Chapter 9: Preparations

It was simple to win the respect of the Barbarians: defeat them in a fight. It was also simple to gain their favor: drink with them until they dropped. Most Barbarians thought in simple ways, without the tricky thoughts that many Florentia people had, though there were exceptions.

“You should know very well that I have bought you with money. From today on, you are my slaves.” Su Lun waved the slave Contract as he spoke.

The Barbarians did not say anything. Su Lun was not surprised by this, as no one wanted to be a slave.

“You should thank me. If I had not bought you, your final destination would only be the cannon fodder camp.”

“Did you not buy us to use us as cannon fodder?” One Barbarian pushed past his companions, stepping forward from the back to stand in front of Su Lun.

Su Lun looked up at this Barbarian. He did not like having to look up when speaking to people. This Barbarian in front of him was already 2.2 meters tall, a giant even among Barbarians. Su Lun seemed like an underdeveloped child next to him. More importantly, this Barbarian moved with great agility, without any sense of clumsiness, giving Su Lun the impression of a leopard from the Northern Lands Wilderness.

Taking two steps back without showing any expression, Su Lun adjusted his posture so he no longer had to tilt his head up to look at him. “Of course not. If I wanted to use you as cannon fodder, why would I have bought the elderly, weak, women, and children along with you?”

“Are you not planning to use them to threaten us into being cannon fodder?” The man fell silent for a moment, then spoke in a low voice.

“I am not a soldier, and I have no connection to the military.” Su Lun spread his hands. “Besides, I spent so much money; I am not going to let you become cheap cannon fodder on the battlefield.”

“I am a Noble. I have just bought the Land Reclamation Decree. I need a group of Warriors to come with me into the Wilderness to Pioneer the Territory. That is why I bought you.”

“Of course, pioneering a Territory is dangerous, but I promise that once the Territory is successfully pioneered, I will remove your slave status, and you will become Freeman of my Territory!”

“Sounds good, but how can we trust you?”

“You have no choice but to trust me.” Su Lun smiled. “Of course, I can give you my word as a Noble that once the Territory is successfully pioneered, I will keep my promise. Also, in the early stages of pioneering the Territory, I can let your families live here.”

“As the most prosperous city in the Northern Provinces, this is also the safest place. I will supply them with food every month. Of course, you can send one person each time to supervise.”

After hearing Su Lun’s conditions, this Barbarian, who seemed to be the leader, had already agreed in his heart. This was the best outcome.

Su Lun’s plan was acceptable to both sides. Leaving the elderly, weak, women, and children in the city would ensure their safety and also put Su Lun at ease. If they all went together into the Wilderness to Pioneer the Territory, Su Lun would worry that these Barbarians might take the chance to escape when he was not paying attention, especially since they had lived in the Wilderness before.

“We agree.” The Barbarian grinned, showing a smile uglier than crying. “My name is Johnson, from the Raging Bear tribe, but it no longer exists.”

“My name is Su Lun.” Su Lun nodded.

“Now, clean up this camp. You will live here for the time being. After I buy weapons for you, we will set off into the Wilderness to Pioneer the Territory.”

Next, over a hundred Barbarians joined in cleaning the camp, and the speed of the cleanup suddenly increased. Although there were many women and children among these Barbarians, they were not weak at all. The female Barbarians, while not as strong as the males, were still much stronger than the Florentia people.

Have you ever seen a delicate-looking woman carrying a hundred or two hundred pounds of trash back and forth? And those underage children, each one was not much worse than an adult Florentia person.

By evening, the entire camp’s barracks had been fully repaired. Su Lun rested at the inn, as he still needed to continue preparing supplies for the pioneering camp the next day.

These Barbarian Warriors totaled thirty-five, and each was quite capable, better than the slave Warriors he had wanted to buy before. Moreover, he had spent only over seven hundred Gold Nar for so many people, saving a large amount of money.

The Warriors in the slave market cost about thirty Gold Nar each, but their combat power was just average. Even without going Berserk, Barbarians could easily defeat them. If they did go Berserk, one could fight five or six without a problem. Florentia people faced Barbarian Berserkers mostly by relying on numbers and weapons.

Fully armed heavy Soldiers, against Barbarians wearing animal skins and using stones or wooden clubs, even with great strength, were just struggling in vain. Moreover, the Florentia people were not without strong individuals; both Knights and Wizards could deal with these people.

With over four thousand Gold Nar, buying weapons for these Barbarians would not cost much. As for armor, one Leather Armor per person would be enough. What? Why not buy Iron Armor? That stuff is too expensive, starting at over a hundred Gold Nar each. Su Lun was not so extravagant as to equip these Barbarians with heavy armor.

Maybe he would consider it in the future when he had more money. For now, the most important thing was the Territory issue. For Su Lun, taking over a piece of Territory and clearing out the monsters on it was not difficult. The hard part was holding onto that land. After all, if the Territory could not guarantee safety and no Freeman came to farm and live there, it would be like a tree without roots, unable to stand firm.

Only with Freeman could Su Lun collect taxes, and with taxes, his Territory could develop sustainably. Otherwise, relying solely on his endless investment, he would not last long.

Moreover, for the early development of the Territory, he would definitely need to buy a large number of slaves. After all, it was hard to recruit Freeman for a newly pioneered Territory, so he had to use slaves instead. Also, the construction of the Territory required a lot of slave labor. He could not expect the Barbarians to build houses. These Barbarians probably only knew how to build shacks. Expecting them to build houses was like expecting a pig to climb a tree.

Karlt City was the largest city in the Northern Lands, with ample supplies of all kinds. Su Lun could buy all the materials needed for pioneering the Territory here, and the prices were relatively cheap. If he were in a border city, he might not even be able to gather all the necessary supplies, and even if he managed, the cost would likely be much higher.

Carts, food, weapons, seeds, farming tools, tents, building materials—large amounts of supplies were purchased and piled up in the camp. Food was the most abundant, as he needed to prepare at least a year’s supply. Even if the Territory was pioneered this year, there would be no harvest. Only when the crops matured next year could they become self-sufficient.