Chapter 2024: Making It Too Easy

Obviously, they did not want to introduce the Darklight Host to their inland connections so easily. The Immortal World that they were on was enormous, with nearly a billion potential customers.

But with the restrictions on portal distance, having a network of allies was of the utmost importance in getting gear moved around the world.

Most Clans didn’t use wagons or anything so slow to move goods around. Instead, they used a group of fast-moving Immortals, including the merchant. They would travel city to city, hawking their goods, and buying more.

It was risky to travel through the wilderness, as you would need a spatial item to hold all the trade goods.

And spatial items could be stolen.

So, they would try to find locations like the Darklight Host, that had a portal to the New Home Merchant Clan, and move between cities that way.

In fact, that was how many of them ended up here in the first place.

They had been at the New Home’s trade area when the phenomenon happened, and they had followed the crowd through the portal.

"Miss Andrea, could you tell me if your Guild is looking to sign new distribution contracts? My alliance would be interested in signing a guarantee of production contract with the Darklight Host," the merchant on Andrea’s right suggested.

Andrea pretended to consider it, though she already knew the answer. "The production teams are much more comfortable only making guarantees to the closest allies of the Guild. However, we do make guaranteed terms contracts for bulk customers.

That way, every time you come for supplies you know that you will be able to get goods for a set rate, usually as a percentage off wholesale.

The Blue Elves, for example, work on a contract like that."

They actually got a production guarantee, in that Karl would make sure that they got what they requested, and they didn’t have to wait for things to be made, or haggle over what would be provided.

But that wasn’t in the written contract, as they were concerned about the price, not the quantity.

The Merchant smiled. "I’m sure that we can work something out. I have deals with a number of auction houses, and I can guarantee a dozen or more items every month at Peak Immortal Rank."

Andrea’s years of training as an assassin saved the dignity of the Guild at that moment. Was that considered a large customer here? She had seen people buy more than that just for themselves and their closest Elders. The Elves took fifty times that much every shipment, and they took Supreme Ranked items as well.

"That volume won’t be a problem. We keep more than enough in stock that you can pick up whenever you happen to arrive," she added when she realized that the silence was getting a bit long.

"Oh? I didn’t realize that the Darklight Host had a source of materials that would let them keep stock at that level."

Andrea nodded. "We have a dungeon of our own now, and will be accepting payments in raw materials. However, we also have agreements with the Yizimon Clan for weekly clearances with mining rights, and the Blue Elves for imported or naval resources.

It gives us a rather well-rounded base to our crafting.

We also have resource locations for Alchemy potion ingredients that are a bit more private. However, they are enough that our limited number of Alchemists and Pill Masters can work at their leisure with reasonable guarantees of all but the most rare resources."

"You have a Pill Master?" The man who had identified himself as part of the Assassin’s Guild asked.

"Indeed. I am the head of the Pill Masters, but we also have a standard Alchemy department. We are a fully developed and well-rounded crafting Guild. Nothing that comes to us as a resource is useless to us."

That made the man smile. "Oh, in that case, we have much to discuss. There is a particular pill that I would like to have made, but it needs a Supreme Ranked Pill Master."

That made everyone else curious. Could he have found a rare resource that might help him break through a bottleneck? If he had, and he could move up from the early stages of Supremacy, his Clan would become something to be feared.

But the price that he would pay for it would be stupendous.

At their Ranks, even a small advantage was enough to cause jealousy among their peers. So, getting a chance at Supreme Ranked items, advancement resources, and the other benefits that the Darklight Host could offer would turn everything on its head.

However, none of them could afford to try to arrange an alliance against them.

Even if you did manage to get enough members to challenge the Darklight Host, everyone else would stand with them, simply to stop you from monopolizing the resources.

The Darklight Host had played this masterfully, he decided. There was no scenario where they could be safely challenged at this point without it turning into a regional civil war. Anyone who tried to take them out would either have to do it before anyone noticed, or they would have to use such overwhelming force that they could scare everyone else away.

But the Darklight Host had a Legend visiting them for the day from another branch, which implied that they had much more depth than they were willing to show.

Watching the calculations that went through their minds amused Andrea. They were telling her everything that she needed to know about their Clans, and she hadn’t even had to start using her Succubus Charm yet.

If they were all going to make things this easy on her, she was going to have to reconsider the art of being a spymaster.

Who would even need her services if people made it this easy to get information?

On the other hand, it was quite pleasant to simply eat dinner without the double layer of intrigue and suspicion. If every day was like this, and her staff could collect enough information that the Darklight Host wouldn’t be caught by surprise, she could almost consider it a part-time job.