Chapter 88: Buying Materials
The battle was over.
Most of the Snow Monsters were dead, their corpses strewn across the battlefield. A few had escaped, but the mercenaries were too exhausted to pursue them.
They were busy collecting their transcendental materials, wary of the other group taking advantage.
Andrea waved over a mercenary.
“Which spoils are ours, and which are theirs? Can you tell the difference?”
“Of course,” the mercenary, clearly relieved that the battle was over, replied casually. “The Snow Monsters they killed have clean, linear wounds (caused by the Thermal Blade). Easy to distinguish.”
“And the ratio of spoils between the two sides?” Andrea asked, frowning.
“3 to 7,” the mercenary replied.
As for who had three and who had seven, it went without saying.
Andrea dismissed the mercenary and sighed, worried.
Hermann remained silent beside him. He knew that Andrea wasn’t really concerned about mixing up the spoils, but was looking for an opportunity to take advantage.
Finding none, and with the other side taking 70% of the spoils, how could he not be worried?
After collecting all the transcendental materials, the group continued up the mountain.
Hermann quietly lagged behind the group and approached Azure Longsword.
After he explained his intentions, the girls were quite surprised. Buy materials?
It wasn’t impossible… Asker pondered for a moment and then gestured for Nuo and Medea to talk to him.
That’s so mean! Nuo thought to herself.
Business negotiations were a process of constantly probing the other party’s offer and bottom line. They were sending out Medea, their mind-reading trump card. How could they even negotiate?
They might as well just take his pants while they were at it.
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but look at him with pity.
Hermann: …
Clearly, the blond nobleman also realized this, a troubled expression appearing on his gloomy face.
“Well, since everyone knows, let’s not waste time.” Medea sneered, her eyes narrowing at Hermann. “I know your bottom line is 340 silver marks per Snow Monster fat; I also know your demand is high, so you absolutely need the materials we have.”
“And from the very beginning, I’ve been perfectly aware of your leader’s hostility towards us.” She folded her arms, a predatory smile spreading across her face. “So, our price is clear.”
“340 silver marks. Not a penny less.”
Hermann’s expression shifted several times. He said with difficulty:
“I need to discuss this with Andrea.”
“Medea…” After Hermann left, Nuo pulled her arm worriedly. “Aren’t you pushing them too hard?”
“They have a lot of enemies with Frost Sequence abilities, so they urgently need Frost Sequence transcendental materials to make corresponding cold-resistant supernatural items,” Medea said. “If I didn’t take advantage of this opportunity to extort them, I wouldn’t be worthy of being called a psychic.”
Nuo was speechless.
Hermann found Andrea and explained the situation. Andrea almost jumped out of his skin:
“340 marks?! Why don’t they just rob us?!”
“Mind Witch,” Hermann said simply.
Andrea instantly understood and deflated like a punctured balloon.
Negotiating with a mind reader rendered all bargaining tactics useless. Your maximum acceptable price, your willingness to buy – all laid bare before the opponent’s ability.
How utterly miserable.
“What if we don’t buy?” Andrea asked, his eye twitching.
“They know we’ll buy,” Hermann reminded him of the mind-reading ability.
“I shouldn’t have sent you.” Andrea said, distressed. “I should have sent some clueless mercenary, just to relay messages from a distance, to avoid face-to-face negotiations.”
“Like what the Normans do with the Hanseatic League,” Hermann said.
“Is there any supernatural ability that can erase the other side’s memory?” Andrea asked, grasping at straws.
“There is,” Hermann replied. “Kill them. Dead men tell no tales.”
“Are you serious?” Andrea asked, alarmed.
“Of course not,” Hermann said. “Realistically, we’re probably no match for them.”
“No way.” Andrea scoffed. “Wanting to and being able to are two different things. We outnumber them ten to one, and they’re all elite. I might believe my command skills are inferior to his, but my men can’t beat his?”
Hermann didn’t reply. He had no concrete evidence, only a gut feeling.
In any case, he would set this matter aside for now… Although the Iron Cross mercenary group was basically resigned to paying, Andrea still clung to some unrealistic hope, intending to delay and see if there was any opportunity.
For example, if Azure Longsword encountered danger later, the Iron Cross could come to their rescue and earn a huge favor.
Or, if they encountered other supernatural creatures later on, whose transcendental materials happened to be what Azure Longsword wanted.
In short, find a reason to make Azure Longsword lower their price.
The group continued up the mountain. The journey was surprisingly safe, seemingly all the nearby Snow Monsters had been eliminated in the previous battle.
Andrea used his greatsword as a walking stick, leaning on it as he trudged through the snow, muttering something under his breath.
Hermann, walking next to him, heard clearly: Why aren’t there any more monsters?
Hermann: …
Stop dreaming, just get the money ready.
“Sidlipha?” Asker asked from behind in the Azure Longsword group. “How’s your potion digestion coming along?”
“About one-sixth left,” Sidlipha replied.
“Still one-sixth left?” Asker was surprised. Wasn’t it a quarter left last time? How long did she intend to digest a mere Frost I? A potion of this level, a player could completely digest it in two days of overnight grinding!
Seeing Asker’s displeased expression, Sidlipha cowered and quietly tried to slip away.
“Stop.” Asker said.
Sidlipha obediently stopped.
“Do you know why I want you to diligently digest the potion?” Asker asked.
Sidlipha shook her head repeatedly.
“There’s a weapon in these mountains, and we have to get our hands on it,” Asker said.
“What weapon?” Sidlipha immediately became interested.
“The Axe of Boreas, ever heard of it?” Asker said. “Also known as the Axe of the North Wind.”
“Is this Axe of the North Wind powerful?” Sidlipha asked.
“Powerful,” Asker replied.
“That’s great!” The simple-minded Sidlipha immediately cheered.
“The prerequisite for obtaining that battle axe is that you must have the ‘Frost’ and ‘Giant’ potion sequences.” Asker said. “The Axe of the North Wind is extremely cold and heavy. Only those with Frost abilities can withstand its low temperature, and only those with Giant bloodline abilities can lift it.”
“Then I’ll work hard to digest it and take the Giant I potion as soon as possible!” Sidlipha declared resolutely.
Seeing Sidlipha’s renewed enthusiasm, Asker finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In fact, besides the two necessary sequences, to pull out the Axe of the North Wind, one also had to pass its character test, the so-called compatibility judgment between the weapon and its owner.
This was also the reason why Asker hadn’t told Sidlipha about this – if she went into the character test with a strong sense of purpose, it might backfire.
However, with Sidlipha’s simple mind, she would probably be very compatible with that axe.
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