27 Mutual Agreement
Black Tiger had already experienced the sharpness of Autumn Water’s words and dared not banter with her any longer. He turned directly to Zhan Xiaobai and said, “Brother Xiaobai, we are all men with big ambitions—a little temporary gain shouldn’t be all we care about. Iron ore is an extremely important strategic resource. I absolutely cannot agree to selling it off at a bargain price. Even if you don’t need it right now, establishing an iron ore reserve in advance will be a great benefit for your village. You’re in charge—just tell us: yes or no, let’s settle it in one word.”
Zhan Xiaobai gauged the situation and realized they had pressed the other side enough—it was time to ease up a bit, or else a complete breakdown wouldn’t serve his interests either. He smiled and turned to Autumn Water, “Autumn Water, I think you should raise the price for the iron ore a bit. As hosts, we can’t take advantage of our guests, right? If word gets out, our reputation will suffer.”
Autumn Water replied helplessly, “Since Brother Bai suggests we make a concession, I won’t object. Let’s set it at two copper coins per jin of iron. That’s already double the market rate. Any higher is absolutely impossible. You know blood elixirs are in high demand—players from all the nearby villages are scrambling for them. Just yesterday, two village chiefs from neighboring villages visited personally to secure a large supply of our potions for emergencies. They’re paying directly in copper coins and herbs, at prices even higher than Tiger Leopard Village. If Brother Bai weren’t so soft-hearted, I would never have agreed to a concession this big.”
Hearing two copper coins per jin of iron—far less than he’d hoped—Black Tiger’s anger surged. This was outrageous, an insult to his mine. Damn it, this was infuriating. He wanted to storm off, but remembering how desperate Tiger Leopard Village was for blood elixirs—the number one tool for leveling up—he hesitated. If they fell out with Xiaobai Village, they’d have to buy blood elixirs from the market at sky-high prices—that would truly be agonizing.
He swallowed his anger and said through gritted teeth, “Fine, two copper per jin of inferior iron. One blood elixir for two jin of inferior iron. Let’s sign an agreement at this rate.”
“Deal,” Zhan Xiaobai replied.
With both sides making concessions, the price was more or less settled, and the people from Tiger Leopard Village breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
Zhan Xiaobai, Autumn Water, Sword Tyrant, and Ah Fei exchanged looks, faint smiles tugging at their lips. Did Tiger Leopard Village really think it was over? Not a chance.
Zhan Xiaobai asked curiously, “Since you have inferior iron, that must mean you also have medium and high-grade iron ore, right? Black Tiger, did you bring any high-quality iron ore?”
Black Tiger shook his head immediately, “No, for now we can only collect the inferior iron on the surface. The higher-quality iron ore is buried too deep; with our current tools, we can’t extract it.”
Zhan Xiaobai made a sound of acknowledgment, but he knew very well that Tiger Leopard Village must have some high-grade iron—they just weren’t willing to bring it out.
He then turned to Sword Tyrant, “Sword Tyrant, I heard potion supplies have been tight lately. How many blood elixirs can we supply Tiger Leopard Village right now?”
Sword Tyrant, quickly guessing Zhan Xiaobai was angling for Tiger Leopard Village’s high-grade ore, frowned and cooperated, “About ten per day, maybe. Any more would be difficult.”
“What? Only ten?” The people from Tiger Leopard Village jumped in alarm. What could ten elixirs accomplish? Not even enough for one person to level up.
Black Tiger said anxiously, “Brother Xiaobai, what’s the meaning of this? Haven’t we made enough concessions?”
Zhan Xiaobai waved him off, smiling, “You misunderstand, Black Tiger. What Sword Tyrant means is that we have no need to stockpile that much inferior iron. Even adding twenty jin of inferior ore per day is already more than we can use—eventually, it’ll just pile up. But if you’d like to trade medium or high-grade ore, I’d be willing to lose out a bit and exchange more blood elixirs with you.”
Black Tiger felt helpless—without bringing out their high-grade ore, they’d never get many elixirs. All he could do was try to drive up the price of the better iron as much as possible.
Negotiations resumed, heated as ever, but at last, terms were settled:
Two copper coins for one jin of inferior iron, five copper for one jin of medium-grade iron, and fifteen copper for one jin of high-grade iron. Xiaobai Village would accept at most twenty jin of inferior iron per day, but there was no upper limit for medium or high-grade iron—Tiger Leopard Village could bring as much as they wanted, and Xiaobai Village would trade them blood elixirs for all of it.
A formal trade agreement was signed, with three main points:
1. Exchange rates: One jin of high-grade ore equals three jin of medium-grade ore, equals seven and a half jin of inferior ore, equals three and three-quarters blood elixirs.
2. The agreement would last for three months of game time, with no changes to the prices.
3. Major concessions: Both sides granted each other priority purchasing rights. In times of shortage, Xiaobai Village would have first pick of Tiger Leopard Village’s iron, and Tiger Leopard Village would have priority access to Xiaobai Village’s blood elixirs—this special clause was something Black Tiger fought hard for, and Zhan Xiaobai, seeing the advantage, agreed.
With everything settled, both sides were all smiles, acting like the best of friends. Zhan Xiaobai and Black Tiger slung arms around each other, calling each other brother, and were only a step short of becoming sworn siblings.
“Brother Black Tiger, be sure to introduce the other villages across the river to come trade with us in the future. Any friend of yours will get special deals from me.”
“Haha, Brother Xiaobai, you’re so generous! Of course, of course—come visit Tiger Leopard Village when you have time!”
...
Once they were well away from Xiaobai Village, Black Tiger’s face turned dark as he glared back at the distant settlement. “Let’s go. Damn it, I could die of anger today. When we get back, we’ll have that NPC blacksmith research iron weapons as fast as possible. Once we have an army of iron soldiers and a big stockpile of blood elixirs, why should we fear Xiaobai Village? Hmph, Xiaobai is just a short-sighted fool. Next time I come, I’ll show them who’s boss.”
Shen Biao added sycophantically, “Exactly! He can’t compare with your foresight, Big Brother! He doesn’t even think to hoard such valuable resources as blood elixirs in secret—instead he sells them openly, giving us the chance to grow strong quickly.”
Other toadies chimed in, “Big Brother is brilliant! Once our village develops iron weapons, we must never sell them to outsiders. With sharp weapons in hand, swallowing up the smaller villages will be a piece of cake. When we’re stronger, Xiaobai Village will be nothing to us!”
The more they congratulated themselves, the more they forgot their earlier losses, as if they’d gotten the better end of the deal.
Black Tiger, however, had long since lost faith in this gang of bumblers. He ignored their flattery, thinking to himself: Once I get back and expand our power, by the time Xiaobai Village realizes something’s wrong, it’ll be too late. In Xiliang, only Tiger Leopard Village can be king!
...
Once the Tiger Leopard Village delegation had gone, Zhan Xiaobai, Sword Tyrant, Autumn Water, Ah Fei, and the others burst out laughing.
The joy of driving a hard bargain was truly sweet.
To others, blood elixirs seemed priceless, but to them, +5 blood elixirs were nothing more than basic consumables. Trading cheap potions for high-grade iron ore—this was a deal too good to be true.
Zhan Xiaobai said, “Autumn Water, send all the iron ore they bring directly to Old Soldier. Use all the inferior iron for making farm tools: sickles, plows, hoes. The harvest deadline is coming up, so have him make as many as he can. See if the medium-grade ore can be used for iron soldiers, and as for the high-grade, we probably won’t need it yet—just stockpile it for the future.”
“Understood,” Autumn Water replied.
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Good news: tonight at midnight, I’ll be pushing for the rankings with a little burst of updates. Starting from early Monday morning, in addition to the regular two daily chapters, there’ll be one extra for every 500 recommendation votes—no upper limit.