Chapter 1002: Chapter 563: I Care About Money, Not People (Part 2)

Grendel could hear it: what Tiffany really wanted to talk about wasn’t these payments at all. The real big expenses were the two wars with no direct returns—the Wilds campaign and the Fishmen invasion.

At least in the short term there was no profit in sight, especially with the Fishmen invasion: the casualties were heavy, enormous amounts of supplies were burned through, and the subsequent battle-merit rewards plus compensation for over a hundred people were like water pumps sucking every last Gold Coin out of the account.

As for Operation Dawn, conquering the Wilds didn’t mean it was over; developing the Wilds also required a huge sum to push things forward.

Now Grendel understood why Lance had used the Church to screen out a batch of Mobs—because penal labor doesn’t cost money. You just need to feed them.

And at the same time he’d filtered out a batch of unstable factors.

At this moment she also understood why Lance wanted to spread news of the ruins—because economic development was another mountain pressing on the Lord’s shoulders.

"Lance just closed a deal with the Association of Healers. First we’ll use the cash on hand to settle the payment for the goods. As for the rest, we still need some time to fully tally everything. By then Bastia’s ransom will arrive soon enough."

Having come this far, Grendel couldn’t help speaking up in Lance’s defense. "He doesn’t think about war every day. It’s just that if you want to survive in this world, you have to fight. He’s doing it so we can have a safe environment, so he can only push the war outward and choose the battlefield outside."

Tiffany didn’t say anything to that. She wasn’t a child, of course she could see all this. Plus she really liked the atmosphere in Hamlet and didn’t want anything to go wrong...

By this time Lance had already gotten the money and entered the sanatorium with several observers in tow.

Paracelsus had actually led part of the medical staff back as early as noon on the day before Lance returned.

It was just that someone like her had zero interest in anything else. As soon as she learned there were Fishmen corpses, she dove straight into the sanatorium, as if the commotion outside had absolutely nothing to do with her.

When Lance went looking for her last night she was still studying those Fishmen corpses, and he’d only just managed to talk her into going to rest.

She’d probably stayed up too late, because early this morning she still hadn’t gotten up and there was no sign of her anywhere.

Lance didn’t take the five of them straight to the underground dissection room. Instead, he brought them to a special place.

"Since each of you is paying one hundred Gold Coins, I’m obviously not going to let you suffer a loss. Fishmen aren’t the only monsters in Hamlet."

Lance took them for a circuit around the specimen room, showing them those Pigman specimens.

But when he said one circuit, he really meant just one circuit. He gave them no extra time to examine things closely before ushering them out. He didn’t talk along the way, didn’t explain the origin of the Pigmen, didn’t introduce any details about them.

This attitude was actually more infuriating than talking—pure psychological torture.

When had those observers ever been treated like this? If they weren’t outmatched and in need of something from him, they’d definitely have pulled a long face.

But right now they had no choice but to swallow it, especially since those uniquely shaped Pigman specimens had left a deep impression. It was hard to imagine what these monsters were like when they were alive.

As for the bodies laid out so brazenly in the dissection room, those were all deep-sea minions that had already been fully dissected.

This was where Lance actually planned to let them visit. Having taken their money, he began his introduction.

"This coastal invasion produced three different categories, three different forms of monsters. Maybe you call them something else elsewhere, but we classify them as Deep Sea Warriors, Deep Sea Guards, and the rarest of all, Deep Sea Shamans.

Their numbers differ wildly. There are a lot of Warriors, so naturally they’re cheaper. We have five Guards, but only three of them are in usable condition—the other two are badly damaged. As for the Shaman, there’s only one, right here."

Lance gave them a brief rundown and then immediately held out his hand for money.

"For the corpses of the Deep Sea Warriors and Deep Sea Guards, tell me how many you want. As for the Shaman, even if we wanted to sell, we can’t. But the dissection files, I can sell you copies—it depends how much you’re willing to pay."

"What about those Pigmen?" Someone couldn’t hold back from asking. They’d heard of Fishmen, but Pigmen were a first.

"An evil cult has been entrenched in the Hamlet Region for a long time. Those Pigmen are their masterpieces. As for how they’re made, I don’t know. But we basically have research notes on all of them. If your price is high enough, I can even catch a few alive for you."

Everything Lance said boiled down to one point: Hamlet has lots of good stuff. If you want it, pay more.

Who knew that guy would suddenly wave his hands hard. "Don’t talk to me about money. Just name a price."

Lance was stunned at the first half of that sentence, but then he smiled at the second half.

Seeing that the others didn’t react much and were all pretty calm, Lance realized his earlier price of one hundred for a viewing ticket had been way too conservative. He could probably have asked for a thousand and they wouldn’t even blink.

Rich boys really are carefree...

Only for these people to finish pretending for all of one second before leaving Lance speechless.

"But we don’t have much cash on us. We’ll need to apply to the Association. Maybe we can first..."

"Cash on the nail," Lance interrupted with a smile and a calm tone, though in his heart he was already cursing.

So that’s it. No wonder they weren’t bothered about money—they were on Association business and could just get reimbursed later.

Shit, I thought they were real rich boys. Turns out they’re here to run up tabs and live off public funds. Got excited for nothing!

"You’ve seen the goods. You’ve got enough to report back with. If there’s nothing else, head back. Everyone’s busy." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Since they had no money, Lance couldn’t even be bothered to play host. He didn’t even bother to hide his change in attitude—pure money-first.

Lance did want to seek cooperation with the Association of Healers, but these people clearly didn’t have the standing to discuss that with him.

"We can set sail tomorrow morning. Get yourselves ready."

Under Lance’s not-so-subtle shooing, the observer group soon left the sanatorium. They hadn’t obtained detailed information about leprosy, but they had unexpectedly gotten some other interesting tidbits.

Just like Lance had said, they now had something to report back with. It wasn’t much, and it was all vague and mysterious, but it was enough.

"Fishmen, Pigmen, an evil cult... there seem to be quite a few secrets here."

"Did you notice that dissection method on the corpses? A technique different from most current methods."

"I think so too. Whoever was holding the scalpel is definitely a Master skilled in surgery."

"Did you see those organs removed and displayed in the specimen room? The organ structure of those Pigmen is actually somewhat similar to humans’."

"I think the Fishmen are kind of similar too..."

Their lively discussion made their intense curiosity obvious. Then one person’s words made the others all pause.

"I’m staying."

They exchanged glances and realized they all seemed to want to stay.

The fact that they’d been sent to investigate some uncertain rumor was proof enough that... they were basically idle.

But their medical research was undeniable, or they wouldn’t have been able to infer so much just from the dissection techniques.

The man with the handlebar mustache didn’t find this strange at all. In fact, he nodded his agreement.

"How about this: I’ll go back and report. Those of you who want to stay, stay."

What was happening in Hamlet was very attractive to them. After all, they weren’t the real big shots, and for medical professors, progress in medicine was very tempting.

If he didn’t absolutely need to be the one to return, he’d probably want to stay and try to make deeper contact too.

"And us?"

The Knight Commander in charge of their safety was a bit troubled. What exactly was the situation now?

"We can’t ignore the safety of the professors. You and your Guards should stay here together with the ship. I’ll go back on the Romani ship. I expect they’ll send people over again soon."

To be honest, that was a neat move. With Fishmen prowling around, a passenger ship wasn’t safe at all. The Rom ship, on the other hand—everyone knew those things were champions at running away.

Leaving a ship idle here was nothing to a filthy-rich Association of Healers. As for those Knight Guards? Equally whatever.