Chrysalis

Chapter 1215

[I really don’t think this is appropriate, Anthony.]

[What do you mean? You used to be a merchant, didn’t you? You’ve negotiated for us a ton of times and been fantastic at it. What’s the problem now?]

[I was negotiating with towns and cities that you’d conquered! It’s not exactly hard to force a fair agreement down their throats when there’s a set of mandibles locked around them!]

[I’m fairly sure there weren’t ants standing around with their jaws poised to behead your negotiating partners….]

[Not literally, you oversized ant! I’m just saying I had the upper hand in those talks. And I was only talking to other merchants and petty city lords, not brathians!]

[What’s the difference?]

[Brathians are… different! They’re just different!]

[I mean, how have you even met brathians? I thought you’d never been this deep in the Dungeon?]

[I haven’t. There’s brathians at every level and also on the surface.]

The old woman sighed and pinched her brow. How could she explain this to this obstinate insect?

[The brathians are famous for being skilled negotiators, even in Liria. They cut hard deals and would sell the scales off their own back for the right price.]

[So they’re ruthless when it comes to money. So’s just about everyone who doesn’t have six or more legs. The bruan’chii excepted.]

[It’s pretty much a religion to them! They don’t even live in kingdoms or empires. They form trading blocs, caravans and conglomerates instead. Their leaders are usually the best and most successful traders. I got fleeced by the brathians I met on the surface, what do you think is going to happen to me down here?!]

headache coming on. Then an enormous antenna

[Too heavy,] she grumbled.

to come to an agreement, we don’t really care. It seems like they want to peacefully coexist with us, so that’s great, they just want to strike some sort of deal for our goods. If we can nab some cores in exchange for rugs and furniture, that’s great! If not, they can

[They want your

giant ant shifted a

clothes, don’t eat fine cuisine, are only interested in ant-themed artwork and besides that, we make all our own stuff already. Even if there was something they could do better, we’d just figure out how they did it and then improve

you… and then

I have to level with you, Enid, the sum total of things I know about business and money mainly

lent people your legs? Can

wisdom and expertise once again. If you

she would eventually give in. The Colony had done so much for her and her people, and asked so little

When are the brathian

already. They’ve been waiting for us to

[WHAT!?]

a bedraggled and flustered Enid shuffled into the meeting hall, her back aching and her face flushed from

did you even keep them occupied while I was coming?] she demanded of the big ant sitting idly on one

them we were waiting for our negotiator to

just keep them

things and that seemed

slow…. Rather the opposite, the ants

at all, it was probably the confectioneries that did the trick. How the ants managed to bake so well when they

to give at least some semblance of professionalism to her side of the negotiations, Enid approached the table and sat as gracefully as she could. She even managed to stifle her little groan

Sloan and Advant, namely, with Anthony still slumped comfortably in the corner. Across the table sat an array of clearly high ranking brathians, bedecked in gossamer silks that seemed to float in the air and

didn’t tell me they were dressed so well! I would have tried to

are? I can’t really

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