When he saw him enter, Chen Yu opened his small eyes and asked, "What’s happened?"
Camisil closed his umbrella, gently shaking the water from it. He then strode over to Chen Yu, who was seated on the central oak throne, and bowed respectfully.
"Your Majesty, all the assets seized from the castle’s treasury have been inventoried."
He took a list from within his coat and presented it with both hands. "According to the precise statistics from the Lord Slime managing the warehouse, the fortress warehouse currently holds seventy-six thousand Gold Coins and approximately three thousand Silver Coins."
Chen Yu’s small eyes instantly lit up.
’Over seventy thousand Gold Coins... I never expected the Blood Race to leave me such a fortune.’
He hopped excitedly and pressed, "Excellent. And if we sell all the captured Enchanted Equipment and Magic Scrolls, roughly how many Gold Coins would that fetch?"
Hearing this, Camisil gave a helpless smile and shrugged. "Because your reputation as the ’King of Monsters’ has already spread throughout the borders of the White Horse Kingdom, the Garrison Legion is already on alert. They’ve tightened inspections at every checkpoint."
"I’m afraid our trade caravan wouldn’t even make it inside the White Horse Kingdom before they confiscate all of these ’spoils’ in the name of suppressing bandits."
"Oh, right." It finally dawned on Chen Yu.
After a moment’s thought, he suggested another idea. "What about selling them to the local Mercenaries in the Dark Land? They should be in desperate need of this equipment, shouldn’t they?"
COUGH, COUGH...
Camisil covered his mouth and coughed lightly. "Your Majesty, have you forgotten? All the mercenaries in the Dark Land with any sort of reputation have already been ’invited’ to ’be our guests’ in the prison camp."
"Are you sure you want to sell the equipment back to them?"
His words were tactful, stopping just short of explicitly stating his concern: that the Mercenaries would take the equipment and immediately turn it against them.
"Never mind, then." Chen Yu completely abandoned the idea, his heart growing heavy with worry.
’To cultivate a massive legion of Ancient Trees, the cost of purchasing ancient resin alone would be astronomical.’
’To be honest, these tens of thousands of Gold Coins could be depleted after just a few purchasing trips.’
’But without a stable trade route, there’s no way to smoothly sell the territory’s ’local specialties,’ making the supply of ancient resin a huge problem.’
Just then, Camisil chuckled softly, his tone relaxed. "Your Majesty, you needn’t worry. As for a trade route, I do have a solution."
Chen Yu looked up at him in anticipation.
Camisil explained, "You may not be too familiar with the geography of the Dark Land."
"In fact, aside from the eastern road to the White Horse Kingdom, there are two other major trade routes that run through the southeast of the Dark Land."
"Via these two routes, our trade caravan can bypass the Garrison Legion’s blockade and head south. We could trade with the Wuwan Port Alliance, which is famous for its commerce, or even with the wealthier southern Kingdoms beyond."
"Of course, the drawback of these routes is the long journey. Using traditional horse-drawn carriages, a round trip would take approximately two months."
He broke into a confident smile. "But if I were to lead the caravan myself, using some of our Blood Race’s... convenient little abilities, I’m certain I can cut that time down to about half a month."
Chen Yu stared at Camisil with suspicion.
"Why the sudden interest in trade?"
Just as he was suspecting Camisil of having some ulterior motive, perhaps planning to take the money and run, Camisil declared as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "To spread the faith, of course!"
His eyes shone with a fanatical light, as if he were speaking of a most sacred mission. "Your Majesty, you must understand that commerce is often accompanied by the spread of faith."
"Though the Dark Land is landlocked, many Mercenaries here still worship ’Eusra’—the goddess of the sea. Such cases are common across the continent."
He spread his arms wide, exclaiming excitedly, "Please, Your Majesty, just imagine! In those southern nations, where faith is still a wild frontier, how many potential Believers are waiting for my guidance!"
Chen Yu’s expression turned awkward.
’He does seem to have a point.’
’But who would worship a Slime?’
’To put it nicely, they’re ’potential Believers.’ To put it bluntly, there isn’t a single person in the south who worships a Slime right now.’
He looked at Camisil’s eyes, which burned with the determination of a martyr, and ultimately swallowed the snarky comeback he was about to make.
"Hmm... I’ll prepare a detailed trade manifest for you. I’m entrusting the southern trade mission to you."
"As a provision, I will prepare enough Blood of Life for you and the trade caravan to last half a month."
Camisil’s eyes lit up. He placed a hand over his heart and bowed deeply.
"For the Kingdom! For Your Majesty!"
Watching Camisil leave the great hall, Chen Yu couldn’t help but muse to himself.
’With the addition of Camisil and the other members of the Blood Race, the Slime Kingdom finally has more humanoid subjects capable of handling foreign affairs.’
’At least now, I won’t have to drag Anvil along for every long-distance trade mission that requires negotiating with outsiders.’
’I can let my master smith stay in his workshop and focus on honing his craft in peace.’
’Speaking of which... ever since Greystone Wall was breached and the Demon Legion captured the ancient Alchemy Cannons on the ramparts, Anvil has been so excited he’s given up his favorite ale. He’s been completely absorbed in studying those massive contraptions.’
’I wonder if he’s figured anything out yet.’