Western Fantasy Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Vali led the two to an open space and stomped heavily on a paving stone.

With a loud crash, the floor tiles bounced up, revealing an underground passage in front of the three.

Connors and Sylvia exchanged a glance, surprised that there was another cave within a cave.

The two followed Vali into the underground passage.

This is a long corridor, with stone bricks on both sides. Every so often, a niche appears in the wall, with candlelight flickering inside.

After walking for a while, iron doors, like those found in dungeons, began to appear before us. They were symmetrically distributed on both sides of the corridor, stretching endlessly into the distance. Each iron door had a small window through which one could see what was inside.

Vali arrived at the first iron gate and introduced the slave to Connors, saying, "My lord, you see, this slave comes from the distant mountain kingdom. He is a dwarf who has mastered special forging techniques. I don't need to say more about how strong the dwarfs' forging skills are, do I?"

Mountain Kingdom? Dwarfs? I don't know... Connors looked confused, having never heard of these names before.

Sylvia noticed his confusion and added, "The High Mountain Kingdom is a country located in the east of the continent, mainly composed of dwarves. The magical treasures they create using their unique forging techniques are popular in various countries."

"I didn't expect there to be dwarves here."

Connors' eyes lit up when he heard this. He was just worried about who could handle the mithril, and now this opportunity had come to him.

He looked through the small window in the iron gate and saw a burly man being imprisoned inside.

The man was short in stature, his hands and feet were all cuffed with iron chains, and he wore a uniquely designed collar with a ruby ​​inlaid around his neck. He was sitting in the corner, looking at me indifferently.

However, taming these slaves is a difficult task... Connors pondered.

Vali walked to the next door and continued his introduction:

"This slave possesses a special demonic eye. It is said that his ancestors were a particularly powerful clan, but for some reason they declined. By the time of his mother's generation, things had become so dire that she sold her daughter in order to get enough to eat."

Vali introduced them one by one without the slightest impatience, speaking with the pride that made it seem as if he were introducing his unique collection.

Among them are slaves with special talents, slaves with extraordinary bloodlines, and slaves who possess lost or extraordinary technologies.

Of course, most of them were ordinary people, but even they were all strong, healthy, and of excellent quality. The emaciated slaves outside were no match for them.

The entire corridor was filled with hundreds of slaves. When Wally finished his introduction, Connors noticed that the corridor did not end yet, although the rooms at the back were currently empty.

Connors pondered for a moment and then asked, "How much?"

Vali asked cheerfully, "Which one?"

But the next second, he was so shocked by what Connors said that he couldn't close his mouth.

"all."

"All...all...all of them?!?" Vali exclaimed in surprise, then realized he was being joking and said with a wry smile, "Lord Connors, please don't tease me. Just tell me which one you like. With our relationship, I'll only need to make my costs."

Connors glanced at him and said calmly, "I'm not joking with you. I mean all of them. I want all the slaves here."

Vali was stunned for a moment, then slowly widened his eyes, feeling dizzy from the overwhelming wealth.

Sylvia, who was standing nearby, was also surprised by Connors' decision.

He coughed twice, interrupting Vali's shock: "Hey, calculate the price."

"Oh, okay, just a moment, just a moment, I'll be right back." Vali reacted a beat late, hurriedly leaving behind a sentence before rushing out of the underground corridor.

Sylvia watched the dark-skinned merchant leave, then turned and frowned, asking, "Are you really planning to buy all these slaves? Judging from their quality, this is no small sum."

"Isn't it because you're here?" Connors said nonchalantly.

Sylvia was taken aback, then laughed angrily: "Where do you get the confidence to think I'd pay for this for you?"

Connors glanced at him and said unhurriedly, "Do you know why your efforts to control the slave trade have repeatedly failed?"

Sylvia instinctively asked, "Why?"

"I guess your fundamental purpose in governing the slave trade was to reduce the number of slaves. Am I right?" Connors didn't answer, but instead looked into her eyes and asked.

"You're right." Sylvia nodded slowly.

Connors asked, puzzled, "Why do something so thankless and exhausting?"

Sylvia remained silent for a long time, a look of reminiscence flashing in her silver-rimmed eyes: "I once witnessed a village being slaughtered by a slave-hunting team while carrying out a mission assigned by my father."

"Everyone there died. After searching the entire village, we found a survivor, but she was also dying. We learned what happened from her."

"The survivor was a mother who begged me before she died to save her son and not let him become a slave." Sylvia paused here, then said calmly:

"I ultimately failed; I didn't find the whereabouts of that slave-hunting team."

Connors sighed inwardly, thinking that he was probably sick. His first reaction to the question was that it was childish and naive.

After thinking for a moment, he asked the incisive question:

"Why do you ban the slave trade instead of the slaves themselves?"

Sylvia fell silent, and Connors answered for her: "Because the circumstances don't allow it, right?"

In this world today, although there are elves and extraordinary powers, they are merely weapons used by the aristocratic class to maintain their rule. Productivity remains in a very backward state.

To compensate for the backwardness of productivity, the only option was to use labor, which led to the birth of the simple and brutal system of slavery.

In this world where extraordinary military power exists and nobles monopolize resources, this system is incredibly stable, making it virtually impossible for ordinary people to overthrow it.

Unless the nobility themselves make changes, this system has been enjoyed by the beneficiaries for countless years, and even children born from a young age take it for granted.

If even the idea of ​​change is hard to come by, how can we talk about change?

This is the fundamental reason for Sylvia's failure. She was not fighting against the slave traders of Giantwall City, but against the undercurrent of thought in the entire Steel Dragon Kingdom, and even the entire continent.

Connors slowly said, "It takes more than one day for water to wear away stone, and it takes more than one day for ice to freeze three feet deep. At present, there is no environment here that can make your ideas come true. However, if it is just about the slave trade in Giant Wall City, there are still ways."

Sylvia's breath hitched, and she was about to ask a question when hurried footsteps came from one side of the corridor. A moment later, Vali rushed up to the two of them, carrying a box, panting, and said:

"Lord Connors, I've calculated everything. 356 slaves, a total of 1051 gold coins. Given our friendship, I'll round it down to 1050 gold coins for you."

"These are the slaves' files; you can take a look," Vali said, taking a stack of files from the box and handing them to Connors.

"This is so expensive, more than all the current assets of Lily Town..." Connors' eyelids twitched. Without Sylvia, the money he brought this time would not have been enough.

The price of slaves is usually affected by factors such as age, skills, health, race, and scarcity, while the price of high-end slaves is generally no less than two gold coins, and the price of more special breeds will be even higher.

For example, if you kidnap a princess from one country and sell her as a slave in another country, the price would be immeasurable. If the princess is still a virgin, these nobles would be even more frenzied.

For some ruthless nobles, the pleasure derived from toying with a princess of a nation is immeasurable.

Connors flipped through the documents that Vali had handed him and found that most ordinary slaves were priced at 2 to 3 gold coins, while the more special slaves were much more expensive, at around 6 to 8 gold coins.

After reading all the materials, he coughed twice as if it were an accident.

The corridor was silent.

Sylvia ignored him.

Connors nudged her with his shoulder again.