Chapter 53: Discovering New Business Opportunities

As expected, this group of Barrow people soon witnessed Alexander's abnormal combat power, where almost every swing of his sword could knock down an opponent.

Expecting these Barrow mountain people, who usually make a living by hunting, to stop Alexander's charge was like throwing a banana peel on the ground and trying to trip a tank.

Along the way, Alexander killed seven or eight people, but a few managed to escape using the rugged terrain.

"Let them escape," Alexander said.

Alexander glanced in the direction they disappeared, knowing that it was almost impossible to catch these Barrow mountain people who had lived here since childhood in the forest.

"Let's go! Back to the village of Calus," Alexander decisively decided. Since he couldn't catch up, it was better to leave quickly. If the other side came back to shake people, it would be bad if he was surrounded.

So they hurried back to the village of Calus with all their prey, without daring to stop along the way.

At the same time, in a huge city in the mountains of the Balin Kingdom, Wilson II, the supreme ruler of the Barrow people and the natural son ordained by the Druidic religion, sat on the throne, listening to the reports from his subordinates.

"It's just a white deer. These foolish nobles actually want me to declare war on the Kingdom of Saint Martin?"

His subordinate handed him a petition, with the bloody finger prints of various tribal chiefs on it.

Compared to their neighbors, the Balin Kingdom is not an efficient conquest machine, but these cunning guys are good at seizing opportunities.

The Kingdom of Saint Martin, which has been defeated twice in a row, is now seen by them as a shaky house. As long as they kick it...

"As long as they dare to kick it, a group of Saint Martin men will rush out of the house and twist their heads off. How many times do these idiots have to be defeated to understand this simple truth?"

The ancestors of the Barrow people once tried to venture out of the mountains, occupying a large amount of territory outside the mountains and building magnificent cities on them. Then the people from the coast, the Saint Martin people, taught them a lesson: in this world, fists are more effective.

Their cities outside the mountains were taken by the rising Saint Martin people, and then... blessed by the Druids, a northern tribe that lived on looting appeared, and the Vede people quickly occupied the entire continent of the north. When they headed south, they encountered the people of Saint Martin.

So two nasty ethnic groups (from the Barrow perspective) began a long-standing battle and war.

At this point, the Ballo people saw an opportunity to backstab the Saint Martin people and regained many cities.

But next, they experienced how brutal the angry Saint Martin people were.

Hundreds of years later, the Barrow people still remember the merciless iron hooves and terrifying long spear gun of the Saint Martin people.

Since then, the Barrow people have shrunk in the mountains and have never been able to move west again.

History is like a cycle. The Vied people are once again at odds with the people of Saint Martin, and this time the Kingdom of Saint Martin has suffered two consecutive major defeats, severely weakening their vitality. Wilson II still held onto the excuse for war—though this excuse was quite flimsy.

However, he lacked the courage to choose aggression. In the end, he made the same decision as the leaders of Barrow Mountain Kingdom had for generations—defend.

However, not attacking the Kingdom of Saint Martin did not mean he wouldn't deal with Alexander.

"Go, inform the Forest Rangers and teach that Saint Martin kid who doesn't know his place a lesson," he ordered coldly to his subordinate.

...

Back in Calus Village, Alexander watched as his men processed the prey. The deer hides were all stripped, especially the white deer. The old hunters carefully cut along the muscle seams, fearing they might damage the fur's texture.

"This hide, I'd say it's the best quality deer hide I've seen in decades of hunting. It should sell for at least 5,000 dinars."

"Psh, 5,000? I'd say it's worth at least 6,000 dinars. The Vied people don't care about Barrow myths, their nobles should be very willing to buy this snow-like deer hide."

"Come on, the Vied people? How could those poor, barbaric folks appreciate such a beautiful deer hide? I think we should sell it to the Empire's nobles, they would pay an art piece price, I guess around 8,000 dinars."

The old hunters debated back and forth, as if they hadn't just prevented Alexander from killing that white deer, proving that no one could escape their deepest greed, except for a certain instigator.

Alexander didn't care about myths or not. As long as it could make money—what's the value of faith?

[Congratulations, Lord Alexander, you have achieved the achievement—Infamous]

[Charisma +1]

[Congratulations, Lord Alexander, you have achieved the achievement—Full of Evil]

[Charisma +1]

Alexander inspected his territory, grinning broadly. He could easily guess what had happened.

Surely the little trouble he had caused in the Barrow's territory had already spread throughout the peaks of the Barrow Mountains, the sacred Celtic Lake, and all the Barrow tribes. But with Alexander's thick skin, which was comparable to the walls of Lisbon, he didn't consider it shameful, but rather an honor.

If he had known that it could increase his charisma, he would have killed a few more mythical beasts of Barrow.

After all, even negative attention is still attention.

His current attribute panel is as follows:

[Level]: 9

[Strength]: 13

[Agility]: 10

[Intelligence]: 8

[Charisma]: 12

[Available Attribute Points]: 0

[Experience]: 22700/25600

[System Coins]: 0

His leadership ability directly increased by two levels, and he can now command 60 warriors. The problem is that Alexander dares not recruit more soldiers now because he has no money. It could be said that he is the poorest lord in history, not even having a single dinar in his pocket. Fortunately, the white deer skin gave him some consolation, a small asset at least. These deer carcasses are valuable, as the deer hides can fetch a good price, and the deer meat can be dried for food... Until a hunter from Carlys Village, holding a long rod-shaped object, was about to discard it, when the sharp-eyed Alexander noticed.

"What's this?" he asked hesitantly for a moment.

"Respected lord, this is a deer whip, utterly useless, usually used to feed livestock, but as you can see, we have no livestock to feed here."

"I... This is a deer whip?" Alexander looked at the robust object, his eyes gleaming.

He quickly snatched the item, his heart pounding, his hands trembling, and held it above his head: "Heaven has been kind to me!"

He promptly instructed the other hunters not to discard it, but to collect it. This thing was a treasure, how could it be thrown away? It would be a sheer waste.

Why was the esteemed Lord Alexander Castile so excited? Because he had discovered an excellent business opportunity, an industry that had never appeared on this continent until now. Yes, this opportunity was... Deer Whip Liquor.