Chapter 85: The Road to Prosperity

After the insectoid disaster, the Esola Hills region’s livelihood and economy faced catastrophic damages, with no prospect of output for several months at least. Yet, as numerous mercenary groups, hungry for fortune, poured into the area, an inevitable spike in prices was on the horizon.

Essentials like food, weapons, and armor were bound to become hot commodities. Of these, armor was the only sector where Wu Qingsong could make his mark.

With leather transportation disrupted and lacking funds to purchase processed hard leather, Wu Qingsong found a creative alternative, the carapaces of ant people.

The idea of using insectoid carapaces for armor wasn’t novel. The material was lightweight yet robust, boasting unique advantages such as resistance to ranged attacks and piercing weapons, and waterproof, mold-resistant, and rust-proof qualities. It was, in essence, the perfect material for armor.

The challenge, however, lay in the difficulty of processing this hard yet brittle material. It was time-consuming, labor-intensive, and demanded high levels of craftsmanship, often resulting in a high rate of wastage. 

Furthermore, the scarcity of insectoid bodies under normal circumstances made the raw material hard to come by. As a result, armor made from insectoid carapaces was typically regarded more as a costly art piece than practical armor.

Wu Qingsong’s design for quilted armor, however, made optimum use of the carapace material. He modified the saw teeth on his simple lathe to be finer and denser and instructed his beastmen to create a series of hand-cranked grinding wheels and drills using the same principle. 

This innovation significantly eased the process of working with antpeople carapaces.

Additionally, the quilted armor design could absorb some impact from blunt weapons and allow for easy replacement of damaged plates, making insect shell quilted armor not only feasible but practical for use.

However, the antpeople corpses burned by magical fire had become too fragile for use, and those slain in the defense of the city had long since been scavenged, leaving Wu Qingsong with a challenging reality. 

He had to adopt a strategy of sustaining his troops through combat and training them in battle.

He handed over the training of new recruits to Harold, appointing five veteran houndmen soldiers as instructors. Then, leading the remaining houndmen and those horsemen and pigmen who had survived the city’s defense and learned to fight antpeople in life-and-death situations, Wu Qingsong embarked on a campaign to sweep the surrounding areas of remaining threats.

The antpeople, scattered and disoriented after their defeat at Esola City and losing their underground escape routes, were forced to disperse throughout the expanse of the Esola Hills, hiding cautiously. Driven by a lack of food during the harsh winter, they frequently raided merchant caravans and travelers. Yet, when confronted by a formidable mercenary group like Wu Qingsong’s, they maintained a cautious distance.

Fortunately, Wu Qingsong’s primary force consisted of houndmen, born trackers known for their patience and tenacity. They often discovered trails at recent attack sites, doggedly pursuing these leads to the antpeople’s temporary hideouts or forcing them into open confrontations.

Wu Qingsong swiftly realized why caninefolk were considered among the top three soldier breeds.

They might not match the horsemen in speed or strength, but where horsemen faltered with a lack of aggression and easily panicked nature, the houndmen showed no fear in battle. This fearless nature made them exceptional warriors.

The houndmen lacked the pigmen’s explosive power, but the pigmen had their drawbacks. They consumed a lot of food and lacked both patience and resilience. In short, intense battles, pigmen could be valiant, showcasing remarkable courage and strength. 

However, during prolonged marches or standoffs, they were prone to losing their fighting spirit due to hunger and exhaustion. In contrast, even under conditions of prolonged hunger, thirst, and fatigue, the houndmen remained vigorously engaged in battle.

Gradually, Wu Qingsong found it necessary to phase out the horsemen and pigmen from his forces, reallocating them to positions better suited to their strengths. The pigmen soldiers were ideal for defending the base and could also serve as effective dual-shield bearers in the future. Meanwhile, the horsemen were more suited to production roles, particularly in transportation.

The first batch of antpeople corpses was promptly transported back to the base for processing. 

The antpeople heads were carefully severed and taken to Esola City to claim rewards. 

Wu Qingsong soon discovered that some mercenary groups, eager to establish themselves, offered prices far higher than the official rates. Thus, he stopped dealing with the authorities and instead established favorable relations with several newly arrived mercenary groups, exchanging antpeople heads for a significant quantity of food.

The antpeople bodies were meticulously dissected. Their scythe-like claws could be repurposed into decent weapons, and their abdominal skin, being tough leather, was ideal for crafting armor pieces. Their hairs were used to make brushes, which had high demand in ship-rich locations like Umber and Benaris Port.

Even the antpeople’s meat was put to good use, nothing from the creatures went to waste.

The most crucial component of the antpeople for Wu Qingsong was undoubtedly their body exoskeleton and the six scythe-like claws. Large pieces of the exoskeleton were precisely cut into uniformly sized, oblong plates using a circular saw. These plates were then smoothed with a grinding wheel and drilled. The fragments and trimmings were processed into round shapes and drilled to make buttons.

It was then that Wu Qingsong realized that, although the houndfolk might be decent warriors, they were not necessarily effective laborers. 

He had previously observed a similar trend among the wolfwomen during the leather armor production. But the issue wasn’t evident then because his ‘invented’ machines handled most of the workload, and they only needed to perform simple tasks.

Processing the exoskeleton, however, was significantly more complex than cutting hard leather. Even with mechanical assistance, a substantial portion of the work demanded manual effort. 

The horsefolk, following the same instructions, quickly grasped the basic skills and began to independently cut the armor plates, grind the edges, and drill holes. The pigfolk, though a bit slower and clumsier and tended to be lazy, managed to get by after some bumps and scrapes.

The houndwomen, however, struggled to find their rhythm. They performed well under Wu Qingsong’s watchful eye, but as soon as he turned away, defective and subpar products began to accumulate, only fit to be broken down into buttons.

It became clear to Wu Qingsong why elves predominantly employed horsemen, sheepmen, rabbitmen, and ratmen for laborious tasks, while the caninefolk were relegated to waiting in slums outside the city for military conscription or engaging in simple domestic chores.

This division of labor among the races was evidently not without reason.

Wu Qingsong had to relegate the houndwomen to assembling the prepared armor plates with leather straps and packaging the finished products. Although their performance wasn’t as proficient as the horsefolk and pigfolk, at least errors in their work only required redoing without wasting precious materials.

“For our future territories, we’ll need a substantial workforce from various vassal races,” Harold also mentioned. “Particularly for the mines, if you’re not considering using slaves, the ratfolk, especially molefolk, would be ideal.”

“Let’s deal with the future when it comes. Right now, we need to find a way to quickly sell this armor.”

The Thirteenth Mercenary Group itself served as the best advertisement. Their standardized black insectoid carapace armor soon caught the attention of other mercenary and hunter groups they interacted with. Its uniqueness and showiness were hard to miss.

“Lord Tagraedi, you must be quite wealthy,” several mercenary group leaders remarked, a hint of envy in their voices.

“Me, wealthy? I’m practically penniless,” Wu Qingsong would usually respond humorously. “Oh, this armor? It’s barely worth anything, but its effectiveness is remarkable. It’s this very armor that helped my men survive the Esola defense battle. You know, the defense forces lost a significant number of soldiers. And just between us, even Marquis Osaga complimented its quality. How much, you ask? Ah, discussing money ruins the mood. If you’re interested, I can spare a few sets for you. Just trade them for some food. We’re all brothers on the battlefield, no need for formalities, right?”

Unsurprisingly, imitations of this type of carapace armor soon emerged.

However, Wu Qingsong had meticulously concealed the machinery secrets involved in the shell processing. While the beastmen could operate the machines, they had no clue about their mechanics. The significant cost and efficiency gap between small-scale manual production and Wu Qingsong’s large-scale semi-mechanized assembly line made imitation unprofitable.

As food prices skyrocketed, some mercenary groups with commendable battle achievements began directly trading ant corpses with Wu Qingsong for his carapace armor. 

The exchange rate was two to five antpeople bodies, depending on their condition and freshness, for one suit of armor. Out of every three ant bodies, Wu Qingsong could craft two suits. The meat, scythe claw knives, leather, brushes, and buttons were additional profits.

Despite this, the armor’s price was still competitive against traditional iron and leather armor, drawing the attention of numerous mercenary groups. Although they found the armor aesthetically unappealing and inferior in defense compared to iron armor, it was ideal for equipping squad leaders and prominent fighters, a bargain in terms of cost and utility.

After extensive combat testing, the new armor’s reputation grew, eventually being dubbed ‘Tagraedi-style Carapace Armor.’

Therefore, when Ram returned to Esola from the south, after an arduous journey with a considerable sum of money and several carts of grain, she was astonished to find that Wu Qingsong no longer needed her assistance. In fact, he had amassed a large inventory of products ready for her to sell.