"Is it so surprising?" Pait asked. "Esmore is a mountainous region with low valleys. Our primary export is metal and ore. We have constantly used machinery to run the mines and to bring supplies up and down from the mountains. If the Jespain has any technology that could make that process easier, we'd like to learn about it."

I hadn't thought about it before, but it made sense. In my world, we had all kinds of complicated machines that were needed. Even hundreds of years ago, trolly systems and pully systems were built to mine successfully. The esmere wouldn't be any different just because this was a fantasy world. Magic might help them a little bit. Mineral Appraiser jobs could do a few things, but few people were as powerful as Terra when it came to earth magic. After all, she even had a special relationship with Gaia.

"Perhaps, we should negotiate some kind of trade agreement," I spoke thoughtfully.

The esmere with the smooth voice snorted. "We already have a trade agreement with Aberis. Most of our supplies get transported through Aberis to the Imperial Cloud Meadow. Your poor bandit-filled road systems have cost us greatly. The fact that we have to pay you with a percentage of the goods is ludicrous. I've argued we should throw out such an agreement years ago."

The other esmere seemed to have a spiteful, almost angry tone, but his voice was so smooth why did I not even feel upset? Pait acted a bit more tactfully, holding up his hands.

Stolen story; please report.

"It's not like that! We've benefited greatly from Aberis's assistance." Pait tried to smooth things out.

He had formerly been the ambassador in Aberis, so maintaining peace with our country was likely extremely important to him.

"Do you honestly think an agreement with Master would be the same thing as an agreement with Aberis?" Sapphire asked.

"Hmph…" The other man blinked, but then snorted, saying no more.

I frowned a bit too. I knew Sapphire was just trying to protect my honor, but I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Once I became a Duke, I would be able to make treaties through my territory. Since I was in control of the wilderness, then I could theoretically build a road spanning across the entire country uniting Esmore and the Imperial Cloud Meadow, and I could even protect it with soldiers. However, wouldn't that be helping the Imperial Cloud? I still didn't know where we stood with them. It had been ages since I had dealt with them, but their quiet did worry me.

I shook my head, putting such thoughts behind me and turning to Mary. "What about you?"

"Have you forgotten that Clockwork Dragon so easily?" Mary asked.

Although I couldn't see here, I could feel Terra perking up with interest at Mary's words. I had forgotten about that. Wasn't the clockwork dragon somehow involved with the church? I had originally concluded that the church was dangerous because of my first encounter with them. I had eventually realized that they were rather benign.

"What does the clockwork dragon have to do with you?" I asked hesitantly, realizing I had never really bothered to get to the bottom of that.

"I believe that the technology the Jespain use to build their current automatons is the same technology that built the clockwork dragons!"

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