Chapter 505: Chapter 505

Everyone was much more cautious about this proposal. After all, it involved deploying military forces and placing them within their own territory, which made everyone wary. This region was simply too chaotic.

If he deliberately dispatched his soldiers to obliterate them, they would have no place to seek justice.

The lords here do not have any powerful backers. If they do, they only allied with them later on and belong to an exploited class. Actually, there’s no guarantee that they would fancy them at all.

As for this strategy of hiring mercenary forces, everyone was merely observing for now, daring not to take the lead rashly.

After the conference ended, although representatives of several territories stayed here for a few days, some people went back to deliver messages.

Du You even asked if anyone needed protection, but no one did. In the blink of an eye, these people vanished without a trace. To be able to survive here, everyone had their own survival skills.

What Du You didn’t expect was that the representative of the Dunes Territory found Shaliya on that day itself.

Shaliya, on purpose, received the representative of the Dunes Territory in a specially prepared room. Du You and the others were in another room from where they could see everything happening inside the room.

"Lady Steward, I am Lucas, representative of the Dunes Territory. I represent the Dunes Territory in offering my greetings to the Lord of the Mountain Territory."

"It’s an honor to meet you. I likewise represent our lord in conveying his greetings to your lord." Shaliya replied elegantly.

The difference in aura between the two was enormous. It was like a lady from a prominent family and her servant. This feeling made Lucas extremely uncomfortable.

Lucas cleared his throat lightly and then said, "I am here mainly for two purposes. One of them is that we want to hire your soldiers to help us deal with the threat of the Sandpeople nearby. Our territory does not yield much food, but we do produce the potions that you need. However, the presence of the Sandpeople has hindered our development."

"No problem, we will verify it. If it really benefits the potion, you can hire at a low price or we can help you resolve the issue for free," Shaliya said slowly.

This was, indeed, a great opportunity. If they performed well, they would earn significant reputation.

With a good reputation, the number of hirers would increase. Engaging in such direct battle hires was the most beneficial for territory improvement, providing immediate experience for the territory.

"Well, thank you very much." Lucas sighed in relief.

"So, what’s your second matter?" Shaliya asked slowly.

Next to them, Shaliya’s deputy had already prepared refreshments. Even this deputy showed a stronger aura than Lucas, which embarrassed him even more.

Lucas felt somewhat embarrassed, but for the sake of his territory, he pulled himself together and said, "Our territory is quite far from White Stone City, and the land there is not fertile but rather it’s on the edge of the desert, so we don’t produce much grain. Because of the distance from White Stone City, it is not suitable for us to trade grain or any other items." Check latest chapters at 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✦𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✦𝓷𝓮𝓽

"Really? So, how do you want to cooperate?" Shaliya was a little helpless.

She had been very considerate of these territories, but she found that she had been overly optimistic. Being far away and having barren land mean that they were poor. Moreover, they were surrounded by a significant number of Sandpeople, and they had no money to hire or develop, making business unprofitable.

For such territories, she didn’t even know how she could help. Would she really have to make a loss to help?

If she did so, her reputation would grow enormously, for anyone would consider her a fool and a sucker. If such a reputation is established, it would restrict the future development of her territory.

"Well, we mainly sell Desert Red Lizards."

Shaliya was startled for a moment, then she understood. Desert Red Lizards were a special kind of desert lizard. After special processing, these creatures could become a luxury for the nobility, mainly used as an aphrodisiac.

No wonder their territory chose to be in that location. Perhaps from the beginning, they had set their eyes on the Desert Red Lizards. They just didn’t think that developing a territory wasn’t easy, and merely having things to sell for money wasn’t enough.

But her territory seemed to not need this. Du You also checked out some information on the Desert Red Lizard, then shook his head. With no use as a special potion, it had little effect on professionals of Law Formalization.

"Hee-hee, does my lord need this medicine? Should we keep an eye on it the next time we go back?"

Du You glared at Lin Yushi: "Humph, tonight I will let you taste how powerful your Lord is."

Lin Yucha blushed and drank her tea, not at all surprised by the flirting between her sister and her lord.

"With nothing at all on your side, collaboration may prove to be quite challenging," Shaliya sighed.

But just as she was saying this, something seemed to occur to Lucas: "Yes, we have a copper mine over there, a large copper mine, just that it is a bit far off. If we intend to mine it, we will easily become a target of the Sandpeople. What if we could co-develop it...."

Shaliya’s eyes lit up, but on consideration, the gains from a copper mine were too great and securing it wouldn’t be an easy task. Hence, Shaliya said, "I need to report to our lord. You also know, a large copper mine causes immense pressure. To secure it, we would probably need to call in stronger troops from the rear."

"Absolutely, absolutely." Lucas quickly nodded and bowed to indicate his understanding. The reason they had not attempted to exploit the copper mine over the years was the fear of the Sandpeople.

If the Sandpeople found out about the existence of this copper mine, his people would be doomed without any room for negotiation.

"How about hiring the troops?"

"Don’t worry about it. We definitely agree, but we need to study the price first."

Shaliya gave an affirmative reply, relieving Lucas considerably. Even if they had to pay more gold coins, it did not matter at all. The Sand People Tribe was growing too big. If they continued to grow, they would surely attack them.

Without anyone to assist, their lord was even considering giving up the territory and becoming a free lord this year.

The so-called free lords are those inferior lords who only hold a title without a territory. Those who lose their territory are the ones most despised among all the lords.

After Lucas left, Shaliya opened the side door, walked into the room where Du You was, and began to report the day’s matters in detail. Although Du You had watched from the sidelines, there were still things he had not paid attention to.