The RazenHeir gardens.
Ria sat across from the woman.
The maids served up tea.
Ria brought the teacup towards her nose.
She nods to the maid.
In the background, the giantess knight looms over them.
"Loena Liforia of the Liforia guild." The woman introduced herself. Her pitch was low and her accent was thick. Her voice was neither forceful nor meek.
"Ria RazenHeir. Thank you for coming all the way."
"The pleasure is mine."
"Please, help yourself. We grow the leaves in our estate."
The woman nods, she calmly picks up the tea cup and takes a sip.
"The Herdial auction should have already taken place. I'm curious. What are the most sought after items this year?"
Loena puts down her teacup and gives Ria an innocent look.
"The tears of Herda. A miracle fruit that is said to cure the most terminal of illnesses. It instantly cures the most grievous wounds when consumed. Consuming it would even provide one with lasting boosts to stats."
"Thats incredible. It's not the first time that I have heard that description. But it still doesn't cease to amaze me."
"Well, the even more interesting part is that it is very rarely consumed. Because of its miraculous healing ability, the bearer would always save it for when they might have to stare death in the eye. A tear drop comes with three doses. That is akin to having three extra lives."
"I see. I see." Ria nods.
"Oh, there's something else interesting this year. That sword, twenty… " Loena stutters.
"Twenty boon master bone sword cleaver? Twenty rune crafted storm reaver?"
"Twenty rune master crafted storm bane cleaver."
"Twenty boon faster chaffed stone game cleaver. Twenty.. Twenty.. The glowing sword that comes in a glowing box."
Ria laughs.
"It caused quite a stir initially seeing how it was making its first appearance on the Herdial exchange. The spire workshops mainly ship its mass produced weapons to Herdial. It rarely posts such a named weapon on auction."
"Thats because transportation and security is very expensive. The Moradale exchange already has a ready market for them. Sometimes, there is a buyer already in the spire city waiting right outside the workshop."
"Ah, I see."
"So? Did it sell?"
"I left the auction early. My aide told me later that it didn't."
"That's rather surprising. Historically that weapon had always been highly sought after. Did your aide notice any reason as to why?"
Loena looks at her.
"The bid was just too low to cover the cost of crafting the weapon from what I understand. Several of the highest profile buyers that were supposed to show up for the auction didn't."
"Interesting."
Loena shrugs.
"At the end of the day, it's a luxury item. It's no different from a painting. Whoever wields it is likely too important to be sent into actual combat. Just like the tears of Herda. There aren't many that would pay for something so impractical."
Ria nods.
"Anything else of note happened?"
Loena thinks for a moment before looking at Ria with her large innocent eyes.
"No."
Ria takes another sip of tea.
"Let's get down to business."
Loena opened her brief case and took out some paper.
Ria reads them.
"Provisional contracts for the delivery of enchanted weaponry of the RazenHeir house. Steel and its derivatives."
She placed another one in front of Ria.
"Infrastructure requirements. The RazenHeir house would have to provide more roads and warehousing as laid out here."
Ria reads the print. Her eyes skimmed the document from top to bottom in an instant.
She nods.
Loena slides another paper.
"Terms of remuneration. All payments would be in spire coin. It is fortunate that the Herdial royal house grants our guild the privilege of being a broker. An Initial loan would be made to our guild pooled by the houses of moradale. We will set up a branch at the RazenHeir estate to facilitate payments."
Ria nods.
Loena slides another paper.
"As for the compensation for your services in clearing the wyvern pass, the royal house apologizing for the embarrassing incident. As such, the royal house would recognize the RazenHeir house to have shared ownership of the mines below the wyvern peaks at the behest of the Hearthstone house."
Ria's eyes opened wide in disbelief.
Loena takes out a sealed envelope with the hearthstone seal.
"A letter from your associate, Rey Hearthstone."
Ria squeezed her throat to prevent herself from giggling.
She opened the seal and read through the letter.
.
My Porcelain princess Ria, the soothsayers have spoken. The end times are nigh. When this letter reaches you. We would be consummating our shared ownership of the mines below the wyvern peaks. The wyvern peaks are a very touchy territorial issue. I'm hoping this shared ownership would soothe a lot of political issues between Herdial and the Moradale houses. Don't expect much revenue to come out of it though. Mining operations even at the low depth are being disrupted by an abnormally aggressive stalagmite beast. Baby fawn general Rey.
.
Her face winced for a brief moment.
She closes the envelope and turns back to Loena.
"Alright, looks like everything is in order. My scribes will review the details of the arrangement. In the meanwhile, if there is any products that you would recommend I-"
Ria stopped.
The air around Loena changed. She straightened her back.
Her chest seemed bigger just from the subtle change in her posture. It was not as large as Hikari's but it was certainly more pronounced than the noble lady sitting opposite her.
Donk. She placed a bottle onto the table. Her calm and elegant movement was suddenly full of youthful energy.
"Extract from the Lira plant. Harvested. Processed. Preserved all on the same day. Grown on the very gardens of Herdial on the very soil that gave birth to the greatest treasures of our time. The tears of Herda. The refactoring fruits that bends rainbows. Crystals that shape entire fortresses. "
Loena was talking blazingly fast. Ria was taken aback by the sudden shift in mood.
Hikari shifts her gaze.
"If you drink this." Tap! Tap! Loena taps her chest. There was a level of strength in her apparently thin arms.
"It will restore your confidence in front of men. It will restore your self esteem. Fret not, it's never too late to seek proper help and begin the proper meditation. The gardens of Herdial offer all manner of medicinal wonders with its very soil and springs blessed by the goddess Herda. If you find your womanhood wanting, the extract of the Lira plant is for you."
"Wait- hold up." Loena's energy was getting to Ria.
Donk. She places another bottle onto the table.
"You must be of marrying age aren't you. As a scion of a noble house, are you concerned that your spouse who must not carry a mana form would get mana poisoning? Fret not, with the proper conditioning, you can raise your partner's tolerance. Two doses a day of the extract from the Tilia plant. Results guaranteed within two months."
"Um sure… but-"
Donk. Loena slams a third bottle. She takes a deep breath and gulps down her tea before continuing.
"Does your knight stink after a long day of training? Or perhaps you want to show your appreciation to them when they come back from a long campaign and don't want to show that you are repulsed by the stench of their sweat? Fret not, we got you covered too. Introducing a new formula straight from our inhouse alchemical labs. Don't buy the ones frontline soldiers use. Try our new formula now … "
…
Ria and Loena sat quietly at the table.
Their teacups were empty. The maids had changed the teapot several times.
They were both sweating. Their faces are red with blood. Their panting had stopped but their breathing was still slow.
"Phew. You are a tough one, you held out well."
"You are a good talker. You are offering products we are actually interested in. One shipment for now, we'll order more if it's actually good."
"Of course, thanks for the business."
Loena stood up and closed her brief case.
"I'll be staying at the merchant camp for now. The inns in the town are fully booked by the officers running the Carla raid."
"My apologies for not providing proper lodging, once the administrative building completes, you would be able to find proper lodging there."
"Thank you for today."
Loena gives a slight bow.
As she was just about to leave, she turned back to Ria.
"Oh and 'that' shipment is ready. I think it's for your knight Hikari."
Ria's eyes lit up.
"We managed to hire one of the top assassins of the underworld for an escort mission. Honestly, I felt lucky to be able to recruit him. He usually only takes missions towards the top of the bounty board. So rest assured that the shipment will arrive."
"Much obliged."