When Kyran mentioned the word ‘partnership’, the council members glanced at each other.
Even Malek reacted. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Kyran and said, ” Do you even know what partnership is?”
“In order to establish a good partnership, both sides need to be on equal grounds,” Kyran continued, completely ignoring Malek’s question.
“You-!” Malek glowered, but Stella stopped him by resting her hand on his arm.
Seeing her stern look, Malek reigned in his annoyance and leaned back on his chair and snorted.
“Humph.”
The rest of the council members who saw this could not help but applaud Kyran’s boldness.
In the Conclave, only the Lord could act this way around Malek.
Even Stella had black lines on her head as she looked at Kyran. She knew that until he got even with Malek, they would not be able to reconcile properly.
“At least that’s what I’ve read. Some of you might think I alone cannot be considered your equal, or rather The Conclave’s equal. But let me ask you, how do you determine equality of both sides? Is it through their accomplishments? Connections? Power? Or-,” Kyran paused and looked at each of the council members. “- wealth?”
Vaness slightly frowned. He had a vague idea of what Kyran was trying to tell them. But as a merchant himself, all the things Kyran mentioned were crucial.
“If one side don’t have the things you’ve mentioned, how will they stand on equal terms with the other side?” Vaness asked.
Kyran looked at him.
Vaness was a middle-aged man with light brown short hair and dark brown eyes. Just like Emery, he was a non-mage but a combat specialist. He also wore gold armor on top of a red coat and the symbol of a book with a hovering stamp carved in front of the armor.
Kyran knew that Vaness was the Chief of the Chamber of Commerce. He also knew that among the Conclave Council, he would be the first one whom Kyran needed to convince because he foresaw that he would have to work with the Chamber of Commerce than the other constituents of The Conclave.
“True, but are those really important?” Kyran replied. “My grandfather told me that the most important thing to consider in a partnership is if both side can satisfy each other’s needs.”
He looked at Stella and said, “Stella. What does the Conclave needed right now?”
“Materials, manpower and spirit stones,” Stella answered at once.
Although the Conclave had an abundance of resources, some materials and their manpower were limited. With the development of the new defensive arrays for the Mercenary Hall and the Tower of Conclave, the materials needed for both were astronomical even for them. As for manpower, of course, if they wanted to get those rare materials as soon as possible, they would have to dispatch people to find these. Needless to say, they would need the spirit stones to buy the things their people would need while looking for and acquiring the rest of the materials they needed.
Kyran nodded in acknowledgement before facing the council again.
“I know you needed those things to create new defensive arrays. It is my fault, I know. And I’ll say it now, I won’t be able to compensate for everything.”
“‘Won’t’?” Vaness repeated, immediately noticing that Kyran did not say he ‘cannot’ compensate for it.
Kyran smiled, “Yes. Not right now at least. But, I dare to propose a partnership because I know I can.”
At this, Malek scowled again and said, “And how will you do that? Do you have any idea how much materials we needed? Even the dispatchement of manpower to find these materials will cost us a fortune. You said ‘not right now’,” he sneered. “Why? Are you going to tell us that you will have your family compensate for it soon?”
As much as Kyran wanted to ignore Malek, it immediately hit a nerve when he mentioned his family.
“If you know how I can save my family and have them help me compensate, then please tell me. If not can you not interrupt and let me finish?” Kyran said in a deep voice. Magic fluctuations started to rise around him.
The atmosphere inside suddenly became tense. However, the others could only watch in silence.
Stella, on the other hand, felt an incoming headache. She wondered if these two would really be able to reconcile with this much enmity between them.
Malek’s eyes narrowed. Before he could retort, Stella stepped in and said, “Malek. You’ve crossed the line.”
Malia sighed in relief. At least the Lord did not reprimand Malek harshly. If she did, she was sure he would find a way to take it out on Kyran. Just like how he used Sigma to teach Kyran a lesson. Of course, she was not entirely sure if this was true, but who else would Stella tell about Kyran’s whereabouts? And who else would pass it on, Sigma?
After a moment’s pause, Malek finally took a deep breath and said, “I apologize, Milord.”
Stella frowned. She wanted to tell him not to apologize to her. But Kyran dismissed it by slightly lifting his left hand.
As soon as the tension lifted, Kyran continued.
“I’ll first address the need of the spirit stones,” he said and turned to Hugh and Callan. “Will you tell me the status of my bounty?”
“Bounty?” Callan asked with raised brows.
Hugh, however, took a sharp breath. His eyes widened as he exclaimed, “You’re not going to tell us that the spirit stones will come from…?”
Kyran smiled, “Yes. We’re going to exploit that bounty.”
Stella looked at him in disbelief. Was he serious?
“I’m sure after not getting any result, they probably requested to change the condition of my bounty, right?”
“Yes,” Hugh replied.
He and Callan exchanged glances, “However, we have not replied yet.”
“I told them not to,” Stella also added.
“Can you tell me the details?” Kyran asked.
“Callan?” Hugh said and gestured at Callan.
“Yes, Chairman.” Callan replied with a nod and looked at Kyran.
A rolled parchment appeared in front of him and flew toward Kyran.
Kyran took the parchment and unrolled it.
“On top of the normal reward, they had added another reward of one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones to those who could provide an information about your whereabouts. Of course, they needed a proof before they release any payment.” Callan said for everyone’s benefit while Kyran read the parchment.
“Good,” Kyran nodded and looked at them. “Please accept the new conditions. As for the proof, I’ll help with those.”
Sigma sneered. Although this method was not morally good, he approved of it. Apart from this, the information they would provide to the Royal Army could throw them off Kyran’s tracks.
“Alright,” Callan nodded.
“Of course, I don’t plan on providing just one information. As long as we get the amount that the Conclave needed then I will help in providing those proofs.”
“To do this, however, we need to create your ‘supposed’ route. We also need to plan how frequent we can send the information to them. Else, they might notice something.” Hugh reminded.
“Don’t worry,” Kyran told him. “I already have a plan. But we can discuss it separately, the others don’t need to know. I only need to cooperate with your Mercenary Hall on this one.”
“Very well,” Hugh agreed with a nod.
Kyran looked at Malek and asked, “Will the reward from the bounty be enough to cover for the spirit stones?”
Once again, the atmosphere tensed up. They did not expect Kyran to talk to Malek after what just happened.
“Humph,” Malek snorted. But he nodded slightly and replied, “Yes.”
The moment he replied, the tension immediately eased up. At least these two were still civil to each other.
“Good,” Kyran said and faced the council again.
“Do you have any question for me, so far?”
When no one replied, he nodded.
“Then let’s discuss the materials, and the manpower.”
He looked at Noir and Vaness.
Because Noir was responsible for creating the new defensive arrays, Kyran would need to know the materials from him.
As for Vaness, because they were responsible for acquiring those materials, Kyran would need to work with them.
“Can you tell me the array’s status as well as the materials needed?” he asked.
Noir nodded and explained, “The progress of the array creation at the Mercenary Hall is going smoothly. So far, the materials needed are all available, but some will take time to be exported. Of course, this will not be a problem because these materials are needed for the later stage of the array creation.”
“But transporting those also needed manpower and resources, right? I know most of the manpower you needed in transporting these goods are there to guard against unexpected attacks from forest beasts,” Kyran asked while looking at Vaness.
“Yes,” Vaness answered. “Unfortunately, some materials would come from distant locations. We can only risk taking a different route to have them arrive at the shortest time.”
“Give me two days to get used to my magic and I’ll help with the transportation,” Kyran told him.
They did not miss the meaning behind his words.
Did they not witness Kyran warp before them? Indeed with his magic, transporting these materials would be faster and safer.
“With this arrangement, we will lessen the manpower needed.” Kyran added.