King
Chapter 160 - 160 111 The debtor is_4

160: Chapter 111, The debtor is…_4 160: Chapter 111, The debtor is…_4 As for Baron Katelai, he naturally became the hopeless and foolish supporting character.

Who can blame him since he now holds the title of “the stupidest slave trader”?

“Baron Hudson, thirty thousand gold coins!

For just thirty thousand coins, this batch of slaves will be sold to you,”

“I’ll be blunt about it.

To purchase these slaves, I’ve already invested sixty thousand gold coins in total,”

“I’m selling at half price now and even then I have to rely on loans to cover the final payment.

If the price is reduced further, I could go bankrupt right here and now,”

said Baron Katelai helplessly.

He could arguably be the worst businessman in the entire continent.

Most people haggle to make a profit, but in his case, he’s just trying not to go bankrupt.

“Baron Katelai, don’t worry so much.

Even if I manage to collect 30,000 gold coins for a transaction, your days ahead will still not be easy.

Developing a domain can be very costly.

Even if the Maple Domain has a good foundation, it’s still difficult to achieve a balance in the first couple of years without sufficient cash flow.

Perhaps we should consider a different way of cooperation.

I will purchase the slaves at the original price.

Instead of settling with cash, let’s trade with the iron goods produced from my domain.

You can negotiate with the slave traders with these iron products.

They’re all sorts of farming tools and daily necessities, which will have a considerable market even in the Northland.

You would have no trouble selling them,”

suggested Hudson.

Frankly, he genuinely didn’t intend to be manipulative this time.

After all, if one continually takes advantage of someone, there won’t be anything left to take from.

As an otherwise useful pawn, Baron Katelai has completed his tasked quite magnificently.

Not only did he dig a hole for Baron West, he also managed to play the Nobles of the North against each other.

Such a valuable pawn would be a shame to discard just like that.

With the need to expand my market, perhaps this is a good opportunity to explore.

If I could tap into the market in Northland, it would be great.

Even if I failed, it wouldn’t matter.

As a high added-value product, goods worth 60,000 gold coins cost less than 30,000 to produce,

As long as I don’t sell them in my own domain and take business away from myself, I won’t mind shaking up the markets elsewhere,”

“Baron Hudson, I fear this might be difficult.

Unlike in Southeastern Province, the iron goods market in Northland is actually monopolized.

Outside goods simply can’t break into the market…”

Before Baron Katelai could finish, Hudson interrupted, “You think too much, sir.

If you can’t sell it, can’t you use it yourself?

Even if you can’t use them, you can still sell them to the Orc Empire.

You might even be able to earn more.

As long as you’re not selling in Northland, isn’t that good enough?

Besides, it would be the slave traders who are selling these goods.

You only need to get the goods into their hands, whatever happens afterwards, has nothing to do with you,”

There’s nothing wrong with that—whoever sells is responsible.

Even if they truly infringed on the local heavies, it’s highly unlikely they’d bother to travel all the way to Southeastern Province just to settle scores with a middleman.

“But will they accept if the cash is turned into goods?”

Baron Katelai was unsure.

At least in his case, he couldn’t accept cash being turned into goods.

“They really don’t have a say on this.

You are out of money now, so they can either accept goods to offset the debt, or wait for you to come up with money.

At most, they can beat you up a bit to vent their anger.

Even if they are desperate to kill you, they still want you to survive — for the money.

Even if some are impulsive, the others will stop them.

After all, if something were to happen to you, it would be even more difficult to collect the debt,”

remarked Hudson nonchalantly.

Those in debt are the masters, and this applies in the Continent of Aslante as well.

If lenders aren’t rational, then you aren’t owing them enough.

Like Baron Katelai who owes over fifty thousand gold coins, not many creditors would be able to give up such a sum.