Damon's Ascension-Chapter 43: The First Instance 2

"Gun? What is that?" the translator asked with confusion, glancing at the captain’s waist to see a dagger and some small cylindrical object.

Damon was not surprised by his confusion because matchlocks were still the favored hot weaponry of this era. Flintlocks had only recently been introduced this year, and the captain’s was rather new, only looking old due to months of seafaring.

"The cylinder on his waist. Tell him I am interested in it and would like to play with it in exchange for some gold," Damon reiterated calmly.

His entourage sighed with relief. So it was just the Obetse wanting to take this trinket for himself as part of the lion’s share!

The translator said as much to Captain Pembroke in English, which made the old captain’s face change slightly. Due to the danger and power of flintlocks, his was a registered weapon that had been bought at a premium of 15 shillings, equivalent to around $200 today.

However, Captain Pembroke unhesitatingly handed over his weapon to Damon. After all, while 15 shillings might seem like a lot, even the smallest gold nugget at 0.5 troy ounces was worth over 40 shillings, twice the value of his little flintlock!

These fellows literally brought chests full of such nuggets for trade for the cheapest stuff, so it wasn’t a loss to give away his new weapon at all!

Besides, could this barbarian savage even know how to use it? He likely wanted it as a trinket; such was a fixation among these savages, always wanting new and inexplicable things to show off their status to others.

Damon held the flintlock and immediately judged that it was a completely normal weapon since no tooltip appeared to explain its abilities. He had thought since this small instance was fixed on this transaction and Captain Pembroke was the most important person here, his weapon would be special.

Maybe there was something special, but further investigation would be required.

Damon tossed the weapon back casually, which the captain hurriedly caught. Having lost interest, Damon gestured to the entourage member in charge of handling the war prisoners, and the group visibly came alive as they knew it was the moment of truth.

The British sailors were tense when they saw a huge number of savages appearing, but their expressions became slightly weird when they saw that many of these fellows were bound up quite tightly. Not only that, the majority of them were female and very young at that.

Around 200 slaves were lined up, their faces not as full of despair as one would think, rather harboring hope. It was rather ironic, but as Damon knew, these slaves did not have much use to their captors except being bed-warmers or playthings, and their treatment was pretty bad.

Rules surrounding prisoners of war? No such thing.

Don’t forget, in the process of conquering them, the able-bodied warriors on the winning side likely lost a few people, so there was already hidden resentment from wives losing husbands and children losing fathers. How could they treat the people from the losing side well when such a thing happens?

However, it was said that on the side of these foreigners were very moral people who worshiped a strange god that said they should love their neighbors. Not only that, but they had amazing technology and trinkets, so going there might be a better fate for these captured slaves than being kept here!

"Mr. Obetse, what is the meaning of this?" Captain Pembroke asked with a slight frown.

The translator turned to explain, but Damon waved him away and spoke in perfect English, shocking everyone around.

"This is my people opening a new frontier of trade. We are giving you the chance to be the pioneer of this frontier and experience the wealth that it brings," Damon stated, stepping forward to make the captain focus on him.

Despite his shock and confusion, the translator stepped back with a gloomy expression, noting this violation of culture. The Obetse was not supposed to learn the language of foreigners, though this was more of an unspoken rule.

"A new frontier? What could these savag- I, mean, prisoners do?" Captain Pembroke asked with confusion.

"Haha, savage? I see where you are coming from calling us that, but can you explain further why you say that?" Damon laughed genially, not at all angry like how Captain Pembroke expected.

"Well..." The man hesitated, but seeing Damon gesturing for him to speak freely, he decided to share his worries.

"Well, they say you fellows engage in cannibalism, savagery, and worship false gods while performing sacrifices," Captain Pembroke said slowly.

Surprisingly, Damon nodded. "Partially true. Our particular clan does not engage in cannibalism, but we do worship what you consider false gods, and we do have some savage traditions by your standards."

Seeing the fellow tense up, Damon smiled. "However, we have no intention of sharing our culture with you, only in trading. We are not friends, Captain Pembroke, but simply business partners. I give you useful goods, you pay me in kind."

Hearing this, the fellow’s eyes flickered as some form of barrier within him seemed to shatter, and his demeanor became far more relaxed.

"Yes, true. So once again, what do you intend to do with these prisoners? Are you aiming to sell them to us?" Captain Pembroke got down to the important matter.

"Sell? No, not in that sense. We are simply loaning them to you," Damon shook his head calmly.

"Huh? Please elaborate, dear sir," the captain requested with furrowed brows.

"We will pay you in gold, and you will take these prisoners to your lands and educate them in mathematics, warfare, finance, and politics at the highest institutions, and then in 10 years, you will ship them all back to us. All their expenses, be it living, learning, and taxes, will be paid by us upfront," Damon explained, leaving Captain Pembroke baffled.

"Are you sure about this? Even if we successfully educate these folks, whether they will survive our lands is not guaranteed. Apart from that, due to their culture, they may be rejected by many schools," Captain Pembroke was taken aback and couldn’t help but advise.

"That is expected, but with enough money, all problems are a breeze, no?" Damon glanced at the captain with a knowing look.

Captain Pembroke felt alarm because he realized that this young man was not only quite visionary and clever, but also very daring. Not only that, he somehow understood the value of gold deeply, unlike the other savages who thought of it as a waste.

"I..."

Damon interrupted the fellow with a gesture and waved to his entourage once more. Immediately, four crates of gold nuggets were brought and opened, their luster shining in the face of the British sailors and making them gulp audibly.

"Two of these crates are for the prisoners’ funding, and one is for the goods you were going to give us already. I know their value doesn’t match up to what we are giving you, but you can’t have come all this way here for nothing, right?" Damon said with a smile.

Captain Pembroke was silent, glancing at Damon deeply. "Dear sir, you are quite a business partner indeed. But what about the last crate?"

Damon folded his arms behind his back. "I assume that there will be many obstacles you will face in carrying out my task, so this is for you. To both compensate you and to help smooth the difficulties you face. Once you return ten years later, I will prepare another crate full of gold for you as well."

Captain Pembroke was deeply moved by this and could only sigh internally. With a young leader like this, it was likely that these savages could develop quite fast and reach the level of the great British Empire in the next hundred or so years.

Thinking about the hand he would play in this, Captain Pembroke became slightly interested, wondering if he would become the official ambassador to these savages and be respected down the pipeline of history for his actions today.

With that in mind, a contract on parchment was drafted and signed by the ship’s lawyer, with certain merchant ships contracted to work for them. In an hour’s time in total, everyone left happy—Pembroke with his gold, slaves... no, ’wards’... and the Ghanaians with their trinkets and alcohol.

Only Damon and the translator understood what happened here, and seeing the warning look from Damon, the translator knew that he would have to speak smartly when they got back, lest he die and his wife as well as his farm taken from him. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

After a few steps, Damon noticed that the world began to deform around him, turning into a blank whiteness that stretched on for miles.

[Essence Augmented Reality (Earth) - Fort James Instance 1 (Clear!)]

[Objective(s):

a. Complete the sale for the clan with satisfactory results - Completion Grade: EX

b. Free the slaves silently as a form of protest against this act. - Completion Grade: EX]

[Remarks: Killing two birds with one stone, subtly freeing the slaves while making a satisfactory trade that will bear endless wealth for the future. Haha, if only this wasn’t a snippet of the past and wouldn’t change anything, wouldn’t that be nice?]

[Rewards: 500 units of Worldly Essence, C-Grade Skill: Negotiation, D-Grade Energy Flintlock.]