Summoning Total War - Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Centaur Longbow (Part 2)

Murphy slept very soundly that night.

When he woke up the next day, the sky was already very bright. As he gradually came to his senses, he heard the loud sound of people working outside. The construction of the blacksmith was almost complete. The town’s self-sufficiency in weapons was quite an important issue, so the citizens had been rushing the work recently. The blacksmith shop occupied a small area, but the training required for its staff was still relatively troublesome. Murphy had allocated a certain amount of resources for them to practice with for the time being.

It was only until recently that they had finally achieved some results.

Rolling over, Murphy realized that the coat he was wearing wasn’t the same one he had been wearing last night. He was wearing thin, sand-colored woven pajamas. It fit him well and was very comfortable. Judging from the style, it wasn’t something that belonged to him. It looked a lot like something the female priestesses would wear…

It seemed that the high priestess had changed him out of his clothes last night?

There was still a faint hint of fragrance on it.

Murphy got up and his back instantly started itching. He scratched with his hands and scratched off a large number of scabs across his back.

“My injury is healed?” Murphy thought to himself. He touched the new smooth skin on his back, a stunned expression on his face.

During the battle with the gnolls that night, Murphy, as the Governor, had joined the battle himself, as the situation was very unfavorable.

That night, General Hamilton had died in battle, and only 11 members of the Spartan infantry had survived! And Murphy had been left with three large bone-deep wounds on his back!

One was a sword wound, and the other two were left by the sharp claws of a gnoll.

The gnoll had almost ripped off a large piece of skin on Murphy’s back when it attacked!

This wound had initially been healed in part with the holy water and the high priestess’ magical treatment. If he didn’t use holy water to regenerate the other torn flesh, he’d have to wait for the wound to heal naturally, which was a slow process. It had only been a week or two, so it shouldn’t have recovered this quickly.

Murphy suddenly remembered the warm feeling he had felt from the soft hands of the high priestess last night. While she had been in the process of kneading his sore muscles, he had also experienced a warm current similar to that when he was treated by divine arts.

Did the high priestess treat him again last night?

The thought of this warmed Murphy’s heart.

She was really such a caring little girl…

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Breakfast was oatmeal porridge. In addition to that, there was a bowl of well-cooked soft fish soup, which was especially fragrant.

After eating his breakfast, Murphy summoned for the herald to inquire about the specific number of gnolls that were captured last night. Based on the previous agreement, half of these gnolls were Murphy’s spoils.

After some inquiries, Murphy found that there were still many prisoners.

There were nearly 200 adult gnolls who had been captured from the gnoll clan of about 500 gnolls.

When the gnolls had been surrounded, and the first adult male gnolls were killed, the other female gnolls and maturing gnolls soon lost their confidence and completely gave up on their resistance. It must be mentioned here that the so-called “maturing gnolls” were gnolls between twelve and eighteen years of age that hadn’t yet reached the age of twenty, which for gnolls was the age when they were most capable of combat.

Under normal circumstances, there were only so many gnoll clans. The competition among these ferocious creatures was also intense. There were few gnolls that would able to live until old age. Generally, when they began to enter old age, the survivability of these gnolls was greatly reduced!

This was because other gnolls from the same clan could possibly be their potential enemies!

A hundred gnolls, even if you took the minimum standard of 20 silver coins each, would be worth 2,000 silver coins.

That was almost the same as a full month’s worth of taxation within the territory!

For the purposes of trading, Murphy also had a food surplus on hand. He had never been a person who liked to save money. In his opinion, only money that was spent could be considered money! The money that was being hoarded in the territory wasn’t money; it was precious silver metal.

Therefore, he used the income that he had received from trading to buy supplies from the aboriginals in the southern plains.

These materials included various necessary strategic reserves for battle and goods that were useful in their daily lives!

The first batch of royal merchants, who were similar to those used exclusively for governors, had been trained by Murphy. Everything had to be taken at its own pace, so Murphy deliberately didn’t encourage the citizens in the territory to engage in business. The construction in the territory had been speeding up, and there were more silver coins in the hands of the residents, so Murphy believed that it wouldn’t be long before the merchants closed the gap.

“Your Excellency, there is a merchant called Pulith outside to see you!” came the clear voice of a young female from outside the door. After rebuilding the Governor’s Office, a new batch of maids had been added, and these girls took over the jobs of the servants and fully took charge of Murphy’s daily life in the Governor’s Office.

And under the encouragement of the high priestess, these girls were also allowed to go to the temple and learn fighting skills from the priests.

There were twelve new maids. Six of them were responsible for Murphy’s food, while the other six were responsible for the safety of the Governor’s Office. The latter was a group of girls with certain combat talents that had been selected by the high priestess. They were undergoing more orthodox training to be Knights of the Temple. At present, their combat effectiveness was roughly equivalent to that of an ordinary soldier, but there was considerable room for growth!

And usually, these girls were the targets for Murphy’s own practicing.

For now, Murphy could handle the joint attack of three girls at once. Of course, this had nothing to do with skill but with man’s natural strength.

“Pulith?”

Murphy rubbed his forehead and tried to put a face to the name. During this time, he had come into contact with so many people that he couldn’t remember who this man was.

But fortunately, he still had some idea who the man was from his name. In reverse, it read—Philip.

Pulith seemed to be a slave trader and was also one of the main personnel who had participated in the battle yesterday.

He wanted to see him?

What for?

. . . . . . . . . . . .

As a matter of fact, Pulith, who was standing inside the Governor’s Mansion, was feeling just as uneasy.

Pulith was a middle-aged businessman. He was short, somewhat fat, and very strong. He was a man who could eat a pound of meat for a meal. He had been born into a family of goldsmiths, and after some hard work himself, had become a rather good slave trader. However, his luck hadn’t been so good recently. As a slave trader, Pulith mostly dealt with gnome slaves, however, since the successful translation of the kobold language, some slave traders had mastered the methods of domestication by teaching the kobolds. Within the slave-trading industry, gnomes had been replaced by kobolds.

The reason was widely known. Gnomes weren’t as hard-working or honest as kobolds, and kobolds provided more advantages over goblins in industries where slaves were in high demand, such as mining.

But this had led to a problem. The prospects for gnome trading had become less optimistic.

And this was why Pulith had shifted his focus to the gnoll slaves. When it came to profits, gnomes definitely wouldn’t fetch as high a price as gnolls, but when it came to safety, gnomes were obviously less threatening. As a slave trader without an aristocratic background, Pulith wasn’t mixing well with the Greek town, and he was often surpassed by other slave traders with nobles as their backers!

So, after seeing Murphy’s extraordinary leadership and military talents yesterday, he thought hard about it for a night and finally decided to recommend his services and cling onto someone with influence! He needed a backer, and everything that had happened yesterday told him that Murphy was someone who was worth investing in! Of course, this also required him to have a corresponding value that would bring Murphy the same level of benefits!

Pulith was quite confident about this point!

Because he was one of few from the human city-states who had dared to cross the Barren Highlands and successfully trade with the centaurs!

This was why he could still make a fortune despite not having an aristocratic background.

In his younger days, Pulith was full of adventurous spirit. He had once led a team of people across the Barren Highlands and rescued the centaurs’ chief, who was being besieged by a group of gnomes.

At that time, about six hundred gnomes had surrounded a dozen centaurs.

The merchant’s unique keen eyes made him discover the extraordinary-ness of these centaurs because they wore ornaments made out of mammoth teeth on their bodies. That was something only noble centaurs would have!

At that time, Pulith made a risky decision!

He led his own mercenaries and attacked the gnomes with his team of less than fifty people! As a slave trader, he knew that the gnomes were very timid, and as long as he and his team could hold them back in a powerful manner, they could likely defeat them with a single move!

That time, the goddess of luck had been standing on Pulith’s side.

He actually managed to break up the group of gnomes with a single hit and save the centaur nobles! And with that one move, he also gained the gratitude of the centaurs. He gained the approval of the chief of the centaur tribe and was recognized and respected as a warrior!

The courage needed to face an enemy more than ten times their own numbers was almost on par with the centaur warriors.

Because of that one incident, Pulith and the centaur tribes successfully reached a trade agreement and established the beginnings of a friendship. Pulith also grew his capital little by little by relying on trade with the centaur tribes, thus achieving his current status.

As a slave trader, Pulith was different from the other big merchants who ate a lot and never worked. Although he was a little fat, his well-off materialistic lifestyle hadn’t corrupted his heart. He could also make a good swordsman, and he could personally lead a group to step into the sandy grounds of the barren highlands. And in the face of gnomes that had several times his numbers, he still had the courage to lead his team to battle and defeat them!

And he was also the only slave trader who had personally participated in the melee fight yesterday!

Because of that, there was a bloody wound on Pulith’s arm.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

In fact, although Pulith was quite confident that Murphy would agree to work with him because only he could buy horses and longbows from the centaurs, Murphy’s extraordinary performance yesterday had shaken his confidence a bit.

If for no other reason except that his secret reverence for Murphy had grown.

Indeed, in the fight yesterday, Pulith had discovered something.

The Greek Governor didn’t seem to have long-range attacking troops that were strong enough.

Javelin throwing had gradually been abandoned, as the humans had entered the era of city-states, and the power and attack range of the bow and arrow had completely surpassed the javelin. The Greek Governor, with his military abilities, must be able to see this, so was the reason why he hadn’t formed a long-range attacking force was because he didn’t have enough bows and arrows?

In fact, making bows and arrows wasn’t easy.

It took a long time, and if their quality was to be guaranteed, the bow had to be made in steps, and this would take nearly a year.

Pulith’s biggest advantage was being able to buy longbows from the centaur tribes. These longbows were powerful and had a 210-yard effective range.

Of course, the longbow still had a drawback, and this was that it took a lot of strength to use this type of longbow since they were used by the centaurs. Also, only a small quantity of longbows could be purchased from the centaurs.

But Pulith was sure that he could buy more than 300 longbows from the centaur tribe just by relying on their past friendship!

This was because he knew that the centaur tribes were currently fighting a large intelligent creature in the north! They desperately needed to arm themselves with a batch of armor, and because of the war, their food supply was running low. As long as he and Murphy could provide the centaurs with what they needed, it wouldn’t be difficult to buy longbows and horses from them!

In order to guarantee he would win Murphy over, Pulith had also specially brought the only centaur longbow he had with him!

. . . . . . . . . . . .

“This is a centaur’s longbow?” Murphy asked, quietly looking at the longbow in front of him. It had smooth contours and a smooth body with a length of approximately 1.5 meters. Because it was a weapon used by the centaurs, it was of a larger size and required a significant amount of strength to shoot it, but it was still within the range of what humans were capable of.

Despite the joy in his heart, Murphy’s expression remained unchanged. He looked at the slightly sturdy middle-aged man in front of him. With a shrewd light in his eyes, the man looked more like a warrior than a merchant, but he didn’t seem to be an unscrupulous merchant. He seemed to know how to leave an impression on someone’s heart. Almost as soon as the man expressed his small need for refuge, Murphy had the idea of recruiting him!

The reason was very simple. He knew the trade route with the centaurs and could buy materials from the centaurs!

These supplies included horses and weapons!

“With your talents, it’s a pity that you’re just a trader,” Murphy said, slowly standing up. His gaze fell on Pulith. Although Murphy’s true age was sixteen, as a Governor, with his long history of giving commands and the intimidating aura he had gained from going to war, he had already made others fearful of him! Pulith had already experienced this in yesterday’s battle!

After Murphy saw the slave trader with his own eyes, he finally remembered who he was.

The reason was simple. The strong man in front of him looked more like a warrior than a trader, and he was the only slave trader who had gone to battle in person yesterday.

This made Murphy feel favorably toward Pulith. He appreciated his courage!

“I am lacking a clerk in my territory. I’m not sure if you would like to work for me?” Murphy asked, smiling. His slight smile suddenly made Pulith feel as light as air, and his entire body relaxed.

Murphy’s words surprised him!

He merely wanted to turn to Murphy to get the support of a noble. He didn’t expect Murphy to value him so much before he had even done anything for him! You couldn’t blame Pulith for this misunderstanding, because the position of clerk in this aristocratic world was generally held by minor aristocrats, and it was held by minor aristocrats who were relatively trusted by the bigger governors. According to the division of nobles in this world, although Murphy’s territory wasn’t large, his title was at least that of a viscount, which meant that his clerk would at least be a Lord nobility!

In the eyes of the aboriginals in this world, Murphy’s statement basically meant a series of corresponding promises, such as a noble title, status, and more.

So it was no wonder that Pulith was so surprised.

After a moment’s stunned silence, Pulith became elated and immediately knelt down on one knee. He said in a deep voice: “I am willing to serve you! All my respect is for Your Excellency!”

As a slave trader who wasn’t well-born, Pulith knew what an aristocrat’s title meant in this era! Obtaining the title of an aristocrat required the collective effort of several generations!

No matter how much money a merchant had, in the eyes of the nobility, they were just pigs with copper coins.

They had no status and weren’t allowed to have their own private soldiers. In the eyes of the larger aristocratic world, there was no difference between merchants and captive pigs!

They could be slaughtered when necessary.

. . . . . . . . . . . .