The Prizes and the Tasks

"Now, shall we discuss the terms of our co-operation?"

  Ikasa narrowed his eyes. The Compliment, the toast; it was all to sneak in this question. 

'Do you expect me to fall for that? Not in a hundred years, old man!'

Noticing his maneuver, Ikasa immediately changed the topic. 

"Before we decide, shouldn't you tell me about the tournament?"

He put a brake on the sneaky move by City Lord. 

Pretending as if nothing went wrong, Zhen Wu stroked his beard. 

"Yes, of course. Should I assume Xue Mi filled you in on the origin of the tournament?"

"She did. But I am unclear about how the tribute management works." 

"You should know that as a City Lord, I collect the tribute on behalf of the Imperial Court. Of the total collected amount, 50% goes to the imperial treasury. That is about 100,000 Gold every year."

Though he didn't show it on his face, Ikasa was shocked to hear the amount Imperial Court collected.