Argument

It was another beautiful morning, the lazy winter sun shining on the reassembled team members.

Skar, however, was not in such a good mood. This gloom stemmed from the contribution of Nashkel's mayor, Belan Gasterchi.

Skar, who operated under the banner of the Seven Suns Merchant Alliance and had indeed come for the iron ore trade, was informed that due to the failure of several previous trades, Nashkel had already suffered considerable losses. This debt had been entirely placed upon the Seven Suns Merchant Alliance by Nashkel's lord, the councilor, and the local chamber of commerce.

"It is precisely because of your alliance's incompetence and inaction that the ore was hijacked several times during transport. What's even more shameful is that you're only inquiring about this now," this was Belan's reprimand.

"Congratulations, your merchant association's credit rating in Nashkel has been significantly downgraded, and furthermore, this batch of ore is no longer related to you," this was Belan's verdict.

Skar, who wanted to inquire further about the ore's whereabouts, was directly shown the door. Feeling wronged, he returned to the inn and, with anxiety and anger, summoned several people to discuss countermeasures. As a magical advisor (self-proclaimed), someone was among them.

"This is the situation, does anyone have any suggestions or methods?" Skar's tone was outwardly calm, but his somewhat pale lips and the bulging veins on his temples made his mood clear.

Deputy Sorymer remained silent, as did the two clerics from the Temple of Helm. If it were a matter of charging into battle or leading the charge, they would do so without hesitation, but when it came to negotiation and trade, they were truly asking the blind about vision.

Only the old hand, Lawrence, spoke up, saying, "The hijacking of the trade caravan is not solely our responsibility. The real issue is that Nashkel wants to recoup its losses."

Lawrence then said with some confusion, "But that doesn't make sense either. If they don't trade with us in Baldur's Gate, where will they sell their iron ore? How will they make up for their losses?"

Skar interjected, "Perhaps Amn? Nashkel is itself within Amn's sphere of influence. They could still profit by selling iron ore to the prosperous nation of Amn."

"I don't think so," said a veteran with greying hair. "Trying to cross the long Cloudy Mountains for ore trading is like dancing a tango with Klavar. Who knows how many dangers lurk in those mountains? Even with Tyche's blessing, if they avoid those monsters, the transport vehicles won't be able to climb mountains. Why would the people of Nashkel, no matter how foolish, take their iron ore up a mountain instead of using the wide Coast Road?"

Skar, rendered speechless by the argument, felt a bit awkward but admitted frankly, "Sorry, that was my oversight. But there are only a few powers in the Sword Coast. Besides Baldur's Gate, who else can they trade with? They can't sell it to Candlekeep, can they?"

"Then why couldn't it be the Iron Throne?" Zhang Yuan raised the question in his mind. "Since the Iron Throne is already a potential enemy, isn't their involvement this time only logical?"

The veteran explained, "The Iron Throne does indeed like to pull strings behind the backs of Baldur's Gate's Council of Four. However, as a major merchant guild of Baldur's Gate, they also have their interests in the ore trade. In fact, we are keeping this from them this time to avoid them using it as an opportunity to cause trouble."

"As long as this matter is resolved privately, it will only be a matter between merchant guilds," Skar also stated.

"But what if the Iron Throne is responsible for this? Wouldn't it be more beneficial for them to monopolize the ore trade with Nashkel by taking this opportunity?"

"If they dared to be so blatant, even the Iron Throne couldn't withstand the wrath of the Flaming Fist and the Grand Duke Silver Shield."

True, doing so would be an outright declaration of war. Even the Iron Throne five years from now wouldn't dare to act so openly, only resorting to clandestine and underhanded tactics.

Even so, Zhang Yuan felt something was amiss. Did the Iron Throne really care about that portion of profit? Were they truly unaware of this? Or did they feign ignorance, while actually having other plans?

When it came to intelligence, Zhang Yuan didn't necessarily consider himself superior to others, let alone in life experience.

But he did have one advantage: an understanding of the Iron Throne's true intentions. No matter how the Iron Throne concealed or disguised its actions, tracing back their methods always led to the same objective—provoking conflict and seizing power through the ensuing chaos.

The problem was how to persuade Skar and the others, especially since he had no direct evidence. After contemplating for a while and organizing his thoughts, Zhang Yuan looked at Skar.

"Do you remember the question I asked you when I first set out? Why did the Iron Throne secretly oppose Baldur's Gate's Council of Four? You told me this..." Zhang Yuan paused slightly, as if recalling, "The noble factions in Baldur's Gate did not fully obey the Four Dukes. With their own agendas, they used the Iron Throne to advance their own interests."

"You remember very clearly," Skar nodded.

"Then, why do you assume they wouldn't begrudge the profit from this ore trade? Their goal has never been mere money, but to manipulate the situation, right?"

Skar was a bit uncertain and looked at the veteran, "Steve, what do you think?"

The veteran pondered for a moment and then shook his head, "Even if the situation becomes chaotic, it wouldn't benefit the Iron Throne. They have rallied a large number of blacksmiths and ore merchants. If Nashkel's ore supply is disrupted, their problems would be even greater than ours."

Zhang Yuan was somewhat unwilling to give up. "Then they could smuggle the ore, secretly transport the hijacked or purchased ore to their own guilds, and achieve their goals, couldn't they?"

"Ore isn't like gemstones. How could such conspicuous bulk cargo be hidden? The entire Coast Road is patrolled by our Flaming Fist. If they were transporting ore, they would have been discovered long ago."

Zhang Yuan was speechless. Although he knew that the Iron Throne collaborated with the Black Claw Mercenary Group and the Cold-Blooded Gang, and could very well bypass the Flaming Fist's patrol areas, and that these groups might have even opened an iron mine in Cloakwood Forest, and if they traveled by water, they wouldn't even need to pass the Coast Road to reach Baldur's Gate directly.

Although he didn't know if these events from five years later had already occurred, the Iron Throne was by no means as powerless as they believed.

As someone struggling with a lack of evidence and information sources, he couldn't state things directly. He could only subtly remind them, "Even so, besides them, no one else in the Sword Coast would want this batch of iron ore. After eliminating other possibilities, the remaining probability, however small, is still infinite. I still believe the Iron Throne is the most suspicious."

This time, Steve didn't object. "Regardless, this batch of ore has to be transported out of Nashkel. No matter who the mastermind is, they couldn't possibly leave no trace."

Someone nodded along with Skar, thinking with amusement: Perhaps the mastermind truly is a black hand, and a hand is a claw.

Having made up their minds, the Flaming Fist members had no intention of lingering there any longer and left the town that same day.

Although the one-day trip to Nashkel made everyone feel somewhat like a dejected loser, it was unavoidable if they wanted to lure the snake out of its hole.

The team did not go far after leaving Nashkel, but instead camped north of the Nashkel mining area to monitor the ore's movements.

They waited for three days.

(Ps. Writing this chapter was really tough. On one hand, I wanted to remove the suspicion from Skar and the others regarding the Iron Throne, while on the other hand, I wanted the protagonist to find a reasonable loophole. I'm almost going crazy writing this... If you still find it wordy or think the intelligence is deliberately lowered, I can only apologize. You can skip it if you want (^).)

Congratulations to a certain minor character for their appearance.