Facing the topic that focused upon the Alliance merger, Porol could already see what was hinted by the other party. Even in the face of such adversity, he decided to brave it by feigning ignorance and testing the confidence of the other party's deductions.
"Hey, your words seem to lack the logic to back them up. If you remember your previous words, supposing that the Alliance merger is true, there wouldn't be a reason for you to search us out for an Alliance proposal anymore, would there?"
"Because all the other Communities except for [Six Scars] would join the Alliance merger."
Jin seemed eager to tear apart the defenses upon seeing a chink in the opponent's armor as he continued. "[Six Scars] is different from the other Communities. Being specialized in the economical aspect and having the huge resource in finance, you are able to reach out to the other realms to expand your business. Most importantly, to cause a Commerce Community to change their 'flag' and 'Name' would deal a huge blow to your current business. Rather than letting it happen, you would choose to opt out of the merger and continue the task of hoarding your treasury while making use of the relations with [Draco Greif]. This will then enable you to even out the gains and losses……right?"
(Wow! That was impressive.)
Other than that ending that seemed to suggest doubts in his own conjecture, Jin could easily be given a full score for his argument. Since this was brought up by the [No Name]'s before the focus of the discussion today, it would seem that their price can only be related to this.
Softening his attitude, Porol gave a smile.
"So that's the case. *KeKe* If you put it like this, I will not peek around the bush any further. That is to say that [No Name] promises to make up for our loss from not joining the [Draco Greif] Alliance? To utilize the effect of our [Privilege of an Alliance] to lend your strength in future fights that we may have with Demon Lords……am I right to say so?"
"Yes."
Jin replied immediately. Watching this sudden turn of events, Shirayuki-hime couldn't keep silent any further:
"Wait, wait a while you brat! Did you really hear what he said clearly? He asked for our guaranteed participation in any battle with Demon Lords! It's to say that even if the opponent is an Asura god, no matter the situation be it good or bad, you will have to lend a hand! If it is just to borrow the Community's name, it's too high a price."
"Ho…. So our flag and name is that unworthy?"
Porol grabbed the chance to make the fan the situation further, not wanting to back down.
At that, Shirayuki-hime just stared back at him angrily but kept silent.
----How the [Privilege of an Alliance] works is when a Demon Lord attacks an Alliance Community, though the other Communities in the Alliance may not have met the requirements of the Game, they can forcefully join in the fray with that Privilege.
There's no obligation to help even if there's an Alliance. Though it may not sound ethical, to risk one's own Community to help another would be a very bad leadership quality. Hence one would usually assess the situation, strength of the opponent and the winning conditions before deciding whether or not to participate. The might of Demon Lords are comparable to the tragedies of Natural disasters. There's none in Little Garden who wouldn't fear them.
And this Alliance is to be formed with the contract of [Our strength will be lent regardless of the Demon Lord's power].
Jin motioned Shirayuki-hime to back down as he leaned out further.
"The only problem is that battles with Demon Lords are very exhausting in nature. Though my comrades are the ikkitousen[18] power type players, they would also incur lots of costs in the Game. With this aspect in mind, I would like to ask [Six Scars] to provide us with assistance."
"Okay, I understand. Just ask if you need anything."
Porol gave an exaggerated action of leaning back while making that promise. Regarding [No Name]'s battle strength, he had evaluated and rated them highly. If all these expenses were to guarantee their support in a battle with a Demon Lord, it was still a cheap investment.
[Six Scars] providing items and money.
[No Name] sacrificing their blood and lives on the front lines.
……but this seemed like a contract of a sell-sword mercenary or that of a slave. The maid combination glared at Jin's back with disappointment and anger.
(…… Following the earlier progress, we should have been able to ask for a better condition)
(In the end it's still the ignorance of the child….)
The ones who will bleed and seat isn't the leader Jin, but the three problem kids that are the main members of the Community. If they hear of this condition for the Alliance, they would surely have a gulf in their relationship with Jin.
In their minds, they were already groaning at this predicament.
However, Jin only glanced at them from the sides of his eyes before continuing the negotiations.
"Then, can I seek to confirm the details that you will support us with?"
"Hahaha, you sure are impatient…… But it's no problem. Let's hear it then, what you have decided to request from us? Is it money? Weapons? Or Gifts for battle purposes?"
"I would like to request manpower."
"------What?" Porol's voice came out a little higher in pitch.
"Ah. No. I didn't mean to ask for manpower for the sake of playing Games. Since we are going to run our Community, we would be needing a lot more comrades to lend a hand. I hope that you would be able to provide a sufficient amount of manpower for our cause." Jin quickly added.
"….. Manpower? And roughly how many would that be?"
"At least two hundred."
Porol frowned in surprise.
From what he gathered so far, [No Name] is supposedly a Community that emphasizes on its main member's battle prowess. Though news was that they were developing their farm, the premises of their farm wouldn't explain the need for that much manpower.
What would they require the manpower for then?-------Porol racked his brains and remembered another matter.
(Come to think about it……the [No Name]s will be getting back their land and facilities after rising up to the sixth level….. could their aim be that?)
Though he had found a clue to the answer, he still clicked his tongue.
The [No Name] Community that Jin now led was one of the best Communities in the East Sector. Assuming that they want to rise up to the sixth level to reclaim their possessions, how much value would those possessions be?
(And it wasn't a matter of one or two people but a large amount of manpower……No, it would be more correct to put it as pricey enough to be willing to pit themselves against Demon Lords. If it really is so…..)
In the end, it was becoming more difficult to tell which of the two of them was trying to get a better bargain. Sadly, there was no way for Porol to measure these insubstantial conditions with a Balance. What he thirsted for now was for more information.
"…… I have no objections about sending my comrades to help you as the manpower requested. However, being the leader of the Community, I wouldn't like to be kept in the dark regarding the reason for sending my men there."
This was the almost the utmost limit for probing into the matters of others. It would be the best case scenario if Jin were to be willing to reveal the purpose. If he changed the topic, Porol would just have to accept it. But if it's the worst case that Jin decides to stop the negotiations, Porol would have to apologize to find a common point to agree on again. After all, the negotiations up till now had definitely been quite favorable to his Community.
Hence to respect each other's perimeter of the common point, Porol decided to phrase it carefully.
But to Porol's amazement, Jin had readily agreed and turned to ask Percher:
"……Percher, could you pass that bag to me?"
"Eh? Oh, okay."
Percher who was listening to their conversation intently was surprised by this sudden focus on her as she was being addressed.
From the bag that was handed over to him, Jin retrieved a tightly sealed box and a thick stack of old goatskin parchment. Opening the lid to allow the sparking metal ore roughly the size of a human skull to be visible, Jin passed both over to Porol for inspection.
Percher and Shirayuki-hime couldn't make anything out of this action and looked at each other quizzically.
However, Porol was able to understand the value of that object. Grabbing the goatskin parchments as his face paled, he stood up hurriedly.
"…….Wait! No Way! Give me a moment! This….. No matter how you put it, it is totally unbelievable!"
Porol couldn't help but shout loudly while rapidly scanning the documents with his eyes.
The old goatskin parchments mapped out a vein of ore running through a mountain and the estimated amount of ore obtainable from mining it.
When placed beside the metals like Gold, Silver and Bronze, those would definitely pale in value and be regarded as rotten old trash.
Be it in Heaven, or the Human Realm, the Ore described in the goatskin just held that much value that it cannot possibly be measured.
Seeing that Porol understood the full value of the item, he made the final confirmation of Porol's thoughts.
"--------'That is the vein of [Diamond Iron]. Our aim is mining the [Terramaterial] that condenses in the Community grounds."[19]