Mercenaries and Adventurers

After collecting the cash box, Keir personally took the steward of the tent store of Stars in the Sky who was waiting aside and walked in the open space prepared for them by the Dorne Town Chamber of Commerce.

Looking at the young men and women sitting on the ground to rest and talk, practice simple martial arts, fall in love, and quarrel with each other, the steward frowned: "Sir Knight, don't you even have a tent here?"

Kil smiled awkwardly: "I do have a tent that can sleep one person."

"But when it rained a few days ago, how did you deal with it? Didn't you hide in the woods to avoid the rain? What did you do at night?"

Facing this question, Keir's smile became even more embarrassing: "To take shelter from the rain? Everyone leaned against the fire and warmed themselves up while soaking in the rain. This is the only way."

"Why."

The other party breathed a sigh of relief: "I came here to see the scene. I finally know what kind of tent you need most at this time. But can you relax a little on the price?"

Kil became serious: "The price is non-negotiable. As you can see, unlike a simple rainproof cloak, a camping tent is not cheap. The price of buying a tent from you depends on the sales of the trophies in the front."

The young store manager scratched his head, not knowing what to say. Although this man was young, his family was in business. He had long seen that the young knight Kiel certainly had money, but he just didn't want to invest his own money in these hundreds of refugees.

Leave the matter to him, and he does the same.

"I understand that the first priority is to be cheap, and then it must have the basic functions of a tent. The most important thing is that it must be able to carry a large number of young refugees."

The young steward was chattering, and while following the Kiel Knights around in the open space, he carefully looked at the situation of the young refugees.

He found that most refugees gathered alone and rarely communicated with others sitting in a circle. When he asked the knight about this, he learned that the refugees did not come from one place, but were originally remote and unprotected rural villagers in the area.

"So that's it. Let me see. In terms of number, there are almost ten or twenty people gathered together. There is a tent of this size!"

The young steward patted his head and figured out what to do, so he hurriedly squatted on the ground and used his dagger sheath to write and draw on the ground. Not only did he plan the size of the tent he envisioned, but more importantly, he planned the size of the tent. , calculate the material cost of the tent.

Keir didn't bother this person, just watched him squatting on the ground and muttering in a low voice.

After a while, the young steward stood up with a red face, took a deep breath, and seemed a little nervous.

Keir raised his head: "Say it."

The young steward put his hands in his sleeves and held them tightly to relieve his nervousness. After all, the cost was calculated in front of others, and he also had to add the store's profit points on various materials in the tent on the spot, which made him a little nervous. .

Even though he understood that this knight probably didn't understand what he had just done.

"That's it, Lord Knight. Based on what I have observed and your request, I understand that the existing tent specifications in our store naturally exceed the requirements. Therefore, I plan to redesign a set of tents that are simple in style and basically functional. A simple tent that meets the requirements for camping in the wild.”

Kil crossed his arms and motioned for the other party to continue.

"Well, Sir Knight, the temporary tent I designed first removed the decorative patterns on the tent cloth and made it entirely from undyed waterproof tarpaulin."

Keir nodded: "It should be like this. Apart from looking good, the pattern has little other effect."

The young steward twitched his lips and continued: "Secondly, I don't intend to let the thick tarpaulin that is the main body of the camp go through the process of insect repellent, minus this process for camping in the wild. These people under you have to do it when camping. An additional set of hand jobs for deworming.”

Keir shrugged: "It's been like this before. It's nothing. I will ask everyone to take out the weeds on the plot when setting up camp in the future, then step on the ground, collapse the entrance and exit channels for insects in the soil, and then sprinkle each team's people with it. They all carry campfire ashes and use the ashes to drive away any insects that may come near.”

The young steward continued: "The first two items can save some money. Then, here."

The steward tapped the main body of the tent he drew with the toe of his shoe, which was a support pillar located in the center of the diamond-shaped tent.

"Here, I gave up the traditional square and long-shaped large tent configuration, and did not choose a circular tent with many auxiliary support columns. You see, a cylindrical main support column is half buried in the ground. It’s just a simple, cheap wooden pillar that can be found everywhere. Although it’s heavier and requires an extra truck to carry it, I think you still have two carriages.”

"Secondly, the surrounding rhombus-shaped auxiliary supports are only supported by four shorter and thinner simple wooden pillars, so that the space of the entire tent can be used to the maximum extent at the lowest cost."

Keir nodded.

"I recommend using wooden nails to fix the tents on the ground. Although the service life is very short, usually no more than a few months to half a year, I believe that during this period, you and the people you lead will be able to find a suitable one. A safe place to settle.”

Keir smiled: "Of course, it can be a month at most, not longer."

"For the ropes, I recommend using ordinary hemp ropes that have not been dipped in oil. This is just fine. As long as you use them when setting up camp every day, they will not be easily damaged by wind and rain in a short period of time."

Kil clapped his hands, and the metal armor pieces hit back and forth, making a loud and clear collision sound: "Very good, then, how much does each set of dozens of tents, enough for more than 700 people, cost, and how much does it cost in total?" ?”

As soon as Keir finished speaking, the young steward immediately answered. It seemed that he had gone through this answer in his mind several times and spoke it quickly and fluently.

"Such a simple tent costs only five silver coins per set! If all are packed together, a set of tents can accommodate twenty to twenty-five people. Considering the number of people under your command, there can be at most thirty sets of tents, which cost fifteen gold coins. Forget it, you can take them all down."

Kil clicked his lips. A set of tents didn't seem expensive. It only cost five silver coins, which was already very cheap. After all, his single tent costed "up to" three gold coins, and he could buy six tents that could accommodate more than a hundred people. . But the total cost was fifteen gold coins, which still made him feel heartache.

He knew that this must not be the lowest price, but he had asked before that the price of a small tent for several people used by merchants was only one gold coin, and it could only fit six or seven people into it. From this point of view, if you use those small, shop-like tents, The entire set of tents inside, with more than 700 people, would cost hundreds of gold coins to enter.

With this, fifteen gold coins seems cheap and affordable.

"Very good, that's the price."

As soon as Kil said this, the young steward in front of him was already excited. He quickly asked: "There is only one question now. During the two days we are repairing here, can your store come up with enough tents?" Come out?"

"No problem! I promise there will be no problem! I will start gathering people when I get back to cut and sew the waterproof fabric for the main body of the tent. Since the other things are simple, it is not easy to prepare."

"Then, what are you waiting for? Let's sign the contract and start preparations. I hope that the tents will be delivered by dawn tomorrow."

"Sir Knight, tonight! I can send you up to five sets of camp tents tonight! But you need to come up with half of the cost as a deposit first. I can also go back and show it to my father in the store."

The young steward rubbed his fingers nervously, while Keir chuckled: "It's my own shop."

-

While Kiel was talking and discussing with the young steward and signing a contract, the shop assistant who pushed the cart next to him took apart the set of single-person tents purchased by Knight Kiel and assembled them on the spot.

Although it was a one-person tent with less than ten square meters, because there were so many things in the set, the guy still worked hard for a while before setting it up.

The completed dome tents are brightly colored and look very lively and eye-catching.

Kil circled around the tent a few times, then got in, inhaled hard, and sure enough he didn't smell anything special. But sure enough, as the store advertised, none of the flies flying in the open space came close to Kiel's tent.

Moreover, none of the dozens of birds that followed the team and picked up food scraps and particles left on the road and at the campsite landed on the high top of the tent. Instead, they stood and stayed on the surrounding carriages and open space fences. .

It seems that the effect of repelling insects and birds is not a boast, it is real.

After getting the contract and deposit, the young steward immediately called the man with a cart with a smile and left the place in a hurry. He was quite curious about the trophy sale at the gate of the clearing, but when he thought about the fact that he hadn't sold a tent shop for a while, he hurriedly stepped up and prepared to complete the transaction perfectly.

The order amount for this camp is not large, but the quantity is large, so the profit is very limited.

But this is just the surface. What is really important is that there are too many raw materials for various tents in the store warehouse, which takes up a lot of money in vain. Now selling and using some of them is the biggest benefit of the store in this transaction.

After all, a large amount of raw materials can be used at cost price in today's sluggish trade situation, or even converted into cash, which will already make a lot of money.

After all, their store has a lot of raw materials and merchandise, but lacks cash. The same goes for other stores.

Everyone is struggling and selling various goods at low prices. At this time, whoever has cash in hand can buy usually expensive goods at low prices.

Make big money!

When he thought of this, he stopped looking at the sales fair he passed by and quickened his pace.

-

After playing with his new tent for a while, Keir asked the people directly under him to bring his carriage over, gather around the tent, and sit down to rest.

He loudly told the people around him about the camp, and as soon as he finished speaking, he went to the nearby area to talk until everyone knew about it, and then he came to the front of the open space.

There was a whole circle of merchants surrounding the open space filled with trophies.

Their eyes were wide open, they were picking and talking. Whoever likes a product will ask Kiel's people to randomly take one out of the box and look at it carefully.

Mr. Long Barfoot was busy, walking through the various trophies in the middle without touching the ground, discussing sales and barter matters with the merchants who called him.

The matter of bartering was beyond Kiel's expectations. As soon as it was proposed, the merchants nodded in agreement, as if asking them to give out real money was as if it cost them their lives.

And bartering makes them much more satisfied.

Kiel walked behind the crowd in a circle and quietly listened to the conversations of the businessmen. He found that unlike what he expected, the prices of various local non-essential goods were not rising, but falling.

In the past, a small box of nails cost at least thirty copper coins. Now, not only did the number of nails in a box cost more, but the price dropped to twenty-two copper coins. At this point, the iron nails in the blacksmith shop cannot be sold.

In the past, this thing was the most popular thing in villages everywhere.

Because most farmers in rural areas know a little bit of carpentry, nails are the most important metal tool for reinforcing wood.

And if there is a blacksmith apprentice in the village, they can barely make the iron nails into arrowheads for hunters' bows or metal spikes on the top of long wooden sticks.

In times of chaos, this was also an important metal raw material for various improvised weapons in villages across the country.

But now, powerful large chambers of commerce can reluctantly transport food and iron ingots to the town of Dorne from other places, but they don't really need other things.

Various local handicrafts cannot be shipped out, and other raw materials from other places cannot be shipped in either.

This resulted in the large local chambers of commerce making a lot of money, while the small and medium-sized chambers of commerce that did not have the strength to travel freely on the trade road could only stare at the various inedible products in the chambers' warehouses and stores that no one wanted to buy.

However, it is certainly impossible to say that local businessmen have no money in their pockets. Just not making money is more intolerable to businessmen than losing money.

After all, losing money in business for a while is nothing. There are losses and gains, as long as you make a profit in the final reckoning. But leaving them stuck in the town, unable to go out for trade, and no one came to buy things from local shops, this kind of situation of sitting back and having nothing to do made the merchants unbearable.

Therefore, bartering became the best way they could accept.

Using various idle commodities and materials that cannot be exchanged for money in the hands of oneself or friends and are sitting in the warehouse, and exchange them for various boxes of goods with higher value at present. When the trade lines are unblocked in the future, wouldn't this be a big problem? Make a fortune.

Nowadays, everyone is idle anyway, so why not use goods at low prices to get the trophies of these knights, which is of course a good thing.

-

When Keel saw that there were deals coming from time to time, Mr. Barfoot would ask someone to move a certain box of goods out of the open space separately and put it next to where Priest Batal was.

The box is marked and a contract is verbally agreed upon.

Kiel and the others did not have that much paper and ink, so at this time, large-scale transactions could only be made verbally.

The merchant who ordered the goods ordered his subordinates to return to the town and use another transaction or supplies they had at home to move over in exchange for the ordered spoils.

Kiel did not go up to disturb Mr. Barfoot, who was flying up. He looked at Priest Batal who was at a loss and looked at him. Kiel shrugged, and the priest put his hand on his forehead and sighed deeply.

At this time, at the gate of the open space, a carriage loaded with small pieces of firewood stopped. Keir smiled when he saw it. The firewood he jointly requested from the Dorne Town Chamber of Commerce arrived.

Arrive early, don't arrive late, arrive at this time after the sale begins.

Keir shook his head and strode towards the gate, where the carriage carrying firewood was firmly stopped by his people.

-

"Sir Knight, this is a gift from Steward Deripari in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce to give you and your team fuel wood for heating and cooking."

The speaker was a young chamber of commerce clerk who jumped from the carriage driver's seat.

However, this chamber of commerce clerk is different from the previous chamber of commerce clerks. He is even better dressed than ordinary chamber of commerce stewards. It can only be said that he is the person who manages several large chambers of commerce in Dorne Town. His status and wealth are better than others.

At the same time, this young chamber of commerce guy also specially emphasized the word "gift".

Kiel let out a concealed sigh, then smiled and said to this young man who was several years older than him: "Thank you! Thanks to the generous Chamber of Commerce, and to the equally noble senior manager Deripari, on behalf of myself and Thank you to all the refugees who have benefited from this."

The young man then took out a dark red invitation from a flat wooden box on his waist: "Sir Knight, this is our Chamber of Commerce's invitation to tonight's banquet. It is specially held for you. Please come. Tonight, It will officially begin when the moonlight first rises. And I will be waiting for you here to guide you to the venue where the banquet will be held."

Keir took the banquet invitation and found that it contained a golden hanging fruit. He twisted it with his hand and found that the chamber of commerce mark on the invitation was actually made of gold.

Although the amount used is not much, it still shows the financial resources and attention of the 'Fortune Fruit' Chamber of Commerce.

"Very good. Then come in and wait a moment. You can check out the lively sales meeting ahead. I have to arrange for people to distribute these firewood. Although it is still afternoon, it doesn't matter whether it's morning or evening for cooking, right?"

Then Keir let the merchant boy go in and walk around as he pleased. Then he directed the carriage driver to drive the carriage to the middle of the open space, where it was easier to distribute firewood.

Although the clerk from the Chamber of Commerce said that he could visit at will, he also had a sense of restraint and only stayed in the crowd at the sale. While looking at what was on sale at the sale, his eyes did not leave Kil's body.