Chapter 132: A Ridiculous Offer

"What brings you here on this fine morning?" Raymond asked, eyeing the High Priestess curiously.

"We need to talk," Celestia told him curtly and turned on her heels. Casting a sideways glance at him, she gestured for him to follow her. "Let's go to the meeting hall."

Raymond trailed behind her, keeping a safe distance between them while his eyes travelled to her swaying hips every now and then.

Raymond cursed himself several times in his mind and controlled himself by looking into a faraway tree that he suddenly found very interesting.

Meanwhile, Celestia shivered every time his gaze swept over her body, wishing for it to be his hands rather than his eyes that explored her curves.

"This way," she opened the towering door of the meeting hall and ushered him in.

"Ohh!" Raymond exclaimed in awe at the enormous table placed in the middle of the hall which was surrounded by well-crafted chairs that almost looked like thrones.

"Please have a seat," said Celestia as she took her usual seat at the head of the table and watched as Raymond sat exactly opposite her, at the furthest end of the table.

"What do you want to talk about?" Raymond began with a question and continued. "If you think you can convince me to leave the Sacred Chamber then stop thinking. It's not going to happen."

He added as an afterthought since he didn't want to engage in a verbal argument with her over the matter of occupying the Sacred Chamber.

"That's not what this is about." Celestia placed her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her fist. With her eyes fixed intently on Raymond, she spoke:

"I—no! We, the Elders of the WindGod Tribe, would like to discuss the prospect of a possible trade between you and us."

"Hmm? What trade?" Her words caused him to perk up in his seat. Anything that involved money had his unspoken interest.

Celestia suppressed her smile. She could read him like an open book and that thought caused a pleasant warmth to fill her chest.

While the intriguing gaze of her lord made her hot and bothered, she maintained her composure somehow and fished out a shining leaf out of nowhere.

"I believe this belongs to you?" she waved the leaf in the air before placing it on the table.

"Huh?" Raymond frowned and tried to recall when he had dropped that leaf. It must have been when he was busy fighting with Elder Barhawk.

Raymond was not all that concerned about a single leaf when he had an almost unlimited supply of it. However, he didn't like the thought of someone having the stuff that belonged to him, no matter how small it was.

That's why the fact that Celestia was willing to return it to him without consuming it herself made him see her in a new light.

Not all elves were bad.

"Yes. I must've dropped it yesterday!" Raymond watched as the priestess nodded and sent the leaf to him using her mana.

"Now, let's talk about our proposition." Celestia decided that it was the right time to make her offer, seeing as her lord was in a good mood. "We want to exchange leaves from Word Tree with gold."

"Ahh, before you refuse, hear me out!" She added before Raymond could open his mouth to respond.

Raymond had no idea about the actual value of these leaves. What if they cheated him of his gold by offering less than what it was worth? So he decided to ask Arlo and figure out the details later.

However, the High Priestess seemed to have seen through his mind and stopped him before he could refuse her.

"We are willing to pay three gold coins per leaf and you will not get a more enticing offer anywhere else," Celestia said, making it clear that she was not being unfair.

She dreaded the thought of these leaves reaching any outsider's hand. It would cause mayhem across the Continent if the news of its potency spread among people.

Cultivation was a long and tedious process. Anything that hastened that process was highly sought after. She wouldn't be surprised if a war broke out because of this.

"We can discuss that after I agree to your deal, but first let me ask you this… why are you making this offer?" Raymond, after a bit of thinking, asked. "I mean, I am supposed to be your enemy. I took over your sacred tree and killed one of your elders. Aren't you supposed to be making plans to get rid of me?"

"We should be, but you know what? Not anyone can simply climb the World Tree and take its leaves, not to mention enter the Sacred Chamber. You will have to be chosen by the World Tree to do so." Celestia replied, fighting back the urge to roll her eyes. "So, as much as we would like to remove you from our land, we cannot do it– definitely not when you have Mother's blessing to stay here."

"We are stuck with you for the time being, and I thought we might as well take advantage of the situation."

Raymond observed her suspiciously. What was she hiding? There was no way such proud creatures would ask for his help in exchange for gold no matter how bad of a situation they were in.

When he woke up this morning, he was half expecting an army of elves to be at his doorstep, brandishing their weapons and ready to beat him senseless.

Raymond was surprised when he discovered no one was there to disturb his peace. He chalked it up to his display of power yesterday which must've deterred the elves from taking any drastic measures against him. But to offer him a deal that gave him almost free money, now that was definitely something suspicious.

For the time being, Raymond decided to play along and make as much money as possible.

"Alright, I will think about it." If they were going to give him money for plucking leaves, who was he to deny it?

Raymond had read the books on merchants and their trading habits from his grandfather's collection. They never agreed to anything in the first meeting.

So, Raymond decided to follow that example. The High Priestess appeared too eager to close the deal which prompted Raymond to make her desperate.

He still had his doubts that three gold coins per leaf were a fair price. It was better to have the leaf evaluated by someone he trusted before making any decisions.

"Well, if you're done, I will take my leave. I will get back to you on that offer in a while." Raymond stood up, he had to see if his wives were awake and then there was his routine of searching for his grandfather.

Raymond was not in the mood to take a mission today. So he settled on spending the day by annoying some elves and seeing Arlo in the evening.

Speak of the devil! Raymond saw Arlo being led by Elder Snowfang towards the meeting hall as soon as he turned to leave.

'What a good servant!' Raymond chuckled inwardly at his timing. Just when he was thinking of Arlo, the man appeared before him.

"My Lord," Arlo bowed to him after entering the hall, but Raymond grabbed his hand and led him outside the hall.

"Arlo, you are here just in time." Raymond brought him next to the World Tree, out of the hall, and handed him a leaf. "Here, take a look at this and tell me what you think honestly."

"Yes, of course, My Lord." Arlo took the leaf religiously. Anything from his lord was sacred to him. However, sacred wouldn't even begin to explain the importance of the leaf as he examined it.

He was sorely tempted to eat it. If not for the fear of offending Raymond, he probably would've done it.

"Haha, go ahead. You can eat it." Raymond snickered at the terrible face Arlo made while trying to hold back from chomping on that leaf.

"Mmmm!" Arlo moaned as the sweet juice of the leaf slid down his throat. His core started to buzz as if on the verge of a breakthrough. Arlo guessed it wouldn't take him a long time to reach the next level in his cultivation.

Hell. He could even compete with geniuses if he had a surplus amount of these leaves.

"My Lord, this is incredible!"

"Is that so…?" Raymond asked. "Then how much would you pay for one leaf such as this?"

"My Lord, you don't understand… you cannot put value on this type of unique treasure! Do you perhaps have more of these?" Arlo asked eagerly. "If you do, then you mustn't sell all of them at once! You need to create a demand for this by limiting its supply, My Lord!"

"Don't worry, I have them in abundance. I am not going to sell them in public." Raymond shrugged. "The elves want to pay three gold coins per leaf and buy it from me. What do you think? Shall I accept the offer?"

"Preposterous! Three gold coins? You should've spat them in their faces, My Lord!" Arlo raised his voice. His merchant spirit was set ablaze by the elves' ridiculous offer. "I wouldn't sell them for less than ten coins even if my life was on the line!"

"Alright, alright, no need to get worked up!" Raymond placated the guy calmly, but on the inside, he was fuming too. Raymond thanked his lucky stars for not agreeing to their deal on the spot.

A loss of seven coins per leaf? Raymond felt light-headed for a second. He couldn't imagine such a thing even in his nightmare.