Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 256 Breaking the situation
Valentine received the merchants from the interior, separated by a curtain, with several maids standing around them.

This means that everything is an open and aboveboard dialogue, and there are no private transactions involved.

Valentine cared a lot about these small things and arranged them very carefully, never believing that he deserved any special privileges because of his status. Even if he did have any privileges, they were all bestowed upon him by Sumu.

“My lord, a lady as elegant and noble as you deserves the Ring of Vitality.”

"I've already paid for the treasure, why should I ask for a refund?"

"Consider this treasure a gift to you. I have something I'd like to discuss with Lord Su Mu. I've heard that you are one of the few people who can get through to me. I hope you can make an exception for me."

Valentine rubbed the sparkling gems on his fingers, remaining unmoved: "The lord is fighting the enemy at the front and will not be returning for the time being. Moreover, given Earl Kuraki's current status, not just anyone can see him."

You take the gold coins, and we'll settle the transaction. A level one treasure costs 20000 spell power gold coins; you won't lose out!

Hearing Valentine's refusal, the merchant became anxious. He glanced at the maids and, seeing that his master had no intention of leaving, stopped delaying: "Lord Sumu has occupied several resource-rich areas in the hinterland, which are my master's territory."

With an important transaction approaching, we hope to acquire some resources, or buy back the resource-rich lands at a high price. After all, they belong to the kingdom, and it seems somewhat inappropriate for Count Kuraki to occupy them like this!

Valentine's face turned cold, and he rebuked, "Your trading city can't even defend its own territory. The Earl repelled the fortified army and temporarily established it as a military base. How can that be considered a forced occupation? If you continue to spout nonsense, I'll have you thrown out!"

The guards raised their broadswords and went outside, waiting for Valentine's order to teach the merchant a lesson.

The merchant was sweating profusely, but he still insisted, "Of course we acknowledge this matter, otherwise we wouldn't have specially sent this treasure. We just beg Earl Kuraki to give us face. The more trading partners we have, the easier it will be to do business in the future. I'm sure you understand this principle, sir. Please persuade the Earl."

If we succeed, my master will bestow upon us another treasure!

Valentine seemed to be thinking carefully, and after a long while he said, "The trade routes between Graystone City and Rhodes had already strained relations. Now you want to gain without effort and are urging Congress to issue an order, so reconciliation is even more impossible. Otherwise, if we return the resource-rich areas, how will my master establish himself?"
"But it's not without hope. The valley has a long history of trade with us. If you can obtain some valuable treasures from there, perhaps the Earl will show leniency."

Just when the merchants in the hinterland were in despair, Valentine offered a solution. Although it was not very clear, given Valentine's identity, there might actually be such a thing.

After saying this, Valentine had her men carry the gold coins away and take them back to her private van.

To the merchants in the heartland, Valentine was simply a greedy little woman; since she hadn't become a hero, she still had a desire for gold. According to the intelligence from the group of noble ladies, Miss Valentine owned many properties and was experiencing some financial strain; sending her money was indeed the right thing to do.

"Then thank you, Miss Valentine. I'll head to the valley now."

After saying that, he left.

Valentine watched as the other person respectfully withdrew, a smug smile spreading across her face.

With this transaction, plus the previous meetings, the news will surely spread throughout the city that she is Count Kuraki's breakthrough point, and that money and treasures are necessary to negotiate with her.

For these cunning businessmen, they are not afraid of spending money, but they are afraid of not having channels, which suits their tastes perfectly.

In fact, Sumu had already made arrangements for the visit of the merchants from the hinterland, having Valentine lure them to the valley, while Raymond handled the rest.

When the merchants from the hinterland go there, they will naturally find that the ship merchants have influence on the plains. If they want to get back the resources to pay the bills, Raymond's business will have to loosen up.
The land of emeralds is indeed not monolithic, but is the city of trade a monolithic entity?

To break the deadlock, the already fragile alliance must be shattered, and the other side must be made to experience the taste of infighting. Of course, Kuraki cannot handle this himself; the inland merchants must follow the clues to find Raymond. This is a matter between the trading post and the shipping merchants, and no matter where the investigation begins, it has nothing to do with Kuraki.

The greedy and treasure-loving Valentine became the perfect middleman and messenger, and was able to pocket an extra sum of money.

Valentine didn't care about playing such a cheap and ignorant foolish woman role. As the saying goes, as long as she gained Su Mu's approval, it was all worth it.

……

Merchants from the hinterland stepped off the cruise ship, and Raymond and the merchant exchanged smiles, seemingly having reached an agreement.

The necessary Tier 2 resource processing would be provided by the Maya in the eastern region, while ship merchants would use special treasures to persuade Kuraki to trade mineral resources from the northeastern region, making up for the shortage of supplies at normal market prices. Even if the resource-rich areas were to be returned later for compensation, the Maya would be readily considered.

This allows Raymond to bypass the trading city, regain the complete process, and finish processing the cursed crystals; while Kuraki can use resources to offset gold coins and acquire cursed crystals at a low price; and merchants in the eastern region can complete their previous large transactions. This creates a win-win-win situation.

The areas occupied by Su Mu have been able to strike the Maya with pinpoint accuracy, and intelligence on trade is key to this, though it is unclear how Su Mu obtained it.

Raymond asked the inland merchant about compensation, and the merchant replied succinctly: "What lousy compensation? It's not even enough to cover one-tenth of the loss of the resource area, let alone the compensation for the previous large order."

Since you've forced us to our deaths, then don't blame us for being ruthless among our own people.

Where there are people, there is a world of intrigue. Even a seemingly shrewd and wealthy trading city can crumble from within due to unequal distribution of spoils.

In fact, other major merchants had long coveted Maya's resources, but they simply lacked an excuse. Now that Sumu had handed them over, they naturally seized the opportunity. It's even possible that someone was sabotaging the Maya's inability to collect these resources.

Unexpectedly, this backfired, forcing the wealthy merchant to this side.

There are many more details involved. For example, the ship merchant Raymond contacted the Hydra to warn the dragon race, who then loosened their grip on supply channels. This reduced the number of remaining steps, which could then be secretly provided by the Maya.

As for whether the inland merchants would be discovered doing this, the Maya were prepared, using the excuse of reaching a new deal with the valley to acquire resources.

They're all old foxes; they're all too familiar with smuggling and trafficking.

It's unclear how long we can keep this a secret, but let's at least get through this current crisis first.

In this way, Kuraki was able to obtain the cursed crystal and also conveniently solved Raymond's processing problem.

The price of a cursed crystal was reduced to 10000 gold coins, and the remaining resource difference was made up by the trade of resource mines in the hinterland. How Maya and Raymond divided the profits was their business.

In short, not only did he get the crystals, but the gold coins were also several times cheaper than what was offered in the trading area, and he even used an unexpected resource location. It can only be said that Kuraki made a huge profit.

Raymond felt both admiration and fear for Su Mu during this deployment, as it was the first time he had experienced Earl Kuraki's ability to control the overall situation.

We should try our best to maintain good relations in the future.

"Thirty-five cursed crystals, once processed, immediately send them to Cangmu City. Don't keep the Earl waiting!"

(End of this chapter)