“Is that everything?” While they were waiting for the Archduke to arrive the guard tried to fill the time and move past the awkwardness. Ajax was sure this was the last thing the guard wanted to be asking with six champions in front of him and especially the dragon staring down at him eyeing his treasure but word of how the weakened version of the boon Ajax had helped others get had surely gotten around during the time he was in the Wild Lands. The guard was surely instructed to find just how high they delved.
“No, this is the final item.” Ajax said as he produced the body of the cougar.” There was little time to be picky about it once the satyr showed up and Curse Mana was flooding the floor.”
The guards nodded slightly in understanding before straightening up and coughing to hide their embarrassment at Ajax indirectly calling them out for trying to use the boon as a way to find out how deep they delved.
That embarrassment was quickly forgotten however when they wrongly came to the conclusion that the armor they managed to pull out of the dungeon was not a result of his boon but rather something they just happened to find in the dungeon, something they would surely try to use in their negotiation for the set.
The wait was a longer than they had expected, it wasn’t really a surprise since nobody predicted they would be exiting this quickly but it was obvious in the single drop of sweat that was visible on Archduke Goldenmouth’s brow that he had hustled to get here quickly and physical Stats were clearly not his forte.
“Apologies for the wait, apparently there is a disagreement about some of the loot extracted?” Nobody was fooled by the Archduke’s friendly demeanor or approach as they all felt his Skill start to work, there was simply nothing they could do about it but try their best not to engage and end the conversation as quickly as possible.
“I’m not sure what disagreement you are referring to.” The prince tried to keep things as cordial as possible but this was hard to do when he was speaking through gritted teeth as he tried his best to resist the highly leveled Legendary Skill. “None of the items we have are even close to being in consideration for something that should be given up.”
“Oh…” The archduke had clearly not been informed of what the issue was as he quickly approached and took a look at the items, his eyes quickly locking on to the armor set as the realization hit him. “I see what the issue is now.”
The guards at the dungeon entrance were shocked for a second time that day, the first had been when they had seen the armor themselves and now the second miracle of the day took place. Even if it was for a brief moment Archduke Goldenmouth had been left speechless as he looked between Ajax and the armor set.
“There is no way I can convince you to sell that armor set to us, is there?” Good as his Skills were, the Archduke knew from inspecting the items the entire team had probably discussed how this exact conversation would go before they even moved past the floor they found the armor on.
“No.” Ajax shook his head and the smug approval radiating from Aurexion at the answer was so strong Ajax was sure everybody else could feel it as well even without the bond he had with the dragon. “But, in consideration for the Republic's current situation I would be open to offers on selling the prize I claimed on the final floor.”
“A worthy offer.” Aurexion chimed in drawing a few displeased frowns from the guards, none of whom tried to do any more than glare.
This more than anything had the Archduke doing his best not to break out into a cold sweat. In an entirely accidental manner Ajax, Aurexion and the rest of Gryndor’s champions had managed to make the Archduke overestimate their abilities.
A couple days prior Shadow had been involved in a fight, he had stubbornly been unwilling to let his people die when faced with just two champions so instead he held them off by himself giving his people time to get away before disengaging himself. While Shadow managed to avoid taking anything more than superficial damage they had managed to damage his armor severely, even breaking his chestpiece and armguards beyond the point where they were salvageable.
The Archduke wasn’t sure how they’d been monitoring the situation from inside the dungeon but while his heart bled for the Republics wallet he was extremely happy they now had a viable option for getting replacement gear made for Shadow. A level one hundred and eighty shadow cougar would only take a couple of weeks to turn into acceptable replacement gear for their strongest champion.
Much like before Ajax stayed out of the price negotiations. He didn’t know the actual value of cougar corpse, instead he let the prince and Aurexion do all the work with the prince providing knowledge about what the cougar was worth and what the Republic had to trade for it and Aurexion providing knowledge on any odd treasures hidden in the Republic's Vault that humanoids might have undervalued. The discussion quickly moved away from the dungeon and towards the Republic’s Vault with Ajax doing his best to ignore the greed and excitement he was getting from the bond the closer they got to the vault.
“Can we not play this game of cat and mouse where you try to hold on to anything Aurexion finds valuable even if you don’t know what it's useful for and just value it as you currently do?” Ajax asked as they were about to enter, he could see the Archduke about to argue the point, more than that Archduke Plentimore had joined them, the Republic’s richest House as well as what amounted to an Accountant for the Republic as a whole. “In exchange we’ll tell you what it's good for after the exchange.”
Ajax could see the two Archdukes exchange glances before they excused themselves and put up a privacy barrier to discuss the offer.
“Smart move that.” The prince nodded towards the pair. “Way to put them at odds with each other.”
That hadn’t actually been Ajax's intention with the offer, he had genuinely hoped to skip a lot of the mind games and back and forth over something that might end up just sitting and collecting dust just out of fear of missing out on something valuable. Thinking on it more however Ajax could see how his simple offer could be a calculated political move.
“That wasn’t my intention.” Ajax said. Since Gryndor and Ajax weren’t required to sell the cougar corpse Ajax’s request could be seen as an ultimatum, if he wasn’t happy he was well within his rights to take his ball and go home. More than that with the number of people who had come to take a look at the cougar the entire group caught on that the Republic wanted it rather badly. Archduke Plentimore especially became more irate with every crafter the generals brought around to study the specimen. “I just wanted to get this over with so we could rest and move on to our next delve.”
“That’s exactly why it worked so well.” The prince smiled as he patted Ajax on the shoulder. “Hard for even the best social Skill to see through something like this when it isn’t planned.”
While they had no idea about the exact conversation that was happening inside the privacy barrier from the animated movements of the two Archdukes it was clear they were arguing about something. It took a whole three minutes before they came to an agreement and dropped the privacy barrier.
“We are inclined to accept your offer.” Archduke Goldenmouth said. “With a small caveat.”
“For every such item you claim we get to ask your bond about another item in our vault that we have no idea about.” Archduke Plentimore continued.
“That’s agreeable to me.” Aurexion nodded when both Ajax and the prince turned to look at him.
“So long as you understand that Aurexion is still young for his kind and while he might spot something obvious we missed he could also have no idea about something specific you might ask him to identify afterwards.” As much as Ajax wanted to just accept he didn’t want to sour relations with the Republic over such a minor misunderstanding.
“It is a risk we are willing to take.” Archduke Goldenmouth assured him. “Knowing the item in question is even a little odd to a dragon is valuable in and of itself.”
Despite his best efforts it turned out that Ajax’s offer ended up biting them in the ass. “That item shouldn’t be that valuable." Aurexion argued.
“In that case you are welcome to choose something else.” Archduke Plentimore showed no hesitation in arguing the prince with a dragon. “We might not know what it does and it might have a weak Mana density but we know its Shadow related and we have a rather powerful Shadow champion.”
“They’d do him no good.” Aurexion pressed as he looked at the two black cherries connected at the stem.
Ajax was just about to suggest that his bond move on from the item if it wasn’t that valuable but a tug from their bond got him to keep his mouth shut.
“Add another thousand gold at least.” Aurexion continued.
“So be it.” With the Archduke’s final approval everyone else let out a sigh of relief. The two of them had been going back and forward for two hours.
“I need to get some merchant Skills.” Aurexion grumbled. “I’ll speak to your sister and grandparents once we return about helping me with that.” The dragon wasn’t used to having to barter extensively, strength being a much bigger part of dealing in the Wild Lands.
“What do those cherries do?” Ajax asked.
“Linked Shadow cherries.” Aurexion corrected. “They taste extremely good for anyone with Shadow Mana affinity and allow for quite the experience when two people each eat one at the same time.”
“You traded for food?” The prince was shocked about Aurexion trading essentially all of Ajax’s gain from the deal on a bit of food.
“They are for Ajax’s brother and his bond.” Aurexion explained further. “Using their bond connection, the fruit’s connection as well as the deep affinity for Shadow Mana the shadow cat has them eating it together should unlock Shadow Mana affinity for Tom unless he is particularly unsuited to the affinity.”
“But Tom can’t use Mana.” Ajax pointed out.
“Not yet.” Aurexion agreed and everyone latched on to what the dragon meant as well as why despite not thinking much about the value of the fruit he hadn’t changed his mind about getting it. “He will still have a very hard time with any Mana Skills but this should be able to allow him to start gaining some of them. Who knows he might have some talent towards some of the advanced Mana Skills even if he has little to none for the starter basic ones.”