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Carlos was suddenly acutely aware of his own noble signet ring, resting on his left ring finger where he had grown accustomed to ignoring it. His ring was made of merely platinum, however, not the orichalcum that Larantorthilmanel had asked for. They technically had the means to upgrade to adamantium rings now, to match their official assessed rank as Varlinden had suggested what felt like a lifetime ago, but that idea felt wrong; if they returned to Kalor Kingdom at all after this, it would be as openly-declared royals, and nothing less than orichalcum would meet people's expectations for that rank. He had no idea how to get some, though, aside from maybe looting House Kalor's vaults.
Silence reigned in the wake of the dragon's request, and Lornera stood stiffly, locking eyes with Laran. Lornera's aura, already oppressively intense despite being focused away from Carlos, swelled and sharpened with a tinge of anger. Laran stood firm and admonished her, "Humiliating me will not persuade the elders to lower their price, Kalor."
Lornera's aura froze, then settled back a little, reined in under tight control. Her right hand, which had transformed into a knife blade, turned back into merely a clenched fist at her side. Slowly, her jaw unclenched, then she took a deep breath and finally spoke. She kept her glare steady the whole time, and her speech was clipped. "You do not know the cost of what you ask."
Laran lowered her head and closed her eyes for a moment, her blue-white scales glimmering even in the fading evening light. "Perhaps not, indeed. Would you care to explain for us? I'm sure sharing the secret of how orichalcum is made would be… an acceptable alternative." She waited a moment, watching Lornera just glaring harder, then chuckled. "No? I thought not. Regardless, the metal in that ring is the only thing you bear that has sufficient value to buy what you came here to seek, and your request itself implies that you lack access to your kingdom's resources. If you believe its value is excessive overpayment…" She shrugged, the motion looking odd on her immense quadrupedal frame. "You could give a counter proposal to ask for something extra, but you are the one seeking this bargain. We have set our price. If you are unwilling to pay it, then you may depart without what you came for."
Lornera continued glaring with narrowed eyes a few seconds longer, then grinned and cocked her head. Her grin was predatory and perhaps a bit unhinged. "And your elders set that price by messenger. A deal of such high value normally calls for personal negotiation, does it not? Yet, not even a single elder is here, nor have you offered to bring me to any of them. Are they afraid of me?"
Laran huffed in annoyance, then shook her head and sighed. "If you were almost any other human, you would be eaten for that insult, your soul digested for essence. Since you are one of Kalor, however… You could soul-kill me easily. You likely could soul-kill several elders, too. But all of Gold Flight's elders would unite against you, and if you kill enough for it to matter… That would rouse She Who Slumbers, and it would rouse her to wrath. Do I need to remind you of what happened to one of your ancestors some two centuries past? I assure you, the passage of time since then has not weakened her."
"Two centuries?" Lornera muttered to herself, paused, then suddenly blanched. "That one still lives?!"
Laran nodded, and Carlos was pretty sure her expression was the draconic version of a smirk. "Our lifespans are not so limited as yours. I have seen her myself."
For so brief a moment that Carlos almost missed it, Lornera actually slumped. She straightened again immediately, but her aura drew back significantly and lost much of its aggressiveness. She let out a quiet breath, then shook her head. "I have no desire to provoke… that one. Still, my ring is too steep a price."
Laran's draconic smirk widened and even showed part of her teeth. "Frankly, the elders expected that. It's the real reason they didn't bother to meet you. They instructed me to ask just in case you were that desperate. Since you are not… You have nothing that would be enough without being exorbitant."
Carlos watched for a moment longer as Lornera and the dragon stood in silence. Lornera's mana gave a faint impression of uncertainty, tightly suppressed, while Laran emanated glee. Hesitantly, Carlos reached into his pack and pulled out the enchanted plate he and Amber had made to teleport them so many times. Barely even a flicker of thought and intent prompted his spellcasting infrastructure to cast a basic Telekinesis spell on it, and he floated the thin rectangle of mythril and adamantium over to hover in front of Laran.
Larantorthilmanel glanced toward him, looked closely at the plate for a moment, then shook her head. "We have our own sources of adamantium, and of mythril. You would need to offer much greater amounts of them to buy access to Gold Flight's best wellsprings." She paused, then narrowed her eyes and looked again. "However… The essence that is laid into this enchantment… It bears your scent." Her head whipped around to face Carlos directly. "You made this?"
Carlos nodded. "I did." He gestured to Amber, beside him. "The two of us designed it, as well. Is that worth something to you?"
"Hmm." Laran breathed some steam from her nostrils and paused to consider. "Not directly to me, nor to the elders. However, there is one among Gold Flight who studies such things, and new knowledge of them is difficult to find. He holds a personal wellspring, a lesser one but still useful to you, and he may be willing to trade the use of it for sufficient knowledge."
Carlos exchanged a look with Amber. The eager interest he felt through their mental bond showed her agreement before he could even ask.
___
Their route took several turns along the way, which their guide explained was to avoid intruding on various dragons' territories, since their business had shifted to no longer involve the elders or Gold Flight as a whole. Evening had faded into twilight by the time they arrived at a seemingly-unremarkable span of rocky hills, with scattered clusters of trees. The aether of the area was pretty high level, at Level 55 already, but that was the only noteworthy thing Carlos could discern about it. He intentionally held back from actively absorbing it, on the assumption that the dragons would consider it to be stealing.
Larantorthilmanel stopped in midair and bellowed in draconic, "Tilnaranrunerdar, get your lazy tail out here! I brought some human enchanters for you!" A wave of mana accompanied her yell, focused in one direction.
For a long moment, nothing happened except for echoes of her demand. Then another powerful soul suddenly appeared to Carlos's senses, a few miles away, and a roared draconic response echoed past them. "Lar, you stupid, disrespectful, runt! I swear, if you've interrupted my work — AGAIN — just for another stupid would-be dragonslayer who didn't actually make their enchanted gear, I will make you regret it!"
Laran huffed indignantly and yelled back at the rapidly-approaching other dragon, "Hey! I used your proper name, you should at least give me the respect of using mine! And I only did that one time! Okay, two if you count the idiot who refused to talk even to save his existence."
Tilnaranrunerdar's soul grew clearer to Carlos's senses as he approached, quickly showing both a higher Level and greater solidity than Laran. Carlos's assessment of this new dragon's Level was a bit fuzzy, but it was somewhere in the low 60s. Tilnaranrunerdar's soul solidity felt clearer, though; it was equally firm throughout, all of it matching the sturdiest point of Laran's soul. Apparently, Gold Flight's enchantments expert had figured out how to make every soul superstructure be Tier 10, but not how to go beyond Tier 10.
Tilnaran flew much faster than Laran, and Carlos could see the skeptical tilt of his head by the time he finished growling out his latest response. "And you're not counting the one that was encased in steel, because why?"
Laran gasped in mock offense, still speaking in Draconic. "Because that one actually did slay a dragon. Obviously!"
Tilnaran tossed his head and snorted. "An irrelevant technicality. You interrupted a delicate part of my work, costing me hours of effort! You owe me for that, and you're lucky I'm not already thrashing you."
Laran lowered her head mischievously, at least according to Carlos's comprehension aid's understanding of her body language. "Oh, no, I don't think so. This time, you will owe me! I brought the real deal, and they're even willing to bargain. I'm thinking one of your self-filling self-cleaning baths. Oh, and your best intruder alarm for my lair; I'm done dealing with the subpar junk you pawned off on me before. Yes, that would do nicely."
"Oh really." Tilnaran glanced at Lornera and snorted. "Are you so stupid as to think I wouldn't recognize a Kalor, whose abilities are well known and do not include any form of enchanting whatsoever?"
"What? Of course not! The Kalor isn't even involved; she's here for something unrelated."
Tilnaran laughed loudly. "A Kalor, coming to Gold Flight, and to me, as just a tagalong while on other business? Are you even trying to keep your lie plausible?"
Laran drew herself up, and small flickers of fire burst out when she opened her mouth. "I'm not lying! Her business is already concluded, so she's escorting her underlings. Why would I even–"
Carlos decided this had gone on long enough, and it was time to intervene. The original plan had been for Lornera to handle negotiations, but she just seemed confused. The dragons were talking with each other in their own language, and apparently Lornera didn't understand the draconic language. He could try talking, but they were getting worked up enough that getting their attention would be difficult. Cutting directly to the chase would be best.
He threw the metal rectangle with the multi-teleport enchantment on it toward the dragons and moved it with Telekinesis to hover a few feet directly in front of Tilnaranrunerdar's eyes.
Tilnaran jerked his head back, then extended it forward again, peering closely. He was clearly paying no attention at all to what Laran was saying anymore. "Hmm. Intriguingly complex." He moved his head up and down, then left and right, examining the enchantment from several angles. He paused, then looked even closer. "Wait. That rune… It's new! I think? Hmm… Yes, I have never seen that rune before. I'm sure of it!" He shifted his viewpoint again. "And… Is that another one? And that… Oh my, three unknown runes, already? And the structure! The arrangement! Fascinating!"
He blinked and looked up, then pulled back a little, slightly sheepish. "Right, um. Larantorthilmanel, I sincerely apologize. I had no idea you had found such an advanced and novel piece of work. I don't know if this will be worth enough to pay for such luxuries for your lair, however. I will have to study it, extensively."
Laran glared at him and huffed once more. "Were you not listening? I said that I brought enchanters!"
She pointedly turned her head to face straight at Carlos and Amber, and Tilnaran followed her gaze.
Carlos waved his right hand at them, firmed up his diaphragm, and made sure to project volume. "Hello, Tilnaranrunerdar. My name is Carlos Founder. My partner, here, is Amber Carlos. I personally made that enchantment, and the two of us together designed it."
It may have been an unwise impulse, but he just couldn't resist the opportunity. He spoke his introduction in Draconic.
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