Inside the carriage, Jack asked Water Lily, "Do you bring them?"
Water Lily nodded. "Do you?" she asked back.
Jack took out one hundred magicite ores from his inventory. They were from Thereath's vault which he had Thaergood fetched for him the day before. These ores were to be exchanged with the mithril ores from Cipher Flight.
Water Lily accepted the ores. She then took out five hundred mithril ores and gave them to Jack in return.
When Jack sent Viral Cora and Life Runner to negotiate with Four Winds, Four Winds could only spare half of the number Jack needed. The exchange rate was also the bottom line Jack gave them, one magicite ore for five mithril ores. Now, Cipher Flight had got enough extra to exchange for another five hundred, so Jack did the transaction personally since he was visiting Verremor.
After accepting the mithril ores, Jack said to Water Lily, "Please understand that this is the last transaction we use this exchange rate. If you want to exchange more, the rate will be one magicite ore for ten mithril ores."
Water Lily frowned. They were indeed taking advantage when Viral Cora and Life Runner came with the offer of exchange. They also had limited mithril ores at the time, so they were playing hard to get. She thought they could continue exchanging in the future at the same rate.
From this conversation, Water Lily understood that the real quantity of mithril ores that Jack needed was only one thousand.
"Why do you need one thousand mithril ores anyway?" Water Lily asked.
Mithril ores were important. Aside from crafting blacksmith items, it was also needed for leveling up equipment starting at level 75. Currently, average players who have never died were level 60. As for top expert players, many had reached level 64. They were nearing the level where they could use equipment level 75, thus mithril ores would become even more valuable.
She thought Jack needed the ores for his guild members. If so, then Jack shouldn't stop at only one thousand.
What Water Lily didn't know, was that Jack had the transformation prism. So as long as there was enough time, he didn't truly worry about the need for equipment level-up. But since he needed a large quantity in a short time for the Arcane Forge. Hence, the transaction.
Jack didn't keep it a secret. He told her about the arcane forge.
"Does Verremor also have this tech?" Water Lily asked Peniel.
"No," Peniel answered. "Basic techs of every country are similar. But as research progresses, the advanced techs of each country become different from each other. Also, Four winds only have access to the regional officer, city, and military overviews from the monarch system. He has no access to research overview, so he can't affect the research development process."
"Maybe you people should start a coup and take over Verremor," Jack joked.
"Hm...," Water Lily contemplated with a serious face.
"Hey! I'm just kidding!" Jack said. He was here to build a relationship with this country. Everything would be a mess if this country ended up in a civil war.
"I'm also kidding," Water Lily said. Her face was still serious, though.
Seeing Jack's serious expression, Water Lily chuckled. She said, "Even if we want to, it won't be easy. After what happened to Liguritudum and Aurebor, Verremor had placed a regulation to not allow an outworlder into the throne room."
"Really?" Jack asked.
Water Lily nodded.
"We heard that Sangrod, Palgrost, and Hydrurond also adopted the same rules," Coca said. "After finding out that players can take over rulership of a country just by murdering the sovereign and destroying the throne, all the native sovereigns feared that they might be tricked using the same way."
Jack thought about his trip to Palgrost. He and his player friends were allowed into the throne room then. But at the time, it was only three days since Mistress took over Aurebor. So, perhaps the details of how Mistress take over the throne had not yet been learned by Palgrost's officers.
"But Four Winds were part of Verremor's council, right? Surely, he is allowed in the throne room," Jack asked.
Water Lily and Coca looked at one another before she answered, "The grand chief allows it, but most of the other lord chiefs in the council voted for prudence. Hence the council meeting is moved to another meeting room. The council no longer convened inside the throne room."
"How does Four Winds feel about it?" Jack asked.
"He said as long as he still has a say in the meeting, he doesn't mind where the meeting takes place," Water Lily answered.
"This is the meeting we are going to now?" Jack asked.
Water Lily nodded. "The meeting is conducted weekly. As you requested, you want to meet with all the council members, then the time when the meeting takes place is the best opportunity."
"Why do you want to meet the council members?" Coca asked Jack.
"You are not planning something mischievous, are you? Are you going to cause us trouble?" Water Lily also asked.
"Damn it! Am I that untrustworthy?" Jack complained.
"Hm, I don't know. We used to be enemies, weren't we?"
"Hello? I helped Four Winds get a seat in the council, remember?" Jack returned.
"Hm, anyway. I will be keeping my eyes on you," Water Lily warned.
"We've arrived," Coca informed.
They came out of the carriage. Jack found himself at the entrance of an enormous building. What drew his attention was a gigantic skull of some sort of creature at the top of a building. Was it a dragon's skull? But whatever the creature that skull came from seemed to be even larger than the largest dragon he had seen.
At the two sides of the entrance were also tusks of a gigantic creature. Jack wondered if the tusks came from the same creature with the skull up there.
Coca excused himself. He didn't follow into the palace. He went somewhere else with the carriage.
Two orcish soldiers were guarding the entrance. Seeing Water Lily, they opened the palace gate.
"Who is this?" The orc guard asked when they saw Jack.
"He is with me. Chief Four Winds is expecting him," Water Lily answered.
The guard used Inspect on Jack. After learning that Jack was from the same guild as Four Winds, he let Jack pass.
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