Chapter 89: Diplomatic Talks

The news about a hidden herbal garden underneath the agricultural land soon spread in the entire City of Vanta.

All its citizens were shocked when they heard of this news. To think they had unearthed such a secret.

Moreover, the men who were spreading the secret the were same people who joined Shun on his expedition in the tunnel.

They had heard his reasoning and also saw the proof with their very own eyes. They admired and respected Shun from the bottom of their hearts so when they talked about it to other people, they would tell them about Shun excitedly.

Even the listeners were becoming more curious about their new Mayor. When he had given his speed and even staked his life over his promises, many people had thought it was easy to speak but hard to show results.

But in just days, they saw the results.

The people now saw hope in Shun's promises. They were hoping that he would be able to accomplish what he had promised.

There was one thing Shun asked his subordinates to hide. And that was the involvement of the Barret Noble House.

He had an idea on how he should handle this and maximize his profits.

In a few days, the herbs and fruits from underground herbal land were now stored in the warehouse.

Shun knew that he wouldn't be able to store them for long and let them retain their medicinal properties. They must be sold quickly.

However, he wasn't flustered. He knew of a source that could easily buy all these herbs and fruits. He planned to sell all these things to the Royal Family!

Only the Royal Family would be willing to give a good price over these many herbs. Also, he had another motive behind choosing the Royal Family.

Shun didn't waste any time and used the Voice Transmission Array Stones to give the details to the Royal Palace. He intentionally omitted the Barret Family's name.

~~

The next day, it was the King who personally talked to Shun using the Voice Transmission Stone.

Even Shun was surprised as he didn't expect his request to catch the king's interest.

"We heard of the details from our minister. We are willing to buy most of those raw resources."

Those words relieved Shun.

"Do you want to trade in gold coins or spirit coins?" The King asked with a mirthful tone.

Shun quickly replied, "Gold Coins will be most appreciated since I will be dealing with common people. A Spirit Coin is maybe too much for them and it would destabilize the economy."

"Good. Is there any assistance you need?" The King asked him with a serious voice this time.

Shun knew that the king was making an offer. He thought for some moments and spoke, "If possible, I would request your majesty to send a few individuals who can create a herbal garden and manage it as well."

"Very well. I will send an array master and a dozen of specialists for raising herbs. The array master can create arrays up to 4 Star Arrays. He is also a young genius so he has some chance of becoming a 5 Star Array Master. He should be able to satisfy most of your demands." The King told Shun.

Shun replied after a small pause, "…Thank you, your majesty."

"Aren't you going to ask me why I am helping you so much?" The King's voice sounded amused.

Shun replied with a grateful voice, "How can I guess the thoughts of His Majesty?"

Suddenly, the voice from the King's side turned solemn, "Giving such a reply to me. Do you think of me as a fool, Shun?! Tell me what are your true thoughts."

Shun remained calm and replied, "...Alright. I believe the reason behind such assistance from His Majesty is because you want to give an example through me. After all, I am one of the first knights who had been assigned territory by His Majesty."

From the other side, he heard a soft sigh and then rather calm words, "Your astuteness surprises me every time."

"It's nothing much, Your Majesty." Shun humbly replied.

"Alright. Enough of this. I will send gather the people and send them as soon as possible." The King then cut the link from his end.

Shun placed down the Voice Transmission Array Stone and picked up a blank sheet of paper. He placed the paper on his table along with an inkpot.

Shun then picked up a feather and began to write a letter with good handwriting.

The contents of the letter went like this.

"Greetings, Lord Barret.

I am Shun Gordon, the new Mayor of the City of Vanta. You see, when I was inspecting the city, I found something interesting tunnel. I am sure you know of it but still let me give you brief info.

In this tunnel, someone had raised a massive herbal land that sucked the vitality out of the agricultural land of the City of Vanta. While exploring the tunnel, I met many men who told me more about this tunnel and who constructed it.

You see, this massive herbal land may have assisted the alchemists and pharmacists in supplying them with the raw materials but it had also ruined the lives of all the citizens from the City of Vanta. This crime is unforgivable.

The king is also intrigued as to who perpetrated such a heretical act and has stated his desire to punish the culprit harshly.

If Lord Barret remembers something, then please contact me within a week. My tongue might slip after this time.

Yours sincerely,

Shun Gordon."

Shun even signed at the end.

He then summoned an official and then told him, "Send someone to take this letter to the Barret House's territory. Also, bring the head of one of their subordinates. That would make it more effective."

The official remained calm as he was given such a task. He bowed respectfully and promised to accomplish this task before leaving.

~~

A few days later in another part of the Sinyalian Kingdom, a man stood while holding a faint yellow-colored paper in his hand.

His hand was shaking in rage as he read the contents on that paper. This man was none other than Marquis Barret.

Since 300 years ago, the rank of the nobility had advanced by one grade and they were now a powerful and prestigious Marquis Family.

Multiple respected families would try to get in their good books. There were many cases when reputed warriors would come and request the Barret Family to enlist them in their personal force.

The Noble Heirs were proud and arrogant of their family. Their arrogance was quite reasonable because of the strong foundation they possessed.

Today, though, someone threatened Mark Barret, the current leader of the Barret Noble House. And this person wasn't from a comparable background to his; instead, he was a lowly knight who had just been promoted by the King.

As he held that letter, he felt as if he had been humiliated by an ant. And the most frustrating thing was that he couldn't do anything about it.

Mark Barret understood that since this kid dared to send such a letter to him then he had sufficient proof that Barret Family was behind it.

In his generation, they hadn't been careful enough and had left behind a lot of evidence in the tunnel.

"Good. Very good." He muttered with an enraged look, "Since you want to play such a game then let's play it to your death."

~~

Two days later, a delegate from the Barret Noble House arrived in Shun's office.

Shun remained seated as he saw the representative from the Barret Noble House. He dismissed everyone else from his office while observing the person.

He was neatly dressed and had a scholarly air around him.

"Mayor Shun, my name is Leroy Graves, and I'm a representative from the Barret House. I've come to strike a deal with you," Leroy spoke with a calm voice.

Shun spoke, "I am thankful that the Barret House has sent their delegate. I was worried that my letter might have been ignored. It seems I was worried for nothing."

"Nonsense. Even though Marquis Barret is busy with all kinds of tasks but how could he ignore to read the letter penned by the Sinyalian Kingdom's youngest knight?" Leroy spoke.

On the surface, it appeared as if Leroy was complimenting Shun. But in reality, he was making a jab at Shun for being a knight. He was reminding the difference between a knight and a Marquis to Shun.

Shun caught that part and merely smiled. As expected of the Barret House, they hadn't sent a random representative.

"That relieves me then let's proceed towards the main topic," Shun spoke calmly.

"As I mentioned in my letter to Marquis Barret, I found a Herbal Land underneath the city's agricultural land. I have evidence that this Herbal Land was set up by the Barret House." Shun paused as he saw that Leroy wanted to say something.

"I hope Mayor Shun will pardon me for asking this question, but what is the evidence?" Leroy inquired, his voice firm. Even though he was pleading with Shun to forgive him, his tone said something different.

Shun had expected such a question from him and replied with a calm voice, "I captured a man guarding that Herbal Land in the tunnel. He has already confessed it was the Barret House who assigned him to this location. Should I bring him here?"

"Please accept my apologies for this insult once more. Mayor Shun, however, this is not conclusive proof. There is no evidence that this individual is stating the truth. He may be attempting to frame the Barret House. As you may be aware, the higher your rank the more people are jealous of you. He might have been planted by one of the rivals of Barret House." Leroy said in a calm tone. He talked with such assurance, as though he was sure that everything he said was true.

Shun had an amused look as he heard Leroy. He asked, "What of their weapons and the storage items with the Barret House's symbol? Have they been planted as well?"

"Undoubtedly! Someone is trying to frame the Barret House." Leroy spoke with a confident voice, he then added, "Mayor Shun, allow me to reveal the real reason Marquis Barret had sent me here. He wished to cooperate with you and find the true perpetrator."

"Find the true perpetrator, huh?" Shun whispered.

Leroy nodded and further added, "That's right. In reality, Marquis Barret was quite unhappy that you would send such a rude letter to him. He is quite fond of you so he sent me if it was someone else, he would have not been heavily fined for sullying the prestige of his Noble House."

'So, Marquis Barret isn't planning to admit that he is the one who created that Herbal Land. In fact, he wanted me to apologize and pay him a fine for sullying the prestige of his Noble House.'

At this moment, something unexpected occurred. Shun began to chuckle.

When Leroy saw Shun chuckling, he felt strangely uncomfortable. This wasn't the reaction he was expecting, "Why are you laughing, Mayor Shun?"

Shun replied with a question of his own, "How can I not laugh when hearing such hilarious words?"

"What do you mean, Mayor Shun? I don't understand." Leroy asked with a puzzled look.

Shun stopped laughing soon enough and spoke seriously, "Tell me, do you think of others as clowns?"

"What-"

Before he could speak any further, Shun interrupted him with an icy cold voice, "Silence! I listened to your nonsense for quite some time. Now it's your turn to listen."

Leroy was surprised as he heard that cold tone.

"You said that the confession of that guard wasn't conclusive evidence. I beg to differ though. According to my research, the family of this guard is in a small town within the Barret Territory. On my table are the official papers that state this guard joined the forces of the Barret House. Are they fake? Then what about the official papers of the other guards who were in the tunnel. Although it was troublesome to find their families because they were dead, 3 families still turned up. Were they planted as well?"

Leroy was surprised to hear Shun's words but he still replied, "Yes, there is no doubt about it. It's possible that there is a spy among the Barret Noble House's ranks and he has been creating these identities without the knowledge of Marquis Barret. In this case, Marquis Barret can't be held responsible "

Shun thought 'He is now preventing the Barret Noble House from being held responsible over this matter.'

"Let's say you are speaking the truth and those people are indeed planted by someone else to frame the Barret House. Then what about the herbs. Most of these herbs are the ones that are sold by the Barret House in large quantities. However, according to what I have heard, the herbal garden in the Barret Noble House's territory is not large enough to export so many herbs. How does the Barret Noble House export so many herbs though? However,  when one looks at the Herbal Land, it all fits." Shun explained calmly.

Leroy broke out in cold sweat as he heard that explanation. He still replied, "This is merely your guess, Mayor Shun. This relates to the secrets of the Barret Noble House. I apologize but I cannot explain any further."

"I don't care. The truth will be revealed soon. Now that the Barret House has been cut off from the supply, the export of the herbs and other resources will soon stop. I hope you have prepared a good excuse at that time. I don't think the rivals of the Barret House will let go of such a perfect opportunity to bring it down." Shun gave a smile to Leroy that intimidated him greatly.

"…What are your demands, Mayor Shun?" Leroy asked a little fearfully. As Shun continued to talk, he felt that the situation was much more hopeless than he believed. To think that this man had deduced so much already.

Shun spoke, "We are finally on the right topic."

"Firstly, the agricultural land had been greatly damaged and its vitality had been sucked because of this stratagem from the Barret House. So, I want you to send enough fertilizer to recover the vitality of the land."

"Secondly, for the next 3 years, the Barret House will provide me any seed I require for free. I will send a list of seeds every three months."

"Thirdly, I want Barret House to assist me when I ask for it."

"I only have these three conditions but do remember if I feel there is something wrong with the land or the seeds then this information along with the evidence might be found in the hands of the King. Good luck pleading mercy at that time," Shun spoke with a calm voice.

Leroy was surprised at the three conditions. He thought Shun would ask for more since the information he possessed was quite vital.

"Very well. I shall inform Marquis Barret of your conditions." Leroy replied calmly.

"Good. I want a reply in 3 days." Shun spoke as he saw Leroy leave.