Shortly after, Mina returned. She had merely asked someone to show Parkin out rather than escorting him personally; the old man simply didn't have that much face.
"Mina, send someone to keep an eye on him and see who he contacts," Lucas turned his head and told the cat-eared girl.
"Understood," Mina complied.
"Ayesha, how was your stay at Bella's territory?" Lucas asked with a light chuckle.
"Not very good. It's much worse than Sedona City," Ayesha frowned, saying helplessly, "It's completely different from here. Everyone is really lazy and has absolutely no vitality."
"Oh?" Lucas raised an eyebrow, looking at Nancy in surprise. "How are you settling the beastkin?"
"We..." Nancy stammered. They hadn't really made any arrangements.
As people who followed Bella, most of them didn't know anything about farming; they only knew how to rob and kill. They were clueless about everything else. Nancy was slightly better off, as she knew a bit about managing affairs.
"I understand," Lucas nodded, already guessing a few things.
"Understand what?" Nancy asked curiously.
"Do the people in Bella's territory lack any goals?" Lucas asked.
"Well... you could say that," Nancy thought for a moment and said, "Everyone is just waiting around to eat."
"Then that explains it," Lucas smiled and said, "A life without goals is just muddling along, taking it one day at a time."
Seeing the surprised expressions on Nancy and Obi's faces, he continued, "Besides, with you guys feeding them, how could they have any vitality?"
"Uh..." Nancy and Obi were speechless.
"Master, I had some people go mining, and we've brought back a batch of saltpeter," Ayesha said happily.
"Excellent. I'll take it all," Lucas nodded in satisfaction. Looking at Nancy and Obi, he asked, "What supplies do you want to exchange the saltpeter for? Or do you want gold coins?"
"Wheat and linen," Nancy said immediately.
"Alright," Lucas agreed. After a moment of thought, he added, "I hope you can continue mining large quantities of saltpeter. I can trade for all of it with wheat and linen."
Saltpeter had far too many uses. Not only was it a raw material for gunpowder, but it could also be used for refrigeration, and certain special crafts required it as well.
"We can do that," Nancy immediately agreed. There were currently two to three thousand people mining in the territory, which could completely satisfy Lucas's demands. Most importantly, it would generate income for their territory.
Right now, the only major hurdle facing Bella's territory was overpopulation. The territory had only recently planted wheat, and it would be months before the harvest.
There were currently over ten thousand idle beastkin in the territory, and mining didn't require that many people. If they drove them away, nine times out of ten, they would be captured and sold as slaves.
"Master, the Big sister has something she wants to discuss with you this time," Ayesha hurriedly spoke up after feeling Nancy lightly kick her foot. "She asked me to speak with you on her behalf."
"Oh?" Lucas was surprised. He glanced at Nancy and Obi. Letting the simple and straightforward cow-horned girl negotiate with me? Are they serious?
He asked curiously, "What is it? Go ahead and tell me."
"It's like this: the Big sister has too many beastkin in her territory and can't afford to feed them all. So she was wondering if the Master could take in some of the beastkin," Ayesha said, explaining it according to her own understanding.
"..." Nancy's mouth twitched. That's not how you were supposed to say it!
The original intention was that Lady Bella wanted to send a portion of the people to work in Sedona City to earn coins.
"Sure, how many people do you want me to take in?" Lucas agreed without hesitation. Building roads and reclaiming wasteland required far too many people, especially beastkin for manual labor. Beastkin had great strength and stamina, making their efficiency in manual labor several times higher than that of humans.
"Really, you can?" Ayesha asked, pleasantly surprised. It was actually her who had suggested this to the Big sister in the first place.
She knew people could eat their fill in Sedona City and that the city needed workers, but since she hadn't asked Lucas beforehand, she had still been a bit anxious.
"How many people are coming?" Lucas asked curiously. Even a few hundred would be great; he would take whatever he could get.
"For now, it's thirteen thousand people. We'll probably send more over later," Ayesha said happily. She knew Bella's territory was still taking in beastkin.
"That many?" Lucas was surprised—truly surprised this time.
"Your Excellency Lucas, this is half the beastkin in our territory," Nancy said helplessly.
The territory simply couldn't afford to feed so many beastkin right now. Otherwise, they could have used them to massively boost the territory's power. But unless a territory was self-sufficient, having too large a population was a disaster.
"I'll take them all." The curve of Lucas's smile grew wider. This was basically free labor.
If he threw half of them into reclaiming wasteland and building roads, paired with the tools developed by the Research Department, it wouldn't take long to build a road all the way to Somali City.
"May I ask, Your Excellency Lucas, how you plan to settle the beastkin? They have very large appetites," Nancy asked with a frown.
"When the beastkin arrive, I will temporarily provide housing," Lucas, who was already experienced in this sort of resettlement, said slowly. "Of course, the housing isn't free. They don't have to pay rent for the first month; they can pay it back once they start working and receive their wages."
"Wages? How much can they earn in a month?" Nancy quickly asked.
"It depends on the work, but the minimum monthly wage is sixty copper coins. If they are literate, their wages can reach one hundred and twenty copper coins," Lucas said softly.
"Then what kind of work will the beastkin generally do when they arrive?" Nancy was very satisfied with this wage.
"Beastkin are quite strong, so they'll go reclaim wasteland, build roads, or construct houses and the like." Lucas told the truth. "This kind of manual labor generally pays between seventy and eighty copper coins."
"All the beastkin?" Nancy nodded. She knew manual labor was the best option for them.
"Of course not. Beastkin under the age of fourteen can attend school for free to learn how to read and write," Lucas said gently.
"They can also learn to read for free?" Nancy's eyes widened. This was something she hadn't expected at all.
"Yes. As long as they have coins later on, they can just pay it back then," Lucas smiled warmly. What he described was essentially an alternate-world version of a student loan.
"I will immediately send people to escort them over," Nancy said in a heavy voice.
"I'll send people to escort them together with yours," Lucas said softly. Does this count as immigration?
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You can read advance chapters and view R-18 images of the characters on pat reon page.
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