249: First transaction

The earth seemed to come alive and began to squirm; ancient trees, dozens of meters tall, started moving to both sides after a tremor.

Before the astonished eyes of Freya and the others, a wide road appeared in front of them.

"Nature magic?"

"Who is casting it?"

Freya saw that the movement before her was the result of nature magic, but despite observing for a long time, she couldn't discover who the perpetrator was.

"Captain?"

Wendy looked at the suddenly appearing road and then at Freya.

"Don't act rashly; we'll just wait here."

Freya guessed the movement came from the Red River Territory, but she wasn't certain. To be safe, she didn't risk entering the Black Forest and chose to wait where she was.

Freya and a few others stood on high ground, gazing at the road in the forest. The wide path stretched from within the woods all the way to the other side of the hillside, vanishing from her sight.

"Forest Secret Path... is this the Forest Secret Path Count Ryan spoke of?"

"I didn't expect the Red River Territory to have such a powerful nature mage, capable of carving out a Forest Secret Path from the Red River Territory to here. Such strength!"

After some speculation, Freya felt it was more terrifying the more she thought about it; the Red River Territory's foundations were far deeper than she had anticipated.

Seeing the figure of a team appear at the end of the forest road, Freya suppressed her thoughts and prepared her people for the meeting. She was now certain that the suddenly appearing road was the Forest Secret Path Ryan had mentioned.

"Let's go, their people have arrived."

As Freya led her subordinates to pack up their goods and walk to the entrance of the Forest Secret Path, Jassol also arrived at the path's exit.

Looking at the destination nearly a hundred meters away, Jassol breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally, we're almost there. This is much more tiring than going south to the Royal Capital."

Although the Forest Secret Path was quite wide and flat, crossing mountains and valleys, going up and down along the way, still exhausted Jassol and his group.

They traveled at full speed without stopping except for necessary rest, and even then, it took them over ten days to reach their destination.

"Are those the people from the Violet Territory?"

Jassol saw the crowd waiting at the entrance and went forward to meet them.

The subsequent trade went very smoothly. After coordinating, Jassol and Freya quickly completed their first transaction. The goods and prices for the trade had already been roughly agreed upon by Freya and Ryan beforehand.

However, Jassol still discussed the finer details with Freya.

While their subordinates were moving the goods, Jassol and Freya conversed on the side about the specific prices for future shipments.

"Ms. Freya, according to the Lord's orders, I have already given you a very favorable price. You must understand that we are essentially delivering these goods to your doorstep, and we will also handle the transport of the goods you bring back ourselves, so you don't need to worry about it."

"We both know it's a journey of over a thousand miles from here to Red River City, and it's all mountain roads. Even with the Lord's Forest Secret Path, we still have to spend a significant amount of manpower and resources to transport the goods."

Freya had wanted to push for more price concessions, but Jassol's words left her speechless.

The fact was as Jassol said: in this trade, the Red River Territory contributed more by solving the most difficult transportation issues, while the Violet Territory only needed to handle transport within its own land, which was not only convenient but also involved very little risk.

"Alright, Mr. Jassol, let's go with the price you mentioned. You truly are an excellent merchant."

"You flatter me, Excellency!"

Jassol handed the potions and transcendent equipment from his spatial ring to Freya. These high-value items were few enough to fit entirely within a spatial ring, which was not only convenient but also ensured their safety.

Freya also transferred some transcendent mineral materials from her spatial ring to Jassol. The remaining ordinary goods were all loaded onto transport wagons.

The specially made transport wagons were pulled by Black-maned Horses, low-level magical beasts bred by the Red River Territory. Only the great endurance and strength of magical beasts could pull the large transport vehicles fully loaded with goods.

"A pleasure doing business with you, Ms. Freya!"

"Next time, the scale of our trade must expand. This small amount of goods is simply not worth such a long trip."

A dozen wagons of goods might seem like a lot, but this amount of minerals was nothing. Even the grain Jassol brought was only about twenty tons; the quantity was far too small.

"Don't worry, next time we will bring even more goods. We can supply as much as you can carry away."

"Then it's a deal. We will arrive here on time in one month. Please be prepared, Ms. Freya."

Jassol left with his haul, the heavy wagons leaving clear ruts on the road as they traveled.

The hardness of these dirt roads was even firmer than Jassol had estimated; the wagons didn't sink into the ground even after being loaded with heavier minerals.

He was very satisfied with this Forest Secret Path. With Treants protecting them, the team encountered no accidents along the way, and not even wild beasts appeared to harass the traveling group.

Soon, the team led by Jassol disappeared from Freya's sight.

Not long after Freya turned to leave the entrance, the earth trembled again, and the entrance to the Forest Secret Path quickly vanished before Freya and the others.

Freya looked at the dense forest, which had returned to its original state, with a complex expression.

Half a month later, Ryan received the first batch of goods brought by Jassol, the most valuable of which were a batch of transcendent obsidian and some mature magic plants.

"Once these magic plants are refined into potions, just pay the Violet Territory half of the finished products; the rest will be our processing fee. As for this obsidian, it can be exchanged for transcendent weapons. These are materials the Mage Tower urgently needs; we should buy more in the future."

Ryan intended to expand the Crimson Glory Mage Tower and also planned to build Mage Towers in other populous cities in the territory to protect them in the future.

Obsidian is an excellent material for building Mage Towers, especially transcendent-grade obsidian, which is widely used in Mage Tower construction.

The obsidian Ryan had previously collected at the Holy Mountain had all been used for the Crimson Glory Mage Tower. No obsidian mines had been discovered in the Red River Territory yet, so the high-quality obsidian mines in the Violet Territory were perfect for meeting Ryan's needs.

The Violet Territory sold raw materials while Ryan sold finished products; with this back-and-forth, Ryan could earn at least double the profit, and that was even with the friendship price he gave Freya.

"If Belmont finds out you're trading with the Stag Territory, it will likely cause quite a bit of trouble."

Alistair reminded Ryan from the side.

If one were to ask who in the entire Rage Bear Territory hated the Stag Territory the most, Belmont, the Grand Duke of the Raging Bear, would definitely be the first.

"Belmont hates Heisenberg the most. Isn't my helping the Violet Territory essentially dealing with Heisenberg?"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Belmont shouldn't fail to understand such a simple principle."

"Besides, he won't find out for a while. Even if he does later, it doesn't matter. He dumped the entire northern border for me to guard without giving me any money or men. Can't I find a way for myself?"

Ryan no longer cared much about Belmont's attitude. Over these three years, Belmont had failed to resolve internal conflicts, and the Grand Duke of the Raging Bear's prestige had plummeted. He was so preoccupied with his own problems that he had no energy left to manage border affairs.

"Business must be done, and the Violet Territory cannot be allowed to fall. There's something off about Heisenberg; I wouldn't feel at ease if he completely took control of the Stag Territory and became our neighbor."

"As long as the Countess of Violet can hold out, I don't mind giving her a little more help."

Ryan's objective was very clear.