On the surface of the Seburing River, hundreds of merchant ships are heading south.

They are what Ellene said, the 'Hundred Merchants United Debt Collection Group' that set off from Silvermoon City.

Old John, as a low-level merchant who only owned a small grain store inherited from his family, naturally could not afford to buy a boat.

He can only be rented.

He first ruthlessly took a high-interest loan with his shop as collateral, stocked up on some specialties from the northern land of Silvermoon City, and rented a cabin in Jimmy's Grain Store.

In this way, he can use these goods to sell them in Drawing Water City to make a profit, and then use the multiplication money to wholesale the grain from Amm and bring it back to Silvermoon City to sell.

It would be great if he could redeem the 'intent to buy a house' by Minas Tirith on the way, so that he could stock up on more food.

This is also the usual operation method of the vast majority of small businessmen like him.

Affected by the 'grain price crash' in the winter of Silver Moon City, not only did they fail to make a lot of money in this food shortage crisis, but many grain merchants who continued to absorb high-priced grain were running out of bottoms.

The only good news is that after the Northland farms were trampled by orcs, the Silvermoon Federation as a whole is still short of food this year.

This means that they who are trapped by low food prices can wait for food prices to rise before slowly cutting their flesh and blood.

It's not that they don't want to join forces to push up the price again, but after the winter, the Supreme Mage Erasdra suddenly issued a decree that directly limited the number of stocks in each of their houses, and issued corresponding punishments, thus cutting off some of their thoughts.

But after all, the upper echelons still left them a little room to maneuver, otherwise I am afraid that someone will really go bankrupt.

Like John Sr.

In the eyes of those big merchants, a small grain merchant like Old John, if it weren't for the fact that his ancestor had the title of pioneer knight, had been under the care of Knight Commander Jairo, and still maintained some contact with many small nobles in Silvermoon City, maybe he would have gotten rid of himself a long time ago.

In fact, his own family knows that Old John's grain store is already on the verge of bankruptcy.

In the eyes of the vast majority of his peers, Old John, as a businessman, is absolutely unqualified, and can even be said to be a joke in the industry.

Because... He's not ruthless enough!

Even in merchant circles, merchants privately called him 'Honest John'.

The word honest is not a compliment when it is applied to a businessman.

As a broken knight family, the knights of Old John's family really don't have much to do with the nobles, and when they encounter the requests of some acquaintances, Old John will still help.

One of the most famous things is that after his friend Jones died at the hands of the orcs, he took over the other party's two children, but he didn't get a cent of the inheritance, and the shops and real estate were all divided among the side relatives.

Originally, theoretically, he could fight for these inheritances through his two children.

For this, his fierce daughter-in-law also quarreled with him.

As a result, the two precocious children of the Jones family didn't know if they were worried that he would be caught in the middle, so they secretly signed up for the immigration application of the elf merchant Levi that day, and there has been no news since then.

Because of this, Old John has always felt very guilty.

"Kevin, Anna, are you all right?"

Old John leaned on the wooden railing of the ship's gunwale, and muttered to himself in some distraction.

This is another purpose of his trip.

That's to get those two children back.

They are obviously still so young, even if they immigrate to a new territory, will they be able to take care of themselves?

At that moment, a blazing light suddenly rose from the eternal wilderness on the other side of the river, like a second sun.

At the same time, there was the desolate and painful roar.

This immediately attracted everyone's attention, and there was a lot of discussion for a while.

"What's going on? Is that magic?"

"It's unlikely, such a big movement, if it's magic, could it be legendary magic?"

"And that scream, it seems to be a troll?"

"That's why it's called the wilderness, and I also believe in his ghosts, and the elves don't have a good thing to build a new territory in this kind of place? ”

This sudden accident seems to have strengthened the businessmen's idea of withdrawing their intentions.

A few hours later, the merchants finally found an unfinished wharf on the west bank of the Seburing River.

And directly above the pier, there is also a banner fluttering in the wind, which reads:

"Minas Tirith warmly welcomes all the owners for their visits. ”

At the same time, two figures on the other side of the harbor waved for them to dock.

"......" These merchants from Silvermoon City were speechless for a moment.

Has the emotional other party already guessed that their group of people will regret it?

But that's fine, they were worried that Levi's guy would run away after picking up the money.

But even so, standing on the deck and looking out over the desolate land behind the docks, the merchants were in a state of silence.

This... Is it the so-called Minas Tirith?

Is there a more inhospitable territory than this?

And if their memory is correct, in their impression, on the schematic map of the so-called Minas Tyris Phase I, there should be at least a commercial block behind this pier that serves as a warehouse and a transit point for transactions, right?

"What about your lord, Mr. Levi, please tell me that we, the owners, want to see him. ”

After everyone disembarked, a fat man led by the merchants couldn't wait to express his wishes.

In this merchant alliance, Jimmy is also one of the leading merchants with more financial resources, and Jimmy Grain Store is only a part of their family business.

Compared to 'Honest John', 'Cunning Jimmy' is a typical mercenary businessman.

As long as there is enough profit to drive, he will do anything.

Just like the last time the Northland Farm was robbed, a large number of refugees poured into Silvermoon City in search of relief.

Jimmy sent a lot of people from the grain store to all the relief points in the city hall to line up to receive food, which led to many peers following the example, further exacerbating the shortage of grain in Silvermoon City's reserves, and indirectly pushing up the price of grain.

It can be said that if Levi hadn't intervened, Jimmy would have been one of the biggest winners in the entire Silvermoon City.

As a result, Levi's method of throwing grain and painting flatbread in Silvermoon City at that time directly led to an avalanche of continuously piled up prices in the entire Silvermoon Federation...

Because of this, the merchant group, represented by Jimmy, should have enough reason to hate Levi.

Even in Lanxing, there is a saying that 'cutting off people's financial routes, such as killing parents'.

But in business, businessmen often have a natural fear of the powerful and the more powerful merchants.

The personal reception and official recognition of the Supreme Mage 'Erastro', coupled with the high prestige of the people at the bottom of Silvermoon City, all gave Levi an aura that discouraged the merchants.

And businessmen are profit-seeking.

Therefore, when Levi, who had already shown a lot of wealth and status, threw out that territorial plan, coupled with marketing methods that had never appeared in this world before, it was not difficult to understand that these businessmen went directly to the herd effect.

Imagine a territory and a new city-state that is about to be completed, with brand-new shops and a wider resource distribution center.

Is there a better deal than this?

As a result, he was slapped in the face by the cold and cruel reality.

In the face of this fat merchant who was holding back his anger, the shield warrior Sgard and the minotaur Wren, the two 'janitors', glanced at each other, and both held back the smile in their hearts.

Still Sgard coughed lightly twice, stepped forward and bowed to everyone, and said apologetically according to the script that had already been prepared:

"First of all, on behalf of Lord Levi, I would like to express my great apologies to you, I believe you have also seen that in fact, our territory is still in the initial stage of pioneering. ”

This one, almost everyone didn't expect.

It's like someone cheated you out of a sum of money in some name, and when you go to him, the other party is full of apologies and says, "Oh, this project has just started."

The merchants were in an uproar.

"You're cheating!"

"That's it, pay back! Pay back my hard-earned money. ”

...

In the face of the excited businessmen, Scard, who had expected it, was not in a hurry, just waiting for them to quarrel with a smile.

In the end, Jimmy, who was the leader, motioned for everyone to be silent, holding back his anger, but asked with a hint of hope:

"And what do you lords mean, and give us back the money now?"

"We don't have any money. ”

Sgard spread his hands in the almost murderous gaze of the merchants and said bluntly: "To be exact, the cash in our territory is not enough to return to all of you. ”

Without waiting for them to ask, Sgard said, "So our lords, I would like to invite you to our camp to have a look, and take a look, maybe you have suddenly changed your mind after seeing the potential of our territory." ”

Hearing this, a group of businessmen rolled their eyes.

The heart said that you have already said that this territory is still in the pioneering stage, and it will take until it is built? How long will it take? 20 years, 30 years, or 50 years?

By that time, their bones might have turned to ashes.

And where is a city-state said to be built?

If it weren't for the fortunate support of the Nether Scrolls and Elves, it is not known whether the fishing village of Nether would have been able to make a fortune.

Scard, who had long expected the other party's reaction, continued:

"Our lord said, first invite you to our territory to have a look, if in the end it is not satisfactory, we will pay in strict accordance with the contract. ”

"You don't even have enough money, how can you pay it?" one merchant finally snarled.

Sgard smiled and said, "No money, we still have the goods." ”

"Grain, fathead, jerky?" Jimmy was the first to wake up, and so did the merchants behind him.

If it were like using the grain that Levi had taken out in Silvermoon City, as long as the price was pressed to a certain level, they would still have some money.

"You'll find out for yourselves, and you'll be satisfied. Sgard laughed.

.....

More than an hour later, a group of merchants from Silvermoon looked at the camp, which was still a tent, and was silent again.

"It's really a pioneering state!"

Even if he is as honest as John, looking at the foundation that is still a flat land, and the bare cliff, and then compare it with the majestic white city of Minas Tirith in the impression diagram...

The contrast is really not ordinary.

But to his surprise, the camp here was much better than he expected, with rows and columns neatly arranged, and there was not even any peculiar smell.

John Sr. observed that they also seemed to have special public toilets, canteens, and bathhouses.

In the north, at the pass closest to the Griffin Mountains and the Seblin River, a majestic wall of nearly two kilometers long has even been built.

This is also the only place that impresses the merchants of Silvermoon City.

As long as this wall is in place, it can at least be guaranteed that Minas Tirith will have even more reliable protection than Silvermoon City in the face of the orc invasion from the south.

However, the premise is that this small territory with a population of only about 20,000 can assemble an army that can face the orcs directly.

But on this point, John Sr. was pessimistic.

Silvermoon City has been developing for hundreds of years, and when facing the orcs, it is still in a state of being tired of being beaten passively, and it seems that it is not so easy to block the orcs by relying on a wall alone.

And this is also the common idea of the vast majority of businessmen.

Therefore, after visiting this so-called 'new city', even the businessmen who originally had some ideas did not want to be lucky.

What relieved them a little was that although the little lord of Levi's still didn't show up, as if he had known that they were coming to collect debts, he had already mobilized the people of the entire territory, and set up a street stall outside the camp...

The most eye-catching of these are the mountains of hides from the gnolls and the boxes of weapons and armor from the gray dwarf vendors.

At the stalls of the other lords, they made their own handicrafts in response to the call of the lord this winter, the skins they hunted in the Griffon Mountains, and the homemade jerky.

And the rules for their repayment are simple:

Just what you see on this shopping street, what do you want?

Then just record the account directly on their 'intent to buy money' application form, and terminate the contract on the spot after the deduction is deducted.

Such novel compensation rules and abundant materials finally made the originally angry merchants smile.

If there is money to be made, naturally everyone is good.

Old John also smiled, he bought five 'intention application forms' half a year ago, if all of them are exchanged for materials here, he should be able to make a small profit of more than 30%.

But just as he had just spent four of his shares to clear the last one, he suddenly discovered that there were stalls selling magic items on this block!

Even though most of them are magic items at the most beginner level, they are still magic items.

And what made him even more incredible was that the owner of this stall... He felt familiar...

"Kevin, Anna, is that you?" said old John, looking at the brother and sister with some incredulity.

"Uncle John?" Little Anna, who was wearing a witch's hat, was selling her proud work to other merchants, and when she heard this, she looked up and saw John's face full of vicissitudes, and she also said with surprise on her face.

"Oh my God! Lady Woking, I've finally found you. ”

Old John tearfully embraced the two poor children into his arms.

It's just that Kevin and Anna looked at each other, a little embarrassed.

They always felt that Uncle John's imagination was very different from reality.

They don't feel pitiful, on the contrary, they are living a full life now, and it can even be said that... Very moisturizing.

After some talking, Old John only felt that his three views had collapsed...

Pointing at Anna incredulously, "You actually became a magician?"

Little Anna shrugged her shoulders innocently and said, "Well, as you can see." ”

"Then can you give your uncle a discount?" old John squeezed his eyes.

"......" Kevin and Anna.

They never expected that the other party's first reaction would be this...

It's just that after Old John took out the only remaining intention application form, his eyes lit up slightly, and he wanted him to redeem the whole for himself, but after thinking about it, he still reminded in a kind whisper:

"Uncle John, if you are not in such a hurry for a while, I suggest you keep it and don't tell anyone else. ”

She still remembers the urgent message that Teacher Fischer sent her in the morning:

"Little Anna, go to my warehouse and take out all the failed, a batch of fat sheep is coming to camp soon!

"Remember! overcharge their 'intent to buy' application form!

"Whether our family can get rich overnight depends on this time!!"