Slave Trading (Part 2)
Because of the war, the gnoll slaves were very popular in the arena!
But all the same, their popularity didn't last long.
There was no mercy at all inside the arena because of man's sheer hatred of the man-eating creatures. Inside the arena, the most bloody and violent shows were always being prepared.
For example, a knight in full-body heavy armor was allowed to cut up a gnoll slave, who didn't have even a single piece of metal in its hand, into several broken pieces. Or, they would force a gnoll with a strong build to face two starving male lions at the same time!
These entertainment events received the approval of the humans, who had been evacuated from the front line and forced to leave their homes.
This was pure hatred, where the strong preyed on the weak. It was the survival of the fittest, and it was the natural law of the world that had to be followed in this era in order to survive.
Of course, about more than half of the 900 gnoll slaves had been sold off to the military. The human city-state's new trainee troops needed these gnoll slaves to practice what they were learning. At the very least, they needed to know how to kill off these creatures and understand that the gnolls weren't much different from humans. Although the number of gnolls was insufficient, the army instructor hoped that the new recruits could get a few more stabs in at the gnolls' carcasses before the training ended.
This wasn't a joke.
It was the truth!
During the era of cold weapons, using a carcass to train the soldiers to have iron will was an extremely common act.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Black market trader—leather goods trade—arena—slave trade!
With a push from Lady Elizabeth, the trade channels were quickly opened with the support of the noble council. And acting as one of the most important buffer points to all this was actually Murphy's new town port. As far as Murphy was concerned, the noble council of the southern plains was still reported to be very friendly toward these foreign people who proclaimed themselves to be "Greeks."
And they were also extremely hopeful that they'd be able to get in touch with other bands of humans living the dark lands and get help.
Like the northern people living in the northern parts with snowy plains.
It was a pity that at the moment, the traces of humankind the humans had found in the southern plains while exploring were extremely far away from them. Moreover, the human population wasn't flourishing due to environmental reasons.
As of now, the southern plains was possibly the most prosperous gathering grounds for human beings that had been found at that period of time.
It was also the only band of humans that had entered the era of city-states.
In actual fact, this entire plain was rather primitive, and the ruler of the wild land was still those ferocious beasts that were remnants from the previous era. The chances of human survival in this environment never looked particularly good.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The first batch of profit-driven slave traders had already arrived yesterday.
In order to ensure gnoll trading flourished, Murphy had provided the slave traders with a series of maps that marked the gathering grounds of the gnolls, as well as the gathering situation of the gnolls in the regions that had been explored within 100 miles of the town.
Of course, the slave traders had to pay a large sum of silver coins to get them.
Murphy didn't have to spend too much effort in creating these small items, since he already had the strategy map. Besides, it was still one of his daily jobs to collate the number of gnolls that were gathering in the current surrounding territories in case of a possible time of need!
After that one battle that night, Murphy had stepped up their exploration of the surrounding areas.
There were about 32 gnoll tribes living in the surrounding territories within a 100-mile radius from the center of town. Their total headcount should be in the range of seven to nine thousand. However, due to the large battle, the number of matured male gnolls in these gnoll tribes had been greatly reduced!
Therefore, they weren't a threat at the moment.
Just one devastating defeat, and the great losses the gnolls had suffered had made them learn to fear Murphy and acknowledge his existence.
You had to make them feel pain.
Only then would they be afraid!
It was necessary to understand this point when dealing with wild beasts.
That morning, Lady Elizabeth had also returned.
Not only did she bring back a substantial sum of money, but also brought back a bunch of presents that made Murphy ecstatic!
Weapons and iron!
Among these presents, there was even a small number of heavy infantry half-body armor and weapons that had been given to the southern plains human city-state by the dwarves.
These gifts were a little too much.
Even Murphy wouldn't be able to accept them for a while! Obviously, this was far and beyond what was required for trade cooperation.
"Lord Murphy, I'm extremely sorry!" Lady Elizabeth said, mouthing an apology. But her eyes were filled with excitement. As if she were a gentle, beautiful and elegant noble lady, she gracefully lifted the folds of her dress and sat in front of Murphy. She whispered: "My original plan was to expand the slave-trading scene."
"However, I never thought that Grand Duke Rothschild would actually think of using your territory as a military buffer. With that, he was able to attract some of the attention of the gnoll armies in the frontlines!" she said. This should have been an extremely dangerous topic, but Lady Elizabeth didn't seem to feel worried at all when she brought it up. At this point, she felt extremely confident regarding the state of things between herself and Murphy.
"I was able to get you some goods and material aid by using my family's connections!"
"Lord Murphy, with your level of wisdom, you surely realize that this is just a secondary risk," Lady Elizabeth said, standing up and flashing a smile. Her smile was boundless, just like the fragrance of a rose. She placed a list of goods and materials in front of Murphy and said: "The likelihood of attracting the attention of the gnoll army here isn't high, because the gnolls' population is sparse. Thus, it would be impossible for them to expand their battle lines. Even if their sights are attracted here, the moment they make a move, the front-line troops will immediately mobilize. Therefore, the threat against our territory isn't that great!"
"But this batch of goods and materials is available to aid you right now," Lady Elizabeth said. Her lips were slightly parted, and her body had a delicate fragrance. "Moreover, it is an advance," she smiled slyly.
"It's free."
At this point in the conversation, Lady Elizabeth was smiling like a sly fox.
But for some unknown reason, Murphy was really enjoying this.
He had been listening quietly up until that point, and now he revealed a hint of a smile.
Murphy stood up straight. He reached out his right hand, and with a dead-serious expression on his face, he said solemnly: "Congratulations to you, Lady Elizabeth! You have regained my friendship!"
Both of them smiled at each other and were able to hit it off!
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Lady Elizabeth brought back for Murphy an estimated 13,000 silver coins in trade income, as well as a batch of iron ore she had purchased through the noble council!
This sum of money would be enough to support the construction of Murphy's territory for a period of time. At the very least, until it reached the level of a large town, there shouldn't be a shortage of cash. Because Murphy had iron ore, he also started to mine from an open-pit coal mine in the vicinity of his territory.
The planning of the commercial district was already complete, and the construction of the blacksmith shop was accelerated.
Once the blacksmith shop was completed, they would then be able to upgrade the town army's current weapons and equipment!
With their own blacksmith shop, broken weapons could be fixed, and they could build some of the equipment that they needed by themselves. After all, reality isn't a game, and for a lot of things, certain conditions had to be met. For a town whose main route of development lay in military strength, Murphy had no choice but to prioritize improving the combat power of the frontlines in his construction plans.
Because of this trade, Murphy and Lady Elizabeth had become much closer, and their relationship had improved.
Although the two were cooperating for the first time, their hearts and train of thoughts were relatively in sync, just like a pair of extremely close business partners.
Just as Murphy was preparing to discuss the next direction of development with Lady Elizabeth, a "Ding!" sound from the
"Ding! The construction of the temple is completed!"
"The power of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, is no longer critically low. A belief system is introduced!"
"Merging and reorganization of temple data. Reorganization progress 10%, 20%, 30%..."