Rome Must Perish
Chapter 140 - 104 The Difficulties of the Illyrian_2

Chapter 140: Chapter 104 The Difficulties of the Illyrian_2

This was mainly said for Onomabatis alone to hear. Karsipengpas had been here many times and was well aware, so he joked, "Isn’t it just withdrawing some money? You guys make it more complicated than the Romans."

Alakosia replied seriously, "I used to find it troublesome too, but Leader Maximus once said, ’Although we are just a hastily assembled force against the Romans, we must have grand goals. If everyone can follow the rules and fulfill their responsibilities, then the whole team will be orderly and full of vitality. If we can manage one port, one town well, then in the future, we might be able to manage an entire region, a kingdom...’"

Originally, in the eyes of Karsipengpas and Onomabatis, the Free Italy team wasn’t much different from them, the Illyrian Pirates, just larger in number, bolder, and stronger.

But Alakosia’s words gave the two a great shock. They exchanged astonished glances, each thinking: Free Italy is quite ambitious!

Seeing them a bit lost, Alakosia changed the topic, "Onomabatis, did you also intend to help us transport iron ore on this trip to Sarabia?"

"Yes! Yes!" Onomabatis nodded repeatedly. Karsipengpas made quite a fortune on just one sea trip, how could he not be tempted?

Alakosia nodded and slowly said, "Let me first brief you on the situation. There is a weapons workshop in this city that can manufacture gear for our soldiers but lacks iron ore. Here, the iron ore is purchased from the Noric people.

Fortunately, on the day the city fell, a Noric merchant happened to be trapped in the port. We found him and negotiated with him. At first, he refused because they had an agreement with the Romans, and we are enemies of Rome. Later, we offered to buy iron ore at five Asi per pound, and he finally agreed to go back and discuss it because the Romans purchase Noric iron ore at one Asi per pound—"

"Greedy Noric," Onomabatis muttered.

"No, it should be the Romans who are greedy. The quality of the Noric iron ore is quite good, and the Romans offer too low a price," said Karsipengpas, who had dealings with Noric merchants recently and understood this well.

"In the end, the Noric agreed to sell us a small amount of iron ore at this price, but since they feared being intercepted by Roman warships, they do not handle transportation. Instead, we have to go to the port on the Istria Peninsula, to their trading post to purchase and handle the transportation ourselves.

But we have no ship! Everyone was troubled by this, fortunately, Karsipengpas brought his ship to our port at this time—" Alakosia looked at the pirate captain gratefully and said, "Willing to risk transporting iron ore for us, solving this big problem for us!"

"Alakosia, you overpraise me." Karsipengpas laughed heartily and candidly said, "I heard you had taken Sarabia and wanted to sneak in and see if there was anything to gain, but unexpectedly got discovered. At that moment, I thought I was done for. But I didn’t expect you to be very courteous to me and my brothers, and Leader Maximus even personally hosted a banquet for me...

We Illyrian Pirates are treated as outcasts, hunted in any Italian port town we go to, never have we enjoyed such hospitality, how could I refuse?" The more Karsipengpas spoke, the more excited he became.

"Leader Maximus is one of us Illyrians too. I once heard him say that when he sees you, he feels like he’s seeing his own family!" Alakosia looked at Onomabatis emotionally and said, "Although you rely on the Adriatic Sea for your livelihood, are familiar with sea conditions, and your ships are nimble, making it difficult for Roman warships to intercept you, Leader Maximus believes that you are taking great risks to work for us, so he insisted on paying you double the price, despite the financial officer’s objection."

At this moment, Onomabatis was also greatly moved.

"Onomabatis, you were recommended by Karsipengpas. I believe you are fully capable of helping us transport the iron ore," said Alakosia, handing him a square cloth. "This is the receipt for purchasing iron ore from the Noric. Take it to the Noricum Trading Post on the Istria Peninsula, show it to them, and you can buy iron ore at 5 Asi per pound... By the way, do you have enough money? If not, we can lend you some first."

"Thank you for your kindness. I have enough money to buy a dozen baskets of iron ore." Having come with Karsipengpas, Onomabatis was naturally prepared.

He unfolded the square cloth in his hand, which bore an indigo painting of a slave holding a stick striking a wolf—vividly depicted, lifelike. Below was a line of letters, but unfortunately, Onomabatis was illiterate, unable to recognize what was written.

He had never seen such a realistic painting before, and his eyes were deeply attracted to it.

"This was drawn by Leader Maximus himself. Isn’t it like the real thing? I think no one could forge it!" Alakosia proudly said.

Onomabatis couldn’t help but nod.

Karsipengpas cleared his throat and spoke, "Alakosia, can I ask for your help on something?"

Seeing him speak so courteously all of a sudden, Alakosia quickly straightened his expression and responded, "Please go ahead."

"My tribe lives in the mountains and mainly relies on sheep farming. For the past two or three years, huge snowfalls have been occurring in winter, exceptionally cold weather, causing a large number of cattle and sheep to die in the tribe, leaving the people short of food, suffering from cold and hunger... Not just my tribe, but other tribes in the mountains face the same issue. I’ve been using my earned money to buy food for them, but now food purchases are becoming more and more difficult..."

Karsipengpas, with an expectant face and a pleading tone, softly said, "I see you have a lot of food here. Can you sell me some so that the mountain tribesmen can get through these tough times?"

Alakosia hadn’t expected such a request, and he frowned immediately, but he quickly replied seriously, "Fellow countrymen facing disaster, I want to help too. I’m just not authorized to sell food, but I can ask my superior Pigeris for you. Uh, you two sit here for a while. I’ll go find Pigeris."

With that said, he stood up and walked out.

Karsipengpas didn’t expect his immediate action, catching him off guard.

"Big brother, do you really intend to buy food from here?" Onomabatis curiously asked.

"We have to try." Sighed Karsipengpas, "This year, the food from those port towns we frequent is either too expensive or not for sale. And you just saw they have a lot of food in their warehouses, perhaps we can buy it at a cheaper price."

With that said, Onomabatis also perked up because buying food for the tribe was not something only Karsipengpas’s pirate crew was doing.

The Illyrian region is mountainous with little arable land, the soil is poor, plus after the Romans destroyed the Illyria Kingdom a century ago and incorporated its coastal lands into Rome’s control, they have ignored the livelihood of its people. Illyrians have had a hard life, becoming pirates to plunder merchant ships, earn money, buy food, and sustain their families and tribes became their best option.