Chapter 38: Chapter 38: The Price of Slaves
The secrets of the Lady of the City Lord, the enchanting wife, the yet-to-be-developed mature beauty, the beautiful Sister Bae, were still too distant for Su Li, so he only fantasized for a moment before refocusing his attention elsewhere.
Since it was his first time having a territory under his name, [Hessen Foothills], today’s intelligence information density was somewhat astonishing. Just a day’s information update presented him with a large amount of intelligence about the Hessen Foothills area.
The Black Water River and Brionne River both flow down from the Gray Mountain Range, and their confluence is right at the heart of the territory’s plains. There are three-headed river giants nearby; defeating them could earn two water element hearts, which are valuable for awakening soldiers’ bloodlines. Even if a soldier had no bloodline before, planting it into their body could directly promote them to apprentice knight and henceforth practice the Knight’s Breathing Technique. If a soldier is already a water-bloodline knight, using the water element heart will make their cultivation even more effective with half the effort.
Additionally, to the north of the territory in the Gray Mountain Range, there is a mountain with a massive iron ore deposit, which has been secretly occupied by a kobold tribe. The combat power of kobolds is not strong, and with Su Li’s strength, he could easily seize this giant mine. The iron ore is capable of producing vibranium, and fortunately, there is a dwarf Master of Casting, Belos Dragon Hammer, in the territory. This means that every year, the territory will have several sets of rune vibranium battle armor.
All of this is tempting Su Li to head to this fertile foothill!
Therefore, Su Li decided to head directly to this territory after purchasing slaves from the Dark Night Slave Capture Team, regardless of anything. If it really turns out to be an irresistible danger, thanks to the daily information system, he could flee early. A month’s adaptation period is enough for him to gather intelligence about the area.
To be cautious, after getting up, Su Li also asked Belos Dragon Hammer about the local situation, but this dwarf, with his eccentric temperament, still harbors significant prejudice against humans, and completely ignored Su Li’s inquiries.
Unable to get any valuable information, Su Li temporarily left him in the camp, and then went with over sixty soldiers to the address shown on the note left by Oliver.
It’s located in a valley southeast of the city, and they have to traverse a dense forest to reach it. Since Su Li got up late, it was only by noon that he led his troops to the entrance of the Dark Night Slave Capture Team’s camp.
At this time, Oliver had been anxiously pacing at the entrance for over three hours. He regretted his caution yesterday, fearing that losing such a high-quality customer would leave him regretting for months.
Seeing Su Li arriving with a large entourage, he finally swept away the gloom on his face, warmly stepping forward to greet Su Li, his face beaming, "Honorable Knight Su Li, you’ve finally arrived. You don’t know how many stewards wanted to take the slaves to showcase them to other customers today. I had to argue hard with the board of the commerce group to keep these precious goods."
Su Li raised an eyebrow and jumped off the horned horse. It seems the commerce group’s investigation was quite thorough, even figuring out his name.
However, Su Li didn’t believe a word of what he said. If a swindler’s words were trustworthy, he’d probably end up without a single copper coin left.
He replied straightforwardly, "Then let’s take a look at the quality of your goods. If I’m satisfied, my Pioneer Territory will continue to do business with you for slave purchases in the future."
"No problem, no problem. It’s our honor." Oliver beamed, immediately bowing to invite Su Li inside. "Please follow me."
The Dark Night Slave Capture Team is quite formidable; their slave capture teams immediately showed Su Li three elite-level elite knights.
"So, how about it, Lord Su Li?" Oliver proudly raised his chin and asked, "Three elite knights that can significantly boost your territory’s strength. Each for only 300 gold coins."
gold coins, about equal to an elite knight’s five-year salary.
The value of slaves in this world can mostly be calculated, generally a profession’s income for 40~60 months.
For example, an armed attendant earns 20 silver coins a month, with the annual total income including allowances and benefits being 3 gold coins. Thus, the price of purchasing an armed attendant slave is 8~12 gold coins, fluctuating based on local demand, market conditions, and security.
Calculating like this, a farmer’s average income is about 8~10 silver coins a month, so buying a farmer slave costs 3~6 gold coins.
These two professions toil all year, and after household expenses, they save less than 20 silver coins. To buy a slave, they’d have to live frugally and work hard for fifteen to twenty years. Any natural disaster, accident, illness, or death in between could bankrupt them, making them not only unable to buy slaves but also likely to become slaves themselves.
Apprentice Knights, however, become noticeably wealthy, with a salary of 50 silver coins a month, approximately equivalent to a monthly salary of 5000. If they have their own land, buying a farmer slave to cultivate their land is relatively easy. If they have good luck in finding a generous, brave, and battle-capable lord, they might make a small fortune and even equip themselves with one or two knight attendants to help mow the grass, feed horses, sharpen weapons, and maintain equipment.
For official knights, they truly belong to the privileged class, essentially belonging to the Empire itself. A salary of one gold coin a month! A full ten thousand copper coins, truly living up to the title of a five-figure monthly salary, is a dream nurtured by every Empire’s civilian since childhood. Every official knight undoubtedly has their own attendants, farms, and farmer slaves. Apart from noble privileges and honors, they can be regarded as smaller-scale kingdom knights in many aspects.
Hence, the Empire’s citizens push themselves hard from birth, dreaming of becoming knights, seeking not only greater strength but also more wealth, benefits, and opportunities.
And elite knights earn a salary of 5 gold coins a month, an unimaginable figure for the civilian class, which can support a year’s taxes and expenses for a common household with ample surplus.
Of course, buying an elite knight slave means a hefty price, at least 200 gold coins conservatively.
Oliver selling them at 300 gold coins isn’t cheap, but it isn’t a rip-off either; it’s within normal price fluctuation ranges. No one ever starts a transaction by quoting the lowest price; bargaining is always needed.
However, Su Li wasn’t particularly interested in this transaction. He already had enough elite knights under him, paying their salaries was already a problem, and there were many formal knights with plenty of promotion opportunities.
He could afford to buy these elite knights, but if he spent the money on buying them, he’d have no money left to buy slaves to farm. Knights in this world don’t farm; they only do one thing every day: hone their skills for battle. Their sole duty is killing and preparing for killing.
As they don’t engage in production, Su Li must keep some money to buy farming slaves.
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