Chapter 148: Mithril Diplomacy

Gillian had been trapped in Victor's temporary camp for seven days.

On the whole, Gillian had been having a quite decent time these past few days. Victor had ordered his men to expand her wooden cabin, build a few simple pieces of furniture, and even managed to procure a damaged bronze mirror. Although these items were extremely crude and rustic, under the current circumstances, they were more than enough to reflect Victor's gentlemanly demeanor. In particular, Victor had provided her with a set of modified leather armor, finally allowing Gillian to take off that short skirt which had made her feel so deeply uncomfortable. Thinking of the look of lingering regret in Victor's eyes after she changed into the leather armor, Gillian felt a secret sense of satisfaction.

Gillian did not care whether she slept in a lean-to or a wooden cabin; she was no delicate aristocratic young lady. As the primary heir of Count Chapman and a formidable Silver Knight, receiving treatment commensurate with her status well within Victor's capabilities was the reason she was satisfied. Furthermore, Victor had not restricted her freedom; what truly kept Gillian tethered was the set of armor and longsword that had been tossed into the lake.

"Are you the one they call Shack? When on earth is your lord going to fish my equipment out?" Having finished an entire plate of wild berries, Gillian propped her long legs up on the table and asked lazily.

"I don't know," Shack replied apathetically.

A wave of stifling frustration washed over Gillian. She asked the exact same question many times every day, and every single time she received the identical answer.

A dozen days prior, Gillian had just stepped into the Silver rank, becoming the fourth Grand Knight of her family. Equipped with the mithril armor and longsword that Count Chapman had prepared for her long ago, Gillian had been eager to test her blade on a few antmen. Instead, she had encountered a stray antman. To her surprise, that antman turned out to be a Silver-ranked monster. After a fierce battle, the unarmed Silver-ranked antman was severely wounded and fled toward Victor's territory. Gillian pursued it relentlessly, only to encounter yet another Silver-ranked antman—whereupon it became Gillian's turn to run for her life. Fortunately, she was rescued by Victor, which led to everything that followed.

What depressed Gillian was that her beloved armor and longsword had been hurled into the lake before she could even get used to them, and she was determined not to leave until they were salvaged. Yet she also knew that Victor was not unwilling to help her retrieve her equipment; hauling heavy armor and a mithril longsword out from the lake was no simple task. It required boats and twenty-meter ropes, and most crucially, someone capable of diving into the murky lakebed to locate and secure the gear—a feat only a knight could accomplish. Victor lacked these conditions.

To be fair, Gillian had only herself to blame. Fearing that her equipment would be discovered by the Silver-ranked antmen, she had forcibly channeled her depleted battle qi to throw her gear far out into the lake. Not only did this complicate the recovery efforts, but she also plunged herself into a state of weakness from overexertion, one that would take at least a dozen days to recover from.

Victor was equally depressed. With Chapman's eldest daughter lingering stubbornly and refusing to leave, he had been forced to postpone his plans to clear out the antmen. That was not even the worst of it; the operation to hunt down the antman chieftains had also been brought to a forced halt, and already two antman chieftains had slipped out of his territory right under his nose. Victor's heart ached bitterly at this. Although Gillian was a rare beauty, her charms clearly could not compare to the value of Silver antmen.

Therefore, upon seeing Gillian resting her long legs on the camp's dining table, Victor said in an irritable tone, "Miss Chapman, please mind your posture. This is hardly your bedchamber."

Throwing a sidelong glance at the newly returned Victor, Gillian retorted coolly, "When I was wearing the short skirt, why didn't you say that?"

"Back then, we weren't well acquainted. I would never presumptuously correct a stranger's posture; that is basic aristocratic etiquette." Victor straightened his collar and replied earnestly.

"Alright, enough with the useless talk. Fish my equipment up, and I'll let you see me completely naked if you want," Gillian said boldly, entirely unconcerned by Victor's thick-skinned response.

"I've already seen it, and I've touched it too," Victor muttered inwardly, though aloud he said, "The raft is already built, and my men are currently making hemp ropes. In three more days, we can begin the salvage operation. The real question is, when will you recover?"

"At least five more days," Gillian replied with annoyance.

Victor smiled and nodded. He could have those items salvaged at any moment if he wished, but the scent of the antman chieftains clinging to them needed to soak in the lake for at least ten days to dissipate. Even if they were fished out right now, such equipment would still be tracked by the ant swarm. Never mind that Gillian's strength was severely compromised; even at her peak condition, she could not safely travel back to Count Chapman's territory with that gear. Victor had no desire to rescue her a second time.

In truth, Victor could shorten this process to three days, but he would never expose his method of neutralizing the antmen's scent in front of Gillian. This method was simple yet priceless; let alone Chapman's eldest daughter, even Sylvia would not be able to pry it from him. He intended to build a unique and exclusive elite guard.

Victor decided to let Chapman's eldest daughter overstay her welcome for a few more days. Even though three to five antman chieftains might slip through his fingers, the political influence Gillian represented made it worthwhile for Victor to do so.

"Miss Chapman, let's discuss something else," Victor said with an elegant smile.

Gillian immediately straightened her posture and asked warily, "What do you want to talk about? Although you saved me, you have already waived your right to a reward."

Victor nearly choked on his own saliva. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and said, "Miss Chapman, your beauty is indeed captivating, but I am not one to take advantage of someone in a vulnerable state."

"Good to know. Then what do you want to talk about?" Gillian relaxed and replied indifferently.

"Your people have been secretly mining my mithril deposit," Victor said, tapping his fingers on the table and lowering his voice.

Gillian reacted like a cat whose fur had been brushed the wrong way, narrowing her pretty phoenix eyes into cold, sword-like glints. Yet Victor's dark eyes remained as unfathomable as the night sky. After locking gazes with him for a moment, she deflated and conceded, "I won't deny it. But during this ant plague, our Chapman family preserved your purple sugarcane grove—do you acknowledge that?"

Victor fell silent for a moment before nodding. "Although that statement deeply displeases me, it is a fact."

Gillian arched a delicate eyebrow. She had expected to be refuted by Victor and had prepared to debate him over it. Lacking confidence, she had even braced herself to play dead and act unreasonably, yet she never imagined Victor would actually admit to her claim. The young lord's breadth of mind greatly surprised Gillian, prompting her to look at him with a few extra layers of evaluation.

Instead, Victor teased, "Beautiful lady, looking at me like that puts me in a difficult position. I am already a married man."

"What a terrible pity."

Gillian licked her sensual lips, a look of genuine regret crossing her gorgeous face. Within the moral framework of human aristocratic marriage, aristocratic women were encouraged to maintain their purity before marriage; once they bore an heir for their husbands, they were permitted a relatively free private life. This was primarily because a noblewoman's first child held the highest bloodline talent, and young aristocratic maidens experiencing romantic awakening were easily susceptible to temptation. However, Gillian did not fall into that category. As the heir to a county title, her partner could only be chosen from the scions of lesser families. As a high-ranking noble and a Grand Knight, Gillian could take as many lovers as she pleased; she was simply too obsessed with the accumulation of power and wealth to care much for carnal desires.

Still, Victor was precisely Gillian's ideal candidate for a marital alliance: his family background was weak, his bloodline was noble, he was young and handsome, and his lifespan was long. The only flaw was that reproduction would be difficult, but as long as they tried often enough, offspring would eventually follow. Count Chapman had once hoped to take Victor in and rearrange his identity should he ever be driven to a dead end, eventually making him Gillian's partner. Yet no one had anticipated that Sophia and Sylvia would join forces to stage such a dazzling spectacle, solving Victor's crisis effortlessly—a fact Count Chapman had lamented ever since.

Gillian did not object to having a brief affair with Victor, but with Sylvia acting as his backing, he was no longer someone outsiders could covet. Furthermore, he was now a terrifying Silver-ranked archer. While Gillian possessed an assertive personality, she had no desire to make an enemy of Sylvia, leaving her with no choice but to express her regret.

Had Victor known what was running through Gillian's mind, he undoubtedly would have flown into a rage and felt compelled to show her what a real man was. Of course, Victor possessed no mind-reading abilities; right now, he merely wanted to negotiate properly with Chapman's eldest daughter.

"I am definitely taking back the mithril mine. Right now, I only want to know: does your Chapman family still want mithril?"

Gillian first nodded in recognition, but upon hearing Victor's latter half, her eyes widened into perfect circles. "What do you mean?"

"I have made myself quite clear. If your Chapman family still requires mithril, I can sell it to you," Victor said with a light chuckle.

Gillian stared directly into Victor's eyes and asked in a low voice, "Is this Lady Rose's intention?"

"What does she have to do with this? Aside from our two households, not a soul knows about the mithril mine," Victor said with evident displeasure.

"You actually dare to betray the Rose Queen?!" Gillian pointed at the bridge of Victor's nose, speaking in utter shock.

Victor let out a cold huff. "Miss Chapman, this is my territory, and I am not a vassal of the York family! Besides, Sylvia is far more magnanimous than you think; her securing the viscountcy for me is proof enough of that."

"What? Surely you aren't so naive! And to think my father once believed you were a clever young lord," Gillian retorted. "True, you are a viscount now, and the bottleneck holding back your development has been shattered. But the brand upon you dictates that you are a lord within the York faction. Even if knights pledge their loyalty to you, they do so with the York family in mind. Furthermore, the primary economic lifeline of your territory—purple sugarcane wine—is entirely controlled by the Yorks, and your lands lie well within their sphere of influence. If the York family fully digests the Centaur Hills and eventually establishes a grand duchy or kingdom, no matter how prosperous your domain becomes, you will inevitably end up a part of the York Grand Duchy. It is no different from the relationship between a lord and a king."

Victor gave a dry chuckle. He admitted that Gillian made a great deal of sense; such was the price of choosing a side. Yet he was no longer the watchdog guarding his home of the past. As Sylvia had put it, a lord needed influence and had to choose a faction; being a lord under the Augustines was no different from being a lord under the Yorks. However, the Queen harbored deep malice toward him, and the Grand Duke's confidant was his mortal enemy. In comparison, the York family shared the Centaur Hills with him, possessing mutual interests and common enemies—that formed the foundation of their cooperation. Victor even intended to help the York family grow stronger, but he had no intention of blindly following their lead. His potential far exceeded any single family, and his vision was no longer confined to a single domain or kingdom, but spanned the entire realm of humanity.

"So what? Leave aside my own territory; even your Chapman family stands to benefit from the York family. Now, all you need to tell me is: do you want the mithril or not?" Victor asked with a smile.

Victor's confident smile left Gillian slightly dazed. She quickly glanced around at the expressionless guards standing rigidly in place, fell into deep contemplation, and finally asked, "What are the conditions?"

"I am told that your Chapman family possesses three salt mines, a high-quality adamantine mine, and abundant resources of sisal and flax. My terms are simple: I will sell you mithril at market price, and in exchange, you will sell your resources to me at market price," Victor stated.

"That won't do. The royal family will not be pleased with us selling those supplies," Gillian shook her head.

This was precisely what Victor feared the most. The power struggle between the royal center and the frontier bulwarks was an open secret to everyone; as part of the southern aristocratic faction, the Chapman family naturally wished to avoid offending their sovereign. He pondered for a moment before saying, "The kingdom cannot stop commerce among free citizens, can it?"

"You mean... What a brilliant idea! There is still one problem, though. Taking such a huge risk to trade with you means buying mithril at regular market price is out of the question. At the same time, the price of our resources must be marked up by twenty percent above market value."

Victor sneered inwardly. The Chapman family was truly greedy. Mithril was priceless and virtually unobtainable on the open market; given limited land resources, elemental-attuned mithril equipment was the primary asset used to attract knights.

"The Chapman family is renowned for its thrift. Yet after operating for centuries, the wealth you've accumulated still falls short of many younger noble houses. Do you know why?" Without waiting for Gillian to answer, Victor continued, "If you try to take advantage of every single thing, you'll end up too poor to have friends."

Gillian's eyebrows shot up as she glared fiercely at Victor, but ultimately she compromised. "Fine, we'll do it your way."

Victor nodded with satisfaction and said, "Before the trade begins, you must first return the value of the mithril you previously stole. That amounts to about one hundred and fifty thousand gold solars. Since we are such old acquaintances, I'll just charge you one hundred thousand gold solars."

"What?! One hundred thousand gold solars?! I don't have the money! If you want a body, take mine—I'm right here!"