Chapter 358 Negotiations Go South
"The Leisure Guild would like to reestablish our trading pact with Korten."
Baffled by Jack"s sudden offer, Gwendon was at a loss for words. It took him a few moments to gather some thoughts. "Jack… That… I"m not sure we can--"
"Gwendon, what would Korten lose in such a pact?" asked Jack. "If you"re looking for treasures, then we have more than you can count. And if you"re after platinum, we"ve got an abundance of that as well. Is there even a downside to such a deal?"
"That"s hard to believe, Jack," replied the chief, twiddling his fingers atop his desk. "Last I heard, the Leisure Guild was taking a turn for the worse. How could a declining guild have such things, even if it is the ancient Leisure Guild?"
Letting actions speak louder than words, Jack simply smiled and retrieved something from his storage.
As Jack placed the staff on the chief"s desk, the elf"s eyes were instantly drawn to the weapon. "Jack… This is--"
"An elven staff created by ancient, high-level elven mages. It"s a mythic-tier weapon that you traded to us long ago," stated Jack. "Recently, we"ve acquired new high-level members and just revisited our storehouse for the first time since before the G.o.dly War. Do you know what that means, or is Korten not that acquainted with the matters of the world outside its borders?"
"I know of your rumored storehouse, Jack. Being the most ancient surviving guild carries enough weight for me to learn that much. And you"re telling me you"ve finally opened up your storehouse?"
"Gwendon, I"ll cut to the chase. What I"m after is not only the ability to trade with Estonya, which is beneficial for both sides, but to hire your craftsmen. I"d imagine that you"ve still got a few mythic recipes and maybe even a couple of legendary recipes that your people can craft for us, right?" Jack asked with a smile.
Eyeing Jack and carefully selecting his words, Gwendon replied, "And you"re not after the recipes themselves?"
"Nope. I just want to purchase your services. Also, I"m willing to become your exclusive client."
"That… Jack, I can"t agree to such a proposition. To open trade, maybe, but to allow exclusivity would cost you--"
"And what if we can afford it?" asked Jack. "If we can afford it, how about we renew the trading pact and add an exclusivity clause. Every five years we"ll renew it, offering Korten a payment to retain the exclusivity. Does that seem fair so long as we can afford it?"
"If the Leisure Guild can afford that much, why don"t they simply buy items from the auction houses?" asked Gwendon, trying to learn more and find an edge.
"Right, I haven"t introduced my party," Jack suddenly motioned to those around him, acting like he was changing the subject. "That aviary beast is a Minokawa, which I"m sure you"ve heard about."
Getting distracted by the seventh level bloodline beast, Gwendon examined Phoro with his eyes as the Minokawa proudly posed for him.
"This fox is also a h.e.l.l-flame Fox," added Jack, stealing the chief"s attention further, "and both are my mutual companions."
Then, Jack pointed to Eliza. "This is one of my wives. Her name is Eliza, the former young master of the Fat Goose auction house."
"Oh…" Catching on to Jack"s hint, Gwendon realized that Jack already had close ties with the auction houses, which increased his interest in negotiating a trade pact. "In that case--"
"And last but not least," Jack continued his introductions, pointing toward the final member of his small part, "we have Daliea, who is more closely related to you than you know. Does the term greis elf mean anything to you?"
The atmosphere had s.h.i.+fted from a somewhat tense negotiation to a friendly meeting to dead silent befuddlement.
"By the look on your face, it seems you know more than you"re letting on, Chief Gwendon." Jack smiled back at the chief, which felt all the more intimidating paired with Jack"s know-it-all stare.
The elven chief closed his mouth and looked down at his desk. Not daring to meet Jack"s gaze, Gwendon asked, "What do you know about greis elves?"
"I asked you first, chief. Does the term greis elf mean anything to you?" Jack repeated, not daring to hold back during the negotiation.
"... Yes, it means something to me," Gwendon calmly replied. "Now tell me, what do you know about greis elves."
"I don"t know much, but I know that Eedaj will want to meet with me," stated Jack, "as he is a greis elf, like my friend Daliea."
Not only was the chief dumbstruck, so were Jack"s party members.
Eliza and Bowzer were staring with mouths agape, looking back and forth between Jack and Daliea while Phoro calmly groomed his feathers.
Daliea was frozen in all senses of the word, apart from being encompa.s.sed in ice. Motionless and without words, she was stuck staring at Jack with countless thoughts running laps through her head all at once. There was so much to take in from that one statement.
Gwendon was also baffled. Not only did Jack name a long-forgotten race of elves from the elves" dark past, he instantly pinned Eedaj as a former member of that race and presented a survivor of that long-lost race as well. Jack was constantly destroying the chief"s expectations with every turn of their conversation and the chief could hardly keep up.
"Gwendon, am I wrong in a.s.suming that you know exactly what I"m talking about?" asked Jack. "Also, am I wrong to a.s.sume that the other elves know about greis elves as well?"
Inhaling a deep breath, Gwendon tried his best to calm his mind before speaking. "Jack… I"ll tell you a bit more. We elves know of old stories about a darker time of our history, which does involve greis elves. But only I know that Eedaj is actually one of those ancient elves. That"s something kept within the family of the chiefs."
"Did you recognize Daliea as a greis elf?"
"No, but she does fit the description from our old stories," admitted Gwendon.
Turning to Daliea, Jack smiled nervously. "I"m sorry for not telling you sooner, but I thought it would be better for Eedaj to tell you instead of me. I didn"t plan for the negotiations to be like this."
"Jack… When did you find out?" Daliea quietly asked.
"Just recently while I was exploring the storehouse," answered Jack. "It was when you spoke your ancient language that my subcla.s.s allowed me to recognize it as greis elven, an ancient dialect of elven that was long lost. As for how I knew about Eedaj"s race, that"s thanks to my calling Sterfen immediately afterward."
"Then… is that why you--"
"Yes, that"s one reason why I did what I did in the dungeon." Jack didn"t want Daliea to mention the other greis elves that Jack had escorted out of the dungeon, not in front of Gwendon. Knowing she needed it, Jack embraced Daliea without another word. She returned his hug and let her tears run into his chest.
"Jack, now that you know about greis elves and have even found a survivor of the race, what do you plan to do?" asked Gwendon, showing a straight face and not caring about the moment between Jack and Daliea.
Releasing her with a smile, Jack then looked back to Gwendon. "That depends, is there something wrong with that?"
"That"s one of the most well-kept secrets of our race, something we don"t want the world to know about," stated Gwendon, acting serious but still not threatening the party.
"So, you"d like for me to keep this a secret?"
"Yes."
"And how do you plan to do that?" asked Jack. "Make me an offer."
"I won"t--"
"What are you, lv. 73?" Jack asked, cutting the elven chief off with an exact guess. "You"re not strong enough to kill me and face the consequences. I"m a demiG.o.d and son to two G.o.ds. Also, the Leisure Guild will reduce Estonya to the ground should you dare kill or mean harm to any of us."