The Void Mansion is the mansion of the Void Duke who was given to Sean by the royal family of Lane, who is now one of the seven new Dukes of Lane.

The house has always been cleaned by servants from the palace, so when Sean took over the mansion from King Lane, the mansion was not only exceptionally clean, but also had everything it needed, and there was no need for Sean to add any new furniture or decorations.

So when Sean moved into the mansion, the only thing he had to do was to ask a butler to help him manage the mansion.

Because Sean can't live in the royal capital all the time.

For him, this mansion is really just a symbolic meaning, at least as long as this mansion is still there, then no one will forget him, the Duke of the Void. Of course, if it is an ordinary traditional noble, then it will definitely choose to stay in the mansion located in the royal capital, and will not return to the fiefdom, after all, if you want to get first-hand information, the closer to the intelligence center is better.

But Sean is no ordinary traditional aristocrat.

Although it has been assimilated a lot by this world, the adventurous hot-blooded gene in the player's body has not weakened in the slightest. In fact, if it weren't for being dragged here by some things now, Sean would have wanted to leave the royal capital of Ryan a long time ago, and he wouldn't want to waste even a minute or a second of time in this kind of place.

And this is also the reason why Sean will personally choose a housekeeper.

As for the servants, they were originally sent out from the Ryan Palace. Sean was still satisfied with these experienced and well-behaved minions, even if he had to pay them three times as much as ordinary servants. But so it goes. Naturally, the salary of a housekeeper cannot be low, and to be worthy of this salary, then you must be an experienced veteran, at least you must have excellent abilities in many aspects.

The current butler who was in charge of the entire Void Mansion was recommended by Asuna, and his salary was fifty gold coins per month—enough for the monthly expenses of seven to nine ordinary families.

But a housekeeper with such a high salary is naturally worth the money.

So when Sean pushed open the door to the conference room. What I received was not a greeting, but a heartfelt compliment from Floris, one of the Dark Triumvirate of Ryan: "Although you spend a lot of money on servants, the entire mansion is really cleaned." And your butler isn't easy. …… These expenses are still worth the money. ”

Hearing Floris's compliment, Sean just smiled politely and did not reply.

In fact. He almost told the butler to fuck off. Because he disrupted a plan for the transformation of dead bones that Sean had managed to figure out.

As an excellent housekeeper, it is natural to have the most basic understanding of those powerful people in the country, even if you don't recognize their appearance, you must at least know symbols such as family crests. But the Marquis of Flores is the most mysterious marquis in the whole of Lane, and this visit has not used a carriage with the family crest, so it is very normal for this butler not to recognize it, if it is not for the recognition of the momentum on Floris's body is indeed different, of course, the butler recommended by Asuna will not bother Sean.

It's a pity. These things are not clear to Sean.

In a sense, the butler was indeed somewhat innocent.

"Come this time. Actually, there are two things. Seeing that Sean didn't answer, the Marquis of Flores didn't care too much, he sat on the sofa in the reception room very casually, and didn't look like a guest at all.

But Sean, who was face to face with him at such a close distance, felt an invisible pressure constantly rushing towards him.

In his vision, it was endless darkness, like a bottomless pitch-black abyss. With this abyss-like aura constantly permeating out, and endless bloody aura constantly emanating, Sean alone is sure that Flores is also a hidden powerhouse, at least definitely the real powerhouse of the Golden Realm. Because these auras emanating from the Marquis of Floris were sufficiently superficial, that the number of people who died at his hands must be at least eight hundred, if not a thousand.

A guy like William who only uses his mouth to command, and has hardly killed people himself, although the momentum on his body will become unique and majestic due to long-term command, and he is full of deterrence, but he will never exude an amazing bloody aura like Floris. No matter how much he suppressed and hidden, for those with keen perception, he could still feel this breath.

Of course, for Sean, another reason why Marquis Floris can be judged to be a strong man, and that is that he has no flaws in him.

Although it was just a casual sitting, it seemed that there were flaws all over the body, but if you look carefully, you will find that these so-called flaws are actually traps, and if someone really thinks that Flores doesn't understand anything and rashly attacks, then the end will definitely be very tragic.

This is a powerhouse who truly lives in the Dark World.

"Which two." Sean was silent for a moment before he finally spoke, but his back was already soaked with sweat before he knew it.

"Huh." Floris chuckled suddenly.

As a mature middle-aged man, Flores actually still has a lot of charm, especially the dangerous aura he exudes, which is naturally terrifying for people with keen perception, but for some people who don't understand anything, especially women, it will look very charming. Only at this moment, Floris's smile may be charming to some women, but it is nothing to Sean, because the aura on his body has not diminished in the slightest.

"Don't be nervous." After chuckling, Flores spoke again, "I have no hostility or ill will towards you. …… Your current strength is still a little insufficient, so you will still be affected by the natural coercion of my breath, and wait for you to step into the golden realm. I was able to feel the real change in my breath. ”

"I know it." Sean took a deep breath before he spoke, "I mean. You have no hostility or malice towards me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come in alone to meet you. ”

"Oh?" Floris's raised an eyebrow, the look on his face becoming intrigued.

In fact, when Sean first met the Marquis of Floris, the color of the light he saw from him was the green that represented kindness, and nothing else. So from that time on, Sean knew that the Marquis of Flores did not have any hostility towards him. Of course, the color of King Ryan was also green. In this way, Sean was very angry about killing several of the Marquis of Floris's men. On the contrary, he felt a little embarrassed, but the dark lord didn't seem to care about those things at all.

Sean didn't know about the Marquis of Floris's past, but judging by his attitude towards King Ryan, Sean was at least one thing certain. That is, the outside world's evaluation of the Marquis of Flores is wrong. This is not a man who is simply loyal to the throne. In fact, it should be said that the person he is truly loyal to is the current King of Lane - Ingus. Ryan, from this point, Sean knew that there must be a very important and strong bond between this dark king and the current King of Ryan.

"It's just a gut feeling." Sean sat down on the couch next to him, although he tried his best to calm his inner resistance to the dark aura, but perhaps as Flores said, there was still some gap between the two sides, so there was still some reflexive physical behavior, "Let's talk about business." ”

"It's fine." Flores nodded. Then he spoke, "The first is a private matter. ”

"Private?" To be able to utter such a word from Floris's mouth. Sean was also very curious.

"I just want to make a deal with you." Floris nodded slightly, clearly confirming that Sean had not heard it wrong, and then continued, "I know that this time the Chamber of Commerce Alliance made a deal with you, although I don't know the specific transaction items and contents, but part of my transaction is about the slave trade......"

Sean had no doubts about what Floris knew about this, because he had already learned from Lordsk the route of the slaves of the Chamber of Commerce Alliance, which crossed the pit viper Gobi. In terms of the size of the team of the Chamber of Commerce Alliance, let alone a dark king like Floris, I am afraid that the nobles in the country who have a little ability have already received the news.

So Sean didn't speak, but continued to listen quietly.

“…… So, I want you to be able to transfer at least five thousand barbarians to me. For some reason, I urgently need a mercenary group to complete the mission in the near future, but if I hire it, it may cause information leakage, so I need to form my own team to complete the mission, and the barbarians are the most suitable quick fighters. ”

In fact, for a big man like Floris, there was no need to explain anything to Sean, but at this time he opened his mouth to explain the reason why he needed a barbarian, although the important information was still not said, but this was actually a way to show respect, at least Floris thought that Sean was already qualified to be on an equal footing with him.

"I know." Sean nodded, "What about the deal?" ”

"For the next year, you can get any information I know from me for free." Floris said in a deep voice, "I know that my conditions are not very good, after all, with the intelligence gathering ability you have now, it is only a matter of time before you want to be equal to me in terms of intelligence. But if it's up to me to provide it directly here, then you can definitely accelerate progress in this area. ”

"That's true." Sean nodded, "But in that case, why don't you change it to intelligence sharing?" ”

"Is there intelligence sharing?" Floris glanced at Sean meaningfully, "If you ask for that, then I can accept it." ”

Intelligence sharing, and free access to any known intelligence, are two very different concepts.

The former is an unreserved way of exchanging information, which is naturally a mutually beneficial way when both sides are on the same basis, but for completely unequal parties like Sean and Floris, it is natural that Floris will suffer, because it is only the information that Flores currently has. At the very least, it took him more than twenty years, and it was accompanied by countless sacrifices.

From the instinctive reaction, in terms of intelligence gathering and mastery. It's true that Floris didn't see Sean as an equal.

That's why Sean would bring up sharing.

It's just that Flores agreed to Sean's conditions so quickly, which still surprised Sean, but it can also show from the side that Flores really needs these five thousand barbarians. In other words, the task he is currently on hand is very urgent, and it is very important, otherwise there would be no need for Flores to make such a big concession. Because in the coming year, he will only be the only one who will benefit.

"Then as for the barbarians, I will transfer them to you at the regular individual transaction price of the slave market."

"Yes." Flores nodded.

The so-called conventional individual transaction price does not refer to the transaction of the house type. It's an individual transaction.

Household type transaction refers to the transaction of one household by one.

Under normal circumstances, each barbarian household consists of at least two people, a man and a woman; There are more individual households. Then there could be five or so people. It is a husband and wife, plus a son, a daughter, or a parent, etc. And for such a house type transaction, the selling price depends largely on the combat power of the barbarians in this household, but no matter whether the combat power is high or low, it is usually not less than ten gold coins, and if you count the cost of food, then it is likely to reach fifteen gold coins per household.

In the case of a house type transaction, it is usually necessary to buy an entire tribe.

The size of the tribe is naturally large and small, and usually even the smallest tribe will have two or three hundred households. But such a small tribe of barbarians is a barbarian slave who can really be driven by warriors. I'm afraid there are only about a hundred or even less. If you want to build a normal-sized Barbarian army, you will most likely have to buy several tribes, or a medium-sized tribe.

As a result, for many nobles or warlords, there are obviously too many people to waste food, and such expenses are not affordable for everyone.

For this reason, there is a targeted sales that is specially launched to cater to this type of customer.

Individual transactions.

The so-called individual trade refers to the sale of barbarian slaves, mainly young and middle-aged between the ages of 16 and 30.

Barbarian slaves of this age are almost the type that can go to the battlefield as soon as they are equipped with weapons, and because they have been "trained" by slave owners in advance, there is almost no possibility of rioting and rebellion, but the level of combat effectiveness will be relatively mediocre, and it is difficult to achieve the fierce and fearless charge combat like those barbarians in the house trade.

Therefore, whether or not these individually traded slaves can be restored to that heroic ability that is not afraid of death depends on the skill of the buyer.

But even so, no matter how mediocre or even often used as cannon fodder, the barbarian trade now occupies a very large share of the slave market, and it is almost becoming the mainstream way of trading instead of the house type trade. Therefore, with the increase in the share and flow of this transaction, the transaction volume of individual barbarian transactions has also begun to gradually increase.

Today, the trade value of each individual barbarian ranges from twenty to one hundred gold coins.

The higher the transaction amount, the younger the barbarian is, and the greater the potential or knowledge, and so on.

This time, in order to show its sincerity, the fifteen thousand barbarians sent to Sean by the Chamber of Commerce Alliance were all young and middle-aged slaves worth from fifty gold coins, of which less than three thousand were barbarian slaves over twenty-five years old, and the remaining twelve thousand were between eighteen and twenty-four years old. However, even if it is a group of 3,000 barbarians who are over twenty-five years old, they are still very rare products to the outside world, because they are all Golden Valley barbarians.

"Are there any requirements for slaves?" Sean spoke, "Lodeske has given me a record sheet, and if there is a specific need, then I can give it to you and you can choose it." ”

"No need." Floris shook his head, "Height, age, place of birth, strength, potential, etc., I don't have any requirements for all, the only thing I ask is that they can go to the battlefield immediately." Of course, it's best to know some cooperation in the battle formation, and it doesn't matter if you really can't. ”

"If it's a battle formation, I have a batch of good goods." Sean chuckled. "Three thousand Golden Valley barbarians."

Floris's eyes lit up suddenly: "It is indeed a good batch of goods." …… It's not cheap, isn't it? ”

"Anyway, it was sent by the Chamber of Commerce Alliance, and one of the fifty gold coins will be given to you." Sean shrugged, "But the remaining two thousand people don't have such good looks." However, the win is not bad in terms of potential, and if you take it to training for a while after you get it, you should still be able to exert some effect. ”

"Yes, it's up to you." Flores nodded in satisfaction.

If it was purchased according to the market price, the two thousand barbarians would not be less than eighty gold coins for each of the three thousand Golden Valley barbarians who were about twenty-five years old. Now he bought 5,000 barbarians with excellent "condition" for 250,000. This is tantamount to saying that Sean sent him two thousand barbarians with superior potential and strength.

"When the time comes, I will arrange for someone to trade with you."

"No problem, you'll take care of it." Maybe it was because he solved something that made Floris very tricky. So at this moment, Sean could feel Floris's apparently relaxed mood, and it was a real sense of relief. This made Sean a little more curious about what Floris was about to do, but Floris didn't say anything, and Sean really didn't want to ask anything. "That's right. There's one thing I almost forgot to tell you. …… Anome, that guy, is asking for news from you. ”

"Arnome?" Sean was stunned for a moment, "That former silversmith from Dabion?" ”

"Yes." Floris nodded, this time his expression became a little serious, "You ruined his good deeds at the auction, and also made him lose two apprentices, which is definitely a very slap in the face for that old man who will repay him, so that old man has already begun to inquire about your identity." ”

"I see." Sean really hadn't expected the old man to take revenge. But even so, he didn't really care.

"You'd better be cautious." Seeing Sean's disapproving attitude, Flores couldn't help but speak again. "Since you're also an alchemist, you should know exactly what kind of guys are those who are willing to follow the master. Although I refused the old man's assignment to investigate you this time, with the old man's social circle, I believe it won't take long to find out your identity, and it is clear that the old man seems to be very serious, because this time he sent out two of his strongest followers, so in any case, you better be careful. ”

"The strongest?" Hearing such a word, Sean's face showed a little curiosity, "How strong?" ”

"Both of them are at the pinnacle of gold." Floris replied, "It's a little tricky to explain, and for some professional reasons, I've investigated these two men before, so I'll send you information about these two men later." …… But to be on the safe side, it's best to keep a stronger follower with you these days, one of these two is tricky. ”

"I know." Sean nodded, "Thank you very much for your advice. ”

"You're welcome, after all, we are in a mutually beneficial relationship now." Floris shrugged his shoulders, "Alright. Now that the personal matters have been dealt with, let's have a business negotiation. ”

"Business?"

"Well, this time Ryan has been upgraded from a principality to a kingdom, and some neighboring countries around have also sent people to participate, so according to the default unspoken rules on the mainland, a martial arts festival will be held for competition." "This is the easiest way to judge the strength of each other's countries," said the Marquis of Floris. …… On the whole, the martial arts festival is divided into two phases, one is a military competition, and the other is a duel of individual strength. ”

"Your Majesty the King wants me to be able to fight?" Sean already roughly knew what this business was.

"Yes." Floris nodded, "The two battles in the military have been determined by Asuna. Master G. Evans, Davin. Söder. Lord Sabo is in charge. In the individual competition, the strong above the Sanctuary are not allowed to participate in the battle, so in fact, the event is divided into the silver group and the gold group, and people from different strength realms compete for the championship. However, in view of the fact that this event has a relatively strong tentative purpose, it adopts a single-elimination system and does not have a loser group. ”

"I see." Sean nodded, "So His Majesty the King wants me to participate in the Silver Division?" ”

"Of course, if Lord Sean agrees, His Majesty wants you to allow your followers to participate as well."

Hearing this, Sean roughly understood what was going on with this martial arts festival that he had decided to hold on the spot: "In other words...... Is there a great risk of death in such an event? ”

"Yes." (To be continued......)