CH29: The Beast Business
***
CH29: The Beast Business
There is a trait that has made humans stand at the top of our planet.
We have the ability to exploit any resource, no matter how dangerous it seemed.
In my previous life, even with the glaring dangers of nuclear energy, scientists still found ways to exploit the energy source to achieve some magnificent feats of engineering.
Sayings like, 'everything can be tamed and used'; 'success is found at the jaws of a lion'; 'birds die for food, man die for wealth' can be attributed to our species' confidence in exploiting every resource no matter how dangerous they are.
As long as there was something to gain, our species would use them irrespective of the danger.
From dangerous minerals, dangerous energies, dangerous positions, even dangerous enemies... our species is made up of crazy people who would find use for things that should rationally be left alone.
This was the same for Beasts of Arun.
The Hunter Union of Arun doesn't carryout a blanket wipe of all Beasts on the battle zone. Instead, the Hunters at the frontlines of the battle mainly target Terror-class beasts and above.
The lower classes, i.e. Beast, Monster and Threat classes, are left alive to be exploited by the Human Domain.
Some of these beasts are captured as mounts and animals of burden; others are exploited for their parts.
Although these lower classes of beasts can't harm the Human Domain in the grand scheme of things, they can still cause an appreciable amount of damage so they aren't allowed to stay within the living areas of the people.
Instead, these beasts are herded to special places called Nests.
Nests are similar in a way to Conservation Reserves of my previous life.
They are semi-captive zones where beasts are allowed to grow and procreate. A routine culling by licensed Guild kill off any beasts above the Threat-class as soon as they were found.
Aside that, Nest were open to city and national Hunters, who were below the Knight-rank, where they could get a hands on experience of what it felt to fight a beast in their habitat.
These fledgling Hunters could gain experience and earn money at the same time as the Beasts parts were worth a fair amount depending on the class, rarity of beast and the importance of the specific beast part.
A snake-type beast's most expensive part is the gallbladder, which is worth just about as much as the rest of the beast.
This is because the gallbladder is used to manufacture poisons and antidotes. There was also the fact that it's notoriously difficult to get. If you weren't careful when hunting and skinning the beast, you could easily damage it.
The difficulty involved in the process caused the price of an intact gallbladder to rise.
Products of Beast from Nest were usually the mainstay of a city or town's economy, especially those close to said Nest.
This has turned the beast which were at one time in history harbingers of death into a commodity to be bought and sold in the eyes of the common masses.
Even more powerful beasts like Catastrophe-class beasts (Champion equivalent) were seen as premium rare commodity to the rich and powerful of the Human Domain.
This in itself worked to reduce the psychological pressure these beasts should have on humanity. It made a lot of human see them as prey and goods, far less than the respectable predators they should be.
As the Capital of the Bayveth Republic, Landrose City has access to a number of nest within the political area of the capital city.
I intended to take the team out on a hunting exercise in such a nest.
While it wasn't the first time they've been to a nest, as it was a mandatory training exercise in the academy, it was the first time the six of them had gone as a unit.
-
"Which Nest are we going?"
"It's your first outing together so let's go to the Calmlore nest."
The team's excitement died down a little.
I couldn't blame them.
The Calmlore Nest was seen as the safest nest in the Landrose region. It was a nest full of different herbivore beasts.
Goats, sheep, cattle, bison... Most of the beasts there were from these animal types. The nest was a pastoral nest of sort. It met a significant chunk of Landrose's meat and common beast parts demand.
Though still possessing a level of danger, herbivores possess less of a threat to Hunters, at least relative to carnivore-type beasts.
Calmlore had a large population of beasts thanks to the nest being devoid of carnivores to control their population and an abundant amount of grass to forage.
Thousands of newbie hunters entered the area daily to hunt for prey to sell. This was the only measure keeping the population of the nest in check.
This was by design as the hunting was controlled to an extent.
Like other nests, if the population of the beasts within Calmlore fell below a certain threshold, hunting in the nest would be stopped for a period for the beast to naturally replenish themselves.
Fortunately, this was a peak hunting season as the beasts just came out of mating and birth. The population of Calmlore was on the high side so hunting was encourage to trim it.
The Elite Camp's little party of six might be dissatisfied about going to Calmlore, which they felt was beneath their strength, however, I had made up my mind.
My word was still law in the camp for now so they had no choice but to obey.
What they didn't know was that I had an ulterior motive for choosing Calmlore.
Remember the large amount of Attribute Points I had?
Well, in order to use them, one of the things I had to prepare was food. Lots of food.
Through a harrowing experience of a severe case of hunger, I found that the meat of beasts was the way to subdue the great hunger induced by using the A.Ps.
I needed a lot of meat if I was going to use up all the A.P I had in my possession but I didn't want to hurt my wallet. So, I figured I could use the team to acquire the meat I need.
It seems like a black-hearted move to use my students like this which was why I only chose an easy nest they could easily take without much danger.
While still providing me with a lot of meat of course.
In my defence, I would likely be imparting them my words of wisdom. It was a fair trade in exchange for them hunting a few beasts for me, no?
*
I dismissed the team so that they could prepare. I, on the other hand, went to see Gunter.
I needed the approval of a Guild executive before I could take the trainees to a nest.
Sure, I could go directly to Rowland, but I didn't see the need to trouble the Guildmaster over such a trifling matter which was why I chose the head of the Training camp instead.
It was in his job description, right?
Anyway, it seemed fate intended for me to inform Rowland at the end of the day as I found him in Gunter's office.
The two middle-aged men were enjoying an afternoon cup of wine while reminiscing like old men.
I guess I'm not one to talk as I also did the same from time to time, minus the alcohol part of course.
I don't drink. The thought of introducing toxins into my body which harms my vital organs while also impairing my judgement didn't make sense to me.
So, I've never drank a drop of alcohol in my previous life nor did I intend to do so in this one.
"Leo, come join us." Rowland said.
"Thanks for the invitation but I don't drink." I replied.
The two middle-aged men looked like they had heard the strangest thing in the world as they froze and looked at me in shock.
They looked at me with pity.
"It's because Lionheart isn't with us anymore." They muttered.
I was taken aback by their words.
"My father drank a lot?"
"That's an understatement." Rowland looked reminiscent. "Cheap ale to the finest wine. You couldn't find a better appreciator of booze than Lionheart."
Gunter nodded in agreement.
"If he were here, you'd have been drinking from your cradle. How can you be a man and claim not to drink?"
"Why do I have to drink to show that I'm a man? I'd rather accept it if you measure it by my capability in 'that' area. Although I haven't done it yet, I'm pretty confident in my 'manhood'. Would you like to see?" I gave a smile all men understood.
The two men paused, then they broke into laughter. Of course, they didn't forget to down another cup of wine.
We chatted for a bit. We discussed various topics. The Guild, the academy, the Human-Beast War frontlines, some Bayveth politics and so on.
It was well into the evening when Gunter mentioned something I forgot,
"Oh yeah, Leo. Why did you come? I doubt it was to chat with us, old men."
"Speak for yourself, Pa Gunter. I'm still young and vibrant." Rowland chuckled.
However, he was still interested in my response.
Somehow, very little normal things happens when I'm forced to ask for something.
"I want to take the kids to a nest. It's about time I test their teamwork in the field."
"Kids? Everyone in your camp is your age." – Gunter.
"Really? How come I don't feel like it? I've felt like a nanny taking care of children all these years."
"That's what you get for acting older than your age. You really should lighten up an enjoy your youth." Rowland said.
He had been mentioning this for some time now.
As always, I just shrugged.
He sighed.
"Which nest do you intend to go?"
"Calmlore."
"Calmlore?" Both men looked at me in surprise.
"Why there? Why not somewhere higher? The lads in your camp are quite strong." Gunter said.
"Individually, yes. But what I want to assess is their teamwork. Calmlore is good enough. We can always go elsewhere after I'm sure of where they're at."
The men didn't question further.
I had total control over the camp and it was up to me to do whatever I thought was best.
"Fine. I approve." Rowland said.
"Thanks." I stood to leave. "I need to go prepare."
I reached the door when I remembered something else.
"Can I borrow a logistic team? I expect we're going to need help getting all the meat back."
"Sure. No problem as long as you pay them."
"I get a discount, right?"
"I'll give 20% off."
"Come on. I should get more than that."
"You're only getting the discount because Zora is with you."
"You're being a cheapskate. It's just a little money."
"You should say that to yourself. Why are you looking for a discount when you know it's a little money."
"I'm looking to set up my own Herbology lab. I need to save as much money as I can."
"I keep telling you, you have money leftover from your father's shares in the guild. You don't have to-"
"I know that. But I just want to do this myself."
"You really should stop being so mature. No one would blame you if you take advantage of what is yours." Rowland sighed. Then, he smiled, "That said, you're not getting more than 20%."
"Damn it. After even that? Are you sure you're a Hunter and not a stingy merchant?" I grumbled before I left.
I happened to catch a glimpse of Gunter and Rowland giving themselves wry looks as I left.
*
By the way, the banking and money sector of Arun is strangely developed. If I didn't know better, I'd say I wasn't the only one to reincarnate/transmigrate here.
There currency moved away from precious metals and minerals like Silver, Gold and mana stones. Special mana paper currency was in use. There was also a sort of electronic format linking an account to a person's ID.
A unified currency called Union Credits(UC) was used all over the Human domain.
The currency is issued by the Union bank, which is a subsidiary of -you guessed it, right?- the Hunter's Union.
The Union Bank acts as the Central Bank for the entire human domain while countries also set up their own Banks to manage the money and finance within their nations.
To the best of my knowledge, there are no private or commercial banks in Arun, only the Union Bank and the Country Bank.
The Union Bank is the bank for all members of the main Hunter Union while the Country Banks are used by the rest of the masses.
As such, the Union Bank has a single branch in every major city in the Human Domain while the Country Bank, Bank of Bayveth for example, has multiple branches in every city and one in every town in the nation.
I have a limited knowledge of the banking system, all I know is that they somehow made this work, even though it didn't work in my previous life.
I wasn't the least bit curious how they did, all I cared about was that it worked.
Anyway, the value of the Union Credit is managed strictly by the Union Bank.
The credit is backed by mana stones and beasts cores, two major premium commodities almost completely controlled by the Hunter Union and national governments.
The official price of a low grade mana stone is always pegged at 1000 UC.
According to the little I understood from the financing classes I took at the academy, the price of every commodity was determined by their energy content in relation to a low grade mana stone due to this.
This was particularly important to lifestyle professions like Herbology because it determined what was a fair price for our product.
The final product has a mana level ten times that of a low grade mana stone? Well your price should be ten times the cost of a low grade mana stone i.e. 10 000UC.
This somewhat simple system meant staple food like meat was relatively cheap.
At most, a Beast-class beast costs 10 UC; a Monster-class cost 100 UC while a Threat-class can never reach 1000UC, hovering mostly between 850-900UC.
To put this in better perspective, a full grown cow in my previous life would cost less than 6UC.
Thanks to this financing and pricing system, prices of simple, staple, ordinary, everyday items which tend to be of lower mana were on the cheaper side while special, rare or exotic items used by Hunters such as weapons, medicines, pills, scrolls, circles etc. which tend to have higher mana were on the higher side of the spectrum.
For example, it meant I burnt through 1000UC to power my mana gloves monthly for my Herbology practice. I could feed myself for more than a year on that.
The Hunter profession was both lucrative and expensive.
The inheritance Rowland mentioned from my father was valued at 12 million UC give or take.
I was quite rich in that case, which was why the man didn't understand why I was bothering to haggle for a mere 20% discount off a service that shouldn't cost more than 1000UC no matter the amount of carcass transported.
(To be continued...)