Rootwhisper Forest.
Drizzling rain filled the woods with the unique muggy heat of summer, the miserable weather seemingly foreshadowing that this transaction wouldn't proceed as smoothly as anticipated.
In Old Bloom's farmhouse, after hearing Arthur's proposed trade request, the old undead hastily left in the rain, saying he needed to fetch someone who could make decisions.
Only when the pattering rain gradually subsided was the crude wooden door of the farmhouse pushed open again.
First to appear was a large leaf used for sheltering from the rain, followed by the elf mage Eserin entering.
She lightly shook off the water droplets from the leaf, her eyes quickly scanning the room, briefly lingering on the death knight Arthur before settling on the slime lump on his shoulder.
She gently touched her chest with her hand, giving a slight nod. "Greetings, Slime Lord."
The little slime bounced up and down once as a response.
Old Bloom then hurriedly pulled out a wooden chair politely. "Miss Eserin, please have a seat. The rain hasn't completely stopped yet, thank you for making the trip."
Eserin responded indifferently, set down the leaf, sat with impeccable posture, and calmly looked at Arthur, getting straight to the point.
"Your territory's needs have been made known to Lady Viola. She herself is watching this place, observing these negotiations."
"Rootwhisper Forest has indeed been selling mushrooms, tubers, and some specially made dried rations externally. Since our allies have needs, Lady Viola doesn't object in principle to providing assistance, but..."
She shifted her tone slightly, tapping a finger lightly on the wooden table. "To reach a transaction agreement, Lady Viola needs to see some... truly interesting goods."
Her gaze swept over Arthur's empty pack, then glanced at the little slime, the meaning clear: What can you offer?
Eserin didn't hold much expectation for this sudden transaction internally.
Although human merchant caravans were greedy, they could already steadily supply many materials the forest needed.
If this suddenly emerging slime territory wanted to get involved, unless they could produce something that would catch Lady Viola's eye, or pay gold coins far exceeding market prices.
The soulfire in Arthur's eye sockets flickered as he struggled to recall the "negotiation script" His Majesty had urgently drilled into him moments earlier.
"Thank you for Lady Viola's generosity. I believe you might be interested in a special type of magic scroll." Arthur said according to the "script," his voice raspy but trying to remain steady.
"Magic scrolls?"
Eserin's slender eyebrows raised slightly, seeming somewhat surprised, but then returned to calm indifference.
"Although magic scrolls are decent alchemical items, they aren't rare goods on human merchant caravan shelves. Forgive my bluntness, but Lady Viola has limited interest in such things."
Chen Yu bounced his body. "Arthur, line three."
"Yes."
Arthur invisibly sighed in relief, feeling much more assured with His Majesty backing him up. He straightened his gaunt skeletal frame.
"I'm not referring to magic scrolls in the traditional sense, but rather our territory's specialty—a type of magic leaf. It can instantly deploy a shield spell not weaker than conventional scrolls, at a much lower cost."
"Oh?"
A trace of what could be called "interest" finally appeared on Eserin's face, though very faint.
"Human merchants typically quote at least twenty gold coins for the lowest-tier shield spell scroll. May I ask, Sir Arthur, what is the price of your 'magic leaf'?"
"Arthur, line seven, counter her."
The soulfire in Arthur's eye sockets flickered. "To my knowledge, the price of magic scrolls sold by human merchant caravans outside the kingdom, especially to special regions like Rootwhisper Forest, has never been lower than twenty-five gold coins. Isn't that correct, Miss Eserin?"
Eserin's expression remained unchanged, showing neither embarrassment at being exposed nor rebuttal, simply nodding frankly.
"The intelligence is accurate, indeed so."
"Arthur, stand up, give some pressure... even though you're a bag of bones."
Arthur obeyed, his tall skeletal body creaking as he stood, casting a shadow.
Looking down from his height, he stared at Eserin with empty eye sockets, speaking seriously. "Miss Eserin, the price human merchants can't offer, we can. How about one magic leaf priced at twenty gold coins?"
Eserin didn't answer immediately. She slightly lowered her eyelids, seemingly concentrating to communicate with an unseen presence, or perhaps quickly calculating internally.
Several seconds later, she looked up.
"Lady Viola has some interest in this product. But before discussing price, we need to verify if its effects are truly as you claim."
Arthur's tone showed no fluctuation.
"Acceptable, but the sample needs to be collected at the dungeon entrance."
"Dungeon entrance?"
Eserin's eyebrows finally furrowed slightly, showing a trace of confusion. "Your people... broke through the Goblin Army's blockade line?"
At that moment, Chen Yu plopped down from Arthur's shoulder onto Eserin's hand.
"Simpler than that. We directly dug a tunnel to Rootwhisper Forest, guaranteed completely undetected, those green skins won't discover it."
"Correct, we dug a tunnel." Arthur repeated like an automated machine.
"Ah?!"
Old Bloom, who had been quietly listening nearby, instantly lost his composure, nearly dropping the broom in his hand.
Dug... dug a tunnel?
From the Eastern Swamp all the way here?
Is digging tunnels in dungeons now as easy as rats burrowing holes?
To him, this seemed even more unbelievable than breaking through the goblin defense line head-on.
A subtle astonishment also flashed in Eserin's eyes, but she quickly controlled her expression, simply nodding slightly and standing up.
"Quite interesting. Let's go take a look then."
The group soon arrived deep in the forest, at a high slope tightly guarded by tall treants, where the ancient dungeon entrance was hidden.
"Please wait a moment, Beet and the others will arrive soon." Arthur said.
"Beet?"
Just as a trace of confusion crossed Eserin's mind, a dense and unsettling buzzing sound came from the deep passage.
The next moment, a swarm resembling a small black cloud surged out from within.
Bizarrely, these Poison-stinger Wasps were completely different from what she knew.
They flew in orderly formation, their flight paths showing a cold discipline, clearly extremely dangerous.
"Oh no, where did these strange creatures come from."
Old Bloom instinctively raised his pitchfork, relying on his immunity to poison stingers, wanting to step forward and drive them away.
"Wait, Mr. Bloom."
Eserin raised her hand to stop him. Her face remained calm, but upon closer observation, one could notice her pupils slightly contracting, clearly surprised by the slime territory's magical creature army.
Especially the leading wasp guard, which actually made her feel a slight sense of threat.
This forced her to reassess the "Slime Kingdom's" strength.
The ability to tame and transform such dangerous magical creatures made its mystery and danger far exceed her initial expectations.
Arthur stepped forward, retrieving a magic leaf from the small pack carried by Beet, formally thanking it, then turned and handed the leaf to Eserin.
"Miss Eserin, tear it, and you'll witness its effects firsthand."
Eserin took the leaf, her slender fingers carefully tracing the leaf veins and those strange patterns.
After feeling it for a moment, her cool face showed deeply furrowed brows.
She detected no familiar arcane mana fluctuations on this leaf.
Out of a mage's caution, she didn't immediately tear it herself.
Instead, she raised her hand, fingertips glowing slightly.
[Mage Hand]
A translucent hand composed of purple arcane energy materialized, elegantly picking up the leaf and gently tearing it.
"Hum!"
A dull hum vibrated through the air as an earth-yellow energy shield instantly deployed, steadily protecting the arcane hand within.
Eserin's eyes widened abruptly, genuine "shock" appearing on her face for the first time.
Even the dryad lord Viola, who had been "watching the show," couldn't remain hidden anymore, directly emerging from Eserin and condensing into a translucent child-like form.
She curiously extended her slender finger, lightly tapping the earth-yellow shield.
"Crack!"
The shield shattered accordingly, dissipating into points of light.
But Viola exclaimed in surprise, "It really has the same strength as a normal magic scroll!"
"Eserin, this thing is good, we want it."
A subtle helplessness showed on Eserin's face.
"Lady Viola, please remain calm. The negotiations aren't finished yet."
"Oh, alright, you negotiate then."
Viola transformed into a green light and retreated back into Eserin's body.
Eserin gently straightened her already neat robe sleeves, looking at Arthur and Chen Yu, her tone returning to its previous calmness.
"Lord, Sir Arthur, the effectiveness of this 'magic leaf' has gained Lady Viola's approval, but..."
She shifted her tone again. "I've carefully observed it—its carrier seems to be oak leaves commonly found throughout the forest. I have concerns about its mana storage stability and preservation period."
"The price of twenty gold coins doesn't seem entirely reasonable for such a product that might have flaws."
She precisely targeted the product's "weak points," her tone calm yet applying increasing pressure.
Chen Yu's heart sank.
Trouble, this elf appears aloof but turns out to be a negotiation expert, sharp-eyed, hitting the critical point immediately.
Using ordinary leaves instead of specially made magic paper—stability and shelf life were indeed the talisman's weaknesses;
the advantage lay in the very low cost.
The outcome was as he expected.
The novice Arthur, facing Eserin the negotiation expert, quickly found himself in retreat, stumbling and falling into absolute disadvantage.
Ultimately, the transaction settled at sixteen gold coins per magic leaf.
Chen Yu's fifteen magic leaves were exchanged for three large carts of food supplies and a pack of elf crop seeds "gifted as a friendly gesture" by Eserin.
They returned into the forest.
Under Eserin's indication, the forest's furry Glimmerlings busily worked, heaving and hoisting bags of supplies clumsily onto the carts, quickly filling all three large carts.
Before parting, Eserin remained her cool, aloof self, but upon closer look, one could notice the line of her mouth seemed slightly softer than when she arrived, with a subtle curve.
She gave a slight nod. "Looking forward to the next transaction."
Arthur drove the cart, creaking and groaning back into the dark passage. His skeletal head hung slightly, the soulfire in his eye sockets dimmer and smaller than usual, appearing somewhat dejected.
"Your Majesty, apologies, it's my... I failed to negotiate well..."
Chen Yu bounced lightly on his shoulder.
"Arthur, this is transaction—a deal where both sides feel they've gained is what lasts."
"Seemingly we lost some gold coins, but we obtained urgently needed food, seeds, and more importantly, opened a stable trade route. That's far more important than earning a few extra gold coins."
"Besides, we didn't actually lose, just earned less."
The soulfire in Arthur's eye sockets stabilized somewhat, slowly swaying.
Truly His Majesty... his words always contain profound wisdom. He still needed to slowly comprehend and understand their deeper meaning.
He drove the cart, heading toward the swamp territory belonging to them deep in the passage.
For some reason, a trace of anticipation actually emerged within his icy chest cavity.
As if... he was heading home.
Unconsciously, he had long regarded that swamp filled with peculiar magical creatures as his true destination.
He began looking forward to meeting Minister Bran, anticipating seeing if the flowers in the flower garden had grown bigger.
...
Obsidian Mining Area, slave camp.
The slaves lined up at the camp entrance, numbly receiving today's portion of rancid-smelling thick green soup and black bread harder than stone from the goblins' filthy wooden barrels.
Then they returned to the camp, curling up in dilapidated shacks, mechanically swallowing these things that sustained life, eyes empty.
Kane squatted at the entrance of Anvil's shack, expressionlessly drinking the nauseating green soup.
One of his companions beside him complained quietly, "Damn, this soup gets stinkier. Those damned green-skinned brats must have left it for extra days."
Anvil behind them didn't speak, just silently chewed the bread hard as slag, feeling an inexplicable anticipation inside.
He was waiting for the Slime Kingdom's relief supplies.
This feeling of anticipation seemed not to have filled his chest so strongly for a long time.