Chapter 169: A Transaction

“Whatever you say, I don’t care about good or bad!” Old Xie said nonchalantly.

“Haha, you are quite free and easy.” Lan Fake smiled slightly, then said, “Then I’ll tell you the good news first. After my hard work these past few days, I finally contacted some dignitaries in the Beast Race for you. You won’t have to worry about the ironware produced here not selling out anymore. They will all give me some face. In short, they can definitely take all your goods!”

“Bah!” As soon as Old Xie heard this, he immediately spat at him with a laugh and cursed with a smile, “Mr. Lan Fake, I found your skin is not just ordinarily thick! Do you think I’m one of those trash in the Imperial Capital noble circle who doesn’t even know vegetable prices? You actually dare to come and trick me! I think you don’t want to hang around anymore!”

It turned out that on this Continent, ironware was always in high demand because productivity was too low, and the craftsmanship for refining ironware was very backward. Coupled with the constant wars on the Continent, many strong laborers had to go be soldiers, while others had to farm, so the people available to mine and smelt iron were very scarce. In short, steel production was very low. In human society, the ironware produced was barely enough for their own use, and they could only squeeze out a very small amount for the Beast Race alliance.

And the Beast Race itself didn’t know how to smelt iron. Technology was secondary; the key was they didn’t have the time. Because the north where the Beast Race lived was too cold to farm on a large scale, they could only rely on hunting and herding to survive, so naturally, they couldn’t support a large number of people to mine and smelt iron.

The Beast Race’s ironware mainly relied on sponsorship from allies, the most important source being the Dwarves. The rest was obtained in small amounts from the human world, but this was obviously far from meeting their needs, so the Beast Race had always been very short of iron.

Now, if they could buy ironware directly from Old Xie at a place very close to their doorstep, this would undoubtedly be a great thing. However, for Old Xie, this might not be good news.

The reason was simple. His raw pig iron was transported from thousands of miles away via the Transmission Array. The Magic Stones spent on managing the Transmission Array alone were no less than a thousand Gold Coins. Even traveling all the way from the Imperial Capital wouldn’t cost that much money. So, his original intention in smithing here wasn’t to make money, but purely to test whether the Imps could carve Magic Arrays. If he used this to do business, he would probably lose his shirt.

Moreover, Lan Fake’s proposal was obviously for the Orcs’ benefit, but he acted as if Old Xie was taking advantage, so Old Xie couldn’t help but mock him.

After hearing Old Xie’s words, Lan Fake didn’t show any shame at having his trick exposed. Instead, he chuckled and said, “I know what you’re thinking, just afraid of losing money, right? Don’t worry about that. I’ve seen the iron armor made here. Not only is the quality top-notch, not much worse than the Dwarves’ finest works, but the key is, you also had those Imps carve Magic Arrays. As long as these Magic Arrays can function and turn them into Magic Armor, I can guarantee my Beast Race friends won’t let you lose out.”

“Cheh!” Old Xie immediately said with disdain, “Who doesn’t know the Beast Race is famously poor? Even if they wanted to be generous, they wouldn’t have Gold Coins to pay!”

“Haha!” Lan Fake immediately laughed loudly, “I say, why did you suddenly become stupid? Although the Beast Race doesn’t have Gold Coins, they have a lot of good stuff in their hands! They hunt Magical Beasts all year round. Although the worse materials like Magic Cores are sold to humans, the really good stuff is always kept some! Don’t you want Behemoth Claws? Or even Thunderbird eggs?”

“Hmm?” Hearing this, Old Xie immediately became interested. You see, the Behemoth is a Divine Beast of the Beast Race; they worship them as ancestors. Once the Three Great Disasters invade in full force, they are the absolute main force troops. Not many, just a dozen or so Behemoths can make an opposing army of hundreds of thousands dare not move. Without dispatching dozens of Saint Domain Experts, there is absolutely no way to deal with these Behemoths. So under these circumstances, humans almost never encounter materials from Behemoths. Because even if a Behemoth dies of old age, it is respectfully sent into the Behemoth graveyard by the Beast Race high-level officials.

And as a Level 7 troop type, anything on a Behemoth is extremely precious. The hair can be woven into soft capes that resist sharp swords, the bones can make excellent Magic Weapons, and the sharpest claws are even rarer. Most of the Legend Rank daggers circulating on the Continent now are made from Behemoth Claws. They truly cut iron like mud and pierce armor like paper; it goes without saying how powerful they are.

Even the Beast Race knows that things on Behemoths are good, so they try to secretly steal a little bit from Behemoths without irritating the others. This is what allows Behemoth materials to circulate in small amounts on the Continent.

As for the Thunderbird, that is a Level 6 Magical Beast. Some high-level people of the Beast Race can steal their eggs and hatch them for battle. This thing’s combat power is even a bit stronger than the Wyvern because Wyverns rely on poison, while Thunderbirds are masters of Lightning Spells. It’s just that wild Thunderbirds live in groups, so stealing their eggs isn’t easy, and raising them is also quite troublesome, so they are relatively rare.

But no matter what, whether Behemoth Claws or Thunderbird eggs, they are the best things in the Beast Race. Ordinary Beast Race dignitaries can’t get them; generally, only the chiefs of large Beast Race tribes can obtain a tiny bit. As for humans, it’s even harder to get, even the Royal Family is no exception.

So as soon as Lan Fake mentioned this, Old Xie immediately became interested and hurriedly said, “You’re not tricking me, right? You, an exiled guy, can contact the chiefs of large tribes in the Beast Race?”

“Damn it!” Lan Fake didn’t answer immediately but jumped up and cursed, “Did that little bastard tell you all about my past?” Clearly, compared to business, he cared more about his image.

“Hehe, you are so famous, I can find out about your past just by asking anyone!” Old Xie didn’t betray the Old Mage, just vaguely brushed it off, then smiled faintly, “Alright, let’s not talk about this. Let’s talk about this deal? Do you have a plan or not? I’m telling you, my standards are very high. If you don’t have those two things you mentioned, don’t open your mouth to do business with me!”

“You, still so unwilling to lose out!” Lan Fake gave a bitter smile, then said somewhat helplessly, “To tell the truth, it’s my clansmen who found me. They’ve been having a hard time lately, and I can’t stand watching. As long as you’re willing to help them, I’m willing to give you my family fortune.”

“You have Behemoth Claws and Thunderbird eggs?” Old Xie immediately asked curiously.

“I did secretly collect a Behemoth Claw before, anyway it’s useless, I can give it to you. As for Thunderbird eggs, I know a Thunderbird habitat. When they lay eggs, I’ll personally make a trip. I wouldn’t dare say for more, but getting a dozen or so shouldn’t be a big problem. And I can also help you raise them for free, but on the condition that you pay for it yourself! I can’t afford to feed those big eaters!” Lan Fake said with a smile.

“Haha, I’ll pay for my own Thunderbirds. But how did you get the Behemoth Claw? And how are you so sure you can steal Thunderbird eggs?” Old Xie asked somewhat puzzled.

“The Behemoth Claw was something I picked up during a battle with a disaster once. At the time, it seemed a Behemoth had a finger chopped off by a Great Demon, that’s why it fell. If it had been cut on the claw, it would definitely have been fine.” Lan Fake then laughed, “As for how I get the Thunderbird eggs, that’s a secret of our Beast Race Priestess, forgive me for not saying, but I’ll get them for you when the time comes!”

“Alright, alright.” Old Xie nodded, then smiled, “This deal seems worth it. Speak, how many things do you want? And what are they?”

“Weapons. My clansmen are actually mostly using wooden clubs to fight now. It’s too disappointing. They need sharp swords and knives to defeat powerful Magical Beasts!” Lan Fake said, “I need at least 2000 Refined Iron weapons usable by Trolls!”

“Oh, let me calculate. Weapons used by Trolls aren’t small; at the very least, they are human Heavy Swords or Battle Axes. One of those is worth at least ten Gold Coins. That means you want 20,000 Gold Coins!” Old Xie immediately laughed, “Seems very cheap! Just the Behemoth Claw alone is worth more than that!”

“Cheap?” Lan Fake immediately laughed upon hearing this, “You’re talking about the price in your human Royal Capital. That’s the place of production, naturally cheap. But to transport these 2000 weapons thousands of miles to our Beast Race tribe, the taxes along the way alone will increase the cost by two or three times. Additionally, you have to grease relationships up and down. Because this is something that requires Emperor approval to sell. Normally, he wouldn’t agree. If found out, it’s a crime of exterminating the whole family. So the connections needed for smuggling are very hard to establish. That’s not counting the harassment from robbers and various forces along the way. Anyway, to transport these 2000 heavy weapons from your country to our tribe, don’t even think about it without 100,000 Gold Coins!”

“Haha, alright then, deal!” Old Xie immediately said with a smile, “Although the Transmission Array consumes a lot of Magic Crystal Stones and is expensive, it’s still much better than greasing relationships. But, just these 2000 weapons, can they save your tribe?”