Hunter starting from Hunter World

As a new human empire, Arathor, if you want to become a member of its ruling class, there are usually only two channels.

The first is naturally military merit.

By demonstrating his bravery and commanding abilities, he gained the appreciation of Emperor Thoradin, and was eventually canonized as a nobleman with a territory of his own.

Because in this barbaric era, only powerful enough lords can protect the people from various external threats.

As for the second channel, it is the tribal leaders and elders who take the initiative to seek refuge.

As heroes who took the initiative to hand over power to avoid war, they also received their due rewards and became members of the nobility.

However, compared with the military aristocrats in front of them, the latter clearly bear the traces of the tribal system and have been excluded from the core decision-making circle of the empire from the beginning.

With the strong character of Emperor Thoradin, he would not allow anyone to hinder his reform of human society, especially the remaining conservative forces.

Therefore, he constantly promoted the status of military aristocrats who represented the new era, weakened the influence of those conservative forces, and marginalized them.

Unfortunately, as the founder and leader of the first-generation Barov family, Al is such a guy who has a baron title and territory, but has no chance to participate in political decision-making.

In fact, like most noble surnames, the name Barov was originally just the name of his own tribe.

Later, after becoming a noble, he changed his surname to remember his origin.

Within the Arathor Empire, ordinary civilians may not even have a proper name, let alone a surname.

As for the noble class, they either use the original tribal name as their surname, or their own fiefdom as their surname.

In short, every one of the famous royal families in the late history of Azeroth came from a mud-legged background, and were no more noble than ordinary people.

But as land, wealth, and power later continued to concentrate in the hands of a few upper-class nobles, the result was the emergence of the theory of born noble.

The nobles desperately advocated how ancient their families were and how noble their bloodlines were, in order to demonstrate the legitimacy of their rule and status.

But now, the Barov family, which will be extremely wealthy in the future, is still just a small baron, with a total population of less than a thousand households, two knights and a private army of thirty people.

Yes!

You read that right!

Arathor, the first unified empire that was desperately advocated by later human history books, was so backward and poor.

A dignified baron is basically no different from the village chief of a slightly larger village.

Al Barov could not even build a fortress-like town made of wood and soil like Allen. He could only use wooden fences to roughly surround the residential area to block the beasts that hunted at night.

As for leaving the residential area to work in the farmland, civilians can only rely on the farm tools in their hands, such as sickles and pitchforks to protect themselves.

And look forward to not encountering terrifying predators like velociraptors and giant spiders.

Otherwise, there is a high probability that they will be eaten alive.

The nobles in the early days of the empire were far less able to taste delicious food, wear luxurious and comfortable clothes, live in exquisite houses and castles, and enjoy the service of dozens or even dozens of professional servants than their descendants could.

On the contrary, at this stage, they have far more responsibilities and obligations than the privileges they receive.

Not to mention anything else, just to defend one's territory and people requires a lot of financial resources and energy.

In order to repel the invading beasts or monsters, some nobles even went into battle together with their whole families, and died tragically in the end.

Exploration and expansion are never easy.

It means blood and killing, and it means facing natural and man-made disasters including nature.

Compared with those who have died, Al Barov is undoubtedly lucky.

Because although his territory is a little wild, it is close to one of the only two dukes in the empire.

Although the two sides did not have much contact on weekdays, during the previous operation to clean up the beasts and monsters in the territory, several troll strongholds on the edge of his territory were destroyed.

The largest village among them had hundreds of people.

If these trolls take advantage of the cover of night to attack the Barov family's residential area, even if they can be successfully repelled, they will suffer heavy losses.

So when he heard that Allen had returned to the forest, Al Barov rushed over immediately with gifts.

On the one hand, he wanted to express his gratitude and took the opportunity to get close to her.

On the other hand, he hopes to conclude a covenant and give up part of the proceeds in exchange for something he wants.

Because the number of off-duty professional soldiers that small lords could afford was too scarce, and the militia trained by civilians could easily collapse at a critical moment of life and death.

As a last resort, some of them chose to form an alliance with each other to ensure that if any family was attacked, the other families could immediately bring manpower to support them.

Others transfer part of their territory's profits in exchange for the military protection of powerful nobles around them.

The former will slowly form complex marriage relationships and eventually form a unified alliance to speak for themselves politically.

The latter will form a certain dependence relationship, causing the small nobles to gradually break away from the emperor's control and become vassals of the big nobles.

No matter which one it is, it is quite fatal to the Arathor Empire.

Unfortunately, Thoradin was not aware or aware of this and did not interfere in any way.

Perhaps in the eyes of this talented and strategic king, the troll empire Amani is the enemy that is truly worthy of all his efforts to deal with.

The problem of nobles within the country is just a minor trouble, and it will not be too late to deal with it after the threat of trolls is resolved.

Anyway, with the tacit approval of the emperor, the newly enthroned nobles could be said to do whatever they could to survive, develop and grow.

At the moment, Al Barov is sitting on the chair in the reception room, looking a little nervous.

Because before this, he had never had any contact with Allen. At best, he only had a glance from a distance when the emperor recruited vassals to fight.

As for close conversations…

Feel sorry!

He does not yet have such qualifications.

With a little anxiety and uneasiness, Al Barov soon saw a young man with short hair and no beard walking out of the room behind him, led by a servant.

Al Barov did not dare to neglect, and quickly stood up and bowed respectfully with one hand: It is a great honor to be received by you, Your Excellency the Duke.

Nice to meet you too, Baron Barov. Allen responded with a smile.

After saying hello, the two quickly sat down again and looked at each other silently across a table.

In about a few minutes, Al Barov was the first to break the silence and presented a small box filled with gold bars with both hands: It's a small thing and not a sign of respect. Please accept it. Thank you for your continued care, my The territory will be safe and sound.

Newly refined gold? You discovered a gold mine on your territory?

Allen picked up one of the simply refined gold bars with a surprised expression on his face.

Although precious metals such as gold and silver are not yet the legal currency of the empire, they have begun to be regarded as general equivalents in previous transactions between tribes.

The only problem is that most humans are still more willing to hoard necessities such as food, cloth, livestock, poultry, steel, weapons, armor, salt, and spices than gold, which is neither edible nor drinkable.

This is also the reason why the Arathor Empire has not started to mint gold, silver and copper currencies since its establishment.

Without him!

The people have not yet formed a unified understanding of the value of gold and silver currency, and trade is still in the primitive stage of barter.

When agriculture and handicrafts develop to a certain extent, and there is a large surplus of the things produced, and there is an urgent need for exchange, there will be an urgent need for currency.

Before this time, the main use of gold was for decoration.

That's right! I discovered a gold mine on my own territory and tried to capture some troll slaves for mining and refining. What you see now is all I have accumulated in the past few months. Al Barov did not try to hide anything and admitted it openly.

Because this gold mine was one of the chips he wanted to exchange.

Allen instantly understood what the other party meant and nodded with a smile: I see. It seems that you are really lucky enough to have discovered a gold mine in your territory. If nothing else happens, in ten or twenty years, The value of this gold will skyrocket, and you can even buy everything.”

Al Barov smiled bitterly and shook his head: Sorry, I may not be able to wait until that time. If you don't mind, I would like to use this gold mine to make an exchange with you.

Oh? What do you want to exchange? Allen put down the gold bar in his hand and asked with interest.

To be honest, he was still a little interested in the founder of the Barov family.

After all, judging from the current situation and the location of the territory, he really couldn't imagine how such a family could develop to control large areas of rich land such as Brill, Tarren Mill, Keldaron, and Southsea Town, and even be able to compete with them. A super noble comparable to the royal family of the Kingdom of Alterac.

Could it be that thanks to the decline of the Arathor Empire, the nobles began to expand towards the north, and the Barov family seized this golden opportunity?

Or maybe the Barov family did the same thing as the Habsburg family in Europe, desperately completing the expansion and annexation of their territories through marriage?

Because the history of Azeroth before the Orc War is too vague, it is far more difficult than imagined to figure out the truth of some details.

I want to exchange gold mines for a hundred soldiers, and then take the initiative to capture more troll slaves, and then sell slaves in exchange for enough food, livestock, weapons and armor. And the only people with such strength nearby are Your Majesty, Your Majesty.

It must be said that Al Barov is a very courageous person, and his political and business sense is also extremely keen, and he immediately realized the intention of the decree.

As human nobles began to use trolls on a large scale to perform hard physical labor, they would soon discover that these humanoid creatures, which had powerful regenerative abilities and were very difficult to die, were simply born to be slaves.

Because ordinary humans may be injured or even die due to excessive fatigue, but trolls will not.

Moreover, trolls have never been picky about their food. They can eat the meat of raptors, giant spiders, fishmen, or other intelligent creatures. They can even eat the corpses of their own kind.

Very, very easy to feed!

Therefore, it won't be long before the demand for troll slaves in various territories will surge, and the price will naturally rise accordingly.

At this time, spending a lot of money to form a professional slave-catching team will definitely make a fortune from it.

Of course, the premise is that you don't accidentally bump into a large army of trolls and end up being eaten by them.

After realizing what the founder of the Barov family wanted to do, Allen suddenly showed a playful smile and gave a straightforward affirmative answer: No problem! In principle, I agree to this transaction. Not only that, there was no sales in the early stage Before opening, I will purchase all the trolls you capture, whether they are adults, old people, women, or children, and will give you priority in selling weapons and armor. But there is one thing you must pay special attention to, that is, do not get close to the west border. Otherwise I guarantee you will die very, very badly!

Thank you very much! Don't worry, I am not a fool. I know how difficult the forest trolls in the Amani Empire are to deal with. And my appetite is not that big. The troll tribes in the empire are enough to make a lot of money. .”

When saying these words, Al Barov's eyes flashed with undisguised excitement.

He would not invest all the pitiful materials at hand in the construction and development of the territory like those stubborn nobles.

Just the opposite!

He wants to use gold mines, something that doesn't have much value yet, in exchange for some resources that can be used immediately, and then develop and grow rapidly like a snowball.

The next time the emperor summons his vassals to fight against the enemy, the Barov family will be able to mobilize enough troops to win their own honor on the battlefield, obtain a higher noble title, and a wider area of ​​land.

Obviously, the word greed has been deeply imprinted in the blood of the Barov family from the beginning, and will continue to do so until it eventually dies.

As a legally binding contract was signed, Al Barov immediately obtained a hundred-man phalanx from Allen, consisting of light cavalry, heavy infantry and crossbowmen.

Allen also obtained ownership of the gold mine and gave it to Lyle to mine, melting all the gold into gold bricks and storing them in the basement.

Although this thing is not very useful in human society at the moment, you can buy a lot of good things in the high elf kingdom in the north...