69 The Waning Light

The day passed by as Astur arranged for a variety of trade agreements condensed into a single deal to be made between the Dresuar Viscounty and the Holy Oulvgar State. Although Astur only put forth ideas while leaving the Viscount and Ystur to deal with the specifics. Originally, Astur intended to leave the matter to Elizabeth, but she along with Kretea and Lester were still trying to fully comprehend the previous bombshell that Viscount Dresuar announced, leaving the task of negotiations to Ystur.

First and foremost, officially, this is a private deal with Astur as an individual. With the Holy Oulvgar State's unclear political status, both Elizabeth and Viscount Dresuar determined that making this deal a private transaction between people rather than realms. This also has its own problems, but they are not as overt as open trade relations with what is in the eyes of the Kingdom, a destabilising factor.

One of the more important aspects of the deal were regarding construction materials. While lumber is abundant within the Sea of Trees, it's not appropriate for large scale use since a large portion of the trees are connected to the Great Tree, one of the Forest Guardians, a tree that absorbed Astur's Grand Evolution Elixir through its roots and connected itself with around 70% of the forest's trees. Astur asked for more materials to fuel the goal of the expansion of Aeternum.

Astur also requested that Viscount Dresuar find some workers to assist with training the Oulvgar on how to work with materials such as concrete, and if possible any skilled workers who can teach others how to process metals.

Other than construction-related things, Astur also requested food. In her mind, this matter is actually far more important than her desire to expand her city. Although the food situation is alright for now, Astur sees a need to stockpile as much as she can. Currently, the Holy Oulvgar State gets its food from hunting the unfortunate animals and monsters that weren't able to consume Astur's concoctions or simply failed to gain higher intelligence. There is also a small import of food coming from the Towns of Dawn and Hadrow. The hunting of animals and monsters isn't sustainable long term without wiping out their populations, while trade with the neighbouring towns is small scale and easily distributable from outside forces. This trade deal with Viscount Dresuar, while also capable of being disrupted by the Kingdom's upper-echelon, is on a much larger scale compared to the two small towns. This difference in scale will allow Astur to stockpile a much larger amount of food in a smaller time frame.

Due to Elizabeth being a bit out of sorts, Astur and Ystur slipped in a few not so important things into the trade deal. Video games, PC parts, new furniture, and other random miscellaneous things. Viscount Dresuar thought it was amusing and agreed, finishing up their negotiations. Before Elizabeth could come to her senses to review the details, the contract had been signed by both parties.

In return for the various benefits Astur is to receive, she is to provide a private channel for Viscount Dresuar to purchase the items Astur creates at a discounted price, including the Enhanced Basic EXP Potion. A non-aggression pact is to be signed between the Viscount and Astur.

With the negotiations over, and Elizabeth wanting to strangle the canine duo for putting useless terms into the trade deal, someone knocks on the door a few times before the Viscount tells them to enter.

"Milord, I've contacted the bank. They said that as long as a meeting over lunch is acceptable, then a meeting tomorrow at noon can be arranged. Otherwise, the next available time would be in the evening in four days," says a grey-haired butler.

Viscount Dresuar directs his eyes towards Astur as she replies, "I'm fine with that. The sooner the better, I have things to do back home after all."

Elizabeth looks at Astur with a suspicious gaze, thinking that whatever she has to do isn't anything productive. "I'm also fine with tomorrow over lunch. Given what our purpose is though, I don't think we'll have this settled with a single meeting."

"Then I'll pass along the message and have the appointment set up for tomorrow," the butler says, closing the door as he leaves.

"Now that we have everything settled, Lester, why don't you show our guests around the estate," Viscount Dresuar says.

"Fine by me, I could use a good stretch after sitting for so long."

"Oh, and Miss Kojuuin, would you care to join me for a cup of tea while the youngsters are out and about?" Viscount Dresuar asks.

"I don't like what you're implying…" Astur says with a grim expression.

"But it is an undeniable fact, you are the oldest person in the room, are you not?" Viscount Dresuar says, maintaining a polite smile.

Not feeling any ill intent from him, Astur decides to let his comment about her age slide, "Alright, but don't expect me to ignore any more comments about my age. Kretea, you should join Lester's little tour and keep an eye on the small ones."

With a bit of pushing, Astur convinces Kretea to accompany the others, finally leaving Astur and Viscount Dresuar alone in the latter's study.

"So what's up? I know you didn't invite me alone solely to enjoy a cup of tea."

"I merely wanted to speak with you freely, without having to worry about others. And my walls are soundproof, so no need to worry about anyone overhearing."

"Alright, I'll humour you. A question, why do you seem to be so keen on cooperating with me and my nation? Anyone with a brain could tell that my Holy Oulvgar State stands in direct opposition to the Church of Light and I'm sure there are many who aren't pleased with my territorial claims. Speaking of which, isn't part of the Sea of Trees supposed to be under your jurisdiction?" Astur asks.

"You raise a good point. But I believe the path I've chosen here is the one that will prevail. I'm no fool, I can clearly see the shifting tides between the world powers. And the world has reached its tipping point with the arrival of you and those irregulars. The Church won't stand for anything that would threaten its status and the Hinterland nations will likely find a way to take advantage of the chaos that would ensue during your and the Church's conflict."

"You sound certain that I will win. Not that I think would lose, I have confidence in achieving my goals, but what makes you so certain that I will succeed?"

"For starters, it helps that I know you are a Deity and can annihilate an army with mere words."

"You... are very well informed," Astur says with a bit of surprise in her voice.

"You shouldn't underestimate the intelligence network of a merchant. I may not be as flashy as my predecessors, but I don't think myself any less impressive. But I admit that your information was rather difficult for me to obtain."

"I'll be sure not to make such a mistake again. But what of the God of Light? Although He isn't exactly kind to Demons, He does treat Humans and to a lesser degree the Beastfolk well, and He shouldn't be particularly weak. I'm sure those scriptures exaggerate, but there should also be some truth to them, with the killing of the Old Gods."

"True, and if things were as they should, I would likely side with the Church of Light."

Astur immediately sees what the Viscount is saying and asks, "There's a problem with the God of Light, isn't there?"

Viscount Dresuar nods, "Correct, but this is incomplete information. I lost a lot of subordinates digging this up and we still only managed to uncover that it will likely persist for another few hundred years. Any more details regard the situation remain a mystery."

"No, no, that's more than enough. Simply knowing the He is in a state of weakness is a good thing. In fact, I've had suspicions of this already. The fact that he didn't take immediate action to my appearance would suggest something is up, but there was never any hard evidence to prove this."

"Do you understand the reasoning behind my backing now? If the God of Light was at full strength then I don't believe there would be a contest. He is much older and more experienced than you are after all. But in His weakened state, you, who can exert your full strength, has the upper hand. Not to mention, despite the smaller size of your armed forces, the individual combat power is significantly higher."

Listening to Viscount Dresuar, Astur is quick to notice a failing in his information. Astur can't utilise all her strength. In this regard, she is similar to the God of Light. But she doesn't think that the God of Light has a way to regain His strength temporarily as she does. This misinformation does work in Astur's favour though and she intends to maintain the misunderstanding.

"Meeting with you in person has indeed been a good thing, Miss Kojuuin. If it was solely my initial investigation about you, I would have taken you as someone who can't see the larger picture and used force to maintain their position while delegating your job to others. Admittedly, I believe most of that to be correct, but you also care for those beneath you. Your end goal, while selfish in nature, with the path you're taking to achieve it, I believe that you can provide a better future for all of Vopal. I believe even if I didn't think the cards were in your favour, I'd still try to help you. Now then, dinner will be served in a couple of hours, feel free to explore the estate with Lester and the others until then."