Chapter 74: Who Said Ironwake Was Most Likely First?
Gareth did not ask for a market price first.
There was no stable market price for Life Water.
The Fountain of Life produced ten bottles a day.
Cassian had used it.
Aurelia had used it.
Celia had used it.
One hundred seconds.
For those hundred seconds, the drinker received the same concentrated Life Energy recovery effect as the Fountain itself.
For an ordinary Lord, this was not a daily potion.
It was the kind of resource that mattered in a high-level battle, when someone’s strength had nearly run dry and one recovery window could push them back into the fight.
Stoneward had just taken third.
Gareth understood that value better than most.
[Gareth Halvern: Recovery was exactly what Stoneward lacked in the final Waves.]
[Gareth Halvern: I’m not asking how you got the Fountain.]
[Gareth Halvern: One bottle. I want it stored for the next time I truly need it.]
Cassian answered directly.
[Cassian Vale: 500,000 Aether.]
[Cassian Vale: One bottle only. No Exchange listing. No bulk supply.]
[Cassian Vale: Do not disclose the Fountain’s inventory or production cadence. Do not resell this bottle.]
Gareth went silent for three seconds.
[Gareth Halvern: You’re not charging me for a potion.]
[Gareth Halvern: You’re charging me for one recovery window in the next high-level battle.]
[Cassian Vale: Yes.]
[Gareth Halvern: Expensive.]
[Cassian Vale: Then I don’t sell.]
Two more seconds passed.
[Gareth Halvern: Deal.]
He did not bargain it down to four hundred fifty thousand.
He did not add a vague favor for later.
Those conditions were part of the deal.
[Life Water ×1 transferred]
[Life Water: 46 → 45]
[Aether Crystal +500,000]
[Aether Crystal: 3,075,266 → 3,575,266]
Five hundred thousand.
One bottle.
But that did not mean Life Water had acquired a permanent five-hundred-thousand-Aether unit price.
Stoneward had just taken third.
Gareth had personally felt the cost of insufficient recovery in the high-level Waves.
What he was buying now was an emergency reserve he could keep in storage for the next hard fight.
And the deal included no public listing, no bulk supply, and confidentiality.
If someone else came tomorrow with another five hundred thousand, Cassian might not sell a second bottle at all.
The Fountain produced ten a day.
Those ten were Forgotten Shrine’s recovery reserve.
They were not ten units of daily Exchange inventory waiting to be sold.
Veyra stood nearby, one brow rising when she saw the price.
"Your Fountain makes ten a day."
"Mm."
"This bottle went for five hundred thousand."
"This bottle."
"And the second?"
"I never said I was selling one."
Veyra watched him for two breaths.
"So five hundred thousand isn’t the unit price."
"It’s what Gareth will pay today, when he needs one and I’m only releasing one."
"That sounds more like you."
Gareth’s messages were not finished.
[Gareth Halvern: One thing first.]
[Gareth Halvern: This Life Water is a transaction.]
[Gareth Halvern: If the next Ranking puts us on the same board, I’m still fighting for first.]
Cassian replied,
[Cassian Vale: You should.]
[Gareth Halvern: I thought you’d say "welcome."]
[Cassian Vale: You’ll come anyway.]
The other side paused for a while.
[Gareth Halvern: True.]
Stoneward was not a Riftward subordinate.
Third place had not turned Gareth into Cassian’s man.
Life Water could be sold.
Cooperation could be negotiated.
And when the next first place was worth fighting for, they would fight for it again.
Cassian preferred that kind of relationship.
Clear boundaries.
Clear accounts.
Veyra did not return to the training area immediately.
Instead, she pushed a cup toward Cassian.
No feast.
Just the warm wine Bram had sent in with dinner.
"Drink."
Cassian looked at her.
"What?"
"You got first."
"You got your twelve times."
"And you just sold one Life Water for five hundred thousand."
Veyra leaned back in her chair.
"Didn’t you say you actually wanted first?"
"Mm."
"Then drink first."
"Deal with the money and attributes afterward."
Cassian paused for one breath.
Then he picked up the cup and drank.
The wine was not expensive.
It was worth less than almost any Rare material in his storage.
But for the length of that cup, he did not have the Exchange open at the same time.
Veyra noticed.
Only then did she smile.
"That’s better."
Cassian set the cup down.
"Finished."
"I saw."
"Then I can deal with them now."
Veyra stared at him.
Then closed her eyes for a moment.
"At least you actually finished the drink."
Cassian had just reopened his attribute panel when the Shattered Marches Channel lit up first.
It was not Riftward celebrating.
Someone on Black Banner’s side still had not swallowed the result.
[Black Banner Lord: It’s one Ranking.]
[Black Banner Lord: Later Regions knew more of the rules, prepared more completely, and stayed in longer. None of that was wrong.]
[Anonymous Lord: Ironwake did fight longer than Riftward.]
[Black Banner Lord: So don’t act like one first place means every earlier judgment was wrong.]
The channel paused for half a beat.
Varek did not appear.
Neither did Nadia Serr.
But several of the people who had been calling Ironwake the likely winner before Rank 2 had started talking again.
Tobias watched for a few seconds.
Then he posted an old screenshot.
[Varek Sorn: The first batch tested the War Drum, recovery window, and high-level Waves for everyone behind them.]
[Varek Sorn: Later Regions will obviously push farther.]
Tobias added one line beneath it.
[Tobias Reed: Right.]
Then another.
[Tobias Reed: They did push farther.]
[Tobias Reed: Just not higher.]
The Shattered Marches Channel went dead silent.
Then the messages hit all at once.
[Anonymous Warden: ...]
[Anonymous Lord: You actually kept that screenshot?]
[Rowan Ashford: This is not part of Regional Patrol duties.]
[Tobias Reed: Personal hobby.]
The Black Banner Lord answered immediately.
[Black Banner Lord: That statement wasn’t wrong.]
[Black Banner Lord: Stoneward, Ironwake, and Sable March all stayed in longer than Riftward.]
Tobias did not argue.
He posted another screenshot.
This one was not from days ago.
It was from just before Rank 2 had been announced.
[Black Banner Lord: Riftward locked its score early. That’s a fact.]
[Black Banner Lord: Later Regions had the larger advantage. That’s also a fact.]
[Anonymous Warden: So first is still most likely Ironwake.]
Under the screenshot, Tobias asked only one question.
[Tobias Reed: Who was it that just said Ironwake was most likely first?]
The channel went blank for two full seconds.
The Black Banner Lord who had said it did not answer.
Someone else tried to cover for him.
[Black Banner Lord: That was the public information at the time. No one gets every judgment right.]
[Tobias Reed: True.]
[Tobias Reed: I didn’t ask you to.]
[Tobias Reed: I’m just putting the result next to what you said.]
Elara followed.
[Elara Vayne: You told Cassian to wait for the result.]
[Elara Vayne: The result is here.]
Seraphine appeared next.
[Seraphine Valcrest: Before Rank 2 came out, he said Riftward was first.]
[Seraphine Valcrest: You said Ironwake.]
[Seraphine Valcrest: There’s nothing left to analyze.]
From Stoneward, Gareth sent a single line.
[Gareth Halvern: Third is third. Second is second. First is first.]
The next message slowed the channel even more.
It came from Darian Frost.
[Darian Frost: I took second.]
[Darian Frost: Don’t turn my second place into first for me.]
Ironwake’s own Warden had said it.
A large part of the defense around Ironwake disappeared immediately.
But someone from Black Banner still refused to let it go.
[Black Banner Lord: Riftward taking first doesn’t mean the later-entry advantage didn’t exist.]
[Black Banner Lord: Varek saying later Regions would push farther was still true.]
Tobias replied at once.
[Tobias Reed: I never said it wasn’t.]
[Tobias Reed: I said they didn’t finish higher.]
Another wall of ellipses followed.
This time, Varek finally appeared.
[Varek Sorn: Later Regions did know more and did push farther.]
Tobias waited one second.
[Tobias Reed: We just read that part.]
[Tobias Reed: Who got first?]
The channel went quiet again.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Varek did not answer immediately.
Nadia Serr spoke first instead.
[Nadia Serr: The wager already settled with Riftward in first.]
[Nadia Serr: If the Rank-1 call lost, don’t try to rename the result afterward.]
Even Black Banner’s own side had said it now.
Tobias did not let the opening close.
[Tobias Reed: Varek?]
Two more seconds passed.
Then the answer appeared.
[Varek Sorn: Riftward.]
One word.
Tobias answered immediately.
[Tobias Reed: Good.]
[Tobias Reed: Then I’m keeping the old screenshot.]
The channel erupted in laughter and ellipses.
[Anonymous Lord: Regional Patrol keeps excellent archives.]
[Rowan Ashford: Again, this is not a Regional Patrol archive.]
[Tobias Reed: It can be now.]
Even Cassian smiled at that.
Veyra was still beside him.
"You’re not going to add anything?"
"About what?"
"First place is yours."
"The system already said it."
Cassian scrolled the channel down a little.
"They’re settling what they said now."
Veyra glanced at the messages still pouring upward.
"And your money and attributes?"
Cassian looked at the sixty Free Attribute he still had not spent.
Then at his 3,575,266 Aether.
He did not open a confirmation panel.
"No rush."
This time Veyra actually laughed.
"They got you to leave money and attributes alone."
"They must be loud."
Cassian did not deny it.
First place had already been settled.
Now it was time to settle the things people had said before the result.