Adam’s overt hostility caused the Amira to pause, but it had all but confirmed he was the Enchanter. His abilities were out of the ordinary, and even if he was not the Enchanter, it was certain he needed to be treated delicately, for he was too strong for someone so young, and so his ego required a careful touch. 

“It is acceptable to have such a reasonable request,” the Amira admitted. “To trade Greater weapons for jeticule keeps our dignity intact, obsidicule for Basic weapons, and you are now within the land of gold, so matters of silver and gold are simple.”

“We take half the payment upfront, the remaining half before we deliver, and if it is not paid, and we feel you have no intention of paying in a timely manner, we will place the items for sale to someone else, and we will consider the half payment upfront as a gift.”

“A reasonable request, though how much time do you consider a timely manner?”

“It depends on the payment, how much faith we have in you to pay, if we’ve dealt with business previously, the reasons for the delayed payment, if we are in need of coin, and so on,” the half elf replied, shrugging his shoulders. “I feel we shall be reasonable about it, taking all these matters into consideration. Obviously, if we have done business for a while, we’re friends, or some such, we would be happy to delay the payment.” 

Adam made the wise decision of saying no more, not allowing her to tie a noose around his neck with what he was about to say. Even if she was a friend of Entalia, and he wanted to form a friendly relationship, he couldn’t forget she was among the worst of the nobles, the royals. 

“Do you have any other special requests for payment?” the Amira asked, hoping to move away from the hostility.

“Diamonds worth three hundred and five hundred gold,” Adam admitted, revealing far too much, but he did not care. 

‘His wife is a Ray…’ the Amira thought, convincing herself of the matter, though she remained in thought for a long moment, since the Ray wouldn’t require diamonds worth five hundred gold. 

“Special metals, woods, ores, diamonds, tiny gems, silver, gold, and if there is anything interesting on offer, we are open to discussing such payments,” Adam admitted.

The Amira liked to keep the amount of jeticule rather low, weapons and jewellery made of such material were among the greatest of their exports, and within Aswadasad, the weapons were subject to strict rules and regulations, with very few able to freely trade jeticule, even those which were bought and owned by nobles, great warriors, and merchants. However, if he was interested in other materials, there was still obsidicule and other gem ores, those which held less prestige, but certainly were equally as desirable when it came to more practical uses. After coming into possession of the new mountains to the south, the royal family were drowning in obsidicule.

“How much payment would you like to be paid in silver and gold?” Miriam asked, still formulating her opinions on the half elf, and their future relationship. 

“At least half?” Adam replied, throwing a look to Jurot and Kitool, who nodded. 

“We wish to procure ten Greater spears,” the woman said. “We will pay ten thousand in silver and gold, ten thousand through obsidicule, jeticule, diamonds, small, colourful, unrefined gems, and wood, each of equal value.”

‘So about two thousand gold worth of each?’ Adam thought. “Ten Greater spears, a rather surprising order, but welcome non the less.”

“Too much wood would be cumbersome,” Jurot said, noting Laygak’s raised brows. “A half share of wood, and the rest can be split among the rest of the special materials.”

“I think that’s a fair deal,” Adam said. “That being said, that’s the price this time, for this particular set of weapons, and in this particular instance, for this particular set of payment. Next time, we may charge more, or less, depending on the situation.”

“As you say,” Miriam replied. 

“If this is mutually beneficial, we will consider greater requests, not just ten, not just Greater, depending on the situation.”

“I hope this relationship is fruitful for both Aswadasad and the United Kindom,” the Amira said, her voice light, gentle. “I will have the contract drawn.”

“Thank you.” The half elf smiled, though he was going to insist on reading the contract, just in case. 

“We will be sure to pay you the entirety of the sum beforehand, in good faith.”

“Oh,” Adam replied, raising his brows in surprise. “Well, certainly, Amira, we would appreciate that.”

“Mo Dunes, you mentioned you were a Manager?”

Dunes inhaled sharply, bowing his head. “Yes, Amira.”

“You have not yet informed Black Mountain?”

“I have… in a certain sense.”

“I will write a letter to the Malawi,” the Amira stated, noting his twitching eyes. “A letter of guidance, no more.”

“Thank you, Amira, for your grace is endless as the open sky,” Dunes replied, a hint of tentativeness within his voice. 

“I have heard that the Lion King is among your company,” the Amira said, turning to face Adam once more. “How did that come to pass?”

“Well…”

“We are related, by blood,” Dunes said, causing both the Amira and the half elf to turn to him in shock. 

“You are?” Miriam asked. 

“He adored my mother, and months later, I was born.”

“He is your father?” Miriam asked, still shocked, her guards, even the Crimson Blade, equally as shocked. 

“By blood.”

The Amira stared at Dunes for a long while, understanding perhaps how he could transition from a Brother of Black Mountain to a Manager of the United Kindom. 

“Normally you’re so shy, but look at you!” the half elf said, elbowing Dunes in the side gently. “Did you hear that, Kizwolima? He said the Lion King was his father!”

“What? Surfacers and lions kiss?” the girl replied, her face a picture of shock. 

Adam’s laughter filled the garden, the young man pulling her close to his chest. “Kizwolima! Kizwolima! You should be my child! Let me steal you away!”

“Stealing is not good, mister Adam,” the girl said, pulling away from his chest, the half elf instantly letting her go, the girl returning to her tea. 

“I’ll ask your parents then!”

“Kizwolima,” the Amira called, before switching her tongue. “How did you arrive upon this land?”

Kizwolima gasped, her eyes darting to the half elf, then to Bael, the girl’s eyes beaming towards the Amira finally. “Hello!”

‘You can speak Elementi?’ the half elf thought. “Kizwolima, look at that! Although, you should answer her.”

“I don’t know,” the girl admitted. 

“We found her in the middle of the ocean, sorry, the sea, the one near Arisa, and we woke her up, she had some difficulty remembering what happened, and so we took charge of her. You do remember other things, though, don’t you? Like, your name, and where was it that you are from?”

“Fifth Rock!” 

“Which Fifth Rock?” the Amira asked, though mostly as a joke. 

“The one with my mommy and daddy,” the girl replied, as though that were obvious.

“What of your ruler?”

“His name is King Koffi, and his daddy is Emperor Moto, who is so very strong, even stronger than mister Adam,” the girl said, sipping her tea with pride. 

“Really?” Adam asked.

“Yes! He is so big and strong, and he united all the seas, and now we are so rich, even the Surfacers are poor, which is such a big shame, but it’s okay, because they don’t come down, or they will lose.”

“Well, I’m just saying, I think, if I trained, I could beat him,” Adam mumbled. 

“Nice try, mister Adam,” the girl said, patting his arm gently. 

“Anyway, what’s the name of the Prince who is going to pick you up?”

“Umm… Prince… Miza?”

“That’s his sister, it’s Prince Merza, right?”

“Yes!”

‘Prince Merza? Princess Miza?’ Amira wondered why the names sounded so familiar, especially recently.

“Princess Miza is getting married to a friend of mine, Prince Morkarai, who treated me quite kindly, mostly, especially after I beat the days out of one of her guards, and her brother,” Adam said, inhaling sharply, recalling how annoying Merza had been. 

“You beat her brother? A Prince of the Mermen?” the Amira asked, even more surprised.

“Yeah, well, he did pick a fight with me at an inappropriate time. There were some health issues we were going through and I was quite stressed, but for some reason, royalty just don’t know their place and-,”

“Adam,” Dunes called, clearing his throat. 

“I’m not talking about the royal family of Aswadasad, I’m talking about Prince Merza specifically!” Adam complained. “I mean, you’d think after Emperor Hadda committed a genocide against them, they’d have learnt their lesson!”

Dunes rubbed his eyes, feeling the sweat pour down the sides of his face as the half elf continued to stress him out. 

Kizwolima gasped, her eyes snapping to the half elf. “Hadda?”

“Adda is the name of the Princess in North Aldland,” the half elf said. “I met her a while ago, back when I won the tournament, do you remember?”

“Yes! I remember! You revenged the King’s Sword’s daughter!”

“That’s right! Don’t you forget it!” The half elf brushed the girl’s hair gently. 

‘He only killed a few million,’ Bael thought.

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Let's just all ignore the fact Hadda was extremely evil because he was kind of cool.