Chapter 704: Snow Bird Harbor City Lord – I Can Make Deals With Long Fu!
Yes, that’s right, a perilous situation.
After losing the core defense that was the magician tower, Snow Bird Harbor’s weakness had been laid bare.
Snow Bird Harbor had been visited by the Vegetable Pirates. The city had suffered cataclysmic damage, and the city palace had been blown up. But on the other hand, other parts of Snow Bird Harbor still had its great wealth and hadn’t been plundered.
“I must rebuild the magician tower as soon as possible!!” Snow Bird Harbor City Lord shouted in his mind.
Building a magician tower could be a long term project, or not. It all depended on whether money was in place.
Building a magician tower in two or three days probably wouldn’t work. But a week was completely doable. Because this was the Ice Sculpture Kingdom, the top country in alchemy technology on the Main Plane.
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord estimated that if he assembled half the alchemy guild’s strength, he could rebuild the magician tower within a week.
Even though the new magician tower would be simpler and cruder than the old one, it was better than nothing.
Having a magician tower or not was the difference.
“The problem is money!” Snow Bird Harbor City Lord grasped the crux of the matter.
The city palace was blown up, and the money inside was gone.
This included last month’s tax payments and his own personal wealth.
“To be more accurate, I only lost the gold coins, the silver and copper coins are still there.”
However, the silver and copper coins were left melted or turned to metal fragments in the ruins because of the explosion.
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord had already ordered them to be recovered.
But he understood that even if all of it was recovered, this sum of money was like throwing a cup of water on a bonfire, it had little to no effect. The most valuable part of the treasury had been scurried away.
“It is almost certain it was that third party.”
“They schemed against me and schemed even more against Cong Mang’s Vegetable Pirates!”
They stole all of the gold coins and everything in my secret storehouse.”
The city palace explosion had destroyed almost all of Snow Bird Harbor City Lord’s accumulated wealth, and right now, he was wrapped up in bandages, pretending to be seriously injured when he reported to the higher-ups.
“Lord Clan Leader, I have no choice but to contact you, this is the situation…” Snow Bird City Lord decided to use a long ranged instantaneous communication device to contact his clan leader.
When the Xue Beng Clan Leader received the communication, he was grave, because he knew that this kind of long ranged instantaneous communication device consumed massive amounts of magic power every second.
Whenever this device was used, it indicated that the situation was serious and critical.
“Why is Snow Bird Harbor being attacked by pirates?” The Xue Beng Clan Leader hastily asked, “Do you need clan support?”
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord coughed, then threw up blood, “To be more accurate, the pirates have already retreated.”
“At the time, the battlefield was very complicated, I did everything I could, but I was unable to…cough.”
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord coughed out blood again, turning as pale as paper.
Seeing him so miserable, the Xue Beng Clan Leader suddenly felt his bad feelings being aggravated.
Then, Snow Bird Harbor City Lord said, “Now, although we have luckily survived, the crisis has not waned. Snow Bird Harbor’s magician tower has been utterly blown up, and my city palace has met the same terrible calamity. I urgently need clan assistance to rebuild the magician tower!”
“What?!” When he heard the magician tower had been completely destroyed, the Xue Beng Clan Elder’s eyes went black, and his expression seemed to collapse.
Rebuilding the magician tower would necessitate massive amounts of funds.
Snow Bird Harbor’s current situation demanded a rapid construction of a magician tower, which would mean it would cost tenfold the amount.
The Xue Beng Clan Leader’s anger was scathing as he began to demand an explanation from Snow Bird Harbor City Lord. Why weren’t you careful? How did it come to this? If this battle had sustained such massive losses, then you as city lord cannot avoid responsibility! If this matter is not handled well, then your political prospects as city lord will inevitably go dark!
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord bowed his head and received the scolding, occasionally coughing up blood and in short, playing up his miserable condition.
The Xue Beng Clan Leader scolded him for a spell before getting tired. He saw how miserable Snow Bird Harbor City Lord looked and deeply sighed, “Contacting me and the clan was the right decision.”
“Remember, regardless of your official position, you are Xue Yue, and from your birth name you are a member of the Xue Beng Clan, this is your symbol that cannot be wiped away!”
“At the moment, both His Majesty and the Lord Grand Magician are conserving their strength and waiting for a golden opportunity, the capital is in a delicate state.”
“If you report this directly to your superiors, the royal family is unlikely to act while the Alchemy Guild is focused on presiding over the Warm Snow Cup.”
“Due to the National Ceremony, so long as your Snow Bird Harbor hasn’t encountered Da Han’s Icebound Pirates, don’t expect any reinforcements.”
“We need to take our time making a decision in this matter.”
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord Xue Yue looked anxious, “Indeed! Right now, the most important thing is to rebuild the magician tower, this cannot wait, Lord Clan Leader.”
“Humph!” The Xue Beng Clan Leader looked annoyed, “Ordinarily, you don’t contact the clan, and in this matter, now you know who to depend on?”
“The clan is not your bank vault; you must understand this.”
“As a clan elder, I must consider everything, and not just one side.”
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord frowned, “However, of the entire clan, I am the only one who has authority in this region. Clan Leader, if I am held to account for my poor defense of the border, and am forced from the city lord position, then the clan will be negatively impacted to an immense degree.”
The Xue Beng Clan Leader sighed, his tone reserved, “Of course I won’t stand by and watch, but you can also take out some presentable things that will satisfy the other clansmen, do you understand?”
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord’s gaze went gloomy, he was silent for a time, then nodded, “Then please make your statement, Lord Clan Leader.”
What followed was a negotiation between the two.
Clan affection became a façade, a thin cloth covering up the icy contest over benefits that should not be known to outsiders.
After a short time, the negotiation finished.
Both sides hadn’t come to an agreement.
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord Xue Yue cursed, his expression gloomy, but this outcome was not beyond his expectations.
He came from the Xue Beng Clan, but he was not on friendly terms with his clan.
“That old bastard!” The long ranged alchemy communication device’s metal surface reflected Snow Bird Harbor City Lord’s ordinary looking face.
As a snow elf, how could he have ordinary features?
Although Snow Bird Harbor City Lord came from the Xue Beng Clan, he was of mixed blood, a half human, half elf mixed blood.
From his birth, he suffered ostracism and suppression.
The more he was suppressed, the more he worked.
But a half0blood wanting to grow in a prideful elven nation was really difficult.
It wasn’t until he became an imperial secret spy that he had a path to make true progress!
As for becoming Snow Bird Harbor City Lord, that was due to the empire secretly boosting his achievements. But on the surface, it was believed he was a benefactor of dumb luck when he obtained it after a political stalemate between the kingdom’s upper class.
At least this is what the Xue Beng Clan, including the clan leader, believed.
Following him obtaining the position of Snow Bird Harbor City Lord, the Xue Beng Clan tried to take advantage of him…to an unsightly degree for a time.
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord deliberately utilized the Xue Beng Clan’s resources and contacts, but the latter was too greedy. Snow Bird Harbor City Lord was loyal to the Imperial Secret Spy Agency, and he had to ensure his independence, or at least present an independent outward appearance. Therefore, many benefits and crucial posts could not be assigned to his Xue Beng clansmen.
At the time, both sides were having an unpleasant row.
The Xue Beng Clan in its entirety was greatly disappointed in Snow Bird Harbor City Lord, bawling out that he didn’t return the clan’s kindness, with some clansmen even manipulating things behind the scene, conspiring against Snow Bird Harbor City Lord in an effort to take away his position of city lord.
How could they succeed?
The Imperial Secret Spy Agency had painstakingly handpicked and raised up Snow Bird Harbor City Lord, so naturally they sought to protect him.
Therefore, Snow Bird Harbor City Lord’s external political crisis crumbled, and after he took office, it had vanished, preferring not to make mistakes than try, so gradually he sat steadily in his position.
Of course he didn’t opt out of the rat race, instead he was constantly trying to secretly save power and bitterly wait for an opportunity.
He was waiting for the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps to come.
Then, he mopped up the entire Bayonet Gang in a day, cleaning it out in a roll of thunder.
He pushed himself into the limelight, and the entire kingdom’s high class were shocked for a time, recognizing that he – Xue Yue, a Xue Beng Clan half elf, the incumbent Snow Bird Harbor City Lord was not just lucky, he was capable!
But now…
Pirates attacked Snow Bird Harbor and Cong Mang’s Vegetable Pirates easily landed. At the start of the battle, Snow Bird Harbor’s defensive core, the magician tower, was blown up, and even his city palace was blown to bits.
He was a disgrace.
Too much of a disgrace!
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord had gravely neglected his duty!
This was the greatest crisis since he had taken office.
He would surely be held accountable.
The reason why it wasn’t happening now was simply due to the Ice Sculpture Kingdom being faced with lots of ordeals already, the entire upper layer didn’t have the inclination to sort out a city lord like himself.
When the National Ceremony was finished and things recovered, he feared he’d be stripped of his title as Snow Bird Harbor City Lord.
“Unless I receive Lord [Usurper’s] help again.”
“But my relationship with Lord [Usurper]’s cannot be exposed, he cannot help me out fully.”
“I have to get myself out of this trouble!”
“I have to rely on myself to get through this crisis.”
“At least, I have to give it my all!”
The enormous pressure did not break Snow Bird Harbor City Lord, instead it stimulated his fighting spirit more.
When he left the communications room, he kept his spirits up, as if he had obtained the ideal outcome from the negotiation with the Xue Beng Clan Leader.
“We just didn’t come to an agreement.”
“How could such a matter possibly be concluded in one discussion?”
“Crucially, I have already obtained the Xue Beng Clan’s tentative support.”
“My major dereliction of duty this time means the Xue Beng Clan has to take care of things in advance, use their contacts and resources, and issue a good deal of preparations for them to save my position in a timely fashion hereafter.”
“It seems that my clan still has a bit of use in it.”
“Hehehe.”
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord was already thinking of measures and began to implement them.
Exploiting the Xue Beng Clan was merely his first step.
“Next, I will invite my friends.” Snow Bird Harbor City Lord tore off his bandages.
His injuries were never serious.
As he tore off his bandages, he strode into a corridor.
The bandages he threw to the floor were naturally cleaned up by servants.
His insolent movement and heavy aura at this moment did not have a trace of elven grace, he looked like a raging bull.
Because he knew that this time was like countless times before, he had to do his utmost to make a stand and fight against his fate!
“I can borrow money.”
“A massive loan!”
“The Sea Bird Church is my ally and has fought alongside me.”
“The Clam Cloth and Secret Medicine Merchant Alliances, amongst others, have branches in Snow Bird Harbor. Due to a lack of security, they might rush to raise funds for the magician tower, it is our joint demand!
“Tan Mo…that damnable guy.” Thinking of Tan Mo, Snow Bird Harbor City Lord hatefully itched his teeth, “But we can still cooperate, I can transfer a portion of Snow Bird Harbor earnings in the future to obtain funds from Tan Mo. Even if he opens with a high price…”
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord had completely calmed down already.
He was mentally prepared to be fleeced. He would rather agree to Tan Mo’s high price than compromise with the Xue Beng Clan, even if the latter’s opening price was lower than Tan Mo’s.
The reason was of course not due to his antagonistic mood.
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord was a qualified statesman, and he thought deeply, “Tan Mo is merely an outsider, and a human, he came to the Ice Sculpture Kingdom on an investigation mission.”
“The fact is the Xue Beng Clan is a native power, and if I make an agreement with them, it will open up a hole that they will constantly seep through and become a large tail that obstructs me in the future.”
Even if he had to cede massive profits, it depended on who he was ceding them to.
Despite the pain of losing them making him breathless, Snow Bird Harbor City Lord deeply understood he had to concede!
This was the art of political compromise!!
If he didn’t concede assets while he was still city lord and there were assets to concede, he wouldn’t have a chance to do so in the future.
“City Lord, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps has come to pay a visit.” Just as Snow Bird Harbor City Lord came to his study, a subordinate reported to him.
Tripleblade and Chi Lai came to Snow Bird Harbor City Lord’s suburban manor.
“Why did they come?” Snow Bird Harbor City Lord knew of “Di Bi” (Tripleblade).
After all, Snow Bird Harbor was his territory, and he also had the Imperial Secret Spy Agency’s intelligence. Therefore, he knew how the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ Snow Bird Harbor branch was organized. On the face of it, Men Shi and Chi Lai, two silver levels, were the elite heads, but that wasn’t true.
The real head leader was the iron level Di Bi (Tripleblade)!
This was a rare situation.
In this world of the strong, the strongest was generally the leader.
But Snow Bird Harbor City Lord understood the situation. He had given himself a rational explanation: since the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps were an agent of an arms merchant, then the people truly controlling them were their backers. Long Fu was like that, Di Bi too. Chi Lai and Men Shi did not swear loyalty to Di Bi, but rather to the arms merchant.
“Chi Lai and Men Shi merely joined in midway and are not considered to be their core.”
“The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps hides people, core members of the arms merchant. They should have been cultivated for a long time and are estimated to be very loyal. Long Fu and Shi Qi are certain to be like that, Hen Fa too. Now Di Bi should be one of those people too. That “Sleeping Man’ was an even more concealed trump card!”
Despite Snow Bird Harbor City Lord being far from the truth, with his limited information, he was nevertheless able to guess who made up the survivors in the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
Thinking of the big guy, Snow Bird Harbor City Lord’s gaze became dusky.
He felt intense cardiac pain.
The big guy was a future saint level, but he was killed in the explosion, with not even his skeleton being left behind!
A saint level, he was a future saint level.
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord felt that all of the assets he had lost did not compare to losing the big guy.
After a moment, the study door bell rang.
“Please come in.” Snow Bird Harbor City Lord faintly adjusted his sitting posture.
Tripleblade and Chi Lai pushed the door open, entered, and simultaneously showed propriety.
“Please, have a seat.” Snow Bird Harbor City Lord smiled.
He understood the internal situation in the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps branch, and naturally didn’t look down on Tripleblade, and was curious at their purpose in coming.
Tripleblade was very candid, and after exchanging a few pleasantries, he immediately stated his purpose. The gist was that thanks to Snow Bird Harbor City Lord’s assistance, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps branch was saved. Lord Commander Long Fu had learned about the situation here and has dispatched them to discuss a new collaboration with you, Snow Bird Harbor City Lord.
“What kind of collaboration?” Snow Bird Harbor City Lord exposed obvious interest.
Tripleblade continued his entreaties.
The moment he heard the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps wanted to provide 200,000 gold coins for a deal; Snow Bird Harbor City Lord felt his spirits rise.
This sum of money had emerged at a great time, too timely actually!
He really needed money.
He had no clue that this money came from his city palace treasury. Of course, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps would not be so stupid as to pay with stolen coins, those were given to the group at the capital and the 200,000 gold coins came from the magic medicine profits.
“Then what does your side demand in exchange?” Snow Bird Harbor City Lord serenely asked.
“We need some materials.” Tripleblade handed over a list.
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord read it, his brows gently creasing.
The vast majority of the materials enumerated on the list could not be purchased extensively on the market. Many of them were contraband.
For example, Ice Hearts and a large quantity of dragon corpses.
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord shook his head, expressing it would be too difficult to procure.
Tripleblade thought: Who is he kidding? In the supplies the big guy stole, there’s a white dragon talon, from a pure white dragon, furthermore, there’s large quantities of Ice Hearts!
These indicated that Snow Bird Harbor City Lord had the means to get these things, perhaps the price was comparatively large, or it was very risky.
But in Snow Bird Harbor City Lord’s current situation, regardless of the price or risks, they were secondary.
Tripleblade was prepared for this and didn’t relent on his conditions one bit.
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord just wanted to raise the price, and upon seeing Tripleblade’s firm attitude, agreed to the terms.
“Truth be told, the Li Jian Clan’s contacts and resource channels are better than mine. Why didn’t your corps conduct this business with them?” Snow Bird Harbor City Lord inquired.
As for why the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps wanted the prohibited materials, he didn’t ask.
To him it seemed that as arms merchant agents, what was wrong with gathering some alchemy materials? It was perfectly normal. The difficult part lay with the fact these materials were prohibited in the Ice Sculpture Kingdom.
Tripleblade bitterly laughed, “Our collaboration with the Li Jian Clan went too deep, it wasn’t good.”
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord’s eyes rapidly flashed with vague glints.
He suddenly thought of some past information.
The Li Jian Clan saw the immense benefits in the mount potion business and wanted to completely bind the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps to them, becoming the latter’s sole business partner.
“Now it seems the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps doesn’t want to keep working with the Li Jian Clan.”
“That’s right. The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ true loyalty is to an arms merchant. As an alchemy munitions merchant, they naturally don’t want to depend heavily on some power, as they will suffer under a yoke in the future, rather they want to benefit from both sides and the freer they are, the easier it is for them to earn money.”
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord instantly made out the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ requirements.
Tripleblade continued, “Speaking of which, it was thanks to you City Lord that we started to collaborate with the Li Jian Clan, you were the one who built the bridge behind the scenes.”
“Can you get in touch with the Jing Xiang Clan, your Lordship?”
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord quickly thought of the magic medicine market standoff.
The mount potion market was prosperous, but there were only two big players. One player was the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps and the Li Jian Clan, the other player was the Jing Xiang Clan. The traditional hegemon, the Alchemy Guild, hadn’t done that much in the market, astounding many outside onlookers.
“The Jing Xiang Clan is the greatest magic medicine refiner of the kingdom’s nobility, but unfortunately, I am unable to help you two in mediation.”
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord was a mixed blood, his status was limited, and he had suffered veiled discrimination.
At the time, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps was able to reach a collaboration with the Li Jian Clan mainly because of how strong the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps was.
But now, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ true intent was to reach a reconciliation with the Jing Xiang Clan and even work together with them, this greatly exceeded Snow Bird Harbor City Lord’s capabilities. Because if they wanted to do this, they not only had to put an end to past conflict between the two parties but also deal with the Li Jian Clan’s reprisal.
Tripleblade was unsurprised. Snow Bird Harbor City Lord could investigate them, naturally they could do the same.
The selling price at the Thieves Guild for information that Snow Bird Harbor City Lord came from the Xue Beng Clan and was a mixed blood was very cheap.
Thus, a moment later, Tripleblade stated his primary purpose in coming, “In that case. We are here to ask Snow Bird Harbor City Lord to spread additional rumors.”
“What kind of rumors?”
Tripleblade’s tone and bearing were very tranquil, “It concerns the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps and the Li Jian Clan. The Li Jian Clan made a grave misstep and wanted to seize the largest share of the magic medicine earnings and bullied Long Fu’s party. Long Fu was unwilling to be humiliated, and he got quite furious, even threatening to work with the Jing Xiang Clan!”
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord stared blankly.
Soon after, his mind seemed to flash with lightning, and he nearly blurted out, “Clever.”
This was extremely clever!
The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps had made up their mind already and wanted to cut ties with the Li Jian Clan. The partner they wanted now was the Jing Xiang Clan, their former business enemy.
Disseminating this rumor would immediately uncover the conflict between the two. The crucial thing was that the Li Jian Clan was in a bad state currently. The kingdom’s high class were universally dissatisfied with the Li Jian Clan’s performance in the naval battle.
It could be said that the Li Jian Clan’s situation was much worse than Snow Bird Harbor City Lord’s.
If the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps wanted to rescind their collaboration with the Li Jian Clan, then this was undoubtedly the best opportunity.
When the rumors were let out, the entire kingdom would know.
This was tantamount to the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps giving a way out of this embarrassing situation and calmly extending an olive branch to all parties.
The mount potion market was too fiery, and so long as working together brought wealth, who wouldn’t want to do that?
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord also wanted to do that, but unfortunately, he was not strong enough and could not touch such enormous profits, he could only drool with envy.
After a half hour, Tripleblade and Chi Lai said goodbye.
The two sides reached a consensus and signed an agreement on the spot.
Snow Bird Harbor City Lord was quite satisfied.
“I can feel that Long Fu really wanted to help me. He didn’t exploit my circumstances, everything was based on market value, and he gave me capital when I most needed it.”
This was Snow Bird Harbor City Lord’s time of most urgent need, and it could be said he had been provided charcoal during a blizzard.
“Of course, there are still risks to this collaboration.”
“After all, the things they want are contraband.”
But to save his city lord position, Snow Bird Harbor City Lord was very determined to assume these risks.
“In comparison, disseminating rumors is far riskier, I might offend the Li Jian Clan.”
“But it doesn’t matter, I can utilize the Imperial Secret Spy Agency for this.”
“It has nothing to do with me, Snow Bird Harbor City Lord!”
“This guy, Long Fu. He’s pretty good, he handles matters in the open and stylishly, and he is loyal to his friends.”
“Unfortunately, once I get across this ordeal, I still need to deal with you and the arms dealers behind you.”
“In the future, if possible, I will help you out and reciprocate in kind.”