The Most Evil Kind.

— No worries... well, that's manageable. But what about the ingredients?

Gennady laughed.

— That's the funniest part. Everyone knows them only by their names! Black cedar, winter fern root. And so on. But no one knows what they actually look like. Yet everyone wants to go find them!

The friends burst out laughing. Fortunately, the problem wasn't that big. There could always be obstacles set for such initiatives. At least charge a toll for crossing the bridge, a very high one, or inflate prices wildly at the inn. So the initially worried triumvirate calmed down right away.

— There's also good news. There really is no salt. But the oceans here are salty!

This was also discovered during Gennady's autumn research. The local residents didn't know salt. Or rather, they knew salt itself perfectly well. It's just that it wasn't mined anywhere in the world. Why this happened was unclear, but any salt was only obtained from seas, using completely wild methods, and it cost a fortune.

— So we can evaporate salt from water!

— But what about the nearest sea coast, leagues four hundred to the east? And all this through the Cursed Forest?

— That's a mundane matter. The main thing is it's not worthless! We can earn decent amounts and order good weapons made of proper steel.

Leonid was concerned with the uniform standard of weaponry following the battle at the Cursed Bridge, remaining dissatisfied. Local armor, although of poor quality, served its purpose. But weapons... Due to the vampires' total physical superiority over humans, they needed weapons that could effectively pierce through local armor and yet be reliable.

Swords, unfortunately, simply broke, Alexander's spear did not ignite the warlord's enthusiasm, axes showed a decent result, but they were made from poor material. And when attempts were made to order some axe samples specifically for the vampires' needs, it turned out that the locals were completely... lacking in metals.

There was mithril. There was some steel from dwarves, there was steel in the Empire, but not in commercial quantities. And that's it. All others used bog ore and the iron they obtained from it. There was no iron ore. Therefore, quality steel could be bought expensively, either from those who exchanged it with dwarves or in the Empire. And the alternative to everything was mithril. And it also cost decent money.

Which was proposed to earn by selling cheese! Konstantin was in hysterics from laughter. Leonid was racking his brain over how and with what to arm the vampire army without spending significant funds. Although the man understood that without money there would be no proper weapons, he did not feel justified in demanding them yet.

Passing through the Sands, they stopped at the village elder's, and while his comrades chatted around the village with acquaintances, he visited his daughter, delaying for a couple of hours. They arrived in the village after sunset and witnessed only the scene when the guards tried to prevent the girls from tearing Krapivin to pieces. That's when Sergey and Gennady learned about the entire unpleasant situation that occurred in their absence.

— Those bastards wanted to execute me!

A group of people sitting in the underground floor tried to speak quietly, and only Maxim Ivanovich periodically raised his voice. But this could be understood. The emotions experienced by the person demanded a release. The whole day could have died at any moment, standing by a pillar.

— There was no need to jump on this slut! — Olga Viktorovna, though she supported her like-minded friend, could also understand the actions of the new government — You were told you had to pay!

— So these scoundrels have all the money, the damn bitch won't give a cent until you say where!

Former leaders often gathered together and nurtured plans to restore their power. They thought that a little more, and people would understand what a terrible and wrong choice they had made by choosing young hooligans as their leaders. The daytime episode showed that they were no longer afraid of anything and were ready to shed the blood of their compatriots, killing for crimes against the pathetic local people.

Yes, exactly! Pathetic local people. Educated and intelligent people didn't even notice how the surrounding local residents became second-class citizens to them. The power and authority they had gained instilled in them a sense of their own exclusivity. And ego inflated this to the heavens.

I've got more interesting stuff on patreon

patreon.com/Chill76