Micheal cleared his throat, repeating his words as if to confirm, "She… she brought in Terran plants?"
"Yes. She already rented several farms dedicated to them."
There was silence for a while before the lord broke it, with his back resting on his chair, losing a little of his composure. "Your sister is amazing. Most people… really won't think of this direction."
Even he, who had a lot of resources at his disposal, thought to fill his space with weapons and basic supplies.
"Well, she's a bit… obsessed," Ansel said with an awkward but fond smile.
Anything his sister did was cute and logical. If it wasn't, the world was wrong.
"Well, it improved the lives of the people in your territory." Micheal told him, "This alone makes her a hero."
"Of course!" He agreed very strongly. Not only in the territory, other people would also enjoy the benefits very soon.
Micheal was extremely interested and excited, although he maintained a cool facade. He leaned down and placed his elbow on the table, placing his hands together.
"So… if we hope to make a deal, what would your sister say?"
Ansel mirrored his body language, smiling. "She gave me full power on this."
"You… are very good," Micheal said, extending his hand for a handshake. However, if one knew him well enough, one would see his expression was a bit darker than usual.
Ansel was very smug. Even though he was young, he was told by everyone he was a very skilled businessman.
Micheal was not easy either and there were times that he felt an invisible dagger threaten him.
But who told him to have all the cards?
So, Micheal had to succumb, buying a fixed amount for 100% more than the Alteran market price.
They also had to pick up the goods themselves.
Althea had said that non-residents would have to buy goods in the territory for at least thrice the price, even more for the luxury items. So this was not a bad deal at all.
What actually irked Micheal was the fact that he had to let go of 5 construction talents for every month the deal was in effect.
Then he would let them work in Altera for free for that month. That was, he'd be paying these talents' salaries.
Micheal was dark just thinking about it, his calm but sharp stare targeting the redhead whose face was so happy and proud that everyone on his side wanted to punch him.
Ansel naturally felt it, but he was feeling too accomplished to care.
He got them more construction talents~
Althea had told him that after the territory was upgraded again, the land would be four times as large, maybe even larger. They would really need these talents.
Anyway, they didn't have to worry about corporate spies or anything because the contracts in the village center were very strict.
"Your sister is very kind to give her territory this convenience when it is her items being sold," Micheal said, looking at the other man with unknown thoughts.
Ansel's lips twitched. "Of course!" He said, "She's one of the designated 'Elders' there. This is basically the head of a department."
"Oh?" Gingo asked, very curious. They, too, had built a little government, but they called them department heads. "Who assigned that if there was no 'lord'?"
"The system," Ansel said, shrugging. "Notifications just appeared in front of them or something."
The other party continued to ask questions, obviously trying to find out more about Altera.
Similarly, during those two hours of discussion, Ansel also found quite a bit of things about the other party.
For example, like Altera, the Bright territory was also widely invested in construction, using money to buy resources to build houses, restaurants, and wells.
Micheal could tell that Altera was even more adamant in this and he was very curious about what they had built so far (as Ansel was being vague, obviously telling him to see it for himself).
Another piece of information he got was that Bright's village center was also upgraded a few days back. It happened that the first talent Micheal took fancy to was a Builder. In Bright, the manual construction in the territory focused the types outside the system. For example, the government office that they were now in.
Although they were simple buildings, they met certain needs of the territory and were already much better than most territories on the same level.
Better, just yesterday, Micheal got the news that someone triggered the life occupation of Builder.
This was really good news as he was in dire need of talents and occupations. His population was several thousands of people, but not many had triggered the skills.
Even the Village center wasn't particularly reliable regarding this.
On the second day of leveling up the village center, he won a level E guard—the green-haired Juno next to him—but there were no special hires after that. After many days, he finally settled with a no-rank cook yesterday.
There had been no useful ones since then, and sometimes he felt the hiring function whetted the appetite with good talents only at the beginning.
Then… after making the lords curious and spending silver every day, the hiring function would leave them hanging.
Micheal sighed, feeling it to be a pity, before he returned to the present. His eyes met the arrogant Ansel's and he couldn't help but think a bit deeper.
Among many other things, Micheal was also very curious about the kind of territory the great Althea Witt, Mathilda Cruz, and Professor Gru Beanman were so dedicated to.
"It seems like I have to visit your territory soon," He said.
"You should. You would definitely… be enlightened."
"You are very confident."
Without any more words, the two headed to the village center some time later. Under the witness of their cohorts and many citizens of Bright, the two went to a platform and opened a contract.
They raised their hands, as if registering their fingerprints, and a small light enveloped the two of them, immediately bursting like a bubble a second later.
This marked the beginning of Altera Village's first Successful inter-territory partnership.