Lord of Reclamation: I Can Unlock Abilities By Building Civilizations
Chapter 40: Empty Coffers

Chapter 40: Empty Coffers

Under the setting sun’s glow, the caravan slowly rolled into Fontdmer Town.

Maxim gave Thane an elegant bow, then raised his head with a smile.

"I didn’t let you down, Baron. I’ve brought you slaves."

"Welcome back, my friend, handsome Silverdove of Oak City."

Thane embraced Maxim, then walked to the wagon to look over the slaves before him.

They looked to be good stock.

The long journey had left these slaves looking worn down, but they were all between seventeen and thirty years old. After some rest, they could work.

"Where’d they come from?"

Thane looked at Maxim with some surprise.

These seventy or eighty people were all quality folks who wouldn’t be sold easily, unless...

Maxim didn’t get too close, lowering his voice.

"Towns in Razor Plains got overrun by beastmen tribes. These people they didn’t want to haul off, so they sold them all to me."

Thane was somewhat taken aback.

Weren’t the people of Razor Plains supposed to have thrown in with beastmen to hurt lord Avril?

How were towns getting overrun now?

Had the backstabbers gotten backstabbed by the beastmen?

Or had the two sides failed to see eye to eye and had a falling out?

Thane tried to get more out of Maxim, but unfortunately he didn’t know the ins and outs either.

Maxim could trade with beastmen because he had supplies they needed and could bring steady materials next time.

This didn’t mean Maxim was close enough to the beastmen tribes for inside information.

He only knew the tribe was called Blackscale, led by a lizard-headed beastman.

So-called beastmen were also called half-orcs—what you got when foreign races and humans mixed.

People in the Northern Borderlands also liked calling them mixed-bloods, even mongrels.

Not only were human females violated, but humans also violated foreign races, both potentially producing beastmen.

Originally beastmen were called aberrants, spurned not only by humans but also turned away by foreign races.

But many beastmen kept human smarts while picking up various foreign racial talents, quickly rising after banding together.

These beastmen sometimes cozied up to humans, but more often they sided with foreign races.

Even though in foreign eyes they were just the lowest tools.

Of course, these were just tall tales—Thane had never laid eyes on real foreign races or mixed-bloods.

Thane pulled several slaves aside to ask about the situation, but only got head-shaking "don’t knows."

These people had been scared witless by the beastmen.

Thane gave up and turned to Maxim. "What’s the price?"

"Please give me a price."

Maxim was respectful, smiling.

Thane saw right through this.

This was merchant cunning.

This world had no price boards.

Merchants were scared that pricing too high would spook customers, scared that pricing too low would cut their profits.

So sometimes they’d rather have customers name prices.

"Then I’ll set it... No craftsmen?" Thane asked.

"None." Maxim answered with a hangdog look.

Craftsmen were worth their weight in gold in places like the Northern Borderlands—no one would willingly sell them.

Thane nodded, walked a circle around the slaves, came back to Maxim’s side, and said,

"Males thirty-five silver coins, those over thirty-five get twenty-five silver coins, those few fertile female slaves fifty silver each."

Thane’s slave prices were only 80% of the border city slave market.

Maxim looked pained. "Baron, I turned all my goods into slaves for you—you can’t stick me with such low prices!"

"If I haul these people back to Oak City, I could sell them for much more!"

"I believe what you’re saying."

Thane pulled out a slave with pale lips and a lifeless look. "But I also believe he’ll be dead before you reach Oak City."

Slave masters were much crueler than Thane.

When slaves weren’t working, they often only gave them one bowl of thin gruel daily to keep them from starving to death.

As he spoke, Thane pulled another from the slave group.

"And this one."

"This one."

...

In moments, five or six sickly slaves had been picked out by Thane.

"Hauling so many slaves, the farther you travel, the more will drop dead."

Thane smiled but spoke without pulling punches. "Besides, you only emptied one wagon. This price is enough for you to turn a pretty penny."

"So don’t give me that ’you’ll sell for higher prices’ anymore. I won’t beat down prices unfairly for slaves you’ve delivered as promised."

"All right, Baron, you’re still sharp as a tack."

Maxim threw in the towel.

Though somewhat sore inside, Maxim knew Thane was speaking the truth.

Thane didn’t take the bait, asking straight out, "How many total? Figure it up, then you won’t need to worry about their meals."

The territory desperately needed people to work.

These people were weak, true, but they could still handle light tasks.

Maxim nodded and started counting carefully. "Fifty-seven male slaves, twelve over thirty-five. Nineteen female slaves all fertile. Total of two thousand eight hundred twenty-five silver coins."

"Twenty-five hundred silver coins."

Maxim looked like he’d been slapped. "Baron, aren’t you being too cutthroat with price cutting?"

"Taxes. Don’t forget you still need to pay taxes."

Thane put his arm around Maxim’s shoulder. "That settles it then. Come on, supper to welcome my friend is ready. Don’t get your britches in a twist over these small matters."

"This... all right, all right. Who told us we’re friends?"

Maxim shrugged helplessly as the two headed back to the manor together.

...

...

Though Thane hadn’t handed over the silver yet, the slaves had already started working.

Male slaves were mostly assigned to fish pond and canal projects, though the first two days they were still getting their strength back, only responsible for hauling soil.

Four female slaves were picked to join the cooking crews, while the rest formed gathering teams.

In mid-May, fields and forests were loaded with all kinds of wild vegetables—bracken, wild celery, wild onions, and so on.

With [Knowledge of Fertile Soil], Thane could always find spots rich in wild vegetables, having slaves dig three or four baskets each daily, ninety to a hundred pounds.

These wild vegetables not only tasted fresh but provided nutrition while cutting down on slave food costs.

Especially in the morning, Thane also enjoyed eating pickled vegetables made from wild plants.

The slaves worked for two days.

Thane was still scratching his head over what to use to pay for the slaves.

The hunting party traveled daily, and there were some hides—rabbit, wolf, deer skins—but all together they were worth only a few hundred silver coins.

Thane had originally wanted to pay partly with grain, but now with seventy more mouths to feed, not a grain could be spared.

"Actually, you could pay with those unnaturally sharp swords."

After Maxim saw the brand-new one-handed sword in Pamin’s hand, he kept trying to sweet-talk Thane.

Though Maxim kept promising he’d only sell south of Oak City, Thane wasn’t budging an inch.

Unless he was backed into a corner, Thane wouldn’t sell his handiwork.

Besides, the territory’s armor-piercing weapons weren’t fully stocked yet.

After mulling it over, Thane finally decided to dig into his own funds for eighteen gold coins, paying the rest with lean jerky and hides to Maxim’s caravan.

"Looks like I need to get cracking on creating some profitable goods."

Thane couldn’t help turning it over in his mind, recalling everyday items from his previous life.

Soap and perfume already existed in this era. Making them seemed to lack an edge unless they had special features.

But that would eat up too much energy.

Distilled spirits burned through too much raw material, and the taste might not sit well with noble preferences. Refining alcohol might have some value.

"Papermaking might be a good bet..."

After much head-scratching, Thane had a notion.

Papermaking know-how was pretty backward in this era, relying on parchment and hide paper, making paper scarce and expensive, with book prices sky-high.

Materials were also simple—wheat straw, bark, flax, and other plant fibers could serve as raw materials.

The only thing missing now was lime water for soaking materials, and ideally building a hydraulic pulp beater.

Thane happened to be busy building canals now.

"Looks like I need to step on the gas."

Thane decided to go full steam ahead on dam and canal construction!

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