Lord of a Fief Quest [Xianxia/Western Fantasy Fusion, CK2-ish]

Your cousin was on his second bowl of curry. The color of the food was fiery red and it contained chunks of duck and potato, a mild dish for all its color. The base of this particular curry was tomatoes after all. It was well suited to your cousin who enjoyed it the dish with relish. It brought a smile to your face to see him happy, it was good to have a happy family.

The second guest to visit you was Ka Rushan, heir to the Ka clan. He came to you dressed in a warriors leathers, armor enhanced by formations that would protect his body against the blows of spirit treasures. It was an impressive display of wealth, for one to possess such a valuable item and it was something you coveted for yourself if you were honest. Your ally came to you with an ornate wooden box with a storage array carved into it. It was unusual for a gift to be a simple spirit treasure, easily reproduced and even wealthy merchants possessed such things. Perhaps it carried things of value too large and too conspicuous for it to be safe to travel with? Time would tell.

He bowed deeply to you, as expected given the difference between your stations, once he stepped into the gazebo. The man's body was a mass of hard, muscular flesh as one would expect from a Master of Earth. They were absurdly strong but slow compared to other cultivators.

You remained seated as you nodded to him and said, "Greetings Ka Rushan, heir of the Ka Clan. Welcome to Bloodthorn Valley. I trust the journey was a pleasant one?"

He rose and took the seat to your left, as was tradition, and replied, "Greetings Lord Bai, Master of Bloodthorn Valley. I found the journey a pleasure for spring and early summer are my favorite times of year. Others might mind the heat and humidity, but I find it has no effect on me. And how was your Survey, Lord Bai?"

That was one of the many virtues of a focus on Earth cultivation. The ability to endure the heat, even to stand against the heat of a fire cultivator of the same realm unharmed. It was an advantage you wished you possess given your true opponents these days were all fire cultivators. Wood was a powerful element but it burned all too easily.

"It made me long for the endurance of an Earth cultivator if I am to be honest, the heat and humidity are not my friends as they are yours. We encountered a pack of direwolves and took some losses, but I was able to handle them well enough. Truthfully, it might have been better if only I had journeyed on the Survey."

The muscular man shrugged and replied, "And if assassins had come for you, Lord Bai? Where would you be without your men to shield you from them? No man is an island while losses are regrettable, what matters is the Lord was kept safe during the fighting."

You returned his shrug, unmoved by his words. The loss of life was a regrettable thing and the idea a Lord should casually sacrifice his men bothered you. So you moved the conversation onto other topics, "That is fair, Ka Rushan. And what have you brought me in that storage array of yours? It is my day and color me curious."

The man smiled and opened it, uttering a command word clearly so that you could hear it. You stored that knowledge away for future use since you would need it to make full use of the ornate wooden box. There was a large, pure green emerald contained within the confines of the box. A spirit stone of the third rank, a valuable resource worth 100 silver bars. It seemed his gift was a number of spirit stones his family was famous for. The man summoned four such perfect stones before the box was truly empty, each stone filling the velveted box.

You smiled at him and said, "Spirit stones? Truly an honorable gift! When I have the downtime to cultivate, I will need such pure stones. Perhaps we could arrange a contract to supply me with such?"

Ka Rushan, clearly a merchant at heart, flashed you a predatory grin. The first hit was free, the rest not so much. Such was the nature of men. He replied, "Oh, I suppose I could persuade my family to provide you with stones at a slight discount as our valued ally. Perhaps 5%?"

You arched an eyebrow and replied, "5%? Surely you can manage 20% for such a valued ally as the Bai Clan, after all do you not have sisters you wish to marry into our Clan?"

Ka Rushan chuckled and said, "For a potential brother in law, I suppose I could manage a discount of 10% even tho it would beggar my clan if you were to make many purchases so I must limit such transactions to a single stone a month, twelve per year. Does that sound fair to you?"

[ ] Accept the offer of a 10% discount. It was generous enough.

[ ] Haggle and accept no less than a 15% discount, even if it scuttles the deal.

[ ] Offer your hand in marriage to one of his sisters if he can discount spirit stones by 20% at a large enough volume.