Chapter 393 Another royal audience (2)
After a long silence, the king gave a cough to calm down before saying with a smile, "I was not aware that Sir Zwein here had this kind of talent."
He then turned to me and asked, "Sir Zwein, is this true?"
I said with a calm look on my face, "It's just a bit of skill, it isn't as exaggerated as Miss Elsa says it is."
The ministers gave a nod as if they agreed with this.
But then Elsa said, "Sir Zwein, there is no need to be humble."
With a wide smile, she turned to look at everyone else in the room and said, "Sir Zwein's abilities are even on par with my brother's. It can be said that Sir Zwein is a true master of the craft."
Once again, there were shocked looks that filled this room after she said this.
The bitter smile that had been on my face before returned and there was even more bitterness to it this time.
The king narrowed his eyes to look at me as he asked, "Is this true, Viscount Zwein?"
This time, he didn't address me as 'sir', but rather called me out by my title.
This was him using his prestige as a king to ask a question now.
I calmly looked up at the king and said, "Your majesty, I just compared notes with the Dwarven King in terms of forging. It isn't as great as Miss Elsa says it is."
But even then, Elsa wouldn't let me go as she said, "Sir Zwein truly is modest. He…"
Before she could say anything else, I suddenly glared at her as if telling her to stop talking.
When Elsa saw this glare, she couldn't help flinching before suddenly revealing a faint blush.
I didn't understand what this blush was, but at the very least, I could let out a sigh of relief since she had stopped talking.
The king also saw this, but he decided not to pursue it for now.
Instead, he turned back to Elsa and asked with a smile, "Miss Elsa, may I ask what kind of relationship you are seeking with our kingdom?"
Elsa took a moment to calm herself and gave a cough before saying, "Your majesty, we are here to request a trade relationship be opened up between our two kingdoms. We will be needing a large amount of magic stones in the future, so we are hoping that we can buy them from your kingdom in return for ores."
I slightly narrowed my eyes when I heard this.
I had thought that the dwarves would just seek some kind of trivial relationship with their kingdom, but it didn't seem to be the case.
It seemed like the dwarves had already planned for the future.
The magic stones that they were asking for, it was the key thing that they needed for imprinting runes on weapons.
They were already seeking a source of these magic stones before they started mass producing these rune weapons, so they wouldn't need to worry about them in the future.
The human kingdoms wouldn't know about this until it's too late, so they would be ripped off while thinking that they had earned a large profit.
I was the only person that was able to see through this in this room, but I didn't say anything in the end.
If I spoke up now, it was certain that I would be involved in this matter and this was the last thing that I wanted.
After hearing what Elsa said, the king also narrowed his eyes.
But he had less information than me, so he wasn't able to understand everything.
For the king, all he knew was that this was a strange request from the dwarves.
Before this, the dwarves never would have even considered trading their ores for anything that the humans had.
There were many human kingdoms that had tried to trade with the Dwarven Kingdom, but they had all been rejected by them.
So for the Dwarven Kingdom to suddenly come forward with this request…
It was without a doubt strange.
But the king just couldn't understand what it was.
It had something to do with magic stones, but what?
He turned to look at me, but I just had a calm look on my face.
Then he turned to look at Scar and Shaka, but they also shook their heads.
Shaka though shook his head a bit more hesitantly since he was putting a few things together…
After seeing this, the king knitted his brows slightly as if he was deep in thought.
Elsa didn't mind this since she understood what he was hesitating over.
This was a first for their Dwarven Kingdom as well, so it was without a doubt a decision that one needed to mull over.
After a long time, the king finally said, "Alright, that's not a problem."
With a pause, the king added, "If I may ask, is there a reason why you're in need of magic stones? If there is a problem, perhaps our kingdom can help?"
Elsa just shook her head before saying, "This is a matter related to the benefits of our Dwarven Kingdom, so it isn't something that is convenient for us to share."
The king knitted his brows again, but they relaxed soon after as he said with a sigh, "Of course. I hope that I did not offend you by asking this question."
Elsa said with a smile, "Of course not. I hope that we will be able to continue this cooperation for a long time."
The king gave a nod as he said, "Of course, that is our intention as well."
Then he said with a smile, "I'm sure that you are all tired from your journey. Please rest up tonight and let's discuss this further tomorrow."
Elsa gave a nod before also saying with a smile, "Thank you for your concern."
The audience ended there with the king standing up to leave.
But as he left, he turned to look at me, Scar, and Shaka.
It was clear what he was implying with this.
I could already guess what would happen next.
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