Chapter 1719 – Dealing

“A wise investment,” Merchant nodded sagely, her glasses glinting in the dim light of the ship’s stateroom. She gathered up the documents from the table in her front claws, stacking them neatly before placing them in her satchel. “The delvers of Green Mountain are a force to be reckoned with, who could possibly place a price on such exceptional and dedicated servants of their home city?”

It was difficult to say this without sounding sarcastic, given the fact the Colony had swept up over a thousand of them in a matter of days. But Merchant was who she was, and came across as nothing but sincere and pleased for the people of the Mountain.

To Alice Erry, it was utterly galling.

Getting the Council to agree to the ant’s usurious price had been a nightmare. None had been willing to let the ants simply keep citizens of Green Mountain indefinitely, that would have been an outrage the people would never stand for, but getting them to settle on a single course of action had taken the best negotiators working around the clock to achieve.

“It was close to war,” Alice said bitingly, receiving her own papers and putting them away. “Only in the last hour were the votes swayed towards paying your fee.”

“War?” Merchant asked, as if she had never considered such a possibility. She shook her head energetically. “Absolutely terrible for business. It would cost more than the price you just paid, and you wouldn’t get your people back anyway! No, I am pleased that your Council has made the wise decision. It bodes well for the future relations between our people.”

Alice very much doubted that. The Council was furious at having to shell out such an exorbitant sum, devastating the budget and forcing them to impose a levy on the people to cover the shortfall. Now the commonfolk from the bottom of Green Mountain to the top were up in arms against the ants even more than they were before.

“If your goal was to cement the ill-feeling my people have towards monsters, then you have certainly achieved it,” she said.

Merchant laughed.

“Of course not. We simply wanted to make sure that you were smart enough to pay. It really is the wisest choice. Now, when we take your people again, we can be confident you will do the right thing to get them home without any fuss.”

Alice paused, then frowned.

“You want to take our people again? How are you proposing to get them now that they are safe within the city? Is this… a threat of invasion?”

“Invasion? Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous. That would… why… that would be so hypocritical of us! After criticising your people and making you pay such a high price for invading our lands and threatening our people–”

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“Monsters, not people.”

“To think we would breach the walls of your fine city and… and snatch your delvers out of their beds? That would be madness. Of course we have no such intent.”