Chapter 36 – The Sudden Plague
Chapter 36 The Sudden Plague
“Are all these slaves dragging their families?”
Byers nodded, “Yes, they were all captured from the Delong Kingdom, in order to avoid the slaves from revolting, so the old people and children had to be taken away.
Except for you Northern Frontier nobles, the general buyers don’t have such a big appetite. Slaves with families in tow can’t be sold at a price, if young master Richard is willing to buy them as a package, I don’t want any money for the old people and children, I’ll give them all to you.”
“How many young and strong slaves do you have here?”
“Around 150 men and women combined.”
“What is the total price?”
“2300 gold coins.”
“How about 2000 gold coins, if you agree, I’ll take all the slaves.”
“Young Master Richard, you are pressing too low. Slave trade, the risk is especially high, there is no such high profit.2300 gold coins is already the lowest price, you are a hereditary noble, we have already given a partial discount.”
“Byers, not all of your slaves in this batch are healthy, there are sick and injured ones. If I offer a big price, I will only take the strongest young slaves. The young ones, the sick ones are all money losers.
You’ve been holding on to these slaves for a long time, haven’t you?
Once a slave drags his family along, of course he doesn’t want to be separated from them. If you try to sell them separately, they’ll revolt and cause bloodshed. 2,000 gold coins is the right price, I think.
This is because you have a large number of slaves in your hands, and you will be dealing with them in the future, that’s why I offered more. Otherwise 1800 gold coins would have been enough.”
Seeing that Richard was not easy to fool despite his youth, Byers could only continue to make excuses and boast about the merits of the slaves, hoping to sell them for a higher price.
Just as the two were bargaining, Soros also brought his elite mercenaries and arrived at the slave market.
Soros had been to Nolan many times and had some acquaintances in the slave market.
Seeing that Soros was very experienced and familiar with the prices in the slave market, Byers couldn’t raise the price and could only helplessly agree to the deal.
Soon Richard came to the rescue and reached a deal with five or six slave merchants, spending 5,600 gold coins and purchasing about 1,053 slaves.
The quality of this batch of slaves was not very high, half of them were old people and children. There were also a dozen disabled people and three fools.
The reason why Richard was willing to buy the disabled and fools was firstly to stabilize the morale of the slaves, with their families dragging them down, the slaves would usually not run away even if they were uprooted from their homes.
Secondly the fools and disabled people do not need to cost Richard a single gold coin, just managing a mouthful of food, the cost paid is very low. Their loved ones will also think Richard is a kind lord when they look at it.
Richard brought the purchased slaves outside of the city, he purchased quite a few tents and built a simple camp at the foot of the mountain thirty kilometers north of Nolan City, allowing the slaves to temporarily reside in the camp.
Leaving the security of the camp in the hands of Soros, Richard once again went to the slave market, ready to purchase one or two cheap indentured servants.
The remaining gold coins could not purchase ordinary slaves for the time being.
Developing the territory, more than 1000 slaves were far from enough. In addition to slaves, Richard also needed to purchase food and livestock, and tools for production were also a big part of the cost.
Clothing, food, housing, transportation, seeds, plowing oxen, food and clothing all cost money. There was also a need to arm some of the slaves to defend the territory.
Just as Richard was about to leave the slave market, he suddenly saw seven or eight big men, with a face of fear, carrying two living people, leaving the slave market at a fast pace.
The strong men didn’t care if the slaves struggled, and quickly piled up a stack of firewood, then tied the two weak slaves to the stake, preparing to burn them directly with fire.
Almost all humans in the Morning Sun Continent had earth burial customs, and being burned alive with fire was a serious form of torture.
Only the monks of the Inquisition would use this method to kill people who were tempted by demons.
In addition people who were possessed by evil spirits would also go to the stake if they could not expel the evil spirits using exorcism spells. The Seven Churches of God in the Morning Sun Continent are all under the protection of the gods. Although the gods are now in slumber, there are still powerful artifacts left behind.
Relying on the power of the artifacts, the church priests were able to use some of the specific spells through prayer.
The church’s healing spells, and exorcism charges were not too high.
First ring magic charges about one gold coin for treating minor injuries. Exorcism was a second ring divine spell that charged around two gold coins.
When Richard had just crossed over, the Morning Sun Church Priest had used Exorcism on him.
“What’s going on? Are these people possessed by evil spirits? Why don’t they seek an exorcism from a Morning Glory Church priest?”
“It’s not evil spirits possessing them, it’s slaves infected with the plague.”
Because there was magic in this Morning Glory Continent, the Necromancer Department magicians were also very knowledgeable about the plague.
Powerful necromancers created many strange plagues, inducing viruses that carried magic power, causing countless humanitarian disasters.
Upon hearing that there was a plague, the crowd present couldn’t help but take a few steps back. Even the slaves in the market heard the news and began to flee around in panic.
The managers of the slave market reacted quickly and immediately notified the Morning Glory Church Priests.
The priest arrived at the scene and immediately shouted, “Although the slaves have lost their freedom in life, they are equally believers of the Goddess and cannot be lynched and burned.”
“Priest Rod, do these two slaves have the plague?”
Seeing that a slave trader familiar with him opened his mouth, Priest Rod explained a few more words.
“It looks like it’s an ordinary plague, no magical power has been detected. A few more treatments with healing spells will be able to cure it.”
Upon hearing this, the slave’s owner’s face changed, and he immediately brought a few strong men to capture the two weakened slaves.
Since Reverend Rhodes did not allow the diseased slaves to be burned to death with fire, the slave merchants did not dare to take matters into their own hands.
The power of the Church of the Seven Gods was very strong, and the church didn’t allow the lynching of slaves suffering from the plague. Even if the slave merchant had a noble backstage behind him, he would not openly oppose Reverend Rhodes’ decision.
But spending gold coins and finding the church to use healing spells on the slaves wasn’t even in their consideration.
Generally speaking, a patient suffering from the plague would need to use the Light Injury Healing Technique four to six times. For every light wound healing spell used, one gold coin needed to be paid to the church.
If the patient was physically weak, I’m afraid that they would also need to use the Fourth Ring Magic Healing Serious Injury Spell.
Using a Serious Injury Healing Spell costs around twenty gold coins.
Slave traders, were not willing to invest anything in this area at all.
Seeing the sudden outbreak of the plague in the slave market, Richard apprehensively returned to the slave camp outside the city without succeeding in purchasing indentured servants.
Upon returning to the slave camp, Richard immediately instituted a strict quarantine system.
The camp slaves were forbidden to walk around at will, and the mercenaries escorting them were not allowed to go out.
He also purchased a batch of thick cotton cloths from the bazaar and had the female slaves make them into masks, which were handed out on a family basis.
Purchasers had to be isolated and observed every time they entered the camp, and only after three days could they be released from isolation and regain their freedom.
(End of chapter)