Chapter 1289: Overboard
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In the palace of the Gilded Kingdom, King Bradlor and a few important ministers were discussing the matter of Lin Li’s purchase of the Magical Crystal Cannons. They knew that Monterey had brought Lin Li to look at the goods today, and although it wasn’t appropriate for them to say anything in front of Lin Li yesterday, they couldn’t help but discuss it now.
In particular, although the several war-supporting ministers didn’t dare to mention waging a war at every turn, they absolutely disliked Lin Li. During the founding celebration, Lin Li had saved the Gilded Kingdom, but some of the ministers felt that it seemed unnecessary to be grateful to Lin Li.
The people of the Gilded Kingdom were all aware that Lin Li definitely needed more than just one or two Magical Crystal Cannons because the Tower of Dusk had been trying to buy Magical Crystal Cannons from the Gilded Kingdom since a long time ago, but the latter had been delaying the deal using various excuses. However, if they bought many Magical Crystal Cannons, transportation would undoubtedly be a huge problem.
When the ministers headed to the Tower of Dusk with King Bradlor to thank and express their grat.i.tude to Lin Li, they had clearly heard Lin Li rejecting Bradlor’s offer to help with the transportation. If the Tower of Dusk had enough transportation capabilities, they wouldn’t find it that peculiar, but the issue was that even till now, they still hadn’t heard of the Tower of Dusk recruiting s.h.i.+ps for transport.
“Let’s just wait and see. President Felic is just too prideful. I’m afraid he’ll inevitably ask for our help in the end,” said a minister who was acting like he had seen through it all..
Bradlor couldn’t help but frown after hearing those words as he was displeased with the minister’s tone. He said in a deep voice, “If he needs help, we’ll lend him a hand. What’s the point of saying this now?! I didn’t gather all of you here to hear you discuss these matters, but rather I want to discuss the future strategy for expanding into the Breezy Plains.”
The Gilded Kingdom indeed had to change their strategy in expanding to the Breezy Plains. Putting aside the fact that the war-supporters had wanted to forcefully encroach on the Breezy Plains, the peace supporters had also treated the Tower of Dusk condescendingly as if they had been doing the Breezy Plains a favor by being kind enough to take a peaceful approach.
However, the war-supporting faction naturally didn’t dare to mention forceful encroachment now, while the peace supporters also had to change their original mentality. Otherwise, if they were to use the same att.i.tude as before, and try to establish a cooperative relations.h.i.+p with the Breezy Plains, they would probably be put to shame again.
While the members of the Gilded Kingdom were discussing this issue, a guard of the royal palace scurried in from outside, and reported to King Bradlor that Monterey had returned.
“Oh, he’s back? Hurry up and ask him to come in!” Bradlor hurriedly asked the palace guard to call Monterey in, eager to find out from Monterey how they had handled things.
Soon, Monterey entered. Although he didn’t forget to salute Bradlor, the anxious look on his face immediately caught everyone’s attention.
Bradlor’s heart sank a little. Before even asking Monterey to take a seat, he eagerly asked, “What’s the matter, Monterey? Did things go awry?”
The several important ministers also seemed to be curious as to why Monterey, who had always been composed and reliable, would behave in such an anxious manner. In particular, the ministers who were in charge of the manufacture of Magical Crystal Cannons immediately panicked, fearing that their subordinates had acted ignorantly, and caused some trouble at this point.
Looking at Bradlor with a bitter smile on his face, Prince Monterey said, “Your Majesty, President Felic’s selection of the Magical Crystal Cannons went rather well. I came back to ask you how far we are going to go with this deal. How much are we going to charge President Felic for the Magical Crystal Cannons?”
Upon hearing Prince Monterey’s words, Bradlor was instantly displeased. In fact, he even blamed Monterey for his lack of conscientiousness. He frowned, and said, “Didn’t I already mention before that we’ll give the Magical Crystal Cannons to him for free as a favor? He won’t buy many anyway.”
Although the cost of manufacturing the Magical Crystal Cannons was rather high, the Gilded Kingdom had enough financial power to give 20-30 Magical Crystal Cannons to Lin Li for free. Besides, Lin Li didn’t need help with the transportation, either. Thus, it made Bradlor a.s.sume that Lin Li would purchase at most 20-30 Magical Crystal Cannons.
However, after hearing Bradlor’s words, the bitter smile on Monterey’s face intensified, and he said, “But Your Majesty, President Felic wants a large amount of Magical Crystal Cannons. I’m afraid we can’t afford to really give all of them to him for free! That’s why I came back to ask for your opinion and an appropriate price to charge.”
“Tsk, Prince Monterey, you’re exaggerating things. How many Magical Crystal Cannons can President Felic possibly want? 20-30 Magical Crystal Cannons would already require a large transport capacity. Or is it that President Felic has changed his mind, and wants our help with transporting them?” the right-wing minister Burgess asked disdainfully.
Burgess was the leader of the war-supporting faction in the first place, and he had hoped to gain more power by waging a war against the Breezy Plains. However, his plan had already fallen through, but even though they were no longer going to go to war with the Breezy Plains, he was still as repulsed by Lin Li as ever.
However, Burgess was smart enough to know that he couldn’t take things too far and go overboard at this juncture. All he could do was mock Lin Li a few times to express his displeasure.
Bradlor didn’t bother paying attention to the tone of voice of Burgess and the others, either. He disdainfully said, “Monterey, haven’t I already given you full authority to handle this matter? As long as it’s within our capacity, we should fulfill President Felic’s requests to the greatest extent. Improving our relations.h.i.+p with him is the most important thing to do now. So what if we have to fork out some money!? Tell me just how many Magical Crystal Cannons he needs.”
Bradlor’s current concern was not how much they would have to pay, but rather that Lin Li might be offended by and displeased with Monterey’s decision to head back to the palace to ask for Bradlor’s opinion. After all, they had already given Lin Li their promise previously, and they would seem like they were going back on their word if they were to discuss the price among themselves again.
Faced with Bradlor’s questioning which vaguely sounded like a rebuke, Monterey clearly felt somewhat aggrieved. Instead of telling the truth directly, he held out two fingers, and said, “Your Majesty, President Felic wants this number of Magical Crystal Cannons. I really am in no place to decide.”
“200?” Bradlor stayed silent for a moment. This number had indeed exceeded his expectations, and he would definitely feel the pinch when giving away 200 Magical Crystal Cannons as a favor.
On the other hand, the ministers of the Gilded Kingdom had a slight change in expression because if the value of 200 Magical Crystal Cannons was measured in gold coins, it would probably amount to as much as a few years worth of the kingdom’s tax revenue.
Hence, the ministers immediately expressed their dissatisfaction, and said, “You must be kidding, 200 Magical Crystal Cannons? President Felic has got such a huge appet.i.te. Besides, how is he going to transport 200 Magical Crystal Cannons back to the Breezy Plains? I’m afraid we’ll have to end up helping him with the transportation in the end!”
Bradlor couldn’t help but hesitate. After all, it would really break the bank to do Lin Li this favor, but since they wanted to do him a favor, they had to fulfill it to the very end. If they were to take into account the cost price and profits, it wouldn’t be considered a favor.
However, considering the importance of establis.h.i.+ng a good relations.h.i.+p with a Guru of Inscription, Bradlor decided to fulfill it after weighing the pros and cons for a while, even though he would really feel the pinch. He said to Monterey, “Okay, go back and tell President Felic that we’ll give him 200 Magical Crystal Cannons as a gift for his help in killing that demon. On top of that, we can also help him transport the Magical Crystal Cannons back to the Breezy Plains should he face any difficulties in doing so.”
While speaking, Bradlor felt extremely anguished, as if his heart was bleeding. He was about to let someone else rip him off, and was even going to help them deliver the goods. He really seemed to be holding himself cheap.
However, just after Bradlor finished his sentence, and the ministers of the Gilded Kingdom were about to persuade him, Prince Monterey looked at Bradlor and shook his head helplessly. He said, “Your Majesty, I’m very sorry, but President Felic wants 2,000 Magical Crystal Cannons, not 200!”
2,000 Magical Crystal Cannons!
The s.p.a.cious palace was filled with the sounds of the crowd inhaling sharply.
Bradlor felt his vision turning black, and he almost fell off the throne, but he managed to regain his balance after a while. He eagerly confirmed with Monterey, “What did you say? Repeat yourself, how many Magical Crystal Cannons does President Felic want?”
The ministers had their eyes glued onto Prince Monterey with looks of disbelief on their faces. Indeed, 2,000 Magical Crystal Cannons was different from 2,000 spears because it was all the stock they had in their inventory which they had acc.u.mulated for numerous years. If they gave away all of them in one go, it would be akin to incapacitating the Gilded Kingdom. It wouldn’t just break their bank, it would be emptying it completely!
On the other hand, Monterey knew that he had to stop after taking some revenge. Hence, he said, “Yes, Your Majesty, President Felic wants to purchase 2,000 Magical Crystal Cannons. This morning, we’ve already been to all the warehouses where the Magical Crystal Cannons are stored, but we only managed to put together 2,000. That’s why I came back to ask you how much we’re going to charge him.”
“Impossible, 2,000 Magical Crystal Cannons? How are they supposed to transport it back to the Breezy Plains? He must be kidding!” Burgess and the other ministers were all in disbelief after coming to a realization.
200 Magical Crystal Cannons already required a rather large fleet of s.h.i.+ps to transport, and the transportation capacity required for 2,000 Magical Crystal Cannons was even beyond the limit of the Gilded Kingdom. Thus, they couldn’t wrap their heads around how the Tower of Dusk could possibly transport them.
The doubts of the several ministers gave Bradlor a glimmer of hope. He looked at Monterey, and said, “Monterey, are you sure that President Felic is not joking? I know that those two incidents in the past have caused him to have a bad impression of us, so it’s understandable that he might pull a prank on us, but you should be able to tell if he was being serious or not.”
Seeing the crowd’s ignorance, Monterey sighed, and said, “Transporting 2,000 Magical Crystal Cannons is not an issue for President Felic at all. He has a piece of s.p.a.ce magical equipment that is comparable to an artifact. He can easily fit all 2,000 Magical Crystal Cannons in it, so I’m very clear that he isn’t joking.”
Although what Monterey said was the truth, Bradlor and the others found it even harder to accept than the news just now. They simply couldn’t imagine what kind of magical equipment would allow one to easily store 2,000 Magical Crystal Cannons. Even in myths and legends, there probably wasn’t such an incredible item.
Bradlor and the others knew that Monterey clearly wouldn’t lie about this, so they had no choice but to believe that Lin Li really owned such an artifact. Now, the issue was that Lin Li wanted 2,000 Magical Crystal Cannons. Regardless of how generous Bradlor might be, he wouldn’t give them to Lin Li for free.
Even if they were to charge him at the cost price, it would be a huge loss for the Gilded Kingdom. In the Gilded Kingdom, Magical Crystal Cannons were not ordinary commercial products, but reserve resources for war. In addition to the cost of manufacturing, they held greater significance too. For example, the kingdom had to rebuild the Fifth Fleet that Lin Li had destroyed, and if they didn’t have any Magical Crystal Cannons left for their battles.h.i.+ps, their s.h.i.+ps wouldn’t be considered battles.h.i.+ps anymore!
Hence, even if they sold the 2,000 Magical Crystal Cannons to Lin Li at a high price, it would have quite a great impact on the Gilded Kingdom. Besides, this impact couldn’t be negated easily, and they had no choice but to slowly acc.u.mulate more reserves again in order to gradually eliminate the impact of this loss.
However, the issue now was that Lin Li had already stowed all the 2,000-something Magical Crystal Cannons in the Ring of Endless Storm, and Monterey had merely returned to ask about the price of the Magical Crystal Cannons. It could be said that it was too late for the Gilded Kingdom to go back on their word.
“Th-this is too much. What exactly is that Felic trying to do? Have we not given him enough compensation?!” Burgess and the several ministers who used to be the main war supporters were instantly displeased with Lin Li’s behavior. The only reason that they didn’t ask to start a war was because they were still rather clear-minded now. In the past, they would have treated this as a good reason to start a war.
Bradlor waved his hand. Although he blamed Monterey, he knew that it wasn’t the time to reprimand him now. Hence, he said to the ministers, “Okay, let’s now discuss how much we’re going to charge President Felic for the Magical Crystal Cannons.”
By saying that, Bradlor had already resigned to fate, and all they could do now was to consider how to reduce the kingdom’s losses. However, to make up for the loss, he had to do more than just charge Lin Li a high price for the Magical Crystal Cannons. After all, the Gilded Kingdom had intended to use this deal to get closer to Lin Li, but if they were to charge him a high price, it would be nothing more than a business transaction that had nothing to do with friends.h.i.+p.