Chapter 234: Slaves, Altar

When he saw the few familiar figures standing at the bow of the ship, Xia Duo's face was full of smiles; besides Priest Laidun, who had already agreed to come, Supervisor Yarman of the Liyadun Chamber of Commerce and President Masa of the Silaiwen Chamber of Commerce had also arrived.

Soon, the "Lucky Owen" slowly approached the landing point. With a *clack*, the gangplank was lowered. Xia Duo walked onto the ship and happened to see Old Owen walking over from the stern.

The group greeted him together, "Lord Territory Owner!"

Xia Duo greeted them one by one, then immediately said, "Captain Owen, you've had a hard journey, go get some rest first; Priest Laidun, you arrange for the people to disembark first, and unload the cargo that needs to be unloaded."

"Yes." The two accepted the order and left.

With only Yarman and Masa remaining, Xia Duo did not neglect them, "Gentlemen, the territory has just been established and I cannot host you properly for the time being; let's talk right here on the ship."

"Lord Territory Owner, please don't be so formal. We came uninvited and hope you will not take offense."

"It is no matter. Daxia Territory welcomes you both at any time, as well as Lady Patti, President Hans, and President Fulaike to come and inspect the progress."

Xia Duo had agreements regarding the development progress in his contracts with them, though they were not very precise. Xia Duo had also been prepared for them to come; after all, they had invested real gold and silver, so they would only be at ease once they saw it with their own eyes.

It was just that Xia Duo had not expected them to arrive in less than ten days, before even the prototype of the first phase of the project had appeared.

After exchanging a few casual pleasantries and watching the territory residents disembark one by one, Xia Duo no longer had much desire to converse; the growth of the territory filled him with joy.

He roughly counted them. This time, in addition to the forty-plus residents who had not been brought before, there were twenty-plus more people in rags. Most of them had obvious chain marks on their wrists, were sallow and emaciated, had dull eyes, and could not even walk steadily.

At a glance, they were slaves obtained from who knows where!

Xia Duo pointed at a few people at random and said with some dissatisfaction, "Look at this, can these people still work? President Masa, what do you have to say!"

"Lord Territory Owner, these are runaway slaves from the Inner Land. It is already lucky they didn't die, and this batch of slaves only costs this much!" President Masa narrowed his small eyes and held up two fingers to compare.

Xia Duo did not like his shifty eyes and deliberately said an exaggerated number, "Two Gold Coins?"

"My Lord, you are joking. It is twenty Gold Coins each. My Lord, don't look at how thin and weak they are now; as long as you let them eat their fill for a period of time, they will recover quickly!"

Masa had an expression that said you were getting a great deal, which left Xia Duo speechless. However, he did not refute it; he knew that the price of a normal human slave was around one hundred Gold Coins, and those of other races or with special talents would be more expensive.

The slaves Masa provided this time, although they looked lifeless and terribly thin, were indeed as he said—they would recover after a period of good rest. 20 Gold Coins was not expensive.

It was just that sending them here like this was a bit inappropriate.

"President Masa, next time you have slaves like this, keep them at Savile Town to recover before sending them over."

"My Lord, this was arranged by Priest Laidun," Masa said aggrievedly. In fact, he himself was willing to keep these slaves for a period of time first.

How much did grain cost? The price he could sell them for after fattening them up would fully compensate for it, and there would be more left over! But who told him that his ship had just arrived at the port to unload today when it was discovered by Priest Laidun!

"Priest Laidun?" Xia Duo had not yet thought of the possibility of price gouging; he just assumed that those who suffered were more likely to accept a new order and would be loyal if given a little sweetness. In this regard, those in Divine Office should know better.

"Since that is the case, then just send them directly next time!"

"Yes." Masa wore a bitter face.

Seeing Masa's "my father just died" expression, Xia Duo immediately realized that this absolutely involved tangible interests.

After a little pondering, Xia Duo knew what the other party was up to and simply ignored it.

Soon, all personnel and supplies had disembarked. Because this trip carried more people, there were fewer supplies, all of which were grain and a small amount of tools.

And since the Lucky Owen had already arrived, Xia Duo's itinerary could be largely determined. After asking Owen about the recent wind direction, Xia Duo used a Communication Magic Tool to make an appointment with Niya to go to the Mage Tower to answer questions in two days.

Over these days, Xia Duo had accumulated a sack full of questions he wanted to ask Niya. During this time, he had figured out some of the questions himself, but new questions were always emerging endlessly.

Sometimes Xia Duo thought, if only he had a "portable old grandfather," how great that would be!

In the afternoon, with the newly joined residents, a patch of simple wooden houses quickly took shape, using branches and trunks as frames, a mixture of hay and mud as walls, and covering the tops with branches and hay.

With more people, there was more work that could be done, and Xia Duo felt that the development progress had suddenly picked up.

In the evening, Priest Laidun came to Xia Duo's small camp alone, "My Lord, the territory now has nearly one hundred people, I am prepared to build an Altar."

"An Altar?" Xia Duo asked in confusion. He suddenly discovered that he didn't even know what functions an Altar had.

What he understood of an Altar was roughly a village-level Temple, but Xia Duo had never even entered a Temple, let alone an Altar. His only understanding was limited to books and word-of-mouth in Savile Town.

"My Lord, building an Altar can soothe people's hearts."

The concept of soothing people's hearts was very broad; even he, as the Territory Owner, showing his face or displaying a Spell could soothe people's hearts, but what about something more specific?

Xia Duo asked again, "Besides this? Be specific."

Laidun quickly grasped Xia Duo's thoughts, "An Altar can store Holy Water."

That was it. If there was no practical use, why build an Altar specifically? Xia Duo had no prejudice against whether to build an Altar, he just had to consider the practical effect.

"What is needed to build an Altar? Can the current territory satisfy it?"

"My Lord, the Lord of Radiance is not a harsh or vain Lord, but a merciful Lord. What the carrier of the Altar is does not matter; the key is the regulation and Holy Power. At the current stage, wood will suffice."

Since it was not complicated, Xia Duo directly assigned two residents to Priest Laidun specifically for building the Altar.

After talking about the Altar, Xia Duo also had something to ask Laidun, "Have you had contact with those slaves? Can they be converted into residents?"

"My Lord, I do not suggest converting them into residents immediately," Laidun said sternly. "These people are runaway slaves, unruly and headstrong; they must be educated first!"

"..."

Xia Duo really wanted to ask Laidun, looking at the numbness in those people's eyes, where did you see them being unruly and headstrong? Xia Duo immediately realized that there were still some differences in values between himself and Laidun.

However, he was not going to convert these slaves into residents immediately either. His intention was to ask about the background of these slaves and whether there would be any hidden dangers.

Understanding the true meaning behind Xia Duo's words, Laidun did not equivocate and immediately stated the situation he had inquired about on the ship one by one.

These slaves were originally ordinary Commoners from the north, conscripted by a territory owner to mine. Later, they tried every means to escape, were caught again, and then became slaves—and the lowest level of slaves, being brutally abused in the mines.

Originally there were people from two villages, but now only these 20-plus remained. Somehow they were bought by the Silaiwen Chamber of Commerce and sent here to Xia Duo.