World Development System 57 Important Decisions Part III.

He sends his greetings and a gift for you to congratulate on becoming a lord. He hopes that you comment on the gift and answer to his message."

He bought a box that had a short sword, not a knife nor a sword but something in between. However, this was not the main gift that Lukav had prepared for John. The actual gift contained in the letter which Lukav had prepared. John was quite surprised after looking at that sword because after analyzing he found out that it was made from a very precious metal in this world. This was made from a magic metal. Magic metal was used in weapons to improve the lethality of magic used by users. It was first discovered about 4000 years ago by a court magician. After some years it was spread to other countries after they observed its use and importance as a strategic resource.

John remarked in quite a fascinating manner, "Prince Lukav spent quite a lot to gift me this sword."

John said this because he knew that Magic metal was not available to commoners or even merchants who had money. It could only be bought by people who had connections or people in power it was because most of the resources of Magic metal were monopolized by big nobles and the royal family with a collaboration of local heads. Many-times when magic metals were found on borders, it immediately set off a war between countries because of its importance as a strategic resource. Many a time, small nobles either got rich if they heeded the line of the regional lords (Dukes of the region) or the royal family.

Or they would feel the heat and get burned from people in power from all sides for possessing such a hot potato without any power.

However, there were still some cases where some nobles who hid their power or made deals with foreign powers made many people helpless and pay a lot from what they got. However, they were only rare cases where many interests were involved.

What interested John the most about magic metal was its research value and its applications in other things and not the weapons.

In the letter, Prince Lukav gave his normal greetings to John and he hoped to have a discussion in person with him one day if time permitted.

At the end of the letter, Lukav wrote only 3 important words, first was the name of a mercenary group, the second was the name of a place and the last one was the name of Prince Hector.

From this letter, John concluded that Prince Lukav hopes to forge a relationship with them and these two gifts were a show of sincerity from Lukav's part on their first meeting without any hope for anything in return.

John pretty much liked this gesture from Lukav's and smiled, Georgio didn't miss John's smile and pretty much understood that they at least made a good impression on John from their first meeting. He could also see that John didn't make conclusions on his master based on rumors. He had a very neutral view on him just like any person would have when they meet new people.

"Okay, you can have my answer."

Taylor later asked a servant to carefully place the sword in John's room so he can check it out later on. He brought a paper, a feather pen and ink so John can give a reply.

John thanked Prince Lukav and stated that he can see his sincerity from both the gifts and he too hoped to meet him if they can get a chance later on however he also hoped that Prince comes and meet him at the North-frontier city.

John specifically and intentionally said North-frontier city, both Taylor and Georgio could understand his intentions from his wordings.

On the surface, John seemed neutral but both sides can see that there wasn't true neutrality but more curiousness could be seen between both the sides.

John even offered to provide soaps to Prince Lukav for the western side as a sole provider, one was because John felt that Duke Blackwolf was going to make a move on him so he hoped to use Prince Lukav as a leash against him.

This would benefit both sides.

While Georgio was here for the same purpose because Prince Lukav wanted to use this unique soap trade against Duke Blackwolf's business and use him to get more information on Felix as lately he was getting very little information on him however he knew that chances were less because both sides didn't know about each other.

If Duke Blackwolf relented to them then Prince Lukav could at least strike a deal with him to get more information and in return, Prince Lukav would sell these soaps outside the border in other countries at the western border without incurring any losses.

Georgio had his own thoughts after it was possible to make a deal with John, 'It is good that information was used instead of normal presents for making this deal possible. It seems Master Duncan was on the spot when he said instead of giving superficial presents our information resources could be better as they are unique and they would show more sincerity when dealing with John.'

Georgio was taken well care of in the mansion by Taylor. As the head butler of a Baron, Taylor made sure to the show Georgio the best things in the mansion which included food and pool in the backyard with the barbecue stand. This was a new experience for Georgio.

Georgio thought and said to Taylor after experiencing these things, "The mansion here is quite good and food here has a unique taste as well, I heard a lot of rumors that the food here was great but I never knew it was something different like this. It seems that those rumors were true, Is it true that Baron personally designed this Mansion, its furniture meanwhile also creating these dishes, I still find it hard to believe that someone could be better at so many things."

The most he liked here was the ice-cream and the spicy hot-pot served at the mansion.

Taylor proudly said to Georgio, "Yes, Lord himself designed this Mansion to suit his tastes and he also created those dishes because he felt there were too few dishes and he liked none of them so he made these."

Taylor had also inquired about this peculiar scene after arriving at the mansion when it came to food and architecture of this mansion. He was quite amazed after learning that John created so many unique things.

After Confirmation, Georgio had different thoughts, 'As expected from her disciple. But Master is quite insane sometimes when it comes to certain situations, I wonder how long this relation would last.'

Chapter end