Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Winning Over the Guardian Knight

Alek sneered, ”So, how about it, Young Master Su Li? Isn’t this girl both beautiful and alluring? Especially her temperament, it’s nothing short of perfect. I plan to train her into a top-notch maid and sell her to a merchant in one of the Empire’s big cities. She’d be worth at least 10 gold coins!”

”I’d rather die than agree to that!” Hilude struggled fiercely, ”I’d rather be a gladiator than a maid.”

Alek’s expression immediately changed. He cursed viciously, ”Shut her mouth! If she dares to make another sound, beat her to death.”

”Five gold coins, I’ll buy her as a gladiator.” Su Li stepped forward decisively and kicked a slave trader who had raised his hand to slap Hilude. As an apprentice knight, he already possessed a bit of bloodline power. His full-force kick roared like the Red Dragon Tyrant, sending the slave trader flying into a wooden wall.

This display of power startled all the onlookers, who looked at Su Li with awe, acknowledging that the Bauhinia family’s bloodline had indeed successfully broken through as rumored, possessing certain noble privileges.

Su Li extended his right hand and helped Hilude up personally before turning to Alek, ”You don’t want her to kill herself the moment she’s bought, do you?”

As Su Li protected her, Hilude looked at the tall figure ahead with gratitude, while Alek hesitated slightly on the opposite side.

If he forced this woman to be a maid for other nobles and she killed herself as soon as she was bought, Alek would undoubtedly find himself in trouble with the nobles. Nobles are not exactly reasonable people, and they don’t care about responsibility division. As long as they were dissatisfied, they would have ample reason to trouble the business. Every year, several unfortunate businesses are humiliated or severely punished by nobles for offending them or not doing things perfectly.

Alek certainly didn’t want to offend the noble lords either, but selling for 5 gold coins was too much of a loss. Such a prime girl, he hadn’t even enjoyed her himself.

But he recalled the rumor that Su Li was soon heading to the Border Prince’s Territory, where he would definitely need a lot of slaves. Building a good relationship with Su Li using this woman might guarantee further profitable transactions.

So Alek gritted his teeth and said, ”Since Young Master Su Li has spoken, consider this price a friendship price for Young Master Su Li. But you mustn’t haggle over the following trade!”

Su Li smiled and tossed him 5 gold coins, ”No problem. But for now, I don’t plan to buy any other slaves, so I’ll be off.”

Watching Su Li’s decisive departure, Alek’s eyes widened. This guy wasn’t playing by the usual rules!

This deal was a big loss!

He overestimated him, thinking he had some ambitious procurement plan! But just like the rumors said, he’s merely a lustful waste!

May he die on that woman’s belly!

Bah, at least be cursed to die before reaching the Border Prince’s Territory in the Black Mountains.

Su Li left the slave market with Hilude. His Guardian Knight Schwartz followed from behind, his face grim, obviously very dissatisfied with what had happened.

”Young Master Su Li, you wasted 5 gold coins for a useless female slave?” Schwartz’s tone was somewhat anxious, clearly dissatisfied with Su Li’s decision: ”Our wealth is far from sufficient to support such frivolity! You know we are about to head to the Border Prince’s Territory, fraught with perils, yet you focus on indulging in beauty, lavishly spending money. How can we establish ourselves in the Border Prince’s Territory this way?”

Su Li’s lips curved slightly, smiling confidently, ”Schwartz, I understand your concerns. But trust me, this is all part of my plan for the future.” This includes even your present attitude and anger, Schwartz.

Schwartz frowned, clearly disbelieving, ”A plan? Your so-called plan is buying a useless female slave for 5 gold coins? What can she do? Hand her a sword and she couldn’t even defeat a goblin! Do you really expect her to be trained into a soldier and sent to fight in battle?”

Su Li shook his head, maintaining his confidence, ”No, no! It’s not just about training into soldiers; I hope they will be trained into apprentice knights, including Hilude, and also Reve.”

Schwartz was thoroughly disappointed, ”Are you kidding? How can slaves become knights? They don’t have the innate talent or training foundation! This is sheer fantasy, complete recklessness!”

Listening to Su Li’s fanciful words, Schwartz finally lost all hope in him. His audacity to go to the Border Prince’s Territory wasn’t out of ambition but sheer ignorance of how dangerous life was there!

”Why not bet on it?” Su Li smiled with ease.

Schwartz, now quite disheartened, refused outright, ”Young Master Su Li, I have no interest in partaking in such a pointless gamble!”

Ignoring his attitude, Su Li continued, ”Trade one day for a lifetime of freedom; if I were you, I’d seriously consider it. Let’s bet whether they can become apprentice knights today. If by 6 PM today, neither of them become apprentice knights, I’ll start training under you from tomorrow, following your methods. If I win the bet, you will follow my orders completely before we head to the Border Prince’s Territory.”

Schwartz paused, clearly not expecting Su Li to be this confident, ”You really believe they can break through to become apprentice knights within a day, within just a few hours?”

”I have my reasons. You just need to train them; leave the rest to me,” Su Li smiled, confident because he held nothing to lose in this bet.

The reason he proposed this wager, apart from wanting to persuade Schwartz and boost his confidence in the future, was also to verify how reliable the [Prophet of Destiny] ability was.

If Reve didn’t successfully advance, then he’d lose his greatest asset, and this ability might not be reliable or could be easily interfered with. He’d have no choice but to train diligently; it wouldn’t be a loss.

But if everything went smoothly, the future held limitless possibilities for him!

After contemplating for a moment, Schwartz finally resolved. As a Guardian Knight, he truly hoped Su Li could rally and said, ”Alright then, to ensure you lose convincingly, I will train both of them with all my strength without any intentional negligence. But all this is limited to today’s half-day, until the evening!”

Su Li’s lips curled into a smile, responding lightly, ”Good. We’ll see the results tonight.”

Su Li’s smile was confident and carefree, yet as part of the wager, Hilude felt uneasy and lacking confidence, asking, ”Young Master Su Li, can I really do this? After all, I’ve never been exposed to knight training methods, won’t I delay you?”

Su Li smiled gently, ”Don’t worry. Even if you can’t do it, there’s still Reve, and the Knight’s Breathing Technique is quite simple. I believe you only need to adapt a bit to master it easily. The Breathing Technique isn’t even a secret; although training methods vary in level of difficulty slightly, the intensity isn’t that different, just a matter of training speed difference. With determination, you can easily find a few simplistic Knight’s Breathing Techniques in the city.”

”Really?” Hilude remained worried inside, thinking that what Young Master Su Li said didn’t match what she had heard.

If the Breathing Techniques were readily available, why do so many wealthy merchants, workhouse owners, and mercenaries spend a lot to have their children taught and still struggle to become apprentice knights?

Su Li reassuringly held Hilude’s shoulder, saying, ”Of course it’s true, trust yourself, just as I trust you.”