Amir readily understood that Tenur did not know what the Land Auction was about since this was only a stranger in Noskain. He then explained. "The Land Auction is an event held by the royal family of Noskain, auctioning off royalties and sometimes even auctioning off ownership of some areas.
Noskain is too big to be entirely run by the royal family, and not all areas have the potential to become something relevant or profitable. So the royalty raises funds from these lands by auctioning off the right or ownership over such areas.
But I didn't expect something like this to happen in this area just now..." He looked in the direction of the men talking about it, surprised.
Tenur understood the reason for this and asked. "But why is there a distinction between auctioning the right to use and auctioning the property? Isn't it better to do that only for the rights since those areas would still be part of the royal family's territory?"
Amir smiled upon hearing that. "In theory, yes. But in practice, if the royal family were to do that, they wouldn't be able to raise funds at the auctions of some areas as no one would be interested in just getting the rights to a poor site.
So the family simply prefers to get rid of these lands and keep a considerable sum of coins... Anyway, those places aren't worth much to them."
Tenur understood this better than Amir since he came from a much more developed world.
In some cases, one's trash could be precious to another. That did not mean that the first would be wrong for seeing it as garbage or the second was right for seeing value in it.
It all depended on perspective.
One group could better exploit untouched lands, but once they were heavily used, it might not be interesting for them to continue to have them. But for another group, 'razed' land might have value because it was cheaper than untouched, and such a group might specialize in using that kind of area.
The garbage from one could be worth it to the other, and both the selling and buying sides could do well in a deal.
Amir said. "Anyway, I think it's good that we look into discovering more about it. Lord Mero might be interested in that."
"What do you mean? Would the lord be willing to buy such a large piece of land?" Tenur asked in curiosity.
Amir nodded positively. "The lord doesn't have a relevant position in the Touma family. Therefore, for him to develop, he needs to take certain risks and create shortcuts.
If it has potential, a land like this could mean the difference needed for him to move from being an outlying family member to a candidate for the position of patriarch."
Amir did not have Tenur's level of intelligence. Still, he was pretty capable for a man of this place, which is why Mero gave him the confidence to supervise this slave and the store.
"I see... I didn't expect that." Tenur muttered, liking what he heard. 'If he's just a less prestigious nobleman, it will be easier for me to get what I want.' His eyes narrowed.
For Tenur, the greater his value to Mero, the better it would be. And his value was more likely to increase if the Touma family noble needed him more to improve his social standing. After all, for someone of lower status to improve enough to achieve his goals, he necessarily had to get lucky and make many decisions that others wouldn't need.
Normally speaking, a master didn't have to give anything to his slaves besides food and a little rest, lest these belongings lose their lives. But by needing too much from another person, one had a high chance of ending up in a situation where one would have to work hard to please that being.
In the case of Mero and Tenur, this slave was showing a lot of value to his master, and as soon as such an individual realized that he could achieve all his goals with Tenur, he would give this foreigner better terms.
Of course, there was a small chance that Mero would arrest and force Tenur to work for him for the rest of his life or even torture him daily to get what he wanted. But this native of Rinia had already realized that his master did not fit this profile, and just because of this, he was 'giving' Mero so much business.
Anyway, he thought he would get a chance to become a servant or even buy his freedom in the future. Whatever his fate was, he would be closer to achieving his goal of affording a good life in this world!
Then he returned to the subject to avoid attracting Amir's attention. "And how are we going to see this Land Auction?"
"Every city in the kingdom has royal family posts. So we will go to one of those to find out the auction details." Amir felt his heart beating faster, wondering if anything was valuable on that land. "After we find out what land it is, we can pass the information on to lord Mero to send people to evaluate the area."
"Hmm, I see." He said, without exposing, that he would know how to see the value of the land since he was better off keeping most of his skills to himself.
...
Meanwhile, in another area of Cusca, in a store similar to the Touma family's one...
In the store of the Nassar family, one of the four local noble powers, which competed with Mero's store, several slaves and servants worked hard.
Some were plastering the outside walls of the place, while others were painting the inside, which had already had its walls covered with white stuff.
Meanwhile, various pieces of wooden furniture were being assembled inside the store in an attempt by the owners to imitate Tenur's work.
However, things were not coming out so perfectly for the people in this place.
"Damn it, you useless people!
One damned slave managed to do all that in a few days in that store, but you guys have been at it for five damn days and can't do something decent!" The patriarch of the Nassar family roared as the veins in his neck trembled, and he sweated.
The place was looking more organized as the days passed. However, the furniture those servants had designed did not work. At least they didn't work as efficiently as the furniture in Mero's store did...
But the master of this place wanted furniture as sophisticated as that of the store run by Tenur, which was causing him a lot of headaches, considering the repeated failures of his men.
"Lord, I don't know what that slave has done, but it's unlike anything I've ever seen."
"Yes, I can't imagine how he makes those things work!"
The servants there said, one supporting the other to avoid being punished by their master.
This individual's daughter was over there to visit her father and then suggested. "Father, why don't you put someone to force one of Mero's slaves to talk? I'm sure some of those men know how to make the furniture in our store just like that one."
That man opened his eyes at his daughter's comment, feeling that even though she was a woman, she had kind of had a good idea.
"Good! I want you to try to bribe one of those slaves to tell us what we need.
At worst, torture one of them and kill him after getting the necessary answers!"