Final Lord

Chapter 287 A Clever Connection
Despite standing before the four-meter-tall minotaur, Mair remained neither arrogant nor humble, showing no signs of nervousness.

"Mr. Grom, may I discuss the specific price with you on behalf of the lord?"

Grom's horns involuntarily beaded with sweat. He had never encountered such an audacious buyer, and he couldn't fathom why this mysterious human had specifically excluded the three strongest warrior races—those three races, aside from being a bit dim-witted, were absolutely guaranteed to be powerful fighters.

But his merchant instincts immediately kicked in, and he beamed, "Yes, of course! I'll count them for you right away!"

"Did you hear that? This old man has taken care of all races except gnolls, ogres, and goblins. Quickly, write down the list!"

As Grom's roar echoed throughout the market, the entire slave quarter erupted in chaos. Merchants scrambled to arrange chains and cages.

Slaves have never been cheap, but the Minotaur were an exception.

Most of the slaves in the Minotaur were from a race with exceptionally high reproductive rates. Many of them were not captured, but sold themselves into the slave market in order to have food.

They came cheap, so they couldn't sell them for much. For slave traders, the profit from selling a single slave wasn't substantial; they needed to sell in large quantities to make money.

Meyer was a skilled negotiator. Leveraging her large-scale purchases, she managed to drive the price of slaves down to 30% of the normal rate. Her efforts to acquire those of poor appearance, physical condition, or minor injuries and illnesses resulted in her practically giving them away for free.

Faced with Wang Bufu's elite troops, these merchants didn't dare to cause any trouble. They obediently accepted the money and completed the handover.

Wang Bu almost emptied the Minotaur slave market, and only spent a little over 300,000 gold coins.

More than 20,000 cavemen, over 1,000 shadow-scaled lizardmen, and three petrified lizards...

This price is ridiculously low. One Undead Truck Rider costs 8000 gold coins, so thirty would cost 24.

But the king was not satisfied. Slaves bought are never as desirable as those given for free.
He bought slaves so lavishly to let the weaker races in the labyrinth know that he was wealthy and generous. This would be very helpful for his later actions.

After completing the first batch of slave transactions, Wang Bufu did not linger in the Minotaur labyrinth. His deep gaze swept over the freed slaves, whose hunched bodies still bore the marks of chains and were extremely weak.

With a swift and decisive gesture from Wang Bufu, the entire army immediately changed direction, like a giant python awakening, and quickly retreated from the maze along the path they had come from.

At the pass leading to the ground, Wei Yi had been waiting for some time. Her slender fingers constantly fiddled with the gold coin pouch at her waist, her amber eyes gleaming with shrewdness in the dim light. When she saw Wang Bufu's figure, she immediately blew her bone whistle, and the convoy of undead trucks hidden in the rock crevices emitted a low rumble.

"Thirty cartloads, make several trips," Wang Bufu ordered curtly, his voice carrying an unquestionable authority. "You and Mair take these slaves back first."

Meyer and Vee nodded in unison, quickly directing the slaves to board the wagon. These creatures, who had long lived in darkness, all showed expressions of terror upon seeing the wagon of the dead.

The vehicles, constructed of pale skeletons, exuded a chilling aura, and the flickering blue soul flames in their eye sockets were even more terrifying. But they were already used to their fate, and under the reassurance of the caveman warriors, they finally crawled tremblingly into the carriages.

After the taillights of the thirtieth truck disappeared at the end of the tunnel, a meaningful smile appeared on Wang Bufu's lips. He turned to the troops behind him and gave new orders: "Proceed according to plan."

The dim, fluorescent fungus cast dappled light and shadow on the damp rock walls as a caravan of cave dwellers slowly made its way through the intricate tunnels of the Minotaur labyrinth.

The blind cat at the head of the group had a hunched back, his worn-out linen cloak concealing the carefully applied mud on his scales—a drab grayish hue befitting a malnourished slave. “Pull yourselves together, but don’t overdo it,” the blind cat said, lightly tapping the knee of a young warrior behind him with the tip of his tail. The latter unconsciously straightened his back, taut from the weight of his gear. “Remember, we’re a caravan of wandering merchants who can’t even get enough to eat. Your hands should tremble as you push the carts, like this—”

He demonstrated by placing his palm on the handlebars, deliberately making the wooden bearings creak under the strain. The fluorescent dried mushrooms piled in the cart swayed slightly with the bumps, their caps, nourished by the spring of life, radiating an overly rich emerald glow.

"Boss Blind Cat, isn't this thing too advanced? Will it attract our kind?" A young caveman with a face full of scales asked in a low voice, his claws nervously tracing the surface of the mushroom.

Suddenly, Blind Cat sprang to his feet, slapping the other man on the head and silencing his cry of surprise. "What boss? Call me 'boss'!"

"Yes Yes Yes!"

“Learn something.” Blind Cat coughed and straightened up, instantly transforming back into the trembling old merchant. “The black market is just ahead. Proceed according to plan.”

Just as the caravan turned into the black market archway adorned with animal skulls, a sudden change occurred.

"Ouch!"

With an exaggerated cry of pain, a caveman slave with clearly defined ribs suddenly crashed into the cart. His sunken abdomen scraped against the shaft, deliberately making a teeth-grinding cracking sound from his jagged bones.

"Hey, are you alright?"

The blind cat quickly ran over and helped him up.

The other person suddenly grabbed Blind Cat's arm and whispered in his ear, "Are you the guards of that wealthy merchant from earlier?"

The blind cat was certain that, just as the lord had predicted, there would be no shortage of intelligent people among his kind.

"The cavemen are blind, blind cats. Your disguises may fool the minotaurs, but they cannot fool your fellow cavemen."

If these cavemen were truly interested, they would surely come up and question you if they saw the blind cat return, disguised, and so on.

Recalling Wang Bufu's instructions, Blind Cat whispered, "Yes. We are the lord's guards."

Our lord is different from other lords; he values ​​the cavemen and is willing to train us.

"Then...those slaves you bought back..." Upon hearing the blind cat's words, the caveman who was trying to extort money trembled.

"They will become the Lord's subjects, establish a new tribe of cavemen, and receive good upbringing, just like us. And I will be the chief of the new tribe."

The cavemen's breathing quickened: "How can we join you? We're suffering here. Chief, we cavemen in this labyrinth have been waiting for salvation!"

(End of this chapter)