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TWL Chapter 53: Negotiations
🕑 Added 2023-12-06 18:00:07 +0000 UTCLann thought for a moment and felt that the reason given by Ellie was quite reasonable, so he thought for a moment and agreed.
After Ellie left, he began to worry about the issue of the entourage. The members trusted by both sides, at best, were only four: himself, Mousesack, Geralt, and Ciri.
Mousesack had gone back a long time ago, and even if Ciri was here, it would be impossible to take her with him. In this way, only Geralt would be left. But my personal relationship with Geralt is not close enough to ask him to participate in such an occasion. How should I tell him?
The next day, late at night.
"This is the first time I have received such a commission."
Geralt sighed: "This may be the easiest amount of money I have ever earned."
Lann glanced at Geralt: "If I don't give you money, will you come?"
Geralt thought for a while and replied: "Yes, but I will not be on your side, nor will I be on Eithné's side."
Lann rolled his eyes. His feelings were just to be a third-party witness and watch the excitement. He thought for a while and suddenly said: "No, how can you say this is the first commission? Didn't you help King of Brugge negotiate an agreement with the dryads before?"
Geralt replied: "I am referring to the commission of being a bodyguard. And I have already failed this commission from the King of Brugge."
Lann comforted: "To a certain extent, your goal has been achieved. Didn't you accept this commission just to ease the relationship between the dryads and humans?"
Geralt nodded: "It's really not a loss. Anyway, I already got the deposit."
The two rode horses on the road late at night for a while, and Geralt rarely took the initiative to initiate a conversation.
"I never asked... how is Freixenet? What is Eithné going to do with him?"
After Geralt drank the water of Brokilon, he remained in a coma until he came out of the forest. He didn't have time to say goodbye to Freixenet, and he didn't know what the Baron of Hamm would do next. But he could read between the lines and figured Lann didn't mention it for some good reason.
Lann thought for a while and said tactfully: "It's probably as you imagine. Those who understand, understand."
Geralt frowned and thought for a while. He really regarded Freixenet as a friend.
"That's troublesome. Freixenet doesn't know anything and could get into trouble."
Lann was stunned: "No way, my subjects are in a similar situation. They stay in there and don't even want to come back. How can there be trouble?"
Geralt sighed: "It would be fine if he were an ordinary civilian. I'm worried that if he shows his so-called aristocratic demeanor and gentlemanly etiquette to the dryads, it will only get the dryads' knives. The relationship between the dryads and those men is purely practical, emotionless, and any strange behavior other than 'that kind of thing' can cause misunderstandings between the dryads and lead to conflict."
"Ah, this..." Lann sighed, and suddenly asked with a smirk: "Is this your experience? It seems that you also had a good memory of Brokilon before?"
The white wolf was silent. Just at this moment, Lann and Geralt came to the edge of Brokilon.
The battlefield here has long been cleared, and all valuable things have been taken away by the soldiers.
The remaining corpses disappeared long ago, surely they had been devoured by some beast. Only the large blood stains remained on the ground, revealing the identity of this place as a battlefield.
Eithné and the other four were already present. In the area there were two 'chairs' emerging from the ground and a 'table'. There are also several 'lamps' made of leaves and branches placed on them. If you look carefully, you will find that the light source inside turns out to be fireflies.
Hearing the sound of horse hooves, the eyes of the four dryads were attracted.
Lann turned over and dismounted, greeting: "Long time no see, Ms. Eithné."
Then, he greeted Ellie, Braenn, and Dunkar one by one.
After the few people who could barely be considered acquaintances greeted each other, Eithné, who saw that Lann had only brought Geralt, waved her hand. Then Braenn and Dunkar walked into the forest, leaving only Ellie at their side.
Eithné asked: "Where's Mousesack? I wanted to talk to him."
Lann suppressed his curiosity and sat calmly on the chair grown by magic. He took out the two documents he had drafted from his backpack and explained:
"Uncle Mousesack left with the princess first. Her Majesty the Queen can't wait any longer. If you have any business, you can tell me, and I will convey it to him."
Eithné shook her head: "Forget it, it's not an important thing."
Lann handed over the two documents and introduced: "This is the peace agreement I drafted, in two copies. It mainly focuses on the obligations and rights of the citizens of Brokilon Town. Some specific details still need to be negotiated. If you have any demand, we can negotiate tonight."
Eithné took the two documents and examined them carefully under the light of fireflies and the moon.
Lann tried to observe her attitude towards this from her face but found that the aura of the Dryad Queen had returned to the way it was before Geralt broke her defense: cold, arrogant, powerful, and elusive.
This is the posture of a queen that has been formed over hundreds of years. It is not something that Lann, a young man who has been a noble for a year, could fully understand.
After a long time, Eithné withdrew her gaze, and finally there was a hint of emotion in her eyes.
Eithné said with an incomprehensible expression: "I originally thought Ciri was the son of the Elder Blood that I was looking forward to, but I didn't expect you to be the one."
"But I can't join the dryads clan." Lann joked cooperatively: "So let's better discuss the specific details."
Naturally, neither side will have any objection to the basic principle of mutual non-aggression, which is the basis of all cooperation.
Lann is more interested in resource exchange and technology exchange. He found the shooting skills of the dryads very interesting and wanted to try to get Ace to come over for cooperation and exchange.
As a result, Lann was told that in addition to special training skills and racial talents, the formation of this kind of archery is also inseparable from the living environment and lifestyle of the dryads. Humans are accustomed to shooting for fighting, while dryads are accustomed to shooting for survival.
In other words, if a dryad is allowed to live in a city, even if it uses the same training method, its archery skills will not be as good as any dryad living in the forest.
As for the exchange of resources, it would be false to say that Lann does not covet Brokilon's rich timber and minerals. Those are things that are coveted by all four countries. But he was not stupid enough to say such a thing out loud. If he revealed this idea, Eithné would probably quarrel with him, so he would have to find a more subtle way to resolve it in the future.
Having had a first chance, there would be more opportunities to deepen and expand...
Therefore, for this resource exchange, Lann focused on the treatment 'quota' of the dryad. Regarding the world-famous healing magic of the dryads, Eithne's reply was that it can be used to treat humans, but it must be humans recognized by them.
