My territory is filled with block creations.

Chapter 29 I don't want to spend the money, but I still want the person!

"What method?" Thorne looked at Alex with some surprise. "Are you able to create some kind of mechanical labor force, or mechanical androids?"

"What are you babbling about? It's just a concept within the Mechanicus, a pie in the sky for outsiders." Alex said, taking off her leather glove from her left hand in front of Thorne.

He tugged down on the middle finger of his glove, and three gleaming gold coins fell out.

Then, with a touch of reluctance, he handed the three gold coins to Thorne: "This is an investment. You'll get dividends from me according to the agreed-upon ratio. Find someone to take this money and buy a batch of slaves from a slave trader."

"Ah? A slave trader..." Thorne hesitated, weighing the three gold coins in his hand. Alex, however, keenly sensed this and asked with some surprise, "You don't happen to have some kind of moral fastidiousness, do you?"

"Maybe a little bit, because I just wore it... When I was a child, I was sold to the capital as a slave, and then I was raised by one person and became an alchemist."

"Although in a sense, my fate was changed because I was bought and sold, my situation is definitely a minority. More likely, people will be oppressed for their entire lives and eventually die suddenly one day. So we cannot use my extremely rare case to glorify the entire shitty industry of the slave trade."

"However, I had always planned to cultivate my own virtue when I was poor, and to help others when I was rich. I don't have the ability to change all of this, so I can only stay away from this industry based on the principle that there is no harm without buying and selling. I don't buy, I don't sell, and I don't even look at it."

Alex frowned, looking at Thorne who had suddenly launched into such a long explanation. She was unsure about his past and quickly asked, "Did I remind you of something unpleasant?"

"No, not at all." Thorne shook his head, and then Alex was relieved: "Then aren't you now helping others out of your wealth? Three gold coins are quite a lot; you can save many slaves."

"It's not that simple. If no one buys slaves from slave traders, their slaves will remain stuck in their hands. Perhaps their final fate will still not be good, but at least for the time being, no more poor souls will become slaves and be sold. But if someone buys them, I will become an accomplice in turning the next batch of people into slaves."

After Thorne finished speaking, Alex couldn't help but sigh, wanting to take her three gold coins back, when she heard the person in front of her speak again.

"But there's no use saying all this. I'm not someone who only has to eat and no one else to feed, so don't worry, I'll take your opinion into consideration. As for your moral fastidiousness, you can just control yourself."

After Thorne finished speaking, he put the three gold coins into his pocket, intending to have Lester and Doug start their next business venture as soon as they returned…

And so, Thorne once again sat on the wooden planks by the river and soaked his feet. The difference was that before, soaking his feet was a daily routine for him, and he felt relaxed. But this time, he felt incredibly stifled.

In general, this is also a result of the lag in this ditch era, or perhaps it's my own problem. If I could completely give up my social identity, maybe I could get rid of those slave markets... No, I'm being foolish again.

He might be able to destroy a few scattered slave markets with his meager strength, but could he stop war? Could he stop natural disasters and man-made calamities? Could he stop hunger?

These are things I can't do myself, but as long as I have those few damn things, slaves will keep growing out of the fields.

Eh…

Thorne was so frustrated that he couldn't sleep well that night. He spent half the night digging for stones in the stepped stone pit he had been in before. When he got bored of digging for stones in the second half of the night, he went to the edge of the forest and started cutting down trees.

As dawn broke, he saw a limping figure walking towards him from not far away.

I was a little surprised. What's going on? It hasn't even been a whole day, and that so-called Mr. Loren has sent someone again?

However, as the sun grew brighter, he soon recognized the figure's face as Doug, a traveling merchant.

In addition, he was carrying a lot of things on his back, and even his clothes were bulging with two clucking chickens.

Seeing this, Thorne subconsciously pinched the bridge of his nose to make his eyes, which hadn't slept all night, see more clearly.

Then, with a bang, he chopped the axe into a nearby tree stump, ran towards Doug with lightning speed, quickly unloaded the load that was bigger than Doug from his back and carried it himself to lighten his load, before asking, "Where's Lester?"

The moment he asked the question, Thorne had a very bad feeling.

Looking at Thorne's anxious expression, Doug felt a strange sense of relief for some reason.

At least he and Lester didn't leave entirely outside, wasting two gold coins and 20 silver coins. He actually returned to the village carrying a large amount of supplies, plus the two chickens and iron, which were the most important.

Only then did he answer Thorne's question, speaking rapidly, "Cows! Cows and pigs, a total of four, plus Lester, they were captured by mercenaries!"

"We don't know what happened. Yesterday at noon, we had just left the city. When we were leaving the main road of Autumnwind Town and heading into the woods, a group of mercenaries came and caused us trouble. Lester was captured by them, and it seems they were going to sell him into slavery."

As he listened to Doug’s quick and fairly logical words, Thorne’s tightly furrowed brows relaxed.

What? He initially thought Lester was dead! It's good that he's alive, it's good that he's alive.

And most importantly, Leicester was captured and was to be sold into slavery.

Thinking about how he hadn't slept a wink last night because of this shitty topic and had worked all night, Thorne felt a little more relaxed.

After being suffocated for an entire night, I finally had a legitimate reason.

Although thinking this way is not particularly fair to Leicester's unfortunate situation.

But it still makes sense. The fact that Lester was captured and enslaved is too coincidental. Last night, a knot in my heart that I was worried about without a reason or position was instantly untied.

Buy slaves? Pay Leicester's ransom?

Nonsense! Leicester is my own people, he's mine. You kidnapped him and enslaved him, what's the difference between that and declaring war? You're not going to fight back with your own people? And you're going to pay to ransom him? Dream on!

The problem is this: Lester doesn't want to spend the money himself, and he also wants all the other slaves under that slave trader's control.

What should I do? This decision is so hard to make, hahaha!

Thorne laughed in a terrifying sound as he thought about it, which made Doug shudder.

"Lord? What's going on?" Doug finally mustered up the courage to ask the question, and Thorne simply patted him on the shoulder.

"Go back and rest, have a good meal. And wake up all the villagers. Nobody works today. Just practice in the valley square. As for me..." Thorne weighed the rattling things on the back of the carrying frame; they were clearly iron ingots.

"I'll go make you some amazing tools that you'll need later!"