Chapter 568 Other solution (2)
As soon as I said this, there was a silence that filled the room.
Everyone had a serious look on their face after hearing this, but it was clear that everyone was just waiting for Elsa's answer.
However, Elsa had a very serious look of thought on her face after she heard this and didn't say anything in response.
After a long silence, she finally said with a sigh, "While we can't officially comment on this, it is possible for us to introduce you to a few private merchants. If they're willing to sell to you, then that is their discretion and not the stance of the kingdom."
The fourth prince's eyes lit up the moment that he heard this.
Though she had said it in a long winded fashion, Elsa was basically saying that she would do what she could.
The private merchants that they would introduce to us would be affiliated to the Dwarven King, so it would be easy for him to convince them to sell to us.
She just couldn't officially declare that they would help since she was the official ambassador to the Dwarven Kingdom.
Though we were engaged now, that was a separate matter since what she said would determine the future of the Dwarven Kingdom.
So she couldn't bring personal matters into official matters.
But there was something else that I wanted to add.
"Um, also about the merchants that are privately selling to the other kingdoms, is it possible for them to be investigated?" I said in a calm voice, but the words that I said were like a large rock that fell into a pond, creating large ripples.
Elsa immediately narrowed her eyes to look at me, as if she was trying to figure out if I was serious or not.
Seeing the look in my face, Elsa gave a sigh and said, "It's possible to do that, but you should know the consequences of doing something like this."
I just said with a calm smile on my face, "For those that trade with humans in the first place, there are always skeletons in the closet. I'm sure that you'll be able to find something to use to investigate them."
Elsa looked at me with a surprised look when she heard this.
After a long time, she said with a sigh, "I never knew that you were such a bad person."
With the same calm look, I said, "For people that don't deserve it, there's no need for me to treat them with kindness. The people that are important to me, I'll treat them properly."
Elsa looked at me a bit longer before slowly giving a nod of agreement.
It wasn't a logical decision to give this nod, but rather an emotional decision.
After all, she had seen my kindness first hand when I had helped her against her ex husband.
The fourth prince had been silently listening from the side, but he chose this time to say, "Is there anything else that we can do about this?"
I looked at him with a strange look.
Even all of this wasn't something that he was satisfied with.
At the very least, this was the part of him that was consistent with the fourth prince in the game. Both of them had a greed that was normal for him in his position as the fourth prince.
But this time, the greed that he had was understandable.
After all, this time, he was doing all that he could to help the people of this kingdom.
We were about to be invaded and war was about to start, so of course we needed to do all that we could to tip the scales in our favour.
After a long silence, I turned to Elsa and said, "Can you take control of the merchant groups after you investigate them?"
Elsa was surprised by this question, but she slowly gave a nod before saying, "As long as we don't do anything too drastic, it should be possible."
I took a deep breath before speaking this time since what I was about to say was a bit hard for me. I knew that this was a big request, so I was hesitant in saying it.
But if it wasn't for the fact that my home, the people that I cared about, and this kingdom was in danger, then I wouldn't have asked this.
After taking that deep breath, I said, "Can you send them shoddy goods with those merchant groups after you take control of them?"
Elsa knitted her brows right away.
I didn't blame her since this was a big ask for her.
This would without a doubt hurt the prestige of the Dwarven Kingdom, as well as hurting their pride as craftsmen.
I could see the look of struggle that was in Elsa's eyes, but in the end, she slowly said with a nod, "It's doable. However, the price is too big for us to do this as a favour. For this, we need some form of proper compensation."
I gave a nod since what she said was reasonable, but I was scared of what she was going to ask for.
This was basically asking them to interfere in the war of another country, even if they were doing it indirectly. This would without a doubt cause lasting consequences for the Dwarven Kingdom.
Elsa looked at me and took a deep breath to say, "Five runes. That is the minimum that I'm willing to accept. If you can't at least give us that, then it is too risky for us to do this."
I couldn't help revealing a surprised look before suddenly smiling.
I had thought that it would be much worse than it actually was, but it was just five runes.
Even if it was ten runes, I would still be fine giving it to them as long as they were willing to do this.
In fact, sometimes being generous was the best option.
So I just simply said, "Ten runes, I won't take a single rune less."
Elsa looked at me with a shocked look before saying, "Deal, you can't take back your word now!"
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