Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence

Chapter 128: Chapter 69: The Value of Blood Pine Wood

Quickly, Su Li followed Master Kote’s lead to the trading caravan’s slave camp.

The endless rain had ended, and the sun was shining brightly. Having reached their destination, the members of the slave capture team were in good spirits. They immediately dragged the slaves out from the ship’s hold and tents to the square, letting them bask in the sunlight, ridding them of the mildew odor.

Upon successfully reaching the destination, these slaves were treasures; each one a gleaming Golden Crown. They absolutely couldn’t afford to let them die.

If at this time any member of the slave capture team caused a slave to die, the enraged senior members of the merchant guild would throw the offending member into the slave camp to compensate for the loss.

If you’ve ever seen a black slave auction, you’d have a more direct impression of how the slave camp operates.

After the slave capture team reaches a territory, they stay for a few days, waiting for nearby farm owners to gather.

Then they set up a high platform, displaying the slaves in batches to the farmers below, who then bid to purchase the strong slaves they fancy.

The West High Merchant Guild intended to do just that, with their members having already constructed a display stage at the camp’s center. They were showcasing a group of strong slaves, aiming to spread the name of the slave capture team.

They hoped to attract the large landowners of each farm, subsidiary territories, and autonomous regions under this territory.

Of course, in this world, they had an even more important clientele: the mighty knights.

Generally, a knight of formal standing would own their own farm, attendants, and slaves; they were the primary customer base of the slave capture team. Most of the robust slaves were bought by them. Among them, the clever and exceptionally lucky ones became the armed attendants of a family knight. The unfortunate ones ended up as serfs or horse slaves, tilling the farmland in the knight’s manor and caring for the knight’s steeds.

However, with the arrival of Master Kote, all traditions of this slave camp were shattered, for he shouted with great authority, ”Everyone stop and listen to Lord Su Li’s orders! All of these slaves belong to Lord Su Li now!”

The members of the slave capture team and privateer fleet were initially stunned, but soon everyone burst into cheers of ecstatic joy.

”Praise Lord Su Li!”

”Yurik will always bless you with strength!”

”Oh, generous Knight Lord, your virtues are so charming that the Divine Spirit will bless you!”

Of course, they were ecstatic. With so many slaves successfully sold, their trip’s bonuses would undoubtedly be substantial!

You see, the merchant guild was very greedy and stingy, typically deducting a significant amount due to the deaths of slaves, greatly affecting their earnings.

And Su Li’s generous spending meant they could receive full bonuses.

This significantly improved their plight, paying off substantial debts and allowing for lavish days at Hesse Town’s taverns and brothels.

This was particularly important to the famished members of the slave capture team!

In the past, it wasn’t until the last leg of the trading caravan’s journey that slaves were entirely sold off, and bonuses distributed. They had already embarked on the road, leaving no time for indulgence.

These coarse, foolish men couldn’t hold onto money, often gambling most away during travels, losing everything, and incurring large gambling debts.

But having this money early allowed them to indulge while also purchasing some weapons and equipment to improve their condition.

They had heard well of this territory: first, the brothels were excellent, second, the equipment was top-notch.

It was precisely the kind of territory these blood-thirsty men loved to visit.

Watching the enthusiastic cheers of the slave capture team members, Su Li smiled and waved at them. These people were his territory’s favorite visitors!

They were always close to danger, hence spending with extravagance, allowing the territory’s brothels, taverns, and dwarven forgeries to strip them of every penny.

Greatly compensating for his expenses on purchasing slaves.

Su Li didn’t interact much with these caravan members before the caravan’s workers brought over some chairs, allowing Su Li, Hilude, Lauren, and Master Kote to sit down.

Then, the members of the slave capture team brought up the first batch of the most valuable six elite Transcendents onto the display stage.

The craftsmanship of these chairs was indeed superb, supported by blood pine wood carefully selected and polished, with a smooth surface and a warm and delicate feel.

The cushions and backrests were covered with soft velvet, stuffed with swan down, embroidered with golden griffin patterns, offering a soft and luxurious touch.

Even Su Li couldn’t help but feel a surge of possessiveness, as every noble’s castle hall or manor room should be adorned with such luxurious, grand furniture.

Touching the warm like jade texture of the blood pine wood armrest, Su Li asked, ”How much does such a set of chairs cost?”

Master Kote beamed with joy, the fish had taken the bait!

”The chair you’re sitting on is made from precious blood pine wood logs, adorned with velvet, cashmere, golden thread, and other luxurious materials. The price for just one chair is a hefty 10 Golden Crowns!”

Su Li nodded, finding the price reasonable.

In whatever world, furniture made from solid wood is never cheap.

Especially when it comes to Blood Pine Wood, which is an incredibly expensive material. If it weren’t for its large output, don’t even mention 5 Golden Crowns, even 50, 500, or 5000 Golden Crowns would see nobles willing to buy it.

Having seen the Golden Sandalwood, that glittery, golden-like material, one can grasp just how luxurious a noble’s lifestyle is. When seen on site, Golden Sandalwood sitting there shines like flowing gold.

The great nobles spend a fortune on a luxurious set of furniture without a second thought.

In fact, Blood Pine Wood originally also had such potential; its color is also perfect, reminiscent of rubies and Blood Jade. More importantly, its touch is incredibly warm. Sitting on a chair made from Blood Pine Wood in autumn and winter is exceptionally comfortable.

This makes furniture made from Blood Pine Wood popular both inside and outside the Empire.

However, due to the wild growth of forests in this world, Blood Pine Wood is never fully depleted, so its quantity is significant, and its price remains relatively affordable.

But this affordability is relative!

This kind of solid wood furniture is expensive in any world, not something ordinary people can access.

Even an Elite Knight would need one or two months’ wages to buy such a chair. For a common farmer, it would take the annual income of two or three families to buy one piece.

And for furniture this expensive, Master Kurt generously waved his hand, saying, ”If Lord Su Li likes it, I’ll have two sets sent to your Territory later, including 24 armchairs, 4 tables, two beds, and sixteen accessories like benches, screens, tea cabinets, tea tables, wardrobes, etc.”

Su Li raised an eyebrow, so generous? He smiled and said, ”Then I humbly accept. With these luxurious pieces of furniture, my castle will finally have some semblance of noble splendor.”

Then he asked a crucial question, ”Can the carpentry workshops in my territory produce this furniture?”

”Of course!” Master Kurt replied with a smile, ”Our chamber has invested in a carpentry workshop in your territory precisely to source locally. This can save us considerable transport costs. However, your territory’s production currently still requires some additional materials, such as velvet and cashmere.”

No wonder he is so generous, it’s kind of like borrowing a flower to present Buddha.

However, Su Li was still very grateful to him, saying, ”I will instruct my Minister of the Seal to fully cooperate with your chamber’s operations, and strive to provide you with a stable supply of materials.”

”Furthermore, my Chief Steward of High-level Attendants will organize a City Guard Army and will give special attention to your chamber, ensuring your business environment is sound. Anyone, regardless of being a rogue, thief, or knight, who dares to harass you, will be severely punished without leniency.”

”Haha!” Master Kurt laughed heartily, saying, ”Thank you, Lord Su Li, for your care. It is an honor for our chamber. We will manage with all our might to contribute to the prosperity of your Territory.”

While the two exchanged pleasantries, the six slaves on the presentation platform had already been positioned properly, ensuring the ministers on the territory below could see clearly.

Seeing the appearance of the Transcendents on the platform, Su Li curiously asked, ”Why are there so many females?”

Out of the six Transcendents on the platform, five were female!

This ratio was highly unusual.

From Su Li’s understanding, males predominantly occupy absolute dominance in this world. Apart from more female Transcendents among Elves, the gender ratio of Transcendents among other races far from reaches 1:1.

1:2 is challenging, and usually, it’s 1:3 or even 1:4 as the norm.

Looking at the situation in Hesse Territory, the number of Female Knights is less than one-fourth of all Knights.

The higher up you go, the lower this ratio is; at the Elite Level, it drops to 1:10, and it hardly ever exceeds 1:5.

By the time it reaches Champion Level, males dominate overwhelmingly.

In the Territory, all three Champion Level Knights are male, with no Female Knight reaching this level.

Everyone says Hilude has boundless potential, but no matter how much potential Hilude has, that’s something for the future.

As of now, regarding training speed, Hilude hasn’t shown absolute superiority. Which Champion Level Knight is performing worse than her? With the significant aid of Su Li’s opportunities, Oerstein, while fighting, acquires various qualifications upgrades; his promotion speed hardly seems worse than Hilude’s seems.

Almost everyone firmly believes that under the current climate, Knight Oerstein’s promotion to Divine Chosen Knight is an assured thing and, even if there were bottlenecks, the Lord would aid him in overcoming them.

In the original intelligence, the upper limit of Hilude’s life path hardly surpasses Oerstein Knight’s already achieved tier, leaving it far behind.

Of course, Su Li isn’t comparing which of the two has higher potential. Su Li would be delighted if both could ascend to the Divine Chosen Level and then challenge the Legendary Level bottleneck together.

But from the current situation in the Territory, the gender ratio within the training system is clear.

Male predominance is the norm, but why does this time, the elite slaves from West High Merchant, have more females than males?

Master Kurt smiled and explained, ”These slaves are a recently purchased batch of elites from the battlefield. Each one is blessed with Divine Magic by the Divine Spirit. Four of them are members of the Hospital Knight Order under Shalya, the Goddess of Life and Mercy.”

The Goddess of Life and Mercy, Shalya, is the Empire’s divine overseer of healthcare.

The presence of four members of the Hospital Knight Order delighted Su Li; these are the Church Paladins he had long anticipated!