Baron Kermoyer clearly attached great importance to this trade.
When his men stationed at the docks on Reef Island heard the news, they used a magical device to send him word that very night.
As soon as he learned of it, he personally set off for Reef Island with two wagonloads of magical beasts, while instructing a former priest he had hired to continue training his troops.
If the trade went smoothly, he would be able to bring back sacred white iron, forge it into weapons, and use it to enchant armor before returning to explore those ruins.
The thought of the elven creations he might find inside made his whole body tremble with excitement. If he obtained those treasures and recruited more troops, a higher noble rank might well be within reach.
Sacred white iron was the key!
He therefore hurried over without delay. Thanks to his keen interest and advance preparations, it took him only a single day to reach Kroya's domain and meet him.
"It's been a while, Master Kroya. Your strength is still as unfathomable as ever!"
"Oh, hardly. Your aura has grown stronger as well, Baron. Clearly, you've been working hard at your training..."
After a brief exchange of business flattery that made his skin crawl, Kroya impatiently took out the sacred white iron, piled it on the table, and said:
"Here are one hundred and seventy-five jin of sacred white iron. Take a look. Are you satisfied?"
The sacred white iron piled on the table radiated a holy white glow that even overwhelmed the light of the nearby oil lamp, making it look especially beautiful.
Baron Kermoyer's eyes widened slightly after just one glance. This... this sacred white iron was even better than what the former priest he had hired could refine.
Had this mage mastered some particularly advanced refining method?
If that was true, he could hand the rest of his sacred white iron over to Kroya for refining as well. There were still twenty or thirty thousand jin of it!
He refused to believe that so much sacred white iron would not be enough to force his way into those ruins.
Those thoughts flashed through his mind, and he gave Kroya a quintessentially aristocratic smile. "I'm very satisfied, Mage Kroya."
Kroya merely nodded at the praise. "Then where are the magical beasts or magic plants I requested?"
"I've brought them all. They're second-tier magical beasts, Fish-Tailed Sea Ducks. I'm certain you'll be satisfied."
He stood and gestured for Kroya to follow.
"Oh?"
So he's that certain I'll be satisfied?
Fish-Tailed Sea Ducks. A magical beast I've never heard of.
A little curious, Kroya rose and followed him outside, where he found two wagons packed full of strange blue ducks outside the castle.
True to their name, these blue ducks had splayed fish tails. Instead of ordinary ducks' wings, they had flippers like dolphins.
Short and plump, they flapped about in their cages, quacking away. Somehow, they looked more like penguins...
In any case, they were quite peculiar.
Kermoyer explained, "They normally nest among coastal rocks, and the sea duck eggs they lay are extremely nutritious. An egg of perfect quality can sell for almost a hundred silver coins.
"It took me an enormous amount of effort to have my men capture eighty of them. Dozens of farm serfs even died in the process."
There was a self-congratulatory amusement in the baron's voice. As for the dead serfs, they were merely a way for him to demonstrate how much trouble he had gone to.
"Magical beasts this valuable... are you really willing to give them to me, Baron?" Kroya was rather skeptical.
A hundred silver coins for one egg? Do they lay golden eggs?
Besides, he did not believe the other man would be so kind and generous with magical beasts of such economic value.
Baron Kermoyer had not expected Kroya to be so direct. He could only smile awkwardly. "They do have a few peculiarities, but I'm sure you'll find them interesting, Mage."
As he spoke, he signaled to his men with a glance.
A tall man encased in heavy armor, looking practically like a walking tin can, immediately began approaching the wagons.
He moved with extreme caution, as though facing a formidable enemy.
Red magical patterns glimmered on his armor. It was clearly enchanted, though Kroya did not know with what spell.
Is all this really necessary? These ducks don't look particularly dangerous, Kroya thought.
But the moment the tall man came within a meter of the wagons-
"Quack!"
The ducks that had been making such a racket fell silent all at once, their gray-blue eyes fixed squarely on the man.
The sight was a little eerie. Being stared at by so many ducks would surely make anyone uncomfortable.
"Oh?" Kroya narrowed his eyes, sensing what seemed to be magical energy vibrating in the air. It came from the ducks.
He began looking forward to what would happen next.
Whoosh-
In the next instant, icy-blue beams actually shot from the ducks' mouths. A full eighty beams struck the man's armor at once.
The enchanted armor, apparently made from some sort of fire-aspected magical metal, activated its defensive mechanism. Fiery-red shields revolved around his body, barely holding off the ducks' attack.
Boom!
The shock wave from the clash between fire and ice magic produced a hazy mist that instantly enveloped the surrounding area.
Kroya casually formed a second-tier Wind-Calling Spell and gave a light wave of his hand. With a whoosh, the wind scattered the mist.
He stared intently at the ducks and discovered that every one of them had become listless and slumped down.
They seemed to have exhausted their magic.
That makes sense. It would be strange if they could keep firing beams that powerful.
"As you can see, they're very difficult to tame. In particular, they band together to attack anyone who intrudes on their territory.
"That suit of armor is a family heirloom. It's inscribed with a Rotating Fire Shield cast by a magister, and even that barely neutralized their attack."
Baron Kermoyer looked a little nervous, seemingly afraid that Kroya would refuse. After all, keeping magical beasts that were so obviously difficult to tame would be quite a nuisance.
"Heh. It seems you weren't all that sincere after all." Kroya did not particularly mind his little scheme.
These Fish-Tailed Sea Ducks did meet his requirements, and there were a full eighty of them. If sold, they would certainly fetch more than one gold coin apiece.
With their respectable spellcasting abilities and extremely valuable eggs, magical beasts like these might even sell for five or six gold coins each.
But that was precisely the problem. If they could not be tamed, they would be extremely troublesome.
As for Master-Servant Contracts... each one cost a magic crystal, and besides, there was a limit to how many contracts a person could form. There were far too many ducks.
They might be troublesome for other people, but for Kroya... he had already keenly noticed that these ducks were very afraid of fire-aspected magic.
And he happened to possess some very fine fire-aspected magic.
He refused to believe he could not tame them. If he succeeded, they would be an enormous help in expanding into the surrounding waters.
Wasn't this just like having a pillow delivered when he felt sleepy? Just as he was about to move the air coral into the sea, a whole flock of fighters had arrived at his door.
Many thanks to Struggler in the Abyss and Big and Little Ming for their monthly tickets, and to all my dear readers for their recommendation votes. I'm endlessly grateful~
Before you continue