like that, be my guest. The reality is that my brain craves for puzzles. It wants to solve issues, and the more difficult things are, the better for me. I can't stand stagnation, as it leads to the death of us all. Arriving at Greyback, I could smell its stench permeating every house, at every corner."

"The previous lords mismanaged the city; if you expect someone to make a change to it in a few months, you are expecting the impossible." Elena countered, not backing down. "Change has to be done gradually. Introduce everything at once, and it will only result in failure."

"True enough. Most people can only get used to changes slowly. They need to be eased into it and transitioned from one form of living to another gradually."

"Let me guess, it is not an issue for you to adapt to changes. Nor it is for your Avalon, hm?"

"Of course." Merlin answered with a definitive nod, "Avalon has changed the Frontier for the better, really quickly. To help the people seamlessly adapt to their new life, we, ministers, made sure everybody understood our Sovereign's ideas and ideals. What was even more important was that Avalon was built by them... The people here lack that type of attachment to this city. Looking at the people's faces back home every day, I can be sure we did a good job of it."

"You are making me feel as if your city is the promised land—something even better than the Imperial City."

"I never visited the capital for obvious reasons. But I am confident that if you ever visit Avalon, you will understand that I am not boasting... I am telling you the truth."

"Then invite me!" Elena chuckled, leaning forward and resting her chin on the back of her hands.

"Maybe. Not now, though. Let's see how our cooperation goes first." He replied, placing his empty cup on the table, which served as a signal that Elena had quickly picked up on.

"I assume you being sent here means that your Sovereign wants something from us, whoever he may be. Let's speak plainly, as going in circles only makes us both dizzy."

"In private," Merlin responded immediately. After a short consideration, Elena nodded toward her people, who were very hesitant to leave. "Accompany them, Pion."

"Yes, Prime Minister."

Unlike Borbossa or the maids, Pion didn't make a fuss about it. Because of one order from Merlin, he stood up and walked over to the guard captain. He stood next to him and only left when he finally began moving, literally escorting him away in a weird way.

"You have a most loyal guard with you. I felt the same way last time but could see it even clearer now. Is every soldier this brainwashed in Avalon?"

"If so, then your guard captain is being conditioned by your family the same way." Merlin countered, but Elena only smiled in response.

"Aren't you afraid I will leak your presence? Free-roaming mages are quickly gathered and shipped to the capital city. Any informant is greatly rewarded for their service, you know..."

"You are just trying to rile me up, but that won't work. I know you won't do that, mostly because of your father."

"Who knows!" She chuckled, but deep inside, she was cursing Merlin because, throughout their conversation, only he managed to frustrate her. Yet... she never succeeded in doing the same, no matter what she tried. It was like trying to get a response from a brick wall.

"As you requested, let's start the business part of our discussion. I am here to ask for a steady supply of CC from the mines."

"What are your needs?" Elena questioned him calmly, already prepared for it. "You must understand that we have a strict obligation towards the Empress to deliver our quotas. Failing that would have severe consequences, and my lips may become loose in the face of certain death."

"We understand that. Our needs are way below what you ship off every year. We only ask that you reduce the amount you send back annually by 10%. That should be at a threshold that is still acceptable for both you and the Empire."

This was not an unreasonable request. In truth, it was very much doable. This surprised Elena. She expected something more ridiculous, greedy, and befitting of barbarians, wanting the whole cake without caring about the hows and whys. It very quickly dawned on her that she had to push down everything she thought of the Frontier in her life. These were not barbarians—not anymore.

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"It is achievable." After thinking for a minute, she spoke, finally blinking her pink eyes, meeting Merlin's gaze, trying to figure out his thoughts without much success. "But we need something of equal value at the minimum. The risks we are taking are not small. I need people at a multitude of positions; all of them have to be trustworthy and paid well to ensure everything will remain under the table."

"We understand. Is it about food...?"

"So your hand was in it, me being refused."

"Not entirely, but Baron Elliot did inform us of your letter sent to him."

"Food is not enough," Elena continued, tapping her fingers on the table. Looking across the empty plates, she watched Merlin, no longer seeing him as a kid but as a grown adult. "I need money."

This time, for the first time, it was Merlin's turn to be surprised. He never expected Elena to be this frank. He predicted that she would ask for information or something different, anything that would strengthen her position as the city's ruler. In a place like this, money meant only one thing: it would be spent on the people.

"Food is part of raising the living qualities of the people. But to make this a permanent change, I need money. I need it to pay people more and inject coins into their lives. If I pay them more, they will have more to put away and more to spend on themselves. The more they spend, the more businesses may flourish, and the more I can get back from taxes. If I just feed them freely, it will be like putting a lone strip of bandages on an open wound. Useless. They would get used to receiving free meals and start demanding it. Instead, I want them to get more money and be able to spend it on MORE and BETTER food. After that, if they have leftovers, they can use them for whatever else they see fit."

Merlin knew full well why she was explaining it. It was not because she thought he was unable to understand why she asked for money. She was showing him that his previous insulting sentence was false and wrong in every way.

"Do you need imperial coins or gold bars?" Merlin asked simply, forming a small smile.

"..." For a moment, Elena hesitated, expecting something different coming from Merlin's mouth, not this blunt question. "Imperial coin. I have no secure connections to easily and quickly turn gold into coins."

"It can be done. If you can write us a detailed breakdown of what you are planning with it and how much you need, my Sovereign will most likely agree to it. But it needs to be documented and signed."

"Naturally. How would your collection of CC happen? More importantly, what type of CC are you looking for? I don't want to hear complaints if I send over a cart full of pebble-sized CCs and you are expecting fist-sized ones."

"We would periodically send over caravans, bringing the CC away. We would be happy with an even spread of CC but if it is only the smallest sized, we won't complain either."

"Really?"

"Surprised?" Merlin asked, refilling his cup with tea.

"Yes... I expected a demand for... well, for more."

"Avalon is rapidly evolving, and although our needs are massive and we would be happy to receive quality CCs of all sizes, we will do with what we can get our hands on."

"I see. Well, give me a few days to prepare a properly detailed list of what I need, and then you can review it. We can finalize our agreement and get to work when everything is in order. If things go smoothly, the first batch will be ready for pickup by autumn."

"I do look forward to it." With a smile, Merlin stood up, fixing his clothes, deciding that it was time to leave. "I assume you know where we are staying?"

"I do. If you need better accommodations, there are empty houses you can occupy near the castle. They are not in a state of disrepair like the ones further away."

"Thank you, but it is fine. People could easily notice that and start asking questions. We are most happy when we are not in the limelight. Now, if you excuse me." Merlin said with a bow before leaving the room without hesitation. The moment he opened the door, the place was flooded by the maids and Borbossa, who wanted to make sure nothing terrible happened to Elena. No matter what, she was alone with a mage—who knows what he could have done.

...

....

.....

"Did something bad happen?" Polo asked, whispering to Pion, who couldn't really answer it, resulting in a shrug and the shaking of his head.

"I don't know. Prime Minister Merlin has been really quiet since we returned.

"He's just thinking." Yuri answered, munching on dried, salted meat and having a snack while sitting in their room. "The way he sticks out his tongue while thinking is the same as how Leon does it. Let him be until he comes back to reality."

"I see... hm, hm..." Polo murmured, trying to remain silent. He did not want to bother him or cause his thoughts to slip away.

"How was your side?" Pion asked, biting into an apple he had bought for an exorbitant price compared to what they cost in Avalon—and it was not even tasty.

"Interesting, to say the least. Lil' Polo knows his way around, and we managed to slip into the mines."

"It was highly illegal..." Polo added, not wanting to be the guilty one, but he could not refute Yuri when she decided to sneak in, mixed into a bunch of workers coming and going when shifts were being exchanged.

"It is only illegal if they catch you!" Yuri countered with a laugh, "But as I said, it was interesting. The mines are well built, more so than ours. I say this mainly because they use magic to light it..."

"It can't be electricity, can it?" Merlin asked, his head quickly snapping towards Yuri, surprising the trio that he was listening to them at all.

"No, it wasn't, as far as I could tell. It felt more like magic, like some kind of spell, because I noticed multiple slots in the wall filled with CC. It could be because it is a CC mine, but my guess is that there is a system that produces a bright, warm light down below."

"How big are the mines?"

"Hm, we didn't explore much of it because then we would have been busted," Yuri hummed, trying to answer Merlin's question correctly. "I would say it is twice or thrice as deep as ours with dozens of forks. I did see some tunnels that were dark and no longer in use. My guess is they were already emptied of CC long ago. Still, I saw multiple carts being dragged out, filled to the brim with the stuff, more than the haul I got for my Leocchy the first time!"

"I want to visit it tomorrow..." Merlin whispered, standing up, rubbing his face, "I want to see it for myself so when Elena is ready with her proposal, I can determine if she is being greedy or not!"