Chapter 509 – Meeting the Mastiff Clan
After mentioning the Space, Zhao Hai and the others' moods relaxed. Just as Zhao Hai said, if those gods really have such a mysterious thing, then they wouldn't need to go through the trouble of establishing churches. They can just capture people and have them populate their space and then lecture them in the god's respective faith. For both faith and influence, this would be the most convenient method.
The group chatted for a while before Zhao Hai took them to play in the Prairie since they had nothing else to do right now. Although the Markey Family still had a lot of things to do, their headquarters were already relocated to Golden Island. Ever since it has been transferred to the island, Laura didn't need to manage it all the time, she can just hand the tasks over to Kun.
Kun had worked as a housekeeper for the Markey Family for half of his life. His understanding about the family's matters were very handy. Moreover, he had more knowledge about how the family's internal workings ran than Laura. Because of this, he didn't have any problems in managing the people from the family. Not only did he possess experience, all of the other housekeepers of the family were now answering to him.
In the past, Kun held a certain influence inside the Markey Family. It was only because of Laura that he quit being an official. Because of this, there were a lot of the family's housekeepers who already knew him, making everything much smoother.
Therefore, the things that were left for Laura to do weren't many. As long as something gets sent to her study, Cai'er can just have it sent to the Space for Laura to process. This made it easier for Laura to process things, giving her more free time.
In the past, when the Markey Family was still big, there were a lot of matters that needed to be managed. But now, after they changed their structure, the businesses that they had left were only 50% compared to before while keeping the original amount of managers. This gave the family an excess of managers, giving Laura much less things to worry about.
Additionally, with the Space, Cai'er can monitor those who dared to steal some profits. It was like having a highly effective investigator on hand. Those who didn't reveal their workings in the light were reported to Laura and were promptly judged. After seeing this, the managers immediately became honest and started working hard.
The Markey Family being able to manage such a large scale business on the entire continent can also be attributed to their ability to manage their shops. Thus, all of their managers were surely talented in what they do. They just want to prove that Laura is unprepared to lead them, but it seems like it was now impossible to do so.
Because of the Space's formidable abilities, Zhao Hai became successful in taking over the Markey Family.
Even if the Markey Family was already thinned out, and their income seem to have been cut short, their business was in fact doing much better than before.
The Robert Family that Zhao Hai had eliminated before was well known to be the majority suppliers for the continent's daily necessities. The Markey Family also sold such goods, but they also focused on other businesses. But now that Zhao Hai had closed down on their other ventures, they became focused on selling daily necessities. Now that the Robert Family was gone, their market share on daily necessities were now taken over by the Markey Family. And adding on to their existing business, the Markey Family was now the largest supplier of daily necessities in the entire Rosen Empire. This made their profits in the empire way bigger than what they had before.
Every single person on the continent knew that what the Markey Family had today was only due to having Zhao Hai as their backer. In fact, the Markey Family can be considered to be the Buda Clan, in one way or another. Because of this, nobody dared to cause trouble with them in Rosen Empire.
Although the income of the Markey Family was lower than before, the continent’s impression of them had gone much better. Zhao Hai's business etiquette was not overbearing like the Markey Family. Some bullying managers were also dealt with. Presently, the shops of the family were very amiable because of the Markey Family's new way of approaching business.
Zhao Hai was very happy with this development. He knows that the Buda Clan cannot grow up too fast. With the Markey Family's connections, they were growing up too fast, it was time for them to lay low.
Because of this, Zhao Hai decided to relax a bit. He brought Megan and the others to roam around the Prairie everyday. Since spring has arrived, the plains were now full of wandering beasts. Zhao Hai had also used this opportunity to collect some Magic Beasts for the Space. Unfortunately, the Space was yet to be upgraded, this made Zhao Hai quite impatient.
After three days, news had come from Wales, telling them that they would be leaving for the Mastiffs tomorrow. Their first agenda was to form an alliance with the Mastiffs, and the second was to ask for news about the Prairie's situation.
Zhao Hai didn't say anything. At the same time, Megan and Lizzy were enjoying their trip to the Prairie. Moreover, Wales greeted them everyday while serving them food and drinks. Megan and Lizzy were also learning from the Beastmen women how to make milk based products. The two of them looked like two city girls who went to the rural areas to play around, they were very curious about everything.
Seeing them smile, Zhao Hai didn't say anything. Also, Zhao Hai was now feeling relaxed about his problem regarding having too much Magic Beasts inside the Space. The Markey Family had a lot of meat processing factories in their hands. Zhao Hai can just send his excess Magic Beasts for them to process.
There were a lot of people from the Markey Family, so Zhao Hai still cannot fully trust them. Because of this, Zhao Hao only relegated some basic tasks for them to do. But even in this case, they were still a great help for the Buda Clan.
The Buda Clan isn't a millennium-old clan, they don't have much of a background. In addition to their recent downfall, all of their assets were now useless. Now that the Markey Family was taken into their fold, even if they weren't involved in internal matters, they can still manage ordinary matters. For the Buda Clan, this was a great thing.
Zhao Hai believed that if the Prairie did come across a grain shortage, then his business here would get bigger and bigger. With the help of the Markey Family's meat processing factories as well as their shops, he can make canned food and rations. Moreover, he can also sell those items through those shops, this would bring him no small profit.
Most importantly, after having those shops, he can also sell all of the things that were produced by the Space. He didn't need to worry about someone cutting off their sales to pressure them anymore.
Zhao Hai was also making preparations to water the Bread Trees inside the Space. He had planted a lot of Bread Trees on the background of the Space, but he decided to have them grow naturally and didn't use the Spatial Water to quicken their growth. However, the situation has already changed. He was now watering those trees with Spatial Water. He needed to produce a lot of Bread Fruits in order to deal with the food shortage of the Prairie.
After waiting for the Bread Trees to bear fruit, Zhao Hai moved Little Jin's entire tribe into the Space. Since the Space's environment was much better than Ape Island, Little Jin was very happy. Zhao Hai also transferred the Goldmetal Tree over to the Space. It was a pity that it wasn't enough to upgrade the Space, however, it did increase the amount of metal produced inside as well as hardening the undead's bones.
Zhao Hai was very satisfied with this result. The Goldmetal Tree was also growing properly inside the Space, moreover, at a rate much faster than before.
The next morning, Zhao Hai and the others went with Wales as they headed towards the Mastiff Tribes' territory. Zhao Hai didn't ride inside the cart that Wales provided, but instead he rode inside Alien. The undead mount was much more comfortable than any carriage. Zhao Hai had also invited Wales in as well as Mendez. Mendez' tasks was very important right now. After their alliance with the Mastiff Tribe gets taken care of, this matter would be handed over to Mendez. He would be the Herculean Bull's representative in any matters with the Mastiffs. One can say that Mendez was now considered to be the diplomat of the Herculean Bull Tribe.
Zhao Hai had Wales and Mendez inside Alien, all three of them were drinking inside. The other Herculean Bulls outside didn't need managing, they also didn't want to disturb the three.
Wales' influence inside the Herculean Bull Tribe was very high. After all, he managed to recapture the Herculean Bull's place as the Royal Tribe of the Cow-headed race. At the same time, Mendez was his right hand man, people of the Herculean Bulls naturally didn't have anything to say about him as well.
Also, for Zhao Hai, these Beastmen held gratitude in their hearts. Zhao Hai made sure that they wouldn't starve to death. Additionally, Zhao Hai took care of their logistics during their war.
Because of these three reasons, nobody went to disturb the three while they were drinking inside Alien. At the same time, nobody also disturbed them whenever they had a meal.
It took seven days from the main camp to reach the Mastiff domain. And they spent the entire time moving along. Although they were some Dog-headed tribes on the way, Wales didn't bother them.
However, those dog-headed beastmen were still very accepting towards them. The Dog-headed race and the Cow-headed race were very close. Because of this, they treated the Herculean Bulls respectfully. After all, the Herculean Bulls are the Cow-headed race's Royal Tribe.
Because of this, Zhao Hai and the others stayed inside Alien and would rarely come out. Only during mealtimes would they stop and go out to eat with everyone.
Seven days quickly passed by as Zhao Hai arrived inside the Mastiff's main camp. But when he came this time, he felt that something was different. It seems like the camp was much bigger, and there were more tents within.
When Zhao Hai entered the camp, he learned why there were more tents inside. This was because there were a lot of tribes who gathered today. There was the Wolfhound Tribe, Shar Pei Tribe, Tosa Tribe, Bull Terrier Tribe, German Shepherd Tribe, Canary Mastiff Tribe, and others more.
These races were the warring force of the Dog-headed Race. They were an integral part of the fighting power of the race. Naturally, because of the relationship between the Dog-headed race and the Cow-headed race, these tribes' relationship with the Herculean Bulls was also good. Wales had already met the Patriarchs of these tribes, and since these Patriarchs were of the same age as Wales' father, all of them were very intimate with Wales.
Chapter 510 – Telling the Reason
The Dog-headed race had a lot more members compared to the Herculean Bulls. Therefore, when Zhao Hai saw these Dog-headed races, he felt his eyes turn strange, there were too many of them.
After introducing themselves, Zhao Hai and Wales were welcomed into a big tent. Zhao Hai chose to not bring Laura and the others today, he just let them stay in the Space. Naturally, in the eyes of outsiders, they were all staying inside Alien.
Inside the tent, these Dog-headed tribe leaders were looking curiously at Zhao Hai. They knew that the Cow-headed Race had a Foreign Prince. Moreover, this new Foreign Prince was a big grain Merchant who had a lot of grain in his hand. The Herculean Bulls being able to reclaim their throne was closely related to this Foreign Prince.
It was because of this that those Dog-headed tribes didn't have any aversion towards Zhao Hai. There were no Beastmen who disliked human Merchants, they were only on guard against them. But since Zhao Hai was a Foreign Prince of the Herculean Bulls, which made him half-beastman, the Beastmen present here naturally held a favorable impression towards Zhao Hai.
Buzeer looked at Wales and then smiled faintly, "Wales, you little brat. Your expression looks very good, it seems like your Herculean Bull Clan had gotten its strength back."
Wales gave his respects to Buzeer and smiled, "Uncle Buzeer, we did indeed have a good winter. In the past years, we needed to ration all of the food that we have. But this time, we have a lot to eat, it's natural that we'd look good."
Looking at Wales' expression, Buzeer couldn't help but laugh and said, "Right, with Little Hai's support, your days have been better. But you shouldn't forget your uncle."
Wales smiled and said, "in fact, one of the reasons that Little Hai came back to the Prairie was to bring him here. Uncle, you can tell Little Hai what you need, he can guarantee that he will give the lowest price to you."
Buzeer looked at Zhao Hai and faintly smiled, "Little Hai, you really came at a fantastic time. Our Dog-headed Race do indeed lack food. How much can you provide us?"
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "Uncle Buzeer, I can give you as much grain as you want. I also brought some Bread Fruit for you. Come take a look." Then he took out a Bread Fruit and placed it on the ground.
Buzeer had never seen a Bread Fruit before, it was the same for Wales. Since the Herculean Bulls had an excess of food, Zhao Hai didn't bother to show them this fruit.
Buzeer was confused as he looked at Zhao Hai and said, "Little Hai, what is this thing?"
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "Uncle Buzeer, this is a Bread Fruit. This fruit is very mysterious. You can see that it isn't very big, but as long as you open its hard shell, the fruit pulp inside would expand. Each fruit can fill a stomach of one Herculean Bull."
The Cow-headed race can eat much more than the Dog-headed race. So when Zhao Hai said his words, Buzeer looked at the fruit and said, "Is it really that amazing?"
Zhao Hai placed the Bread Fruit on the table and then turned to Buzeer and said, "Uncle Buzeer, this fruit can be eaten as is. But is can also be roasted before being eaten. What do you think?"
Buzeer looked at Zhao Hai as his eyes turned bright, "Little Hai, can we taste this thing first?"
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "No problem, Uncle can try it." Then he took out some unopened Bread Fruits and handed them over to Buzeer and the others.
After the Buzeer and the others had eaten the fruit, they nodded. This thing was very good. Not only was its flavor good, it was also very convenient to store, it was a very useful thing.
Buzeer placed the Bread Fruit down and looked at Zhao Hai, "Little Hai, I want these things, how many do you have? Our Dog-headed race is extremely lacking in food, I want as much as you can provide."
Zhao Hai smiled, "Uncle, as long as you tell me how much you want, I can certainly provide it to you. Also, I shall sell these Bread Fruits at half the price of Bamboo Rice."
Buzeer became happy, he immediately said, "Good, fantastic! Little Hai's words really makes me feel relieved. I want an initial 20 million at this time, what do you think?"
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "Alright, I can give it to you anytime. Just go find me a place to take them out and then I'll give it to you."
Buzeer gladly got someone to prepare the place. Then the group continued to chat inside the tent. But this time, it was evident that the other Tribe leaders were more polite towards Zhao Hai. Being impolite to a merchant that can easily take out several million jins of food isn't a wise move.
Seeing that the atmosphere had settled down, Wales turned to Buzeer and said, "Uncle Buzeer, I heard rumors that the entire Prairie is having a food shortage. Is this true?"
As soon as Buzeer heard Wales, he couldn't help but sigh and said, "It's true. If it isn't then our Dog-headed race wouldn't have a lack of food. I initially wanted to borrow some food from other races, but I didn't think that they would have a deficit as well. Everybody's days have been very bad."
Wales and Zhao Hai looked at each other and saw a glint in their eyes. Wales immediately turned to Buzeer and said, "Uncle, can we talk alone?"
Buzeer looked at Wales' expression and knew that he should have something important to tell him. He couldn't blame Wales as he nodded and said, "Alright. Everyone! I'll have to ask you to exit the tent, I have something to talk about with Wales." The group didn't object as they just nodded and stood up.
Seeing that everyone has exited, Wales immediately turned to Buzeer and said, "Uncle, you should know that our Herculean Bull Tribe had just suffered a disaster. I'm afraid that people might cause trouble for us in the future. I want to ask Uncle this time to help us out if ever people come to give us problems."
Buzeer laughed and said, "You kid, that's a small matter. I thought you're being secretive because of something else. Don't worry, with our relationship, we would surely assist you if you have problems."
Wales bitterly smiled and said, "Uncle, this is only one thing. The other thing doesn't only involve our Cow-headed race and Dog-headed race. It involves the food shortage of the entire Prairie. It seems like this one is of a larger scale. Little Hai believed that there may be people who deliberately caused this behind the scenes, and they are most likely the Radiant Church."
As soon as Buzeer heard Wales, his expression changed, then he turned to Zhao Hai and said, "Little Hai, do you have any proof of this?"
Zhao Hai shook his head and said, "I don't, I still need to investigate this matter. But uncle should know that last winter, the Radiant Church had colluded with the Fighting Bulls to control the entire Cow-headed race. After we destroyed them, the didn't make any sound anymore, this is not common for them. But now, the Prairie just experienced a food shortage as spring started, isn't this too much of a coincidence? Because of this, I concluded that this definitely had something to do with the Radiant Church. But since the Herculean Bulls needed to recover for quite some time, I can only ask Uncle to pass this information over to the Warring Clans to make them aware of this possibility."
One could say that the organization that the Beastmen dreaded the most was the Radiant Church. These guys have always been creating conflict between Humans and Beastmen. They are the most hated people of the Beastmen. So whether this is true or false, the Beastmen would surely look seriously into this matter.
As soon as Buzeer heard Zhao Hai, he immediately nodded and said, "Alright, I'll go report this matter as soon as possible. You can rest assured that this matter shall be looked into."
Zhao Hai and Wales nodded. Then Wales added, "Uncle, Little Hai has a lot of food in his hand. Can you see whether there are allies of the Dog-headed Race that need food so that we can sell them some?"
Buzeer’s eyes turned bright, "Good, that is good. Our Dog-headed race is in good terms with the Bear Tribe. They had helped us before, but when they suffered a disaster several years ago, we weren't able to help them. This had always made me guilty. Now that there is a food shortage, I think that the Bear Clan wouldn't be faring well. If you can sell them grain, then it would be good."
Wales smiled and said, "This is not an issue, Little Hai has a lot of grain. But Uncle, can you put in a good word for our Herculean Bulls Clan so that the bear Clan can also help us when trouble comes?"
Beastmen relations are solid, since the Dog-headed race also had a good relationship with the Cow-headed race, it didn't take too long for Buzeer to nod and said, "This shouldn't be a problem. If the Bear Clan really did lack grain and you manage to sell them some, then they would naturally give you a hand. I'll have Buffon accompany you to the bear Clan, if you have him with you, they would certainly agree."
Wales became happy and expressed his gratitude, "Thank you, Uncle. But if this shortage is really due to the Radiant Church, then I'm afraid that war will have to happen. Even if Little Hai has a lot of food in his hands, he cannot supply the entire Prairie. What does Uncle think about this situation?"
Buzeer nodded, then he coldly snorted and said, "Even if Little Hai can supply the entire Prairie, war will still happen if the Radiant Church is indeed behind all of this. We have to use our weapons to remind the Humans that the Beastmen aren't easy to bully."
Buzeer took a glance at Zhao Hai while he said this, he feared that it might influence Zhao Hai's feelings. After all, Zhao Hai had their food in his control, it was what they needed the most at this time. But fortunately, Zhao Hai's face was calm and it seems like Buzeer's words didn't give him any dissatisfaction.
Wales also noted Buzeer's gaze, he faintly smiled and said, "Is uncle worried about Little Hai? You don't need to worry about him, Little Hai has a huge enmity with both the Aksu Empire and the Radiant Church. He also wants the Beastmen to deal with the Radiant Church."
Upon hearing Wales, Buzeer looked puzzled at Zhao Hai and said, "Little Hai is a Dark Mage, so it's natural that you would have an enmity with the Radiant Church. But why do you have an enmity with the Aksu Empire?"
Zhao Hai forced a smile and said, "Uncle might find it funny, but my clan is originally a noble of the Aksu Empire. But when the new Monarch sat on the throne, he demoted our status from Duke to a Count. He also sent people to kill us. If not for some people giving us a hand, we might have all been eliminated. Because of this, I've always carried a huge grudge towards the Aksu Empire."
Buzeer nodded, "Alright. The first one to be unlucky when the Beastmen declares war with the humans would be the Aksu Empire. You don't have to worry about it, I'll help you take revenge."
Zhao Hai smiled bitterly and thank Buzeer. Buzeer then turned to Wales and said, "When war comes, I think that your Cow-headed race should be at the Rear Guard. You've had recent losses and need to slowly recover. At the same time, you also have Little Hai, so you don't need to worry about food."
Wales nodded and said, "I thank Uncle for his reminder. Little Hai also advised me about this and I agree. This is why I've been looking for people to form a relationship with. Otherwise, our Cow-headed race wouldn't have enough status to decide this matter."
Buzeer nodded, although the Cow-headed Beastmen were very skilled, they aren't anything in the eyes of the big Warring Clans. Wales arriving at this conclusion meant that he had matured, and was now a true Patriarch of a Tribe.
Although the Beastmen are simple minded, their Patriarchs would need a bit of brain in order to secure their position. Buzeer understood what Wales was trying to do right now, he wanted to grow his Race. There was no harm in this, so Buzeer agreed.
Adding on to the fact that the Dog-headed race and the Cow-headed race had always been friends for generations, they would surely help each other. The more powerful the Cow-headed race gets, the more help the Dog-headed race can get from them. Buzeer was genuinely hoping that the Wales' race would become strong.
Another point was Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai was now a Foreign Prince of the Herculean Bulls, he was also a big merchant. Such a person was greatly accepted in the Prairie. Naturally, people would want to form a connection with such a person. Since this is a good opportunity, Buzeer wouldn't let this go. As long as Zhao Hai continues to sell them food at the current price, the Dog-headed race would continually get stronger and more prosperous.
Beastmen were straightforward people, but it didn't mean that they are fools. Conversely, Beastmen Patriarchs aren't simple characters. However, one couldn't deny that Beastmen were more honest than Humans. The Cow-headed Race were in a good relationship with the Dog-headed Race, so when the Herculean Bulls were in trouble, the Mastiffs helped them with no hesitation. Such a thing was rare for Humans unless they are eternal allies like the Buda Clan and the Crook Family. Otherwise, nobles wouldn't do it, they were only interested in benefits. They are completely different from the Beastmen.
Buzeer lending Wales a hand, is just a matter of course, there wasn't anything strange about it. Buzeer was a friend to Wales' father, so he would naturally look after Wales. He also regarded Wales as the younger generation, and guiding the young ones was a job of the elders.