"I might not be able to repay... this debt." An elf stood awkwardly in front of several men, speaking in despair.
"Then leave a hand behind... After all, we need to answer to our superiors." One of the men pulled out a large machete over a foot long from his bosom, looking incredibly sharp.
"I... I am... I am a knight of the Poplar Kingdom... I, I can, I can work for you! Just... Just spare me..." The elf, looking at the gleaming blade, shook his head frantically.
"Oh? Let's hear it. If you really have something to offer, I might consider helping you repay the debt." The leading man pressed down the machete held by his subordinate, smiling as he spoke.
Grasping at straws, the elf hurriedly said, "My lover is the daughter of Marquis Leibart's butler. I can help you gather information!"
"What kind of information could you possibly gather?" The men looked at each other sneeringly and then turned their attention back to the pitiful elf, "Are you trying to fool us?"
"No! No! I can enter the marquis's mansion; sometimes I can even get into his study! I assure you! Every week! At least every month, I can sneak a look at a few of his letters.
There are some from the royal family, and..." The elf hurriedly explained how he could enter the marquis's residence, "I am his knight!"
"Sounds interesting, but how can we trust you to get us the information about the marquis?" The man in a suit looked at the elf with interest as he asked.
"I, I can leave a guarantee, proof that I'll be your spy! I can give my fingerprint! Trust me..." The elf, glancing at the machete that seemed to be getting closer, finally made a decision.
"Hmm." The leading man nodded in agreement with his proposal. Then he took out a guarantee from his bosom and handed it to the elf, "Get some blood out of him, put a print on it!"
Soon, a few men restrained the struggling elf, cut a small opening on his other hand to get some blood, smeared it on another hand, and pressed it onto the document, leaving a bloody handprint.
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"Alright, now, you work for the Silver Fox Company." The leader perused the document in the wind, allowing the blood to dry quickly, "Don't disappoint us, understood?"
"Yes, understood." The elf, clutching his wounded hand and looking pale, nodded. When he was held down, he really thought he might be slaughtered.
"Don't be so tense! Now that you're one of us, how could we mistreat you?" The man in the suit hugged the elf, stuffing some colorful paper bills into his pocket, "We take good care of our own."
"Take this money and spend it! Aren't you going back to the Poplar Kingdom? Buy some local specialties here, like jewelry, to soothe your little lover. You can even use the rest to have some fun here; don't worry, on our turf, nobody dares to mess with you." The man explained the purpose of the paper bills as he spoke.
The elf swallowed hard; he had seen the denomination on those bills, just now this man had stuffed at least 100 Gold Coins into his pocket.
Although this money was not Gold Coins, as the man said, the bills could be spent like real Gold Coins in Brunas.
"Thank you, thank you..." Knowing that his gambling debt was cleared and even getting over 100 Gold Coins in spare change, the elf felt his tormented soul somewhat alleviated for selling out Marquis Leibart.
"What's there to thank for?" chuckled the man, flicking a ring in front of the elf's eyes, "See this ring?"
The elf nodded quickly; he had indeed seen a very unique ring, engraved with a dandelion. Artfully crafted, he'd never seen such a crest before.
"From now on, if someone with this kind of ring comes to you, you must obey their orders. If no one comes, act as if nothing happened... Understand?" the man continued to ask.
"Yes, I, I understand." The elf nodded quickly, and then he saw the men who had surrounded him in the alley open up and slowly disperse.
"Go on, take a stroll to the casino; then you can explain where you got your money from." The man hugging the elf's neck also stepped aside.
When the elf race walked out of the alley, and turned back to look, all he could see was darkness in the alley.
On the other hand, behind a bathhouse, another elf pressed his hand onto the document. A woman took the document, blew the elf a kiss, and then had the girls behind her lead the elf into the door flashing with pink neon lights.
Fitteral didn't know that during the two days they waited to return to Southwater Port of the Poplar Kingdom, his envoy had been infiltrated by the Great Tang Group's espionage network just like a sieve.
"Although I cannot support your restoration of the kingdom, I have already done my best to liberate the orc slaves plundered by the Poplar Kingdom. They will work in Osa, for me." Tang Mo said, looking at the orc prince who was gnawing on a chunk of meat.
Previously, this heir to the Gales orc throne had been stunned by the prosperity of Brunas, so he had acted a bit... abnormally.
Now, he had broken free from the shadow of his nation's annihilation and his people's enslavement, and had somewhat regained his... normal intelligence.
"I know you are very powerful, and you could even defeat the Poplar Kingdom... If you could help me restore my country, then Gales would certainly become your most loyal follower," the orc prince didn't mind issuing a few empty promises to Tang Mo when he had nothing to lose.
Tang Mo smiled. He actually had a good impression of the orc prince, since he was the only one who could eat his cooking without changing his expression.
"Why don't you consider going to Osa to organize your people... I could find you a place north of the Senar Plains to restore the rule of Gales?" Tang Mo offered a suggestion.
"When you took these orcs, had you already thought about giving these people to me?" The orc prince stared at Tang Mo and asked.
Truth be told, the dinner Tang Mo cooked was somewhat... not very delicious, but compared to the traditional orc cuisine, it was nothing.
He casually spat out a bone and then waited for Tang Mo's response.
Tang Mo crossed his arms and shook his head, "I can give these people to you, but you need to show enough sincerity to exchange for all this. My support isn't cheap, so you better start thinking about what else in Gales might be valuable."
"Our country was already poor! But we have some things... that you might be interested in." The prince of Gales thought for a few seconds before finally speaking up.
"This is it!" As he spoke, he took a chunk of ore from his bosom and placed it on the table.
Truth be told, Tang Mo really feared the orc prince would pull something like uranium ore from his pocket.
However, Tang Mo soon became captivated by the item on the table—after a comparison, he realized what it was: a piece of nickel ore with high purity.
This ore isn't easy to process, but it is extremely useful. It is an indispensable raw material in the smelting of special steel, and modern airplanes, tanks, missiles, warships, spacecraft, and even the construction of nuclear reactors use a large amount of nickel ore during production.
It is utilized in making structural steel, acid-resistant steel, and heat-resistant steel, so this ore is indeed one of the indispensable raw materials in modern steel manufacturing.
"We don't know how to process this stuff, but there's a lot of it north of the Senar River, so much that it's everywhere." The prince of Gales spoke while observing the subtle changes in Tang Mo's expression.
He could tell from the slight changes in Tang Mo's expression that Tang Mo actually knew the specific use of this thing.
"If you help Gales to restore its nation, all of this will be yours." The orc prince pushed the yellow crystalline ore in front of Tang Mo and said, "Additionally, my mother is a princess of the Mambas Kingdom, and you will gain the friendship of the Mambas Kingdom."
"Get your people ready, I'll arrange for a ship to Osa for you. Don't cause trouble there, and don't take action against the Poplar Kingdom... Leave the rest to me. Can you do that?" Tang Mo put down his wine glass and toyed with the ore.
"I can." Without hesitation, the orc prince nodded in agreement to Tang Mo's demands.
"Don't be hopeful of luck, you know I just made Poplar Kingdom pay back 14 million Gold Coin. If you can't do it..."
"I will do it! There are no ifs." The orc prince used his tongue to lick the meat stuck between his teeth and spoke with his chin up.
After the prince had left, Wes glanced at the door and then asked Tang Mo, who was examining the nickel ore, "Are you really going to help him restore his country? Just for that thing?"
"No, mainly to knock open the entire door to the orc world. It is a vast market, and there's no reason to just let it go." Tang Mo put down the ore and looked at Wes, "Have Harry talk to the envoy from the Poplar Kingdom, concede some benefits, and get Poplar Kingdom to pull out of the chaotic region north of the Senar Plains!"
"Understood," Wes nodded, "Will they agree?"
Tang Mo was silent for a few seconds and then took out his bargaining chip, "Tell them I support Poplar Kingdom's continued expansion eastward... to compensate for their losses!"