Chapter 349

Ajax entered the negotiation room joined by his grandfather, Judy and both of Gryndor’s princes. The room was empty at the moment but the elves were expected to join them momentarily. The crown prince was there as both advisor and as a representative of the royal family, his older brother however was there as protection. 

The door to the opposite side of the room opened and four elves stepped inside. The elven king, Arianwyn and Aranor were all known to Ajax; he suspected the fourth man to be an advisor, most likely working for the kingdom’s treasury. 

As both sides silently lined up to greet each other the first move was definitely not one Ajax expected. Regalia the princess’s snake was quick to stretch out slightly and hiss at Ajax. 

“Regalia, no!” Arianwyn tried her best to grab a hold of her bond and bring her back as she flushed in embarrassment.

Ajax simply entered a combat stance as he prepared himself to pull his hammer out of his spacial ring, his grandfather and sister however were a lot more panicked. The relaxed attitude displayed by Aranor, the king and the crown prince did a lot to calm Ajax down. 

“Quite the bond you’ve got there.” the king’s oldest son commented. “Despite the beating it took, it's not feeling intimidated at all, if anything it seems almost curious.” 

Unlike his usual attitude the prince remained professional as he took his role as security seriously in front of another nation. With Regalia in her grasp Arianwyn was doing her best to regain her own composure as both sides took their seats around the table, Aranor and the prince the only people that remained on their feet. 

“You are full of surprises Baron Heathbound.” the king opened. “Is it still Baron Hearthbound?” 

“For now.” Ajax responded. “Though I am not sure how full I am after this tournament.” 

Ajax went into the tournament fully prepared that he might not win even with all the advantages he had. What he hadn’t been all that prepared for was for how he would feel now he had shown every trick he had kept in reserve. He was feeling a little vulnerable without an ace up his sleeve, that was the main driving force behind him putting all his mana into trying to train and unlock Vibration mana. 

“We do foresee a celebratory announcement once we finally return home.” the prince responded. “But that is not what you are here for now.” 

The king nodded in acknowledgement. “You are correct, and I do imagine all of us have a few pressing matters that we can’t postpone too much longer so let us begin.” with that the king brought out his own copy of the mana rich mine that was the prize for the tournaments. “We evaluate your 20% of the mine to be worth in the neighborhood of one hundred thousand gold coins. What would you like in exchange for it?” 

“That seems like a low valuation.” the crown prince answered. 

“For a more established house I would agree, Your Highness.” the fourth elf joined the conversation. “House Hearthbound simply doesn’t have the infrastructure to warrant a higher valuation, for his House the asset would represent a large drain on their funds and it will be years before they recuperate their investment and start turning a profit.” The argument was one nobody could disagree with.

“Our main ask for this would be a full access delve into all of the dungeons that Sylvanthal has.” Elija joined the negotiation. 

Ajax might not have been all that skilled in negotiations but even he noticed a look of relief on the unknown elf’s face, clearly everyone would be happy to give Ajax access to the dungeons he wanted.

“That is something we are prepared to agree to.” the king nodded towards his treasurer. 

“I think you would find that a valuation of eighty thousand gold coins would be a fair ask for something of that nature.” Ajax had been prepared for the cost to be a lot higher than the average twenty thousand gold coins he had been getting in exchange for his own delving spots but eighty thousand was more than he expected. 

“Now that seems like a high valuation.” the prince said with a small smile of his own. 

“That valuation is one that is often given to a round of delves when they are part of a trade.” the king argued.

“That may be true, but just as you pointed out that young Ajax is not in a position to make use of his newly gained asset, you are not in a position to spend large amounts of material wealth.” the crown prince responded. “Something more immaterial that comes at no direct cost to your kingdom would have a proportionally lower value, say seventy thousand.” 

From there the negotiation shifted into high gear as the king and treasurer battled Elija and the crown prince with the occasional offer from Judy. For once Ajax was fully invested as he saw one offer after another being thrown out there by each side as they ever so slowly moved the value of their offers closer and closer to somewhere in the middle. 

The negotiation lasted for almost two full hours, surprisingly enough the two hardest negotiators had been the treasurer and the crown prince. Ajax was sure that despite the exhausted smile the treasurer was sporting after an agreement was reached the real winner was the crown prince, maybe not in terms of the deal they struck but certainly in terms of the information he managed to gain about the elves' financial situation.

The end agreement had been for Ajax to receive his delves, five thousand gold coins worth of different elemental mana gems native to Sylvanthal as well as a deal for House Heathbound to be distributor of a few regulated export goods from Sylvanthal to Gryndor.

“It was a pleasure doing business with you, Your Majesty.” The crown prince said with a smile as the final terms were agreed upon, Arianwyn was unable to fully suppress a small glare, not so much for how much the prince had cost but more for how long the negotiation had gone on for.

“So it was.” the king nodded towards the crown prince with a matching smile before he turned to Ajax. “On to the next item, what would it take for my daughter to join her friend Elara?” 

Ajax couldn’t help but be slightly surprised. It couldn’t have been more than an hour before the meeting that his grandfather and sister finalized the deal with Elara’s father and the king already knew that it had been accepted, that was quite the loyalty the ducal house had for the royal family, doubly so considering that they only bought a spot and not placed Elara’s name on it. 

That question seemed to kickstart the negotiations once again. Unlike the previous discussion however the elven treasurer found himself contending with Elija while the crown prince had mostly settled in to watch, throwing a word or two of support every now and then. 

Half an hour later and Ajax was starting to feel the tension building in the room. Despite the previous negotiation taking longer both parties had simply been taking the smallest steps they could as they worked towards the middle, that was not the case this time. 

Because of the extremely diminished reserves of the elven treasury and the previously agreed upon bargain Elija couldn’t find a single offer he could reasonably accept. Ajax had mentioned that he wouldn’t be against gaining some good will from the elven royals but none of their offers were even close to some of the best ones they had already gotten.

“This is taking too long.” the king’s oldest son let out a giant sigh, finally breaking his serious guard persona.

“Brother, this is not the time.” the crown prince tried to stop his older sibling from interfering.

“They are simply going in circles. Elija, you’ll accept the best offer out of the ones they already made.” The prince’s words brought joy to the tired treasurer but neither Aranor nor the king relaxed as they awaited their part of the compromise. “You’ll add two tree of life seeds on top of the offer.” 

“Tree of life seeds?” the king asked, surprised by the request.

It took everything he had for Ajax not to show any reaction. He had been explicitly told that there was no way the royal family could sell him any for a long while. Sooner or later it was going to get out that Ajax had managed to gain his Legendary Life mana affinity with help of a seed and if it was found out that the royal family then sold some to him despite their restricted status as a kingdom resource there would be serious consequences.

“ ‘Baron’ Hearthbound.'' The prince accentuated the word baron. “May find himself in need of revitalizing any lands he may or may not gain in the near future. As the facilitators of this meeting the royal House Gryndor will not lay claim to the obtained seeds as a kingdom resource.” 

There was a long moment of silence before the king agreed to the proposal.