Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton-Chapter 1000 - 569: Wait for me, I’ll go back and get the money

Chapter 1000: Chapter 569: Wait for me, I’ll go back and get the money

On the road to the Undead Temple, a convoy of carriages arrived, with Undead Horses shrouded in black mist and a Witch clad in regal Soul Armor, guarding a carriage that contained a Bronze Dragon and a tender, adorable little girl.

Ren Guster could never have imagined that not long ago, the Supreme Holy Spirit, which had six wings and was planting things on the cliffs, had transformed into an unremarkable trade caravan just after crossing the death line.

With the experience from their last infiltration, everyone felt more at ease this time. During their previous venture, they had discovered that the Undead Empire beyond the death line was not as barren and desolate as rumored.

Here, there were many towns settled by intelligent beings and a lot of creatures that were very rare outside could be seen everywhere here.

Along the way, they encountered Half-Dragons, Trolls, Goblins, Dwarfs, Minotaurs, and cave dwellers, but of course, humans were the most numerous.

The suburbs of the towns had farmlands, and the towns were connected by roads that were of high quality and well-maintained.

"These roads are comparable to the main roads between the two principal cities outside. They really spared no expense," Anthony said enviously.

Negris stuck his head out from the carriage window and responded with great agreement, "Indeed, I’ve found that the roads within His Majesty’s domain are all well-built, like the Gold Road from the Resting Abyss, which is a world transfer station to Ice City and Demon Valley. Built over a thousand years ago, they are still flat and sturdy; the Resting Abyss is windy every day."

"The same is true here; the roads are straight and broad. Now look at those outside, the road from Northern Wind City only allows one carriage to pass, and in some places, cars still need to be staggered. If it’s in a plain area, the roads are sparse; they are all mud when it rains and all dirt when it’s sunny."

At this point, Negris suddenly remembered something, "Right, you’ve loaned the Great Round Devil to construct roads, how long has it built roads?"

Anthony quickly looked toward Ange and reported, "The roads from Rapids Fortress, Iron Sand City to Deloge City have been finished. We can’t bear the construction costs for the following routes, so the silver coin has established a road construction commerce guild called the Roadway Business Association, inviting leaders from various cities to visit."

"Mainly they visit the section from Iron Sand Castle to Deloge City. First, they let heavy carriages loaded with iron sand run back and forth, then let Great Round Devil roll around twice, sparking great interest. Once the silver coin reported the construction costs, many signed intentions on the spot."

"It has to be said, the price quoted by silver coin was indeed very low, almost at cost. However, he said that he doesn’t rely on road construction to make money; he let everyone first pay an intent money, whoever pays first gets their road segment built first, then he uses these intent moneys to buy building material businesses along the road and then releases news to drive up material prices and transportation costs, just this move alone made back the profits."

"And that’s not all; he also misled a competitor, a commerce guild called Breathing Soil, making them think he lacked Soul Crystals, which might keep Great Round from rolling, prompting them to borrow heavily to buy up all the Soul Crystals on the market, artificially driving up the price of Soul Crystals by several times."

"Then he sold Soul Crystals while pretending to be poor. When the competitor had exhausted their liquidity, he convened the people from the competitor’s commerce guild and the debtors who had lent money to Breathing Soil, and publicly displayed all the Soul Crystals he owned, instantly collapsing the price of Soul Crystals."

"Breathing Soil’s commerce guild was insolvent, unable to sell the expensively purchased Soul Crystals even at their original price, terrifying the creditors into urinating blood and urgently demanding their debts, but Breathing Soil had no money to pay."

"In the end, silver coin offered to buy their debt at half price, delighting the creditors, who transferred their debts enthusiastically. If Breathing Soil couldn’t pay back the money, the commerce guild would have to declare bankruptcy and restructure its debts, hehe..."

"With just a pledge money, silver coin earned from the acquisition of a century-old commerce guild of their rivals, these cunning merchants have too many ways to make money," Anthony said, shaking his head in astonishment.

Even Anthony was astounded like that, leaving Negris utterly dumbfounded. He understood business concepts, but he didn’t know they could be manipulated like this: "Kvada, cunning merchants."

Just then, Ange, who was walking ahead, suddenly drew his hand and pointed to a building at the intersection ahead, asking, "Breathing Soil, is that it?"

Everyone was stunned and looked up, only to see a shabby, two-story stone house at the angle of the road junction with three branches, with a worn-out sign hanging above — Breathing Soil Commerce Guild Mobile Station.

Negris stared at the sign for a while and suddenly said, "Breathing Soil, could it refer to Breathing Soil? Is this an imperial commerce guild?"

"Uh, quite possibly. Let’s go take a look," Anthony said.

As they reached the front of the stone house, a human Death Magician emerged, about to close the door but noticed Ange and his group.

With an apologetic tone, the Death Magician said, "Oh, I’m sorry, travelers from afar, the station is closing, and we can’t offer any hospitality now. If you need drinking water, the well is over there; you can use it as you wish."

In such a situation, Anthony naturally took the lead. He raised his hat courteously and said, "Oh, that’s really unfortunate, dear Mage. May I ask when will the station reopen?"

Embarrassed, the Death Magician sadly stated, "I’m sorry to disappoint you, but the station won’t reopen. Our commerce guild has gone bankrupt and can’t maintain the station anymore. You’ll need to be more careful in your dealings on this trade route from now on."

"Ah? That really is a sad affair, being unemployed in middle age is terrifying. I hope you find a better job soon," Anthony said sympathetically.

Who knew the Death Magician would shake his head, "No need to be sad, fellow travelers, it’s just the commerce guild going bankrupt. I haven’t lost my job; it was acquired by another called the Silver Chamber of Commerce, and they even raised our salaries, haha. This is a stroke of luck, at last, I can leave this desolate place. Bless me, and may your journey be safe."

"Uh... then, may you get a raise every year," Anthony said with an awkward smile, then asked, "They acquired and raised salaries? Is this Silver Chamber of Commerce that good? I’ve heard that acquisitions often lead to dissatisfaction among old employees who fear being dismissed to hire new ones."

"Ah, what’s there to be dissatisfied about? The commerce guild isn’t ours; whose hands it falls into doesn’t concern us. The only reason for dissatisfaction would be if the wages went down, but if salaries are rising, who would complain?"

"But I’ve heard that the Silver Chamber of Commerce specifically issued an internal notice that they can’t fire employees; everyone gets a salary raise and is retained. Go back to report, and then get reassigned. They say that skilled personnel are an asset, sounds like something only a good boss would say," said the Necromancer cheerfully.

"Oh, that does sound like a good boss; you’re so lucky. Wishing you a smooth sailing at work, and I won’t keep you, head back," Anthony said, tipping his hat as a gesture of respect.

However, upon seeing those signs, Anthony couldn’t help but ask, "Pardon me for asking one more question, but why is it called a ’flowing station’?"

"Ah? Hahaha, a lot of people ask that question. It wasn’t convenient to demonstrate before, but since I’m leaving today, I might as well show you. Please, step back a bit," the Death Magician said.

Once everyone had backed away, the Death Magician clapped his hands and stamped his foot, rapidly chanting an incantation.

The double-story stone house actually began to rumble and transformed into a Rock Giant, which then rose to its feet.

The Death Magician put his fingers to his lips and gave a strong blow, producing a wailing of the soul.

A Skeleton Horse Head burst from the ground, shook off the soil on its body, and quickly climbed up.

The Death Magician mounted the Bone Horse, beckoned to the Rock Giant, waved goodbye to the crowd, and slowly walked into the distance, a desolate yet melodious song spreading across the wilderness—

Distant travelers, do not be anxious; the stops along the way are but strange stations, the journey’s end, that’s the warm hometown—

Distant travelers, do not be sad; travel companions are merely fellow travelers, the warm hometown, that’s where souls accompany—

But the departing Death Magician hadn’t noticed that the sign hanging on the stone house had disappeared.

Holding the sign, Ange recalled the Death Magician’s incantation, then started chanting it. With a rumbling sound, stones by the road rolled together, forming a giant Rock Giant.

Negris covered his face in annoyance, "Too big, too big, are you planning to attack a city? Think about it, how tall was their Rock Giant? What Mage could summon such a gigantic Rock Giant? A Truth Mage?"

"Oh," Ange had no choice but to withdraw most of his Magic Power, maintaining the height of the Rock Giant at about six meters.

Feiti shook his head and said, "No, those rocks have been modified. It must be some special technique that infused them with the Breath of Death, so fundamentally, it’s not a Rock Giant, more like an Undead Giant, belonging to Necromantic Magic."

"Oh, I knew something was off. That Mage isn’t very skilled; how could he possibly summon such a large Rock Giant," Negris suddenly realized.

However, Ange couldn’t be bothered to do it all over again, so he simply hung the sign on the Rock Giant and drove it forward.

Disguising it as a flowing station, Ange and his party’s journey was smoother than last time, and they soon reached the location of the Undead Temple. From afar, everyone saw a robust Holy Fire burning among the ruins of the temple.

Everyone looked at each other bewildered, "What’s going on? Isn’t the temple abandoned? Why would the Holy Fire be lit? What do we do? Should we take a detour?"

No sooner had they spoken than a young boy burst out of the bushes by the side of the road. Seeing Ange and his group from afar, his eyes lit up, and he excitedly shouted, "Station, station, oh my! That’s great, finally a station has come. I want to buy candy and snacks, and my mom wants to buy needles and thread. Wait for me, I’ll go get some money."

After shouting, the boy sprinted towards the direction of the temple.

Negris and the others were stunned; something seemed off about this situation. What had happened?

Visit freewe𝑏(n)ovel.𝘤ℴ𝑚 for the best novel reading exp𝒆rience