NOVEL WEB Chapter 745 – Mutually Beneficial Arrangements
“With some goodwill, mutually beneficial deals aren’t hard to create. All too often it’s because people are too greedy that things get skewed one way or another.” - Chrisholm Lando Nez, Merchant from Ptolodecca.
Once she returned to the village, it hadn’t taken long for Aideen to grab Seta and Jort and sit them face to face to get talking about the Sylphid field she ran into. The two were rather surprised at first, for different reasons.
Seta had no idea whatsoever that the “vegetables” they often ate and had plenty of growing nearby was that valuable. On his own part, Jort similarly had no idea that one of his closest neighbors – and practically family, as a lot of the goblins amongst the Blacktowers had relatives in Ibonua – was seated so close to what would be considered a treasure trove by most.
Both goblins discussed the matter politely at first, but before long, the two descended into a spectacle of fierce haggling that made Aideen worry that they would come to blows at times. Surprisingly, for all the fierceness displayed, both Seta and Jort seemed to positively enjoy the proceedings, and after a fierce exchange that would have made any merchant proud, the two settled on a deal and shook hands.
Neither goblin looked as if they had been haggling like mortal enemies discussing the ransom of one’s firstborn just moments before.
While the clans of the plains did not have much use for the contraceptive properties of the Sylphid plant, they still know it for its use as medicine amongst others, which naturally made the plant quite valuable for them as well. Amongst the remedies it was used for was particularly effective one for the red pox, a contagious disease that only affected young orcs with often fatal results, which granted the plant great value even if there were other, less effective remedies for the illness that could be made without it.
The clans of the plains greatly value the lives of their young and it was most definitely one field where they would not hesitate even the slightest to splurge.
Jort and Seta made an arrangement for Seta’s people to send a certain amount of Sylphid plants to Clan Blacktower’s village every couple of months, to be traded for their equivalent value in foodstuff, tools, and whatever else the Ibonuans desired. From there, Clan Blacktower would in turn trade it to other Clans in the prairie and recoup their expenditures that way, likely garnering a profit of their own.
Granted, it was not like the Blacktowers were cheating their brethren in the jungle either. The prices offered were fair, as far as Aideen could tell, while at the same time leaving room for the Clan to benefit from trading the plants to other clans in the prairie. That much was to be expected, since on their own, it was not like the Ibonuans had the network and capability to trade the plants to other clans on their own.
Whereas their cousins in the prairie most definitely had such capabilities and could handle that part, especially when doing so was to their own benefit as well.
In a way, it was truly a comedy of errors and coincidence that kept the Sylphid field as an unearthed treasure for so long. The knowledge of Sylphid’s many uses were mostly brought to the prairie by the invading humans, as before that, the Clans had also thought of it as a nice vegetable to eat. Even accounting for the century or so that had passed since then, it remained a knowledge that was not the most widespread. Something known to the Shamans and Chieftains and their respective successors, but not general knowledge.
Jort himself had eaten some Sylphid in Ibonua during earlier visits, but had not noticed the identity of what he was eating. To be fair, it was not exactly his fault, as the goblins were fond of heavily spicing their food to begin with, while the Ibonuans simply had no idea of the plant’s many useful properties other than as food themselves.
Wiro and others who had relatives in the village had likely seen the field of Sylphid plants in their prior visits, but in their case, they lacked the knowledge of its value. On the other hand, someone of Jort’s status would rarely walk around in the jungle like Aideen did as not everyone had her curiosity about the things that thrived around them.
All the factors combined to keep the treasure trove hidden until Aideen stumbled upon it during one of her walks in the jungle, which she had taken for no reason other than curiosity.
Either way, now that the two goblins had formalized the deal between the village of Ibonua and Clan Blacktower, she expected that the village would quickly grow larger and more prosperous as the additional income from trading the Sylphid that naturally grew in their territory would improve their lives appreciably. Both goblins involved clearly thought the same, given their enthusiasm over the matter.
In fact, they agreed to perform the first trade right when Aideen and Jort returned to the Clan’s territory, sending some of the villagers along with them for that purpose.
Seta also had some of his people harvest a good dozen bundles of Sylphid and gifted them to Aideen as a sign of gratitude. Even with the present prices, each of those bundles would still fetch a princely sum, especially since they were freshly harvested and of good quality. Aideen was a bit reluctant to receive a gift of that proportion at first, but relented after some persuasion from the old goblin.
In turn, though, she gifted the village of Ibonua her spare storage artifacts. Aideen made a habit of carrying a bunch of spares of various sizes with her, so she picked half a dozen of artifacts that had storage spaces around the size of a large sack or barrel, as well as two that had spaces large enough to fit a typical goblin’s hut.
She figured it would be of more practical value in the hands of the goblins than as spares with her.
