Apart from the Tri Joint Force agreement, Qiu Yue also negotiated for a few additional trading agreements to make use of King Sol’s previously promised ‘blank cheque’.
There was no written agreement on what exactly would be given to Jin if he successfully repelled the Orcs. Tasked by the System, she designed the contracts to be vastly in Jin’s favour. He, however, did intervene as Jin saw the deals would be so absurdly favoured towards them and asked her not to go too far. If they squeezed King Sol completely dry, then it would merely ruin their beneficial relationship.
Only with Jin’s feedback did Qiu Yue admit that she might have gone a bit overboard. If it were just one particular deal in their favour, it would not be too much of a problem, but she nearly made a mistake to present them all to their benefit. She felt somewhat awful and decided not to take that much advantage of the poor Goblin King.
Besides, it was not King Sol’s fault for giving her that much leeway with the contracts. There had not been much of choice for King Sol back when the orcs invaded. The goblin kingdom had suddenly been forced into a state of emergency following the Kingslayer Ambush. Despair was soaring high and spreading like wildfire when news spread that their kingdom being the only remaining goblin capital left to stand against Orcs. King Sol foresaw the potential losses and was very desperate for any helping hand after he found out about the successful Kingslayer Ambush in the other Kingdoms. Hence, with Jin’s deal being the only one on the table, King Sol could not say no.
The revised trade agreements were mostly fair to both sides and covered a few key items, one of which was manpower. Qiu Yue sorely needed skilled workers and professionals for the upcoming construction of the Dungeon City Fortress. That was her main priority. Even though she and Jin had an engineering background, they needed the expertise of those who could overlook and guide the building process. They were unable to do that themselves especially for all the projects that were planned.
A good city builder must have the awareness, comprehension and the insight to create not just a five year, but also a ten year and even a twenty year masterplan. He needed to ensure that there was sufficient space to expand, to modernise and ultimately to automate. Sure, Qiu Yue had gathered some knowledge on such subjects during her stint in her previous line of work but hers was more focused on developing the existing modern infrastructures. As a result, she was unsure on how to start from scratch.
Therefore, she asked King Sol if she could initiate a recruitment drive. Engineers, mages, scientists, craftsman and all other sorts of professions would be welcomed to be interviewed by her. Initially, King Sol was wondering why she would require all these workers.
To him, the humanoids seemed more than capable of creating items which were way more advanced than whatever they could come up with. Nevertheless, Qiu Yue created a somewhat plausible excuse, stating that her race liked to collect information from other races to build up from that knowledge and find ways to incorporate and improve their own technology.
King Sol was a little sceptical about it but eventually, he started considering it as a sort of future investment. By loaning out their expertise out to Qiu Yue, the goblins could potentially return with the humanoids knowledge which should prove useful in their own future too. Even though he was immediately sold as soon as Qiu Yue offered an exchange of information (as long as they were not deemed confidential), he continued to be wary against this cute little Red Panda Masked Humanoid. But his love for the kingdom never waned and if these exchange of information could help to secure the modernisation of the Goblin Kingdom, he would naturally do it in a heartbeat.
Nevertheless, after already being ‘scammed’ once by Qiu Yue in the initial agreement, King Sol had become a little wiser and asked her to set a loan duration. Qiu Yue decided on a three year period. The time flow between their own world and the Goblin’s was different. To Qiu Yue and Jin, it would only be a mere six months which she felt was already cutting it too short.
However, it was not precisely a lose win situation for the Goblin Kingdom. Through the help of the System, Qiu Yue managed to haggle for that terribly large lump sum of gold they showed the King and the other advisors previously in their bet as compensation for loaning their expertise. Not just that, those professionals who would be loaned out to Jin, would have the opportunity to bring families and loved ones along with them. That way, those skilled workers would feel less homesick and not be worried about their loved ones.
King Sol thought that it was a decent deal, considering he was currently in need of gold. It was to cover the sunk costs incurred from the ever hungry war chest, which was depleted after mobilising the army to defend against the orcs. King Sol also required the funds to rebuild the Western Coastal Town of Gob Gob Si, the Northern Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu, the villages that were raided and take care of the refugees he took in that escaped from the Orc conquered regions.
Those orc conquered regions also became an important point of negotiation. Qiu Yue and Jin offered to step in to mediate mainly because they had acquired the former spymaster of the Orc Kingdom, Yellow Ice.
Ever since Yellow Ice and Cross resurrected from the dead, they knew what they wished to do. As soon as they got the chance, they asked for Jin and begged him for a pardon to remove the Enforcement Loyalty Orders by the System.
Unfortunately, the System did not allow any monsters to be released back into the ‘wild’ and stated that if Jin wished to allow them to leave, they could. However, if he ever needed their help, Yellow Ice and Cross would be teleported immediately to his side, without prior warning nor need for consent. Jin explained that he would try not to make use of this too much but that that would be the only compromise he could give in the matter and the duo accepted.
Yet, even after the plea to return to their kingdom, the former spymaster was forced to stay in the Dungeon Maker until Jin and Qiu Yue gave their own opinions on the current situation between the goblins and the orcs as well as their expectations on how Yellow Ice should proceed once returned home.
“Giving back the regions we took, that I understand and those kinds of arrangements can be made. But creating trade between the Goblins and Orcs? That is a tall order you wish for us to achieve.” Yellow Ice grumbled as he looked through the documents. (The System had printed them out in the goblin language for Yellow Ice to read. As a Spymaster, he had to be proficient in all the major languages of their world.)
“We are not expecting you to implement those immediately. Have a few stand offs, some scuffles between the goblin nation if you need to. Then convince the public that the goblins are willing to hold a talk. Start with the essential items like food, some natural resources etc. After that, we could talk about more specific resources or even luxury goods trading. Else, there is always the possibility of a goblin uprising against the Orcs and there is nothing much you can do to prevent it.” Jin stated as a matter of fact.
“All things considered, the goblins technically repelled all of your attacks. The majority of your troops have perished, three of your kingdom’s avatars died and your King has disappeared, missing in action. We could make the goblins push for more demands rather than staying neutral since they were the winning party in this war. I heard rumours that even the Humans had decided to side more towards the goblins after rumours of the Orc King’s disappearance. I have news that those humans already began distancing themselves from Orc related activities. Unless something were to change, it does not bode well for the Orcs.” Qiu Yue decided to use the stick since Jin had prepared the carrot.
“Considering I am under your command and have no way to disagree, you two make a very valid point.” Yellow Ice was being sarcastic and he knew what they were expecting from him. They wished to have him crowned as the new Orc King. He certainly had credentials to become one. He was the King’s former royal spymaster, a trusted figure in the Orc Military, a respected figure between the Orc Nobles and advisors, and lastly not to mention the only remaining Avatar of the Shaitans.
Sure, the avatars could be chosen again by the various tribes but Yellow Ice had already proven himself as someone the Orcs could trust. Besides, he still had the support of the remnants of the Ice Orc Sea Fleet under his command which would no doubt provide him support for the throne should he wish to ascend.
“My Liege, this is the best and perfect opportunity for you to restructure the kingdom. There might still be differences between the Goblins and Orcs but at least, we are one step closer into this arduous journey of unification.” Cross whispered as he knelt to acknowledge his new King.
Aside from that, Yellow Ice indeed had no option to say no to his ascension as the new King after his own Shaitan Noble, Shiva also came to speak to him personally after he resurrected.
After being enraged for some time that she was unable to taste the flesh of her dear Avatar once he died, she became extremely delighted that he somehow came back to life. Moreover, Yellow Ice was also supplying her with a sort of new energy source. That magical energy even managed to stem her constant craving.
The source no doubt came from the System after it analysed Flame Ripper’s energy signature. It modified the energy signature to suit Yellow Ice and provided him with an ample and yet at the same time restricted supply as an experiment suggested by Kraft and it worked wonders.
Shiva had promptly decided to nurture Yellow Ice further and turned him into her descendant. In a way, he performed a side evolution. His appearance did not change much, but his body physique was more tone than before. (It even shined like a diamond under sunlight too!) The most important thing was that he was henceforth able to wield the bluish white ice energy instead of his usual yellowish ice energy. And as the new descendant, Shiva had granted a new name upon her new child.
Frost Echo, The Prince of Icy Wrath.
With the blessing of Shiva, Frost Echo returned to the Orc Kingdom before anarchy took place. With an (Icy) Iron Fist, Frost Echo promptly restored the powers and established a balance among the nobles and surviving military leaders. With the knowledge of serving under two kings, the Prince of Icy Wrath had begun to settle existing internal issues that had been plaguing the kingdom for a long time. Only when he believed results were achieved then he would introduce his reforms and enact his real master’s requests so that both the Orc and Goblin Kingdom could prosper.
Cross initially wanted to remain as the shadow of his new King, an assassin that would do whatever had to be done without implicating his King, but Frost Echo denied him such a position. Instead, Cross was appointed to become Frost Echo’s right hand man.
Despite the initial disagreements from many orcs, Cross was able to walk the fine line of threatening Orc nobles and convincing them to work for the new King. Only then did some of the leaders begin to respect Cross for his abilities. This allowed both to realise how they had indeed taken a step into what they had dreamed of, the start of a kingdom that could coexist.
But of course, behind the new Orc King were the real decision makers. Frost Echo had to rely on the System’s resources to remedy the current issues to make the general Orc population as well as Shiva happy. The System, in turn, made Qiu Yue responsible for everything that Frost Echo requested.
At first, Qiu Yue was unhappy with the System’s decision since she already had much on her plate to handle. But she slowly came to enjoy the power she wielded as Qiu Yue realised she was now responsible for the two new developing kingdoms.
And it did not take long for Qiu Yue to start making plans on how to use her new toys in the most efficient way. (Frightening little red panda user!)
