On the Sebring River, hundreds of merchant ships were heading south along the river.

They were exactly what Ellini said, the 'Hundred Merchants United Debt Collection Group' that set out from Silvery Moon City.

As a low-level businessman who only owned a small grain store passed down from his family, Old John could not afford a boat.

He can only rent.

He first cruelly took out a high-interest loan using his shop as collateral, stocked up on some specialties from the north of Silvery Moon City, and rented a cabin at Jimmy's Grain Store.

In this case, he can use these goods to sell in Kaishui City to earn a profit, and then use this increased money to wholesale grains from Amn and bring them back to Silvermoon City for sale.

It would be great if he could redeem the 'house purchase intention money' while passing through Minas Tirith, so that he could stock up on more food.

This is also the routine operation method of most small businessmen like him.

Affected by the "Grain Price Plunge Incident" in Silver Moon City in winter, not only did they fail to make a fortune from this food shortage crisis, but many grain dealers who continued to absorb high-priced grain almost lost their money.

The only good news is that due to the trampling of the Northland farms by orcs, the Silver Moon Federation is still short of food this year.

This means that they, who are trapped by low food prices, can wait for food prices to rise and then slowly gain back their blood.

It's not that they didn't want to join forces to push up the price again, but after the winter, the Supreme Mage Alustriel suddenly issued a decree, directly limiting the inventory quantity of each of them, and promulgated corresponding punishment measures, thus ending their

certain thoughts.

But after all, the upper management left them some room for maneuver, otherwise someone might really go bankrupt.

Just like Old John.

In the eyes of those big merchants, if it weren't for the fact that their ancestors had the title of pioneer knight, a small grain merchant like Old John would have been under the care of Captain Jero, and would have maintained some contact with many small nobles in Silvermoon City.

, maybe he has already played off himself.

In fact, he knew his own affairs well, and Old John's grain store was already on the verge of bankruptcy.

In the eyes of most of his peers, Old John is absolutely unqualified as a businessman and can even be said to be a joke in the industry.

Because he is not cruel enough!

Even in business circles, businessmen privately called him 'honest John'.

The word honesty is not a complimentary word when applied to businessmen.

As a dilapidated knight family, Old John's family of knights and nobles really have little to do with each other. When encountering requests from some acquaintances, Old John will still help.

The most famous thing is that after his friend Jones died at the hands of the orcs, he took over the other's two children, but did not receive any inheritance. Shops and properties were all divided up by collateral relatives.

.

Originally, in theory, he could fight for these inheritances through his two children.

Because of this matter, his tough wife even had a quarrel with him.

As a result, the two precocious children of the Jones family secretly signed up for the immigration application of the elf merchant Levi's and were never heard from again.

Because of this incident, Old John has always felt very guilty.

"Kevin, Anna, are you okay?"

Old John held on to the wooden railings of the ship's side and muttered to himself in a daze.

This is also another purpose of his trip.

That is to find those two children.

They are obviously still so young, even if they immigrate to a new territory, can they take care of themselves?

At this moment, a blazing light suddenly appeared in the eternal wilderness on the other side of the river, like a second sun.

At the same time, there was that desolate and painful roar.

This immediately attracted everyone's attention, and there was a lot of discussion for a while.

"What's going on? Is that magic?"

"It's unlikely. There's such a huge movement. If it's magic, could it be legendary magic?"

"And that cry, seems to be that of a troll?"

"That's why it's called the Wilderness. I also believed it. The elves don't have any good things. How do they build a new territory in a place like this? Just one visit by trolls will destroy it."

This sudden accident seems to have strengthened the businessmen's idea of ​​​​returning the deposit.

A few hours later, these businessmen finally discovered an unfinished dock on the west bank of the Sebring River with an uneasy feeling.

And right above the pier, there was a banner fluttering in the wind, which read:

"Minas Tirith warmly welcomes all owners to inspect and visit."

At the same time, there were two figures on the other side of the port waving for them to dock.

""These merchants from Silver Moon City were immediately speechless.

Has the romantic partner already guessed that these people will regret it?

But that's fine. They were originally worried that the Levi's guy would run away after trying to get money.

But even so, standing on the deck and looking at the desolate land behind the dock, the businessmen were desolate.

Is this what is called Minas Tirith?

Is there any territory more desolate than this?

And if their memory is correct, in their impression, on the so-called Minas Tirith Phase I housing map, there should be at least a commercial district behind the dock that serves as a warehouse and transaction transit, right?

"Where is your lord, Mr. Levis? Please tell me that we, the owners, want to see him."

After everyone got off the boat, a fat man who was the leader of the merchants couldn't wait to express his wishes.

In this business alliance, Jimmy is also one of the leading businessmen with relatively strong financial resources, and Jimmy Grain Store is just a part of their family business.

Compared with 'Honest John', 'Cunning Jimmy' is a typical profit-seeking businessman.

As long as there is enough profit motivation, he will do anything.

Just like when the Northland farms were robbed last time, a large number of refugees poured into Silvermoon City to seek relief.

Jimmy sent many clerks from the food store to line up to receive food at all city hall relief points. As a result, many colleagues imitated the same example, further exacerbating the shortage of food reserves in Silvermoon City and indirectly pushing up food prices.

.

It can be said that if Levi hadn't intervened, Jimmy would have been one of the biggest winners in Silvermoon City.

As a result, Li Wei's method of spreading wealth in Silver Moon City directly led to an avalanche of rising prices in the entire Silver Moon Federation.

Because of this, the business group represented by Jimmy should have enough reasons to hate Levi.

Even in Blue Star, there is a saying that 'cutting off a person's wealth is like killing his parents'.

But in business, businessmen often have a natural fear of powerful people and more powerful business groups.

The personal interview and official recognition by the Supreme Mage ‘Alustriel’, as well as the high reputation he suddenly gained from the support of the people at the bottom of Silvermoon City, gave Levi an aura that discouraged businessmen.

Businessmen are all driven by profit.

So when Levi, who had already shown a huge amount of financial resources and status, came up with the territory plan, coupled with the marketing method that had never appeared in this world, it is not difficult to understand that these businessmen directly jumped in under the herd effect.

Imagine a soon-to-be-completed territory and new city-state, brand-new shops, and a broader resource distribution center.

Is there a better deal than this?

As a result, I was severely slapped in the face by the cold and cruel reality.

Facing the fat businessman who was holding back his anger, the two 'gatekeepers', Shield Warrior Sgard and Minotaur Ren, looked at each other, both holding back the smiles in their hearts.

It was Sigard who coughed twice, stepped forward, bowed to everyone, and said apologetically according to the script he had already prepared:

"First of all, on behalf of Lord Levis, I would like to express my deepest apologies to you all. I believe you have also seen that our territory is actually still in its initial development stage."

This incident was something that almost no one could have imagined.

It's like someone defrauded you of a sum of money under some pretext. When you go to him, the other person apologizes and says, "Oh, this project hasn't even started yet."

The businessmen suddenly became noisy.

"You are committing fraud!"

"That's it! Pay me back! Give me back my hard-earned money."

Facing the excited businessmen, Sigard, who had already anticipated this, was not in a hurry, and just waited for them to quarrel with a smile.

In the end, Jimmy, who was the leader, signaled everyone to be silent, suppressing his anger, but asked with a hint of hope:

"Then what do you lords mean? Return the money to us now?"

"We have no money."

Sigard spread his hands in the eyes of the merchants who were almost murderous and said bluntly: "To be precise, the cash in our territory is not enough to refund all of you."

Without waiting for them to ask, Sigard said: "So our lords would like to invite you to come to our camp and take a look. Maybe you will suddenly change your mind after seeing the development potential of our territory.

"

Hearing this, a group of businessmen rolled their eyes.
To be continued...