Carter could not contain his joy as he looked at the 5 glasses on his table. Every time he saw them, he would be filled with inexplicable joy. He carefully held up a glass and looked at the clear, transparent cup. He could vaguely see his reflection in it, making him even happier.
“How would Liu Feng feel if he knew that someone had bid 15 gold coins for 1 crystal glass?” Carter was extremely happy when he thought about it. He decided to keep the glasses as heirlooms instead of selling them, thinking that after a decade or 2, they would be worth as much as 100 gold coins each.
Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door, but before Carter could answer, Fez rushed in and slammed the door close.
“I’ve said it many times before- keep calm and don’t panic when doing things,” Carter reprimanded.
“Yes.” Fez took a deep breath, glanced at the glass cup, and felt better.
“Speak. Is Baron Omar not willing to work with us?” Carter held a glass cup and wiped it carefully.
“He is willing to cooperate, but he wants to recruit 30 of our knights,” Fez said angrily. “We only have 40 knights, yet he’s asking for 30 of them. That’s too much.”
40 knights were the Carter’s and Fez’s entire military force. It was one of the reasons that they dared to sell their territory to Liu Feng. They could only gather up to about 40 knights in a territory of about 6 thousand people. Or rather, they could only afford to raise 40 knights.
It cost too much to raise one knight. A single set of armor and weapons and their maintenance would already require a few gold coins, and they also had to take care of their salaries and war horses. Carter could afford to raise 40 knights only because he had saved money for many years.
The standard in this world was to make knights officers during wars and battles, with the soldiers being strong civilians forcefully recruited into the army. This would reduce the cost of an army by a lot.
“What else did Baron Omar say?” Carter’s hand that was wiping the cup paused. He was also taken aback by the request.
“We get 20% of the profits, but he wants us required to buy a hundred beastkin slaves,” Fez said angrily.
“20%?” Carter thought about it, and he lowered his voice. “Did he say which city to rob?”
“North Wind City. It’s said that the defenses of the city are very weak, and they only have a dozen knights. Even if they recruited citizens, they would only have about a hundred people,” Fez answered.
“Tell Baron Omar that we can send out 30 knights, but he needs to rob West Sun City. I want Liu Feng’s head,” Carter grinned, showing his black teeth. Under the reflection of the glass cups, it looked extremely evil.
“Lord father? Why is that? West Sun City should be worthless. Let Liu Feng manage it for a while, and we can go and harvest the fruits during spring,” Fez said, puzzled.
Carter changed a glass cup to wipe and said, “The autumn harvest is almost here. That batch of wheat should be worth quite a bit of money. Adding on Baron Omar’s 20% of profit, it should be enough to buy a noble title.”
Fez’s eyes widened in shock, and he said, “Lord father, you’re going to abandon West Sun City?” Fez knew that Carter wasn’t willing to sell the glasses, so he was using other methods to try and make money.
“The wheat planted in that barren land gets worse every year. It’s time to change a territory. Let’s buy a noble title in a wealthier place.” Carter said.
“Who do we sell the West Sun City to?” Fez nodded in approval. “It’s fine if we only sell it for a dozen gold coins.”
“There is a big merchant who is willing to buy West Sun City with twenty gold coins. He hopes to be able to move into the castle next spring.” Katie said with a chuckle.
“Oh? There is actually another fool?” Fez said excitedly.
Carter changed a glass to wipe and while smiling, said, “These merchants all yearn for the identity of a noble.”
“Tsk… What a joke. Their bodies are full of the smell of copper. Do they really think they deserve to be a noble?” Fes said, his eyes full of disdain.
“They’re just squanderers. They aren’t worth mentioning.” Carter waved his hand, paused, and said, “Tell the knights to pay attention to catching female slaves. I heard that the inland high nobles love 13 to 14-year-old girls. They should be able to sell for a good price.”
“Understood,” Fes responded.
For the two of them, the lowly commoners were just cattle and sheep waiting to be slaughtered. They would be harvested once they are fat.
“Oh, right, didn’t Baron Omar want beastkin slaves?¹ Go and buy 100 beastkins and send them over. Those beasts would fight with their lives on the line as long as there they get food to eat.” Carter had wiped all 5 of the glasses.
“Okay. We don’t have much stuff, but we do have a lot of beastkin slaves. Those slave traders catch some every day.” Fez’s face was full of sinister.² To him, beastkins were no different from beasts.
“There are still about 20 days before the autumn harvest. Those beasts would go crazy. Maybe a lot of people will die as well this year.”
Translator’s Notes:
¹ The author first wrote that Omar wanted them to buy beastkin slaves from him. Here the author wrote that Baron Omar wanted beastkin slaves. I don’t know which one
² 嫌恶. Disgust. I think that’s a typo for the word that has the same pinyin, 险恶, which means sinister or vicious, so I put in sinister instead of disgust. It could also be a typo for a word that has a similar pronunciation and pinyin, 邪恶, which means evil.