Taduo said, "According to the High Council's instructions, we should conduct exchanges normally. We can afford to take small losses, as long as we don't suffer any major ones. The first trade negotiations between civilizations effectively set the pricing standards and will affect exchanges for many years to come, so we can't concede too much of our profit."
Gangduo nodded on the other side of the screen. "Understood."
They couldn't very well go over there and sign an unequal treaty. That would only give people grounds to impeach them when they returned.
Things weren't entirely harmonious among the Macrosteel People, either. There was plenty of competition, including vicious competition.
Taduo said earnestly, "Of course, giving them a batch of valuable gifts is perfectly fine."
"Business is business, and friendship is friendship. We can't confuse the two."
"Yes, that sounds good. How much have you decided to give them?"
Taduo said, "I'll send you a list of supplies later. It's actually quite a lot. Another batch of supplies was recently added to the gifts, probably because the haul on your end was just so, so, so outrageous..."
"So outrageous that our trade volume here has become a mere fraction of it." Taduo lowered his voice. "I don't even dare tell my subordinates about it. Otherwise, everyone's morale might vanish in an instant."
"Hahaha, better not to tell them, then. Keeping morale up is important. Oh, your mission isn't an easy one, either."
He had worked so hard to accumulate merit, only to end up with less than the tiniest fraction of what his older brother had gained from a single chance encounter.
Of course, such encounters were rare enough to be written into the legends of the Demon God's Sea. Far more often, ships were swallowed by the Abyss, and every