Chapter 474: Insatiable Greed

"You've gone too far." Watching the thousand-meter-long floating ship break through space and depart, Muria looked at the beautiful green-haired woman in front of him, who was reporting the trade results with a smug expression.

"Exactly, you're way too greedy. Who would dare to trade with His Highness in the future if you keep doing this?" The blonde beauty Mia, standing beside Muria, also stared angrily at the green dragon before them, her cheeks puffed up like a squirrel with its mouth full of food.

"I've tried my best to secure the maximum benefits for His Highness. Is that wrong, Miss Mia?" Fiona, kneeling on the ground, slightly straightened her body, revealing her voluptuous curves, and looked playfully at the dragon-born girl behind Muria.

To Mia, this was a challenge to her position, as Muria had entrusted such a significant transaction to this green dragon instead of her, who was always by his side. The main reason was that Mia didn't understand these trade goods as well as Fiona did.

"But the way you did it was too much. They came with fifty-seven ships, and you left them with only one, taking fifty-six floating ships and all the goods. You forced everyone from the Deep Blue Merchant Guild onto a single ship to return." Mia angrily accused Fiona of her misconduct. "If this spreads on the main continent, and someone misunderstands, saying His Highness is greedy, how would that reflect on him?"

"I didn't force them to trade with us," Fiona replied indifferently. "All trade items were conducted on a voluntary basis, and many prices were proposed by them. I didn't extort them."

"Enough, Mia." Seeing his maid wanting to argue further, Muria intervened. "This has nothing to do with Fiona. No matter who handled this transaction, the result wouldn't be much different. These guys are practically throwing money at me. Any action can become a reason for them to give me money."

"For example, Fiona, you must have gained quite a bit from this trade, right?" Muria looked coldly at the green dragon before him. With over a hundred dragons under his care, he was well aware of the nature of chromatic dragons.

"Your Highness, I didn't want them. The human merchant insisted on giving them to me." Under Muria's gaze, Fiona smiled awkwardly and took out a pile of radiant extraordinary accessories.

"Working for Master Muria, you're only thinking about personal gain." Seeing Fiona continue to take out accessories, Mia widened her eyes. She felt that chromatic dragons were truly unreliable and untrustworthy, likening their involvement in major commercial trades to letting a mouse guard a grain warehouse.

"I didn't actively ask for these," Fiona weakly explained, occasionally glancing at Muria, seemingly very afraid of his disapproval.

This trade once again made Fiona realize Muria's powerful background, strengthening her resolve to follow him. She wasn't stupid; she could see these humans were finding ways to give Muria money.

During her centuries with Ysera, the Emerald Mother, she had never encountered such a thing, nor even heard of it.

"Hmm, pick a few pieces you like, and the rest will be confiscated." Muria wasn't particularly concerned about Fiona accepting bribes from merchants. As long as she didn't betray him, it was fine. It's normal to gain some benefits, given that expecting a chromatic dragon to be incorruptible was impossible.

Giants and chromatic dragons followed him because they believed in a bright future with him. Intelligent beings sought nothing more than wealth and beauty.

Hearing Muria's words, Fiona, initially sorrowful about handing over all her bribes, suddenly beamed with joy. Under Muria's indifferent gaze, she selected the nine most valuable accessories and kept them.

"By the way, Your Highness Muria, a human named Andrew seemed very interested in the drow elves on our island. He wanted to know if we were willing to sell them."

"We don't deal in slave trade. Tell him that directly." Muria immediately rejected Fiona's inquiry. He despised treating lives as commodities, even though he knew slaves were rampant in the world of Erathia, almost everywhere.

Muria couldn't eliminate the existence of slaves; he didn't have the power to change the world, but he could choose not to align with those major slave traders.

"Alright." Fiona wasn't particularly disappointed by Muria's rejection of this tempting offer. It was just one less reason for Andrew to give her money, nothing significant.

"How many cubic meters of elemental crystals did we gain from this trade?" Muria asked directly.

"Your Highness, I need some time to estimate. I can't give you a result immediately."

"What do you mean?" Muria frowned.

"Your Highness, Andrew didn't pay in elemental crystals; he used construction resources for building floating cities to offset the payment. He seemed to know we needed them."

"Hmm." Muria wasn't surprised by this. "But what do you mean by estimate?"

"This time, our apparent trade was worth about 103 cubic meters of elemental crystals, but the value of the collateral materials they provided far exceeded this price, at least over two million cubic meters, not counting the floating ships they left behind."

"What reason did they give for leaving the floating ships?"

"Time was tight, and they lacked manpower to unload, so they simply gave them to us."

...

"Master Muria, considering the current completion level of your floating island, I suggest you stop here. Don't proceed further. Even 132 unfinished floating cities can be very tempting to deities."

"How far am I from the Synapse subcontinent?" Standing on the highest point of the floating island, Muria looked out, but saw only water, no coastline in sight.

"Less than a hundred kilometers." Cassio's gentle voice answered. "If you want to enter the Synapse continent, I suggest leaving the island here and disguising yourself as a demon warlock to enter the Evil God's Paradise."

"Then transport the demons I need here. I'm preparing to depart."

"As you wish!"