Chương 143: Extracting Residual Value from Captives 2

The moment value was brought up, the old man Fendis raised his chin high, looking exceedingly proud of himself. This left Li Qinwu utterly bewildered. You're a prisoner of war, what on earth are you acting so arrogant about? He turned his head toward Miss Hannah, who quickly explained, "Your Majesty, the Mage Guild has a standardized procedure for ransoming mages. Based on the captive's title and official post, there is a well-established formula that calculates to roughly..."

"351 high-purity mana cores! Young lady, why are you wasting your breath explaining the ransom formula to this monster? As if he could even comprehend it!" Fendis cut Miss Hannah off, glaring down at Li Qinwu with an air of supreme arrogance.

"Goblin, go find any Mage Guild facility or local lord, and you can demand 351 high-purity mana cores in exchange for me. But does a creature like you even know what a mana core is used for?" Li Qinwu actually did know. Having Miss Hannah constantly by his side meant she had educated him on such matters long ago. Those things were essentially rechargeable energy storage devices, serving as a currency even more universally accepted than gold.

Mana cores were categorized into three tiers based on purity and mana capacity, with high-purity mana cores holding the highest value—each equivalent to more than 20 gold coins. Their primary function was replenishing a mage's mana, though they were also used to power array runes engraved upon magical items. In short, the price tag on this little old man was roughly equal to 7, 000 gold coins—a truly staggering sum of wealth. Li Qinwu nodded in satisfaction.

"Very good, old man. You are indeed valuable. Since that's the case, your life is spared. Guards, take him away!" The soldiers immediately escorted Fendis out of the hall. Fendis maintained his high-and-mighty demeanor, an arrogance born of the backing of the powerful Mage Guild. Even as a captive, he felt no fear whatsoever, confident that the Guild's institutional system would pay whatever price was required to ransom him back. It was a sense of superiority rooted entirely in his establishment backing!

Li Qinwu tracked the old man's retreating figure with a look of pure intrigue. Since these mages were worth so much money, shouldn't he train a specialized unit in the future specifically tasked with capturing mages to trade them for cash? Next, the third group was brought into the hall: a collection of nobles led by Earl Fisher. The old bastard Earl Fisher was in an appalling state. Having lost a leg, he required the support of his retainers just to remain standing, looking utterly frail and half-dead.

Fearing the old geezer might kick the bucket before he could wring out his final bit of value, Li Qinwu instructed a soldier to bring over a bench so the man could sit while they talked. Before Li Qinwu could even open his mouth, Earl Fisher began shouting at the top of his lungs.

"You damned monsters! You filthy invaders! If my eldest son hadn't led our main army away to the northern front, every last one of you wretched creatures would have perished beneath the walls of Poloya!" Li Qinwu curled his lip in disdain.

"Old man, get your facts straight. Your forces invaded the Alliance's territory first, and we merely counterattacked. It's called a counteroffensive in self-defense, got it?" Earl Fisher clearly did not get it; his withered face was filled with utter astonishment.

"What nonsense are you spewing?! Slaughtering you monsters is a matter of absolute natural course!" Li Qinwu laughed out of sheer absurdity, flinging the same logic right back at him: "Then isn't slaughtering you humans also a matter of absolute natural course? Since both are a matter of natural course, what the hell are you whining about!" Earl Fisher wanted to snap back, but the noble standing beside him quickly restrained him. That noble was someone who clearly understood the situation.

He bowed deeply toward Li Qinwu.

"Respected Milord, what must we offer to secure our freedom?" Li Qinwu was quite pleased with the man's pragmatism and didn't beat around the bush.

"In accordance with your noble customs, calculate among yourselves what the ransom price ought to be for an earl, viscounts, and barons. Oh, and by the way, I don't accept gold or silver here. How much can you offer if converted into grain and livestock? Figure it out yourselves."

After a brief hushed deliberation among the nobles, the spokesperson stepped forward and said, "Milord, if we use a cart drawn by a earth-drake as the unit of measurement, we are willing to offer 20 cartloads of grain for a baron, 60 cartloads for a viscount, and 120 for an earl..." This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Before he could finish his sentence, Earl Fisher roared out in fury.

"What?! My life is worth a paltry 120 cartloads of grain?! Dammit! This is a outright insult to my dignity!!" Li Qinwu froze, thinking to himself: Is this old fool out of his mind? Highly amused, he asked, "Then, my noble Earl, how many cartloads of grain do you believe your exalted life requires to be ransomed?" Earl Fisher raised his chin with immense pride.

"500 cartloads! It takes at least 500 cartloads of grain to match the value of my life!" Pfft! Li Qinwu burst out laughing on the spot, giving the old geezer a thumbs-up, while the other nobles stared at Fisher as if he were a complete lunatic. Unaware of how foolish he looked, Earl Fisher puffed out his chest even further.

"That's right! The noble Earl Fisher requires no less than 500 cartloads of grain!" Li Qinwu chuckled, but inwardly, he quickly grasped the underlying logic. This man was a commander capable of leading an army of 70, 000; how could he possibly be a brainless idiot? He was doing this deliberately to inflate his own perceived standing. Li Qinwu was spot on—Earl Fisher was indeed doing this to preserve his status.

He had suffered a crushing defeat and lost a leg, losing both his face and his honor, which dealt a devastating blow to his family's prestige. To salvage his reputation, he had to resort to unconventional methods, and intentionally inflating his ransom price was one such tactic. When word of this leaked to the outside world, people would inevitably marvel, Goodness gracious, a crippled old man required 500 cartloads of grain for his ransom! The depth of the Earl's family legacy is truly not to be underestimated!

Such a move would deter many ambitious rivals from harboring ill designs against his house. It only went to show that this world was crawling with shrewd calculators. Li Qinwu ordered the guards to take the nobles away, his heart pounding with excitement. One earl, 5 viscounts, and 11 barons—that added up to a whopping 1, 020 cartloads of grain! And these were heavy carts drawn by massive beasts like earth-drakes!

A single earth-drake could haul nearly two tons of cargo, which translated to almost 2, 000 tons of provisions! The cost to spawn an adult goblin, factoring in the feed required for the breeding livestock, came out to roughly 30 kilograms of grain. The provisions yielded from ransoming these nobles alone would be sufficient to spawn over 60, 000 goblins!

Combined with the grain plundered from Poloya's urban sector and surrounding castles, as long as it was all successfully transported back to the Alliance, increasing their population by 200, 000 would be a breeze! Not to mention, there were over a thousand earth-drakes. Transporting these massive beasts back to the Alliance—whether for tilling farmland or breeding goblins—would prove immensely beneficial! Overjoyed, Li Qinwu released one of the barons, sending him back to deliver the message and prepare the ransom.

Poloya enjoyed a splendid climate capable of yielding three grain harvests a year. Thus, despite the war, the nobles possessed more than enough grain to meet the demands. At worst, they would simply squeeze the serfs a bit harder—no big deal, as those human insects could survive on grass if necessary. However, after enduring multiple wars on top of Li Qinwu's chaotic interventions, one couldn't help but wonder if these serfs might one day become a buried landmine that would blow the nobility sky-high.

Over the subsequent stretch of time, peace gradually returned to the surroundings of Poloya. The military nobility of Haluin Province had suffered severe setbacks and were quietly licking their wounds, entirely incapable of mounting another expedition to interfere with Poloya. Li Qinwu took advantage of this respite to steadily haul Poloya's riches back to the Monster Forest, wave after wave.

Simultaneously, the Security Army ventured beyond Poloya's jurisdiction, spreading the news that Poloya's monster forces were purchasing livestock at double the market price. Many initially scoffed at the rumor. Setting aside whether the news was true, delivering oneself right to the jaws of monsters—wasn't that pure suicidal stupidity? Yet, double the market rate was an allure few merchants could resist. Greedy merchants, provided the price was right, would gladly sell their very souls to the devil!

A few daring merchants decided to test their luck, purchasing a herd of livestock from rural villages before anxiously making their way toward Poloya. What followed left them ecstatic: before even reaching Poloya proper, they encountered the Security Army at an outpost on the outer perimeter of the territory. Upon surrendering their livestock, they were promptly handed vast fortunes in cash. From there, the Security Army took over the task of transferring the livestock back to Poloya.

Large beasts were put to work hauling cargo back to the Monster Forest, while medium and small livestock were utilized for spawning goblins. This sent the merchants into absolute raptures. The rumors were actually true—monsters were genuinely paying double the market rate for livestock, and there was no need to enter Poloya itself, eliminating all danger! Consequently, every merchant across Haluin Province sprang into action, embarking on a frenzy to dump livestock into Poloya's territory.

Numerous speculative merchants struck it rich overnight, earning more from a single delivery to Poloya than they would from a decade of hard work. Eventually, this wild frenzy caught the attention of the Merchant Guild, prompting them to step into the arena. The Merchant Guild was a civilian organization devoted to the God of Trade.

While its core sphere of influence lay within the Four Human Kingdoms, it maintained branches across the territories of other intelligent races and even dragons, operating as a trans-national, multi-racial commercial giant. Given the Guild's immense scale, their initial shipment alone comprised over 1, 000 head of livestock, including 400 earth-drakes. This proved too massive an order for the Security Army on the border to handle.

They simply lacked that much liquid capital on hand, as Li Qinwu, fearing they might abscond with the funds, had intentionally limited the cash disbursed to them. Left with no alternative, the Security Army directed them to haul the livestock straight to Poloya, where the monster forces would handle the payment. The leader of this Guild caravan was a tall, lean man dressed in fine formal attire with impeccable manners, named Jin Lanbo.

He was the quintessential merchant willing to sell his soul for the right price, showing no fear of the monsters occupying Poloya as he led his convoy into the city. After traveling for several days, he arrived in Poloya. Catching sight of monsters roaming the entire city, a wave of nervousness gripped him. Yet, he quickly noticed that the city hadn't been ravaged into a ruined wasteland as expected.

Human civilians were still moving about the streets, while passing monster patrols left them completely unmolested, maintaining a surprisingly disciplined sense of order. The man receiving Jin Lanbo was Cosi from the Security Army. Li Qinwu had intentionally deployed the two brothers separately—one purchasing livestock outside, and the other maintaining law and order inside Poloya. Cosi paid out the full amount in cash to buy up all the livestock Jin Lanbo had brought.

Staring at the pile of gold coins in his hands, Jin Lanbo was profoundly shocked. Realizing that doing business with monsters held immense potential, he called out to Cosi, who was just about to take his leave.

"Milord, I wish to meet the Supreme Leader of the monster forces. I have crucial intelligence to report!"