"What do you need?"
"Every kind of supply," the First Prince said gravely. "Food, metal, weapons..."
The Dimon Kingdom still had some money in its treasury, along with a considerable stock of Demon Iron.
"Do you need Golems?" Annan perked up. "A Knight Golem is as strong as a Greater Earth Elemental, and as long as there's a Mage Tower, it can recharge and fight again."
Golems weren't selling. They desperately needed an export market. Help us out!
The First Prince hadn't lied. The Dimon Kingdom lacked everything, Golems included.
But the price of 300 Gold Coins apiece put a troubled look on his face. If they bought Golems too, the Kingdom's finances could easily run dry. Yet he couldn't bring himself to refuse Annan, the only person who had offered to help...
"We still have some coal and Firewood in storage. Could we trade some of it first?"
"No need. It'll start getting cold in four months. I'm afraid you need fuel more than we do." Annan changed tack. "It's fine. You can buy on credit."
A Kingdom that size wasn't going to skip out on its debts.
To the First Prince, that trust meant as much as Annan's earlier offer of help.
The Portal was about to close. Annan summoned Francois and asked him to visit the Kingdom's capital, where he would work with Joan and the First Prince to draw up a list of the supplies they needed.
"Lord Annan, you are a friend of the Kingdom." With that, the First Prince bowed to him.
Annan smiled. "I like making friends."
Once the Portal had vanished completely, Annan asked Olmedo, "Why did you want me to ask whether they had coal?"
"Did you think hot meals grew on shop shelves?"
Annan had made many compromises to work