Chapter 34: Preparing the Caravan

Ji En’s attributes were simple and much weaker compared to the Barbarians, but he had an advantage that others did not.

[Trading: By observing others’ expressions, he could communicate better with people. He had a clear understanding of various prices. Through observing expressions, he could get better prices in transactions.]

Originally, Ji En was just an ordinary mercenary. After joining the territory, he planned to become a Freeman. Of course, being a Freeman meant he still had to take up arms to defend the city if the territory was attacked. After Su Lun discovered his talent for trading, he decided to train him as the territory’s exclusive merchant.

In fact, almost every feudal noble had one or several Caravans to transport and sell the territory’s products. After all, relying solely on the territory’s output made it easy to maintain a noble’s lifestyle, but it was difficult to develop and expand.

Su Lun originally planned to wait until next year when the territory had stable output before starting to form the Caravan. But now, it seemed he had to start earlier.

“Ji En, I plan to appoint you as the manager of my territory’s Caravan. Do you have any requests?” Su Lun looked at the sturdy middle-aged man and said.

“Lord, you want to appoint me as the Caravan manager? No objections, I am very happy to serve you.” Originally feeling uneasy, worried that Su Lun was holding a grudge against him for opposing during the last battle, he never expected to be appointed as the Caravan manager. Ji En agreed without a second thought.

“That’s good. As the Caravan manager, you can have twenty acres of farmland. However, these twenty acres are only for temporary use. If you perform poorly, the twenty acres will be taken back. If you do well, the twenty acres will be your reward. Of course, this is only the most basic reward.”

“I will form the Caravan as soon as possible. You have one day to take care of your personal matters. We start officially tomorrow morning.” After speaking, Su Lun waved his hand to indicate that Ji En could leave.

Su Lun did not fully trust Ji En. Ji En’s loyalty was only seventy-six. This loyalty was neither high nor low, but it was not enough for Su Lun to trust him completely.

Therefore, Ji En, as the Caravan manager, did not handle money. Su Lun never used money to test people’s hearts because most people could not withstand such a test. The best way was to establish a reasonable system to prevent such situations as much as possible.

Su Lun gave one thousand five hundred Gold Nar to Johnson for safekeeping. He planned to appoint Johnson as the Caravan’s guard captain. Johnson’s loyalty had long reached one hundred, making him Su Lun’s die-hard follower who would never betray him. With Johnson in charge of the Gold Nar, Su Lun could rest assured.

In addition to being the Caravan’s guard captain, Johnson also had the task of monitoring Ji En. As for the other guards for the Caravan, Su Lun had already prepared them.

Early the next morning, the camp became very lively. All the Barbarian Warriors who had left with Owen two days ago returned, not a single one missing. As for what to do about Owen? Sorry, I already gave you the people; it’s your fault for not keeping them. You can’t blame me.

Even if Owen came back to demand the people, Su Lun would not admit it. Besides, when the transaction was made, neither side left any written proof. Owen could only swallow his pride and accept it. He probably did not have the courage to confront Su Lun and start a fight. With the military power of Su Lun’s territory, they could sweep through his Caravan three times without breaking a sweat.

So this time, Owen lost both his men and his money. Who gave you the courage to come to my territory to poach? What? You want the money back? Why should I return money I earned through my skills?

Of course, Owen could also use the banner of Marquis Chris Mann. But once he did that, his career as a Caravan manager would be over. The nobles would not care if you were deceived. Once they learned you caused huge losses for the merchant group, they would first make you compensate and then kick you out. Su Lun was completely fearless.

These newly returned Barbarian Warriors became the Caravan’s guards. The carriages used to transport supplies last time were also there. Ji En and the others left the territory with twenty carriages and headed in the direction of Karlt City. The carriages were loaded with various furs obtained from hunting during this period. When they returned, the territory’s population would experience explosive growth.

…

“Ding, territory instance quest activated. A Giant Tiger has appeared near your territory. The Giant Tiger threatens the safety of the territory’s residents. Please eliminate the Giant Tiger as soon as possible.”

The prompt from the Empire War Game System suddenly sounded in his ears. Su Lun was slightly stunned. A territory instance quest? After hearing the system prompt, Su Lun immediately opened the system interface to check.

[Instance Quest: Eliminate the Giant Tiger invading the territory. Reward: Rich rewards.]

The system provided very few hints. After looking for a while, Su Lun remembered that in the game, wild monsters randomly spawned in the wilderness from time to time. This territory instance should be similar. Moreover, in the game, these wild monsters usually dropped some good items.

“Boss, something bad happened! We are missing three Wild Oxen!” Just as Su Lun closed the system interface, a Barbarian Warrior hurried over.

“What happened?”

“Boss, when Johnson went to herd the oxen today, he found the number was wrong. Three are missing. There is a large break in the fence. We don’t know what animal attacked the ox pen.”

“Monster attack?” Su Lun was slightly stunned, then suddenly thought of the instance quest. Could this be a clue for the quest? Thinking of this, Su Lun did not delay and immediately got up to go to the ox pen.

The ox pen was outside the camp because if these Wild Oxen were kept in the city, his camp would probably become smelly within a few days. So he specifically allocated an area outside the city, built an ox pen with logs, and arranged for people to guard it.

Arriving at the ox pen, Su Lun quickly saw the damaged fence. Logs half a meter thick were broken with great force, and the surrounding fence was shattered, leaving a mess. The logs used for the fence were very sturdy. To cause this much damage required extremely strong power, something even the Barbarians could not match.

Getting closer, on the grass beside the fence, there were several large claw marks on the ground. Seeing this, Su Lun could already confirm that the one who damaged the ox pen was the Giant Tiger mentioned in the system prompt.

“Go find some wood and repair this place.” Su Lun told the others to fix the ox pen. He himself followed the clues on the ground to search. There were many claw marks on the ground, looking like cat prints, but these prints were many times larger than cat prints.

The footprints extended outward. Following the footprints, Su Lun soon arrived in the Wilderness. By now, the footprints had been disturbed by other animals and became somewhat blurry, but they could still be distinguished. Soon, Su Lun followed the footprints into a forest.