The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Soshian chose to open up his own Silver Heart route for two main goals: first, to send merchant groups to understand the internal situation of the Silver Heart and the strength of the Leagues of the Votann, preparing for future diplomatic and military activities; and second, to exert tactical pressure on the Greater Thurian League. The subtext was simple - if you don't do it, there are plenty of others who will, and they might even offer a higher price than you.

Soshian even had Old Walker leak a message to the representative of the Greater Thurian League, stating that if the merchant teams reached the Silver Heart on their own, they would choose the most sincere league and trade with them, and even establish the Eternal Throne's first trading post in the Silver Heart on their territory.

With this combination of moves, the Greater Thurian League ultimately couldn't withstand the pressure. After a final struggle, the league's plenipotentiary representative accepted the proposal formulated by the Eternal Throne.

However, some modifications were made to the content. First, the Eternal Throne's trading post in the Silver Heart must be established within the territory of the Greater Thurian League. Second, the Eternal Throne could not disclose the news that it possessed an independent trade route to the Silver Heart – in fact, the Greater Thurian League was not surprised that Soshian knew about the Silver Heart route, as the Leagues of Votann had recorded the arrival of Aeldari fleets in the Silver Heart in ancient historical records.

Next, the Greater Thurian League would receive a fixed 20% of the Eternal Throne's trade volume in the Silver Heart, as well as priority trade negotiation rights and pricing power. This meant that the Greater Thurian League could be the first to negotiate the price of the same batch of trade goods, and the Eternal Throne had to prioritize the Greater Thurian League if the prices were the same.

After careful consideration, Soshian granted them these preferential conditions, and in exchange, he obtained the long-awaited advanced plasma missile technology. This finally made the Viper-class missile destroyer a truly feasible project. Of course, Soshian also guaranteed that he would never leak the technology. In addition, he signed a long-term military service order with the Greater Thurian League. The Greater League would provide the Eternal Throne with two Ironclad Companies and their accompanying fleets for a long time, and their price would only be 86% of the benchmark price, although it was still not cheap. At the same time, if the Eternal Throne needed it, all the Ironclad Companies of the Greater Thurian League could be temporarily hired, but the price for the latter would be the "market price". According to the league representative, this price was "enough to buy a small civilization", but Soshian only smiled at this.

As for the other details, Soshian didn't pay much attention, because his goals were only two: technology and mercenaries. Even the profits from trade were secondary. For him, mere wealth was inert; only what could be transformed into military strength and power had value.

He even summoned the leader of the first trade fleet, a trader from Yemlok who was practicing the path of commerce, and explained to him the details of going to the Leagues of Votann Federation in the Silver Heart. The key task was to understand the internal situation of each league and their relationships with each other, while also figuring out their military strength, and actively contacting those leagues that mainly engaged in military contracting business to establish contacts and lay the foundation for future hiring.

After giving his instructions, this merchant fleet, which had both trade and diplomatic attributes and a scale of only four small ships, set off with the representative and fleet of the Greater Thurian League towards the Leagues of Votann homeworld in the Silver Heart.

On Soshian's side, after resolving the matter with the Leagues of Votann, he privately summoned Dorlar to ask about "Phoenix".

"Phoenix? You mean this person, Your Highness?"

In a quiet side hall with a Tizcan style reminiscent of Xerxes' homeworld, Dorlar and Soshian sat cross-legged together on a huge carpet, with a wine pot and various exquisite foods between them.

Dorlar tilted his head and thought for a while, then put down his wine glass.

"I do know about him, although I was born relatively late and not in the same era as him. However, my relatives, especially my father, told me a lot of interesting things about him. No one knows Phoenix's specific origins. All that is known is that when he came to Commorragh, he only had a deformed gnome servant with him. At first, everyone thought he was just one of the countless wandering vagrants who came and went in Commorragh, but he quickly made a name for himself. There was a story at the time that his gnome servant was captured by the Duchess Petroff's men and thrown into the arena for fun, and Phoenix then chose to go alone to the castle of Count Espinoza, the duchess's mortal enemy, and persuaded him in a few words that the gnome was a suicide weapon he had arranged, and that attacking the duchess at this time would definitely succeed. As a result, Count Espinoza really believed it and personally led a team to raid the arena where Duchess Petroff was located, resulting in a mixed battle between the two sides. Phoenix took advantage of the chaos to scoop up his servant and left the count behind."

Although he knew about this before, Soshian was still amazed when he heard the specific details, and picked up a pie made of Megalodon meat and put it in his mouth.

"The count, realizing he had been deceived, immediately withdrew, and the duchess also realized that Phoenix was the one causing trouble and immediately sent a large number of people to hunt him down, but always to no avail. The deceived count also sent a large number of men to hunt down this swindler, until one day... the count died."

"Died?"

Soshian chewed his cheek and blinked.

"How did he die?"

"According to my father, Phoenix somehow contacted the duchess, and then used himself as bait to lure the count out. While the count's men were entangled by the duchess's men, he suddenly assassinated the count, using the count's head to exchange for the duchess's forgiveness and becoming her honored guest."

"Heh, really... cough, cough, um."

After Dorlar finished speaking, he sighed with some emotion:

"My father used this person to educate me at that time, to teach me what it means to use strength to fight strength, and what it means to ally and betray... As for Phoenix, when he had a certain status, he began to stir up trouble, using an ancient empire's divine medicine called 'Fountain of Youth' to trigger infighting between the Bloodbrides and several nobles. Both sides suffered countless casualties, while the duchess reaped the benefits, expanding her power several times after the conflict without losing a single soldier. Even the Grand Master of the Bloodbrides publicly gave Phoenix the extremely high evaluation of 'an army without soldiers'. Ah, speaking of which, there is also a secret."

"What secret?"

"It's about that dog Viktor. At that time, he was just an insignificant street gang leader. In a conflict between the Shadow Court and a certain noble that Phoenix had planned, he almost got hanged in the street because he stood on the wrong side. It is said that he put a collar around his neck and handed the dog chain to Phoenix, which made Phoenix laugh and spared him. My father said that since then, he and his Blackheart Gang have been working for Phoenix like dogs, and it was thanks to Phoenix's protection that he really gained a foothold and gained a little bit of fame in noble circles. My father said that Viktor was just a little follower who only nodded and bowed by Phoenix's side at that time."