Watching his son Loki run away, Harald shook his head helplessly and turned to Charlotte Linlin, saying apologetically:
"Feel sorry,Linlin,I'm sorry you had to see this..This child...They're getting harder and harder to discipline.."
Charlotte Linlin waved her hand casually, indicating she didn't mind.
"Every family has its own problems; that brat of mine might be even more of a headache later."
She changed the subject and got down to business. "I came to Elbaf this time not just to see an old friend and deliver some food, but for official business. Speaking of which, among your Giant Race, there should be shipwrights with good craftsmanship, right?"
"Of course there are," Harald affirmed without hesitation.
The long lifespan and innate strength of the Giant Race gave them unique skills and advantages in building large objects, especially ships.
"That's good, saves This lady another trip to Water 7." Charlotte Linlin nodded with satisfaction and went straight to the point,
"Then I'll be blunt. I need to order twenty ships, and they must be built with adam tree as the primary material."
"Twenty?!" Hearing this, Harald's giant pupils shrank suddenly, and he shook his head in refusal almost immediately,
"Impossible! Linlin, that number is too exaggerated!"
Although the adam tree was not a rare treasure to Elbaf, providing enough wood for twenty large ships at once would be a significant drain even for the Giant Race, seriously affecting them.
Seeing Harald's intense reaction, Charlotte Linlin immediately understood he had misunderstood and added:
"It's not the kind of warship you giants use. It's for my Inazuma Patrol Team, fast ships for normal human-sized'Small People' to ride."
Harald froze for a moment, looked down carefully at the proportion of Charlotte Linlin and the human Crew member proportion behind her, and his tense expression softened slightly as he quickly calculated in his head.
If it was just building small human ships, the total amount of adam tree needed for twenty might only be equivalent to the amount used for one or two standard giant warships, which was within Elbaf's capacity.
"...That's fine then." He pondered for a moment and nodded reluctantly. "We should be able to manage that amount."
"Great! Since it's settled, I'll pay you the deposit now. The price will be according to the current Black Market rate for adam tree, how about it? This lady won't let you lose out."
Charlotte Linlin always acted decisively and immediately signaled Gerd to return to the St. Freya to bring down the chests of Berries and some precious materials prepared beforehand.
"Agreed." Harald had no objection to the price, but he was more concerned about something else. While waiting for Gerd to get the deposit, he hesitated and then asked in a lowered voice:
"Linlin... do you know roughly how much longer it will be before Rocks comes to Elbaf?"
Charlotte Linlin raised an eyebrow in surprise: "What? Have you finally come around and decided to join the Rocks Pirates?"
This was a first; Harald was actually proactively asking about Rocks' whereabouts.
"No, no." Harald quickly denied it, his eyes flickering as if he were hiding something,
"It's just... I have some important things I want to talk to him about in person."
His tone carried a sense of relief mixed with indecisive hesitation.
(Truly an oddball.)
Charlotte Linlin could clearly feel Harald's complex and contradictory emotional fluctuations at this moment, but she was not omniscient and could not guess what this giant king was weighing in his heart.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"