Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king

Chapter 410: Among the tribes(3)

Chapter 410: Among the tribes(3)

Varaku was momentarily taken aback. Three thousand warriors, all clad in steel? The number alone was staggering. His first instinct was to dismiss it as an outrageous lie—boastful words meant to intimidate, as any trader might do to make himself seem grander than he truly was. But as his mind worked through the claim, doubts crept in.

The foreigner had not come empty-handed, nor had he made empty promises. The goods he spoke of—salt, wine, and steel—were not rare trinkets doled out in small amounts but things he had offered freely, as if they were as common to him as air.

He also said they had more in the ships. 

Steel was not something to be handed over lightly, yet this man had done so without hesitation, as though it were of little consequence. That meant only one thing: they had it in abundance. 

Their value after all was only proportionate to how they could get them, which was only by trading with the Azanians.This meant that only the truly powerful in a tribe could boast to have steel-weapon and chainmail, or as they called them Chain-cloth or Steel cloth.

And even then those with armor only were less than a few hundred.

Varaku glanced at the blade Aron had presented earlier, now resting against the table. It was finer than anything his own warriors wielded—its edge sharper, its craftsmanship superior, and it was just a short blade.

The man in front of him had not even haggled over it, but gifted it. A man who possessed little would have clung to such an item like a lifeline, yet this foreigner had given it away with the ease of a man who knew he could always get more.