Green Monster Epic

Philoc's sudden proposal to Allen, although abrupt, was not rejected by Allen, who listened attentively to his explanation.

"Sam, have those human slaves we brought in earlier been sold?"

Seeing that Allen did not refuse, Philoc's eyes flashed with appreciation, and then he turned to the human assistant to inquire.

"Not yet, sir, they are still being fed in cage number 15."

The human assistant named Sam replied with a bow.

"Take us to cage number 15."

After receiving a positive answer, Philoc instructed Sam to lead the way, and he walked to Allen's side to walk alongside him.

Without giving a reason, the other party introduced other slaves to Allen, who was puzzled but endured it, accommodating the other party's pace and moving slowly forward.

"The young man has a good temper. If it were a common hobgoblin, he would have cursed at me or simply ignored me and left."

Cage number 15 was not too far away, but it was not close either. With Philoc deliberately slowing down, Allen walked with him for six or seven minutes before he could see several ragged, crestfallen human figures.

Around the human cage were ferocious races that were common in the wilderness: gnolls with hideous faces, trolls with skin greener than goblins, and ogres with similar height and waist circumference, scaring the humans into cowering in a corner, not daring to say a word.

"Be honest, or you'll suffer!"

Sam fiercely knocked on the surrounding cages. The wilderness creatures, even when locked in cages, were not docile. Hearing the noise, they poked their heads out, bared their claws and fangs at Allen and his party, and made threatening sounds from their throats, or cursed in common language, causing Allen and the others to frown.

However, these guys quickly calmed down. Sam, annoyed by their unprovoked noise, took out a magical item from his pocket and gently tapped the iron cages of these guys. With a flash of electricity, the slaves became paralyzed living corpses in the cages.

"Among the human slaves here, there are skilled technicians. See that bald guy? He was originally a farmer from the human side, and his planting skills are not bad. The middle-aged man curled up in a ball is a gardener who is good at managing gardens and various fruit trees. As for the guy who still keeps his clothes clean, I heard that he was originally a nobleman from a human principality, but he was defeated in battle and became a prisoner. Since no one paid the ransom for him, he was sold to our chamber of commerce."

"His most valuable asset is his literacy."

Philoc seemed to be simply making a simple transaction, without explaining the reason for introducing these humans to Allen, but rather stating the talents of these humans.

Allen listened carefully. Although he didn't understand, he was already tempted by the literate human. Along the way, he had pestered Felice and Regis to learn, and even with his best efforts, he had only memorized dozens of common characters and arithmetic below a hundred. With Regis and Felice parting ways with him, Allen would have to venture out to learn to read again, as Regis said, otherwise, after returning to the Green Field Tribe, he would probably return to the tribe's original trajectory and have to rely on Allen himself to explore slowly.

"Excuse me, Mr. Philoc, what is the price of this human?"

Allen was moved and did not hide his preferences, and immediately inquired about the price.

"Still a capable guy!"

Although Philoc's expression remained calm, he nodded slightly, and then, without saying much else, directly gave the selling price of the human noble slave: "The most valuable thing in this world is knowledge, and if you want to learn knowledge, you need to be literate, so this human is also the most valuable among them, 20 gold coins."

"However, I still advise you to buy all these humans together. If you only buy one human, I'm afraid you won't be able to support him for long."

Allen didn't know what Philoc was planning. He originally wanted to refuse, but after meeting Philoc's eyes, he changed his mind and nodded, saying, "Okay, please calculate for me, Mr. Philoc, how much does it cost to buy these humans and goblins together?"

Anyway, Allen and his group now had 5-6000 pounds of food, and adding a dozen or twenty more people wouldn't be a big problem in the short term. Moreover, after moving to a better territory, the days of Allen's tribe would be better.

"6 hobgoblins, 5 gold coins each, totaling 30 gold coins; 7 earth goblins..."

Seeing Allen accept his proposal, Philoc didn't say much else. He picked up a piece of scratch paper and began to calculate carefully. Before long, he calculated the price.

"You bought a total of 13 goblins this time, costing 51 gold coins, and giving away 11 goblins. 12 humans, costing 103 gold coins, totaling 154 gold coins. Deducting the 150 gold coins for the ruby, you still need to pay my chamber of commerce 4 gold coins."

"Okay."

Allen couldn't say whether this deal was profitable or a loss. He felt that there was no problem with the goblin part, but the 12 humans were worth more than twice the goblins, which made Allen a little puzzled, but he couldn't make a gesture of regret, so he could only admit that he was unlucky.

Allen couldn't imagine what use those so-called farmers and gardeners would have in the wilderness. Along the way, although he had seen neat fields planted with various crops outside the city of Thorns, which made Allen feel very curious and envious, he really couldn't think of what kind of crops could be profitably planted in the wilderness. At least in the wilderness tribes that Allen had seen along the way, no tribe had any planting activities.

"With the money and goods cleared, do you need me to have someone help you send these slaves to your residence?"

After Philoc received the 4 gold coins that Allen handed over, he looked up as if inquiring, but in fact, he had already guessed Allen's answer.

"That would be troublesome."

Allen bowed slightly to show his gratitude.

"Tell Sam your residence, and he will have someone bring these slaves to your residence."

Philoc was expressionless, then handed a stack of parchment to Allen: "This parchment is the identity certificate of these slaves, which can help you bring these slaves out of Thorns. At the same time, these parchments also come with a contract, so that the slaves cannot generate murderous intentions towards the owner of the parchment, otherwise they will feel weak all over, so you must remember to keep these things safe."

"Ah, so that's how it is."

Allen was dealing with slaves for the first time, and he didn't know this information. He quickly took the thick stack of parchment, carefully stroked each one, and then solemnly put it into his arms.

"I hope we can meet again next time, and I look forward to your visit."

Only then did Philoc smile at Allen with a look of anticipation, and then he calmly ordered Sam: "See the guests off, I'm tired and won't take care of you."

"Yes."

Sam bowed and saw Philoc off, then re-greeted Allen and his party.