Chapter 61: 61 Spending Money Like Water

Chapter 61: Profligate Spending

Before long, Garen and Tom, having purchased the wrought iron, arrived at the tavern to meet up as agreed.

According to their account, they had visited several iron ore trading shops and, after a round of comparisons and bargaining, purchased two thousand pounds of wrought iron at forty copper coins per pound, spending a total of eighty gold coins.

The quality of these two thousand pounds of wrought iron was lower-middle, hardly anything of premium grade, but it was fully sufficient for forging certain tools used in production and daily life, such as plowshares.

Roning looked at the few pieces of wrought iron Tom had brought over; begging forgiveness for his untrained eye, he could not distinguish the good quality from the bad.

"Well done!"

Roning took the remaining twenty gold coins from Garen's hand and praised the two men.

Carrying so many gold coins and then spending so many gold coins was a first in their lives; that they could handle this matter properly showed they possessed some measure of ability.

Unlike some useless fellows who would not even dare to buy anything with money in their hands.

Having settled so many matters in a single morning, Roning was in a good mood.

He called over the attendant to begin serving the dishes, while letting Garen arrange lunch for the several guards watching over the carriage.

While dining, Roning casually introduced Rhyddarch, describing him as a wandering knight he had met by chance, who had now joined Mountain Wood Town and sworn fealty to him.

Garen had no concrete understanding of a peak-stage advanced knight, but Tom was different.

As a novice knight, he knew deeply the formidable strength of a peak-stage advanced knight.

That was not even the key point; previously, the Lord had relied on strategy to deceive Knight Philidun of the Saen Fief, leaving the opponent too wary to act rashly.

But now, with a genuine, bona fide peak-stage advanced knight at Lord Roning's side, there would likely be no need to worry so much about the Saen Fief in the future.

During this period, he had personally felt Roning's distinct uniqueness and increasingly felt he had followed the right master; perhaps in the future, he truly could rise above the rest and restore the glory of his ancestors!

After finishing lunch, Roning led the caravan to begin moving among the various shops and stalls for household utensils.

He wanted to open an ironwood workshop, which required purchasing axes, iron saws, and woodcutting knives;

He needed to continue reclaiming wasteland, so hoes and shovels were also indispensable; seeing the serfs using tools made of stone made his eyes ache with discomfort.

Spending an entire afternoon, Roning compared several shops and finally bought all the tools.

Among them were twenty axes, twenty iron saws, and twenty woodcutting knives, as well as four hundred hoes and four hundred shovels; even after several rounds of haggling, it still cost one hundred and seventy-two gold, seven silver, and sixty copper coins.

The axes, iron saws, and woodcutting knives were prepared for the ironwood workshop, and considering tool wear and tear, twenty of each was not many;

As for the total of eight hundred hoes and shovels, he intended to distribute them evenly according to the villages.

It was plain to see that these tools were still far from enough to provide one for every serf, but for Roning to invest so much money at one time was already a massive undertaking.

Up to this point, he had already spent over nine hundred gold coins on this visit to Horse-Pasture City!

A baron of a impoverished, remote mountain forest being able to spend gold so profligately; if word of this got out, fearfully no one would dare believe it.

Roning now had only two hundred and eighty-one gold coins left in hand; even after setting aside a year's salary for everyone, he still had a surplus of several dozen gold coins.

He remembered when he had first crossed over, penniless and destitute with absolutely nothing, needing to sponge a bit here and deceive a bit there just to arrive safely at Mountain Wood Town.

But it was different now; Roning already possessed channels and plans to make money, just like a peasant with grain at home, no longer panicking.

After purchasing all kinds of goods, most of Roning's plans in Horse-Pasture City had been completed, leaving only one final matter left undone, which was to head to the slave market to inquire about the slave trade.

The sale and trade of slaves was permitted in this world; fundamentally, every city, and even the manors of certain knights, possessed slave exchanges.

Here, as long as you were a freeman and could afford the price, you could legally possess a slave that belonged entirely to you, and could exercise all the rights belonging to a master over that slave.

To a certain extent, slaves held a lower status than even the serfs in the territory.

As a transmigrator, Roning's understanding of slavery was confined only to books; never having seen the true life and experiences of slaves with his own eyes, he could not empathize.

Perhaps civilization told him that slavery was unacceptable, but it was the same old saying: at present, he could change nothing.

Since it could not be changed, he would follow the local customs and utilize this system to elevate himself.

Currently, the total population of Mountain Wood Town had only just passed two thousand, quite a large gap compared to a normal barony which usually had a population of over ten thousand.

Relying on attracting freemen to join or depending on the people within the territory to give birth to expand the population was a method that was a bit too slow.

If he wanted the territory's population to grow rapidly in a short time, he could only use money to buy it.

Furthermore, for Roning, if he could buy a thousand people at one time, he could also complete a population achievement and strengthen his own power.

This was a good thing that killed several birds with one stone.

Taking advantage of the fact that the sky was not yet dark, Roning inquired about the location of the slave exchange and rushed over with his team early the next morning.

In order to control and domesticate the slaves, the exchanges were mostly set up on the outskirts of the urban areas, and some would even be established within the manor of a certain knight.

Roning sat astride his horse, looking at the slave market before him somewhat lost in thought.

He had originally thought the exchange would be a large courtyard, then some cages to lock the slaves inside.

But the exchange before him, resembling a small castle, clearly exceeded his expectations.

The high walls built of stone and mud were covered with sharp spikes; though not as sturdy as the city walls of a noble's castle, they were fully enough to make those inside dare not scale the wall to escape.

In addition, the four corners of the high walls featured tall watchtowers built of wood, each equipped with dedicated lookouts; once a situation was discovered, these lookouts would report it immediately.

Furthermore, there was a squad patrolling back and forth around the high walls, and four men were stationed at the main gate of the exchange to guard it, ensuring absolutely nothing went wrong.

When the guards saw a troop of horses and men walking toward the exchange, they instantly became alert.

However, coming over so openly like this, there was a very high probability they were customers, so they did not display any hostility either.

Just as Roning and his men arrived outside the exchange, a middle-aged man rushed out from inside the main gate; with a smile plastered across his face, he trotted to the front of Roning's horse, offering his respects and greetings.

"Good day, my lords, I am the manager for the 'Viper Exchange' here in Horse-Pasture City, you may call me Anthony!"

Anthony took just one glance to know roughly that this group of people was headed by the young man before him, and this young man happened to bear a signature head of silver hair; he immediately thought of a certain person.

As a manager who dealt with the outside world year-round, Anthony's eyesight was not a whit inferior to that of Hook from the Silva Magic Chamber of Commerce.

It was just that this was not a trading district, nor was the slave market an ordinary chamber of commerce, so even if he guessed Roning's identity, he would not actively point it out when the latter did not take the initiative to clarify it.

"Hello, Anthony. I want to see the slaves you have here."

Roning, sitting astride his horse, stated the purpose of this trip. "If there are suitable ones, I will take a batch."

Anthony's ears twitched; he noticed Roning said a batch, not just one.

This was a big customer!

Consequently, every inch of flesh on this manager's face exuded a flattering smile. "Rest assured, my lord, no matter what kind of goods you need, our Viper Slave Exchange will provide them for you!"

Roning dismounted his horse and handed the steed over to Garen's care. "Let's go, take me to tour your slave market."