novelraw Chapter 41: Dawn of the Tale of Talia the Puppet Mistress
Chapter 41: Dawn of the Tale of Talia the Puppet Mistress
Roden was about to raise his head to request a sword fight when his sister, Talia, beat him to it.
Although she still remained on her knees, her head was no longer on the ground and she opened her mouth. "My Lord, as my father has mentioned, we will not be a liability... Please grant me the honour of proving our usefulness."
Jensen nodded. "Very well. Since your father claims you are smart, provide me with a suitable solution to a current problem I am facing, and I shall grant you what you wish for."
"It will be my honour, my Lord," Talia immediately responded.
"I have currently captured a mana stone mine and want to build the family headquarters in that location, but I am facing a few issues."
"The area is filled with bandits, criminals and beasts. I do not have time to personally clear them out myself and as you might have guessed, the family has very few people with me, Lily, Maria, and... well, let us say a Level 3 guard currently stationed at the mine’s location."
"I do not wish to spend too much in clearing said land. Neither do I want to share the mana stone mine with anyone, but I still want it cleared as fast as possible. What do you do to solve this problem?"
Talia fell silent for a few seconds, thinking before she responded.
"My Lord, my solution is very simple and requires setting up a trap with greed."
"First, I would find a way to hide the location of the mine simply collapsing the entrance should be good enough. Then I would open it back up when the location is secure, this way the Level 3 would not have to keep watch over the mine and would be free for other missions."
"I would hire several small groups of low-level mercenaries for a search mission where I would guarantee them protection from any excessive danger with the help of the Level 3."
"I would pretend to search for something important in the surrounding area that required physical search. To make my act more convincing, I would have an old map... maybe even one drawn on animal skin."
"I would make them search in groups and in the opposite direction of the mine. After a few days, I would secretly bury a few treasures and once more than two people find these buried treasures, it would be impossible to hide from the others."
"A fight would most likely occur between the groups of mercenaries. When that happens, I would step in... I would insist they hand over the treasures and inspect them. Then I would shake my head and hand the treasures back to the owner, saying finders’ keepers."
"Depending on their response, I would offer a small payment to have them hide it the news of the treasures. Then I would wait a few more days before returning to the town to resupply when I would bring along a few mercenaries to help bring back the supplies."
"I would make sure one of the disgruntled ones who had not found a treasure, or a blabbermouth who gossips a lot, is among them."
"We would spend a day or two in the town before we return and by then, news of the treasures found would have spread. While the treasures would not be powerful enough to attract truly strong mercenaries, the weaker ones would most definitely join in the hope of making it big."
"Then, even without payment, several mercenaries will flood to the location to search and inevitably stumble of bandits. With the help of these expendable ones and the power of the Level 3, I would slowly eliminate the bandit groups and beasts."
"We would share the profit made from the destruction of the bandit groups with them to keep them happy so even if they do not find any other treasures, they will still stay until there is truly nothing to gain."
Jensen said, "I have to say I am impressed."
He was truly impressed; his previous plan was to simply turn the bandits against each other but that would have taken a lot of time and manipulation, which could be seen through.
Not to mention he would have to do it after he was done with Daisaku.
"That is not all, my Lord." Talia smiled, happy to impress but she wanted to prove herself as much as possible.
"I would charge the new mercenaries that join the mission a protection fee. If they do not agree... well, making a bandit group stumble on them should be fairly easy."
"I would also capture some of the bandits and execute the most treacherous of them to set an example. I would send some to the town as prisoners, where they would most likely be killed as well or imprisoned for life."
"For the tamer of the bandits, I would leave them and promise them that because their crimes were not severe, I do not believe their punishment should be either."
"I would offer them a chance to work as free labour, cleaning up the camps and other minor jobs."
"Once the place is cleared and a proper base is created, I would put them to work mining."
"Every month, the top contributor is released and becomes a free man although he would be convinced to stay back as a worker now with payment. The reason I would give is very simple... He has experience."
"Even if I have only twelve captives, that is free labour for an entire year. And if the government decides to intervene for any reason, I will simply call it rehabilitation. After all, I give them food and a place to live and also a means to make a living when they have served their time. There would be evidence that those who served their time were set free."
"Although I would inevitably have to give up some of the loot secured from the bandit groups, I would definitely make a profit. I would not lose any of my own people in battle and would clear the location simultaneously. We would also gain a powerful reputation and find a way to turn some of the better mercenaries to work for us permanently, slowly solving the manpower issue."