21st Century Archmage

“Theyre not here yet?”

“Yes. They said they would come soon, but they have yet to arrive.”

‘Are their internal affairs still complicated?

Wyverns, prisoners, and weapons, all things a kingdom could not operate without, were in my territory, but the Havis Kingdom could not even think of retrieving them. It seems the kingdom hasnt been sorted out yet. Otherwise, there was no way they would neglect their wyverns like this.

‘I hope its nothing serious…

After returning to my office, Derval reported on various things. I hadnt left my seat for long, but there was already a mountain of things to handle.

“Shall I contact them again, sir?”

“No, leave it.”

Rosiathe was no idiot. Rather, I could tell how brilliant she was from the rumors I had overheard regarding her brisk cleansing of the nobles.

“How is the coal mining going?”

“The first harvest has been completed. It is being distributed to nearby areas first.”

“Were there any problems?”

“Thanks to the hardworking slaves and soldiers, everything is proceeding as planned. And because they have been using the Kyre Road, the distribution has been proceeding swiftly as well.”

‘But Ill need to return the slaves soon…

I couldnt enslave Temir while bearing the title of Great Guardian Warrior, the 2nd in command of the Temir folk.

“How about the acquisition of slaves?”

“Slave merchants are not very active during the winter. The slaves, who are treated as products, can be injured or perish, so during particular seasons, they do not get involved in wars or territory affairs.”

‘Thats regrettable.

I could also mobilize citizens, but there were many other things they needed to do. On this large, large territory, farming was the greatest boost they could offer to the territory.

“After some consideration, I arrived at this conclusion: what about contacting the Havis Kingdom?”

“Havis?”

“It is said that the recent extensive purging of nobles has created a tremendous number of slaves. Even the families of knights and soldiers who had connections to noble houses or participated in previous acts of noble exploitation were turned into slaves, resulting in tens of thousands of slaves. Despite that, I heard that the slave merchants have not moved, as if they decided in unison to not get involved.”

“Dont major merchant groups also deal with slaves?”

“Yes. Other than the Rubis Merchants, all other merchant groups deal with slaves, but they are not buying the slaves, as if they all agreed to not do so. They have been using the season as an excuse, but I believe they are waiting in order to drive down the prices.”

“Hooh, is that so?”

I didnt really like the origins of the slaves, but if need be, we could simply sell and get new ones. Also, some of them were bound to be men and women of talent.