Chapter 416 - Interesting Proposal

The bosses of Green Hawk eventually arrived but Zero wondered why they were all wearing green feathered masks. It looked slightly ridiculous on them but Zero didn't say it aloud. Still, he was rather surprised to see that the leaders weren't all humans. There was one short and pudgy man but Zero didn't know if he was simply a short and fat human or if he was a dwarf. The furry armed man was definitely a were folk. Zero didn't know if the lady was human or a mix of something but he knew for sure the webbed fingers of another lady were a dead giveaway that she was a water creature. It was fun trying to guess their ident.i.ties but for now, Zero concentrated on Dwayne's query.

"It's rare for us to be approached by you," the lady with webbed fingers smiled. Her voice sounded like wind chimes and Zero resisted the charm magic. There was no doubt that this lady was a siren.

Dwayne nodded. "I came with a proposal to mutually benefit both sides. You've probably heard of the new elf in the Dirt Ring. This is his younger brother."

All eyes were suddenly on Zero and the doctor wasn't mentally prepared for it. Dwayne had fulfilled his part and the rest was up to Zero. The innkeeper wished Zero luck silently and watched as the usually air-headed elf transform into a sharp negotiator.

"Thank you for gathering today," Zero started his speech. "I understand that as merchants, the most important thing is demand and supply. Profits can be made by grasping where demand is and where to get supplies from. Deadman Town has many things and the Green Hawks benefit a lot from being that middleman. However, there is something that you don't have yet that I have."

After hearing the opening speech, the four leaders reacted differently with varying degrees of interest. The ladies had light smiles, the short fattie scratched his chin and leaned forward but the beast man clasped his hands together on the table firmly.

"Get straight to the point, elf. We don't have time for games."

Zero nodded. "It's faster for me to show you instead."

Zero pulled out a potion from his spatial bag and the leaders waited to be told what that liquid could do. Dwayne did his part and cooperated by handing Zero a knife. Going along with Zero's initial plan, Dwayne took out a small cage with a common desert lizard inside. He coaxed the animal out and held it down firmly so that Zero could do what he needed to do.

With a swift chop of the knife, the tail of the lizard was severed. Blood splattered everywhere and the animal screeched in pain, thras.h.i.+ng to get away but Dwayne held it still. Zero quickly uncapped the bottle and fed it one drop of the potion.

As the lizard's tail regrew itself within seconds, the four leaders of Green Hawk watched with disbelief at such a magical potion. Healing potions only accelerated the repair rate for cells to close wounds up. There were no potions to help with regrowing of severed limbs or injured organs. Healers were important for those things and no all healers could regrow limbs.

"This potion is a regeneration potion," Zero explained with a smile. "I will sell it to Green Hawks but for a favour."

Dwayne remained silent and stuffed the lizard back to the cage now that its role was over.

"What do you want from us?" the fat man asked and Zero sat down again, placing the regeneration potion on the table in front of him so that these merchants wouldn't claim that he tried to dupe them by selling fake regeneration potions.

"Very simple. I want some information. You're one of the most active merchants in slave trading. I won't demand that you let me know who your clients are but I want to know where the slaves are coming from. Which country, what gender, age and appearance specifications if any. I want a record of all the slaves' origin and where they usually end up at."

The lady who had been quiet since the beginning spoke up. "Getting the records is not a problem. We keep proper doc.u.mentation of everything. However, what will you do with the information that we provide you? Surely you're not looking to abolish slavery, right? It's a silly notion. Even if you stopped our operations in Deadman Town, who is to say they won't do it elsewhere?"

Zero smiled. "Of course not. I understand the need for slavery. What I want is not to abolish the system but improve it."

"Improve it?" the siren lady couldn't help but find it very interesting.

Zero nodded. "Yes. This regeneration potion is something I made along with many other potions and medicine. I am a disciple of the hermit sage who lives in Endow Hill. There is a village there called Half Moon Village who produces special herbs not found elsewhere. You won't find another product like this elsewhere. I'm actually in need of slaves myself but I don't like to buy slaves who were starved or beaten. I need them to be intelligent and healthy. Hence, I want to improve the slavery system and set some basic standards for slave welfare that all slave traders should meet from now on. Those who don't meet these criteria shouldn't be allowed to trade slaves."

"Interesting," the short fattie said. "However, what good will this do? Buyers can still abuse slaves. It doesn't make any difference if they're abused now or later. Not all clients are kind enough like you to only use them for labour. There are many kinds of uses for a slave. Some warm beds, some do ch.o.r.es, some fight for their masters and others are simply life punching bags or lab rats."

"Contracts," Zero said with a stern voice. "A slave must be willing to perform all those tasks expected of them by the buyer. Naturally, I cannot force everyone to abide by them which is why I intend to change the laws in the biggest slave-trading country to set an example."

There was a strange silence in the room and Zero blinked. Did he say something wrong?

"You want to change the law?" the beast folk asked.

Zero nodded. "Yes. Is that not possible?"

Instead of answering him, the beast man laughed, followed by the short man and the two ladies.

"Child," the siren said. "You're naive. Unless you become the ruler of this world, you cannot change the laws. The current greatest buyers of slaves are all in Smargdas followed by the United Nation of the Uncanny. One country is constantly in a civil war with no clear ruler and the other has only a puppet emperor with all the ministers playing politics and fighting for power. You won't be able to change things with just your words."

Zero smiled. "That's for me to worry about," he told them. "I have my ways. All I need is Green Hawk's cooperation. My brother and I will be able to do something about the situation once we return from Derby Desert with our mission completed. If you agree, I will send someone from Half Moon Village to be in touch with you to finalise the new slave rights agreement. Once the deal is finalised, naturally we will start supplying you rare medicine and potions in a steady supply. I trust that this conversation will be kept a secret until further notice and the regeneration potion to not be let out into the market yet. As it took me a long time to produce it, this is currently the only bottle I have in full concentration. Diluting this by a tenth can regrow a person's limb and organs. Diluting it by a hundredth will heal any non-fatal stab wounds and broken bones."

Now that the serious discussion was over, Zero started to push sell all sorts of potions and medicine in return for more information.

"Antidote for generic poisons, cure potion for magic debuff effects, herbal hangover pills, skin moisturising beauty sheets and heat-regulating salve. I have more if you are interested. My brother and I recently hunted a lot of killer bees so these are some of the things I created from the leftover materials. In return, I want maps of Derby Desert and any news about villages in the desert that we can travel to. Also, I want information about gnome cities and desert poppies."

Dwayne let Zero do his thing and watched as the doctor continued to pull more and more items from his small sling bag until they formed a small heap on the table. Was there even a limit to how much that small bag could store?