151: Real estate and caravan trade

DR1335, the fifteenth day of the Winterclaw Moon.

The morning sun pierced through the gray-blue clouds, bathing the spires of the Morning Song Temple in a rose-gold hue.

The domes, inlaid with mysterious metals, resembled molten stars, reflecting fiery streams of light in the biting wind.

Songs drifted from the direction of the Holy Temple, sometimes near, sometimes far, mingling with the ice crystals rustling down from the cedar branches, weaving a translucent veil through the frosted streets of Gorebest.

It was barely dawn, but the sounds of footsteps wrapped in coarse wool cloaks had already shattered the tranquility of the morning.

Beside the frozen fountain, icicles hanging from the eaves of the blacksmith's shop reflected the scattered torches, illuminating the white mist exhaled by the crowd—they surged excitedly towards the central square, their leather boots crushing the newly laid flagstone, leaving damp imprints on the blank slabs that had yet to be inscribed with prayers.

The ice sculpture in the center of the square slowly exuded a chill, and the unlit holy brazier mirrored the gradually changing rose-purple hues of the sky, like the hovering pupil of a deity.

To the east of Gorebest's New South City, there was a New City district that had been completed just seven days prior. Eighty percent of the common people from the Old City, after the bandit siege half a month ago, had moved to the New City. Even the noble lords wanted to buy land and build their own houses in the New City.

However, they heard that Lion Black, the Lord of New South City, had personally stated that the land under his protection was for rent only, not for sale. All land had a maximum lease term of seventy years, renewable upon expiration.

Furthermore, whether it was self-built houses by nobles or high-rise buildings constructed by people sent by the South City Lord, they all required approval from the South City Hall. Every household had to obtain a paper document called a “Property Deed,” which detailed the land and housing information, as well as the year it was acquired.

For this purpose, a new department called the Housing Management Bureau was established in the South City district.

When the nobles deliberated repeatedly, holding their noses and planning to accept this unprecedented law, the Lord of New South City again declared that only his liege were qualified to buy and build houses on his territory.

Who knew that the very next day, the noble lords came up with a brilliant counter-strategy: they had their younger sons or daughters swear allegiance to Lord Lion, and then, in their names, bought land and houses in South City.

That morning, Lord Lion announced that New South City would primarily be a commercial street and unveiled the South City expansion plan, directing nobles who wished to purchase land and houses in South City to buy planned plots outside the city or “off-plan properties.”

“Off-plan properties,” in simple terms, meant buying now and receiving the house after a period of time.

Lord Lion promised that all planned areas would be under his protection in the future.

No one expected that the young lord, by merely displaying a blueprint, would sell over a dozen sky-high land plots and hundreds of “residential units,” as described by the sales ladies.

What was truly expensive was the noble district in the northern part of the New City, where land prices were more than ten times higher than in the Old City, yet over a dozen new and old noble families still flocked to it.

This alone brought Lord Lion over 10 million gold coins.

As for off-plan properties, they were purchased with loans from the “Bank” established by Lord Lion, requiring only a minimal interest payment to the “Bank” to buy a small house.

The blueprint displayed by the young lord showed a six-story rectangular building with four types of units: one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom, and four-bedroom.

Each unit had a separate kitchen and bathroom, and each building had dedicated sewage pipes, water pipes, and a special pipe for transmitting “biogas.”

According to the sales lady, “biogas” was a combustible gas used for cooking.

Kou Duo Ironanvil, the Lord’s Minister of Craftsmen, was finalizing the last technical solution.

Only Lord Lion's liege who had completed the seven-day literacy program, had formal employment, and whose school-aged children had enrolled in school and committed to five years of compulsory education were eligible for loans.

Currently, the city is continuously recruiting various workers: road construction workers, house builders, urban landscaping workers, water system renovation workers, firefighters, police officers, medical team members, school teachers, welfare institution staff, quarry workers, forge apprentices, Lord's farm employees, Lord's ranch employees, city hall clerks, army soldiers…

The New City planned by Lord Lion is located south of the Old Gorebest City, specifically to the southeast, covering an area of nearly 300 square miles, which is more than eighty times the size of the Old City.

“Good heavens, this is almost as big as half of Baldur's Gate!” exclaimed a merchant from Baldur's Gate among the crowd.

“Baldur's Gate is a city of water trade; from now on, our Gorebest will be a city of land trade!” a local merchant beside him proudly lifted his chin.

In the past half-month, Lord Lion had not only earned money from the real estate in the newly planned area but also received a large order for refined salt from Amn.

Two days ago, the Amn merchant Jasper returned to Gorebest.

The immense changes in this place greatly surprised Jasper.

He had brought not only a contract this time but also high-ranking assassins from the Shadow Thieves Guild.

The higher-ups of his merchant guild had prepared two options for him: either force out the origin of the refined salt or secure the exclusive agency rights for Amn according to the original agreement.

Upon arriving in Gorebest, he discovered that Lord Lion had already become the Grand Duke of Gorebest; not only was he heavily guarded, but the young lord also had his own mage tower.

When he inquired, he learned that even Edmund Klester, the notorious founder of the Sword Coast Black Claw mercenary group, had died at the hands of this young lord a few days prior.

It was said that even Baldur's Gate had sent gifts.

And when he thoroughly understood the true reason why the city's nobles were buying land outside the city, he completely abandoned the idea of coercing Lord Lion.

Based on the Dragon King Avatar's skill, Lord Lion estimated that the refined salt production could double again this year.

Jasper first paid 500,000 gold coins for the exclusive Amn agency fee and then prepaid 100,000 gold coins as a 10% commission on the estimated sales of 1 ton of refined salt.

Winter is the off-season for salt production, so after the ceremony, he would take this ton of salt back to Amn first, and thereafter, he would send people once or twice each quarter.

Over the past half-month, other merchant teams had also arrived successively.

Including the Black Panther Mall, there were a total of 22.

This was less than half of last year's number.

The remaining half-ton of salt in Lord Lion's possession was also entirely sold to the merchant teams from the north.

These merchant teams also expressed a desire to purchase more; the Seven Suns Trade Alliance even secured the exclusive agency rights for Baldur's Gate at a cost of 300,000 gold coins annually and a 28% share of sales revenue.

Old Hather, on behalf of Lord Lion, signed annual procurement contracts with all the merchant teams.

And almost all large merchant teams rented a long-term counter at the Black Panther Mall, leaving behind two assistants.

Today, representatives from these merchant teams were present inside to attend Lord Lion's coronation and inauguration ceremony.