After he identified himself, Petrov was allowed access to the gardens and he was then lead by a guard towards the castle’s Grand Hall.
This was a place he had already visited many times before, but when he entered it today, it was like he was entering a completely new territory. All the guards standing in the corridors were ones he had never seen before, no one smiled at him after he greeted them, they just stared back blankly. He was stopped by a knight before the entry door of the hall.
“State your name.”
“Petrov Hull,” Petrov answered slightly unhappily, he didn’t like the other one’s interrogatory tone, and so he emphasized, “For you, it’s Lord Hull.”
“I see,” it seemed like his counterpart didn’t accept that statement as being the truth, instead he just looked at the parchment in his hand, “Shalafi Hull, Count Honeysuckle is your…”
“Father.”
“I’m Carter Lannis, The Chief Knight of the 4th Prince. Please come with me to the side room first, we need to check if you have any weapons hidden on your body.”
After a thorough search, only Petrov’s God’s Stone of Retaliation was taken away by the guards.
“That’s not a weapon,” Petrov reminded.
“Of course not,” the knight nodded. “We will return it to you after the meeting.
He opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn’t say another word. They really will give me the stone back? His God’s Stone of Retaliation was one of the strongest kinds, with a worth of at least fifty gold royals, so he couldn’t believe that the other side wouldn’t replace it with a defective stone. That isn’t important, he thought, I will just take it as part of the ransom.
When he finally entered the hall, he saw the 4th Prince sitting on the throne writing something down. When the prince raised his head, he had a startled expression on his face, but then he laughed, “We met once again, Mr. Ambassador.”
It was still the familiar face and tone, letting Petrov feel a little more relaxed, so he gave him a bowing salute, “I present my regards to you, Your Royal Highness.”
“Sit down,” said Roland, raising his hand to offer him his seat, “In all likelihood, you want to know what happened. I can tell you that your father was not hurt, he was the first to surrender.”
“Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness,” Petrov said quickly. “I do not know how much ransom Your Highness will want, as long as my father can be let out, I will immediately send all of our money to you.”
“I do not need money,” Roland shook his finger. “I want livestock and people.”
It was normal to want livestock, and even fifty years ago, when the conflict between the Lords had ended, most of the time the loser had to pay for cattle and sheep, stories like this was something he had often times read in books. But… People, what would that mean? “Your Royal Highness, cattle, sheep, horses, of those the Honeysuckle territory has a lot of, as for people…”
“Very simple, I’m in need of bricklayers, masons, carpenters, farmers, serfs and so on,” the Prince handed him a scroll, “You can pay us according to the numerical conversion above, as long as you can reach the total number of three thousand it will be enough.” He smiled, conveniently, it was this Count from whom he had caught the most knights, so he also had to pay the highest ransom.”
Petrov spread the scroll at the table.
Written on it were the names of all kinds of domesticated animals and the profession of people, followed by a number, such as: cattle 3, sheep 2, mason 10 and the like, he immediately understood the meaning of all this.
A value of three thousand was the same as a herd of one thousand cattle or 300 masons were only enough to redeem his father. Of course, his territory wasn’t able to provide so many cattle and masons. But with this paper, he had so many possible combinations of items, so many choices. As a noble who had to work daily with trade, Petrov instantly realized, how much finesse had been put into this list. Just a few days would be enough to calculate the optimal solution for the minimum costs for his territory which would still meet the requirements of three thousand points.
“Your Royal Highness, I can…”
“One day, you only have one day,” Roland stretched out his index finger, “This only means that you have to make your choice in one day, after all, you can’t gather so many people and animals in three to four days. But I can’t always stay here, at most I will stay here for a week, then I will leave.”
“One day it is…” Petrov suddenly got so shocked that he stared at Roland with large eyes, “Wait, you just said… that you want to leave?” What does this mean? If the Prince didn’t lie in the letter, then the Duke has already died on the battlefield. With this Longsong Stronghold now belonged to His Highness. But now he was actually saying that he wanted to leave, why would he want to return to that small and broken down Border Town? No, that was beside the point! The key point was that if His Royal Highness went away, who would manage this magnificent city? His mind became a stormy sea, would one of the Duke’s children inherit the throne? When he thought through everything that he knew, this didn’t seem to be a possibility, after all, it would only be a question of time until they build up a new force to avenge their father? In addition to the Ryan family and the other five noble families, were there any others who could take over?
“Yes,” Roland nodded. “I’ll take the ransom and then I will return to Border Town.”
Petrov’s mind was suddenly filled with an outrageous idea, and the moment he had thought of it, he was unable to suppress it.
“Your Royal Highness,” Petrov began, then he had to swallow and was only able to whisper. “Excuse me, is there also a numerical value which can ‘redeem’ Longsong Stronghold?”
Chapter 120 Ransom (Part 2)
Hearing this question, Roland looked at Petrov in interest, and then laughingly said: “You’re the first person to ask me that.” He then took his cup and drank from it, afterward stated explaining in a casual tone, “There is no doubt that Longsong Stronghold belongs to me. It’s still mine, even while I’m not here. But, I do need a man, or a family, to supervise the stronghold for me, so you should not be asking for a ransom, but rather for a ‘Representative’s Fee.”
Representative… Petrov was no stranger to this word, as a sharp-eyed businessmen they would always fix their aim on increasing the output of their territory, but all the peddling nobles didn’t really have the time or would express disdain for this sort of work, so in the end they could look for others to sell their goods to. In order to obtain that right, the merchants had to pay a sum in advance, as a deposit.
“How many gold royals would you want?” After asking, he took a deep breath to trying to calm himself down.
“This would be a long-time deal, so it wouldn’t be over with just one payment,” Roland paused, “Every Month you have to pay 30 % of the stronghold’s tax revenue, as well as a material worth of 1000 points, everything else would be for yourself.”
That doesn’t sound excessive, Petrov thought, as long as I could get complete control over Longsong Stronghold, so it seems that even the Prince can be fair. But first I have to confirm that the Prince isn’t actually joking, that he really is willing to go through with this.
This would really be a golden opportunity; Petrov was completely hooked. I and the Prince aren’t mortal enemies, since the Duke has completely failed, his children will also be deprived of their right of inheritance. Even the coalition of six noble families can’t defeat the Prince, who can prevent him from taking over the Western territories? To join the stronger side is one of the basic principles of the continuation of one own nobility, if I can gain the approval of His Highness before the other four families even know of it, House Honeysuckle will become the strongest family within the Western territories.