They're talking about a reward at the general's compound.
"If it's in my lands, I'll accept your terms. But you can't give tax exemptions in other lands."
"That's fine."
I know it was easy for you to say yes, but did you know that you were giving me a tax break?
This general doesn't seem to be the type to think like that, so I hope she won't get into trouble later.
Well, we can build another base before things get troublesome, and pull out of here if things get troublesome.
In that case, I'd prefer to have slaves as employees. A slave born in another land will have no regrets when he leaves this land.
"Glose-san, you were easily approved."
As soon as I went to the port to look for a place to live, Sailor talked to me with a smile.
"Yes . I think that female general -sama is indifferent to such things."
"Call me good-natured, or call me naive, or whatever."
"Well, I guess both would apply, but the latter would be stronger."
We laughed at each other a little. It was not to make fun of the general, but to express our gratitude to the naive lady-sama.
When we arrived at the port, we immediately ran into a problem.
[Master, the ship you're purchasing cannot call at this port.]
This port has only a wooden pier, and the width of the pier is narrow and the water depth is shallow. In other words, if you want to use this port, you have to buy a ship of this world instead of a ship of the earth from [[Mail Order(B)]].
[There's another way.]
"Well, what is it?"
[The master builds the harbor.]
"...the port... but then you won't be able to leave the country easily."
[If the master should escape, wouldn't it be better if the master ruled this country?]
"Please don't do that . I'm just a merchant. I'm not reaching for the country."
[Then we can put Master's men in key positions in this country.]
"Isn't that the same as ruling a country..."
[We'll take care of all that if you let us.]
"...I really think I'm going to do it... hold off on that."
[All right.]
I guess Ins didn't think I'd go along with it with open arms. He backed down easily.
"Well, I suppose we could build a port. If there are any problems, we can just abandon the port and run away."
[Here we propose a candidate site for the port. The candidate sites are--]
Ins suggested a commercial port and a sandy beach a short distance from the fishing port.
"It's true that it's a big place and there's nothing there to build a port, but there's really nothing there."
It is a cove, but there are no jetties or vanishing blocks on the beach.
When I tried to discuss the purchase with the landowner of this beach, I found that it was the land of a female general.
It seems that all the vacant land without houses or merchants belongs to the landlady's family. Thinking that she is a lord, you have a business meeting with her.
"You would buy a place like that? It is true that the ship that Lord Hendler has would be better off on the beach."
"After the purchase, we will build a port, and we would appreciate your permission and the right to trade by sea."
You open a bottle of fine wine and offer it to the general. You may think that it is not right to drink wine in a business meeting, but wine is drunk instead of water.
"This wine is good . I'd like to buy this one."
"If we build a port, we can import this wine."
"Hmm, all right. I'll sell you the beach and surrounding land in that cove. We'll build you a port and give you the right to trade on the sea!"
The taste of fine wine gave me permission. You're too easy.
The contract was quickly signed and the land was purchased for 100 million yen. The price included the right of maritime trade.
The price of the land was cheaper than I had expected, probably because the general didn't care much about the price of the land, or because she was very naive.
After that, it is not enough to build a port and float a ship, but you have to buy slaves and teach them everything from ship operation to everything else.
For the time being, we'll have to buy a large sailing ship to operate.
The problem of who is going to maintain a ship with an engine is indeed a big obstacle.
On the other hand, sailing ships are still easy to maintain because they exist in this world.
And for ship handling, I think you need some training, but if you buy a slave who was a sailor, you will get used to it quickly.
"Sailor, please."
"Yes!"
Me and Sailor are working on the harbor.
Sela will use magic to harden the ground and the bottom of the sea and build a pier like a jetty 500m long by piling stones on it. The pier will take about ten days to build.
I take the hovercraft to the outside of the cove and slosh the big vanishing blocks down into the sea.
The purpose of this project is to prevent waves from entering the cove by piling up wave dissipating blocks.
More than 1,000 large vanishing wave blocks are put into the sea, and we nod our heads in agreement when we see the vanishing wave blocks that have emerged about one meter above the sea surface.
"Now we need to buy slaves. Sorry to leave the pier to Sailor, but I'm counting on you."
"I'll take care of it."
Sailor's smile is very gentle and soothing.
"Lord, if you want slaves, the soldiers say the Abbas Slave Shop is the place to go."
Lethia, who trains with the soldiers every day, seems to be at ease with them.
"Well, can you take me to that Abas slave shop?"
"I'll take care of it."
Lately, Lethia has been wearing leather armor around town. Metal armor is intimidating to anyone who meets you, so I thought leather armor would be better for you.
Of course, they are all in black, which is Lethia's favorite color.
"Saint-Louve, will you protect Sailor at Sailor's place?"
"Okay, one."
I bought a bag of sweets and a pack of fruit juice at [[Mail Order (B)]] and put them in Saint-Loup's backpack, and he wagged his tail happily. I couldn't help patting his head.
"Ruby will go with her master, Sama."
Ruby has been riding on my shoulder. Recently, she has grown up a little bit and has become about the size of a large parrot, which makes my shoulders stiff.
I followed Lethia to the Abbas slave shop.
"Welcome, sir. I'm Sebas Abas, owner of the Abas Slave Shop."
When he came out, I thought he was a butler, and even his name is a butler. But it seems that such a dandy uncle-sama is the owner of this Abas slave shop.
"My name is Grose Hendler. I've come to purchase a slave."
"Well, well, thank you, sir. It is a great honor for this Abbas slave shop to have you here at the hottest Hendler-sama."
Topic? I saw Lethia's face.
"The Lord has vanquished the Kraken, it would be strange if word didn't get out."
Lethia was right. I should be aware of such things.
"What kind of slave are you looking for today, sir?"
I'm taken to a private room where I'm served tea and I tell Abas-san about the slave I want.
"Are you sure you don't mind if I'm an injured or sick slave?"
Abbas-San cares a lot, but for me it doesn't matter if you're injured or sick as long as you have the skills.
After all, we have Ruby and I can make the elixir by myself.
"Yes, that's fine. If he's not dead, we'll take care of him."
"...I understand. Normally I would call my slaves here for you to see, but I am unable to bring such slaves here. I'm sorry, but could you please come this way?"
"No problem."
Abas-san took me to the back of the shop. It was dimly lit and the smell was beyond my concern, so it was not a good environment.
"I'm sorry to bother you like this. This is where we keep our slaves who are nearing the end of their lives. All slaves with some kind of physical or mental problem."
"Compared to the slaves in the area we just came through, it seems that the sanitary conditions are quite poor."
I'm not being sarcastic, I'm just being honest.
"All of us have festering injuries or are too sick to move..."
"It's not something I'm used to seeing, but I've seen some of these things, so I know what I'm talking about."
"Thank you, sir."
Many of the slaves I saw through the cages were in pretty bad shape.
There are slaves who are missing both arms and legs to the extent that the loss of one arm seems like a minor injury, slaves who have rashes all over their bodies from some disease, and slaves whose eyes have been gouged out and whose tongues have been cut out.
"There are those who treat slaves as property, and treat them badly..."
A lot of people seem to have a fetish for slaves.
I checked everyone's status, checked their criminal records.
"I'll buy all of them except that slave."
Of the thirteen dying slaves, only one had a criminal record, so I decided to purchase all but one of the twelve.
"You're buying a dozen, sir?"
"Yes, is there a problem?"
"No, sir, that's not true!"
Abas-San was confused, but went ahead with the slave contract.
I really wanted to make a contract with [[Taming(S)]], but my [[Taming(S)]] doesn't allow me to do so without the approval of the other party, so I can't make a contract with a slave who doesn't even know if she can hear me.
On the other hand, the slave contract can be made unilaterally, so when the Twelve can hear and judge my words, we can switch to taming.