Chapter 285 – The Princesses’ Situation
Zhao Hai entered the tent with Belluk with his head bowed down, using the corner of his eyes he observes everything inside. The ground is covered with a layer of thick carpet endowed with an extremely beautiful design on top, looking very high quality, stepping on it felt like stepping on clouds which is extremely comfortable.
There’s no fire pit inside the tent, but instead there is a big copper brazier about 1 meter in diameter. The brazier appeared very beautiful with its animal carvings. And on top of the brazier is a copper pot exuding the fragrance of milk tea.
At the top of the tent, a source brightness was hung. Zhao Hai stole a glance at it and saw a huge wheel shaped chandelier lamp, these are not oil lamps but is instead magic lamps. Zhao Hai felt very surprised, it seems that West Wonder King has been living comfortably, one must know that the price of a magic lamp is much greater than an oil lamp.
At this time, Belluk bowed, “This one has seen the prince.”
Zhao Hai recovered from his shock and immediately bowed following Belluk, “This one sees West Wonder King.”. Even though he hasn’t seen West Wonder King yet.
A hourse voice replied, “Don’t be so polite, Belluk, Mr.Zhao, please take a seat.”
Zhao Hai started to look up, the first thing he saw was a table, this isn’t a small table but a proper square table, it looked like a writing desk. On the opposite side of the table, a beastman could be seen, this beastman was about three meters high, has a huge Ox-head, a pair of scimitar-like horns, and an unattractive cow face caused by a very long scar, which made him look very fierce.
His body is very sturdy, he looks like a mountain just by sitting there. His body’s muscles are very angular and detailed, comparable to cast iron. Behind him is a huge mace whose head is as thick as Zhao Hai’s body.
The man was not wearing ordinary beastman leather clothes, nor is he wearing human cotton clothes, but instead he wore iron armor, a full set of human made iron armor, which made him look like a terrifying iron monster.
Looking at his appearance makes one think that he’s a battle maniac, a crude and rude man. But Zhao Hai thinks otherwise, the eyes of this West Wonder King is very bright, it gave you a look that seems to penetrate your body and pierce your soul.
Zhao Hai did not think that people who possess these kinds of eyes would be a crude man, this man is surely not a simple character. But Zhao Hai didn’t show any expression, after he expressed his gratitude, he sat down opposite West Wonder King on his table. Elder Belluk sat by his side.
West Wonder King curiously sized up Zhao Hai as he said in a deep voice, “Mr Zhao Hai, welcome to my camp, I must thank you for the grain.”
Zhao Hai smiles and replied, “Your majesty is too polite, we are also in need of your help, not to mention who to thank, I myself must express my gratitude to you, without your tribe buying my grain I may need to wait until next year to find trade again.”
West Wonder King laughed and said, “You humans really have your way with words, mister Zhao doesn’t need to be modest, as long as you bring your grain to the prairie, it’ll surely be instantly sold out.”
If Zhao Hai didn’t notice the look of his eyes before, he would’ve thought that West Wonder King was a hearty person who wouldn’t have machinations in his heart. So now Zhao Hai isn’t affected by the man’s current attitude. He just smiled and replied, “Your majesty is too kind, what I say is certainly true. I consider the cooperation with your majesty as long-term, not just this year, but the next year and the year after that as well. You couldn’t do that with any normal tribe, there no such guarantee. I wonder if I’d be honored to cooperate with your majesty for next year?”
West Wonder King didn’t think that Zhao Hai would quickly get to the point. He looked at Zhao Hai’s eyes and asked, “I wonder how much grain Mister Zhao can provide us next year?”
Zhao Hai thought for a moment then answered, “200 million jin!”
West Wonder King’s face didn’t show surprise, instead in a deep voice he asked, “The price?”
Zhao Hai smiled and replied, “Basically the same as this year, your majesty doesn’t need to worry. Moreover, I could confidently guarantee the grain’s quality.”
West Wonder King looked at Zhao Hai, “Mister, you have to know that 200 million jin of grain is quite a substantial amount for our tribe. If there are any problems with your grain, then my entire tribe may be affected.”
Zhai Hai nodded, “Of course I know about this matter, but your Majesty can be assured of my sincerity in this cooperation. I wont start transporting these 200 million jin of grains during autumn next year, I will instead send the grain in batches starting from the moment grass starts to grow on the prairie up until the start of winter when my carts can no longer traverse the landscape. What does your Majesty think?”
West Wonder King’s eyes turned cold, “Why can you grow grass extensively, to the point that you can send us food the moment the grass grows?”
Zhao Hai smiles and replied, “Your Majesty, I can only say that my territory has a special climate wherein I can plant grain three quarters of the year. When the prairie’s grass has grown, my first batch of grain would have just matured, after which I’ll send it to your Majesty.”
When West Wonder King heard what Zhao Hai said he was stunned for a moment and then he said, “Aren’t you a resident of Aksu Empire?” What West Wonder King asked makes sense, after all the general climate in the empire only allows planting in one quarter of the year. Only the countries at the front may have two or three seasons of planting.
Zhao Hai shook his head, “I’m not, please be assured your Majesty.”
[N: I think I need to do some re-reading beacause im pretty sure Buda clan is in Aksu empire. Maybe because his territory is quite far from the empire?]
West Wonder King nodded and said, “If mister is confident in his proposal, then we’ll purchase all of your grain, I can guarantee a fair price.”
Zhao Hai smiled, “This one thanks his Majesty, I will assure that his Majesty’s tribe will have a supply of grain. ” West Wonder King nodded,”Well then, I will not keep you here, Belluk, make sure to accommodate Mister Zhao properly.”
Zhao Hai hurriedly replied, “I wont dare make his Majesty worry, I’ll excuse myself.” He then stood up, gave a bow to West Wonder King and then went with Belluk to leave the tent.
On the ox carriage, Belluk looked at Zhao Hai and said, “I hope Mister wouldn’t be offended, there are currently a lot going on in the tribe, the prince really has no time to spare.”
Zhao Hai stared for a moment then smiled, “Elder is too polite, I’m not in the least offended, deciding the cooperation with His Majesty with me is already enough, the elder doesn’t need to worry about me, I’ll take care of my own matters.”
Belluk nodded, then went back to silence. Zhao Hai opened the window and looked outside, suddenly he notices a Herculean Bull soldier, he was handcuffed and fettered. He was pulling a large cart with difficulty and was followed by a Fighting Bull soldier who wielded a whip in his hand.
Upon seeing this scene, Zhao Hai cannot help but he shocked, his complexion changed and immediately understood what was going on. He immediately calmed down his expression then pulled down the curtains.
Luckily Belluk was maintaining his silence with closed eyes, so he did not see Zhao Hai’s actions. Zhao Hai let out a long breath, his heart became overwhelmingly calm, because he knew what that scene just now represented.
If the Herculean Bull’s 2nd and 3rd princesses still held power, the Fighting Bulls would not dare to such a thing to the Herculean Bulls. It appears that the Herculean Bulls in this camp are certain to be the 2nd and 3rd princesses’ retinue, now that the servants are treated this way, it is certain that the 2nd and 3rd princesses aren’t in any better state.
The carriage quickly arrived at Belluk’s tent. Zhao Hai dismounts from the carriage then politely said goodbye to Belluk, then he headed towards his tent because there are many things that he has to consider now. The most important thing is figuring out the 2nd and 3rd princesses’ whereabouts.
At noon, Laura and Meg returned, but although they had a smile on their faces, Zhao Hai noticed that those were somewhat restrained.
When Laura went inside the tent, Zhao Hai immediately turned on the monitor. Seeing that no one was following them, Laura talked, “Brother Hai, we just heard that the 2nd and 3rd princesses were demoted by West Wonder King to slaves, being forced to forage on the prairie.”
Zhao Hai nodded and added, “I thought so, just after I met with West Wonder King, I happen to see a Herculean Bull soldier pulling a cart while being whipped. If there was no incident with the 2nd and 3rd princesses, nobody would dare do such a thing to Herculean Bulls. It looks like West Wonder King is planning on returning to Fighting Bull chieftain’s side.
Laura anxiously replied, “Brother Hai, what do we do now? We must find a way to save the 2nd and 3rd princesses otherwise we wouldn’t have any face left to meet Brother Wales.”
Zhao Hai nodded, “Don’t worry, I have already thought about it, in a few days when the grain convoy gets out of the cow-headed race’s territory and had the grain loaded up, I will have the Ghost staff brought back by the blood hawk. If our scouting around West Wonder King’s camp goes well and we finally find the 2nd and 3rd princesses, we’ll find a time to rescue them.”
Laura thought for a moment then she nodded and said, “Presently this is only thing we can do and it’s not like we can do anything else at the moment. We also heard something from the Fighting Bulls, it looks like it came from other Fighting Bulls. It is said that with the recent intervention of a human during the conflict, the Fighting Bull chieftain decided to deport all human from their tribe.”
Zhao Hai paused, then he frowned, “So this is the case, the Fighting Bulls are really good at scheming. With this, not only can they let the humans escape, they can also provide an excuse, this chieftain of the Fighting bull tribe seems to be quite a character, now we don’t really know if they really did expell the humans from their tribe.”
Laura frowned, “It is not yet proven, just a speculation. There is also another rumor that the Fighting Bull chieftain killed the humans who helped him, and also that the Fighting Bulls are ready to attack West Wonder King.”
Zhao Hai nodded, “We don’t have to worry about that now, we need to think of means to rescue the princesses, we can talk about other matters later.”