After making such an inspection, Li could not help rubbing his brow. In truth, he did not even know how to describe a territory like this. It was poor beyond belief, so taxes were naturally out of the question. There was a so-called mithril mine that could indeed bring in some money, but there was no road connecting this place to the outside world. Even traveling here from Nanbula meant passing through that damned forest.
In other words, even if they mined a large amount of ore here, they had no way to transport it out.
Still, the villagers here were tough and fierce, so they could be put to use. Encouraged by Li, Angel sent several eloquent mercenaries door to door to persuade them, and in the end, they actually recruited more than a hundred sturdy mountain folk.
As the saying went, harsh mountains and treacherous waters bred troublesome people. These mountain folk were not necessarily inferior to mercenaries who had yet to don armor. That counted as a small addition to their forces.
As for how they had recruited those hundred people... naturally, they had promised all sorts of benefits. Of course, those benefits were merely high wages sufficient to ensure that their families could eat well and stay warm.
The mithril mine had finally gotten on track recently as well. At Li and Invel's firm insistence, the treatment of the slave laborers here had improved by far more than ten percent. They now ate even better than the mountain folk. Their overseer was Jess.
Jess had been used as Li's tool last time, and he had still been somewhat uneasy afterward, afraid that once the cunning rabbit was dead, the hunting dog would be boiled. However, Li did not mistreat him and directly made him the head