"Minus half?" Old Bill was obviously a little flustered, he thought it was his ear that had a problem, although he knew in his heart that Rand would definitely lower the price, but erase half of it at once, like this bargaining method, he saw it for the first time, and he was immediately angry: "My lord, I think you are mistaken, what I sold you is a new mine with a development rate of less than 30%, not those abandoned mining areas that have been hollowed out, and you should know very well that there are very few ore impurities in that mining area, and it is easy to refine." ”

"No, I'm sober. Rand shook his head, "You should know very well that these ores are not as popular as iron ore, and there is no other use for them except for the poor eggs to build walls and use them, and if it weren't for the fact that I had to repair the city walls recently, I wouldn't have asked for it even if I subtracted ten percent from the price." ”

"And if I'm not mistaken, the reserves of this mining area should have been less than forty percent long, I just walked around the mining area, and everywhere I could see was dense mines and pits," Rant licked his lips, old Bill was stingy to the bone, even the drinks used to entertain guests were the cheapest sour wines, Rand looked at the brown juice in the wine glass, and still couldn't make up his mind to take a sip, "And most importantly, I just heard that there was just a fire in the third mining area?"

The relaxed smile on Old Bill's face froze, and there was more panic in his words: "Don't listen to those people talking nonsense, this kind of thing is asphalt powder, it is easy to cause a fire, those miners are stupid like pigs, I told them a long time ago, don't make a fire, but there are always accidents." ”

"And if a small fire is extinguished, it will not affect the mining area. Old Bill wiped the beads of sweat from his head, and subconsciously took a sip of the sour wine on the table, but he quickly changed his complexion, looking at the playful Rand, he couldn't resist not daring to spit out the wine in his mouth, which was too rude.

Who knows if Rand will put a big hat on his head at this point?

"Little fire?" Rand asked rhetorically, laughing to himself, "Lord Bill, you're still trying to lie to me!"

"Gods above, I can guarantee that everything I say is the truth......"

"And what's going on with the River Styx?" Rand asked directly.

"Styx, what Styx?" said Old Bill, pat his head, "That's just a rumor from the mouth of the peasant village woman, you don't believe such a ridiculous thing, do you?"

"Yes, I believe, and I am convinced. Rand raised an eyebrow, "The two fires were caused by the River Styx, and I already knew that. ”

"The River Styx is a passage to Hell, and there is an entrance to Hell in the Third Mine. Rand gave Old Bill a deep look, "You are hiding such important information from me!

Old Bill's face turned pale for a while, but he didn't expect that Rand even knew about the existence of the River Styx, so it would have no effect to hide it any longer.

Rumors of horror about the River Styx have been circulating in the upper echelons of Eagle City since that day, and the two fires that followed proved the reality that the River Styx would bring disaster, so when the messenger of the Empty Ferry brought a letter from Touron to buy the Third Mine, Old Bill was still excited for a long time.

Since the first fire, the miners have not dared to enter the third mine to carry out mining work, and even under the strong supervision of the overseers and soldiers, the output has been declining day by day.

And city hall officials were also working all day to persuade him to close the Third Mine.

There is still a considerable amount of ore stored in the third mining area that has not been mined, and it is all silver coins with white flowers.

But the letter from the air crossing collar made him change his mind.

It is better to sell the mining area at one time than to risk it carefully, and the asphalt is not hot enough, the whole mining area can bring him less than 10,000 silver coins a year, and he must always pay attention to fire prevention, which is extremely dangerous, this kind of thankless business, why not do it for others?

Once again, Bill's miserliness prevailed, and he decided to take the plunge and re-mine the mines, away from the mouth of the Styx Cave, before they were sold to the Rand.

After all, before the third mining area changed hands, no matter how much ore was produced, it was their own income.

In line with the principle that digging less is compensation, Old Bill ordered the miners to work day and night, which increased the original workload a lot, causing the miners to complain, but Old Bill did not have time to listen to their complaints.

The miners were serf-born, slaves of the nobility, not mercenary, so old Bill could call them as he pleased, regardless of whether they lived or died.

In order to fulfill the quota set by Old Bill, the miners chose to open the closed pit in desperation.

And then there was the fire.

"This ......," said old Bill, speechless.

Rand looked at Old Bill's embarrassed appearance, and secretly laughed in his heart, this is the importance of popularizing science and education knowledge, casting a terrifying veil on the unknown, will make people look down on its original appearance, thanks to Old Bill's ignorance, Rand feels that this negotiation has been won.

"But who has made me short of this ore lately?" Rand pretended to be helpless, "although you have deceived the Capetian family and concealed the truth about the River Styx, I will not tell your father about it, as you said, Eagle City and the Sky Crossing Territory are friendly neighbors, as long as you are willing to accept my terms, I can completely pretend that this has not happened." ”

"As for the River Styx, I'll figure it out. ”

Old Bill sighed, but quickly furrowed his eyebrows again.

Cutting the original price in half, Old Bill felt a dull pain in his heart.

As a nobleman who valued silver coins as extremely important, Rand's request was undoubtedly a pinch of salt in his wounds.

But Rand has been emphasizing that he intends to hide the matter of the River Styx, and he can't refute it by "deceiving the Capetian family".

It's self-defeating.

Old Bill hung his head.

But now I regret it......

Old Bill thought about it, he didn't have the courage to do it yet.

Although he has always shown favor to Ron, with Ron's character, he will definitely not do anything to his younger brother because of a small Eagle City Lord.

And if the Duke knew that he dared to calculate his son, the consequence would not only be a loss of money.

"I've got the contract drawn up, so if you don't have an opinion, sign it. Rand had a sly smile on his face.