CHAPTER 60: THE ONE DETAIL NARMIDOR MISSED

"And what’s with this truce with the tribes?"

Narmidor only waited until Theo closed the doors behind him before unleashing his questions right back into Theo’s face.

Theo raised his hands up, trying to calm the man down a little, even though he was fully aware of the futility of doing so.

Given all the news and upsets of the last few moments, calming down was the last thing on Narmidor’s list.

"I’m going to answer all of your questions now, so just calm down, relax, and ask them one by one while giving me the time to answer, okay?"

Theo’s stare grew weirdly intense, as if he was actually stuck between the rock of wasting his time to properly fill Narmidor in on all the developments and the hard place of not using his time in a productive manner.

In all honesty, though, Narmidor was too much of a key figure in Theo’s existing plans and his budding faction for him to keep the man in the dark any longer.

As the face of the whole spirit stone business and the front that would weather the storm of everyone’s attention, he had to grow resilient enough for the tasks ahead.

And for this change, this growth to happen, Narmidor had to know enough to properly take the lead of things once Theo was done setting it all up.

’In a way, he’s going to be just like everyone else, expanding the things I’ve prepared, turning ideas into a powerbase. From that point of view,’ Theo’s lips curved up a little, ’how is he any different than an average worker, save for how his job pays a lot better and comes with a lot more responsibility?’

Theo shook his head, ridding himself of those spare and borderline blasphemous thoughts while waiting for Narmidor to take his pick.

And out of the whole menagerie of questions, he ended up defaulting to the very same one he started with.

"What’s with that truce with the tribes?"

Strangely enough, Theo’s request worked. And despite the great cost of doing so, Narmidor managed to actually calm himself down!

Sure, there was still the intensity boiling below the surface of his voice. When compared to how he was before, though, the difference would be clear to all.

Or, in this particular case, Theo, as the sole witness of the change.

"It’s not actually a truce but a ceasefire. I’ve encountered a huntress while I was out in the plains for a moment, clashed with her, ended up showing her her place, and then..."

Theo shrugged.

"I just showed her the taste of what I would bring to her lands and tasked her with spreading the news to the tribes so that we can happily watch each other get the most out of the deal."

Throughout this explanation, Narmidor patiently waited. He was itchy to interrupt Theo at least at four separate points, but held this desire back, opting to listen to his full explanation before asking any questions.

"The deal?" Now that Theo stopped, it was high time for Narmidor to interject, "what deal? I thought we were going to turn the crystals into stones out in the wild plains, but that deal..." he shook his head, "that’s completely news to me!"

Narmidor raised his voice, but not enough for the sounds to escape the soundproofing of the chamber.

"And when did you even get to the plains? Weren’t you out to secure the necessary materials in Vistra?"

Theo, however, merely smiled at this question.

"Are you sure this is the question you want to ask?" he leaned his head over his shoulder, "I mean, I don’t mind giving you the answer, but given how little time we have..."

"No, you are right," Narmidor shook his head. "Let’s go back to the main issue," he suggested before reinforcing the look of determination on his face, "why the hell are you recruiting so many people?"

Narmidor clenched his fists.

By all means, this was the most important topic the two had to discuss while hidden away like that, all the while waiting for the workers Theo picked to gather.

"With so many people involved, there’s no way we will be able to keep a tight hold over the information about the process!"

Theo nodded to every point Narmidor made.

After all, the man was right.

Increasing the number of people involved in the matter meant that others would have a much easier time trying to steal the recipe or learn more about the process.

From his point of view, he was also in the right for his desire to keep the production method of spirit stones a secret. And there was nothing he could do about the fact Theo’s approach held those spirit stones in much smaller regard.

"This answer can also serve as a partial answer to your question about my deal with the tribes," Theo said while locking his hands over his chest and resting his back against the wall. "When we start producing the spirit stones, the mana from the surroundings will surge in. And that, in turn, will serve as a nucleus for the storm which will feed the surrounding area with more spiritual energy than this place has ever experienced."

There was no point going into details of the issue. Narmidor, despite only reaching the sixth realm of cultivation back when Theo was away on his shopping trip, did have quite the comprehensive knowledge about cultivation and thus—by extension—knowledge about the inner workings of the spiritual energy.

That’s why Theo never had to explain how drawing massive amounts of spiritual energy at one point would cause the mana to surge from all around to fill in the void.

"That’s how I got the tribes to stay away from this project. They stand to gain too much to risk it. As for the stones themselves..."

Theo shook his head before letting out a deep sigh.

’This isn’t going to be an easy topic to explain.’

He raised his eyes and stole a glance at the sect’s patriarch.

There were many reasons for it, but this man held the spirit stones in massive regard. For him, those weren’t money but opportunities for his disciples to grow stronger, effectively allowing him to grow the whole of the sect.

With enough stones, the sect could attract more of the talented disciples, compete for even rarer resources... All in all, if money was the blood that powered up merchants, spirit stones were the bloodline of the sects.

Theo, however, had no other choice but to force that way of thinking out of the man’s head.

"First, I need you to understand an extremely important thing," Theo sighed again before finally rallying himself and breaching the topic. "The spirit stones will keep their value within the sects for two, maybe three weeks. The price in the rest of the kingdom?"

Theo shook his head before shrugging his shoulders.

"Give it a year, best-case scenario: two, and it’s going to plummet too."

Up until now, Narmidor listened patiently, still holding on to hope that Theo would make some sense.

But as he heard him talk about how one of the rarest commodities on the market was about to become something people wouldn’t bother picking off the street, his patience quickly wore thin.

"And what makes you so sure that their price will drop so much, so soon?" he countered, more than happy to challenge the view that went against everything he believed in.

"It’s simple, really," Theo shrugged his shoulders again.

’I might not be an economist, but this? The basics of the damn basics over how markets work!’

For something so damn obvious and simple to elude Narmidor...?

It didn’t make sense.

Which meant that the problem lay elsewhere. There was some element that stopped Narmidor from seeing the future as Theo saw it.

And the moment Theo pinpointed this reality, he finally realized just what he had to explain.

"But before I answer that, let me ask you something in exchange," Theo shifted the dynamic of the conversation. "How many spirit stones do you think we will be able to produce in three days? How about in a week? A month?"

"I don’t know," Narmidor shook his shoulders, "a bunch in three days, maybe twice as much in a week, a crate’s worth of them in a month?"

Theo took in a deep breath only to then slowly exhale it all through his nose, his body relaxing as he finally found the very point that led to such different views on the matter between the two of them.

"What if I tell you, we will be able to get a crate full of them in three days, a carriage’s worth in a week, and in a month our greatest struggle will be about offloading all the spirit stones we produce before we run out of the room to stockpile them?"