After weighing the usefulness of the raw materials against the finished products, Earl Ster decided it was better to keep the ore. What if he happened to need it for an alloy?
The finished metalwork was worth more, after all. Raw materials represented only potential.
Most alchemists might prefer the materials, but perhaps Belfran, with his unusual tastes, would like the finished pieces better!
Basia City had the finest Water Law materials in all of Damboro, yet Mr. Belfran had hardly bought any. Earl Ster found nothing strange about that. A mage of his caliber had plenty of ways to go into the sea and find what he needed.
The Sea God might have a nasty disposition, and the ocean might be a harsh place to survive, but neither would trouble a mage above level ten. The lord of the sea could not intervene personally, after all.
As a Damboro noble whose people had opposed Scarlet for generations, Earl Ster knew a little of the past. He understood why Triton caused storms to break out without warning at sea and sudden undercurrents to appear beneath it.
If Damboro had not somehow always managed to stop Scarlet's advances north and south, their world might already have been renamed Triton.
But although the lord of the sea had been forced out of the mortal world, he had not left Oaisis!
To the humans born and raised in Oaisis, Scarlet was an enemy of all humanity. Their disputes with the desert kingdom were merely conflicts of interest by comparison.
Even the desert raiders of Storm, who seemed to hate Damboro with a passion, sided with Damboro whenever Scarlet tried to break through its defenses.
The other human kingdoms tacitly avoided trading with Scarlet directly. If they needed that country's famously pure Water Law