Chapter 132: Ke Laosu Na's Diplomatic Negotiation

"Patriarch Ya Luo Ke, I've come to drink your temple's holy wine again!" When the huge head of the Black Dragon Ke Laosu Na poked into the side window of the temple, she brought in a mixture of sulfur and sea breeze.

Her deliberately folded wings still knocked over two candlesticks at the door, her gold-red vertical pupils shining like molten gems in the dim sanctuary.

"Head Priest Li Man hasn't rung the bell for a meeting in a year, and you didn't send anyone to call me to play? Really stingy!"

The Patriarch of the Orc War God Church, Ya Luo Ke, slowly turned around from before the altar. His bronze-colored skin was covered in scars left by battles, his single eye like a ruby embedded in rock, watching the dragon beast in front of him without a ripple.

"Ke Laosu Na." His voice was like a millstone grinding over coarse grain, "Every flap of your wings carries the wind of calculation. There is no need to wrap your real purpose in jokes in front of me."

He took a step forward, and a dull sound of metal armor plates colliding came from under his heavy priest robe.

"Speak directly, which bloody battlefield does that Black Dragon Great Duke behind you want to ignite by borrowing the fire of the War God's altar this time?"

"Oh—!!!" Ke Laosu Na let out an exaggerated wail loud enough to shake the dust off the beams, her dragon head tilted back violently, her two front claws covering her heart, as if shot by an invisible arrow.

Her thick, long tail "accidentally" swept across the side corridor of the temple, knocking a row of prayer stools into disarray.

"My dear, iron-hearted Ya Luo Ke!" She lowered her head, leaning close to the Orc Patriarch, her lantern-sized eyes squeezing out two "teardrops" flashing with suspicious golden light, which steamed into sulfur-flavored blue smoke before falling onto the stone slab.

"Your sharp words are more hurtful than the most vicious armor-piercing arrows! My piety to the crown of Feilong and my cherishing of friendship have no end!"

She raised a claw, using a toe claw as sharp as a spear at the tip, pretending to poke at the scales near her heart, making a harsh sound of metal scraping.

"You have deeply hurt the fragile and sincere heart of a dragon, a dear friend!" She suddenly rested her head completely on the open space in front of the altar, her huge body making the entire temple seem to tremble with it.

"Unless... unless there are three jars, no, five jars! Five jars of your deepest cellar 'Glory Blood' holy wine to soothe this trauma! Otherwise, otherwise I'll just stay here and not leave!"

After she finished speaking, she deliberately let out a low and continuous whimpering, but her tail tip was tapping the ground impatiently, creating fine cracks on the stone slab. One eye secretly opened a slit to observe Ya Luo Ke's expression.

"Enough." Ya Luo Ke's voice was not high, but it was like a heavy hammer hitting a stone mortar, instantly drowning out all the exaggerated whimpering and the sound of tail scales hitting the ground. There was no anger in his single eye, only a deep, bottomless exhaustion scorched by the flames of war.

He turned slowly, his heavy priest robe dragging a heavy trace on the dusty stone floor. The light entering from the window illuminated half of his face, the nasolabial folds as deep as if carved by a knife.

"In peaceful years, I wouldn't mind playing a few games of Tarot with you and listening to your absurd jokes from the abyss." He raised his hand to stop the other party from trying to interrupt, his fingertips thick and deformed from long-term gripping of a battle axe.

"But at this moment, the borders of the Luo Sen Empire are burning, the beacon fires on the eastern front have not been extinguished for three days, and the wheel tracks of refugees from the northern border have reached the steps of the temple. Every breath carries the smell of gunpowder and blood, and every moment there are souls of warriors that need to be ferried."

He finally looked at Ke Laosu Na, his gaze like cooled lava:

"Therefore, put away the drama and speak the truth. In the War God's temple, at this moment, only truth as heavy as blood can be accommodated, not a bit of floating jokes."

"What—?!!" Ke Laosu Na's huge head lifted violently, knocking over a bronze candle rack beside the altar, not even bothering to deal with the hot candle oil.

Her gold-red vertical pupils narrowed into a thin slit due to shock, her two front claws pressing onto the stone floor with a "clatter", shaking the holy emblem in the corner until it buzzed.

"You only saw that the throne changed to a crown-wearer, Ke Laosu Na." The exhaustion in Ya Luo Ke's single eye was almost about to turn into tangible ash.

He did not raise his voice, but every word was as heavy as if soaked in the dried blood stains in front of the altar. His rough fingers unconsciously rubbed the deep cut mark on the edge of the altar, left during some defensive battle thirty years ago.

"The Luo Sen Empire is indeed the hegemon of the Red Moon plane, and precisely because of this, the throne is buried with too many skeletons and wealth that people crave. The howling of jackals has never started today."

He slowly raised his eyes, his gaze seeming to pierce through the thick stone walls of the temple, looking at the distant place filled with gunpowder smoke. "But in the past, the iron fist of Emperor Senneide and the million sharp swords stationed at the border could make all coveters retract their claws and swallow their greed."

His voice gradually deepened, but became more tense:

"Now, the muscles and bones of the empire, those hundred-battle main legions, have all been swallowed into the bottomless pit of the abyss front line. What remains in the local area are only the old and weak.

Those border people you contemptuously call 'sub-human races' are not fools; they can smell the blood of the power vacuum."

Ya Luo Ke finally turned around, facing Ke Laosu Na, his single eye reflecting the jumping candlelight, and also reflecting the cold reality:

"Therefore, jackal tribes are burning villages, Harpies occupy mine passages, Swamp Ogres begin to attack merchant caravans... there are gaps everywhere, and we cannot spare even one complete battle group to fill them."

"The War God's temple is piled with civilians seeking refuge, and also piled with lists of those killed in action, many of whom did not even die on the glorious battlefield."

His final words fell in the silent hall, carrying a bitterness like rust:

"This is reality, Ke Laosu Na. Under the glory of the empire, the shadows are using claws and teeth to re-measure the land. And we, don't even have time to polish our shields."

"Ha! Ya Luo Ke, do you think only your empire is leaking wind?" Ke Laosu Na let out a short, iron-smelling laugh, her tail sweeping across the ground unconsciously, scraping up a piece of stone debris.

She restrained her exaggerated posture slightly, her gold-red vertical pupils revealing a rare, near-sympathetic sharpness.

"Look at our Great Duke's territory; in order to gnaw a piece of rotten meat in the abyss, the Great Duke chained all the Ogre males who could breathe and stuffed them into transport ships. Now the villages are left with only cubs, old bones, and mother pigs who have cried their eyes dry."

Her claws grabbed violently in the air, as if wanting to crush something. 'Border Report'? That thing reads like a menu for an arsonist now!

Today this village is burned to white ground by a mercenary group, tomorrow it's that outpost, uprooted by some adventurer team!"

She leaned closer, her dragon breath becoming scorching: "Even when I led the guard to clear a group of blind hyenas last time, they actually dared to set an ambush in 'Withered Canyon'! Using armor-piercing crossbow arrows bought from Dwarf smugglers, they shot through the wings of two of my most capable guards!"

She sprayed two streams of sulfur smoke from her nostrils, her voice mixed with annoyance and a trace of hard-to-detect anxiety. "These rats hide in the shadows, endless, impossible to drive away, consuming our remaining energy like maggots."

Then, she changed the subject, her massive head raised high, her voice turning low and calculating once more: "But all these annoying boreholes, compared to the game currently being played on the Riftstone Continent... are nothing but dust on the edge of a boot."

"Jiske has already nailed a wedge into the demon's city wall, and the things deep in the ruins are worth exchanging for a hundred turbulent villages."

Only by controlling that place can we have enough capital in the future to settle all these 'small troubles, the kind with interest'."

"Therefore," Ya Luo Ke's single eye narrowed slightly, that gaze like a quenched probe, piercing directly through the curtain of Ke Laosu Na's words. He stepped forward, his war boots stepping on the stone slab making a steady sound, and the eternal fire around the altar flickered accordingly.

"Your chess game on the Cracked Stone Continent has encountered resistance, and you need an ally of sufficient weight to stabilize the rear, or... open up a new situation."

He no longer circled, his voice as direct and hard as forged iron:

"Then speak directly, Ke Laosu Na. The War God Church is not stingy with a helping hand, but every gift of power has its price. What kind of 'return' can Sa Ka Wei provide for our empire, which is already overwhelmed?"

His gaze swept over the cooking smoke rising from the fleeing crowd faintly visible outside the window.

Ya Luo Ke pressed his hands on the edge of the altar, his body leaning forward slightly, like a warrior about to launch a charge, even though he was wearing a priest robe.

"In front of the War God's altar, there is no need to sell empty fantasies of the future. Tell me, at this moment, what are the real chips you can put on this negotiation table?"

"Benefits? Heh, Ya Luo Ke, let's talk about something practical." Ke Laosu Na restrained all exaggerated performances, her dragon pupils narrowing slightly, revealing the sharpness unique to negotiators. The fingertips of one of her front claws tapped the ground rhythmically, making a dull sound.

"We need two things: first, a batch of strategic supplies that can be immediately loaded and shipped to Crystal Horn Bay—thirty thousand sets of Orc standard weapons, medicines for treating large-scale corrosive injuries, and military rations that can be stored for a long time."

"Second," she paused, "sell us a ready-made warship squadron; it doesn't have to be brand new, but it must be able to sail and fight in the open sea."

Looking at Ya Luo Ke's bottomless single eye, she leaned forward, her voice lowered, but carrying an unquestionable temptation:

"As an exchange, the southeast of the Scorched Scar Wasteland, the Gray Water Delta. Does your Luo Sen Empire still have the energy to reach into that piece of mud?"

Her tail tip swayed gently, carrying a shrewd relaxation:

"But that piece of land filled with rotten water, if slightly combed, is flat, moist, with deep silt, enough to feed millions of Orcs."

Ke Laosu Na's mouth curled slightly, revealing a near-sincere smile:

"If we 'help' clear out the demons there, and then conveniently build a few dikes... that piece of land needs a regional Patriarch, doesn't it?"

She gently sprayed a wisp of smoke with a sulfur smell, her voice light as if sharing a secret:

"By then, the families of the warriors you have nowhere to place, and the Orc tribes displaced at the border, will all have a place to take root."

"In a place where the empire's whip cannot reach, possessing a granary and a source of troops. This benefit, isn't it more 'real' than any empty promise?"