18: Chapter 18 The Slave Market

After determining his next goal, Loren walked out of the room and summoned Fiana and Arnold.

The moment Fiana saw Loren, her brows knitted together.

She felt that Loren had changed entirely, though she couldn't quite pinpoint what exactly had changed.

"Arnold, prepare the carriage, and call Robert as well. We are going to the slave market."

Loren's steady voice interrupted Fiana's thoughts.

"Yes, Lord Loren."

After respectfully acknowledging the order, Arnold immediately turned around to lead the way.

The girl watched Loren's back and pondered for a long time, but could not find any answers, so she simply stopped thinking about it.

The three of them set off again.

For some reason, Arnold felt an instinctive fear whenever he was near Loren; it was as if the person beside him was not a human, but an ancient dragon, making his spine go cold.

After awakening his Bloodline Power, his senses had become sharper, and his heart was constantly shrouded in unease...

The carriage arrived at the Jasmine Chamber of Commerce amidst a strange atmosphere.

Robert, who had just returned, was called upon by Arnold to accompany Loren to the largest slave trading market in the northern region of the Silver Moon Kingdom—the First District.

"Decker City is located in the Endless Wasteland, where one can capture Orcs, Orcs, Dungeon Race members, Lizardmen... and so on.

Therefore, the slave trade in Decker City has always been very prosperous.

Lord Loren, if you need to purchase slaves, it would be more advantageous to purchase them from the chamber of commerce under the City Lord's name using the name of the Bauhinia Family.

The City Lord controls the largest slave trading channels, and given your status, they will surely bring out the highest quality slaves..."

On the carriage, Loren nodded slightly after hearing Arnold's words. "Let's go to the Jasmine Chamber of Commerce first, and if we can't find anything suitable, we'll see.

Have slave prices changed recently?"

Arnold shook his head.

"Because the slave trade is prosperous, and the Endless Wasteland—a source of slaves—is just outside the city, the price of purchasing slaves in Decker City is far lower than inside the Silver Moon Kingdom."

"What are the prices?"

"Black Iron Rank slaves are about 20,000 currency each, Bronze Rank are 50,000, Silver Rank are 150,000 to 200,000, Gold Rank are around 2 million, and Platinum Rank..."

Arnold stopped there, stole a glance at the expressionless Fiana, subconsciously shrank back, and whispered.

"Platinum Experts are terrifyingly powerful and very difficult to capture, so the price is around 50 million currency..."

"And these are just slaves who haven't awakened their Bloodline Power; once the bloodline is awakened, the price often doubles..."

Platinum Rank for 50 million? And it doubles after bloodline awakening?

Loren nodded thoughtfully.

The price of the slave trade is completely tied to strength, which made him give up the idea of directly buying a few Gold Rank slaves.

He currently has 20 million in cash, and a 5 million credit limit at the Jasmine Chamber of Commerce. Even if he used it all, he could only buy 10 Gold Rank slaves, or less than two hundred if he switched to Silver Rank.

It's not cost-effective.

This money cannot be spent entirely here. After buying the slaves, he still needs to purchase weapons and equipment for them, which is another huge expense.

Thinking of this, Loren felt a headache; he would have to find a way to make money in the future, as this 20 million really wasn't very useful...

Half an hour later, the carriage slowly stopped in front of a cluster of obelisk-like buildings that resembled a palace.

The outer walls of this building complex were carved with reliefs of Sky Knights riding griffins fighting a group of twisted, filthy monsters. It looked ancient and majestic, filled with an epic, tragic aura.

Loren had no interest in this building. After getting off the carriage, his gaze mainly scanned the surrounding crowd.

Robert took the initiative to introduce it.

"Lord Loren, this is the largest slave trading market in the northern region, a building from when Decker City was first established two hundred years ago.

It has the most complete variety of slaves. As long as you are willing, you can even purchase Sea Folk from ten thousand miles away, mummies from the Golden Desert, or Bone Dragons from dimensional planes!"

"Our Jasmine Chamber of Commerce also has a shop inside."

After saying this, he puffed out his chest, appearing particularly proud of it.

Loren found it somewhat amusing and ignored the guy. After observing the exotic architecture for a moment, he nodded slightly.

"Lead the way."

"Yes, my Lord, believe me, you will be able to purchase any slave you want in here..."

Although Loren's reaction was calm, Robert's enthusiasm did not diminish in the slightest. He immediately had two guards clear the way in front to prevent anyone from bumping into Loren.

When the surrounding crowd saw the noble robes on Loren and the noble emblem on his chest, they immediately scattered to the left and right with cautious and wary expressions, not even daring to get close.

In this world where status is strictly defined, noble lords, as rulers, were simply not people that ordinary adventurers like them could afford to offend.

The slave market was bustling with people: warriors carrying greatswords, thieves with shifty eyes looking around, archers with sharp gazes carrying longbows...

Some of these professionals were bringing securely bound slaves to sell, while others were here to purchase slaves.

As they delved deeper, Loren discovered that the slave market was larger than it appeared from the outside. Shops were lined up one after another, and various slaves locked in iron cages were just the most ordinary merchandise here.

The expressions of these slaves were either resentful, numb, indifferent, or brimming with murderous intent...

From time to time, passing nobles or merchants would take a fancy to a certain slave and immediately wave stacks of currency to have the slave owner lead the slave out of the iron cage...

The slaves sold in the shops were mainly Orcs and Lizardmen.

One type of Orc is burly, with the head of a beast and the body of a human, such as the Lionman race, Tigerman race, and Wolfman race, which are very suitable for combat.

Another type has some beastly features, such as the Catman race; apart from a long tail and two furry ears, they are no different from humans.

Besides Orcs, Lizardmen were the most numerous.

These medium-sized, cold-blooded creatures were extremely ugly in appearance; their bloody mouths full of fangs gave off a nauseating stench, their rough, gravel-like skin seemed like natural armor, and their sharp claws flashed with a chilling, intimidating cold light.

Powerful Lizardmen could even tear through human warriors' armor with their claws.

The Silver Moon Kingdom is adjacent to the Lizardman Empire, and wars often break out. The Endless Wasteland is another battlefield where the two sides fight each other.

These Lizardman slaves were all subordinates of a Frontier Lord from the Lizardman Empire, who became slaves after their territory was conquered by humans.

Besides these two main types of slaves, there were some rarer races, such as Dwarves, Half-Elves, Medusas of the Dungeon Race, Blood-Eyed Minotaurs... and so on.

There were even some strange races that Loren couldn't even name.

The variety of strange and bizarre races was an eye-opener for him, and he deeply realized what a magical world was.

After wandering around, Robert led Loren to a shop in a relatively remote location with few pedestrians.

"Lord Loren, this is the shop of the Jasmine Chamber of Commerce."

The dozen or so staff members inside immediately came out to bow and greet Robert when they saw him. When they saw Loren wearing noble robes, they immediately lowered their heads in unison, trembling and not daring to say another word.

Loren didn't care and looked at the iron cages on the left and right sides of the room.

At this moment, there were about dozens of slaves locked in the iron cages. Unexpectedly, most of these slaves were humans, with only seven or eight Orcs.

Seeing the confusion in Loren's eyes, Robert explained.

"My Lord, these human slaves were purchased from other cities. Some are because the cities they lived in were conquered during the Day of Blood, and they had to sell themselves into slavery to survive.

There are also some who were prisoners of war obtained during the war..."

"Don't look at their low strength; these slaves all have special skills. Among them are tailors, carpenters, blacksmiths... very suitable for your territory.

And because their strength is not high, the price is also cheap, only 20,000 currency each. There are 67 people here in total; if you pay a flat 1 million, that will be enough..."

Loren turned his head to look at the slaves inside, each with a numb expression, and felt a shock in his heart.

Is this the real world?

After thinking about it, he felt some emotion; not to mention this world, even in ancient China, there were plenty of commoners who sold themselves into slavery during times of famine.

The commoners at the bottom and the nobles have never been people of the same world.

"The slave system should have been swept into the dustbin of history long ago. Enslaving humans as tools of production—the efficiency of this is terrifyingly low."

Loren shook his head, keeping his thoughts to himself.

After individuals possess extraordinary power, systems will inevitably become extreme. Adding the pressure of facing the Day of Blood every month only exacerbates this extremism.

After pondering for a moment, he turned his head to look at the Thief beside him.

"Arnold, is it feasible for us to directly recruit refugees from Decker City to go to the territory?"

Population is the foundation of territorial development; without population, doing anything is nonsense. But relying solely on purchasing slaves to fill the population—how much capital would that require?

Buying these few dozen people already cost him over a million. Without three or five billion, could he support the population he wants?

Arnold's eyes lit up, but then his face turned bitter.

"Lord Loren, although Decker City does not lack refugees, pioneering in the Endless Wasteland is truly too difficult.

Few refugees are willing to go to a newly established territory to take risks; after all, no one wants to seek death.

This is also why Frontier Lords often come to purchase slaves first..."

Upon hearing this, Loren did not feel discouraged. After pondering for a moment, he looked at Robert with burning eyes.

"President Robert, if a noble from the Silver Moon Capital, carrying a large amount of capital and top-tier Platinum Experts, goes to the Endless Wasteland to establish a territory and now needs to recruit commoners to join, how many people do you think would be willing to join?"

Their eyes lit up; this idea seemed good, but the next second, they changed their minds.

"And that benevolent noble lord has decided that all commoners who follow him can obtain land for farming for free.

And within two years, no taxes will be collected from the commoners.

That ambitious noble, supported by his family, who wants to build a second Decker City in the Endless Wasteland, is none other than a descendant of the Bauhinia Family—Loren Grant."

Once these words were spoken, Fiana, Arnold, and Robert all looked at Loren in shock.

"Obtain land for free?? And no fees collected from commoners within two years?"

Robert's tone was filled with disbelief.

"Lord Loren, if your words get out, I fear it will cause a huge sensation!!"

The look in Arnold's eyes as he watched Loren was filled with horror.

After a Frontier Lord establishes a territory, the fastest way to obtain capital is to sell land while collecting taxes; this is the foundation of territorial development...

"Lord Loren, doing this goes against the rules and common sense too much..."

The lord provides armed protection, and the residents provide taxes; this is a rule that has never changed for millions of years.

Land and taxes are the lord's greatest wealth. Once a Frontier Lord gains a foothold, they often choose to sell the land within the territory to obtain capital.

And some nobles or commoners who cannot survive elsewhere will choose to purchase land from those powerful Frontier Lords.

Now Loren directly wants to distribute land for free, and at the same time not collect taxes for two years; this directly challenges their inherent concepts.

Even Fiana, who didn't care much about these things, looked at Loren with a puzzled expression.

Robert couldn't help but speak up to dissuade him.

"Lord Loren, if you do this, I fear there will be no income in the territory for a long time, and your investment cost might increase by ten or twenty times..."

Even if Loren is a descendant of the Bauhinia Family, he shouldn't be so outrageous in his actions... Distributing land to those lowly commoners?! Why??

And without land, what kind of Frontier Lord would he be?

Goddess above, a demon must have covered his eyes!!

Loren looked at the few of them, very surprised. Don't these guys know that people themselves are the most valuable wealth?

Right now, everything in the Grey Eagle Territory is a blank slate; there is nothing. Without people to develop it, what is the use of guarding those lands?

If he can use the method of distributing land for free to gather a large number of residents to come, it is definitely countless times better than just watching.

With people, one can have everything.

As the most important means of production, people are definitely not comparable to other things.

As a modern person, Loren's vision had long since transcended the constraints of the inherent concepts of this world, while Robert and the others were too deeply influenced by the rules formed over millions of years in the Nuoer Main Plane...