Ark made a ridiculous expression. Nadin just shrugged cynically.
“What’s wrong? Are those conditions disadvantageous to you? You said you have a lot of personnel but you don’t have any confidence that you can beat the merchant’s guild?”
“Lord Nadin wants a competition between suppliers when we are in the middle of a war?”
“It is because it is a war. Commander-nim.”
Nadin answered in a sharp voice.
“The fate of thousands of soldiers and the continent is at stake so important positions need to be entrusted to competent people. To be honest, I’ve already doubted Lord Ark’s qualifications as the supplier and those doubts only worsened after hearing his words about the Sacred Blood. It is only because of Lord Ark’s achievements that I am giving him a chance.”
Nadin had caught Ark and Haverstein’s tails with his clever answer. There was no room to refute those words. In the end, the stubborn Haverstein was forced to wave a white flag.
“…….Like Sir Nadin said, the supply of Sacred Blood is vitally important. So you will compete over who can obtain the required Sacred Blood. But Sir Ark has been the supplier without any problems so far so that shouldn’t be involved in this matter.”
Haverstein was able to give Ark that much. However, Haverstein had firmly made up his mind.
“The issue is not as simple as you think. When compared to all the munitions, the Sacred Blood is very few. If the merchant’s guild is able to supply the Sacred Blood and doesn’t receive any profit then they will suffer a loss. Then why would the merchant’s guild in Selebrid participate in this competition? It is unprecedented for an expedition to trade with two businesses. It is obvious. The business that wins in this competition should become the supply group…..”
“But…….”
“Okay. I accept.”
Haverstein said reluctantly. Ark who had been listening from the side made an angry expression. But it was impossible for him to decline in this atmosphere. It would be better for him to accept the competition and quickly think of ways to win. When Ark accepted the competition, the conversation proceeded rapidly.
“But what if both parties bring 1,000 Sacred Blood?”
“Then they’ll compete with the price.”
“Price?”
“Yes, the Sacred Blood is important so it isn’t possible to question the money spent on it. But I am in charge of the expedition’s funds. It is natural for the side with a lower purchase price to be the winner. And the expedition will pay the winner of the competition an average of the two Sacred Blood bids.”
“What does that mean?”
Haverstein was at a loss so Nadin explained. “Isn’t it possible to report that the item was bought cheaply in order to win the competition when it was actually bought at an expensive price? So the expedition will pay the winner the average price of the two corporation’s purchase price.”
In other words, let’s say it was 55 gold. Then Ark would receive a loss of 45 gold for every Sacred Blood he supplied. However, it wasn’t possible to buy the Sacred Blood at an excessively high price. If the purchase price was high then it would be easier to buy the Sacred Blood, but if the merchant’s guild also supplied 1,000 and they had a lower price than they would win. This competition was a way to catch 2 rabbits by deciding the supplier and reducing the monetary burden of the Sacred Blood purchases on the expedition!
“Okay, then I will take your advice regarding the competition.”
The talk about the war to secure the Sacred Blood ended with Haverstein’s words. Ark made a complicated expression as he left the tent and Shambala laughed at him.
“You made a mistake.”
“Do you want your house to catch on fire?”
“Isn’t this because you were too greedy? It is your own fault.”
“You really…..!”
Ark was about to retort sharply when he shook his head.
‘Damn, I was too greedy……’
Like Shambala said, Ark’s greed was coming back to haunt him. Ark could’ve just quietly accepted the 10% fee for the Sacred Blood and there wouldn’t be any problems. In the end, he became too greedy and was stuck in a competition with the merchant’s guild of Selebrid.
‘I have a headache.’
He had three days before the expedition arrived at Silrinad to provide the Sacred Blood but that wasn’t enough time. Even if he managed to buy the right amounts, it still needed to be transported to Silrinad. If he removed the transport time which was approximately 12 hours then he had around one day to buy 1,000 Sacred Blood from users.
‘But I’ve already know where I can buy the required amounts of Sacred Blood.’
Ark had learnt from Shangri-La that Sacred Blood was needed. So Ark had already determined how to make a profit from the Sacred Blood before leaving Shangri-La. That was why Ark accepted the competition.
‘The problem is how to win the competition.’
Ark was irritable because of Nadin’s condition to pay the average purchase price of the two competitors. If Ark bought 1,000 Sacred Blood at a high price then he would lose the competition. But if he lowered the price too much to win then it would be hard to obtain a profit. No, he might actually receive a loss instead. If that happened then he would rather give up the competition. But now he had to win the competition, even if it meant suffering a loss.
“I should’ve just taken the 10% fee……”
Ark murmured as he bit his lip. Then a question popped into Ark’s head.
‘Wait? Wasn’t I perfectly trapped?’
Now that he thought about it, it was like Nadin knew about the situation in advance. He had grabbed Ark and Haverstein’s tails before bringing out the competition. And he also presented the condition of the purchase price. It was too complicated and clever to be devised suddenly.
‘But there’s even more. Nadin seemed to have already gotten the agreement from the merchant’s guild beforehand. How could Nadin just suddenly decide on a competition?’
It was impossible. Despite the merchant’s guild having the advantage, it wasn’t 100% that they would win. And if it was a low price then they would have to suffer a loss. That wasn’t something that Nadin could decide for them. Then Nadine would have to check whether the merchant’s guild wanted to compete. But he didn’t say a single word about that. So he must’ve already had the merchant’s guild’s agreement from the beginning.
‘Then Nadin has already contacted the merchant’s guild about this. But how? Only Shambala and Lariette knew that the Sacred Blood was needed to power the Ark of Creation.’
There was no way Nadin could know about it beforehand. However, there was one person Ark had not considered. Somebody other than Ark and Lariette knew about the Sacred Blood. It wasn’t just Shambala. It was Sid! Ark had contacted Sid in order to purchase the Sacred Blood for him. But Sid had leaked the information to Nadine.
“How dare that bastard……?”
“Bah, did you think I would stay under you forever?”
“You bastard!”
Ark was about to approach him.
“What does that mean? This merchant is my guest.”
“Guest?”
“Yes, if you want to see him then you’ll have to explain and ask permission from me first.”
Nadin declared sharply before taking Sid and entering the tent. Then Shambala whistled and muttered.
“How is it? Isn’t this quite fascinating?”
“Shut up!”
Ark shouted angrily. He thought Sid was becoming more impertinent these days but he never imagined that Sid would secretly communicate with Nadin. But the problem wasn’t Sid’s betrayal. He could find another hobbit.
‘Sid is the one I asked to secure the Sacred Blood forme.’
That was the biggest problem. Ark had known about the Sacred Blood since Shangri-La. So he had contacted Sid and ordered him to buy the Sacred Blood. Sid had considerable connections in various places so he could secure the Sacred Blood. It was why Ark accepted the competition. But Sid had attached himself to Nadin. The Sacred Blood that Sid purchased also went to Nadin. It was like Sid had transferred the exclusive trading rights to Nadin. In return for his betrayal of Ark, Nadin had probably promised him a share of the Sacred Blood profit.
‘How dare he betray me?’
A harsh sound emerged from Ark’s mouth. If he kept on grinding his teeth like that then it would wear away. Now that Sid had aligned with Nadin, Ark no longer had a solution to his problem.
He was facing a large crisis.
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