Cornflower Witch

Chapter 133 Toad Servants
After leaving the 'Golden Hammer' district, Hilti returned to the market and strolled around a few times.

Many first and second-level students have gathered here in the past two days. She met many of them along the way. Some were buying things, while others were selling their products and experiences.

"Teaching the 'Blooming Technique' costs 20 gold coins and provides guidance for one month." Turns out, you can earn money by teaching.

"Special 'Travel Biscuits' for sale to replenish supplies for your adventures, 1 silver coin each." These are compressed biscuits made from high-quality wheat flour and are easy to carry.

……

Although Hiltiya didn't buy anything that day, she gained a lot of knowledge and learned that there are so many ways to make money on the side.

The market officially opened on the second day.

The once wide market road was now packed with people, many of whom had come from other areas to trade and purchase goods.

"Strong orc servants, 5 gold coins each, limited quantity~"

"A Tier 1 Beast Fang Bighorn Sheep from the western part of the continent, 20 gold coins." There are also special livestock animals for sale.

"A professional clerk will help you manage your squad's expenses and finances, or run a shop. The monthly salary is only 50 silver coins."

"Velvet long-sleeved dress, 80 silver coins each~"

"Volcanic basalt, absolutely fire resistant, 2 silver coins per piece."

Walking along the bustling streets, Hilti had to pull her hooded cloak tighter to avoid bumping into others. It took her quite a while before she finally arrived at the area where slaves and servants were traded.

There are many alien subhumans here, as well as normal humans, but most of them are looking for employers rather than selling themselves entirely.

After asking around, Hilti learned that there were roughly four types of situations here.

Firstly, there are trained and marked slaves who, once purchased, belong entirely to you and can be disposed of at will.

Secondly, they seek out employees who often possess diverse skills and can work as clerks, calculators, cleaners, nannies, cooks, etc. They are paid monthly and are liable for substantial compensation to the forestry association if accidents or deaths occur during their work. Therefore, they are generally not mistreated.

Thirdly, there are servants. These servants are mostly demi-humans, coming from various peripheral regions or small countries on the surface of the earth. They have not undergone slave training, nor are they entirely slaves. They are only required to serve the forest because of exchange and obligation. As trainees of the forest, they can of course hire them, and the price is low. If they die in an accident, only points will be deducted from the forest association, and there will be no severe punishment.

Fourthly, there are temporary laborers who are often only used for short-term tasks, such as assisting gardeners in harvesting large wheat fields, helping to cut down forests, transporting miscellaneous items, demolishing buildings, and so on.

Of these four types, slaves are the most expensive because the merchant guilds have to spend a lot of effort training them to ensure they are harmless and useful.

Secondly, there are employees and laborers. Their wages are not much different and can be used for various short- to medium-term jobs. In other words, employees are temporary workers with high skills and long working hours.

The cheapest option is servants. You can hire them without spending too much money, but the downside is that these servants are often untrained and lack strong rules and regulations. If they run away or rebel, it depends on the employer's methods.

Because of the agreement of the Woodland Alliance, humans, elves, moon rabbits, and lizardmen cannot be slaves, so the slaves and servants here are mostly various beast-like demi-humans or non-human creatures.

After walking around, Hilti felt that the prices of slaves were very high. If she were to hire a large number of slaves now, she simply could not afford the expenses. In addition, she herself had some aversion to slavery, probably due to the education she received on Earth.

Although it's a bit strange to still emphasize this in this kind of social environment, she still finds it hard to accept.

After comparing the plans, she chose to hire those demi-human servants, who were also much cheaper. "Do you need someone to help manage the fields?" A professional manager, seeing that Hiltiya was interested, immediately came over to ask.

“I recommend the minotaurs. They are strong enough and can do a lot of heavy work.” As he spoke, he patted the tall minotaur next to him. The man had dark brown curved horns and a robust physique.

Looking at the minotaurs, who were taller than two of her, the girl shook her head: "A minotaur needs to eat the food of five people every month, which is too uneconomical, especially since there are only five minotaurs here."

If she were to add more people in the future, she would have to continue searching for other races of demi-humans, which would be too chaotic and difficult to manage.

“Then I recommend the goblins over here. They eat little and there are many of them. 10 copper coins will last you a month.” He then led the girl to a cage next to him, where noisy and filthy goblins were kept. Their eyes were full of cunning, and they didn’t look like they were going to work honestly at all.

If she were leading a team into battle, these guys could probably be used as cannon fodder, but if she were farming, they would be too difficult to manage.

The girl shook her head again.

“How about this? The werewolves from the Greedy Wilds are very disciplined. If you are stronger than them, you can make them obey.” With that, the manager summoned another group of werewolves.

These werewolves have wolf heads and human bodies, and many of them have scars on their bodies. They were probably sold to the woodlands after their tribes were defeated in wars. However, they are not strong individually, and they could not be sold for a high price as slaves, so they could only serve as servants.

Werewolves... Hilti looked at the group of guys. Although they were somewhat arrogant, it seemed that there were no other better options.

As she hesitated, she heard a commotion coming from not far away.

"Quack, I want to eat, you guys agreed."

"Dough, quack."

"No dough, no work, quack."

Hearing the sound, Hilti turned her head and saw another group of strange toads being brought over not far away. They looked like enlarged frogs and could walk upright, but their skin colors varied.

"These are toad-like beings from the southern part of the continent, said to have come from the Hot Rain Swamp," the manager replied, flipping through the booklet in his hand.

"Can they do any work?" Shirutiya asked curiously.

"Probably. According to the reports here, they used to work in Yuwa City, but recently the city's economy has been bad, so the city lord sold off many of the toads in the city."

"These toads are of low value as slaves and are not worth training one by one. They are sold in packs of 20, and one gold coin will be given for each pack."

"They need to eat flour-based foods every day, and they also need to soak them in water, otherwise their skin will crack over time."

Seeing that the girl was still looking at these guys with curiosity, the manager continued his introduction.

"If you hire them, you must ensure that the attrition rate does not exceed 20% in a year. After all, they are not slaves, but servants of the association. If too many die, the association will issue you a fine and deduct a certain number of points."

"Then let's go with these." Seeing these babbling little creatures, Hiltiya felt it was fate.

Compared to werewolves, these toads are much more controllable and have a friendly appearance.

(End of this chapter)