Chapter 52: Trade Procurement
2015-02-07
Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)
The room felt a bit stuffy.
Soren stood up after looking at the nautical chart for a while and opened the window to let in some cold air.
Finding suitable development points is not an easy task because many large guilds with tens of thousands of members failed in their attempts to expand overseas. These were all professionalists, and because they reincarnate only after dying three times in the River of Underworld, they are psychologically less afraid of death compared to the storyline’s indigenous people, yet many still failed.
One can imagine just how difficult overseas expansion is!
This difficulty is only one aspect, as Soren doesn’t only want to develop overseas, but also to take this opportunity to strengthen his forces in preparation for the coming Saint’s Cataclysm. Therefore, the geographical location he chooses becomes even more special; it must deliberately avoid large groups of indigenous people while also being outside the influence of the Amazons. Otherwise, these two powerful forces would not allow him to rise, and even having the identity of one of the three pirate kings would not be of much use, because pirates cannot defeat armies on land.
The biting cold wind blew for a while.
Soren waved his hand to signal, and a maid brought in a basin of clean water. He washed his face and moved around a bit before continuing to observe the nautical chart, marking the locations in his memory where towns and harbors were successfully established to withstand attacks from indigenous people. These places all have inherent advantages, and among them, one or two spots even have mineral advantages. Although Soren did not have long-term activities overseas back then, he still remembers the locations where towns were successfully established quite vividly.
“Here!… Here!… And here!…”
Soren took up a quill and made some notations, marking seven or eight locations on the nautical chart, mostly along the coastline. Many of the positions are rather remote. Don’t underestimate the nautical chart in his hands; its value is astonishing. This world lacks satellite positioning, and nautical charts are painstakingly explored and drawn by hand. Maybe for Soren, as one of the newly appointed pirate kings, this nautical chart is just a matter of commands, but for others—especially those maritime traders—this nautical chart is worth its weight in gold!
It depicts the terrain of the bay islands, as well as various safe shipping routes.
It also records the pirates’ exploration of deep sea areas over the centuries and the distribution of dangerous creatures in nearby waters, while also noting the activity areas of some intelligent marine creatures.
One could say that this nautical chart would sell for at least five thousand Gind to any trader willing to buy!
Naturally, Soren would not sell it.
In this era, information is incredible wealth, and he wants to monopolize the benefits of the overseas islands. How could he allow others to interfere with his exploration? Currently, all overseas trade along the southern coast is conducted with the Amazon region, trading with those Amazon women, giving them only about three times the profit. However, if trade could be established with the indigenous people, the profit could reach five or even ten times, with even some simple trinkets potentially exchanged for gold from the indigenous people.
Knock knock!
A light knock sounded. The person outside seemed cautious, knowing Soren was pondering something important and was somewhat afraid of interrupting his train of thought.
“Come in.”
Soren put down the quill and turned to see, “How goes the task?”
A rugged man with a scarred face entered. He had one scar on his cheek, one on his forehead, and another on his chin. Just one glance made it apparent that this guy looked fierce and appeared to have a lot of combat experience. His nickname was “Scarface,” and he participated in the battle where Soren killed the Swamp King. He is now a pirate leader promoted afterward, commanding a large ship and two small ones, recruiting about seventy to eighty crew members.
Soren is currently expanding his pirate forces!
He has gathered various gang members and has now amassed nearly fifteen hundred pirates under his command, with about five to six hundred directly taking orders from him. This world cannot just mobilize thousands of people; ordinary civilians are not of much use. The subordinates Soren recruits are at least those who have undergone over five years of militia training. Even the weakest among them can barehandedly take down three ordinary adult men.
As for high-level professionists, it’s best not to expect too much.
In this world, high-level professionists are the managers of a faction, at the very least, they are small leaders. Under Soren, there are only two level four professionists; the rest have a highest profession level of twelve, which is about level three strength. He has yet to recruit any spellcasters, as wizards are usually too aloof, and it’s difficult to even meet one, so Soren hasn’t had high hopes on that front. Spellcasters have many ways to make money and generally do not ally with pirate factions because being a pirate is too dangerous.
“My lord.”
Scarface cautiously handed over a stack of scrolls and said in a deep voice, “I specifically went to the City of Wealth to find the Arcane shop as per your instructions. There are a total of twenty-seven magic scrolls, and the wizard in the shop said that since you needed so many at once, they could give a discount. It cost a total of 26,500 Gind.”
With that, Scarface wiped the sweat off his forehead and continued, “The shipment from Snake Island has already been sold. Those cunning merchants, out of reverence for your reputation, were willing to raise the purchase price, buying at fifty percent of the market price. Therefore, we also brought back 21,500 Gind this time.”
He carefully handed over a list and couldn’t help but swallow hard.
That is quite a bit of money.
Twenty Gind weighs one pound, so twenty thousand Gind equal one thousand pounds of gold.
He had never seen such a large sum before; if not for his respect and fear of Soren’s ruthlessness, he might have thought of secretly keeping a part for himself. However, this thought only appeared briefly before he abandoned it because Soren is now one of the three pirate kings, and he believes that serving under Soren brings greater prospects, so there’s no need to lower his standing in his lord’s eyes. Last time, someone secretly embezzled goods and was hung from the mast upon Soren’s discovery.
“Very good.”
Soren picked up the list to have a look and then glanced at the skinny man behind Scarface, who slightly shook his head, prompting a smile from Soren as he said, “You did well! Take someone to collect 500 Gind as a reward for you. Go out and have some fun and relax. We will set sail soon!”
Of course, he wouldn’t let these subordinates run amok, as each captain has his own informants.
If Soren develops overseas, his connection to the continent will inevitably weaken, so he needs to prepare many things, including the spell scrolls he will need to study in the future. These things are incredibly expensive, often a few hundred Gind for a single scroll, and high-level spell scrolls above five rings can sometimes cost seven or eight thousand Gind each. Although Soren has become wealthy, he isn’t rich enough to buy anything he wants; being able to allocate around thirty thousand Gind for purchasing spell scrolls is already not easy.
Unless he completely gives up the situation on the southern coast, he must allocate funds to maintain it.
These spell scrolls will be useful for some time!
Soren temporarily does not have the energy to replace any extraordinary equipment, as such items are too rare and expensive. Because he needs to cast spells, he doesn’t even wear leather armor anymore, and his equipment demand is mainly focused on the most valuable rings, jewelry, and belts. Such gear often costs thousands or even tens of thousands of Gind, and buying it is very challenging; he currently has neither the money nor the time.
You need not worry about money running out!
This is still the coastal area. If he goes to the city of wizards, just picking any wizard off the street would cost tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand in value, and those slightly more impressive wizards would be worth hundreds of thousands. If he freely purchases in the wizard city, even with a million Gind, he could spend it all in no time! [Wizard Tower: One.]
Naturally, Soren does not yet have the capability to spend in the wizard city and has not thought of buying those staggering legendary items.
………………
Scarface displayed a hint of surprise upon hearing Soren’s reward. Although 500 Gind is not much, it is a small fortune for him. He could easily spend a couple of hundred Gind to indulge his subordinates and then take two or three hundred Gind for himself. In the pirate trade, the boss eats meat while the lackeys drink soup; the underlings live in drunken excess as long as they have wine, meat, and a little money for women.
He nodded respectfully and then prepared to turn to leave.
Soren put down the account ledger and glanced at the map. Furrowing his brow, he said, “Wait, go see One-Eyed Jack and ask him why the batch of finely crafted military weapons I need hasn’t been delivered yet?”
“Make sure he delivers within three days, or throw him to the sharks!”
Upon hearing this, Scarface halted his steps, turned back with a fierce grin, and licked his lips, saying, “Rest assured, my lord! I’ll head over immediately to ensure that batch of weapons arrives within three days.”
Soren nodded in satisfaction and waved, saying, “Very well, go on.”
“Yes,” Scarface nodded respectfully.
The strength of Soren’s pirates is still somewhat weak. Many pirates have decent combat experience and fight bravely, but they still lack some accumulation. It’s necessary to rely on equipment to enhance their combat power.
This batch of finely crafted military weapons is very important!
……………… (To be continued ~^~)
