Chapter 184: Negotiation Table
Chapter 184: Chapter 184: Negotiation Table
Chapter 184: Negotiation Table
The moment Rhain stepped into the VIP room, the three rival delegations, who had been bickering and throwing insults at each other for almost an hour rose from their seats simultaneously and offered respectful bows.
Even Lyra, whose haughty chin had been tilted skyward since the moment she arrived, lowered her head.
Rhain walked past the standing delegations with a measured pace, and settled into the high-backed chair at the head of the darkwood table.
"You all may sit," Rhain commanded, his deep voice filled with authority. He dismissed their stiff formalities with an indifferent wave of his hand. "I am not a man who enjoys wasting time on empty pleasantries. You came to my pavilion demanding an audience from the supplier of the pill shop. Here I am, Grandmaster Korryn, the backer of Celestial Elixir Pavilion. Speak your offers."
The blunt, no-nonsense opening caught the aristocrats slightly off guard, but Lord Caelan of the Valemere Family was the first to recover.
He stepped forward with the polished confidence of a man who had brokered a thousand deals and won the vast majority of them.
"Grandmaster Korryn," Caelan began, his voice smooth and resonant, "allow me to be direct. Valemere Family recognizes your extraordinary talent. The pills you have produced are, without exaggeration, the finest our city has ever seen. We do not wish to compete with you, we wish to elevate you."
He paused for dramatic effect, his calculating eyes locked onto Rhain’s impassive face.
"Our family is prepared to offer a lump sum of ten billion Aetherium Crystals to acquire the Celestial Elixir Pavilion outright."
A visible ripple passed through the room.
Even Ashwin’s stern composure revealed a look of surprise.
Ten billion was a staggering figure.
Caelan pressed forward without pause, clearly intending to overwhelm before any objection could form.
"In addition to the acquisition, we propose an exclusive distribution contract. The Valemere Family will handle all sales, logistics, marketing, and client management across the entire region. We will supply every single raw material you require, Rare-Grade, Epic-Grade, whatever you need, delivered directly to your workshop at our expense."
He spread his hands magnanimously.
"In exchange, we ask for a modest sixty percent share of total revenue. You retain forty percent, and you need never concern yourself with the tedious business of running a shop again. You simply refine. We handle the rest. It is, I believe, the most generous arrangement any alchemist in the history of Stormveil City has ever received."
It was an offer designed to dazzle and overwhelm.
Caelan looked at Rhain, fully expecting the Grandmaster to be deeply moved by the sheer financial power of the Valemere Family.
Rhain looked at him for only a brief moment.
"No."
The single syllable dropped like a stone into still water.
Caelan’s smile froze. "I beg your pardon?"
"My shop is not for sale," Rhain stated flatly, his tone carrying no room for negotiation or further discussion. "Not for ten billion. Not even for a hundred billion. Celestial Elixir Pavilion is mine, and it will remain mine. I have no interest in becoming a supplier chained to someone else’s brand."
He shifted his gaze away from Caelan entirely, as if the man and his ten billion crystals had already ceased to exist in his mind.
"Furthermore, sixty percent revenue share for a middleman who contributes nothing but logistics? You must think very highly of your delivery carriages, Lord Caelan."
A sharp, involuntary snort escaped from Ashwin’s direction before the Emberford Chief Alchemist forcefully composed himself.
Caelan’s face flushed an ugly crimson.
His lips pressed into a thin line, and for a dangerous moment, his half-step Domain Master’s aura flickered with suppressed fury.
But he swallowed it down.
Antagonizing a Grandmaster Alchemist of unknown depth in front of his rivals would be the height of stupidity.
He stiffly returned to his seat, his jaw clenched so tightly the tendons in his neck stood out like cords.
The wiry Master Alchemist behind him leaned forward and whispered urgently, "My Lord, perhaps if we adjusted the revenue split to fifty-fifty—"
"Be quiet," Caelan hissed through gritted teeth.
Seeing her rival humiliated so effortlessly, Lyra Emberford stepped forward.
Rhain’s dark grey eyes shifted toward her.
He was mildly surprised to see the legendary prodigy of Stormveil City in person.
Her cascading crimson hair and beautiful features were indeed striking, and the dense Level 9 Spirit Manifestation aura radiating from her nineteen-year-old frame was undeniably impressive.
Yet, even as she offered a polite bow, Rhain could clearly see the fundamental arrogance etched into her bones.
She maintained a respectful posture, yet she carried herself like a royalty.
"Grandmaster Korryn," Lyra spoke, her voice clear and melodious, "Our Emberford Family does not seek to buy your shop. We have no interest in reducing a supreme alchemist of your caliber to a mere supplier."
She gestured toward Lord Ashwin, who gave a solemn nod.
"What we offer is a true partnership. The Emberford Family controls the largest network of exclusive herb plantations in the entire Stormveil region. Our mountain reserves contain the densest concentration of Epic-Grade spiritual flora within a thousand miles. No other family, not the Valemere, not the Thunderwood, can match the sheer volume and quality of raw materials we can provide."
Lyra’s crimson eyes locked onto Rhain’s impassive face.
"We are prepared to supply you with unlimited Epic-Grade herbs at cost price. You would pay only what it takes us to harvest and transport the materials. The savings alone would amount to hundreds of millions of Aetherium Crystals per year."
Beside her, Ashwin rose to his feet.
"In addition," Ashwin spoke, "our Emberford Family will place our entire network of established shops and distribution channels at your disposal. Crimson Cauldron Hall, the most trusted alchemical brand in Stormveil City for over three centuries will carry your pills alongside our own, granting you immediate access to every major market in the region without the burden of building your own infrastructure."
The combined force of their offer was undeniably impressive. Unlimited herbs at cost, immediate distribution through the most powerful alchemical brand in the city — it was the kind of deal that would make any independent alchemist weep with joy.
But then Ashwin continued, and the true intentions revealed itself.
"In exchange," Ashwin said, "all pills refined by the Grandmaster will be sold exclusively through Emberford-owned establishments. Celestial Elixir Pavilion will operate under the Crimson Cauldron Hall’s banner."
"Additionally, the Emberford Family requests that the Grandmaster personally instruct our family’s Master Alchemists in the refinement methodology behind achieving one hundred percent purity. This knowledge, combined with our existing alchemical heritage, would allow us to eventually replicate the process internally, ensuring that the legacy of flawless pills does not rest solely on the shoulders of one man."
There it was.
The velvet glove had been removed, and the iron fist beneath it was finally visible.
Rhain stared at Lyra and Ashwin, his dark grey eyes completely devoid of warmth.
He had to admit — the Emberford Family’s offer was significantly more sophisticated than the Valemere Family’s crude buyout attempt.
The herbs at cost price were genuinely valuable, and the distribution network was the most extensive in the region.
But beneath the gilded wrapping, the fundamental intent was identical.
They wanted to absorb his shop into their existing empire, erase the Celestial Elixir Pavilion’s independent identity, and ultimately extract his proprietary secrets so they could reproduce his work without him.
In other words, they wanted to turn him into a golden goose, pluck every feather, learn how to breed more geese, and then discard the original once it was no longer useful.
Rhain let out a slow, quiet breath through his nose.
"Let me make sure I understand your proposal correctly, Lady Lyra," Rhain said, his disguised voice deceptively calm. "You want me to rebrand my shop under your family’s name, sell exclusively through your channels so that every customer associates the flawless pills with the Emberford brand rather than mine, and on top of all that, you want me to personally hand over the refinement techniques that took me hundreds of years to perfect — so that your family’s alchemists can eventually produce the pills themselves and render me entirely obsolete."
He tilted his head slightly, a cold, razor-thin smile appearing on his disguised face.
"Tell me, Lady Lyra. In which part of this arrangement am I not simply a pet alchemist chained to the Emberford Family’s leash?"
Lyra’s beautiful brows furrowed slightly.
Stated so bluntly, it sounded harsh, but in her mind, the backing of the Emberford Family was an honor beyond measure. "Grandmaster, the protection and prestige of the Emberford name is—"
"The Emberford Family simply wishes to neutralize my shop as a competitor," Rhain interrupted, his cold voice dropping the temperature of the room.
Behind her, Ashwin’s stern face darkened considerably. The three Master Alchemists flanking him visibly bristled, their auras flickering with barely restrained indignation.
"Grandmaster," Ashwin spoke, his voice dropping to a dangerously low register, "I advise you to consider our offer more carefully. The Emberford Family does not extend its hand lightly. To refuse such generosity—"
Rhain raised his hand and dismissed him with the exact same motion one might use to swat away an annoying fly.
"I refuse. Take your pathetic offer and leave my sight."