Chapter 98: Montreal
Chapter 98: Montreal
At dusk, the Mamluks indeed dispatched a party into the Knightly Order’s camp. They lifted heavy wooden chests from the backs of camels and carried them into Lothar’s tent. Opening them, he saw they were filled with gold and silver utensils, coins, and gemstones.
Many items were difficult to appraise; if sold to the system shop, they probably wouldn’t fetch eight thousand gold coins. But that was because the system shop was inherently a rip-off and didn’t consider "added artistic value" at all. If he slowly sold off those gemstones and gold and silver utensils, rather than just taking their precious metal value, exchanging them for eight thousand Solidus gold coins would be more than enough.
The Mamluks kept their promise, and Lothar naturally reciprocated, generously agreeing to their request for an audience with their master.
Furthermore, Lothar had someone spread the word about collecting spoils of war, letting those sergeants and knights bring all the inconvenient-to-carry loot to a designated tent to exchange for coin. Lothar, in turn, would sell these items to his system shop, exchange them for gold and silver coins bearing his portrait, and, after taking a ten percent "melting loss" commission, give the rest to them.
Lothar wasn’t actually after that small commission; it was purely because carrying all these odds and ends would greatly slow down the Knightly Order’s marching pace. Besides, increasing the circulation of these gold and silver coins bearing his portrait would also greatly enhance his prestige.
By the time all this was done, the sky had completely darkened. Hans walked into the tent, smiling. "Milord, did you know? The sergeants of the Knightly Order have privately given you a nickname."
Lothar said with interest, "What nickname? ’The Stingy’?"
The system shop was a real rip-off, and Lothar worried that the buyback price he offered might dissatisfy the sergeants and knights. But if they knew the prices offered by those accompanying army merchants, they certainly wouldn’t think so.
"Of course not! One is ’Lothar the Generous,’ and the other is ’Lothar the Brave’!"