"Forming a Pioneer Guard Team with Beastman slaves? I admit, it's a decent idea." Fulina's lips curved into a slight smile, making it hard to tell if she was praising or mocking him. "But I must remind you, these Beastman Barbarians are as famous for their untamable tempers as they are for their valor. No one can make them listen obediently."
'Unless you can beat them into submission. These Beastman Barbarians only submit to the strong.'
Fulina added silently in her mind. 'But how could…'
Suddenly, she recalled what Liya had said earlier—that Levi could throw an Iron Spear a distance of five hundred paces.
But how was that possible? Five hundred paces? Even a large Bed Crossbow barely had that kind of range. How could a human possibly achieve that?
Even the Beastmen, famous for their Power, could only throw one a hundred paces at most.
Thinking of this, Fulina couldn't help but size Levi up.
He was certainly good-looking, handsome enough to stand out even among the famously beautiful Elves. But then she looked at his physique—slender and well-proportioned, yes, but far from what one would call robust.
She shook her head again. 'That's impossible…'
Fulina could only conclude that Liya must have misspoken, saying "five hundred paces" when she meant "fifty."
From Levi's perspective, Fulina had sized him up, first showing a satisfied expression when looking at his face, but then shaking her head to herself after glancing at his body for a few moments.
'Hm?'
'Is she looking down on me?'
'Thinks I'm just some scrawny weakling?'
"Ahem, my lady, some things can't be judged by appearances alone. You have to look past the surface to grasp the essence," Levi said, raising an eyebrow with profound meaning.
If Fulina had any intention of becoming his sugar mama, Levi wouldn't mind sacrificing himself a little. After all, it would save him thirty years of struggle and get him straight to the finish line.
Once he outlived Fulina, the vast Northern Territory would be his.
Who would want to go through the grueling grind of a startup when you could just inherit the family business?
"What are you talking about?"
Fulina was completely baffled. She summoned an Attendant to fetch a sheet of parchment, then dipped a quill in ink and wrote out a series of elegant characters in the common script of the Middle Ages Continent.
'Crap, I'm the clown.'
Watching Fulina pretend to be clueless and act all business-like, Levi's heart sank. He felt as if a little red ball had just been placed on his nose.
"Forty Gold Coins per head. Don't think it's too expensive; these Beastmen are worth the price." Seeing Levi looked like he was about to haggle, Fulina cut him off directly.
She rolled up the parchment, tied it with a silk ribbon, and handed it to Levi. "Take this to the Screaming Arena. You will receive fifty Beastman Barbarians."
After taking the parchment, Levi's earlier awkwardness vanished completely.
Two thousand Gold Coins were completely wiped out. A mountain of gold exchanged for a single sheet of parchment, yet Levi smiled with satisfaction.
Normally, using those two thousand Gold Coins to open a shop would have been the safest bet.
But developing a Pioneer Territory was like playing the stock market in his previous life: the potential future returns were substantial, but the risks were extremely high.
If things went wrong, he could sink his entire life savings into it and still end up with nothing, losing so much he wouldn't even have underwear left.
In the end, he might have to sell his ass to pay off debts, just like the pioneering predecessors before him.
But Levi knew a golden rule.
"When your neighbor stocks up on grain, you stock up on soldiers. Your neighbor is your granary!"
When funds ran low, he could just moonlight as a Wilderness Bandit. With his Power and fifty Beastman Barbarians, he'd be a potent and disruptive force in the Wilderness.
Besides, plundering is better than painstaking farming!
'Wasn't that special technique how 'Merica got its start in his past life, after all?'
"One last reminder: if these Beastmen don't listen, I won't be taking them back."
Fulina shot Levi a sidelong glance.
Ever since these Beastmen had been captured and brought to the Gladiatorial Arena, she had considered taming them, dressing them in Iron Armor, and using them as meat shields on the front lines.
Unfortunately, even a Knight who had mastered Combat Qi was beaten so badly by them that he couldn't get out of bed for half a month.
In the Gladiatorial Arena, they were lazy gluttons with a terrible track record. She was basically just paying to feed them.
Killing them would damage the Martel Family's relationship with the Beastman Race, but releasing them would be a huge loss of face for the Martel Family.
She had been unable to deal with them properly for a long time, which gave her a considerable headache.
She even suspected this group of Beastmen had intentionally attacked Bailiu City just to get caught so they could live off free food and lodging.
Now that someone was willing to pay to take them off her hands, she was naturally delighted.
"Of course," Levi said with an inscrutable smile.
He rose, bowed to Fulina in respect, and walked out with Zat, retracing his steps.
Unexpectedly, just as he stepped out of the passage, he ran into Liya.
"Levi, are you leaving?" Compared to before, Liya's eyes were quite swollen. It was clear she had cried her heart out, releasing all her pent-up emotions.
"Yes, Miss Liya." Having gotten what he wanted, the smile never left Levi's face.
"Thank you for taking care of me on the journey." Liya gave a deep bow.
Although Levi had been very stingy along the way and showed no respect for a Feudal Lord, the feeling of being treated as an equal was something Liya had never experienced before.
And the stories he had told her to pass the time on the tedious journey were also very novel.
Thinking of this, she said with some reluctance, "Levi, if things don't go well with your pioneering, you can come find me…"
"If you jinx me again, watch out, or I'll smack you!"
With that one sentence, Levi crushed the undying hope Liya had harbored from the very beginning.
…
Walking on the streets of Bailiu City.
Levi clutched the parchment in his hand, feeling that exhilarating sense of everything being ready, just waiting for the final push.
He raised his hand to hail a passing carriage, generously spending three silver coins to hire it.
"To the Screaming Arena!"
Due to his enormous size, Zat could only rely on his own two feet, miserably jogging behind the carriage.
The carriage sped along the streets of Kolon, and the surrounding buildings gradually became shorter and more sparse as they moved from the bustling city center to the outskirts.
The Gladiatorial Arena is a pillar industry in the Debei Kingdom—or rather, on the entire Middle Ages Continent. The existence of various non-human Races, coupled with a lack of other entertainment, provided fertile ground for the development of gladiatorial arenas. They became a stress-relieving activity no less popular than brothels.
Bailiu City alone had more than a dozen Gladiatorial Arenas of various sizes. The Screaming Arena's rank as number one wasn't due to anything particularly special about it, but simply because its owner was the Martel Family.
Most other, newer arenas were built from logs and bricks, but the Screaming Arena was constructed from exquisite granite.
At its entrance, eight granite pillars flanked the main gate, symmetrically supporting a towering, rounded dome.
From this, one could glimpse the deep-seated heritage of the old noble Martel Family.
"Knight, today is a day of rest. All the Fighters are resting. Please come back another day."
That was the first thing Levi heard as he walked through the door.
At the same time, he felt deeply offended.
'Even the Otherworld has days off? What kind of beast-of-burden life was I living in my past life, working year-round without a break?'
Besides, he had knocked around the gladiatorial circuits for so long, and this was the first time he'd ever heard of a day of rest.
'Damn those Gladiatorial Arena owners…'