Chương 525: Chapter 527: Deal

"So, we need to figure out what we want. Is it best for the settlement to help the mist pillar?" asked Veritum. The others of us who were present frowned in thought. The exchange of goods, or the payment the mist pillar could offer, wasn't the biggest question here. There were two fundamental issues we needed to think about. First of all, would the mist pillar turn on us and try to wipe us out after it got what it wanted?

The fact that the mist pillar hadn't given us all of this information when we first met was, at least to some extent, understandable - but that didn't necessarily give me faith that it would uphold any deal we made with it, if we tried to create some kind of long term deal. Furthermore, if we helped the mist pillar regain all of the parts of its body and freed it, it would regain its mobility - meaning that if it wanted to, it would be able to attack the settlement. That would be a total catastrophe.

Second, this would also ruin the biggest source of levels and monsters on the island. Originally, we had planned to weaken the birth rate of the fog banks, rather than annihilate them entirely. While the fog banks were indeed a problem for us, they were also an untapped well of potential. Each fog bank gave out a good amount of levels, meaning that the settlement could always maintain a high level group of combatants as long as they carefully managed the birth rate of the fog clouds.

These fog banks might not be the perfect monster for that purpose, since they had near invulnerability to a great deal of magic and physical attacks - but the other monsters on this island that offered levels, such as the magic deer, had very low populations. The flesh-eating insects that resided in the sand pits had high populations, but they were extremely irritating to attack, given that the were prone to hiding in the essence-stifling sand.

In other words, while the fog banks weren't an ideal source of levels, they were the best one that existed on the island. Their biggest drawback could also be resolved with the right tools or magic types - future generations would just need to maintain a stable supply of soul-damaging spells and weapons. Totally exterminating them would mean that future generations had far more limited options for farming levels on the island.

Levels were needed to maintain military strength, and therefore, future generations would be very weak if we followed through on the mist pillar's plan. That could easily led to them getting conquered and assimilated by another city a few hundred years down the line, or they might get eaten by some new species of monsters. Military strength was a core foundation of a stable society, especially in a world where monsters were common.

"So, any ideas? How would we solve the monster resource problem if we end the mist cyclone? We can't just leave the kids or their future descendants to level up on nothing but deer and thin air, right?" I asked.

"We could try asking the mist pillar if it could help us introduce a new monster species to the island? Something that has a lot of strengths, but also has some kind of critical weakness?" said Felix.

"I imagine that other islands must have implemented some kind of similar strategy. There's no way we're the first settlement to encounter this kind of problem. The most logical thing to do is to find a monster similar to the fog banks, which gives lots of levels because it has a lot of troublesome abilities, but has some kind of major weakness that future generations can exploit.

Really, the issue is that these fog banks are almost a perfect enemy - but exploiting their major weakness is practically impossible unless a bunch of other factors line up. As humans, we don't have any kind of innate proficiency with soul magic." I paused. Now that Felix mentioned it, that was a good point. How did other settlements solve this kind of problem?

"Did anyone get a good luck at what kinds of monsters existed on the island with the plant people, before we left?" I asked.

"I actually did some investigation. They had a few underground caverns, where some ridiculously poisonous monsters showed up. The monsters could basically kill anything with lungs in seconds… but the plant people on that island had totally different respiratory systems, so the poison monsters had no way to exert their biggest strength. Apart from the airborne toxins, they were slow, fragile, and dumb." said Veritum. I nodded thoughtfully. So Felix was right.

Other islands had solved this problem before, in similar ways to what he was proposing.

"So if we trust the fog pillar, we can solve the monster population problem. So long as it honors its word, and we make introducing a new monster species one of the core elements of our trade," said Sallia.

"The bigger issue I have with the whole thing is the idea of the fog pillar honoring its word. We have no real way to enforce justice if it decides to just kill all of us after we free it. The power imbalance between our settlement and the fog bank makes it dangerous to release it." I played with a few strands of my hair as I fell into thought. Sallia's words were exactly wrong. The fog pillar was far more powerful than we were.

If we fought it right now, in its home territory, we would probably get annihilated, at least if its life force was anything to go by. Granted, life force was nowhere near the end-all-be-all in a fight - it was not a very good indicator of offensive power, after all. If we released it, the fog pillar would certainly be capable of threatening the settlement, and harming us if it felt like it. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"That's true, but I think that's not very different from the current situation," I said.

"Right now, our village is on the verge of extinction due to the predation of the fog banks. We've weakened the speed at which new fog banks are born, but we haven't really found a good way to stop them if they charge us right now and ignore casualties. They are unintelligent, dangerous, predatory, and difficult to deal with. Releasing the fog pillar and helping it means that we'll essentially be trading one potential threat for another.

However, the fog banks have already proven that they're unable to cooperate or make deals with us in any capacity. Meanwhile, the fog pillar has been honorable in its dealings with us, at least so far. It taught Anise some magic, gave us the materials we needed to defend ourselves, and gave us some information about the island. Of course, all of those were trades, so we don't need to feel overly grateful to it - but we also don't need to feel overly hostile to it."

"Sure, but the fog bank is asking us to go back into danger to recover the rest of its body. Right now, the situation could have already stabilized, even if we don't intervene any more," said Sallia.

"The birth rate of the fog banks has weakened, and so if we just ride out a few more months of thinning out their numbers, our village might stabilize anyway. I feel that course of action is less risky than introducing a new variable into the equation of our settlement's survival."

"But refusing to return the mist pillar's body could also be seen as a sign of bad faith from our side," said Anise.

"And the mist pillar really hasn't done anything to hurt us so far. Leaving it ripped into pieces like this leaves a bad taste in my mouth." Sallia rubbed her chin thoughtfully at our words. Meanwhile, the other people of the group started to weigh in with their own opinions. Of the ten of them, four agreed with Sallia's assessment of the situation, and believed that we shouldn't aid the fog pillar in reuniting its body.

Six of the adults instead believed that we should build goodwill with the fog pillar, and ask it to introduce a new species of monster into the island.

"So, based on the votes here, we'll help the fog pillar?" asked Veritum. One of the mages that had voted with Sallia sighed, but nodded.

"I don't like it, but I'll abide by the majority's decision. I do think we're taking a risk either way, so I won't just run off o my own to try to enact my own plan." Sallia also sighed, but she nodded.

"I think we're being too trusting, but I'll go with what you guys believe is correct this time." The other mages who had disagreed with the majority vote also assented. With our decision made, we returned to the fog pillar.

"We've decided that we're willing to help you, contingent upon three conditions," said Veritum.

"First of all, we want you to help introduce a new monster onto the island afterwards - something that will give future generations a way to level up properly. It should be a monster that has a lot of strengths, but also has some kind of glaring weakness that humans can exploit easily."" I can do that," said the mist pillar.

"Humans are unusually good at devising ranged attacks, such as bows and arrows, and while I have not left my domain in the past century, I recall that there was originally an island nearby with a kind of rather irritating monster on it. Those monsters looked kind of like land-based squids, and had little offensive power - but killing them causes them to explode, showering their surroundings with corrupted flesh.

Touching this flesh causes all sorts of nasty effects to trigger - and the most annoying part is that the effects are semi-random. Sometimes touching the flesh will cause random, dangerous mutations to happen in your body. Other times, it will poison you, or cause your body to start rotting from the inside out. But if you shoot it with a lot of arrows those effects are quite manageable, since you won't be close enough to the explosion to get hit at all." I smiled.

I was glad that the mist pillar already had an idea for how to solve our first request.

"The second condition is much simpler - we want some assistance when it comes to trying to weaken the cyclone," said Veritum, which caught me off guard.

"The mist sprites can help us distract some of the fog banks, if we make another journey to the mist cyclone. If we're helping you, we would like some assistance in distracting the enemy. After all, we're working to help you recover your body parts." The mist pillar hesitated for several seconds of awkward silence." Is there any chance you would accept something else?" I was also surprised. Veritum hadn't discussed this condition with us beforehand.

"If we're going to be putting our lives on the line to secure the other pieces of your body, I want to reduce the risk to my own people. It's only fair for some of your children to participate as well, right?" The mist pillar considered Veritum's words for several minutes.

"Very well. I don't like it, but I accept. What is your final demand?"

"We want a large stockpile of crafting materials. That way, we can create gear to enhance our safety before we go for the fog cyclone again."

"I do not mind that condition. I will give you a list of the materials I have laying around, and you may select what you want." The fog bank produced a list for us to look through, and Felix spent several minutes poring over it. He also took some time to negotiate his personal share of the loot, since Felix would be the one doing most of the work when it came to extracting the rest of the fog cyclone and bringing it back. Nobody else had the Feat that let him capture mist, after all.

After several more minutes of debate, discussion, and bargaining with the fog bank, we finalized our plans. The fog bank also agreed to help keep our village safe for the next few weeks, as Felix and the other craftsmen prepared our new gear. We finally had some time to catch our breath, without the fog banks constantly attacking us - and then, we could finally bring the threats on this island to an end.