Heroine On Strike

 Chapter 155 - The Empty Building

Perhaps the rugged exterior was a cover-up. Inside the thick outer layer were smaller quartz stuck all over. Its colors varied and rugged as they didn’t go through the regular process, but some quartz were shining with a distinct purple color.

Three pairs of eyes were stuck into the amethyst ore as the famous gem’s ore looked fascinating. But Ella looked a bit serious and took a look inside the sack.

“Luide, were there only small ones like this?”

“N-no, milady. They had bigger ones, but I couldn’t bring them over alone. I only brought these so I can show you. The actual goods will be delivered tomorrow.”

“Are they all in this color and form?”

“Yes. The only difference was the size, milady.”

At Luide’s answer, Ella glared at the sliced ore. The quartz within the ore was just too small. At this rate, it wasn’t possible to use it as the main accessory set. If she wanted a sufficiently sized quartz, maybe she needed different ores.

“If I can only get proper ores that are sent to imperial jewel crafters…,” Ella mumbled.

“Count Mellin wouldn’t have the resources to pull that off. The Toiken’s imperial family has a tight grip on the trading of the amethyst. The size of ore you want is hard to get even within the empire, I heard. I believe this was their best.”

After finding this unique colored gem, the Toiken Empire had forbidden it from being exported from the empire. They only used it within the imperial family until they were done experimenting on it, only letting out the information about it to foreign countries. They bragged about the fact that such a unique gem can only be found within the Toiken Empire.

Strangely, Duffspe and Martin only had white to transparent colored gems such as pearls or diamonds, which had been their pride. Ninety percent of colored gems were found within the Toiken Empire, so they were collecting the entire continent’s money.

The day they would use the amethyst in their arsenal was coming. In two weeks, Toiken would have completed their preparations on trading amethysts and sent a tiara with amethyst as its gift to Ella.

‘I have to prepare everything beforehand.’ She couldn’t let Toiken have all the fun alone as it happened in the book.

“Well, then we have no choice. We should try our best to make the most of it. How about our crafters?”

Clara, who tried to use the drought as an advantage, didn’t miss the amethysts as well. She acquired amethyst ores through the merchant company of her family and two jewel crafters while at it.

Both sides took huge risks in this trade, but with Ella asking to look into Clara, Constance acquired the same info as well. Ella, after acquiring this information from Evan, asked for his help to steal these jewel crafters. Her first goal was to mess up Clara’s plan, but she changed her mind after meeting Didi. She decided to use these crafters for herself.

‘I should rob these nobles’ pockets so they don’t open parties amid the drought as they did in the book.’ Money was going to Toiken anyway, so it would be better to collect it and use it to ease the drought.

“It’s hidden well. But we have to create a facility that they want, so it’ll take some time before we get started on actually crafting.”

Luide carefully explained the current situation on the jewel crafters to Ella. She remembered how many times she emphasized that the work must be done quickly. But the situation wasn’t on their side.

“How long? I assume two weeks isn’t enough?”

Luide closed his eyes at Ella’s questions. The facility that the jewel crafters wanted would take at least a week. His plump body crouched smaller. “That is not enough, milady.”

“I guess Toiken is the only one getting the party again then,” said Ella.

“Again?” Vylun asked, catching onto Ella’s mumbling and asked.

Ella’s eyes shook.