Chapter 117: The Surrendered Men's Sale Transaction

While the Dwarves were meticulously setting up the evening sale in the inn's backyard, nearly twenty surrendered Defeated Soldiers were being inspected by several Stewards and Shop Assistants from the Golden Sickle Merchant Guild in the inn's lobby.

Because they were all male, they were required to strip off their clothes on the spot so that any wounds or other obvious skin diseases and physical disabilities could be checked. At the same time, their teeth were examined to see if they could eat properly.

Because Jier had mentioned in advance that these men were former soldiers, the Merchant Guild staff also brought some test items to let these surrendered soldiers test their proficiency on the spot.

Heavy objects were lifted one by one by the tall and sturdy surrendered soldiers, and then, holding non-sharp Wooden Swords, they were required to spar a couple of times with a Shop Assistant from the Merchant Guild on site.

The Shop Assistant selected as the standard had also undergone a certain amount of martial arts training and was not a simple, unskilled opponent; he was also young and strong, but compared to these surrendered soldiers, he failed to win a single match.

The difference in their momentum was simply too great.

Although the Defeated Soldiers were often no match when facing Jier and the Warriors under Jier's command, they held an absolute crushing advantage when facing this kind of Shop Assistant who had never killed anyone.

They would let out a roar and charge straight forward, often causing the opposing Shop Assistant to tremble in fear, resulting in his weapon being knocked away with a 'clatter'.

Or they would be kicked over, clutching their stomachs and unable to get up.

This made a mid-level Steward of the Golden Sickle Merchant Guild look displeased, but when he looked at the Defeated Soldiers who had struck the blows, he nodded with satisfaction: "Not bad, not bad."

It was unclear what exactly he found "not bad" in his mouth.

Jier walked down from upstairs at this moment, listened to the whispered report from Aoni, who had been leading the men to watch over the surrendered soldiers, and then stepped forward to say to the Merchant Guild Steward in charge of the inspection: "How is it? If these guys hadn't been defeated and captured by me, they wouldn't be ordinary Warriors. They are soldiers; they have proficiency in individual combat, and their combat effectiveness is even stronger when gathered together. Besides, they are also skilled in the use of other weapons."

In order to sell these surrendered soldiers at a higher price, Jier waved his hand, letting Aoni hand over some weapons and equipment from his companions to the Defeated Soldiers.

If Jier were not present, no one would dare to hand weapons to these surrendered soldiers like this, but since he was on the scene now, these surrendered soldiers, who had witnessed Jier's terrifying strength, remained perfectly obedient.

To tell the truth, they had also discussed it privately over the past two days; although being illegally sold in this so-called Duoen Town to become legal slaves known as 'debtors' was extremely humiliating, compared to Jier handing them over to the Lord of Sasi County or the villagers of Changmai Village, the result was already much better.

After all, if they fell into the hands of the Changmai Village villagers they had once oppressed, they would only face endless humiliation and beatings, and it was estimated that they wouldn't survive being tortured for a month.

And if they were handed over by Knight Jier to the Lord of Sasi County for punishment, they would most likely have their right hands chopped off and then be sent to the mines for imprisonment. Doing heavy manual labor in the mines and having to rely on that labor to exchange for food for survival—it was hard to say how long they could live; many had heard that in similar mines, a normal person could not live for more than two years.

But here, they tacitly agreed, it was much better than the worst-case scenario they had imagined. Especially since they were still being tested for combat ability, there was a possibility they would still be treated as a combat unit afterward.

Although there was combat and danger to their lives, they had already disregarded that; the risks of combat meant nothing to these soldiers, but they could not accept being humiliated and oppressed.

Therefore, the soldiers brought out all their strength, swearing to prove their value in front of the Merchant Guild Steward who was buying them. The higher their value, the better their treatment would obviously be afterward.

"Hah!"

A surrendered soldier held a sword and Shield, stepped forward, and swung his sword, letting out a loud roar while swinging to build momentum. After the swing, the Shield in his left hand made a timely blocking motion to protect himself.

The Steward of the Golden Sickle Merchant Guild watched with eyes shining; although he did not understand much about combat, he had seen the training of the town guards. That sloppy, uncoordinated training scene was worlds apart compared to the agile and sharp movements of the surrendered soldier in front of him.

Jier stood next to this Steward and whispered to explain the reasoning behind it: "Take note, these soldiers were previously equipped with metal Armor for soldiers, and their combat style is based on the premise of being protected by Armor. I don't care what you use these people for later, but at the very least, you must prepare a set of Plate Armor for each of them to bring out their combat effectiveness at a basic level."

Seeing the Steward looking troubled, Jier shrugged: "This shouldn't be difficult, right? If there is no stock of twenty sets of Metal Armor Plates or plate armor, then preparing Ring Mail made of metal rings, plus Armor made of hardened Leather Armor, shouldn't be that hard, right? Given the resources of Duoen Town, it's just a simple matter of how much money you spend."

"Well, Knight Jier, this still needs to be discussed with the people from the Burning Furnace Merchant Guild. But their Merchant Guild has been very busy lately, and it's unlikely they can spare the time and manpower to prepare equipment for these soldiers."

Jier spread his hands: "Then that is your own problem. I need you to know that their combat potential is very high; once properly equipped, they are a small, unstoppable combat unit, and wiping out some Bandits is even more effortless. But whether you can bring that out later is your business, and for now, their selling price cannot be low. At least it cannot be lower than this number."

He gestured a number with his hands, and the Merchant Guild Steward looked troubled: "My lord, isn't this price a bit high? It could equal the price of five young men."

Jier looked as if it were a matter of course: "But once armed, they can easily defeat five people. You don't calculate the account that way; you have to look at the final performance effect. I know some of the difficulties you have encountered here recently; wanting to solve those new troubles is not something that can be simply solved by a few 'debtors' holding an Iron Sword or a Long Spear."

He pointed to the surrendered soldiers who were demonstrating archery skills in the inn's lobby: "But they can. Buy them, then arm them and throw them into the suppression battles you need them for, and they will let you know that your money was spent very worthily!"

"My lord, you should be the one joining the Merchant Guild; I guarantee that with your eloquence, you wouldn't need two years to have a higher position than me." The Steward shook his head with a wry smile.

"Don't laugh, just tell me, do you want them or not?" Jier gestured the price he had given.

The Merchant Guild Steward gestured a price of his own, and Jier shook his head: "Too low, I only accept my price."

The Merchant Guild Steward was helpless and raised the offered price a little.

Jier still shook his head: "You are so insincere, you are making me look down on the Golden Sickle Merchant Guild."

"Lord Jier, this is a big deal after all. There are more than ten of them; if I buy them at the price you gave, this is not a small sum!" the Steward argued.

Jier snorted: "Is it more than the money 'Skinny Aolier' messed up and lost for me?"

With a 'pfft', the Steward, who was about thirty years old, couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Jier glared fiercely at the man, and the Steward forced himself to stop laughing.

"It seems that people in the town's merchant circle have basically heard about this?" Jier's expression was very ugly. Although the person who messed up was the Senior Steward Deripari of the Wealth Fruit Merchant Guild and had no direct relationship with him, it made it seem as if he were the stupidest guy in that incident.

But who told him to entrust the entire matter of collecting the bounty for Mountain Wolf Bani to that unreliable guy last time?

Not only did he lose a large sum of money that he should have received, but he also became part of the joke.

Although it wouldn't be the biggest one.

"You just laughed, right? If you laughed, you have to buy these surrendered soldiers at the price I gave." Jier said bullyingly.

The Merchant Guild Steward didn't fall for it either; he waved his hand to apologize and said: "Knight Jier, I can only increase the price by five Silver Coins because of my mistake just now; I cannot go any higher."

Jier looked at the price offered by the other party: a healthy and skilled surrendered soldier could be sold for twelve Gold Coins and five Silver Coins. Although it was a little less than the best price of fifteen Gold Coins Jier had expected, the gap was not that big.

"That's it then, take the people away, I'll go with you to collect the money."

Because the value of this transaction was not small—nineteen people, twelve and a half Gold Coins each—the total value reached as much as two hundred thirty-seven Gold Coins and five Silver Coins.

This money, just packed in bags, would take three large money bags to hold; naturally, it was impossible for the Merchant Guild staff to carry it with them, so they could only go to the Golden Sickle Merchant Guild's station to collect the money.

Jier called a few Warriors to follow him, while the others dispersed to rest; the dozen or so surrendered soldiers had their hands tied with Rope, strung together in a line, and were led on foot to the nearby Merchant Guild station.

The Jinbi Dingdang Inn was close to the central area of Duoen Town, so it was not far from there to the Golden Sickle Merchant Guild's station; it was just a few steps away.

The architectural style of the Golden Sickle Merchant Guild was different from other merchant guilds; overall, it was very low and sturdy, as if the design of the building came from the hands of a Dwarf Architect. But in reality, Dwarves actually liked tall buildings, which was somewhat different from the general impression people had.

After actually getting to know Dwarves, Jier realized that many impressions of Dwarves were just stereotypes passed down by word of mouth.

For example, Dwarves liked bright and natural colors because they lived in underground environments for a long time; therefore, the interior decoration of underground buildings was not only tall but also brightly colored, striving to make the underground residents not realize they were in an underground environment.

Therefore, the low and thick Merchant Guild building in front of Jier was actually impossible to have been designed by a Dwarf.

The Golden Sickle Merchant Guild was large in scale and naturally did all kinds of commercial trade, but in this place of Duoen Town, it was mainly responsible for debtor affairs and the management and planting of economic crops around the town.

At the same time, it also operated many entertainment activities in the town, including the underground Gladiator Arena that Jier had visited last time.

Therefore, there were scattered Shop Assistants at the front and side gates of the Merchant Guild at all times, bringing in and out some debtors who were dressed simply and looked timid.

Some guys who had been demoted to debtors for breaking the law had their feet tied with sturdy Ropes and wore shackles on their hands. Seeing this scene, the surrendered soldiers, who had been obedient all along, became somewhat restless; they discussed in low voices this kind of severe restriction on personal freedom.

"Quiet!" Jier turned around and scolded them, and the surrendered soldiers immediately became quiet.

Jier whispered to the Merchant Guild Steward accompanying him, "I suggest that if you intend to put them into battle rather than using them as common laborers toiling in the fields, do not use such methods that restrict their physical movement."

The Steward looked troubled: "Then how should we manage and control them?"

Jier offered an idea: "Then keep them confined to a closed space in their daily lives; instead of placing movement-restricting devices on them personally, you can limit their overall range of activity."

"This..." The Merchant Guild Steward was somewhat troubled; what Jier said was easy, but such a place was not easy to find.

But Jier provided a solution: "The Gladiator Arena I saw last time is quite suitable. It is a closed structure with a suitable interior space, and at the same time, the Gladiator Arena's venue can allow them to conduct combat training normally. Ha, you could even occasionally throw in some wild beasts or Monsters to keep these Soldiers' combat effectiveness and killing skills sharp."

"Or perhaps treat this killing as a performance and sell tickets to watch it?" Inside the Merchant Guild's hall, an old man with graying hair, dressed in sharp, formal attire, was waiting for Jier and the others; he suddenly spoke up, drawing Jier's attention.

Vels-Bantolisa was the person in charge of the Golden Sickle Merchant Guild in Duoen Town, a Senior Steward of the Merchant Guild.

The Merchant Guild Steward and Shop Assistant following Jier immediately bowed in salute upon seeing this old man, and the Steward even trotted forward to inform Mr. Bantuolisa about the transaction details of these surrendered Soldiers.

The old man glanced at the Soldiers who were following obediently behind Jier and nodded with satisfaction.

Unlike the mid-level Merchant Guild Steward, this decision-maker for Duoen Town truly understood how much external pressure the town had been under during this period. Do not be fooled by the town still appearing to go about its normal days; in reality, the pressure from newly emerged Bandit Groups in the surrounding areas had been constantly increasing and manifesting in various inconspicuous places.

For example, the Caravan trade heavily invested in by Mr. "Aolier the Withered" suffered heavy losses because it was robbed by several Bandit Groups acting in concert. It was not just the compensation for the hired Caravan guards, but also the settlement and compensation for the families of the deceased Merchant Guild Shop Assistants, as well as the loss of goods—all of which were massive losses.

But in fact, even more serious was the loss of trade confidence.

Duoen Town is situated at a key transportation hub; heading northeast leads to Monta Valley City, heading southwest leads to Borisfa City, and heading due east leads to the Province Capital region, the Earl's direct territory.

Not to mention the west, where White Stone Pass and the prosperous Mengtuoka City are not far away, while to the southwest of Mengtuoka City lies the main trade route of a neighboring country.

Therefore, the main income of Duoen Town is commercial trade; whether it is collecting customs duties on passing goods or providing supplies and rest for passing Caravans, it is a long-term business.

And those Bandits eyeing Duoen Town were seriously endangering the town's very existence!

To say so much is just to say that this batch of capturable Soldiers was very important to Duoen Town, and Mr. Bantuolisa would not allow any problems to occur with this transaction.

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