Chapter 112: Barter

“At 20 copper coins per night for a double room, and 15 copper coins per night for a single room... What does Lord Su think?”

Su You recalled the prices at inns she’d seen before and nodded.

“Eight double rooms, that’s 160 copper coins. Ten single rooms, that’s 150 copper coins.” Altogether, that came to 310 copper coins per day.

It might seem a bit low, but in reality, Su You was still making a profit.

After all, her inn was far from fully equipped. While it could operate normally, unless someone had nowhere else to stay, most people wouldn’t choose it—the conditions were really lacking.

No cook, no dining area, no staff, and no facilities for bathing... Aside from a bed and a roof to keep out the wind and rain, there really wasn’t much else to offer.

Yet the price Yun Li suggested was on par with a mid-tier inn in a small city. If it were a bottom-tier inn, even a double room wouldn’t go for 15 copper coins—10 at most.

But there was nothing to argue about. Yun Li’s group was the party in need, so it was only natural for the price to be higher... Just like in those tourist spots on mountaintops—prices for a bottle of water could be worlds apart depending on whether you bought it at the top or the bottom.

“Let’s call it 300 copper coins. Captain Yun, you can stay as many days as you like.”

There were still travelers and visitors who might arrive at the territory at any time, and if they showed up while Yun Li’s group was still here, they’d leave right away for lack of accommodation... But that was fine. At worst, Su You could just vacate a resident’s house for them.

As long as there was somewhere to stay and the guest was willing, that was enough.

The difference between travelers and merchants was that one came to spend money, and the other to trade. Other than that, their “refresh” mechanisms were pretty much the same.

“Thank you, Lord Su.” Yun Li didn’t stand on ceremony. She took nine silver coins from her purse. “We’d like to stay for three days to start. If we leave early, there’s no need to refund the money. If we need to stay longer, we’ll trouble you again then.”

Basically, no refunds for leaving early, and if they stayed longer, they’d pay extra—Su You couldn’t lose out.

“Alright.” Su You accepted the nine silver coins and moved on to a more important topic.

Since they were a merchant caravan, the most important thing was, of course, trading.

Su You glanced at Bu Guo, who had finished eating, and said to Yun Li, “Captain Yun, as you can see, this territory is still in its early stages and needs a lot of supplies to develop...”

Yun Li immediately understood and continued, “We don’t have a huge selection, but Lord Su is welcome to take a look. If you need anything, we can offer you a favorable price.” Whether it would actually be a bargain was another matter, but at least it sounded good.

With that, Yun Li led Su You to where they stored their goods.

On the way, she noticed the little girl who’d been eating earlier was following them. She didn’t know why, but since Su You said nothing, and the girl was just a child, Yun Li didn’t mind.

...

Once inside the inn, Yun Li brought Su You to a room on the third floor.

“These are some specialty products we’ve collected from various territories along the way. Lord Su, please take a look.” Yun Li had everyone open up their luggage so Su You could browse.

Since these were local specialties, they weren’t particularly valuable or rare, so the merchants didn’t mind showing them openly.

Here, Su You saw a large quantity of basic materials and some special goods, quite a few of which were exactly what she needed.

“Looks like Captain Yun’s trip was quite fruitful.” Su You had only heard from Lyle that the caravan had a lot of goods, but without seeing it for herself, she hadn’t known what “a lot” really meant.

Now that she saw it, Su You had to admit—they really did have a lot... So much that she realized this wasn’t the kind of inventory a caravan of just a dozen people could normally manage.

No wonder they’d chosen to take the remote forest route—they were probably worried about “treasures inviting trouble” and being targeted by unfriendly forces.

At Su You’s comment, Yun Li smiled. “It was just luck. The places we visited happened to be hit by a natural disaster.”

So that was it—a natural disaster. No wonder there was so much stuff...

A territory struck by disaster would see its prices collapse unless the lord had prepared in advance. For a while after, the local economy would be in shambles.

Su You pondered for a moment. Instead of picking out goods right away, she asked another question.

“Captain Yun, do you accept bartering?” Su You certainly had money to buy things.

She still had two gold coins on her, and with the nine silver coins Yun Li had just given her, she had over a dozen silver coins as well. She could buy things outright, but Su You had a better bargaining chip—the extra fang daggers she’d made earlier.

Money was universal and always useful, so she’d rather not spend it if she didn’t have to. The fang daggers, on the other hand, were of little use to her now—best to trade them away.

When Yun Li heard the words “barter,” she couldn’t help but frown slightly.

In the past, she would have agreed. Merchants had many ways to trade, and with skillful negotiation, bartering could even be more profitable.

After all, money was a fixed unit—a copper coin was always a copper coin, you couldn’t sell it for two. But the value of bartered goods wasn’t fixed; how much you got depended on your own abilities.

But this time was different. They already had too much stuff. If possible, Yun Li would much rather convert it all to money—goods were hard to carry, but money was easy.

Still, Su You was the lord here, and they were staying on her land. She had to show some respect and couldn’t refuse outright.

“Barter is certainly possible, but as you can see, we already have a lot of goods. We can’t accept just anything.” Yun Li was worried Su You would try to trade a bunch of odds and ends—those might be profitable, but they were bulky and troublesome.

“Don’t worry, Captain Yun. I won’t waste your time with trivial items that have no real trade value... Why don’t you take a look first?”"