Volume 1 Chapter 73 Exploring an ore vein
Perhaps it was because they had personally witnessed the changes with the Norma Tribe, chief Monto and the two elders entered this cooperation with Xu Yi filled with confidence. So these negotiations…..Oh, no, they could be considered business discussions went very smoothly.
In just a short day, Xu Yi had already set all the details with chief Monto.
For the hundred dwarven craftsmen provided by the Angola Tribe, Xu Yi would give the same treatment as Camby and the others, giving them a salary of eight gold coins a month.
But in terms of other benefits, it was a bit lacking.
This was because Camby’s group had already been working for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce for two months now and they could be considered trained skilled workers. As for the dwarves from the Angola Tribe, they were new hires, so naturally it was impossible for them to receive the same treatment.
Chief Monto and the two elders didn’t have any objections to this since being able to obtain a salary of eight gold coins a month for their clansmen was already enough to satisfy them.
Not to mention that Xu Yi had promised to create a material research lab in the Angola Tribe. Not only did he give them a fixed research fund of one hundred gold coins a month, as long as they succeeded with a project which was useful to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they would receive a bonus of five hundred gold coins.
For the Angola Tribe that had been impoverished for a long time, whether it was their clansmen going to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and receiving a fixed salary of eight gold coins a month, or receiving a bonus of five hundred gold coins a month for any success was like rain at the end of a drought. They were very satisfied with this, so how could they have more requests at this time?
The dwarves were simple and honest and now that Xu Yi had given them these conditions, it was like he was saving them.
So chief Monto and the two elders wanted to bring Xu Yi back to the Angola Tribe as a guest no matter what to show their grat.i.tude.
Xu Yi couldn’t reject their goodwill and could only follow them in the end. With chief Siluka and Camby, they headed to the Angola Tribe.
Perhaps it was because their population was higher than the Norma Tribe, so compared to the previous Norma Tribe, the lives of the Angola Tribe was a bit better. But there was still a limit to this and they were only barely keeping themselves away from starving.
But compared to the current Norma Tribe, it was like heaven and earth.
After walking around the Angola Tribe, Xu Yi saw a little dwarven boy happily eating the candy he had brought and he couldn’t help asking chief Siluka, “I’m very curious, why are the lives of the dwarves so difficult? The dwarves are clearly very industrious, can endure suffering, and have strong forging techniques, they should be living their lives like this by normal logic, right?”
Chief Siluka and chief Monto looked at each other before revealing bitter smiles.
After a while, chief Siluka let out a sigh and said, “Chairman Xu, this problem, you should actually ask your fellow humans.”
“Oh?” Xu Yi looked at chief Siluka with a curious gaze, “Why?”
“It’s very simple. Since the race wars several thousand years ago, humans had complete victories and had taken every good place on the Sines Continent. Whether it is us dwarves, the beastmen, or the halflings that haven’t been seen in a long time, we could only live on barren land and couldn’t obtain enough food at all. If we wanted to obtain food from human hands, we needed to pay large prices. Chairman Xu, you come from Banta City. Let me ask you, how much does one pound of wheat in Banta City sell for?”
Xu Yi was surprised. He thought about it before replying, “If I remember correctly, the current price should be fourteen silver coins per pound.”
“Look, it’s only fourteen silver coins per pound!” Chief Siluka gave a snort, not hiding the dissatisfaction in his voice at all, “Do you know how much you humans sell a pound of wheat to us for?”
Xu Yi knit his brows. There was no need to ask, he already knew that it would be a very high price.
As expected, chief Siluka raised a thick finger.
“An entire gold coin! That can only buy one pound of wheat! Chairman Xu, do you know? We dwarves have a higher capacity for food compared to you humans and each person can eat half a pound of wheat in a single meal. This means that a single gold coin is only enough to feed us dwarves for a single day!” After saying this, chief Siluka’s voice was filled with rage. It was very clear that he had been suppressing his anger at the humans increasing the price of wheat for a long time, “We dwarves only have the habit of enjoying good wine, but good wine requires even more wheat. In order to save the wheat we obtained from the humans with great difficulty, our Norma Tribe had already forbidden wine. Chairman Xu, do you know, last time when you came to our tribe, it was our first time drinking wine in two year?”
Xu Yi couldn’t help revealing a bitter smile. For these dwarves who were addicted to wine, two long years without drinking was a very painful thing.
It was no wonder that when Xu Yi promised the dwarves under Camby that he would provide wine from the Sachi Manor as a reward, the enthusiasm of the dwarves had surged.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi couldn’t help finding it strange.
“This isn’t right. Chief Siluka, based on what you said, did you use something to exchange for gold coins or for the life preserving wheat?”
“It’s very simple, we used ores.” Chief Siluka pointed at the mountain outside the Angola Tribe, “There are many ores inside this mountain, as well as Magic Crystal ores. Humans feel this place is too far and it’s too costly to mine here, so they never cared about it. So, we dwarves have depended on mining these iron ores and Magic Crystals to exchange for food from humans.”
“If my guesses aren’t wrong, they are also purchasing these iron ores and Magic Crystals at a very low price, right?” Xu Yi asked in a thoughtful voice.
“It is very low, but what other choice is there?” Chief Siluka said with a sigh, “This is because these humans don’t care since harvesting these ores are just too costly. If one day humans set their eyes on these mines and send soldiers to drive us away, we really don’t know what we can depend on to keep living anymore. We still have to thank the humans for giving us a path of life.” After saying this, chief Siluka revealed a self deprecating smile.
Xu Yi looked at chief Monto nearby with a somewhat helpless look and chief Monto as revealed a bitter smile. He nodded at Xu Yi and said, “Although the situation of our tribe is a bit better than the Norma Tribe, it isn’t that different. In the end, we aren’t humans and humans are the rulers of the Sines Continent.”
Seeing the expression of the two chiefs, Xu Yi couldn’t help feeling a bit awkward.
As a human and being here listening to these two dwarves discussing the oppression of dwarves by humans, he did feel like he didn’t belong.
But there was information that chief Siluka gave just now that had attracted his attention. He looked up at the tall mountain for a while and Xu Yi suddenly asked, “Chief Siluka, you dwarves are not just good at forging but also good at mining?”
“Un, that’s right. We dwarves don’t have any other specialties, but we do have some talent in opening up wastelands and refining ores. The ores you humans spend a whole day picking might not be as much as we dwarves can mine in a single meal.” Chief Siluka replied.
“That is a bit off. Since dwarves have this ability, why don’t human companies hire dwarves to mine for them?” Xu Yi asked.
“They did before, but the wages those human companies gave our dwarven brothers was very low. Of course the main thing was that those humans looked down on us and it was easy to be bullied in those mines, so it was better to come back and not do it anymore. After a long time pa.s.sed, now there are no dwarven brothers willing to work for humans.” Chief Siluka looked over Xu Yi before continuing, “To be honest, chairman Xu, if it wasn’t for the fact that I had no other choice, I wouldn’t have agreed to La.n.u.s and let you take our hundred dwarven brothers away.”
Xu Yi nodded, this had already been raised to him by Master La.n.u.s.
“Of course, Camby has also told me after that our brothers are doing very well at your Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Not only does chairman Xu provide food and places to sleep, you also let them drink wine, letting me become gradually a.s.sured.” Chief Siluka changed into a voice of praise, “It has to be said, chairman Xu is not the same as other humans, you don’t have any biases towards us dwarves.”
Xu Yi shrugged his shoulders, “I’ll say something you won’t like hearing. I am a pure human merchant, I only care if the other side will bring benefits or not, I don’t care about their race at all.”
Chief Siluka and chief Monto broke out in laughter at the same time. Chief Siluka even got on his tiptoes to slap Xu Yi’s shoulder as he said, “If all humans were as straightforward as chairman Xu, we dwarves would have much better days.”
Xu Yi couldn’t help rolling his eyes. He never thought that him saying this would be considered a frank appraisal.
He looked back at the tall mountain before saying, “Chief Siluka, since you dwarves are good at opening mines, you should be good at exploring for ore veins, right?”
“Un, if it is exploring ore veins, if we dwarves say we are second, there is no race on the Sines Continent who dare claim to be first.” Chief Siluka had a proud look on his face.
“Then that’s good. I have an idea and I need your ore vein exploring experts to help me.” Xu Yi said.
“No problem.” Chief Monto patted his chest before chief Siluka, “Speaking of ore vein exploring experts, our Angola Tribe has many of them. There is no need to mention others, I am an expert.”
Xu Yi shook his head with a faint smile, “Of course there’s no need for chief Monto to personally head out. I hope that chief Siluka and chief Monto can pick five people each from your tribe to explore all over the Lampuri Kingdom according to my requests and it would be best if they can find some mines. Do you two think this will work?”
“All over the Lampuri Kingdom?” The two chiefs looked at each other before knitting their brows, “This might be a bit difficult, but it is not impossible. It just needs a bit of time.”
“How long do you estimate it will take?” Xu Yi asked.
“If it is searching for ore veins and Magic Crystal veins, our clansmen has a rich experience. If there are ten people, I think it’ll take less than half a year to finish.” Chief Monto said, “But if you include other ore veins, it would be hard to say……”
Xu Yi was instantly overjoyed, “It won’t even take half a year? That’s great! Very good, we’ll do this. Chief Siluka, chief Monto, you just need to pick the most experienced dwarves from your tribes. I’ll tell you, not only will our Frestech Chamber of Commerce pay for all their fees, we will also give each person a hundred gold coins at the end of the expedition.”
“One hundred gold coins? That is too much!” When Xu Yi’s voice fell, the two chiefs shook their hands, “This is only a small matter, there is no need to mention a reward, not to mention that one hundred gold coins is too much.”
“The dwarven brothers are working hard, of course there should be a reward.”
“That hundred gold coins is too much……”
…….
While the three were discussing this, an Angola Tribe dwarf quickly ran to chief Monto and loudly shouted, “Chief, the elven guests are here!”