Episode 64 Unlawful Deal (1)
Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding –
In response to the loud sound of the bell, the sentry shouts.
“Outlanders have appeared!”
It seemed that something strange had happened in the village.
Bikir quickly rose to his feet.
“……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 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.
Haha, a minority tribe of only about 300 people is about to declare war against the empire, but I wonder if other tribes in the neighborhood will be shocked.
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 quicker 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 blondes 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 seven families, including 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.
They seemed to have come deep into the waters here to trade with the natives, perhaps with their daily necessities.
Iyen didn’t seem to like them very much.
“I don’t really need it, but if I don’t have it, I can’t kick it out because it comes with things I’m sorry for… But physiologically, I don’t fit in with those kind of merchants.”
And with her words, Bikir agreed to a certain extent.
There are some things Hugo said about the bourgeois family before returning.
‘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.
This is because it was the bourgeois family that had an impact on all currency economies throughout the empire, including diplomacy, trade, commercial real estate, and banking transactions.
“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.
‘…… Smuggled entry.’
They entered the Baskerville family’s estate without permission and infiltrated this water.
And the route they smuggled in was most likely through the city ‘Underdog’, which is most in contact with the flood.
“…”
While Bikir was still looking at the merchants of the bourgeois family, they came to the center of the village and started dragging their luggage.
“Now, as always, this is a 5-day market. I came here first before the other tribes heard about it!”
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, the merchants took out various items from their bales and began to distribute them to the natives around them.
It was a cheap glass marble made of shiny material, a brooch, a whistle, perfume, cosmetics, and other trifles.
“Come on, it’s free! It’s free! Try these!”
Merchants were favored by the villagers by distributing trifles to them.
In particular, middle-aged wives and elderly men responded well. ”
Here
are the glass marbles that make you have good dreams when you put them in bed. Take one by one .”
“There are also 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.
It was forest products such as animal skin, 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 would think that it was a surplus business because they turned useless stones into edible grain, but… Bikir, who knew how much they were worth, was thrilled.
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.
After all, 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… Bikir looked terrible.
“Hmm. Hmm. This radish isn’t very sweet. It’s not worth exchanging it for a pearl shell. I’ll get at least two radish roots.”
“Damn, did you bring this cabbage as well? There are so many withered and worm-infested places! I can’t give you all of the antlers at this rate. I’ll take just 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, otter skin, pearl shell, diamond ore, wolf tooth, bear bone, etc. are exchanged for sweet potato, potato, corn, radish, barley, and cabbage.
“Oops, we can’t beat Balak’s warriors at all.”
“It’s embarrassing if you keep raising the price of things like this. I can’t help it. This time, I’ll meet your request. Yes, yes. Be good at bargaining.
”
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, cabbage, radishes, carrots, barley, and rice, and items such as cheap glass beads and brooch perfumes ran out.
And instead, there were antler antler, bear dam, ivory, various bones, leather, peony, Ganoderma lucidum, matsutake mushroom, jewelry, gold, small and rare monster babies and eggs.
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.
Trade soon 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?”
“Haha kid. That’s what you brown-skinned people eat. White-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 ridiculed, ridiculed
and sexually harassed each other
in an imperial language that the girl could not understand.
Tak! The girl didn’t understand what the merchants were saying
,
but at least she could guess the meaning of their taunts, contempt, ridicule, and lascivious glances, so she was at a loss for what
to
do
. There was a boy who picked up a worm and devoured it in one bite.
Bikir.
He stood in front of the merchants, munching on the caterpillars in his mouth.
As if he had just rolled around in the furnace, his face and whole body were 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 then turned her head to look at the merchants.
Then, she spoke a word in the imperial language that was fluent enough to put the merchants in front of her in a moment of embarrassment.
” This trade is invalid.”
