Chapter 479: An Evening Feast
“Such speed! Did you see how he managed to move?”
“Such viciousness! He didn’t even use any weapon to break his bones!”
Chattering broke out in the royal palace. A man with a green tattoo on his face furiously stood up, wanting to have a match with Xia Fei, but the old man next to him hurriedly pulled him back. “He’s a high-rank speed ability user! You’re no match to him!”
The tattooed man gnashed his teeth and sat back down, draining his cup of wine dry.
Though they were all angry, no one dared to attack Xia Fei. That unfathomable movement speed had successfully cowed everyone. Anyone who wanted to fight Xia Fei had better be sure that they could break his speed.
Throwing aside the corpse, Xia Fei looked around. “There’s nothing wrong with him offending me, but crucially, he lacked the strength, so he died by my hands.”
He calmly walked back to Constantine’s side. Personal fights and killings were very common in Blood Candle, but there was still something somewhat inappropriate about taking a life in the palace. Constantine grimaced and could not help but be worried.
At this moment, Prince Campos stood up and pointed at Xia Fei’s nose. “Royal Father, this man killed General Lantz in the middle of a feast in the royal palace! He should be punished!”
Campos was not at all like Constantine. Constantine was thin and weak, while he had quite the fat, and his nose was raised so high that it was about to reach the heavens. When he started walking, his fats would jiggle. His skin was dark and swarthy, and he had a pair of beady eyes that looked at Xia Fei with ill intentions.
Xia Fei lightly glanced at him and then waltzed back to his a.s.signed seat. He took a grape from his plate and put it into his mouth; after which, he smiled at Campos as if to ask, ‘Punish me? With just you?’
The queen had much sharper eyes and realized that Xia Fei was not someone to lightly be provoked. She ordered her son to sit back and then bent down next to Lester and whispered something, a smile on her lips. The queen was just as fat as her son, and it was hard to say what Lester, the King of Blood Candle, had seen in her that he would pamper her so much. Even Constantine’s fiancée would look stunning when compared to her.
After listening to the queen’s words, Lester said, “True! Lantz was wrong in that he lacked strength, and there’s nothing to be said if he got killed! Someone! Drag him away!”
The guards quickly entered and dragged the body away. Lantz was a large fellow, so two guards had needed to exert some strength to bring his body up, and they swayed back and forth as they dragged him away, yet this big fellow was as weak as a little chick in Xia Fei’s hands.
The queen chuckled and asked Xia Fei, “Region ruler, your speed must have already exceeded ten thousand, yes?”
Xia Fei raised three fingers and softly said, “Thirty thousand meters per second.”
The voice was not loud, but it struck everyone’s hearts like a boulder. Speed ability was one of the hardest to cultivate. All warriors understood what breaking the ten-thousand-per-second barrier meant, let alone the fact that Xia Fei had reached thirty thousand!
That tattooed man, who had tried to start a fight, immediately broke out in a cold sweat, muttering to himself, “It’s a good thing that I didn’t attack.”
Blood Candle King Lester heartily laughed and praised Xia Fei. The tension in the royal palace eased, and everyone began to drink.
Xia Fei had been observing everyone’s reactions this whole time. He discovered that the officials were divided into three factions. One side stood on the queen’s side, another group stood with Constantine, and about thirty to forty people did not belong to a particular faction.
In terms of number of supporters, Constantine was definitely disadvantaged. This was due both to the efforts of the queen and in how Constantine was rather different in personality compared to the people of Blood Candle. Constantine stood out like a sore thumb amid this pack of barbarians.
As they chatted about this and that, Xia Fei gave Constantine a look. Constantine stood up and indicated that everyone should be quiet.
“Royal Father, the Blood Candle Kingdom’s output of Magnared Alloy is ever high, but selling it remains difficult. I’ve discussed this problem with Region Ruler Xia Fei, and he is willing to purchase large amounts of Magnared Alloy for construction in the Terminus Star Region.”
The royal palace fell quiet. The greatest attribute of the Blood Candle Kingdom was its poverty, and how to convert Magnared Alloy into money had always been its greatest problem. After all, it was impossible to eat that cold and hard metal, and the people of Blood Candle lacked the technology to make it into weapons and wars.h.i.+ps.
It was true that the Alliance would purchase some Magnared Alloy from Blood Candle every year, but the cost incurred once this metal was s.h.i.+pped all the way to the Alliance was not low. The majority of enterprises would only do it in certain critical regions. For other uses, the cheaper and somewhat less effective Magnablack and Tritanium Alloys were used.
This was what made Magnared Alloy so awkward. In terms of ability, it was only thirty percent better than other ma.s.s-produced alloys, but the price was several times higher. This had led to a very lackl.u.s.ter market for the alloy.
If Xia Fei could buy large amounts of Magnared Alloy for use in construction, it would be an enormous boom to the Blood Candle Kingdom. After all, the Terminus Star Region was very close, making s.h.i.+pping easy. Trading the alloy for the food and domestic goods that the kingdom needed would be extremely beneficial to the kingdom’s development.
Of course, this was only because Xia Fei was the ruler of Terminus now. Those erstwhile tyrants and warlords, who used to inhabit the region, were not much richer than the Blood Candle Kingdom, and they could not buy much alloy even if they wanted to.
Whispered conversations broke out. Each one of them was tempted by this proposal.
The queen and the younger prince both had nasty expressions. Constantine had long ago said that he was friends with Xia Fei. If this deal went through, he would unquestionably have a major achievement to his name.
Blood Candle King Lester, though he was getting weaker by the day, still had a clear mind. He hastily asked, “Is this true?”
Xia Fei nodded. “This truly is the case.”
After some thought, Lester asked, “How much can Terminus buy every year? Blood Candle has no fewer than one hundred metal processing factories of various sizes and can produce astronomical amounts of alloy each year.”
Xia Fei smiled. “I’ve already looked through it. The smelting facilities of Blood Candle vary in quality. The vast majority of the factories can’t produce Magnared Alloy of very high quality, only good for construction of buildings. It’s far too inferior to use for building wars.h.i.+ps. Even if I buy it for that purpose, I will need to melt it down and refine it again.”
All of them nodded. Blood Candle was an uncivilized and isolated region, and its technology was rather backward. Thus, not every smelting factory’s technology could meet the standard. In any case, it was all Magnared Ore, so they sold the higher-quality alloy to the Alliance while the inferior goods were used to construct buildings and walls.
Lester slightly frowned. He sensed that Xia Fei did not seem to like the lower-grade alloy. He took Xia Fei to be like the Alliance, purchasing only a small amount every year to use for critical components.
Xia Fei cleared his throat and sternly said, “Still, even the lowest-grade alloy is smelted from Magnared Ore. Regardless of how much Blood Candle has, I’ll take it all, even if you have to dismantle the walls and rip up the floors.
“To sum it up in one sentence, it’s not a question of how much I want, but how much you can provide.”
These bold words left everyone shaken. How much Magnared Alloy did the Blood Candle Kingdom have? An enormous amount! They were used to construct walls and buildings! How could they not have a lot?
Lester began to cough from how excited he was. The queen immediately offered him a napkin while she shot Xia Fei an uneasy gaze.
“Region Ruler, Magnared Alloy is not cheap,” said the queen softly.
Xia Fei raised his eyebrows and smiled. “This is the Death Tri-region. Besides foods and weapons, everything else, even human life, comes cheap. If the queen wishes to sell the Magnared Alloy at the same price it is sold to the Alliance, then you should find someone else.”
Xia Fei advanced by yielding ground, causing everyone else to voice complaints about the queen and criticize her for her greed. It was not like that mountainous pile of alloy could be eaten. As long as there was a buyer, why not get rid of it? What was the point in keeping it?
The people of Blood Candle had never cared much about math, and it was common to see a bottle of strong alcohol exchanged for a young maiden. Besides that, there was no one who cared about the metal that no one could eat or drink.
“Stand aside!” Lester pushed away the queen, who had been trying to pound his back, roughly saying, “Women should keep themselves out of men’s affairs!”
The queen got a stare from Lester’s empty eye and immediately ran away in tears. Lester angrily cursed, “Talkative woman.” There was not a shred of remorse. The younger prince turned ashen, and his stare aimed at Xia Fei and Constantine grew even more vicious.
“Ignore her. In Blood Candle, it’s always the men whose words hold weight. The only place a woman has is in bed!”
Laughter resounded through the palace. It was clear that the officials approved of Lester’s words and were of the same opinion.
“This is a big deal. Let us find another time to discuss the details.”
Xia Fei smiled. “I have a habit of not easily trusting others, but once I do, I will trust them without reservation. Constantine is my friend, so I give him full authority in this matter. He is also your son, so I trust that you don’t have an objection?”
Everyone was as shocked as they could be. Xia Fei was so easily entrusting Constantine with such a major deal for the Blood Candle Kingdom. Even the officials who normally saw this unconventional prince in a poor light now had a better opinion of him. After all, the one who controlled the kingdom’s greatest trading partner essentially controlled the kingdom’s lifeline.
These officials all controlled one or two smelting factories, with the worst being a shareholder. They all began considering how they could get into Constantine’s good graces so that they would be able to get good prices for their goods.
Constantine gave Xia Fei a grateful glance. A single statement from him had made Constantine the most favored person in the capital. This was truly a generous gift.
“As long as you trust him, everything is possible.” Lester heartily laughed. “Son, this Region Ruler is truly easy to work with, so we should be generous as well. I grant you full authority over trade relations between us and Terminus. Make sure that no one accuses the people of Blood Candle of being stingy.”
Constantine nodded in agreement. After obtaining the trust of both Xia Fei and his father, Constantine brimmed with confidence and energy. Those generals and officials raised their cups to him in a toast, their disrespect completely gone.
The people of Blood Candle were naturally happy to trade away their stockpile of Magnared Alloy, which had been acc.u.mulated for so many years, for some alcohol. Xia Fei did not like noisy feasts, so he pleaded fatigue and left.
“Haha! Constantine wants the throne, so to obtain your support, he’ll definitely try to bring the price down as much as possible. You barely need to move your mouth to get a giant pile of alloy. You’ve really made a profit this time.” Phantom chuckled. “You’ve done him a big favor. Once Constantine obtains the throne, he’ll listen to your every word. When the time comes, Blood Candle is certain to be Terminus’s first va.s.sal.”