Chapter 32: Loyalty

“I see now, they must have been tricked by that Lord. If I just show them my real worth, those Barbarians will surely leave him, and then our chance will come!” Owen excitedly paced back and forth in the tent. His expression made it seem as if he had already recruited over thirty powerful Barbarian Warriors.

“I was so foolish, no wonder Johnson paid little attention to my offers along the way. They didn’t even know the difference between Silk and rough cloth. I should have realized earlier!”

“Ahem, sir, we are currently in that Noble’s Territory, it might not be wise…” the mercenary leader named Alec reminded him.

“Right, we are still in his Territory.” Owen finally stopped pacing as he came to his senses, but he couldn’t hide the excitement on his face. His eyes sparkled with cunning, and he was clearly plotting something in his mind.

…

Early the next morning, Owen handed over a cartload of supplies to Su Lun as tax payment. Su Lun accepted it without any hesitation. When you’re so poor you can barely make ends meet, there’s no room for politeness.

After paying the taxes, Owen requested that their Caravan be allowed to rest in the city for two days before leaving. Su Lun agreed to his request.

Su Lun directed the slaves to unload the supplies from the cart and carry them to the warehouse. When storing the goods, Su Lun inspected them and found the cart was full of food. This was good news for Su Lun.

Due to the sudden population increase, his food reserves were running low. A cart like this could carry one thousand jin of supplies. One thousand jin of food might not be much in Karlt City, but here, its value had increased at least tenfold.

Trade on the Wasteland was limited to a few types of goods like tea, cloth, and salt. The most sought-after items were iron tools. Food wasn’t the most profitable, but Owen’s group carried so much grain mainly because the Centaur Tribes demanded that a certain portion of traded goods must consist of food and iron tools.

Originally, the Centaur Tribes weren’t short on food. However, they had been at war with an Orc Tribe for several years, so their food supplies naturally ran low. If Caravans hadn’t been delivering large amounts of food every month, the Centaur Tribes would have collapsed long ago.

Now that they held on, it was their opponent, the Orc Tribe, that suffered. The prolonged war left them short on food. From initially being evenly matched, they were now barely holding on.

On the second day after the Barbarian women and children arrived in the Territory, Su Lun began assigning houses and land to the Barbarians. Over fifty to sixty houses had been built in the camp. Although these houses, made from mud mixed with reeds, weren’t pretty, they were comfortable to live in and much better than the Barbarians’ previous tribal homes.

Each of the thirty-five Barbarian Warriors received a house. Besides them, Su Lun also gave houses to the few families that only had women and children left. Even though they had no battle achievements or Points, they could owe it for now.

In addition to houses, each family was allotted twenty mu of farmland and thirty mu of wasteland to cultivate. As for the Wild Oxen, they also required battle achievements or Points to obtain. Of course, for now, they could owe it if they didn’t have enough. Soon, over thirty of the hundred-plus Wild Oxen were distributed.

Su Lun also rewarded the Mercenaries with land, though much less compared to the Barbarians. Most received around five mu, as their battle achievements were limited, and the Points earned from daily work were minimal.

After receiving the land, the Mercenaries were very happy. Although the Mercenary life seemed carefree and their adventures were glorified in Bards’ tales, the reality was different. Most Mercenaries didn’t fare well.

Low-tier Mercenaries often had no land, no money, and no proper jobs, so they ended up in this risky profession. Many even turned to banditry. If they had land to farm, many Mercenaries wouldn’t choose this path.

In the Florence Kingdom, land had long been distributed. Except for some self-sufficient farmers, the remaining land was mostly divided among the Nobles. As the population grew, landless farmers had to leave their homes and seek work in the cities.

Without skills, most became laborers or Mercenaries. Now that they had land, these men naturally didn’t want to return to that perilous life. It was predictable that these Mercenaries would become the first group of Freeman in Su Lun’s Territory.

While Su Lun was busy allocating land to the Mercenaries, Owen secretly started making contact with the Barbarians. Barbarians were mostly straightforward and easygoing. When faced with a smooth-talking merchant like Owen, they quickly grew fond of him.

After gaining their initial trust, Owen began telling the Barbarians what kind of treatment powerful Warriors like them deserved. He promised that all of this could be theirs if they followed him back to the Florence Kingdom.

To his disappointment, the Barbarian Mercenaries showed no interest in the Knight titles or Noble privileges Owen talked about and directly rejected his offers. Owen couldn’t accept this, but he didn’t give up; instead, he approached other Barbarians.

The result was exactly the same as before—all the Barbarians rejected Owen’s offers, which took him completely by surprise.

“Damn it, what’s going on? Why won’t those Barbarians cooperate with me, even after I explained everything so clearly!” Owen said, fuming, inside the tent at the Caravan’s camp. The other Mercenaries exchanged glances, but no one answered.

“Sir, maybe the Barbarians don’t trust us yet?” one of the men, who looked like a merchant’s assistant, suggested.

“After all, we just met them. It’s normal for the Barbarians to be cautious. Perhaps we should offer something to show our sincerity?”

“That might work. I’ll leave this task to you then.” After thinking it over, Owen reluctantly agreed, still unwilling to give up.

If Su Lun knew what Owen was thinking, he would laugh. On his System interface, every Barbarian had a loyalty value. Most of these values were above ninety, with many even at one hundred.

Such high loyalty couldn’t be swayed by mere offers. Moreover, Barbarians admired strength. After fighting alongside Su Lun for some time, many had become his staunch followers. Getting them to betray him was nearly impossible.