This is a Miracle

“How did it go?”

After the sacrifice ceremony was over, Bai Luo told the crowd to disperse, while he sought out his old man and his elder sister.

“The method is correct, but the tribute is not,” Bai Luo said, “We used the wrong thing for the sacrifice.”

“So, grain was the wrong choice?”

Issafeiya seriously said, “Then why don’t we go capture some precious and rare beasts, then bring them back.”

“We have to wait for a month before conducting another sacrifice ceremony.”

Bai Luo didn’t expect that there would be a penalty for failure, but upon thinking about it, it doesn’t seem that bad. They could just continue doing their things during this period.

“It’s just right!”

The old man said, “Now that we have time, it is time to bring in the population.”

Population, this is what the Arden needs the most right now. With people, more miracle children will appear.

With miracle children, they can form miracle troops, then an army. This is the way to protect Arden and the foundation that will allow this budding nation to stand in the land of miracles.

“Follow me.”

The old man led the two to his house, then pulled out a map from a pile of documents,

“You seldom set foot on the sea before, hence you don’t know much about the surrounding area. This is a map that I obtained during an adventure in my early years.”

“Look, our Arden Island is located roughly at this location.”

“Emm…”

Bai Luo looked at the location the old man was pointing at. It was empty.

“Our island isn’t marked on the chart?”

“Don’t mind it, having such a map is already quite good, it doesn’t matter if it’s slightly outdated,” the old man nodded his head: “But our island is indeed in this place.”

“I guess.”

Bai Luo sighed and said, “Old man, continue.”

“We are in the southeast of the Miracle Continent.”

Saros marked the location of the Iron Eagle Kingdom and Arden Island, “Based on the location of our island, there’s an archipelago nation called the Azure duchy to the southwest.”

“To reach the closest island that is within the jurisdiction of the Azure Duchy, and drive the fastest warship, a round trip will take at least half a month.”

“From the Iron Eagle to the Azure, to our Arden Island and the area around it, this large area is called the Eastern Sea,” said the old man, “The power of the pirate king Morgan is entrenched here.”

“What do you think, Little Luo?”

Facing the old man’s question, Bai Luo calmly replied,

“Surrounded on three sides, the geographical location of Arden Island allows it to not only easily connect to Hillul city, but also to continue westward to the Kingdom of Mountains, and even the Holy Empire further west.”

“Moving from the east to the north, we will be able to pass through the territorial sea of the Bright Duchy, reach the Great Northern Empire, and trade with the cities there.”

“I don’t need to mention the south. Although I haven’t been to the Azure Duchy, I have heard of its great name.”

Azure is only a Duchy though.

According to uncle Saros, a Duchy is a sovereign state with at least 3 different miracles, but no more than 7.

This nation calls itself a ‘permanent neutral country’ in the lands of miracles, and this has been recognized by many nations.

“The Azure Duchy is huge. It’s best not to mess with this behemoth for the time being.”

As far as Saros’s knowledge is concerned, in the next ten years, they shouldn’t confront the Duchy of Azure. It would be too irrational.

“What about Morgan, what do you think, little Luo?”

“This…”

Bai Luo pondered, he felt that he would definitely go to war with Morgan, they have already formed a grudge after all.

“Feiya?”

“Father, what you want to say is that we should replace Morgan, right?”

Issafeiya’s words caused Bai Luo to instantly realize. His eyes widened as he said, “So that’s how it is! Since Morgan can occupy the Eastern Sea, then if we defeat him, changing pirate kings shouldn’t greatly affect the balance of the sea.”

“This is a challenge, but also an opportunity.”

“Very Good.”

Seeing the complementarity between Bai Luo and Issafeiya, the old man was relieved. With these two, the future of Arden is bright, “However, this is just a theoretical plan, it can’t be completed with just one or two wars. Moreover, anything can go wrong.”

“This sea is too big. Even if we want to take over it, we must seize the right opportunity.”

Saros has been discussing strategies and policies with the other two old men in the past few days. The three of them are like Arden’s core ministers.

Bai Luo lacks political and military experience, so he knew very well who to ask for opinions and how to make decisions in regards to such a large strategic layout.

“Are we going to war soon?”

“There’s definitely going to be a war,” the old man replied to Bai Luo, “But we must first determine one thing. Why do we have to fight this war? What’s its purpose?”

“You mean Sigrian?”

“Indeed, but this also includes Morgan, the pirate king.”

The old man seriously said, “For the moment, we don’t know the other side’s strength. It’s very unwise to start a war hastily.”

If it was some ordinary pirates, then it wouldn’t matter.

However, in the face of miracle troops and even a miracle army, the situation is completely unknown. They might be able to win, but the casualties would be very heavy.

“What are the benefits, old man?”

Bai Luo is a rational person. Wars are based on interests and benefits. If there is nothing to gain, Bai Luo will not fight.

“Time, and deterrence.”

The old man calmly said, “Our war with Sigrian is to gain more time, and at the same time let them know that Arden is not easy to mess with.”

As for taking the initiative to kill Morgan…

Bai Luo might possess three miracles, but he has gotten them for a very short period.

Even if Bai Luo’s efficiency is ten times that of Morgan’s, but Morgan has had his miracle for over 200 years. How can his accumulation over such a period be shaken by the current Bai Luo?

“Of course, we can’t fight Morgan for the time being, but Sigrian’s troops are just one-sixth of Morgan’s army. Not to mention that they aren’t the main troops.”

“As long as we choose the right battlefield, defeating Sigrian wouldn’t be too difficult.”

These days, the three elders have been discussing the best location for the battlefield, and now there’s quite a bit of progress. They’re just waiting for Sigrian to appear.

“Morgan’s matter isn’t the most important issue for now.”

“Our next priority is to head to the Azure Duchy.”

“Don’t attract the attention of the miracle masters there yet,” the old man said, “Our target is those slave traders.”

Yes, slave traders.

Arden needs population, and the best target, for now, is those slaves that had lost their homes because of war.

Because they lost their homes, they lost their freedom and identity.

After arriving in Arden, as long as Bai Luo treats them kindly, Arden will soon become their only home.

Bai Luo doesn’t want to reign in pirates due to their bad character and habitual lawlessness. This will cause them a lot of problems.

Since they can just buy them, in the case of being able to choose at will, it would be better to buy civilians or young people.

“Maybe some of them will definitely have bad intentions, but most of them should be willing to integrate into Arden and become citizens of this new country.”

Ungrateful people always exist.

Saros and Bai Luo don’t hope that everyone would be assimilated, but even if only 70% truly become Arden’s citizens, Bai Luo would be satisfied.

“Find these slave traders and establish trade with them.”

“Even if the price of the slaves they sell us is 20% to 30% higher or even double, we can still accept it.” Saros calmly said.

Having the basic sacred pouch is like having an endless gold mine.

Their output of spices can’t be compared to the consumption rate of this world.

After all, it takes time to transport slaves. As long as Bai Luo and the others maintain a good export volume of trade, not only will the price of black pepper not drop much, it will generate more profits due to the demand of more people.

More importantly, it’s a monopoly!

If the price drops, then sell less, and if the price soars, then sell more. In the end, they would have the final say on the price!

“Cultivating black pepper is too difficult. It has great demands on the environment. Moreover, they tend to spoil rather quickly.” said the old man, 

“Therefore, in the next period, little Luo, pour out more black peppers. We will dry them and turn them into black pepper powder.”

With this, they can also avoid the issue of recalculating the weight of the black pepper fruits due to their loss of moisture over time.

“Okay.”

The process of drying black pepper is very simple. In fact, it can be completed in a matter of minutes with Lilith’s magic.

So the next day, everyone loaded boxes of black peppers onto the warship.

This is one of the pirates’ ships, but it was reformed by Lilith’s fairy magic. In terms of appearance alone, the difference is so big that it’s impossible to think that they are in fact the same ship.

“Everyone, are you all on board?”

The number of people participating in this operation is exactly six.

The men were Bai Luo, little John, and Anderson, and the women were, respectively, the cook Emmett, Bai Luo’s secretary Gonia, and Noel’s sister Fiora.

Gonia is very smart and has a very high IQ. With her around, Bai Luo won’t be scammed

If there is a problem with the price offered by the other party, as long as Gonia utters a word, Bai Luo will definitely let them know how serious are the consequences of scamming the Ardennes.

In addition to these six, Saros, Issafeiya, Inya, and the others stayed on Arden Island. Lilith also stayed behind to teach the children magic.

Of course, Bai Luo will take Shirley with him.

Moreover, due to the connection between the miracle creature and its master, Bai Luo can instantly summon Lilith to his side, no matter how large the distance between them.

The only problem is that once summoned, Lilith has to stay outside with Bai Luo. She would have to take the ship back with him.

Lilith needs to stay on Arden island to defend it. Bai Luo will not summon her unless absolutely necessary.

“Is that all we have?”

Little John expressed his puzzlement, and Anderson also looked at Bai Luo. He was a newbie. This is the first time he ever stepped on a ship.

The tree elf young man tied with a white cloth tied on his head, dressed as a typical seafarer——this was to cover his ears.

Bai Luo brought Anderson because the latter was hoping to broaden his horizon and increase his knowledge so that he can assist Bai Luo better in the future.

Although there’s some risk, Bai Luo was very willing to take such a small risk to train his subordinates. Therefore, he readily accepted his request.

“About that.”

Bai Luo explained, “We aren’t going to bring the slaves back, but order them from the slave traders.”

Slaves are often not purchased directly from slave traders. They will be transported to slave markets everywhere, handed over to slave owners, and then resold.

Bai Luo can naturally go to the slave market.

But that place is too chaotic. Moreover, they would have to buy one large batch after the other from there. Sooner or later, trouble will occur.

“What we are after is a long-term business, not a single or procurement.”

Bai Luo plans to find a big slave dealer, and then directly make a deal with their boss.

Pay the deposit first, and then establish the initial trade trust.

“Choosing an island by the sea to conduct the trade is better than doing the trade in the Blue Sea City of the Azure Duchy. This will benefit both of us.”

The benefit of this is that the slave trader will enjoy reduced taxes, and it will be much safer for Bai Luo, “Now, we just have to find someone who has the guts and desire to do business with us.”

Anyway, money is not an issue. Arden might be lacking a lot of things, but money is certainly not one of them.

Bai Luo: ‘Yes, I have a mine at home!’

“Captain.”

Gonia’s manner of address has changed. This is Bai Luo’s request.

“Although money is not an issue, we can’t just allow people to scam us.”

“Hmm, indeed.”

Bai Luo isn’t good at doing business.

“Then I’ll leave it to you. Anyway, when the time comes, Gonia, you will do the talk and I will support you from behind.”

“Um.”

Everyone has a different specialization. Gonia has been educated by the old man about business and literacy for many years. Although she still can’t match that old monster, she’s at the top of her field.

“Us too!”

The three cute kittens were chasing each other and fighting on the deck. Only Bai Luo could understand their words. To others, they could just hear the ‘meow! meow!’.

“We are also super ferocious!”

Each one of the three kittens was standing on its hind legs, flexing and posing, showing its mightiness. Bai Luo could swear that he heard the pillar men theme.

These three have the potential to become the three generals of the Arden’s Marine Headquarters.

“Prosperity, civilization, harmony, freedom, justice, and dedication…”

The mice held up the pests they captured from various corners of the ship while chanting the slogan that Bai Luo once said, indicating that they have done a good job.

“Umu.”

Bai Luo nodded at them, and then announced to the crowd, “Pull up the anchor, let’s go! To Coral City!”