The nobles gasped. One thousand ingots a year was a decent amount, but it wasn’t really enough to make armors and weapons to equip an entire army with.

"If you require more metal than the yearly limit, or if you need an emergency shipment delivered immediately, we can provide it." Cassius smiled a very sharp, dangerous smile. "But you will pay a 100 percent premium fee on top of the base price."

"A hundred percent premium?!" a skinny Earl yelled. "That is double the base price!! This is daylight robbery!"

"That is the cost of convenience." Cassius countered smoothly. "Keep in mind what you are actually buying. If you purchase iron from the territories that own mines, they sell you raw, unrefined ore. You have to waste your own money, coal, and manpower to smelt it down. And they always have strict supply limits based on their mining yields. Those guys can’t even sell you a thousand unless they exclusively sold to you."

Cassius gestured toward the window.

"We sell perfectly refined, pure ingots." Cassius reminded them. "You hand them directly to your blacksmiths and start forging. And we have absolutely no supply limits. If you need ten thousand ingots tomorrow, we can fill the order. You pay for that level of quality."

He picked his quill back up.

"I am not here to negotiate." Cassius looked back down at his paperwork. "Those are the terms. If you want our steel and iron, you pay the price. If you do not want to sign, or if you think you can find cheaper ore somewhere else, the front door is right behind you. Oresfall does not need your gold."

The nobles sat there fuming. Their faces turned red with anger and humiliation. But beneath all the rage, they knew Cassius had them trapped.

Nobody else in the entire empire sold pure ingots in unlimited quantities. If they walked out now, their rival Lords would just buy up the steel and outpace their military growth.

"Fine." the fat Viscount hissed through gritted teeth. "I will sign your fucking contract."

One by one, the defeated nobles stepped up to the desk and signed the trade ledgers. They agreed to the strict export limits and the massive premium penalties.

Once the final signature was collected, the nobles practically stormed out of the room.

A few of them paused at the door.

"We will see how long your little town survives without our political support." the skinny Earl spat venomously. "Do not come crying to us when the winter raids hit."

They threw out their arrogant, empty threats and finally disappeared down the hallway.

Cassius ignored the man and just sat back in his wooden chair and let out a long, satisfying stretch.

He looked over at the ten heavily armored guards standing by the walls.

"Good job, boys." Cassius smiled.

The knights sheathed their swords and chuckled.

"Those dogs were about to piss themselves, haaahahaha!"

Adrian stood behind his mansion as he watched thousands of men sweating as they did their daily training. But as he looked over the massive sea of recruits, he noticed a big issue.

He turned to look at Claire.

"Why are there no women training out there?" Adrian asked. "Did we not get any female applications for the army?"

Claire was about to answer, but Burke stepped up first. The bald ex-adventurer looked at Adrian and shook his head before speaking.

"Every single applicant was male, Lord Adrian." Burke explained. "It is just how society works. The commoners expect the men to join the army and fight. The lords, the nobles, and even the Emperor himself only hire males for their military forces."

Adrian frowned. "That is stupid... half our population is female."

"There are a few exceptions, of course." Burke gestured toward Claire. "But those are rare. Since your recruitment notices did not specifically state that women were allowed to join, the local women just assumed they were banned. It is a deeply ingrained social rule. On top of that, it’s mostly the nobles who are open minded enough to send their daughters to the Knight’s Academy, but even that is rare since a lot of female nobles mostly go through etiquette training, dance and other lessons instead."

Adrian clicked his tongue. He had already hired female construction workers and chefs. He absolutely refused to cut his potential military manpower in half just because of some outdated medieval sexism.

"We are going to fix that." Adrian said. He looked right at his general. "Claire. Gather every single female knight and soldier we currently have."

Claire nodded as she looked at him, and then glanced at Burke who looked confused. "What are your orders, my lord?"

"You are going to lead a march." Adrian grinned. "Put on your best looking steel plate armor. Take your weapons and march in perfect formation through the center of the town square. Do it every single day for the next week."

Claire blinked in surprise, but she quickly understood the plan.

"You want to show them," Claire said.

"Exactly." Adrian nodded. "I want every woman and tavern girl in this territory to see you. I want them to see female knights walking around with absolute authority and pride. We are going to shatter that social rule into tiny pieces. And Burke, draft a new recruitment notice specifically targeting women. Post it everywhere and make sure that every single one of them sees it."

"Yes, my lord!" Burke saluted.

And they did exactly that.

For the next week, the sound of steel boots stomping on the stone paved roads had become a common sight. Claire led the small handful of female troops through the streets. They weren’t here to be poster girls and they didn’t wave or smile at any of the people. They just marched in silence, which was a show of absolute discipline and strength.

The local women stared in pure awe. And within days, the military applications from females skyrocketed.

A month passed by quickly.

Adrian sat alone in his quiet study as he tapped his finger against the polished oak desk.