Even though this was supposed to be a negotiation between just Snowhaven and Diablo, somehow Mathema had appeared.
Nora was baffled… yet Snowhaven and Diablo showed no surprise. If anything, they looked as though they had expected it.
“They had to come in late—otherwise the others would start suspecting.”
President Fofana glanced briefly at Nora, then looked away as she took her seat at the table with fewer advisors and interpreters than the others.
From her demeanor, it was clear—this was a closed-door meeting Mathema was sneaking into without the rest of the world knowing.
(What is going on here?)
“So, how far have you gotten? I hope I’m not too late to the party.”
“This annoying country, late to the party? Impossible.”
The Empress’s retort was sharp enough to make Nora blink, but Fofana seemed to take it as a compliment.
“So that means you haven’t reached an agreement yet, Your Majesty?”
The Empress said nothing. Everton turned to Galatasaray.
“Switch to Plan B.”
“Yes.”
“It’s a shame, but we don’t consider Snowhaven’s offer to be of much value. That said… I have a new proposal for you.”
And this—this was exactly what Snowhaven had been waiting for.
“This information isn’t public yet, but I suspect your eyes, ears, and nose have caught wind of it—Diablo is about to open its borders.”
No shock, no gasps like the ones Nora had given when Fury told her. They knew already, only keeping their composure. Maybe Diablo themselves had planted the rumor in the intelligence circuit—who could say?
By bringing it up now, Everton was nailing the coffin shut with an official confirmation.
Still, caution came first. Humanity had learned from the Shadows.
“I know the first step is hard, but each one after will be easier. We know what you want from us… mana crystals.”
“Your Majesty, you have advanced technology, but you don’t have the supply we do. When the ore runs out, what good will the technology be?”
Everton went on,
“We know the buyers who purchase from us bring it to you for refinement.”
Buy cheap from Diablo, bring it to Snowhaven for refining, then send it back—this was Mathema’s and Zentinel’s play.
For countries further south, like Luminus or Velmount, it didn’t make sense—shipping ore north for refining, then back down, risked loss or theft. They had their own refineries, but none came close to Snowhaven’s in efficiency.
Methods varied endlessly. Truthfully, no one cared where the ore came from, so long as it was “cheap” and “high grade”—two qualities rarely found together.
“Your Majesty, our supply is almost limitless. Our mining capability surpasses humans. We can extract crystals from mountains or thousands of meters under the sea without any machines. Our costs are lower, so we can sell for less. Now—”
Everton slid a new document across to Snowhaven, his eyes flicking briefly to Nora.
“Diablo has just discovered a new mana crystal deposit. A five-nautical-mile radius. In Diablo’s waters. Its value is estimated at over three billion credits.”
The Empress, President Fofana, and the entire room widened their eyes.
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Three billion credits could sustain Diablo for a hundred years or more.
Economists in the room thought the same thing—if Diablo started a price war in this resource, Snowhaven could be crushed economically.
From once being a fishpond to Diablo’s lake, now Snowhaven might grow into a basin—but Diablo had become an ocean.
And if this wasn’t a bluff, but real data soon to be announced—what could stop them from slashing prices and wiping Snowhaven out?
President Fofana realized… this would make Diablo an economic superpower. Humanity would be in trouble.
“I see… no wonder you look so confident.”
She’d spoken the thought on many minds.
But Everton had an even brighter idea.
“I could dump mana crystal prices to the ground. But why destroy our own market? We have no grudge against Snowhaven—we’ve never had problems and don’t intend to start any. On the contrary… I want to create mutual benefit.”
Diablo’s New Counteroffer:
-
Use Snowhaven’s refining technology for all processing, in exchange for a 50/50 profit split.
In plain terms:
Let’s be the market together and split the profits down the middle.
“Your Majesty—if all the world’s mana crystals belonged to us, no matter how high the price, everyone would have to pay, wouldn’t they?”
Everton was proposing that Diablo and Snowhaven join hands to become the world’s only mana crystal supplier.
A monopoly.
The room was stunned.
“We’re not asking for your technology. We’re not asking for money. We’re proposing shared profit. We have the ore, you have the refinery. What do you say?”
No land in the world had more combined reserves than Diablo and Snowhaven. The merger could make Snowhaven wealthy for generations.
The Empress considered it carefully.
“Paul…”
Nora tugged her advisor’s sleeve.
“Should we push for more? Diablo can’t build refineries. We’re their bottleneck… shouldn’t the split be sixty-forty?”
She knew Diablo couldn’t do it—Fury had told her himself. They lacked humanity’s power to create. They would have to rely on Snowhaven’s facilities. But—
“…Princess Nora, they have the price-dumping card.”
Right. Was that why Everton had brought it up?
It was a veiled threat. Even if Diablo hurt themselves by collapsing prices, Snowhaven would bleed more—no one would buy from them while dumped prices flooded the market.
And if Snowhaven hiked refining fees, clever buyers would just take their ore to Luminus or Velmount, who could undercut them.
In truth, Snowhaven still held the stronger position—best refinery in the world, combined with Diablo’s supply. No need to share technology; Diablo wasn’t asking. They just wanted to work together and control the global market.
Snowhaven would set the price.
It was a chance to rise high enough to rival Luminus itself.
Because truth be told—Everton knew—Snowhaven didn’t like Luminus much either.
And that was why Mathema was here.
They didn’t like Luminus much either.
“And we’d like to join in.”
President Fofana spoke for Mathema, revealing her purpose here—to take part in today’s secret deal. Outwardly, at the UN, she had played the anti-Diablo politician. But behind closed doors—
Mathema’s Offer:
-
Open Mathema’s waters for Diablo to pass through to Snowhaven, and open a port city for their ships.
-
In return, Mathema would be the transport partner for all ore, taking a 20% cut of sales.
Mathema was the country that had built the modern world’s infrastructure—railways, city trams, airships, electric domes, mana-powered equipment, every major innovation.
And they would drop tariffs for Snowhaven to zero.
“You’re doing this, President—what about your dear friend Velmount?” the Empress asked.
Fofana’s lips curled.
“Friend? More like a parasite, Your Majesty.”
“And now you’d be a parasite on us instead?”
“Oh, please, Your Majesty.”
Fofana leaned back, arms resting on the chair, smiling like the politician she was.
“I’d like to do something for my country. And don’t talk like that to Diablo’s first friend.”
First friend?
Nora’s eyes flicked up.
Yes… that day she learned a harsh truth about the UN—
The first country Diablo had reached out to wasn’t Snowhaven.
It was Mathema.
She doubted even Fury knew that.
It had been Everton’s doing. He and Fofana had made a backroom deal before UN talks even began.
Fofana’s public hostility toward Diablo was almost entirely theater—to secure Mathema’s place as the first to profit at the source.
Mathema had no interest in long-term alliances. That would make them a rising star at best.
The losers would be the countries slowest to adapt.
Snowhaven was lucky—it produced vital energy, so Diablo had come courting.
From any angle, Snowhaven stood to gain far more than it lost by joining Diablo in a mana monopoly.
This was the real world of politics—playing out before Nora Ophilis’s eyes.
She looked down at her notebook.
The matter of the Shadows had vanished after the first two lines. The rest of the page was all about mana crystals.
In that moment, Nora understood the true purpose of the negotiations.
It had never been about how many Shadows there were, how the operations would work, or the tactics to capture them. Those were matters for the soldiers to handle after the leaders gave the green light.
This was top-tier diplomacy—the kind she would one day have to conduct in her mother’s place.
And once the three parties had enough reason to join hands,
and once the benefits were too great to ignore—
everything else would fall into place without resistance.
Mr.Fury… now I understand…