Sitting in the City Lord's seat, Rocky pondered for a long time, but no matter how much he thought, he couldn't come up with a suitable solution.
Time was too pressing.
The current time was August, and in a few months, winter would come. In such a short time, he simply couldn't raise the money! Without money, there might not be enough to pay for the grain, and then the residents of the city would suffer.
What should be done...
After a long while, Rocky could only sigh helplessly and then looked to Aileen, "Aileen, please ask Lord Voss to step in and negotiate with the Azure Commerce Guild."
"Alright, I will convey the message to grandfather."
Nodding her head, Aileen wasn't surprised by the request, as she was the finance officer of Thunderhawk City and knew the city's financial situation better than anyone; she was well aware that Rocky could probably only think of such an ineffective method.
Unfortunately, this method would not work at all. The Azure Commerce Guild might not be a dominant Chamber of Commerce, but it was not small in scale. A Chamber of Commerce of such caliber only looked at profits, not relationships, and even if relationships were to be considered, they wouldn't with Thunderhawk City, so even with her grandfather intervening, it wouldn't be very effective.
This could not help but make Aileen a bit disappointed; she thought that Rocky might come up with some practical solutions.
But then, Rocky spoke again:
"Also, can you get in touch with merchants who specialize in trading Magic Stones?"
"Magic Stones?"
Aileen furrowed her brows at Rocky's words, but nodded, "I can. I will contact them as soon as possible. But are you planning to...?"
"I was lucky during my last trip to the land and found some items, among which are a few Medium Magic Stones that could sell for a good sum. So, I plan to sell all these Magic Stones. This should alleviate some of the city's financial pressure."
Rocky knew what Aileen wanted to ask, so he provided an answer before she could finish her question.
And this answer was the only solution he could think of now.
The biggest problem Thunderhawk City faced was, in fact, a single one: the lack of money!
This problem could not be solved in a day or two, and for Rocky to come up with a solution right now was utterly unrealistic, but if it was just about easing the immediate urgency, he felt he could manage it.
Like selling some items.
Last time he visited the research facility, not only did Rocky obtain research notes on Mana Runes, but he also scavenged a bunch of items from the labs. Although many of them were useful to him, some could be sold, like the Magic Stones.
In the lab, he found quite a few Magic Stones, all containing ample Mana, among which were several Medium Magic Stones.
Medium Magic Stones, being too large for use in equipment, were not typically used to manufacture gear but could provide Mana for Skyships and be embedded in Magic Cannons, making them very valuable and worth a considerable amount of money when sold.
With this money, the financial pressure on Thunderhawk City could be alleviated to some extent.
Under such pressing circumstances, Rocky could only rely on this method to help Thunderhawk City overcome its difficulties.
After he finished speaking, Aileen across from him nodded slightly, without further questioning.
However, in her heart, Aileen was somewhat surprised by his words.
She really hadn't expected Rocky to be hiding so much "private stash."
What was even more unexpected to her was that, for the sake of the Thunderhawk City residents to survive the winter, Rocky was willing to sell off his belongings. This action did make her see him in a new light.
Because as Aileen knew, not every City Lord of Sky City was fond of their citizens, and in fact, the vast majority of City Lords didn't care much about the lives of the residents, or they completely regarded the residents as their personal property. To get these City Lords to sell their belongings for the sake of the city's citizens was fundamentally impossible.
But Rocky had done it. His solution might not be very clever, but it still made Aileen look at him with newfound respect.
Clearly, Rocky's actions had made a good impression on Aileen, so she decided to seriously discuss with her grandfather and see if they could get the Azure Commerce Guild to compromise on the prices of yarn and grain.
......
......
By around noon, Aileen had left the City Lord's Mansion, and when she was gone, Rocky returned to his own room, not long after which the empty room he had ordered to be prepared was ready.
After surveying the tidied room, Rocky was very satisfied and dismissed everyone, only then did he move all the equipment he'd scavenged from the research institute into the room, transforming the bare room into a fully equipped laboratory with his arrangement.
Once everything was in order, he took out his research notes.
"Looks like I need to hurry up…"
Holding the research notes in his hands, he couldn't help but feel the urgency of time.
The previous conversation with Aileen not only made him aware that Thunderhawk City was facing a major problem, but also made him realize that he didn't have much time.
The weakness of Thunderhawk City didn't allow him any luxury of time; he had to learn Mana Runes as quickly as possible and make them valuable fast, otherwise, even if he could wait, Thunderhawk City could not!
"Sigh…"
Standing in front of a desk, Rocky opened his research notes to the section on Rune drafting and studied it over and over.
As the most basic Mana Runes, First Level Runes could be drafted by a First Level Mage, but this was only in terms of Magic Power requirements. As for technical skill, even First Level Runes required a high level of expertise to be successfully drafted.
And it was this skill that Rocky needed to master.
Of course, mastering the First Level Runes couldn't be achieved simply by rote memorization of the methods in the research notes; extensive practice was also necessary.
Before long, there was a knock on the door, and then Liliya, carrying a large box, arrived in the laboratory.
"This is the equipment you asked for."
Liliya set the large box on the floor and came up beside Rocky, noticing he was intently studying the research notes. She didn't disturb him and silently stood by his side.
After a few minutes had passed, Rocky finally took his attention away from the research notes and looked at Liliya.
"Thank you for your hard work."
"No problem, have you already learned all the Mana Runes?"
Glancing at the research notes set aside, Liliya appeared very curious.
"How could it be so fast? I've just started learning."
Seeing Liliya's curious expression and her blinking big eyes, Rocky suddenly discovered she had such an adorable side and almost couldn't resist pinching her cheek.
"Oh, I'll take my leave then."
Completely oblivious to how cute she had been just a moment ago, Liliya then nodded understandingly, not quite getting it, and turned to leave the room.
However, just as she reached the door, she suddenly remembered something.
"Rocky…"
"Hmm? What is it?"
"The Guard Corps' equipment is so worn it can't be used anymore, and there's hardly any spare gear left. Now that we've brought you so much, it's time you considered getting new equipment for the Guard Corps."
After saying that, Liliya then left the laboratory.
But as soon as the door closed, Rocky in the lab went crazy. He hadn't resolved the issue of having no money for supplies, and now the Guard Corps' equipment needed replacing too—how was he supposed to survive this!