Chapter 140: 88

Chapter 88: Take Care

Erwin could tell that she was insulting Onean, and he thought to himself, You were unconscious the entire time while those flying dragons were decimating our armies, so you're naturally not afraid of them.

However, he had a request to make to Gwen, so he naturally wasn't going to verbally denounce her.

"Alright, seeing as you've already made up your mind, I won't try to convince you to stay," Gwen said after a brief moment of contemplation. "If you want to come back at any time, I'll welcome you with open arms."

Erwin nodded in response, then said, "We came to see you today because we want one thing in particular."

"You just mentioned that you want to purchase some precious ore, right? Are you planning to buy them from me?" Gwen asked with a faint smile. "You came to me because you want a more favorable price, right?"

"If it's just any type of ore, then I wouldn't have come to trouble you," Erwin said. "I'm not exactly the most reputable person, but I wouldn't try to exploit you at a time like this."

"I guess that's true. Alright, so what kind of ore do you want from me?" Gwen asked.

"I'm sure you've heard of Fall Crystals, right?" Erwin asked as he took a glance at her.

Gwen's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "How do you know about Fall Crystals?"

Gwen's response immediately confirmed Erwin's suspicions that Governor Jenkins had a secret stash of Fall Crystals in his manor, and Christine also took a subtle glance at him upon hearing this.

He understood what Christine was trying to convey to him, so he didn't mention the Lodais Organization. "Christine told me about them. She's been traveling across the continent to do business for many years, so she's naturally heard about many obscure things."

Erwin knew that Gwen had to have come into contact with Christine while she was staying on the airship and recovering from her injuries.

"You know about Fall Crystals?" Gwen asked as she turned to Christine with a skeptical expression.

Christine nodded in response.

"Can those things be found in the north as well?" Gwen asked.

"Yes. To put it more accurately, Fall Crystals can be found in all mines near the Terarody Mountain Ranges," Erwin replied in Christine's stead.

"In that case, they shouldn't be very valuable to you," Gwen said. "If they can be found in all mines near the Terarody Mountain Ranges, then doesn't that mean they're produced in the north as well?"

"Fall Crystals may be produced in the north, but very few people know about them. I only know about them as I heard some of my older relatives mention them in passing. On top of that, the northern side of the Terarody Mountain Ranges consists of a dense and eerie forest that's rife with magic beasts, so no one dares to mine for Fall Crystals there," Christine explained. "Brother Erwin asked me where there are some types of precious ore that we can purchase here to be sold in the north, and that was what led me to recall the stories I've heard about Fall Crystals. Brother Erwin is very interested in them as well. According to my relatives, there are always Fall Crystal mines near large mountain ranges, so I presume there would be Fall Crystals here in Fooz as well. That's why we decided to come here today to try our luck and see if you've heard of them."

Gwen was silent for a moment before directing her gaze back to Erwin and Christine. "To tell you the truth, I do have some Fall Crystals. There's no need to hide this information anymore, so I'll tell you what I know. From what I've heard, these pieces of Fall Crystal ore were discovered by my father in a cave on the Zam Highlands."

Indeed, with the passing of King Cameron, there was no longer any need to hide the fact that she owned Fall Crystals. A new era was being ushered into the Effer Kingdom, and in the wake of such a massive change, no one was going to come after her for her secret Fall Crystal stash.

"How much do you have?" Erwin asked.

Gwen took a glance around the room, then replied, "About enough to fill this entire room."

Erwin couldn't help but draw a sharp breath upon hearing this, and he turned to Christine as he said, "We won't be able to take that much with us."

"It's alright, Brother Erwin. If we can't make it in one trip, then we can make multiple trips for the Fall Crystals," Christine said with a smile.

What Erwin actually wanted to say was that he didn't think that he had enough money to purchase such a large quantity of Fall Crystals, while Christine was telling him that there was always a solution in business, it was just a matter of negotiation.

"How do you plan to buy these Fall Crystals from me?" Gwen asked with a curious expression.

This was an issue that he had already considered the night before, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he said, "Truth be told, we don't even know the exact price for these things."

"Surely you have to have some sort of plan. Did you really come to me first thing in the morning without any idea of what you're doing?" Gwen asked as her brows furrowed slightly.

"Of course not," Erwin said as he looked at Gwen. "How about this? I'll leave 50,000 Loonies with you here in exchange for a few boxes of Fall Crystal ore. If we can sell them for a good price in the north, I'll give you half the profits. If we don't manage to make any profit, then you can keep the 50,000 Loonies as my contribution to the army of Fooz."

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"So you're saying you're going to give me half the profits no matter how high a price you sell the Fall Crystal ore for?" Gwen was rather skeptical about these overtly favorable terms.

"That's right. We'll weigh out the first batch of Fall Crystal ore that you give us in exchange for the 50,000 Loonies, and Christine will come to pay you a visit the next time she returns to Fooz. If we make any profit over the 50,000 Loonies, we'll split you half," Erwin said. "Of course, that's only on the condition that we do manage to make a profit."

Christine nodded in agreement with this plan. It was quite a sound plan to her, and 50,000 Loonies was also a reasonable amount to invest in this endeavor.

"But I have no idea how much these things are worth. What if even with half of the profit that you make, I'm still being short-sold in this deal?" Gwen asked with an amused smile.

A faint smile also appeared on Erwin's face as he said, "That depends on whether you trust me enough to go through with this deal. Alternatively, why don't you send someone with us to the north."

"No, thanks. I have better things to worry about than to send someone to the north to spy on you," Gwen chuckled.

"Well, if you refuse to believe me, then it looks like we've hit an impasse," Erwin said with a resigned smile. "I thought you'd have more trust in me seeing as we were schoolmates, but it looks like I was too optimistic."

"Alright, alright, we'll do as you say," Gwen finally conceded. "The Fall Crystal ore has been here for quite a few years already, and we don't know what to do with it anyway, so you can have it if you want it."

Gwen was agreeing to this proposition so easily for two reasons, the first of which was that she really did have no use for the Fall Crystal ore. Thus, it certainly wasn't a bad arrangement if Erwin could take them off her hands in exchange for money. After all, she was planning to raise an army, and she needed all the money that she could get. Secondly, she and Erwin had both escaped from the battle on the Marrod Plain together. Even though they weren't exactly close, and they couldn't even be considered to be friends back when they were attending Teedus Academy together, the two of them were suffering through similarly tragic circumstances, and that led her to believe that Erwin wouldn't deceive her.

At the end of the day, the main reason behind her decision was their relationship as past schoolmates. During the past several years of observation, Gwen had deemed Erwin to be a very trustworthy and reliable person. Even though he was always hanging out with the class clowns like Larwood and Chase, that still did nothing to cloud her judgment of his character.

Of course, Erwin wasn't planning to deceive her in the first place. 50,000 Loonies was all that he could realistically offer at the moment, and he really was planning to make a significant profit from the Fall Crystals before splitting Gwen half of the profits to support her efforts in raising an army. He knew that the army's chances against Lazaar's forces would be extremely slim, but the enemy of an enemy was a friend, and he still wanted to support the army of Fooz as much as possible.

"Are you really not planning to stay?" Gwen circled back to the previous topic of conversation again. She wanted to try and convince Erwin to stay as she had a feeling that if Erwin were willing to stay, then Onean would also be willing to stay.

"I've made up my mind," Erwin said in a firm voice. For some reason, he was feeling a little diffident in front of Gwen. He knew that on the surface, Gwen was fighting for a noble cause, attempting to dethrone Lazaar, who had seized the throne through unscrupulous means, but in reality, it was mostly for her own quest for vengeance. However, he still couldn't help but feel a little meek in the face of someone so determined and driven.

Perhaps it was because he was really lost and lacking direction at the moment. Perhaps he truly was feeling fearful, and that was why he felt this way. 

Thus, he felt a sense of admiration toward Gwen, and even toward Kaiba. In his eyes, the two of them were very courageous.

"Alright, then I can only wish you a smooth journey ahead." Even though Gwen was smiling as she spoke, there was an inexplicable sense of sorrow in her voice.

...

After their meeting with Gwen, Erwin and Christine took a stroll through the garden of the governor's manor.

"Brother Erwin, do you know why I didn't take Lanyon with us to see Elder Lewen yesterday?" Christine suddenly asked.

"Didn't you say that you were worried that a misunderstanding would arise? Is there another reason?" Erwin was actually quite curious about this as well, but he didn't want to raise the question to Christine in Lanyon's presence. After they came back to the governor's manor, he chatted with Onean until late into the night, so he didn't get a chance to ask Christine about this.

"That's one reason. I didn't want the people from the Lodais Organization to think that we were working with local officials to try and gather inside information on them. They're very sensitive and cautious when it comes to things like this. Hence, we have to be careful when dealing with them," Christine said in a quiet voice.

"But Lanyon is just a commoner from Tewadedan. Surely they have no reason to be wary of him."

Christine turned to look at Erwin as she said, "While it's true that Lanyon may be a commoner right now, how can you be sure that he was always a commoner before you met him?"

"Oh, I see." An enlightened look appeared on Erwin's face, and he finally understood why Christine had suddenly raised this issue at a time like this.

So what she's really worried about is that Lanyon could be an informant for the governor's manor, and that's why she didn't want to bring him along to see Elder Lewen, Erwin thought to himself. It was no wonder that Christine had been entrusted with such heavy responsibilities at such a young age. Despite her youth, her foresight and critical thinking skills were sharper than that of most adults.

However, Erwin didn't harbor any suspicions toward Lanyon.

Not long after the two of them returned to the airship, Gwen sent some servants to carry several heavy crates onto the airship, and these servants were accompanied by Kaiba as well.

Erwin was wondering who he was going to give the 50,000 Loonies to, and now that Kaiba was here, he had someone to whom he could entrust the money.

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