112: Chapter 112 Your Loyalty Was Just a Matter of Insufficient Price

"City... City Lord! This... this is bad! Outside... a caravan has arrived outside the city, flying... flying the flag of the Red River Chamber of Commerce! The envoy leading them named you specifically, saying there is an extremely urgent Ironwood procurement cooperation, and they must see you immediately!"

The servant's voice was distorted by fear and running, like a snapped lute string, emitting a piercing buzz in the deathly silent banquet hall.

Valerius froze in place, the color draining from his face at a visible rate, leaving only a deathly gray pallor.

His eyes, clouded by debauchery and ease, were now wide and bulging, staring fixedly at Levi as if looking at a prophet crawled out of hell.

Red River Chamber of Commerce.

Urgent procurement.

Ironwood.

Every word was like a perfectly aimed heavy punch, smashing ruthlessly into his crumbling psychological defenses.

The last bit of dignity he had just tried to maintain with the threat of "mutual destruction" was completely shattered at this moment, turned into dust.

That wasn't just an empty promise.

That was a pre-cast mountain of gold, carrying unquestionable weight, smashing directly into his face.

Levi didn't even bother to look at the servant; his gaze never left Valerius.

He appreciated the changes in the other's expression, like enjoying a carefully choreographed play, from arrogance to anger, from fear to shock, and finally to complete, irrefutable despair.

He saw Valerius's flabby body jerk violently, as if all the bones had been sucked out, slumping heavily back into that luxurious armchair.

The chair let out an overburdened groan.

This ruler of Silvermoon City looked like a gambler who had lost all his chips, eyes hollow, gasping for air, chest heaving violently like a drowning man.

Levi picked up his wine glass, brought it to his lips, and took a shallow sip.

The liquid was cold, sliding down his throat with a hint of sweetness.

Good, the temperature was just right.

He liked everything to be just right.

"It seems my business partner has arrived." He set down the wine glass, his voice as calm as if discussing the weather. "Lord City Lord, now, can we continue discussing the details of that 'Shipping Security Assurance Service' of yours? Or would you like to receive that distinguished guest from afar first?"

These words became the straw that broke the camel's back. Valerius jerked his head up.

He opened his mouth, a series of raspy "he-he" sounds coming from his throat. After several seconds, he squeezed out a few dry words: "Talk... we'll talk."

Levi snapped his fingers with satisfaction.

The crisp sound echoed clearly in the empty banquet hall, like a silent command.

Evelyn, who had been standing silently behind him, immediately stepped forward with her signature, clockwork-precise pace.

She pulled out the third document from the stack—also the thickest one—presented it with both hands, and gently placed it on the messy table in front of Valerius.

The parchment unrolled, revealing dense, neat handwriting written in Elven Ink.

The title on the cover glinted with a cold metallic luster under the candlelight—"Framework Agreement on Joint Trade Route Development and Security Outsourcing Services between Blackstone Territory and Silvermoon City".

Valerius reached out a trembling hand, almost instinctively wanting to flip through it.

"Let me explain the core terms to you, so as not to delay your time in receiving the distinguished guest." Levi's voice rang out at the right moment, as gentle as a considerate business consultant.

"First, regarding 'shipping security,' my side will take full responsibility. In return, thirty percent of all future foreign trade volume from your Ironwood Forest over the next ten years will be paid directly to us as a 'security service fee'."

"Thirty percent!" Valerius shrieked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "This is robbery!"

"Lord City Lord, please mind your wording." Evelyn's cold voice rang out as she pointed a slender finger at a certain part of the agreement. "According to our risk assessment model, without our security intervention, considering bandits along the way, potential extortion from other nobles, and transport losses, your implicit costs would exceed forty percent. We are not only saving you ten percent in net profit but also providing you with stable cash flow expectations and, most importantly, exclusive access to the southern market. From a business perspective, this is a very profitable deal."

Valerius's lips moved, but he couldn't utter a single word of rebuttal.

The other party used terms he completely didn't understand to construct a logical barrier he couldn't breach.

"Secondly," Levi continued, ignoring his struggle, "to ensure the efficiency of 'joint development,' my side will dispatch a professional 'Business Consultant Team' to assist you in optimizing the extraction, transportation, and financial management processes of the forest. Of course, the salaries of the consultant team will be borne by your side."

"You... you're sending people over? This is surveillance! This is control!" Valerius's breathing became heavy again.

"No, this is modern corporate management, Lord City Lord." Evelyn spoke again, her tone devoid of emotion. "Our data analysis shows that your existing management model has at least twelve redundant links, resulting in annual labor and material waste as high as two thousand gold coins. Our consultant team will save you costs far exceeding their salaries in the first year."

Valerius closed his eyes in despair.

He felt like he wasn't negotiating, but being ruthlessly dismantled and reassembled by a precision machine.

Every instinctive resistance, every attempt to fight for his own interests, was forcefully pushed back by the strings of data Evelyn threw out—data he couldn't verify but seemed impeccable.

He felt like a primitive man holding a wooden stick, confronting an enemy with a musket.

This wasn't a fair contest at all.

Finally, he gave up.

All struggle was futile.

He opened his eyes, his gaze bleak, and reached out his hand, saying in a tone bordering on humiliation, "Pen... bring me a pen."

Evelyn immediately took a delicate quill and a small bottle of ink from her leather bag and handed them over.

Just as Valerius's quill tip was about to touch the agreement that would decide the future fate of Silvermoon City—

—Stop!"

A thunderous roar came from the entrance of the banquet hall.

Bang!

The oak doors of the banquet hall were violently slammed open once more, and a tall, burly knight wearing a full set of fine plate armor strode in.

A wolf-head emblem of Silvermoon City was carved on his breastplate, and the longsword at his waist clanged against his armor with his hurried steps.

With every step, his metal combat boots stepped heavily on the marble floor, producing a dull echo, as if trampling the oppressive and eerie atmosphere in the hall.

Levi's eyes flicked over slightly.

The newcomer was about forty, his weather-beaten face full of fortitude and anger, his eyes sharp as an eagle's, staring straight at the agreement on the table as if it were some sacrilegious contract.

"Sir Kaelan!" Valerius saw the newcomer, a flash of panic crossing his face, quickly replaced by annoyance. "Who let you in? Get out!"

The knight called Kaelan ignored the City Lord's reprimand. He rushed to the table in a few steps, not even looking at Levi, but staring at Valerius with a look of pained disappointment: "Lord City Lord! I just heard that you're actually going to sign an agreement with this invader? Are you going to hand over Silvermoon City's trade routes—the wealth we protected with sword and blood—to a bandit?"

He slammed his fist onto the table, causing the plates to jump half an inch high.

"This is a treaty signed under duress! It's a disgrace! The warriors of Silvermoon City aren't all dead yet! Please rescind your order, give me a thousand men, and I guarantee that before dawn, I will completely crush these Blackstone Territory scum outside the city and wash away this shame with their blood!" Sir Kaelan's voice was impassioned, every word filled with a warrior's honor and determination.

Interesting. A pure soldier.

Levi studied this uninvited guest, his mind already spinning.

This kind of person had linear thinking and believed in violence and honor; they were the natural enemies of capital logic, but at the same time, the most useful tools, provided one found the right instruction manual.

He didn't pay attention to Kaelan's clamoring, nor did he show the slightest sign of being offended.

He just calmly turned his gaze back to Valerius, whose face had turned purple with rage, and asked softly in a very sincere tone, as if just confirming an insignificant detail:

"Lord City Lord, sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to confirm one question, a purely financial one."

His voice wasn't loud, but it instantly drew everyone's attention.

"Are the salaries of Sir Kaelan and your guards paid by Silvermoon City's treasury account, or by his personal, admirable sense of honor?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the air in the banquet hall seemed to be instantly sucked out.

Sir Kaelan's roar stopped abruptly, and he jerked his head around, glaring at Levi with a gaze that could almost kill.

And Valerius, whose face was already the color of pig liver, instantly turned ashen.

Levi's question was too venomous.

It seemed casual, but it was like a poisoned dagger, precisely stabbing into his most sensitive and vulnerable weakness as a lord.

This wasn't just publicly exposing the scar of his impending financial bankruptcy; it was a naked challenge to his control over the army in front of his most loyal subordinate!

What right did a lord who couldn't even pay soldiers have to lead warriors holding swords?

These were words meant to destroy the heart!

"Enough!"

Valerius stood up abruptly, his body shaking with extreme anger.

But the object of his roar wasn't Levi, who had asked the question, but his loyal captain of the guard.

"Kaelan! You are too insolent! This is my banquet hall, and I am the Lord of Silvermoon City! Since when is it your turn to tell me what to do? Do my decisions need to be explained to you?!"

His voice became high-pitched with agitation, filled with a sense of offended authority.

To maintain his precarious dignity, he had to suppress his subordinate's "transgression" in the harshest way possible at this moment.

"My Lord, I..." Sir Kaelan clearly hadn't expected to receive a thunderous rage instead of praise.

The anger on his face froze instantly, turning into shock and confusion.

"Get out!" Valerius pointed at the door, almost screaming, "Don't you dare step foot in here again without my order! Get out!"

Sir Kaelan's lips trembled. He looked at the furious City Lord, then at the humiliating agreement on the table, and finally, his gaze fell on the young man who had remained calm from start to finish, as if watching a play.

His eyes were full of resentment, humiliation, and deep confusion.

Ultimately, he chose to obey.

He stomped his foot heavily, his metal combat boot leaving a clear mark on the marble floor.

He didn't say another word; he just straightened his back and strode out of the banquet hall in a nearly tragic manner.

The clanging of his armor faded into the distance in the empty corridor, carrying a sense of desolation like a hero at the end of his road.

Deathly silence returned to the banquet hall once more.

Valerius's chest heaved violently. He grabbed the quill and, almost as an outlet for his frustration, scrawled his name at the end of the agreement.

The ink seeped through the parchment because of the excessive force, leaving an ugly blotch.

Levi smiled and signaled Evelyn to step forward.

Evelyn walked up, carefully picked up the agreement, gently blew the ink dry, and then, as if collecting a treasure, carefully rolled it up and placed it in a special waterproof leather tube.

The deal was done.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Lord City Lord." Levi stood up, adjusted his meticulous formal wear, a sincere smile on his face, as if all the unpleasantness just now was merely a small interlude.

He walked over to the still-panting Valerius and, as if out of kindness, gently patted his shoulder.

"To ensure that this historic contract of ours can be perfectly executed under the principles of openness, fairness, and transparency," his voice was gentle and considerate, "I sincerely invite you to dispatch your most trusted representative to our territory to 'inspect' the 'Security Handover Exercise' we are about to conduct. This will also give you a more direct understanding of the quality of our service."

Valerius looked up numbly, not having time to think about the deeper meaning behind this proposal.

Levi had already smiled and given his suggestion.

"I think that Sir Kaelan, who was so full of responsibility and honor just now, would be a very, very suitable candidate. What do you think?"