Pete Bristle-Wolf's Business Mind
On the 9th, in White Tree City, the southernmost city of the Northwest Count's domain, Pete Bristle-Wolf, dressed in splendid formal attire, entered the castle of the local noble, the Viscount of White Tree.
It was said that this city had once been the capital of the kingdom's Southwestern Earl. Three hundred years ago, the city had been breached by fallen members of the Devil Race, and after the war, the Dragon Kingdom annexed the five former marquisates in the south. White Tree City was then assigned to the Northwest Count.
Nine years ago, a palace coup had occurred in the Dragon Imperial Capital. The Viscount of White Tree at the time had seen his chance and thrown his lot in with the southwestern Blue Lion family. From then on, although White Tree Ridge was still considered part of the Southwestern Earl's defensive zone, the Viscount of White Tree swore loyalty only to the Southwestern Earl, Ent Blue Lion.
Watching Pete being welcomed into the castle by a flock of warbling swallows and orioles—beautiful women clustered around him—Jim, a member of the Auxiliary Army who had come with him, furrowed his brow tightly. They had already been in White Tree City for seven or eight days. Originally, they had heard that this place was close to the southern Great Forest and that cheap Mana-Less slaves could be found everywhere.
Yet only after arriving did they learn that, over the past two months, a band of Beastmen bandits had come scurrying out of the southern Great Forest. Slave prices across the entire market had more than doubled. Not only that, the entire city had no more than three thousand slaves for sale, far short of the fifty thousand Landen had hoped for.
The unfavorable situation had already