Rose Empire

Chapter 28: Procurement

Heath was dead.

The discoverer of irrational numbers had been burned at the stake.

Charlotte suddenly felt as though she had witnessed a piece of history.

The next day, as she walked through the streets of Ambratu, Charlotte could already hear the townsfolk discussing the execution by fire that had taken place the day before. Some found it thrilling, while others lamented that Heath had died too quickly, barely struggling in the flames, making the spectacle less satisfying.

Listening to the chatter, Renee couldn't help but frown. "Miss, the people here are truly cruel and barbaric."

The night before, Charlotte had explained to a puzzled Renee what irrational numbers were. Having been influenced since childhood by Charlotte and Lilith's strong desire for exploration, Renee saw no crime in Heath's discovery of irrational numbers.

Charlotte shook her head with a smile. "They're just ordinary people, that's all."

"Ordinary people?" Renee repeated softly, unable to reconcile the image of a crowd gleefully burning an innocent young man with the idea of "ordinary" people.

However, Renee soon gained a firsthand understanding of Charlotte's assessment.

The Sokya Peninsula had its own language and script, but due to its proximity to the mainland, the written languages of the Oran Empire and the Lesare Kingdom were also commonly used in the city-state of Ambratu. Following the signs hanging in front of the shops along the street, Charlotte and her group quickly found their target store.

It was a shop selling seafood, and it appeared to be the largest in the city. As Charlotte entered, the shopkeeper, noticing her fine attire and the entourage of attendants behind her, immediately recognized her as a high-value customer and warmly greeted her.

"What can I do for you, esteemed guest? Our shop offers a wide variety of goods, all of the highest quality, guaranteed to satisfy," the shopkeeper said with an ingratiating smile.

The overwhelming stench of fish made Charlotte slightly uncomfortable. Covering her nose, she asked in a muffled voice, "Do you have whale oil here?"

"Whale oil?" The shopkeeper slapped his thigh dramatically. "You've come to the right place! In this city, aside from my shop, there's probably no one else selling whale oil."

A young assistant brought out a rough clay jar from the store's warehouse. The shopkeeper opened it and carefully pushed it toward Charlotte, explaining, "This was brought in by a ship that docked not long ago. Look at the color, the texture, the freshness this is definitely top-quality whale oil."

Charlotte forced herself to take a sniff. She didn't know much about quality, but it did seem quite fresh. "How much for the whale oil?"

"The price is absolutely reasonable," the shopkeeper said, holding up four fingers. "Five Fuso per jar."

The Sokya Peninsula did have its own currency, and in fact, there were many types. With numerous city-states constantly at odds, each change in power often led to the creation of a new currency. Over time, even the locals found it cumbersome, sometimes unable to recognize their own city-state's currency. It was easier to just use the Fuso from the neighboring Oran Empire, whose coins bore the image of the empire's founding emperor from a thousand years ago, making them easy to identify.

"Five Fuso?" Renee immediately called out the shopkeeper's bluff. "We've already inquired. A jar of whale oil this size usually sells for no more than two Fuso! How can you charge five?"

"Ah, young lady," the shopkeeper protested, "you said it yourself that's the usual price. But now we're at war with the Delmorians. You can go to the docks yourself and see most of the large fishing boats have been requisitioned as warships, and the smaller ones can't catch whales. Even ordinary fish prices have gone up, let alone whale oil."

Delmor was a city-state in the southeastern part of the Sokya Peninsula, one of the strongest in the region.

However, the war the shopkeeper mentioned wasn't between Ambratu and Delmor. The two city-states were separated by countless mountains and ridges, making direct conflict impossible.

The war was between Delmor and the Eliyet City-State Alliance, or the "Eliyet Alliance" for short. Delmor wasn't fighting alone either; it had its own coalition of allied city-states, known as the "Delmor Alliance." Ambratu had joined the Eliyet Alliance.

The war had been going on for over a year, with numerous clashes on land and sea. Due to Ambratu's distance from the main front, the city-state could contribute little to the war effort, so the Eliyet Alliance had requisitioned most of Ambratu's ships.

Charlotte had heard about the war on the Sokya Peninsula and knew the shopkeeper was mostly telling the truth. Still, she said, "Even so, five Fuso is too expensive. How about three Fuso per jar?"

"Four Fuso at the very least," the shopkeeper said, reluctantly retracting one finger.

After some haggling, Charlotte purchased two hundred jars of whale oil for six hundred and eighty Fuso.

After buying the whale oil, Charlotte also purchased a batch of fish bladder glue and leather from the skins of zī fish.

The zī fish was a common saltwater fish in the southern seas of the Eagle Continent. It was large, incredibly strong in the water, and had sharp teeth capable of tearing through fishing nets. Its thick skin made it difficult for ordinary fishing boats to catch. However, every year, zī fish would gather in large numbers in the shallow coastal waters to spawn, making them easy prey for fishermen during that time.

The Sokya Peninsula was mostly mountainous, unsuitable for raising cattle, so the thick skin of the zī fish became a substitute material for making leather armor in the city-states. While fish leather armor wasn't as durable as cowhide, it was cheap and plentiful, making it easy to replace when worn out.

Fish bladder glue, on the other hand, was used to make weapons like crossbows. Charlotte didn't need to check to know that the Bay Viscountcy had long run out of such supplies. Fortunately, she had brought some craftsmen with her when she took up her post. As long as she could procure the raw materials, they could manufacture the weapons themselves.

After leaving the fish shop, Charlotte found a store selling supernatural materials and handed a list to the shopkeeper at the counter. The shopkeeper glanced at it and said, "We only have two of these items in stock."

Unlike the smooth transaction at the fish shop, Charlotte and her group faced considerable difficulty in acquiring the supernatural materials. They visited all three shops in the city but still couldn't gather everything they needed. It was only after Eric Scaramario suggested seeking out a middleman at a tavern that they managed to procure the last two materials.

Of course, all the sellers told Charlotte they needed to retrieve the goods and that the transaction would have to wait until the next day. Charlotte understood each supernatural material was expensive, and keeping them in the shop risked theft or robbery, let alone carrying them around. Moreover, Charlotte's demand was quite large.

After purchasing the supernatural materials, Charlotte and her group headed to the livestock market not to buy animals, but to buy slaves.

Slaves were sold in the livestock market, a darkly humorous touch by the administrators of Ambratu.

"We need to purchase fifty slaves skilled in masonry and carpentry," Renee said to the slave trader.

This was a big order, and the slave trader rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Slaves with skills are a bit more expensive."

"That's fine," Renee said, "but they must be healthy, with no diseases or disabilities."

"Don't worry," the slave trader assured her, thumping his chest. "I, Hans, am known for my honesty. The slaves I sell are as strong as foals."

"Your word isn't enough. We'll inspect them ourselves," Renee said.

Eric Scaramario and two knight attendants followed the slave trader to select and inspect the slaves checking their "quality," which meant ensuring they were healthy and intact.

Meanwhile, another slave trader approached cautiously and asked, "Esteemed guests, are you purchasing so many masons and carpenters to build a castle?"

Charlotte raised an eyebrow at the man. "Why do you ask?"

The slave trader smiled. "If you're planning to build a castle, I have a rather exceptional slave to recommend. He's a master architect who once participated in the construction of Feidi City."

Feidi was the largest city-state in the Eliyet Alliance, and its city was said to be the most magnificent and artistically rich in the entire Sokya Peninsula.

"Oh? That impressive?" Charlotte said with interest. "Bring him to me."

The slave trader hurried off and soon returned with a man whose neck was chained and whose hair and beard had turned gray.

Despite his age, the man had delicate skin and didn't look like a typical slave.

"Are you the master architect? Did you really help build Feidi City?" Charlotte asked.

The man's Adam's apple bobbed before he slowly replied, "Y-yes."

"What's your name?" Charlotte asked.

"Jonathan. Jonathan Hackman," the man said.

Charlotte quizzed him on some architectural and mathematical questions, to which he answered fluently. Satisfied, Charlotte turned to the slave trader. "We'll take him."

"Thank you for your patronage," the slave trader said joyfully. He had thought this old and frail slave would be hard to sell, but today he had encountered a customer who didn't even haggle.

Suddenly, Charlotte's eyes gleamed as she asked, "By the way, do you have any beautiful female slaves?"

"Female slaves?" The slave trader was momentarily taken aback, as Charlotte and her group didn't seem like the type to buy female slaves. But he quickly recovered. "Of course we do. Our female slaves are not only beautiful but come in many varieties."

"Really?"

"Miss!"

Charlotte was about to ask about the varieties when Renee interrupted.

"I'll buy ten female slaves," Charlotte said.

Renee rolled her eyes. "Miss, don't waste money!"

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

"Seven!"

"Six!"

...

Finally, worn down by Charlotte's persistence, Renee agreed to let her buy two female slaves.

"Pick the prettiest ones, and they must be virgins," Charlotte said, compensating for the reduced quantity with higher quality.

The selected slaves were temporarily held at the slave market, to be collected the next day when the supernatural materials were delivered.

The slave traders happily agreed to this small request from such a big customer.

After nearly a full day in the city, Charlotte and her group had mostly acquired the supplies and manpower needed for their territory. They also bought a couple of city-state-style jewelry pieces for Beatrice and her daughter.

Beatrice initially refused, but Charlotte insisted, while Anna happily accepted the gift.

By evening, the group returned to their inn. The young server who had cheered for Heath's execution the day before eagerly served them a lavish dinner, showing no trace of the cruelty he had displayed earlier.

"They really are just ordinary people, aren't they?" Renee said suddenly as she peeled shrimp for Charlotte at the dinner table.

Throughout the day, they had encountered many city-state residents some sly, some kind, some petty, and some with street smarts. But overall, as Charlotte had said, they were just ordinary people. They might not be paragons of virtue, but they weren't barbaric or evil either.

"If they're just ordinary people, why did they so readily burn one of their own yesterday?" Renee asked, still puzzled.

"Because when ordinary people gather in a crowd, they lose the ability to think rationally. Group behavior is often emotional, blind, and foolish," Charlotte said.

Heath's death reminded Charlotte of another great man who had died at the hands of democratic judgment Socrates.

It was said that when Socrates was put on trial, many of the citizens who voted didn't even know what crime he had committed. But they figured that if Anytus, a prominent leader in Athens, accused Socrates of a crime, then he must be guilty.

Heath's death was the same. Many citizens didn't even know what the Pythagorean theorem, squares, or diagonals were, but that didn't stop them from believing Heath was guilty, because the elders, scholars, and religious inquisitors on the platform all said he was.

And if Heath was guilty, then the citizens had every reason to satisfy their desire to watch a good execution.

"But Ambratu has entrusted its governance to its citizens. The Citizen Assembly has been managing the city-state for many years," Renee said, still somewhat skeptical of Charlotte's bold statement.

Charlotte's lips curled into a faint smile. "Renee, let's make a bet. The capriciousness of Ambratu's citizens will one day bring ruin to this city."

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