Chapter 524 – Alliance
After knowing the bottom line of the merchants, Zhao Hai decided that he would buy all of their goods. Of course, he wouldn’t buy them at a high price. He would make the merchants lose a little. However, even with this, he expects that the merchants would still feel grateful to him.
This even also gave Zhao Hai more understanding regarding the Beastmen. When the Beastmen declares war with the Humans, they would drive all of these merchants away. In this case, the Humans would generally leave their goods behind. Then the beastman can then choose whether to take those or not.
But according to the past convention, the Beastmen wouldn’t touch these commodities, they will just leave those to rot. In order to survive, Beastmen would take their weapons and attack the Human lands, however, they wouldn’t touch these left over merchandise in Beast G.o.d City. This was one of the strange and respectable aspect of the Beastman Race.
Zhao Hai also knew that if the Beastmen does expel the Human merchants, then the merchants would surely suffer big.
The majority of Beastmen tribes do their trades with Magic Beasts. The Humans would bring their goods to the Prairie to have it traded with some Magic Beasts of which were then taken back to human lands to be processed. The markup from this process would be the merchant’s main source of profit.
If the Beastmen drives them away, then that would mean that the war is already near. If they bring the Magic Beasts, then they would find it difficult to cross the Human border. Even if they did pa.s.s through, the money that they would sh.e.l.l out will be very big, it can even be several times more than normal. As the matter stands, it would be very disadvantageous for them. One could even say that during this war between the Beastmen and the Humans, it would be the Merchants who didn’t know of the matter that would be losing a lot of money.
Because of this, Zhao Hai planned to trade with these humans using money. Presently, he has a lot of money in his hands. He even had some unnamed crystal cards, these cards have not been used so far. There really aren’t a lot of places where Zhao Hai can spend money, so he decided to spend them here with the Human Merchants. After all, it was the Human Merchants that use crystal cards the most.
Zhao Hai had been in Beast G.o.d City for nearly ten days now. And during these ten days, rumors about the Radiant Church and the food shortage have finally started to spread throughout the city. Moreover, it was known that the Lion and Tiger Races had already confirmed the authenticity of this news. The Beastmen were now officially starting to prepare for their attack towards the Human territories.
But even if the information had already been pa.s.sed on, the Beastmen from Beast G.o.d City still didn’t drive the Human Merchants away. This basically means that the Beastmen still hasn’t decided when their attack would begin. However, everybody knew that it would be happening sooner rather than later.
Right now, the Human Merchants in Beast G.o.d City were feeling like they were ants inside a hot pot. They knew that the time the Beastmen left for them was running out.
At this time, Zhao Hai made his move. He made Ah Tai invite the Human Merchants to Magic Lily Store. Then he made Laura and the others prepare some food while Zhao Hai discussed transaction to the Humans present.
Before long, the Merchants had followed Ah Tai to Magic Lily Shop. They actually didn’t care about Ah Tai, but they didn’t dare to not give Zhao Hai face.
Zhao Hai was the Buda Clan’s Patriarch, he was already very famous among Humans. Naturally, this fame was due to his mercilessness and ruthlessness.
These merchants knew that the people that died on Zhao Hai’s hands had already reached several hundred thousand. Just thinking about the numbers made their scalp numb. Since Zhao Hai invited them, they didn’t dare to not go. However, everyone was frightened. They didn’t know why Zhao Hai was looking for them.
These merchants followed Ah Tai towards the shop’s courtyard. Meanwhile, Zhao Hai was standing there while waiting for them to arrive. When he saw the merchants, Zhao Hai immediately stepped forwards to meet everybody. He gave a bow to the Merchants and said, “Zhao Hai Buda welcomes you.”
ZHao Hai checked, these merchants were medium level n.o.bles of the continent. They couldn’t rely on Great n.o.bles and were naturally unaffiliated with the Radiant Church. Zhao Hai invited them in to propose an alliance.
The statuses of these merchants were very different from Zhao Hai’s. They didn’t dare accept Zhao Hai’s bow, so everyone almost simultaneously gave a bow back.
Zhao Hai looked at their faces and faintly smiled, “I’ve been in Beast G.o.d City for ten days already. However, because of the matters that I needed to handle, I only had the time to invite all of you today. I’ve been very disrespectful. I’ve invited everyone today to gain better understanding of each other. After all, everyone of us are merchants of this city.”
Although these merchants had heard of Zhao Hai’s name and actions before, they didn’t have a chance to meet him in person. In all honesty, with their status in the continent, they don’t have the qualifications to meet Zhao Hai.
Because of this, they didn’t understand Zhao Hai and what kind of person he was. To the people present, Zhao Hai was a Dark Mage that killed several hundred thousand people. In their minds, Zhao Hai’s image was that of a gloomy and murderous man.
However, the Zhao Hai that they saw this time was completely opposite of their expectations. Although Zhao Hai looked very ordinary, he had a warm smile plastered on his face. At the same time, his body’s aura dispersed an amiable aura, making people unconsciously feel intimate towards him.
These Merchants were now thinking that this Zhao Hai must be an impostor. How could a G.o.d of Death, capable of killing countless people, have this kind of warm smile? This was a huge contrast to what these merchants expected, making them dumbfounded.
Zhao Hai didn’t care about their reactions, he just smiled faintly and said, “Everyone, please come in. I’ve prepared some liquor for you all. I invite all of you to have a few cups with me.”
The merchants recovered, then after quickly expressing their grat.i.tude they entered the tent with Zhao Hai .There were also some food present inside. Naturally, the most important course was Sister-in-law’s barbecue.
Now that everything was prepared, Zhao Hai invited the merchants to sit down. Ah Tai sat down as well. Naturally, Laura and the others weren’t present. Humans and Beastmen were different, after all. If Laura and the others were present, these merchants would probably feel uncomfortable. Not only them, the women might also feel some discomfort.
After having everybody settled down, Ah Tai went on and personally poured them a gla.s.s of liquor. This liquor was naturally red wine and not the milk wine that the Beastmen generally serve.
After having the wine, Zhao Hao held his gla.s.s up and said, “Meeting everyone here in the Beastman Prairie is a happy matter. We’re all fellow humans, we should help each other in the future. Everyone, share this cup with me.”
The statuses of these Merchants weren’t very high. Therefore, they hadn’t been able to have any contacts with people of Zhao Hai’s status. In their opinion, Zhao Hai was someone that they weren’t able to meet casually.
Therefore, when these merchants saw that Zhao Hai was speaking with them in a friendly manner as well as eating a meal together with them and even proposing a toast. Every one of them felt very excited, so they immediately held their gla.s.ses up.
Then they simultaneously drank the wine. Then Zhao Hai didn’t urge them to drink anymore, he then got them to eat the dishes. He invited them to eat the barbecue as well as the vegetables that were prepared. Zhao Hai was now in the company of Humans, not Beastmen. If he urged them to drink three gla.s.ses, they might get angry.
Although Zhao Hai’s status was higher than these people, he didn’t have any enmity with them so he didn’t want to create it unnecessary. At the same time, it wouldn’t be good to his plan of alliance if they felt any dislike towards him..
After some time eating and feeling somewhat full, Zhao Hai said, “Today, I’ve invited all of you because I have a matter to discuss.”
These Merchants knew that Zhao Hai wouldn’t ask them to eat a meal for no reason. Sure enough, it came. They had waited for this moment to arrive, therefore, they weren’t surprised when Zhao Hai brought it up. They just gave Zhao Hai a curious expression.
Zhao Hai looked at them and said, “Are you having a bad time right now? The Beastmen and the Humans are going to have a war soon. I’m afraid it wouldn’t take a long time before the Beastmen drives everybody back to Human lands. When that time comes, everybody would probably suffer a loss.”
When these Merchants heard Zhao Hai, they faces immediately turned gloomy. They knew that what Zhao Hai said was correct. But they also knew that they cannot do anything about it.
Zhao Hai continued, “I think that everybody already knew why they fell into such a situation. I can tell everyone here that the rumors that you’ve been hearing are all real. This matter was caused by the Radiant Church. They wanted to deal with the Rosen Empire using this method while at the same time dealing the the Beastmen as well. In the end, all of you have become sacrificial victims. In the eyes of the Church, all of you are unimportant people, not worth reminding. Moreover, they also used you to hinder the Beastmen.”
The Merchants might appear calm while listening, but one could see deep anger in their eyes. Looking at their expressions, Zhao Hai knew that this was the time to express his intent, so he continued, “Everybody knows my ident.i.ty. You also know about my enmity with the Radiant Church. But me telling you this information wasn’t to defile the church. This matter would be confirmed by the Beastmen sooner. I had everybody come today in order to present a proposal. I want everyone here to join me in an alliance.”
When the Merchants heard Zhao Hai, they couldn’t help but stare blankly. Everyone of them were puzzled at Zhao Hai. They seem to not understand what Zhao Hai just said. Alliance? With Zhao Hai’s strength, does he really need an alliance with them?
Zhao Hai looked at them and said, “You’ve seen the strength of the Radiant Church. They gave an order and then so many merchants suddenly stopped their trade with the Beastmen. It is obvious that their influence is very huge. After the war, the Radiant Church may use those merchants to rule the commerce of the Prairie. If we don’t make an alliance, how can we possibly resist them? They won’t sell food to the Prairie today, but what would happen if they suddenly drop the prices one day? What can we do? Because of this, I wanted to set up an alliance!”