Chapter 414 – The Trade is Concluded
Zhao Hai noticed that as the goods were dropped overboard, they were immediately caught by the Shrimp Tribesmen and brought to the coral reef.
Some of those Shrimp people had red eyes, they knew how valuable Human goods were to their fellow sea-dwellers.
Merfolk society was a hierarchical one. Just like the Beastmen, they valued strength highly. When you put the Shrimp tribe along with Beastmen, they would rank alongside the Pig and Cattle Clans, almost belonging to the lowest level of society, the slaves. Otherwise, the Shrimp Race wouldn’t be living this close to Humans.
For a tribe like them, they must provide tributes to those strong Merfolk tribes each year. Or else they would be demoted to being slaves, or worse being eaten.
When it came to ruthlessness, the Beastmen wouldn’t compare to the Merfolk. At the very least, Beastmen wouldn’t eat their fellow Beastman. But for the Merfolk, once someone becomes a slave, even if you are a fellow Merman, you would inevitably become food. This kind of race has a term, they weren’t called slave, they would be called meals, or in other cases, food.
The Shrimp Tribe were busy all year round, although there were a lot of treasures in the sea, the tribute they needed to pay each year was also a lot. Sometimes, their required tribute wouldn’t be met, so they had no choice but take them away from the Humans. They would raid and battle human s.h.i.+ps near their territory, after all, they were superior on water.
For the Merfolk, Human products were very valuable. For a small tribe like the Rock Shrimps, a small amount of human goods would suffice for their yearly tribute. This made attacking Humans at sea even more appealing.
However, they wouldn’t be able to do that regularly since the Merfolk and the Humans had an agreement. If their raids were to cause a war with the Humans, the Rock Shrimp Tribe would surely become a Food Tribe.
Because of this little contact with Humans, Libben was able to have an understanding about what Humans find valuable. What he gave Zhao Hai was the most precious thing that they had. The production of this pearl was closely controlled by the Clam Sh.e.l.l Tribe, almost all of the pearl produced came from their hands. This one pearl that Libben presented was something he luckily acquired when he was young.
He showed this pearl in order to see if Zhao Hai was honest. If the price that Zhao Hai gave was acceptable, then he would be their Merchant. But if he didn’t, they would attacking him and sink his s.h.i.+p. They would rather do that than be deceived.
This reflected the att.i.tude of their kind, the cla.s.sification of good and evil was very simple. Being an enemy or a friend was decided by a few words.
Fortunately, Zhao Hai’s performance satisfied Libben, he decided that they would form a long time partners.h.i.+p with Zhao Hai. He immediately told this decision to his own tribesmen as they floated on the surface of the sea.
Zhao Hai took the pearl and closed it. After a short while, everything on the s.h.i.+ps were emptied. Then Zhao Hai turned to Libben and said, “Chief, I still have some Human grains. Would you like some?”
Libben smiled and said, “Of course, we’ll be trading with these.” Then he waved his hand as his tribesmen took out a lot of things.
Zhao Hai looked at these things and smiled. These were his main purpose in coming here, aquatic magic beasts, marine plants, and special corals.
Zhao Hai said while looking at the aquatic magic beasts, “These things are very good, I’ll trade for them. Chief, I’ll be loading these things first.” Then the Shrimp Tribesmen carried the aquatic magic beasts along with their containers on board Zhao Hai’s s.h.i.+p.
Then Zhao Hai waved his hand as large quant.i.ties of grain appeared on the sea. As the tribesmen were transporting the grains, Zhao Hai turned to Libben and said, “Chief, I think today’s transaction has to end here. Can I know if the Chief wants to trade with me again next time?”
Libben smiled and said, “We will trade with mister whenever he comes, rest a.s.sured.”
Zhao Hai nodded, “That’s great, then I’ll ask to be excused.” Afterwards, Zhao Hai made his s.h.i.+ps turn around and sail slowly.
At this time, Crag arrived at Libben’s side with an excited face, “Chief, these things are more than enough for us to pay the tribute. It seems like the Human didn’t deceive us.”
Libben looked at Crag and smiled, “Little one, this time I’ll have to thank you for bringing this honest Human to us. Now he will keep trading with us, also, go inform the other tribes and make them join our trades with the Human.”
Crag looked puzzled, “Chief, I don’t understand? Are our products cheap?”
Libben sighed and said, “Little one, you are too naive. Although these products are very good, it wouldn’t be good if we are the only ones that get it. Out tribe cannot swallow a benefit this big. Only when we ally up with the surrounding tribes will have the security of not being exterminated. Moreover, we also need more things to be exchanged in order to preserve a long partners.h.i.+p with the Human.”
Crag gave a nod that seems to border within understanding and not understanding. Libben didn’t add any more and just waved his hand as he led his people back into the sea.
Zhao Hai was now inside the s.p.a.ce, he saw that the plants that the Shrimp Tribe had given him weren’t ordinary, they were edible; Zhao Hao even saw kelp among them. The various magic beasts were mostly shrimps, it seems like the Rock Shrimp Tribe was very capable in raising shrimp.
When Zhao Hai absorbed these things into the s.p.a.ce, nothing happened, it seems like their levels were too low.
However, Zhao Hai actually earned big this time since he got a pearl as big as his own fist. It wasn’t something he could just exchange for a few boats anywhere. Adding on the special corals that were also quite attractive, he really had earned a lot with this transaction.
This was because although the price that he traded with the Merfolk was fair, he could add a huge markup on top of those products due to their rarity in the continent.
Looking at the corals, even Laura had the feeling of taking them away. Those things were really beautiful.
Zhao Hai looked at Laura’s expression and faintly smiled, “If you like it, you can take some. We still have a lot, we won’t be losing much.”
When Laura heard Zhao Hai, she was first very happy, then she shook her head and said, “It’s alright, we need to hand these things over to Charlie. Even though we aren’t short of money, we can use them to further our relations.h.i.+p with him. Right, Brother Hai, what are your plans for these magic beasts? These shrimps aren’t small, they should also be quite rare in the Continent.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “I’ll get them to breed inside the s.p.a.ce first, then when they get to a certain number, I’ll take them out and freeze them.”
Laura nodded, “But we can’t head back immediately, or else Charlie would get suspicious. I think we might as well go and mine some stones on uninhabited islands. The last time when we planned to do it, we were interrupted with the Shrimp Tribe’s matter, so we weren’t able to continue.”
Zhao Hai smiled, “That’s also good, then let’s look for a small island and have the undead mine some stones. Let’s go and and see Little Jin as well, that kid had been too comfortable with his family nowadays.”
Even though Little Jin was still living on Ape Island, his life had been more comfortable than before. This was because he had a good relations.h.i.+p with Cai’er, so she kept a piece of land in the s.p.a.ce for the fruits that Little Jin liked. Zhao Hai didn’t oppose this decision since he was also fond of the little monkey.
Zhao Hai also didn’t want Little Jin to leave his tribe, after all a leader couldn’t just leave his group all the time. And since Ape Island now had a Transmission Point in it, they could just go visit him every time.
In the next few days, Zhao Hai found a small and uninhabited island according to the size they discussed before. The island had nothing else than some rocks and weeds, and it fortunately had the stones that Zhao Hai liked.
Zhao Hai stopped the s.h.i.+p at the side of the small island. Then he went to release the undead to mine the stones, and while those undead were mining, he went to Ape Island with Laura and the others.
Although the gorillas seemed very terrifying and weren’t as cute as Little Jin, they already were getting along with Zhao Hai’s group. The gorilla group had intelligence of a 5-6 year old child, they were happily playing around with Zhao Hai.
Zhao Hai also wanted to find a safe place in the island to make a house in. So these past few days they were just strolling around the island.
Aside from finding a good place, they saw a cavern that had a water tunnel connecting to the cavern that the Goldmetal fruit was in. This cavern was very well hidden, even Little Jin didn’t know about it. This was because the entrance of this cavern was properly covered by a huge Bread Tree. The tree was placed on the outskirts of the island, this was why Little Jin rarely went there. The diameter of the tree was 50 meters, and half of it covered the entrance of the cavern, a 30 meter sized hole. In addition to the cavern entrance, it also had an opening towards the sea, also allowing a huge s.h.i.+p to come in from the outside. However, this entrance was underwater, Zhao Hai couldn’t do anything about that right now.
Although an entrance of the cavern was connected to the sea, it was actually very dry. Since the cavern was huge, it was no problem if several hundred individuals were to occupy it. This place was the best location for hiding secret treasures.