Having smelled the aroma for so long just now, Sunflower was also very curious about the taste of white liquor. For it, Sunflower had led the warriors under his command to wait for a full month.
Merely relying on the scent could intoxicate people; Sunflower drank the first sip very carefully, not gulping it down in big mouthfuls like before.
Facts proved he was right. The liquor was like a whirlwind carrying sparks entering his stomach; Sunflower’s expression could no longer remain calm: "Truly strong liquor."
He looked incredulously at the exquisite glass bottle in his hand: "How can there be such strong liquor in the world? The ’Flame’ wine His Majesty bestowed upon me last year didn’t have as strong a stimulating sensation as this, and that was wine from a kingdom famous for brewing strong liquor."
That was because humans now hadn’t discovered distillation methods yet; pressed wine couldn’t reach the alcohol content of white liquor. No matter how strong, it wouldn’t exceed thirty degrees...
Eric smiled and said, "Then do you think the Beast King will like it?"
"That is natural; the Beast King loves strong liquor the most." Sunflower took another deep breath of the white liquor’s aroma, unable to bear drinking more, and put it into his bosom.
Then that was good, Eric thought. He was worried the Beast King wouldn’t know how to appreciate white liquor; then no matter how good the liquor was, it would be useless.
Like this, the matter of the small beastmen could probably be resolved. Originally, Eric was still worried; if Sunflower found the Beast King wouldn’t accept the white liquor, where would he find other products of equivalent value? Beastman slaves were so expensive.
"Then let’s proceed as agreed before; we use this white liquor to trade. The price is also the same as we sell to humans, three hundred gold coins per catty. How about it? We’re not taking advantage of you, right?"
Pondering for a moment, Sunflower thought about the price of liquor the kingdom bought from humans; comparing it, white liquor was indeed not expensive.
He had also bought privately from humans. Not to mention other wines, just the strong liquor from Kingdom P, the cheapest was one hundred gold coins, and other types were only more expensive, but none could compare to white liquor.
The fine wines tributed by the Halun merchant group and the Kenya Kingdom’s merchant group mostly belonged to the Beast King; not much was left to bestow upon the elders and generals.
Sunflower also often bought liquor from merchant groups; he hadn’t established a family, so he spent money even more unscrupulously.
"Alright then, we exchange according to the price you said." Sunflower nodded: "Last time we discussed the price of beastmen; these small beastmen require about two hundred thousand gold coins."
Eric nodded heavily; indeed. This huge debt weighed on him, making him worry every day about not being able to pay it back. Fortunately, his white liquor didn’t let him down.
Previously hearing Sunflower mention it, the valuation standards of humans for small beastmen were different. Adult beastmen of the Mouse tribe were three hundred gold coins, belonging to the cheapest category.
The Cat tribe and Rabbit tribe were very favored by humans; every adult beastman reached a price of one thousand gold coins.
As for beast cubs, the price was even more expensive. A Cat tribe cub unexpectedly had a price of five thousand gold coins.
No wonder more than half of the beastmen who managed to escape were of the Mouse tribe; for those with value, the difficulty of escaping was surely higher. Like the cubs, only Mun was lucky enough to reach the Hadu tribe.
Humans bought small beastmen mainly aiming at their beast forms; the aristocracy liked that appearance very much.
If they were large beastmen, their utility was different, and the valuation standards were surely unlike small beastmen.
But they also had no possibility of obtaining them. No matter how devoid of conscience the Golden Kingdom was, they couldn’t possibly sell large beastmen. One had to know that the core of the kingdom was large beastmen; as long as the Beast King dared to start, it would inevitably cause public outrage, and by then the existence of the kingdom would be a problem.
Just now when the liquor came out, Eric had finished calculating: "How about this, I’ll round up the number for you guys. During the time you guys were at our tribe, you helped work quite a few times, and were delayed for a long time. I’ll give you seven hundred catties of white liquor, how about it?"
Sunflower was a bit surprised: "One catty of white liquor can sell for three hundred gold coins, and you are willing to give us so much extra?"
In just a moment, he gave him over thirty extra catties of liquor. This wasn’t cheap grain that could be rounded up casually. Liquor was a luxury item; who would round up like this?
Eric naturally had his own calculations. He glanced at the Tiger human-beasts still in the square, sharing liquor with other beastmen.
"I also have a favor to ask, regarding my younger brother’s matter."
Fearing the strong alcohol fumes during distillation would affect the children, Eric had specially instructed Leo and Robin, the two older ones, to lead the other beast cubs to play far away.
He hadn’t forgotten the scene last year when Flower and a few others secretly drank raspberry wine and rolled on the ground drunk. Luckily beastmen had strong bodies; if normal beast cubs drank a bout of wine like that, at the very least they would sleep lethargically for several days.
At this moment, the beast cubs weren’t in the square. Sunflower remembered that special Golden Lion cub and suddenly realized:
"You’re worried about his whereabouts being exposed. Rest assured. Even without this white liquor, regarding the matter promised to you, the Tiger tribe will not go back on their word."
Having said that, seeing the Snow Wolf cub opposite him not relaxing much, Sunflower patted his chest: "If there is any difficulty, just speak frankly; if I can do it, I will definitely not refuse."
"Our Hadu tribe is weak in strength."
Eric hesitated for a moment and began to complain about poverty and misery.
"It’s not wrong that the tribesmen and I want to save the small beastmen, but regarding the white liquor, if it becomes known to the kingdom, we might not be able to live as peacefully as this anymore. I hope you can help conceal it."
Sunflower’s resolute expression immediately stiffened; he hesitated for a long time before slowly opening his mouth:
"Although I cannot accept the Beast King’s actions, the Tiger tribe is also part of the kingdom; I cannot..."
"This isn’t a big deal either; could it be you also want to let the Beast King come attack us, causing an unnecessary war?" Eric was a bit anxious and deliberately provoked him.
Sunflower indeed changed his expression, saying angrily, "How could I do such a thing!"
Hesitating for a moment, Sunflower continued, "The Beast King also won’t easily start a war."
Eric helplessly softened his tone.
"I don’t mean to say he isn’t good, only that look at him now - he can even do something like selling his own kin; isn’t it for gold coins? If he knows the white liquor is actually brewed by the Hadu tribe, would the Beast King let go of such a big piece of cake?"
As the words fell, both fell into silence.
Eric’s words had lifted the final veil; Sunflower couldn’t refute, and could only sigh.
"I don’t have any other meaning, only that you take this white liquor back and just don’t say it was brewed by us personally. I just want to lead the tribesmen to live a good life. There are also those small beastmen whose families have been broken; you surely don’t want to see them lose their homes once again."