Episode 64: Unjust Transaction (1)
Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding-
The sentry shouts in response to the loud sound of the bell.
“Outsiders have appeared!”
It seemed that something strange had happened in the village.
Bikir quickly rose to his feet.
“… … Is it war?”
Then, Ayen, who was next to him, looked back at Bikir with a strange expression on his face.
“Are you serious?”
“… … ?”
When Vikir put on a puzzled expression, Ayen reached out and stroked Vikir’s hair roughly once.
she said with a laugh.
“There’s no way there’s crazy people in this sea of water who will fight us Balak first.”
Yes. There were no people who challenged Balak to fight first unless it was a distant high-ranking monster.
Except for the Baskervilles and the Morgues outside the Sea of Water, there was no one who could stand against Balak.
The Lokoro tribe, which leads to a cannibal tribe, is also about to give Balak a handful.
Hey, a minority tribe of only about 300 people is about to declare war against the empire.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Balak had no one to look out for in the flood, except for ‘Madame Eight Legs’, who reigned as a flood nightmare.
“… … Then who is the intruder?”
Bikir asked, and Ayen got up and pulled back the curtain at the entrance.
“It would be faster to see it with your own eyes.”
True to her words, Bikir turned his gaze toward the outside of the barracks.
“… … !”
There was a somewhat unexpected sight.
Fair-skinned, blonde or red-haired, blue-haired people.
All dressed in clean clothes and chatting in a familiar language, they were definitely members of the Empire.
‘… … Is it a bourgeois family?’
Bikir frowned slightly.
The seven families supporting the empire.
The Baskervilles, represented by swords, and the Morgues, represented by magic, and the other five families, are the seven pillars of national salvation that have sworn allegiance to the emperor.
The bourgeois family was a conglomerate family that accumulated huge capital through trade and commerce, and belonged to the 7th family along with the holy family, the Quo Vadis family, and the poisonous family, the Leviathan family.
at that time.
“It seems that the merchants have been here for a long time.”
The words Iyen spat out broke Bikir’s thoughts.
Her expression was slightly frowned.
Merchants from bourgeois families are known for doing anything for money.
It seemed that they had come deep into the waters here to trade with the natives, bringing with them the necessities of life.
Iyen didn’t seem to like them very much.
“It’s not absolutely necessary, but if you don’t have it, you can’t drive it out because it comes with things you regret… … But physiologically, I’m not compatible with those kind of merchants.”
And with her words, Bikir agreed to a certain extent.
Before returning, there are some things Hugo said about the bourgeois family.
‘There are idiots who think money is power. Sandals who haven’t experienced what real power is.’
There was an inconceivable contempt and irritation in it.
While the Baskervilles, who pursue the extreme of nothingness, fought a bloody frontier battle with barbarians on the borders of the empire’s territory, the bourgeoisie who was proudly boasting in the yolk land of the capital of the empire would not have liked it.
What’s more, I can’t see it well because I secretly infiltrated the territory and traded with hostile barbarians.
It was ironic that the conglomerate families hated the bourgeoisie, as well as other families.
Diplomacy, trade, commerce, real estate, banking, etc. It was because it was the bourgeois family that affected all monetary economies throughout the empire.
“But, how did they get here?”
Bikir put on a puzzled expression.
In order to send merchants from the bourgeois families that are located in the Empire’s ecliptic, they basically have to pass through the territory of the Baskervilles or the Morgues.
In particular, in order to come to the depths of the flood sea, a large amount of daily necessities must be procured, which is impossible without the help of locals.
There was only one thought in Bikir’s head.
‘… … Smuggling.’
They entered the Baskerville family’s estate without permission and infiltrated this water.
And the route they smuggled in was most likely through ‘Underdog’, a city most in contact with floods.
“… … .”
While Bikir silently watched the bourgeois merchants, they came to the center of the village and started dragging their luggage.
“Now, as always, this is a 5-day market. You came here first before the other tribes hear you!”
The merchant from a bourgeois family was a middle-aged man with a long mustache.
Sir Smuggler.
He looked gentle and gentle, but the greedy gaze emanating from his pupils was terribly scrutinizing the bodies of the young girls of Balak who came out to watch.
Before long, merchants took out various items from their bales and began to distribute them to the natives around them.
It was trivial miscellaneous items such as shiny cheap glass beads, brooches, whistles, perfumes and cosmetics.
“Now, it’s free, it’s free! Taste these!”
Merchants were favored by the villagers by distributing trifles to them.
In particular, middle-aged wives and elderly men responded well.
“Now, these are glass marbles that make you have good dreams when you put them in bed~ Take one by one~”
“Here’s the perfume too! Attention ladies!”
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“We also have cosmetics, cosmetics!”
The glass beads not only sparkled, but also gave off a nice scent.
The same goes for perfumes and cosmetics.
It was a scent that was hard to smell in the barren jungle, so you and I were receiving them.
Soon, the merchants who attracted people by distributing free gifts began selling their goods in earnest.
They were mainly grains and vegetables, but they were mainly selling things that could not be grown in the jungle.
The price merchants demanded of Balak’s natives, who did not use currency, varied.
They were forest products such as animal skins, bones, teeth, rare parts such as bear bile or antler, precious mushrooms, spices, and medicinal materials.
Occasionally, gemstones or placer gold were received.
Seeing that, Bikir thought to himself.
‘It’s a dog’s loss.’
Indeed, the natives of Balak were trading their diamonds and the merchants’ corn for good.
From the point of view of the natives of Balak, they will think that it is a surplus business because they turn useless stones into edible grains, but… … Bikir, who knew how much they were worth, was full of spirits.
at that time.
“for a moment!”
Iyen stepped forward.
She looked at diamonds and corn with sharp eyes.
Eventually, Iyen stood in the way between the girl who brought diamonds and the merchant who brought corn.
“This is an unfair deal. It makes no sense to trade a diamond for a corn.”
Upon hearing her words, Bikir thought, ‘That’s right!’
Iyen had a pretty sharp corner, so he should be able to stop this unfair deal.
but.
“… … I should get at least two corns.”
After speaking, Iyen looks back at Bikir and gives a sign of victory with his finger.
Bikir let out a light sigh.
Hey, no matter how excellent a warrior she is, she has no way of knowing about the waters outside the empire.
The natives of Balak were weak in their own way and tried to reduce the value of the merchants’ goods by devaluing them, but well… … It was lousy for Bikir to see.
“Hmm. hmm. This radish is not very sweet. It doesn’t pay off to trade it for a pearl oyster. I should get at least two radish roots.”
“Damn it, did you bring this cabbage? There are so many withered and worm-infested places! I can’t give away all the pair of deer antlers like this. You only get one!”
“Do you know how hard I dried this otter hide? Give me two more potatoes!”
Everyone is no different from Hogu itself.
If you go to the empire, bear antler, antler, otter skin, pearl shell, diamond ore, wolf tooth, bear bone, etc. are exchanged for sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, radishes, barley, and cabbage.
“Oops, we can’t beat Balak’s warriors at all.”
“Oh, it’s difficult if you keep raising the price of things like this. I can’t help it. This time, I’ll accommodate your request. Yes, yes. Be sure to bargain well~”
“We don’t have anything left either. Ahh, we’re running a business with a bottom line.”
The merchants quickly take care of the goods of the natives while making a false face.
Soon, agricultural products such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, Chinese cabbage, radish, carrots, barley, and rice, and items such as cheap glass beads, brooches, and perfume ran out.
Instead, there were deer antlers, bear dams, seagulls, ivory, various bones and skins, peony, reishi mushrooms, matsutake mushrooms, jewels, gold, and young and eggs of small and rare monsters.
Merchants looked at the trade goods piled up on the carts and pretended to be calm, but inside they were happy and running around.
I wonder if this is tens of thousands of folds.
Soon after, the trade ended, and the attitude of the merchants became arrogant.
After seeing so many items that they couldn’t load them all onto a cart, they started accepting them based on their marketability.
at that time.
A girl stepped forward.
Had he just turned twelve? She was a pretty girl with dark hair and black eyes.
She brought back several plump caterpillars, carefully roasted on a branch.
Among the Balak natives, it was a very tasty and precious food.
The girl held out a caterpillar skewer and said to the merchants of the bourgeois family.
“Can I get a glass marble?”
But the attitude of the merchants was cold.
“There are glass marbles. But what is that?”
“This is a larva of a sun dung beetle.”
Some of Balak’s children looked at the caterpillar skewer she was holding and looked at them with envy.
This caterpillar was a rare worm that tasted like a mixture of milk and egg yolk, and was highly valuable.
But the merchants of the bourgeois family saw the caterpillar skewer held out by the girl and gave them contemptuous glances.
“… … Ugh, you’re not giving me this to eat, are you?”
“Ha ha, kid. That’s what you brown skinned people eat. Fair-skinned people don’t eat those things.”
“Eating something like that makes you black like a dung beetle. ha ha ha!”
“Why don’t you give me something else instead? Like showing you the inside of your skirt.”
They ridicule, ridicule, and s*xually harass women in an imperial language that the girl cannot understand.
widely!
A vendor pushed a caterpillar skewer from the girl’s hand.
The girl dropped the caterpillars to the floor.
The girl did not understand what the merchants were saying, but at least she could guess the meaning of their taunts, contempt, ridicule, and lustful glances, and she was at a loss for what to do.
Right then.
… chin!
There was a boy who picked up a caterpillar skewer that had fallen on the floor and ate it in one bite.
Bikir.
He stood in front of the merchants, munching the caterpillars in his mouth.
As if he had just been rolling around in the oven, his entire body, including his face, was covered in black charcoal powder.
“… … .”
The confused girl, not knowing what to do, looked up at Bikir.
Bikir stroked the girl’s hair once and turned to look at the merchants.
And he said a word in the imperial language fluent enough to baffle the merchants in front of him for a moment.
“This trade is invalid.”
