Episode 65 Unjust Transaction (2)
“This trade is invalid.”
Anyway, this is invalid.
As Bikir spoke in the imperial language, the merchants flinched.
It is natural to be surprised when a stranger suddenly speaks to you in a familiar language.
It is even more so if you have been exchanging profanities and obscenities right before.
“Uh…… Do you speak the imperial language?”
“Did you hear what we just said?”
“Oh, there could be a misunderstanding.”
“We’ll explain. These words are just…”
All those who had been having a vulgar conversation about the skin color and sex of the Balak natives a while ago noticed.
That’s because if you get caught wrongly by the impatient warriors of Balak, you can’t even pick a bone.
Bikir asked with a nonchalant expression.
“You mean insulting Balak’s warriors for their skin color and sexually harassing women?”
“Whoops! That’s it!”
Merchants are perplexed.
Bikir continued with an expressionless face.
“It’s not that important right now.”
Yes. The merchants were surprised that Vikir knew how to speak the imperial language, and they didn’t even think about what Vikir said.
invalidity. to cancel the transaction itself.
Coincidentally, all the goods brought by the merchants were sold and piled up in one place, so the natives of Balak simply returned them to the merchants.
Merchants also have to return forest products piled up in carts as they are.
Hearing Vikir’s words, Iyen felt something and made all transactions stop.
Then, even the merchants around them made a face as if they were dumbfounded.
“No, what are you doing right now?”
“You don’t trade? Why do you want to buy and lose money?”
“We don’t come every day, so how can we…”
Merchants scrambled to protest.
Bikir dismissed it briefly.
“Loss? Well, who will lose if the trade fails?”
At those words, Ayen made a puzzled expression.
She creeps up to Bikir and whispers.
“Hey. There are many people in Balak who are waiting for the day those merchants come.”
It was as it was said.
Among the natives of Balak, I could see a girl with a tearful face, a woman stamping her feet with an anxious expression, middle-aged men and old people with a sad look on their faces.
Merchants who don’t know when they will come again and the things they share, such as glass beads, potatoes, corn and harmonica, are coveted.
Iyen was controlling the transaction as Bikir said, so everyone couldn’t say it, but they looked at each other with regret.
but.
“It’s a good attitude to take care of the villagers, but you need to take care of the other person first.”
Bikir’s advice follows.
“……?”
Ayen turned his head after hearing Bikir’s words. and.
“……!”
Soon, Iyan’s expression was colored with surprise.
The expression of Balak’s people was to the point of deep regret, but the expression of the merchants on the other side was literally dead.
Extreme nervousness makes the hands and feet of the merchants tremble.
Bikir said briefly.
“Your stuff is all short-lived.”
Most of their trade items were vegetables or grains.
Most of these are damaged or withered on the way back.
On the other hand, Balak’s trade items were medicines, leather spices, etc., and their value did not change over time.
In other words, even if trade goes awry, Balak’s people lose little.
On the other hand, merchants will have to pack up what they brought and go back, and in the process, the value of the goods will fall terribly.
Merchants trembled and protested.
“You won’t come here again if you do it this way!”
“Do whatever you want. There are many merchants besides you who want to come here.”
What Bikir said was true to an extent.
It is because, in the future, when his body is fully recovered and he returns to the Baskervilles, he will secretly take measures so that he can trade with the natives of Balak using Sindi Wendy.
Merchants were cornered by the odds.
Vikir spoke briefly to those who were confused and did not know what to do.
“I know how much these items are circulating locally. If you bargain conscientiously, I can resume trade.”
At those words, a glimmer of hope appeared on the faces of the merchants.
“How can my guy know the local prices?”
“Ha ha! How strict is the Empire’s commercial law?”
“I’m sure I’ll leave a lot of it anyway. Why don’t I leave a little less?”
Merchants chat among us.
It was judged that there was still room for overcharging.
……however.
“4 gold.”
“yes?”
“4 gold.”
“No, that’s too much…”
“4 gold.”
Bikir knew exactly the market price of the trade goods brought by the merchants.
Furthermore, if Balak’s trade goods were circulated far away to the capital of the empire, he was also perfectly aware of how much the trade would ultimately cost.
That’s probably
the case too…
This is because Bikir had directly or indirectly taken charge of numerous foreign and trade affairs while serving as the vice consul of a large city.
“Are chess pieces made from hellhound teeth usually worth two million gold each? King, Queen, Bishop, and Knight are all priced differently. Also, billiard balls made from oxbear horns are the latest trend in the zodiac these days. If you put them up for auction, Five million gold per piece is generous, right? Undyed natural red ivory is not available for sale even if you pay ten times that price. Also, in the case of this goblin hat mushroom, it has recently started to be spotlighted as a material for new drugs. It’s worth calling almost anything…”
Merchants just stood blankly with their mouths open in front of Bikir, who was arguing the exact local price, wholesale price, retail price, distribution margin, etc. of each trade item in fluent imperial language.
yet. Bikir finished the calculation.
“Considering the transportation cost and labor cost, we set a price that is just right for the desired consumer.”
The desired consumer price was set according to what the consumer really wanted.
Bikir picked up a pair of deer antler, a bear gall, and a mermaid from Balak’s heaps of trade goods and threw them into the carts of the merchants.
“This is the amount you can buy with the things you brought.”
Only a small fraction of the piled up items remained.
The faces of the merchants were red with resentment, but there was no reason to argue.
It was because Bikir’s valuation was quite accurate, and even if he received this much, it was actually quite a surplus business.
In other words, it was an appropriate transaction without unilateral gains on either side.
However, for these vicious merchants who had come expecting huge profits, the situation was like a lightning bolt from a dry sky.
I came to see the natives of Balak as a caregiver among hukou, but I couldn’t help but burst into my stomach because I only received such a fair (?) price.
together?
It didn’t end here.
“Okay. Then, now we have to calculate the damage compensation.”
Bikir took back the deer antler and bear dam, which had just been placed on the carts of the merchants.
Then, on the contrary, he holds out his palm toward the merchants.
“Give me the money.”
At those words, the merchants’ expressions became dazed.
……Are you stealing this now? A look like that.
But Bikir always makes judgments based on the facts.
“I will ask for punitive damages for the crime of selling junk food and distributing illegal drugs.”
At those words, the merchants made faces as if they were full of spirits.
“What are we doing? They say we did something wrong!”
“Are you asking because you don’t know?”
Bikir extended a finger and pointed to grains and vegetables.
There were also bags of seeds in the heaps of produce.
Bikir dragged the bag and pulled out the seeds.
Patter- Patter- Patter- After
spilling all the seeds on the floor, Vikir picked up a few of them.
“Did you stir-fry it a little so that it doesn’t sprout?”
Hearing that, some merchants turn their heads with a grim expression.
Yes. They did not want the natives of Balak to become self-sufficient by farming.
This is because they should not plant seeds and farm in order to continue to bring agricultural products and take profit.
Realizing that these are seeds that do not sprout, the natives of Balak began to pour in with fearful expressions on their faces.
Furthermore.
“In addition, to distribute cheap drugs illegally designated by the Empire. You’re out of your mind.”
Bikir took out glass marbles and brooches that the merchants were giving away for free and broke them with his hands.
A glass marble that is said to bring you good dreams if you put it in bed.
Pass-s-ss…
It contained a small amount of white powder.
A structure that naturally leaks out through very small holes on the surface of glass beads.
If you keep it by your side, you will get drunk with weak medicine, so you will fall asleep naturally and have no choice but to have good dreams.
However, its identity is a low-quality drug that severely damages the body when left around for a long time.
Glass beads, brooches, necklaces, perfumes, cosmetics, etc. were also made of similar materials.
Bikir’s eyes flashed.
‘Did the House of Morgue or the Baskervilles condone this?’
I thought it might be.
If Balak’s warriors were not only weakened by cheap drugs, but also if the next generation gave birth to deformed babies, it would benefit the Empire in the long run.
However, Vikir had no intention of acting in the interests of the Empire and the Baskervilles.
Rather, it is much more beneficial to join them in order to recover stably and learn archery here in Balak’s village.
Bikir smashed all the glassware that leaked drugs and picked out all the boiled or roasted seeds.
Then the merchants’ faces grew bluer as time passed.
Several merchants, including Lord Smuggler, made a fuss.
“What are you doing and making a mess! This is a sacred trade that even the god of the forest has allowed!”
“This is a sacred deal that the forest god will protect!”
“Balak’s shaman also blesses us instead of the forest god…!”
The merchants kept mentioning the god of the forest, but in the first place, it only worked for the natives of Balak.
“The existence that governs this place is not the god of the forest, but the Forest Service of the Baskerville family.”
Bikir’s nonchalant answer made all the merchants swallow empty wind.
It was true, but it looked like he didn’t expect to hear it from Balak’s native mouth.
Bikir took another drink.
“If you keep insisting on ridiculous superstitions, I will sue you to the judiciary of Underdog City.”
There is no voice that savages cannot do.
The merchants were stunned, but steadfastly refuted.
“We’ve already been tested for food safety by the Food and Drug Administration in Underdog City!”
“It was implemented when the former deputy consul was in existence. We have to receive the revised law from the new deputy consul and go through new procedures accordingly. As far as I know, how many of your items do not conform to the current law?”
“What do you say you know the law!?”
The merchants shouted.
At those words, Bikir stood out.
“……You think I don’t know the law?”
“of course! How would you know about the newly added laws? It’s a very strict and tricky law!”
Lord Smuggler, the
representative of the merchants, shouted at Bikir again with a proud attitude
. However ,
since he couldn’t reveal his identity here, Vikir decided to just think that the law he created was still working very well. ”
Anyway, this trade ends with this. Think it’s fortunate that they didn’t take your life, and get out of here.”
The ending was not written by Vikir, but by Ayen.
She knew that the secret epidemic that had been circulating inside the village so far was not a plague or a genetic disease curse, but a drug that flowed in from the outside. Some of the warriors were furious
as if they were going to shoot arrows at any moment, and the merchants had no choice but to leave their seats as if they were running away
.
It was a rare case of being a slave and becoming a hero at once.
* * *
When Bikir returned to his tent after the merchants had disappeared in a hurry… …
Tuk!
Something flew in front of the tent and fell.
It was a boar hind leg It was smoked.
Bikir wanted something, so he turned his head in the direction the chunk of meat had come from. An
unexpected person was standing there with a blushing face
. Hmm.”
It was Ahhun.
He looked away from Bikir and looked at the mountains in the distance.
“What is that? Big! Thank you earlier. Help me.”
“……?”
Before Bikir could ask anything back, Ahhun shouted out loud
. Get well soon! That way I can beat myself up a little… No, I’ll do some sparring!”
Ah-Hun finished his speech, even his ears turned red.
“Eat them all and get well soon!”
Soon after, he quickly left his seat.
The wild boar he caught Leaving a large piece of meat behind.
‘What’s wrong with that?’
Some mushrooms can cause intense illusions and delusions if eaten,
and if Ahhun ate them…
‘Take them to a quiet place where neither mice nor birds know…’
Bikir thought to himself. When there is.
” Hey. A slave.”
Someone taps him on the shoulder.
Turning around, he sees Iyen standing there with a smile on his face.
“I’m not a slave anymore.”
“No. you are a slave for life My slave.”
Iyen frowned at Iyen’s insistence.
Either way, Iyen continued to say what he wanted to say.
“Ah, that son of a bitch. After all, it’s different if it’s just your sister’s job. As an older brother, he’s a good guy, after all.”
……Little sister?
When Vikir made a puzzled expression, Ayen explained further.
“The girl you helped today is that guy’s sister. The name is ‘Aheul’.”
After some thought, Bikir remembered a girl named Aheul.
A girl in her early teens who stood in line in front of the chieftain’s barracks at dawn, saying she wanted to become
Bikir’s wife. She was
a child who had been sexually harassed with shame for bringing a sun dung beetle larvae
. I was worried because my body was gradually getting weaker due to an unknown disease, but now that I think about it, it might be because of the glass marbles brought by those merchants who wouldn’t be happy to tear them to death.” Those words were quite
persuasive .
He would have traded with those merchants steadily, and Ahul’s body would have gotten worse and worse.
Later, he could become a disabled person, give birth to a deformed child, or even die.
Therefore, Bikir’s actions in this transaction can be seen as saving the whole of Balak. Could have been.
“Damn it. It was foolish to just let those merchants go. Killing cowards who don’t resist is the shame of a warrior, so I let them go for now… but now that I think about it, I should have just killed them.”
Iyen gritted his teeth . As soon as
I
was about to release it,
one of Balak’s warriors hurriedly ran this way.
“This is the chieftain’s message! Assemble all the warriors!”
It seems like a pretty urgent matter.
When Ai-Yen asked what was going on
, the warrior replied.
Then,
Iyen’s expression changed in an instant, and
it was the first time Vikir had seen her smile so brightly since he came here.
