"Respected City Lord Kachar, the Ironhoof Tribe welcomes your arrival."
Sam thrust the handle of his giant long-handled axe into the ground, pounded his chest with his right hand, and gave Li De a warrior's salute.
Li De gave a slight nod. Although he and this centaur Patriarch were still guarded and cautious toward each other, at least things had started off on the right foot.
Li De was very interested in the centaur tribes and the resources within the Dwarven Hills, while Sam was clearly fascinated by the armor produced by Dawn City.
Both of them had what the other wanted, an ideal basis for cooperation.
More importantly, Li De possessed a strength that Sam had no choice but to take seriously. If it had been an ordinary human merchant coming here, this centaur Patriarch likely wouldn't even have bothered to acknowledge him, he would have just sent him off to meet the God of Death with a single axe blow.
"Patriarch Sam, aside from establishing a friendship with the Ironhoof Tribe this time, there's one more matter I need your assistance with."
Li De was blunt, stating the main purpose of today's visit once the atmosphere had warmed up a little.
"I need to take the humans in this valley with me."
These words caused a slight change in Sam's expression under his armor.
"City Lord Kachar, those are the spoils of the Ironhoof Tribe. As friends, you mustn't covet our private property."
Li De smiled.
"Patriarch Sam, fifty sets."
Sam was slightly stunned.
"What?"
"Fifty sets of armor. I take those humans."
Sam looked as though he had just been insulted. He suddenly tore off his helmet.
A middle-aged human face in his early fifties appeared before Li De. His shoulder-length black hair was slightly disheveled, and his deeply sunken amber eyes burned with rage as he shouted at him.
"Impossible! City Lord Kachar, this is an insult to the Ironhoof Tribe!! These are spoils won with the blood of my warriors!!"
"One hundred sets."
The ferocity in Sam's expression halted for a second. His left hand, which gripped the handle of the long-handled axe planted in the ground, clenched tightly, and his sunken amber eyes stared daggers at Li De.
"No. City Lord Kachar, you must understand that the Ironhoof Tribe paid a heavy price for…"
"One hundred fifty sets."
A hint of delight flickered in Sam's eyes.
"City Lord Kachar, you're putting me in a difficult position here. After all, I have so many subordinates, "
"One hundred fifty sets, Patriarch Sam. I will have a set of Perfect ★ grade armor specially forged by dwarves as a gift for you, a symbol of our friendship."
Sam's eyes widened instantly, and his tone turned resolute.
"City Lord Kachar, please wait a moment. I will have someone bring out the humans immediately. For the sake of our friendship, the Ironhoof Tribe will present these greedy humans to you as a gift."
Li De burst into hearty laughter.
"Patriarch Sam, to our friendship!"
When had this poor centaur tribe ever encountered such a filthy rich benefactor? Li De had completely overwhelmed them with money.
Perfect grade armor! Sam's face bloomed like a chrysanthemum in full bloom, his grin stretching so wide it couldn't close.
Seeing the expression on his face, Li De couldn't help but laugh. He didn't care about this bit of investment at all.
Was it a loss? Definitely. After all, he could have just wiped out the centaurs and taken the human captives without paying a thing.
But did he gain from it? Absolutely. The Crimson Mage Tower was Li De's most important financial pillar, bar none. Now, with the undead invasion and beastman unrest, it was nearly halting production due to a shortage of raw materials.
Opening up this new trade route would generate profits hundreds of times greater than his current expense.
So yes, he suffered a short-term loss, but it would result in a massive long-term gain.
And more importantly, Dawn City had already grown to a certain scale and was continuing to expand. A new problem was beginning to emerge, resource surplus.
While most materials in Dawn City were still scarce, there were already some resources whose supply exceeded the city's current capacity for consumption.
For example, the dwarves. Over six hundred dwarven blacksmiths were forging weapons for him.
How many people were there in all of Dawn City? Even after adding the population gained through conquest, it barely approached thirty thousand.
And the military? Pathetically small. The only reason he needed a batch of armor right now was for the Lionmane Tribe. Otherwise, the dwarves' immense production capacity would far outpace the military's ability to use it.
This led to overproduction of resources.
So what to do? He couldn't exactly ask the dwarves to do something else, or have them forge a massive stockpile of weapons and let them sit idle. That would only lead to greater waste of resources.
Under such circumstances, trade with the outside world became the best option.
But because of Dawn City's unique geographical location, he couldn't establish a direct trade route with the outside world.
Green City had previously been a decent outlet, but if his future plans to build a dwarven armory in Dawn City came to fruition, even Green City might not be able to absorb all his equipment.
Magical items never had trouble selling due to the scarcity of mages, but weapons and armor were another story. Unless they were Transcendent grade or higher, there were already countless similar products available on the market.
If Li De tried to sell his dwarven-forged weapons in Green City, they wouldn't enjoy the same one-sided market dominance as Magic Scrolls. Instead, he'd have to battle it out commercially with the big weapon guilds.
There was no real advantage.
The appearance of the centaurs, however, gave him a breakthrough.
Humans could buy whatever gear they needed within city markets, but centaurs were different.
Like the beastmen, they had been sealed off from human trade. As long as he dared to sell, and the price was right, the centaurs would definitely be able to absorb the supply.
This was the most comfortable type of trade.