019 Proposal

If he could, Ogoren would have strangled Karen on the spot without a second thought.

Nine hundred gold coins!

That was not 900 copper or silver coins; it was 900 gold coins—a staggering, astronomical sum. Although Karen had previously ransacked the entire Goblin Forest and brought back a significant amount of wealth from over a dozen goblin tribes, his total liquid assets barely reached 1,000 gold coins, a large portion of which consisted of startup capital secretly provided by Cliff and Flor.

Now, with a single demand, Karen had carved away ninety percent of the funds in Ogoren’s possession. One can only imagine Ogoren’s state of mind; he was on the verge of a breakdown. Yet, he had no choice. Despite his fury and his crumbling composure, he had to maintain a smile. Playing along with Karen, he wore a grin more painful to look at than weeping, and with extreme reluctance, handed the 900 gold coins over to Bailey.

Karen, indifferent to Ogoren’s misery, saw the transaction complete and happily ordered his undead subordinates to load up the corpses and prepare to return to his territory. However, this time, Ogoren was determined not to let him leave. He had caught Karen with such difficulty; how could he let him slip away so easily? He dragged Karen into the market and into his office, where he began to pour out his grievances.

Ogoren had much to say, but it boiled down to two points: a lack of manpower and a lack of funds.

Without enough people, the market could not function, and Ogoren could not be in two places at once. The lack of funds was even more dire. Ordinarily, this might only mean their industry would develop at a slower pace, but Karen had just dumped another crisis on his lap. The commercialization of "Whispers of the Dead" and the trade in corpses were money pits, and they were burning through cash at an alarming rate. Nine hundred gold coins had vanished in just two days; if this continued for a few more, the market would go bankrupt.

"If you don't help me find a solution or provide some support, I simply cannot go on like this!" Ogoren declared, collapsing into a chair before Karen, abandoning all pretense of decorum.

Watching Ogoren, who had been pushed to the brink of tears by his own actions, Karen couldn't help but rub his nose, wondering for the first time if he had perhaps gone too far.

"How about this? Regarding your lack of manpower, I can offer two solutions. First, I can borrow some from the 'Forest Wardens.' Old Jack should be willing to lend me a few, though there won't be many, and having too many of them around isn't necessarily a good thing for us."

Seeing Karen finally taking his problems seriously, Ogoren stopped acting out and sat up straight. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "Aside from the 'Forest Wardens,' I actually have some friends..."

Karen was slightly surprised. "Are you willing to drag your friends into this fire pit?"

Ogoren shot him a look, too exhausted to respond. Karen, unfazed, rubbed his nose and continued.

"Fine. If your friends are willing to come, invite them. If the 'Forest Wardens' and your friends still aren't enough, we can change our approach. Aside from establishing the market's operating rules, your current tasks include construction, catering, and even entertainment. We don't necessarily have to do the construction work ourselves. Look at the merchants streaming into the market; you can tell they have great confidence in its future. If we ask them to invest, they will surely be willing. We can outsource the construction of the commercial district to them. That way, we save ourselves the trouble and generate a profit. You were complaining about a lack of money, right? We can make some through this outsourcing. More importantly, once they truly invest in this market, it will no longer be just a transit point for trade between two nations to them. They will view it as their own enterprise. If any trouble arises, they will stand by our side more firmly than anyone else..."

It was unclear whether Karen possessed a natural talent for this or if he was simply drawing on the influence of his previous life. Regardless, Karen, who usually couldn't be bothered to put in the effort, began to brainstorm, offering a series of astonishing ideas.

Ogoren, who had expected little help, was stunned, then fell into deep contemplation. Thinking it over, he realized that while some of Karen's ideas were impractical or even idealistic, many were feasible and would provide significant support for the market's growth. The more he listened, the more excited he became.

Seeing Ogoren shift from feigned seriousness to intense focus, and finally to a gaze filled with admiration, Karen himself began to get carried away. He grew more enthusiastic, eagerly presenting various concepts—most of which were simply copied from the business models of his past life, with only a few improvised on the spot.

It didn't matter; whatever Karen proposed, Ogoren considered seriously. At that moment, Ogoren completely failed to notice a cruel reality. It was only after Karen had exhausted his store of ideas and left in high spirits that Ogoren finally snapped back to reality.

Karen had talked a big game, but in the end, he had merely dumped a mountain of ideas on him. Implementing them still fell entirely on Ogoren's shoulders. This meant that for the foreseeable future, Ogoren wouldn't have a moment of peace and would only become busier. At this thought, his expression turned bitter once more.

While Ogoren was envisioning a future of working himself to death, the merchants in the Undead Market were whipped into a frenzy by Bailey’s advertisement. It didn't take much effort for them to discover the truth from Bailey’s subordinates: Bailey had obtained those twenty corpses by bribing a priest for a mere five gold coins. A five-gold investment yielding a 900-gold return—the sheer scale of the profit drove the merchants wild. Given their fervor, it was easy to predict just how explosive the upcoming trade in "Whispers of the Dead" and corpses would be.