Chapter 315: List Your Requests, We Can Discuss
The Snow Bird Harbor City Lord had put in so much effort, but in the end, in the captain's cabin of the Love Triangle, he heard the dragonman youngster refuse his offer.
As a domineering leader, his mood was understandable. His face immediately turned grim, expressing his displeasure.
The Snow Bird Harbor City Lord stared at the dragonman youngster, slowly shook his head, and said slowly, “This is not a good decision, Commander Long Fu.”
“You took the initiative to propose a heroic duel to Teng Dong Lang. You are the initiator!”
“If you leave Snow Bird Harbor now, what difference is there between you and a deserter?”
"You have gained a high reputation in Snow Bird Harbor, which is rare. However, once you flee, this reputation will turn into a massive force that will backfire on you. The higher you climb now, the harder you will fall."
“Anyone who dares to back down in a heroic duel will face the deepest contempt and widespread scorn in the Ice Sculpture Kingdom.”
“Essentially, you will be treated as dead in this society.”
“Everyone will despise you. You will live under the gaze of contempt and disdain until the end of your life. This is a very serious consequence!"
The Snow Bird Harbor City Lord's eyes flashed with a fierce look.
The dragonman youngster stared back at him without flinching, revealing his determination.
"Death in society is only a symbolic death, which is better than losing my life."
"I am only a silver level, so I basically have no hope of defeating a gold level like Teng Dong Lang."
“But what I'm more worried about is that before I fight Teng Dong Lang, I'll be killed by that mysterious assassin.”
"Only when people are alive can they have more possibilities. Leaving the port and avoiding the enemy's threat is a wiser approach and choice."
At this point, the dragonman youngster paused, then continued.
“The city Lord must be aware of our mercenary group's background. We came to the Ice Sculpture Kingdom this time solely to expand our arms business.”
“From the very beginning, we never intended to provoke the Bayonet Gang, let alone engage in a life-or-death confrontation.”
“We merely sought to demonstrate our strength and secure the right to conduct business here.”
“The current situation has exceeded our original plans and is not what we desired.”
"The Ice Sculpture Kingdom is so big. If Snow Bird Harbor doesn't work, there are other ports. If the other ports don't work, there are inland cities. We have many options."
The Snow Bird Harbor City Lord spoke in a low voice, shook his index finger at the dragonman youngster, and said, “No, in fact, you have no choice.”
“Information is shared, and it spreads quickly.”
“Believe me, before you even reach the next port, the news of your cowardly escape will have spread throughout the entire Ice Sculpture Kingdom.”
“You will be boycotted everywhere, and no one will buy from you anymore.”
“Everyone will think you are weak, and it will be much more difficult for you to regain the right to do business.”
But the dragonman youngster had long anticipated that the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord would say this.
“We already anticipated this.” The dragonman youngster smiled slightly and said, “Lord, you seem to have misunderstood our plan of action.”
“The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps is just one of our identities.”
“If its reputation is ruined, we can just discard it.”
"If my reputation is ruined, I can just stop operating in the Ice Sculpture Kingdom."
"Besides me, there are other people in my corps. My deputy commander, Shi Qi, is no weaker than me in combat."
"Even if it is inconvenient for all of them to continue operating in the Ice Sculpture Kingdom. Believe me, there will be people even better than us to replace us. By then, even you won't know their true identities."
The dragonman youngster's words were full of meaning and hinted at a sense of strength.
What he meant was to tell the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord in front of him that they were not just a mercenary group!
They had powerful backing.
Those who could engage in arms smuggling were naturally very powerful.
Sure enough, after hearing the dragonman youngster's words, the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord fell silent for the first time.
The dragonman youngster's bluffing tactic was successful.
Although there was a gap in strength between the two sides in the negotiations, and the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps could not compare to the Snow Bird Harbor, the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord had been fooled by the dragonman youngster's bluff.
Information about the mysterious background of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps had been circulating for a long time.
The more detailed Snow Bird Harbor City Lord's investigation was, the more he believed in this identity!
This time, Snow Bird Harbor City Lord carefully considered for a moment before speaking solemnly.
“Commander Long Fu, I believe you can see that I really need your help!”
Unlike before, this time his tone and attitude were much more conciliatory, and he appeared more sincere.
The city Lord looked at the dragonman youngster and said, "I'll be honest with you! In order to deal with the Bayonet Gang, I have prepared for a very long time and expended a great deal of energy. Now, I am very confident."
“I can say that we will defeat the Bayonet Gang without fail!”
“I just need an opportunity—a formal opportunity to declare war!”
“Now, that opportunity is right before us.”
“This time, the Bayonet Gang made a mistake, exposing a massive weakness. This is truly rare.”
“Missing such an opportunity would leave me with lifelong regret.”
"As you know, my term is nearly over. What else can I do for Snow Bird Harbor?”
“Am I just going to let it slide? Are we going to let the Bayonet Gang, this cancer, continue to harm this beautiful port? Am I going to leave this mess for the next city Lord to deal with?”
“That would be betraying the royal family’s trust in me and an irresponsible act toward the people here.”
"I hope to have such a bright spot in my political career. I hope that when I return to this port in my old age, I will be highly praised by the citizens here. They will say that I was an excellent city Lord who brought tremendous improvements to Snow Bird Harbor during my tenure!"
When the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord said this, he stroked his chest and revealed a lot of emotion.
This was the first time the dragonman youngster had seen him being so emotional.
As a believer in justice, the youngster's impression of the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord changed greatly at this moment!
If he were alone, he would probably have agreed.
However, the youngster always kept in mind his responsibility as a leader. Therefore, he sat steadily in his seat, his expression calm.
Such a calm gaze put even more pressure on the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord.
The city Lord slowly composed his expression, slowly stood up, and paced back and forth in front of the dragonman youngster.
His feet stepped on the floor, occasionally making a creaking sound, while he himself bowed his head and fell into deep thought.
After pacing back and forth a few times, the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord stopped, turned around to face the dragonman youngster again, and offered new conditions.
In view of the dragonman youngster's stated purpose for coming to the port, the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord proposed that he could use his connections to take the initiative to open up upper level channels for the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps in the Ice Sculpture Kingdom. This would allow the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps to sell their weapons on a large scale throughout the country!
This level of support was completely different from before.
Previously, he had only been willing to promise to sell the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps a prosperous shop. He would allow them to sell their weapons in Snow Bird Harbor to a limited extent.
“If your weapons are of high quality, like the alchemy arrows that you, Commander Long Fu, used in the Snow Bird Dueling Arena...”
“I can even help you establish connections with important members of the royal family in the Ice Sculpture Kingdom!”
The Snow Bird Harbor City Lord offered very generous terms.
If the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps really had a background as arms dealers, this condition would undoubtedly be very tempting.
But the dragonman youngster did not.
The secrets he and the survivors carried were far beyond the imagination of the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord.
Therefore, the dragonman youngster remained calm, and the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord secretly admired his composure.
The dragonman youngster said, "City Lord, in fact... Well... we're not just interested in selling some alchemy products. We also hope to purchase some unique resources within the Ice Sculpture Kingdom."
“Such as the Ice Heart.”
The Ice Heart was a specialty of Ice Sculpture Island.
It could be consumed directly by people.
After consumption, one would become extremely rational, with all emotions frozen, and mental strength and willpower greatly enhanced.
Of course, if the dragonman youngster got his hands on the Ice Heart, he wouldn't use it that way.
Extreme rationality with all emotions frozen—at first glance, it sounded very powerful, but in fact, it had a big flaw. The dragonman youngster didn't want to be heartless towards Zi Di.
The Ice Heart was a very precious and important alchemy material.
It could be used to make alchemy tools.
The most successful product was the Ice Heart Headband.
Wearing it allowed magicians to remain calm at all times, enhancing their mental power, and accelerating their spellcasting speed. Of course, it also served to protect their willpower.
So far, the entire survivor team urgently needed to strengthen their mental and willpower defenses.
They had already suffered losses in this regard on multiple occasions.
However, conventional solutions are not suitable for the survivors.
Before arriving at the Ice Sculpture Kingdom, the Ice Heart was one of their primary objectives.
Obtaining a sufficient quantity of Ice Hearts and crafting enough Ice Heart Headbands would resolve their severe issues with weak mental defenses.
When the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord heard the request made by the dragonman youngster, he frowned deeply.
“Ice Heart...” He shook his head and smiled bitterly, “Commander Long Fu, you are an outsider and don't understand the situation.”
“Let's put it this way, obtaining an Ice Heart is much more difficult than obtaining a gold level armor!”
The dragonman youngster already knew that the Ice Sculpture Kingdom had a ban on armor.
Basically, it was very difficult to buy gold level armor in the market here.
Even though there were many alchemists here, and it had the largest alchemy market in the nearby sea area and the most advantageous alchemy production environment, alchemists were strictly restricted by law when it came to forging gold level armor.
The number of gold level armor produced by the entire Ice Sculpture Kingdom each year was fixed.
Even if it was made, it was given priority to the upper echelons and powerful figures of the Ice Sculpture Kingdom.
The dragonman youngster heard the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord's answer and felt puzzled: “The Ice Heart is just an alchemy material, it can't be compared to gold level armor, right?”
The Snow Bird Harbor City Lord sighed and shook his head slightly: “In fact, the production of Ice Hearts is actually very high.”
He revealed a secret.
Rumors in the market said that the production of Ice Hearts was very low.
This was actually false information deliberately released by the Ice Sculpture Kingdom.
"Ice Hearts are secretly controlled by the royal family. The control is much stricter than that of gold level armor."
“Ice Hearts are a very important alchemy material and are the main ingredient in many alchemy items.”
“They are rare all over the world.”
“Back then, one of the main reasons our snow elf ancestors chose to migrate to Ice Sculpture Island was the Ice Hearts.”
“In fact, the quality of the Ice Hearts currently used for alchemy potions and items is quite low.”
“The truly high-quality Ice Hearts are all in the royal family's possession and have never been released.”
"Even the inferior-quality Ice Hearts are strictly regulated every time they circulate. Even for me, it is very troublesome to obtain them for my own use, as I have to go through layers of reporting procedures. Under these circumstances, it is even more impossible for me to sell them to you."
“It's not that no one has ever done this, but in the end, they were all secretly dealt with for treason.”
"Treason?!" The dragonman youngster was secretly surprised.
The Snow Bird Harbor City Lord was silent for a moment, staring at the dragonman youngster, his tone and expression very serious: “Commander Long Fu, if you have any other conditions, feel free to bring them up, and we can discuss them.”
Of course, the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord was not easy to fool.
When the dragonman youngster brought up the Ice Heart, he immediately saw through the ploy.
The dragonman youngster's previous threat to leave the port was just a tactic to gain the upper hand in negotiations.
The dragonman youngster was silent for a moment. Since the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord had made such a statement, he didn't hide anything anymore.
He directly took out a list that he had prepared in advance.
The Snow Bird Harbor City Lord immediately took it and examined it carefully.
There were many items on the list.
After reading through it, the Snow Bird Harbor City Lord found that there were only three important items.
The first item was the purchase of a silver level magic ship.
The Ice Sculpture Kingdom had advanced alchemy technology and was skilled at manufacturing a type of magic ship.
Although the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps had obtained the Love Triangle, Iron Lump, and White Bandage, it still had a huge demand for magic ships.
This was because even the flagship, Love Triangle, was only iron level.
The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps needed at least one silver level magic ship to barely protect their gold level cannon.
The second item was the white dragon and all alchemy materials related to them.
This was mainly for the dragonman youngster's Bloodcore.
Absorbing the bloodline of the white dragon could quickly enhance the dragonman youngster's resistance to frost.
This would also be of great help to him in dealing with Teng Dong Lang.