In the lobby on the first floor of the Red Castle, the crippled legs carefully sat on the chairs, not even daring to breathe loudly.
A beautiful half-elf maid put a cup of hot water in front of the lame leg, and the lame thanked him repeatedly, but he dared not reach out to touch the exquisite water cup, as if he was afraid of soiling it.
This half-elf handmaiden was Cathy Savoy.
After completing the task that Colin entrusted to her, she had the opportunity to become the baron of the half-elf kingdom, but contrary to everyone's expectations, she took the initiative to give up the title to another member of the Savoy family. She willingly became Colin's maid.
Others thought that Cathy was too stupid, and the baron and the maid didn't know which one to choose.
But Colin felt that this was an ambitious half-elf.
However, if Cathy can't show her due value, then she can only be a maid serving tea and water by Colin's side.
After Cathy withdrew, another fat businessman walked into the hall under the escort of soldiers.
His expression was very haggard, and there were bruises from whipping on his skin that could not be covered by his clothes. It was obvious that he had just suffered a torture to extract a confession.
Ke Lin looked at the familiar fat face of the other party, and asked, "Are you the steward of the Tulip Chamber of Commerce in Ice Rock City—Olma?"
"Yes, Lord Viscount!"
"Who are you, Oliver?"
"He is my brother, my lord."
Colin suddenly smiled: "Oliver and I still have some friendship. Since you are his brother, you don't have to be too restrained. Sit down."
"Yes, my lord." Alma sat down quickly, but she didn't relax at all.
He had heard his brother mention this Viscount Angelet a long time ago, and he knew that this was not a lord who could be easily fooled.
"Olma, to be honest, I'm very sad. My relationship with the Tulip Chamber of Commerce has always been very harmonious, and there was even a loan of up to 300,000 gold coins from your Chamber of Commerce, but I didn't expect that you would actually try to borrow money from my Chamber of Commerce. Sedition in the territory of the country!"
The fat on Oerma's face trembled, and she begged for mercy: "My lord, I'm only following the orders from the headquarters of the chamber of commerce! I don't have any malice towards the Angelet family!"
"However, the rebellion has already caused great damage to my territory. What do you think should be done?"
"I..." Olma murmured, but didn't know how to speak.
Originally, he thought that Colin would be afraid of Earl Uman standing behind the Tulip Chamber of Commerce, and would not dare to do anything to him.
But unfortunately, a beating in prison made him realize the reality——
This Viscount Angelet was not afraid of offending the Uman family at all.
After a while, he had no choice but to say dejectedly: "My lord, I am willing to accept whatever punishment you say..."
But Colin didn't say the punishment measures immediately, but looked up and down Olma with scrutiny, until he saw him with hairs in his heart.
"You said before that the order to instigate the slave rebellion was issued by the headquarters of the Tulip Chamber of Commerce?"
"Yes, my lord."
"So it was all Ms. Penny's idea?"
Alma's forehead was sweating slightly, but she still gritted her teeth and said, "It should be."
Colin asked again: "Ms. Penny is Earl Uman's favorite lover, so does the Earl know about this plan?"
The cold sweat on Alma's face grew even more: "This... I don't know..."
"Then what do you think? Is it possible for the Earl to know?"
"Maybe... maybe..."
Boom!
Ke Lin suddenly slapped the round table heavily, and the two people on the opposite side stood up in fright.
"Mr. Alma, do you realize that you have just questioned the integrity of a Northern Earl?"
"I... I..." Alma Khan was trembling like rain.
Colin showed a stern smile: "Tell me, if the Earl knows that you have slandered him, Ms. Penny, and the Tulip Chamber of Commerce in this way, what will you do?"
Olma fell to her knees with a plop, crying, "Master... Lord... forgive me!"
Colin suddenly laughed again, and his tone softened again: "Olma, I hope you can understand that it is not a matter of how I punish you now, but how the Earl will punish you if he finds out about you .”
"My lord... help me..."
"stand up."
Olma stood up tremblingly, and then saw Colin handing over a roll of letter paper and a quill, and at the same time ordered: "Write a letter to your brother Oliver."
"Write... write what?" Olma looked blank.
"Tell him that you have leaked Earl Uman's conspiracy to me, and let him be careful not to be liquidated by Earl Uman."
"My lord...this..." Olma didn't dare to touch the pen.
Because he knew very well that Earl Uman might not know about his disclosure of the conspiracy, but if such a letter fell into the hands of the Uman family, then he, and his younger brother, would definitely die without a burial.
"Why, you don't want to write?" Ke Lin raised his eyebrows and said coldly.
"I, I'll write, I'll write." Looking at Colin's solemn gaze, Olma knew that even if he was unwilling, he had to leave this nomination certificate.
Seeing Olma pick up the pen tremblingly, Colin frowned again and said, "Don't shake! What? Are you trying to hide the handwriting on purpose?"
"No, no, no! How dare I?"
Seeing Olma write this letter honestly, Colin regained his smile, and patted the other party's shoulder affectionately: "Don't worry, as long as you don't leave Ice Rock City, no one will dare to take you away." How about it."
"Yes, Lord Viscount!" At this moment, Alma also regained her composure.
Because he knew that he had no choice.
Colin put away the letter, pointed to the lame man standing aside and said: "This is lame, you can explain to him in detail the specific location of the slave rebellion arranged by your chamber of commerce near Ice Rock City later. .”
"Yes." Olma nodded of course.
Colin looked at Lame again, and ordered: "Lame, what I need you to do is very simple, that is, go to the place where these slaves rebelled, and tell those rebels that there is food in Ice Rock City, a lot of food!
As long as you do this well and don't have to work hard every day to earn points, I can also make you a free citizen. "
"Yes, my lord!" Although the lame leg didn't understand why Colin did this, he still responded loudly.
In fact, Ke Lin just wanted to get more cheap labor.
These slave rebels are just a bunch of rabble, and letting them scatter in the territory will only cause greater damage. It is better to lure them all to Ice Rock City, and then wipe them all out.
With a large amount of food, Colin was not worried that these slaves could not be resettled.
The slaves can be made to work without paying wages, as long as they are given some bread and broth that can barely fill their stomachs every day, they will not make trouble.
If there were ten freemen per month, then the slaves would work desperately for Colin.
Hey, exploitation, it's that simple.
Of course, in such a famine season, someone like Colin who was willing to give slaves a bite to eat could definitely be called a benevolent lord.
(end of this chapter)