This time, Duke LaBon was genuinely subdued; he was thoroughly subdued.

Expecting to be heavily utilized by the King, he thought he could return to the center, only to find himself thrown against the Spice Group all alone.

But since he was already in the game, there was no reason to back out now.

Thus, he planned to first kidnap King Gigi and take away this leverage of Horn's, making the negotiation positions more equal for both sides.

Then, he intended to use this King Gigi incident as a pretext to create a false impression that the Holy Alliance was humiliating Falan.

He planned to let the family propagate rumors widely within Falan, saying "The Thousand River Valley people are ungrateful" and "The Thousand River Valley people don't know how to say thanks."

He aimed to use this tide of public opinion to silence the Falan nobles, leaving them helpless in trade negotiations.

Finally, Duke LaBon intended to use his silver tongue to sign a fair and suitable agreement, a mercantilist agreement.

It was perfect.

However, the idealized Duke LaBon never materialized in reality.

The kidnapping of the King failed, and the pretext also failed.

The Flanlaya spies of the ry Court Barracks were wiped out, and even made a laughingstock out of the Piyan theft incident.

For the isolated and helpless Duke LaBon, he had exhausted all his options.

The current priority was to clean up without letting the mess slip through the fingers.

"So did he yield?"

In the dilapidated church, Horn stood up, supporting his knees as he teased a little mountain cat with a blade of foxtail grass.

The little mountain cat pounced continuously, attacking Horn's pant legs and boots.

Jia Li reached out to scoop up the little mountain cat, petting it as she spoke, "He has faced reality, but he's only relenting on the matter of King Gigi in exchange for glass craftsmanship; he's clinging tightly to other issues."

"Alright then, let Catherine negotiate with him." Horn walked forward proactively, while Jia Li followed with the cat in her arms, as the two of them strolled through the giant spider farm.

"There's no need to be overly oppressive; concessions can be made on unimportant issues. Currently, the friendship of the Falan people is still very important to us."

"I understand that." Jia Li scratched the little mountain cat's chin with her fingers.

The little mountain cat, which was baring its fangs and hissing at Horn, was exceptionally docile in Jia Li's hands.

"Currently, our requirement is to exchange King Gigi for at least one hundred royal glass craftsmen and a complete set of crystal glass technology and tools, which is the baseline."

For Horn, crystal glass indeed constitutes a rather difficult craft.

He naturally knew that wanting glass is simply a matter of sand and soda ash, then melting them.

Yet once the actual construction began, a myriad of problems arose, and the resulting glass was full of bubbles, turbid, and incredibly brittle.

This wasn't because Horn misunderstood the principles, but because there was an indispensable step between theory and actual production — craftsmanship.

Even at the time of the First Industrial Revolution, craftsmanship wasn't something that could be mastered in a short time.

It wasn't that buying the craft processes and books meant one could immediately produce products of the same standard.

Craftsmanship is not merely a flowchart; there are all sorts of strange and bizarre small problems that arise during the process.

Only by solving all these myriad small problems can one produce qualified products.

The laborers need to accumulate skills, the technicians need to accumulate experience, and not to mention the Workshop Master must learn how to manage such crafts.

In fact, if craftsmanship becomes 'rusty,' catching up again becomes exceedingly difficult.

This accumulation cannot be achieved overnight; it requires time. An experienced master craftsman can greatly mitigate this drawback.

In fact, some master artisans recruited from Leia brought some poor guild habits, yet Horn tolerated them.

For glass craftsmanship, it wasn't that Horn couldn't figure it out himself.

It's just that when he finally figures it out, it would probably be ten or twenty years later.

And if the opportunity is there, why reinvent the wheel?

"I just fear that among those hundred glass craftsmen, many would be hiding as Flanlaya spies, or would be recruited by them."

"What sense does it make to seal all doors and windows just because you're afraid of mosquitoes flying in?" Horn stopped by a building embedded within the mountain body.

"We're here."

Seemingly afraid of the kitten witnessing too gruesome a scene, Jia Li put the little mountain cat down onto the ground and nudged it away with her foot.

Because in front of them was the purification prison used to detain the most dangerous criminals, transformed from what was once the underground church within the cavern.

Raffel, Angel, and a few Blood Knights were held here, including the previous vampire, guarded personally by Novia.

But as Novia saw Horn, her mouth pouted in discontent, "Do you know how busy I am? You actually want me to help you with prison guard work."

Horn gave a chuckle, "Aside from you, there's no one else who can fly; what if she escapes again?"

In fact, Novia's flying ability relied on controlling the Mithril armor; the winged machine merely made her fly faster.

For a flying unit like the vampire, only Novia was able to pursue them. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Horn was genuinely curious, the vampires have the ability to fly, so how did the Imperial Knights manage to kill them?

Horn immediately asked this question.

Jia Li shrugged her shoulders, "It's simple; only third-generation vampires can fly, and even then for only a short time, with less endurance than sister Novia.

In battlefields, unless they're dukes, vampires typically don't fly.

Because they're too slow in flight and are easily shot down by high-tier Knights with javelins or arrows."

"Oh, so we've actually captured a high-tier vampire?"

Following behind a few loyal attendants, Horn walked into the low-ceilinged mountain prison.

As they passed the familiar passage, the fluorite lamps on either side lit up one after another.

At the end of a mountainous wall corridor, behind iron railings, a girl with gray-white hair who appeared to be seventeen or eighteen sat, head lowered, in a chair.

Surrounding her was a circle of Holy Water, tightly confining her to this small area.

Jia Li walked up and tapped the railing with her sword sheath, "Name."

"Paulina Umythias," the vampire girl trembled.

"Background and origin."

"Griffin Horn Umythias clan of the Falan Kingdom, recruited by Governor LaBon into Flanlaya spy network due to debts owned to a Tax Collector."

"Wait!" Horn interrupted Jia Li directly, "Do vampires have colonies at Griffin Horn?"

"Griffin Horn is vast with a sparse population, filled with various disruptive colonies," Jia Li flipped through the interrogation report, "But generally the clans that come to Griffin Horn are those migrated due to political persecution."

The Blood and Flesh Royal Court's territory, being about the same size as the eastern continent, constituted a unified empire but the internal court politics and struggles were much bloodier than in the Kingdom.

If Horn's grand cleansing was a timed event, then the Royal Court had it as a daily routine.

The first activity the Dukes engaged in upon waking was to clear the daily issues, typically banishing or executing a batch of vampire clans.

There was once a joke saying a Great Knight, throughout his lifetime, killed fewer vampires than a Vampire Duke did in a day.

"Won't their presence cause panic among other colonies?" asked one of the young loyal attendants.

"Griffin Horn is severely lacking in manpower; those who arrive are considered Griffin Horn people.

As for the vampires, low-tier vampires can survive on animal blood and a little human blood.

High-tier vampires require a substantial amount of human blood, else their Extraordinary abilities will degrade.

This wasteful individual is a prime example, clearly a third-generation vampire, yet because of prolonged deprivation of human blood, can't even perform a simple necromantic spell."

Despite being locked up, the gray-white haired girl still lifted her head unwillingly, "I'm not useless; it's just that your weapons are too sharp."

"Did I allow you to speak?" The response she received was Jia Li's icy stare and the gradual drawing of her iron-enveloped rod.

Horn grabbed her wrist, pushing the rod back in, holding the interrogation record in one hand with a smile on his lips, "Your clan, thriving on smuggling trade? Let me guess, vampire pirates?"

The girl named Paulina shrank her neck, "Yes, yes."

"What do you smuggle?"

"Various commodities, primarily tobacco, sugar, and spices..."

Although Horn was smiling, Paulina couldn't help but feel a chill.

After exchanging a glance with Horn, Jia Li instantly understood the thought in his mind, "This one? Can she handle it?"

"She might not, but we can assist her." Horn leisurely moved forward, "Paulina, right?"

"... Uh-huh, uh-huh."

"You now have two options; the first is to be dissected and tormented to death by our insane Wizards, and the second is to prove your value..."

"I choose the second." Paulina responded immediately without thinking; she certainly didn't want to die.

Clutching the bars, Horn's face flickered behind them, "Good, since you could accept an offer from the Flanlaya spy, are you willing to accept an offer from Cheka?"