Chapter 240: Angies Return (1)
New chapter of The Demon King is out! (1/2 chapters)
After a harrowing journey akin to walking through the brink of purgatory, Angelica Sacrament finally reached the border. She swam across the river, entered the territory of the Kuran, exchanged gold for food at a colonial village, and once she was no longer worried about food, she, then, swiftly returned to the Tyrellme God-Protected Empire.
It took three months for this journey, during which news of the fall of Reform had already reached the Tyrellme God-Protected Empire.
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First, Angie returned to Ultima and rested her troops for three days. Then, she headed to the royal capital of Andal to assess the current situation. By the time Angie arrived in Andal, envoys from the Albio Republic had already been there for three weeks. Couriers carrying sealed letters were running all over the country. Small lords and mercenary bands had no one to bear their ransom. They had to come up with funds on their own. Upon receiving letters stating the amount of ransom, everyone ran around to raise money.
The exchange was supposed to be a physical exchange of gold or Shanti people slaves, so the price of Shanti slaves soared. The exchange ratio was four ordinary soldiers of the same age for one female Shanti slave and two for one male. It was more efficient from the market price but not so much when the market price rose.
However, for the sake of adding to the ransom, the brothel owners in many places were unlawfully arrested, and Shanti people slaves were seized. As for farm, the owners who mainly used male Shanti slaves was also deprived of their slaves by exercising the strong right of the feudal lord.
Shanti people’s slaves were currently the same as gold, especially since the brothel owners were originally suspicious individuals. Therefore, arrests and the like could be made as much as they want, and they arouse resentment among the people. It was a substitute collection method with more immediacy than raising the overall tax rate.
Those who didn’t need to care about the law had taken more direct means. The Albio Republic was only concerned with health conditions and did not investigate the source of acquisition. That meant it didn’t matter if Shanti was acquired criminally, so mercenaries attacked farms and brothels to abduct Shanti slaves in place of ransom.