Clearing the Game at the End of the World Chapter 162: Lead and Silver Coins (16)

****

Thud!

One of the three trucks' cargo area opened, and long-lasting vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, onions, and broccoli tumbled out.

There was no particular need for display. Simply by opening the cargo area wide on the open lot and neatly placing the vegetables in empty green gun boxes, the setup was complete.

Although we lost the trailer on the way and the quantity was nearly halved, since our operational goal had significantly diverged from re trading, there was not much to regret.

With this amount of fresh produce, the break-even point was ambiguous, but it was more than enough to attract people.

"Alright, beloved brothers and sisters of Do! We are the long-distance caravan BDSM from Do 47! Big-Margin! Small-Dream!"

Tap, tap, tap!

"Jaw, the other way around! The other way!"

"Eh? Ah, damn it! B, Big-Dream! Small-Margin! A trading post selling big dreams at reasonable prices! Check out the BDSM caravan's goods! We are in the eastern lot! Big-Dream! Small-Margin!"

Each ti Ian's booming voice echoed through the city's alleys, people hiding inside their hos started peeking out one by one.

Doing business right in the middle of a potentially hostile group? So might say we were desperate for money, but this was a part of a strategy derived from logical and rational thinking.

We weren't sure how much the enemy knew about us, but thanks to Dana, it was certain that we had more information than what the enemy was expecting.

The important thing was to keep that information hidden without getting caught.

By deciding to oppose Do 38, holing up in a room, pulling out guns, setting booby traps, and all that nonsense would practically advertise we've caught on to your dirty secrets~'. It was better to act as though we were traders who had co a long way, only to unfortunately lose our rchandise to fanatics. Might as well make a lot of money while we're at it that was the attitude to adopt.

"Is is all that really for sale?"

Watching Ian's Humr from afar, a rather sturdy-looking man among the people who had been just looking around gathered the courage to approach.

A sales smile blood on Professor's face.

"My, of course! All freshly grown in Do's state-of-the-art cultivation facilities, not in the barren wasteland! They're very fresh, harvested less than two weeks ago! But how much were you thinking?"

"Well I don't have much in shillings, but I've got so alloy saved up"

The man glanced around nervously, almost as if dealing drugs, and handed over a pouch filled with alloy.

For a Do resident to suggest trading in scrap rather than shillings was unusual. Likely, it was illegal funds prepared by dismantling Do structures.

Fortunately, it seems there are quite a few holes to dig into with this enemy.'

Observing the man's behavior, which was far removed from the normal physiology of Do, the smile on Professor's face deepened.

He casually opened the pouch to check the alloy lumps with lting and scorch marks, a ssy mix of high-quality alloy and scrap tal, clearly not the work of soone involved in this line of work.

"Hmm With this amount, I can't give you much"

"I, I don't need much. It's not for eating-"

"If it's not for eating then?"

"Gah! No, it's for dinner tonight!"

Thwack!

Caught you!'

The atmosphere was not just devoid of vitality for a Do, but outright gloomy. Citizens glancing around even while buying food. A man offering illegal funds with a grave face as if heading to a battlefield. Doesn't it feel off? These people are deeply afraid of sothing, and the act of buying food itself is linked to that fear. Whether it was food control or a ban on trading with outsiders, it didn't matter. The important thing was that we had found a reason to press our guest'.

"If it's not for eating, you surely don't an it's for ornantal purposes. I see dirt under your nails? Are these goods for seeding purposes?"

"No, no, not at all! That's not it!"

"Ha-ha-ha. What an interesting guest we have here? I understand that Do regulations prohibit the cultivation of illegal crops outside of approved farmlands. Evading taxes when they are not even that high You're quite bold, aren't you?"

"No, no, that's not it!"

The man, caught in a slip of the tongue, was terrified and attempted to flee, but the left arm that grabbed his shoulder didn't budge an inch, as solid as a steel tower. Only then did the man notice the peculiarly shaped left arm and glove of this intimidating rchant.

"What are you that arm!"

"Well, a rchant, just a rchant. Big-Dream, Small-Margin! Just like you might moonlight as a scavenger, I have a side job as well. By the way, you seem to be a farr, how co you didn't save even a single seed? They say a farr would rather starve than sleep without seeds. Did you eat them all out of hunger?"

"That's ridiculous! That's not"

The man, about to say sothing, clamd up in confusion, shutting his mouth tight like a clam. Vex, who had been aligning rows of carrots, didn't miss the opportunity and subtly pushed forward a green wooden box that had been separately packaged.

Half of the box was filled with fresh produce, the other half with MREs obtained from the station.

I deliberately opened the packaging of the combat ration, tearing open the retort packaging of beans and stewed at to show its contents. The rich sll spread rapidly, drawing the man's gaze entirely to it. The mont the man unwittingly stretched out his hand.

Swoosh-

As if teasing him, the wooden box moved away from him. Greed was visible in his expression, clutching his stomach. Hunger, I know it all too well.

"Why why are you showing this to ?"

The man's tone had completely shifted to respectful, and Professor gently wrapped his shoulder.

"The reason you know, rchants are quite superstitious. If you make a big profit, they say to give away a tenth of the earnings. If your ledger grows mold, money leaks away. Or."

Snap!

"Sending the first custor away empty-handed brings great misfortune."

Behind the widely opened cargo area and the piled goods, there was a space not visible from the outside, not originally part of the building, thus no need to worry about bugs or surveillance devices in this makeshift chamber.

"It's nothing much. We haven't been here long, so we're not well-versed in the market prices or trends. It's embarrassing for a rchant, but we can't trade without knowing the value. We were hoping you could tell us about the recent food situation in Do 38, tax allocations, or any other trivial trends."

The man, swallowing his saliva, was handed the opened combat ration.

"A very small favor. For that much, this box full of rations will be entirely yours."

Rumble-

Vex, having finished unloading the goods, tily pulled down the door of the cargo area, and pitch-black darkness descended between the two, invisible to anyone else.

Click. Creak, creak, creak.

Gulping.

"In fact, Do has been acting very strangely recently"

In that deep, anonymous space, the man's mouth finally began to open. The sound of the heavy wooden box being pushed towards him marked the beginning.

****

"Bug sweep~"

"Check-"

"Double check-"

"Caras~"

"Check-"

"Double check-"

"Sniper spots~"

"Check-"

"Ah, sorry. Ian said he'd go set up the booby traps himself, so I didn't check that one."

"Good. Better leave the explosives to him anyway. Now, finally, we can take a break."

Thud.

The business continued until dusk, and after achieving so success, the group, following the recomndation of most of their custors, headed to a caravan inn where they could rest only after completing about 30 minutes of security checks.

This was a room at the top of a six-story inn, from which the radio tower, a landmark of Area 38, was clearly visible. The innkeeper complained that a wealthy caravan, arriving with three vehicles, had only booked one large room, but it was much better to endure the innkeeper's complaints than to be separated and picked off one by one.

Professor, looking at the radio tower built on the site of an old broadcasting station, encouraged the visibly exhausted group.

"Everyone worked hard today, keeping watch, trading, gathering information. Especially Ezel. You must have had a hard ti, but you did well."

"Hard ti? We three combined couldn't even do half of what you did. Where did you learn that kind of negotiation and interrogation? That's not the skill of a novice."

"Let's see. Twenty-one, twenty-two, from raiding our own supply convoys"

"What?"

"Ah, nothing. Just sothing I learned in the military."

Flap.

I casually brushed off Ezel's suspicious gaze and focused on the file summarizing the gathered information.

=========

1. Taxes have not increased, yet they have. It's been a while since administration, investigation, and enforcent started collecting taxes separately.

2. There was a large religious gathering. Naturally, it was centered around Happy Blind followers, and strangely, suppression took a long ti.