Chapter 277: Agreement and Secret Lore

"Then why don't you say?" Linghu Zhengde asked.

"Tariffs must be levied based on price; don't try to tell me to calculate them by the cartload. That trick might work to fool an Ogre, but it won't work on me," Sinuoli set the tone.

"What percentage?" Zou Qilin asked directly; this was a term he knew how to say.

"I only want twenty percent! But the value must be calculated based on your actual sales proceeds; what you report yourselves won't be accepted." Sinuoli had no way to track the procurement prices of the Cathayan goods or the transportation costs along the way, so he decided to pin it to the final step.

"That is very troublesome; the market will fluctuate, and different places also..." Linghu Zhengde frowned tightly. Based on past experience, the profit margins on their goods were very substantial. If the Dwarf before them could truly fulfill his promise, twenty percent was not an unacceptable range.

"Take the average—of the various locations, by the year, and so on. My treasurer will be responsible for coordinating with you. This will be a long-term cooperation, won't it?"

"Agreed!" Zou Qilin nodded. This time, it was enough to settle the general framework; specific details could be left for later communication.

"I have one additional condition: your goods cannot conflict with those of my own race. The scope includes, but is not limited to, weapons and firearms. If you insist on selling them, I will levy an additional Protection Rune tariff on the relevant goods."

Sinuoli added a sentence. The distribution of goods required the cooperation of other holds, and if the outsiders he introduced created direct competition with his own kin, it would be a huge blow to his reputation.

"Draft an agreement!"

In the end, both sides reached a consensus. Sinuoli signed his name on three documents written in the Dwarf language, the Cathayan language, and the Common language, and Zou Qilin stamped them one by one.

"Then can we start trading now?" Putting away the documents, the Cathayans appeared impatient.

"Of course, my fortress welcomes you at any time. I believe there is still enough fine wine in my warehouse to entertain our friends from the East!" Sinuoli also laughed loudly; the establishment of the trade route solved one of his worries.

Just after settling down in Gaoyuanbao, Sinuoli began to think about the positioning of his territory. What role should this land, far from the Old World, play in the Mountain Kingdom and even the whole world?

It was difficult to operate according to the traditional model of Dwarf holds; the transportation costs for sending bulk mineral raw materials and products back to the Old World to be sold were too high. Before enough population moved in, there was no market nearby to consume them. The Tomb King could not be relied upon, and the Lizardmen were not very good buyers either.

Should he rely on the Xianzu Dating as a pilgrimage-type tourist attraction? This was clearly not enough to support Sinuoli's grand goal of saving the world. The appearance of the Cathayans solved this point. If everything went normally, Gaoyuanbao would become a trade hub between the East and the West, and Sinuoli would extract enough capital from it.

Sinuoli suggested taking a boat to the coast by the Bone Temple to avoid the arduous trek through the rainforest. The Cathayan caravan adopted the suggestion; they acted quickly, rolled up their goods, and rushed to the shore.

The Dwarfs saw the Cathayan fleet. The junk ships in the harbor looked a bit wider than the ships of Bordeleaux. But the bigger difference was in the sails; Bordeleaux used soft cloth sails, while Cathay used hard sails made of mats.

Standing on the deck, Sinuoli felt that the Cathayan ships were a bit more stable, and the sailing speed was slightly slower. However, he noticed that there were no huge winches on these ships, which meant that adjusting the sails was more convenient and safe. In Bordeleaux, Sinuoli learned that for sailors, furling sails in a storm was one of the most dangerous challenges.

"Had you not considered landing at the Bone Temple before?" Sinuoli asked while breathing in the sea breeze. The Bone Temple was an estuary, which was relatively better in terms of hydrology and easier to discover.

"Of course we considered it, but the Slann there did not allow it. Lord Atike is the easiest to communicate with among the rulers of the east coast," the translator added when he saw that Sinuoli did not understand.

"Of course, this is for us people of the Celestial Empire. Hmm, although everyone is a creation of the Old Ones, the great Dragon God and the Moon Empress had already ruled the land of Zhendan before those great beings from outside the realm descended."

As Linghu Zhengde spoke, Sinuoli knew that the Cathayan Dragons, like the Dragons of Ulthuan, were native inhabitants of this world, but it was clear that the Dragon Emperor and his wife were more powerful; they were not affected by the climate changes caused by the shifting of the star orbits. This also meant that knowledge about the descent of the Old Ones was open there.

"Five thousand years ago, our ancestors were created by the great beings and placed on the land of the Dragon God. The True Dragons were powerful and compassionate; they allowed our ancestors to settle there and even transformed into human forms to lead and protect them. But good times did not last; those great beings from outside the realm brought Chaos..."

"For the Dragon Emperor and his wife, the arrival of the Old Ones brought a large group of enemies in addition to making the environment uncomfortable, is that it?" Sinuoli mused.

"Yes. When Chaos began to sweep the world, His Majesty organized an army to defend our country and eventually built the Changyuan to keep the Chaos tribes outside the gates." A glow appeared on Linghu Zhengde's face.

"But good times did not last. Those great toads triggered an earthquake, and a part of the Changyuan collapsed. Countless Chaos minions invaded from the north. The Dragon God led our ancestors and paid a huge price to repel them. Many classics related to this have now been sealed."

"And then that Haotian Longdi went to reason with the Slann?" Sinuoli stroked his beard and asked. The same earthquake had affected history in every corner of the world; he wondered what magnitude it would be by the standards of his previous life.

"That is not something we mortals can know. However, Princess Yin Yin once led a fleet to land on the land of the Lizardmen, but, um, the results were not great," the Human said cautiously.

"It seems that I still need to mediate with Outelakesi." Sinuoli pondered for a moment. There was a shortage of manpower and resources for repairing the Shenmiaochengshi; when the time came, he could convince that fifth-generation Slann by making some concessions.

The fact was indeed so; the waterway was much faster than walking in the rainforest. When Sinuoli returned to the Bone Temple, the construction team he had mobilized had just arrived. Seeing the progress of the project, Outelakesi did not make things difficult, and after Sinuoli and the Cathayan merchants promised to contribute more to the development of its territory, it chose to let them pass.

"Your fortress is truly a work of supernatural craftsmanship!"

"Unprecedented!"

"To carve such a large building underground, what great power!"

The members of this caravan were seeing a Dwarf fortress for the first time, and their exclamations were very gratifying to every Son of the Mountains. The grand welcoming banquet and fine wine filled the fortress with a joyful atmosphere.