***

"No? Fine! Drop the lion!" Mindy ordered.

[No, don't!] the lion under the airs.h.i.+p yelped.

"Wait!" Remian also yelled. [Lion Lord, please elaborate. What do you mean 'no'?]

['No' means no.] The Lion Lord yawned again, settling down to sleep. [I know your kind. You want us all to work for you. Well, I won't do it! If you want to hunt your own kind, do it yourself.]

[So you'll let us hunt them?]

[What do I care?]

[And you won't attack us?]

[Maybe we will.] The Lion Lord shrugged. [I make no promises.]

[We still have your cousin, you know. He's still our prisoner.]

[So?]

[So we won't release him unless you help us, or at least promise us safe pa.s.sage!]

[Then don't release him. See if I care.]

[Cousin!?] The lion prisoner protested.

[Don't worry. These guys try to befriend Wilds all the time. Also, they'll give you free food.] The Lion Lord snorted. [You'll be fine.]

[How is this in any way fine?!]

"At least tell us where to find the human camp. It won't cost you anything." Remian requested next. "Just point us out in the right direction, and we'll stop those pests from driving any more of your fellows mad. Think of it as us working for you for free."

The Lion Lord considered it. Then, he finally answered. [They are not in my lands. They intrude from time to time and ensnare the foolish and the careless in their traps. But they do not camp in my territory.]

"Then where do they camp?"

[There.] The Lion Lord nodded to the south. [In the Fief of the Stag Lord.]

"Thank you very much." Remian saluted the Lion Lord. "We'll be leaving now."

[Great! Just put me down softly…] The lion prisoner requested.

"Who said anything about letting you go?" Remian asked. "I didn't. Mindy?"

"I didn't either. Lion Lord?"

[Wasn't me.]

[But…!] The lion prisoner spluttered. [But… but…!]

[Bye, cousin!] The Lion Lord waved one paw, and went back to sleep.

[Noooooooooooo…!] The lion prisoner wailed on as they continued south.

***

Meanwhile, Charlie was arriving at KarGoth. Between increasing orders, increasing loads, and farther distances, his schedule had s.h.i.+fted to arrive at the Frontier the day after the Beast Waves.

"You want explosives?" Charlie mused as he heard George's latest request. "For mining?"

"Not entirely. I especially need a lot of the waterproof type."

"Waterproof? Are you planning to blow up Deepsilver?" Charlie asked, startled.

"No, I'm planning to blow up Rocky Ford." George answered.

"Blow up Rocky Ford…?" Charlie stared. "But that's the only land access this Fief has to the south!"

"We never really use it." George pointed out. "All our expeditions to the south use airs.h.i.+ps. Right now, the only ones using that ford..."

"…Are the Beast Waves." Charlie finished for him. He let out a low whistle. "It's a novel idea. If you cut off land access, you might be able to ward off the Beast Waves entirely without firing a shot."

"Well, Remian said we should try not to kill too many Wilds, so…" George shrugged. "It was the best way I could think of."

"I like the idea." Charlie patted George on the back. "I just hope it works."

"Probably not. But it could at least keep the lower Tier Wilds back. Then we'll only have to deal with the biggest ones, or the ones who can swim." George sighed. "We'll have to trust to smoke-bombs and a few tricky modifications to the Pit for the rest. We might not be able to stave off a Beast Tide, but blimey if we can't handle at least a few measly Beast Waves without casualties!"

"Well, you might have to handle the next Beast Wave the normal way, at least. I don't have that much explosives on board right now." Charlie told him. "But rest a.s.sured, I'll definitely have it for you next week. For now, maybe earth magic…?"

"Our earth magic equipment and magi are all needed elsewhere. I'd rather set the miners and the wolfcats to dig." George shook his head.

"No, don't. You should prioritize digging for Fire Copper." Charlie urged him. "That's your most profitable export."

Indeed it was. For the sake of that Fire Copper, Deutero still sent airs.h.i.+ps; one arrived mid-week, one arrived a day or two before the Beast Wave, and they often had a lot of weapons on offer. Added to that, Charlie usually arrived the day after the Wave and seemed to have a lot of medical and construction supplies on board.

That was just as well. George bought out the lot and emptied out Charlie's cargo hold. The funds for the medical supplies and construction materials came out of Remian's budget. In return, Charlie stocked up on Fire Copper (5 crates) and Jade (1 crate). "50k for the jade, 300k for the Fire Copper. Deal?"

"Sounds about right." George grunted. "What about skins from Tier 4 Wilds and such?"

"Not this time, thanks. A lot of the new skins seemed to be rather burnt." Charlie said evasively.

George frowned. That seemed a bit odd. Charlie never balked at buying high Tier skins before, even with burnt marks and arrow holes in them.

Then again, his holds were already full with Fire Copper. George listed the revenue of 350,000 in the accounts and mused about it for a moment.

Technically, it belonged to KarGoth. Charlie hadn't bought any farm produce, whether it was foodstuff or scroll reagants, so George didn't actually get any money from this round (his take was 50% of the farm profits). He also didn't buy any materials from Wilds like skins and bones or even meat, so the Adventurers Guild didn't get anything either. This time around, all the revenue went to KarGoth, that is, 81% belonged to Remian (283,500 Lir), 9% was Mindy's (31,500) and 10% actually belonged to Charlie (35,000).

It wasn't much better with the Deutero airs.h.i.+ps. They bought more, consistently 8 crates of Fire Copper, a steady 400,000 Lir per arrival. With the Burning Steel out and most internal sales made using Guild Points rather than Lir, these three airs.h.i.+ps were Shadowflash Fief's main sources of income.

1.1 million Lir a week wasn't very much considering the costs of renting the Sky Barge from Mindy alone was 80,000 lir a day (560,000 Lir a week). That payment came out directly from Remian's share, so it didn't affect Charlie's take at all…

George closed his eyes, feeling a sudden sourness. "Charlie, I'd like to buy out your share in KarGoth."

"Oh?" Charlie raised an eyebrow. "I got 115k this week from my shares. A year's worth of that income is almost six million lir. Do you have six million lying around?"

"Yes."

Charlie considered. "Hmm. I could do a lot with six million. I could upgrade my airs.h.i.+p extensively or outright buy a second one…"

"So, it's a deal?" George prompted.

"Deal." Charlie said.

Both of them knew that there were other mines about to open up all across the Fief. Construction would soon be complete and they, too, would start production. George was thinking that Charlie's 10% share would soon greatly increase in value. But Charlie was thinking that his 10% owners.h.i.+p only went as far as KarGoth; it did not include all the new mines that were built solely on Remian's funding.

At this point of time, neither George nor Charlie knew anything about Flaming Bronze. Aren, Remian and Mindy kept it a secret, and other than them, only a few miners and wolfcats knew about it.

Oaths were sworn to the Twin Dragons; the jade plate that certified the 10% shares exchanged hands. Having no idea of the repercussions of this little deal of theirs, George and Charlie parted ways amicably.