Depthless Hunger

Chapter 188: Negotiating Underneath Cities

The female spy tried to run, but Kai caught her wrist gently and pulled her back. Krainuun still hadn't moved from his position. His position wasn't fear, it was focused calculation. If the servant had no strength of his own, he would know that running was pointless, so he made no effort.

"I want to ask 'what the fuck?' but I guess that's not the priority." Kai took a deep breath and let go of the spy's wrist. "My letter was honest. I'm here on behalf of the workers in New Laeneria."

"You've managed to pierce our secrecy with strength," Krainuun said, "but that is hardly a reason to trust you. If you truly want to work together as you said, give me one."

"Acid cultivation." Kai gestured toward the spy. "I saw it in the acid pits, but it can be used for more than crystal refinement. I think it can be made into an offensive skill, and I have others cultivating it right now. But we can't win with strength alone, and based on what I've seen of your operation, you could use the strength side of things."

"Hmm. It seems you've changed a little since we last met."

"Me? What about you? If you're really the Servant of Romastir, why do you debase yourself like that?"

"Oh please, please, don't punish me!" For a moment Krainuun was a cringing and pleading wreck, then the performance snapped off a moment later. Even knowing that it was an act, Kai thought the emotion felt real, if excessive. "It's expedient," Krainuun went on coldly. "Crystalliers will punish lazy servants, and sometimes strike out against those who are too efficient, but someone who is deeply pathetic? Constant fawning is the only way to survive."

"But you're managing considerable amounts of power," Kai said. "Couldn't you build up enough to defend yourself, at least?"

The female spy shook her head. "It might seem that way to someone as strong as you, but think about us. It takes 150,000 Goralian Eagles to make a crystallier. That's the crystals alone, so make it 250,000 once you consider training and other resources. All that would just make us into targets: it's easier to avoid attention."

"More like 175,000 Eagles at base now," Krainuun said mildly, "since the gold to crystal ratio keeps increasing. But yes, the time and cost required to create even a mediocre crystallier are prohibitive."

Since it looked like things wouldn't end in violence or chase, Kai moved into the room and found a seat. After a while, the female spy sat down near the far wall, as if still not sure what to think of him. Krainuun didn't move except for his eyes, always tracking dispassionately. Time to make his case.

"That's true for someone with no training," Kai said, "but the workers in the mines have spent their entire lives building up their Physique. If you invest that much in them, the result would be formidable."

"So that's what you have in mind?" Krainuun slowly laced his hands over his belly. "You don't think you can change Krysal by strength of arms alone?"

"No, that's why I'm here."

Finally Krainuun's mask broke and he smiled, very slightly. "Very well, let's talk. When I acted as your servant, I saw that you weren't like the Krysali, but I've seen too many seduced by luxury. And too many more who thought of themselves as different, as compassionate, but who chose their own interests when it was time to give up anything."

In clipped, emotionless terms Krainuun described his situation. As a child he'd had relatives fall behind on debts and be sent away to the mines. He'd first blamed them and worked hard to become a skilled servant, then as he grew older started to think of the whole system as a trap. So he had become the Servant of Romastir, working behind the scenes at first to sneak messages to and from the nearby mines, then to arm revolutionaries.

Now that he had a better picture of the situation, Kai understood why Krainuun would remain in his position. While serving under Lord Unklian, Krainuun had access to the mercantile heart of Romastir. He could reveal secrets, embezzle funds, and monitor all crystallier activity across Krysal.

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For his part, Kai told a brief version of what he'd experienced. He didn't try to emphasize that he'd been forced into the mines, just focused on the assets they'd built up. Eventually the spy left, while Krainuun remained and asked pointed questions. Not about specific locations or secrets - he seemed to want to know exactly what they had to work with.

"It sounds like you're already operating on the assumption that we're working together," Kai said.

"I assume that you will be charging forward, and it would be foolish not to account for that." Krainuun finally unlaced his hands and shifted forward in his chair. "You have a stronger understanding of the problem than I thought. Normally I'd worry that you planned to go fight the strongest crystalliers you could find and hope that solves everything."

"Obviously it wouldn't, but I admit I don't see an easy path to a fully free Krysal."

"A fully free Krysal? Why don't we start a little less ambitious and consider which of the next potential steps won't ruin us?"

"Well, you know the resources we're bringing. We could do anything up to Omilaena attacking the city and officially conquering it, but I assume that would provoke too much of a reaction."

"Better to cause chaos and uncertainty, I think." Krainuun regarded him thoughtfully. "You will no doubt be analyzing this conflict in terms of power, but I'm evaluating it in terms of coin. Consider this: during times of peace, crystalliers are actually liabilities, wasting resources on debauchery and potentially even destroying them in their feuds. But if the merchants and nobles realize they are truly threatened, they will begin investing in them, and their strength will grow rapidly."

"Yeah, I've been assuming we'd need to fight them stronger than this."

"That's where the gold to crystal ratio becomes relevant. No one merchant is powerful enough to seize all the resources for themselves, and that ratio actually reflects material reality. Currently it stands at 36 Goralian Eagles to one qi crystal. If that number were to decrease, it would mean more crystals in the hands of your enemies when they begin putting their fortunes toward war."

"Huh." Kai hadn't thought about it that way, but the principle was simple enough. "What can we do to increase the ratio?"

"Loss of mines is the most obvious, but such blunt methods will immediately draw a response. I suggest slowdowns, within normal ranges but across the nation." Krainuun gave a thin smile, entirely different from anything he'd displayed before. "The disappearing crystals could even go to your new worker cultivators, so their loss is our gain."

Krainuun outlined a plan that would apply to the mines he controlled, which wasn't many at the moment but would still have an effect. Kai only worried about the details enough to understand the war and communicate the right plans to Nirka and the others. Important as the mercantile details might be, he knew where it would all end.

"So we have Omilaena take down the crystalliers," Krainuun concluded, "but not conquer the city. I can agree with this plan. The merchants will take thousands of crystals out of circulation trying to restore their losses, and in the chaos I will be able to extend my reach."

"We'll avoid doing anything that extreme near Yulthens," Kai agreed, "at least until later. But that means being low on resources... are there any chances you can get us moonmelt pills? There aren't really any coming out of the acid pits of New Laeneria, given what happened in their uprising."

"I can begin embezzling them easily enough. But shipping them across the nation is too risky, given the number of checks involved. You could take some, but the rest should go to New Laeneria. I could also see about getting them to reopen their mines and pits under more humane conditions."

"Do you think they actually will?"

"If they believe they are facing a war for their freedom, some will." Krainuun nodded as if to himself. "This is a workable plan. There are hundreds of other details, not least finding a way to smuggle more supplies to your allies near Yulthens, but such details are why you came to me. Is there anything else to discuss, or should you begin your plans against the crystalliers?"

"There's one more thing." Kai didn't want to act like an arrogant crystallier, but there was no way around it. "Who are the most powerful assets you have on the table? Anyone who could take on the Diamond Crystalliers in Yulthens?"

"Admittedly, we are lacking in direct strength. That is why I have always worked in the shadows."

"Then you're looking right at a critical asset." Kai managed to get the line out smoothly and met the other man's gaze without blinking. "Eventually the conflict will heat up, merchants will figure it out, or things will just go wrong. When that happens, you're going to need me and the woman I was with before at our strongest."

"And what do you suggest?"

"Invest in us, the way the merchants will invest in their crystalliers. You know better than I do what can be taken from the nobles in this city."

"You certainly could not use it worse than they have." Krainuun regarded him coolly. "I can find resources for the cultivator, but what about you? Crystals, weapons, Goralian potions?"

"No," Kai said with a grin, "find me monsters."