Banquet Hall
The banquet table was filled with fruits, roasted meat, desserts and wine. This caused the merchants to smile. This showed how much Prince Paris valued them.
Everyone took their seats. Pei Zi Yun said, "Everyone, I can help you with your business in Troy. However, I hope that when you introduce the local nobles and the prices of your products, you can be as detailed as possible."
"Of course, when my boat docks in your district, you have to help me as well."
"Of course." The merchants agreed.
"Come, to celebrate our first collaboration, cheers." Pei Zi Yun raised his cup and drained it in one gulp.
"Cheers." The merchants drank their wine in one gulp.
Everyone's collaboration had officially begun.
When the banquet ended, Pei Zi Yun sent the merchants out of the mansion. Now, he had to personally handle all the trivial matters. It would be good if he had a competent person to help him.
"I'm really lacking people now." Pei Zi Yun muttered to himself as he returned to his garden.
Along the way, he had bought many slaves, but none of them had become his subordinates. His only real subordinate was Gesne, and he was still in the Amazon. Suddenly, he felt like he had no one to rely on.
Just as he was thinking about this, ten new female slaves came in and were cleaning the banquet hall. One of them heard Pei Zi Yun's muttering and stood up, "Prince Paris, I am Ke Selia. My father was an Athenian scholar. I know three languages and can do arithmetic. I want to work for you, Prince Paris."
"Eh?" Pei Zi Yun paused and looked at her.
In his mind, he searched for this young girl named Ke Selia. He remembered that when the palace handed her over, she was only fourteen years old.
"Knowing so many skills at such a young age, she must have received a good education in this era. How did she become a slave?" Pei Zi Yun frowned.
"Prince Paris, Ke Selia is not sensible. I hope she did not offend you." At this point, the two servants saw Ke Selia's behavior and were scared pale. They were afraid that Ke Selia's actions had offended Prince Paris. They rushed over and tried to drag her away.
"Oh, it doesn't matter. Both of you, leave Ke Sailia here." Pei Zi Yun stopped the two servants from leaving.
"Yes, Prince Paris." The two servants retreated, not forgetting to glare fiercely at Coselia, warning her not to say anything to avoid offending Prince Paris.
Pei Zi Yun then turned to Ke Sailia, "Ke Sailia, your courage has given you a chance. I hope you cherish it. Tell me, why did you become a slave?"
She was a cute girl with delicate skin and black curly hair. She had a pair of brown almond-shaped eyes and four limbs as slender as a deer.
"Prince Paris, although my father is a respected scholar, he is still a foreigner in Athens." Koselia mustered up her courage.
"You should know that this is the rule of most city-states."
"Foreigners were allowed to live in Athens for generations, but they did not have citizenship rights, nor could they be naturalized as citizens. They were not allowed to buy land, and their marriages with native women were not treated as legal marriages. They also had to pay the poll tax that Athenian citizens did not have to pay."
"All of this is so unfair to us foreigners. Land is the most important thing. Without land, there will be no stable income. We can only rely on work."
"My father originally had a job, but he fell ill and lost his job. He also owed a lot of money, and the whole family went bankrupt."
Pei Zi Yun knew that Ke Sailia was right. There was indeed such a rule in Athens. All foreigners were not allowed to buy land in Athens.
In other words, it was a reproducible asset that was not allowed to be owned by foreigners.
All city-states had a natural tendency to monopolize reproducible assets. Even foreigners who were free could become slaves at any time. This was because human labor was too unreliable.
When one was young, one's knowledge was shallow, and one could not earn money. One had to pay school fees, be it social or academic fees.
When one was old, one's physical strength would decline, and one would not be able to cope with diseases or disasters. Therefore, one could not rely on work to survive.
Work was the most beautiful thing, but if it was just work, one would become a slave.
This was actually a way for the city-state to exploit foreigners.
"In the end, my father still passed away. I had no choice but to become a slave. Later, I was sold to Troy, and I was given to you, Prince Paris."
Ke Sailia sadly recounted the unbearable past. This was indeed unbearable for a fourteen-year-old girl.
Pei Zi Yun listened to her story quietly, and fell into deep thought.
Ke Sailia's experience was not special. It was common for slaves to become slaves due to illness or accidents.
Of course, the biggest source of slaves in this era was war.
It was just that Ke Sailia's appearance was too much of a coincidence. Although there were no problems with what she said, he still had to be careful. After all, his plan had reached a critical juncture.
Thinking of this, Pei Zi Yun thought to himself, 'It's the feeling of a priest.'
Using the method of a priest, he realized that the girl in front of him had a natural aura around her. There were no signs of the gods, and it did not seem like she was arranged by the gods.
'Not a pawn of the gods?' Pei Zi Yun was a little surprised. Looking at Ke Sailia's appearance, coupled with the series of events that had happened, he could not help but think of the worst.
'That's right, the gods are so high up, they would not use such methods on me.' Pei Zi Yun laughed at himself, 'Besides, if the gods already knew of my plan, they would not play with me. They would just descend and kill me.'
Thinking of this, he turned to Ke Sailia and said, "Come with me."
He was short of people. If Ke Sailia had no problems, he might as well give her a chance.
Passing through the garden, they arrived at a room. Pei Zi Yun sat down and asked solemnly, "Ke Sailia, what do you want from me?"
"I want to be free." Ke Sailia said with determination.
'What a simple and unadorned goal!' Pei Zi Yun sighed to himself as he shook his head and said plainly, "But this is not an easy task."
"Ke Sailia, you have to understand that even a loyal and hardworking servant would need at least twenty years to redeem their freedom."
"I can use twenty years to achieve this goal." Ke Sailia said with determination.
Truthfully speaking, Pei Zi Yun had seen many slaves, but none of them had left a deeper impression on him than Ke Sailia.
The feeling that this young girl gave him was that she was unyielding and unyielding. He admired her spirit of not giving up until she achieved her goal.
He sighed and said, "I want someone who can do things for me. Tell me, what can you do for me?"
"I can do whatever you want me to do." Ke Sailia's reply was as simple as ever, without a hint of beating around the bush.
"Is that so?" Pei Zi Yun sighed and looked at Ke Sailia carefully. Suddenly, he smiled and said, "Ke Sailia, I have a task that you can do for me now. However, I'm not too sure about it. I need to see how you do before I can decide if you are suitable or not."
"Prince Paris, my respected master, please tell me. As long as I can do it, I will do my best."
"Alright, I have three ships now, and I will add more in the future. I need someone to record the goods and be in charge of the letters."
"Secretary?" Casselia's eyes widened. She did not expect Prince Paris to ask her to do such a thing. This was an important job in a noble family.
"Respected master, I am willing to give it a try." Ke Sailia said.
If it was the real Prince Paris, he would not have comforted her. However, Pei Zi Yun could see that she was uneasy and said, "You know three languages. This will allow you to communicate with the outside world easily. The most important thing is that you have mastered arithmetic. This is the minimum requirement for a secretary. If you didn't know how to do arithmetic, I would not have chosen you."
"Thank you, master, for giving me this opportunity. I will work hard." Ke Sailia said.
"Alright, there's nothing else. You may leave."
"Yes, my dear master." Ke Sailia slowly retreated from the room.
The room fell silent. Pei Zi Yun was a little happy. However, even if Ke Sailia was suitable, he would not tell her his secret. In fact, he did not need to tell her.
The merchants that traveled all over Greece, the goods and letters that came and went, and the documents that were handled were more than enough.
"The next most important thing is that when I leave for Greece, I can follow the sea route and visit the cities one by one. Hence, I have decided on the route and contact person."
Thinking of this, Pei Zi Yun suddenly had an idea. He shouted, "System!"
Following the call, a Plum Blossom appeared in front of him. It quickly enlarged and became a translucent information interface. It floated in front of him with a faint sense of light. Data appeared in front of him.
"Heroic Bloodline: Second Tier (85.3%)"
Looking at the space, he saw that in between two pillars, there were two iron statues. Although there were still traces of power being extracted from them, there was not much left.
"The power needed for the third tier is not enough for one monster."
"Where can I find a new monster? And it has to be one that is close to the bloodline of the Gods! "
"Looks like I have to seek power from my Reputation."
"And with Reputation, there is an opportunity."
"I can tell the King that when I go to Greece, I can visit the cities along the way. Even if I can't win over allies, I can at least win over neutrality. Although I know it is useless, the King does not know what will happen in the future. He will think that it is feasible."
"In this case, I can use the King's gold to farm in Greece. Although the increase in Reputation is relatively slow, when I reach Sparta, I can at least reach the third tier!"
"The process can also be planned out. This is killing three birds with one stone."
"The next time I meet the King, I will bring up this idea. The King will agree." Thinking of this, Pei Zi Yun felt his entire body relax. The weight of the boulder that was pressing down on him seemed to have lessened.
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