You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 102 Shooting
Morey's ingenious methods of transporting slaves to Skye were proving difficult for Roman to handle.

But his act of paying out of his own pocket showed great sincerity.

It's not easy to get them to come all this way.

Putting everything else aside, if Scarface returns empty-handed, the time wasted on this trip alone will be a loss—even if Morey has paid the deposit and shipping fee in advance, not being able to make more money is still a loss.

Morey's meaning was clear: he had spent a lot of money and effort to lure over a reasonably reliable slave trader, and the specific methods were up to Roman.

In Roman's eyes, even excrement can be composted.

He said calmly, "Do you want gold coins or salt?"

"Salt!" Scarface was overjoyed.

The Arctic pirates were notorious, and no one wanted to do business with them, especially the salt merchants, who would never ship their merchant ships to the Arctic Ocean.

Merchants who do business with pirates never have a good ending.

Merchants were wealthy but lacked the ability to protect themselves, and the cargo on their ships was a great source of income for pirates, making them the ideal targets for robbery.

But the pirates soon discovered that the wealth they obtained by robbing merchants could not be used to do business with them.

Scarface was furious and wanted to berate his colleague, saying, "Can't you think long-term? Don't you understand long-term interests?!"

Stop doing such foolish things as draining the pond to catch all the fish, which is unsustainable!
Why don't you all join in robbing merchant ships? I can handle the dirty and tiring work myself!
Don't you think your barbaric behavior will scare away those businessmen?

Scarface was quite indignant, feeling that the pirates were really too unruly.

So he changed careers and became a slave trader. But he soon discovered that the path of a slave trader was fraught with difficulties, far less enjoyable and carefree than being a pirate.

Constantly changing jobs only increases costs; these days, industry competition is fierce, so you have no choice but to stick to one path.

Being a slave trader wasn't without its advantages.

He could transport not only slaves, but also other things.

For example, salt content.

As everyone knows, the land of Igor is a notoriously cold and harsh place, with an environment unsuitable for large-scale farming. As a result, the population overflows, leaving them with no choice but to plunder.

Insufficient sunshine hours make salt production difficult and result in low salt yields.

They still struggle to survive on the few salt-producing areas they found during the conquerors' era.

Pirates had a huge demand for salt.

They often drift at sea for ten days or half a month, and only cured and dried salted fish and ham can be preserved for a long time. Their daily diet also cannot do without salt intake.

Pirates are creatures heavy on oil and salt; otherwise, they wouldn't even have the strength to kill people, let alone be pirates.

It's normal for a qualified pirate to eat a pound of salt a month, which is an average of a dozen grams per day.

Salt is cheap, but they can't buy it cheaply.

All that can be bought is expensive salt.

The price of one copper coin for one pound of salt inland could soar to two or even three copper coins in the land of Igor. In some of the coldest seasons, it wouldn't be unusual to exchange it for half a sheep.

There are undoubtedly huge profits hidden within this.

However, it was difficult for ordinary merchants to trade with pirates.

All the salt merchants feared that during the transaction, the other party would suddenly swing an axe at their corpse, spit on it, and say, "Fool! Kill you, and all of this will be mine!"

Of course, there are also quite a few businessmen who take the risk.

Furthermore, the Arctic people also built many trading ports in Iceland, which were very prosperous.

But with the limited transportation capacity of that era, how many goods could cross oceans and be transported to the land of Igor?
Scarface only knew that his snow-covered hometown had at least several million people, all of whom suffered from daily salt shortages. The gap was so large that it couldn't be filled by that small amount of trade.

Faced with the two choices Roman gave him, Scarface decisively chose salt.

"One slave, 30 catties of salt. Seth, go and count the number of people." Roman turned and left, heading towards Origin Manor.

The number of slaves was quickly calculated.

Scarface was bad at math; he only knew that many corpses had been thrown away along the way and gave a rough number, but he didn't know that only 384 slaves survived.

There must have been more than 500 people when they set off, that's for sure. More than 100 people died during the transport, and the ways they died must have been varied. The slaves who survived were basically lucky.

In the time it takes to eat a meal, over 10,000 jin of salt was quickly delivered.

For Roman, it was just a piece of cake.

Scarface couldn't help but smile. The nobles of those salt-producing areas never gave cheap salt to the Arctic pirates; instead, they did their best to raise the price to the limit that the Arctic people could accept.

I don't know if he was among the first pirates to obtain salt from the inland areas. Probably not, as most pirate leaders controlled two unknown channels.

Scarface directed his men to throw the precious salt onto the ship.

Just then, he was startled from behind, a chill running from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

The young pirate standing nearby, who was always on guard, immediately raised his round shield.

puff!
However, he was struck by a gleaming arrow the moment he made a move. The iron arrow pierced through the sturdy round shield with unstoppable force, splintering wood and pinning him cleanly to the ground.

Blood gushed out, the arrow whirring as it pierced his chest before quickly ceasing its trembling.

Scarface suddenly turned around and looked!

He saw a strong, muscular figure standing on a hilltop, bathed in brilliant sunlight, with a bow drawn and an arrow nocked.

'If you dare to cause me so much loss again, I'll shoot you!' For some reason, he seemed to see those words in that cold gesture.

At midday on this summer day, the sun was incredibly hot, and the entire earth seemed to be on fire.

Scarface felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, his whole body was ice cold.

The sight of his companion's dead body and the shattered shield beside him showed that his life or death depended solely on the archer's decision.

It's estimated to be 150 meters!

His distance estimations were never wrong.

Not to mention on land, even at sea, he could deduce how far his Arctic warship was from the fleeing ships ahead.

This range isn't much. It's not a big deal if it hits.

But why is it so powerful?
Scarface could vaguely make out that the young lord was holding a large, crimson bow, and he quickly thought of a surname that was renowned on land.

The Arctic pirates behind him were on high alert, each finding a favorable position to launch a counterattack at any moment!

His eyes bulged out, and he was immediately filled with rage and malice!
The Arctic pirates have no cowards!

A head lost, but a scar the size of a bowl remains!

The Valkyrie is waiting for him in Valhalla!
Eighteen years later, he'll be a hero again!
"Let's go!" Scarface angrily led everyone onto the ship and left Sig Town.

A good man does not suffer immediate losses.

He's no longer a pirate, so there's no reason for him to fight to the death with others. If he dies on the battlefield, he won't be able to go to Valhalla.

He was an Igor, and knew little about the land, but he was aware of the formidable reputations of the three Grand Dukes of the Black Iron Kingdom.

More than a hundred years ago, the three first dukes of the Black Iron Lands followed the conquerors to the land of Igor and beat his ancestors so badly they had no chance against him.

Has he lost his mind and decided to wage war against the son of a Grand Duke with a split armor?
It is said that the first Grand Duke of Cracked Armor was exceptionally brave and could defeat his ancestors as easily as he defeated the dragons.

We can't risk our lives!
How can you make money if you work so hard?
So be it if your comrade dies. After his heroic death, his soul will surely go to Valhalla in Arctic mythology, where he will revel and indulge in debauchery with the Valkyries.

He could only swallow the more than 10,000 kilograms of salt with tears in his eyes and continue to live a life of hardship and humiliation.

(End of this chapter)