Chapter 63: Unfair Trade (1)

Chapter 63: Unfair Trade (1)

Tink-tink-tink-tink-tink-!

Over the clanging of bells, the watchman shouts.

"The outsiders have appeared!"

Something seemed to have happened in the village.

Vikir scrambled to his feet.

" ...Is it war?"

Beside him, Aiyen turned to look at Vikir with a puzzled expression.

"Are you serious?"

"...?"

When Vikir gave her a puzzled look, Aiyen reached out and stroked her hair once, roughly.

She smiled.

"There's no way in hell there's a bunch of lunatics in these lands who would challenge our Balak to a fight first."

That's right. No one would challenge Balak to a fight unless they were a high level demon.

Outside the borders, there was no one who could stand up to Balak, except perhaps the Baskervilles or the Morgans.

Even the cannibalistic Lokoro tribe was no match for Balak.

How could a tribe of only 300 people declare war on the Empire, much less their neighbors?

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Balak had no one to look out for in the continent, except for 'Madame Eight Legs', who reigned as a local nightmare.

"...Then who is the intruder?"

Vikir asked, and Aiyen rose from his seat and drew back the curtain at the entrance.

"It would be quicker to see with your own eyes."

As she spoke, Vikir turned his gaze toward the outside of the barracks. NewW novels updates at novelhall.com

"...!"

There was a rather unexpected sight.

White-skinned, blond, jet-black, and blue-haired people.

All dressed in clean clothes and speaking in a familiar language, they were clearly Imperials.

"...Houses of Bourgeois.

Vikir frowned, though only slightly.

The Seven Houses of the Empire.

The Baskervilles, represented by swords, the Morg, represented by magic, and the other five are the Seven Pillars of the Old Country, sworn to the Emperor's service.

The Bourgeois family was a tycoon family that had amassed a great deal of capital through trade and commerce, and was one of the Seven Families, along with the Holy House of Quavadis and the Poisonous House of Leviathan.

Then.

"It's been a while since you've been here."

Aiyen's blunt words broke Vikir's reverie.

Her expression was a slight frown.

Merchants from house of Bourgeois are known for doing whatever pays the bills.

They'd probably come this far underborder with supplies to trade with the natives.

Aiyen didn't look too impressed with them.

"This is actually not necessary. they are selling something that is not here, psychologically this makes us feel like we will regret it if we don't buy it...I'm not suited with those kind of merchants."

And to a certain extent, Vikir agreed with her.

Before the regression, Hugo had a saying about bourgeois families.

"There are fools who think money is power. They've never known what real power is.

There was an undisguised contempt and irritation in his voice.

He didn't like the idea of the Bourgeois who proudly boasting in the rich land in the capital of the empire while the Baskervilles were fighting bloody frontier battles with barbarians on on the borders of the empire.

What's more, the fact that he's sneaking into their territory and trading with their enemies, the barbarians, doesn't make him look good.

The other families were similar in their dislike of the bourgeois, but it was ironic that they had no choice but to do business with them.

Diplomacy, trade, commerce, real estate, banking, and all other aspects of the empire's monetary economy were influenced by the Bourgeois.

"But how did they get here?"

"Damn it, did you bring this cabbage too? It's wilted and bug-eaten in so many places! This is why I can't give you a whole pair of antlers. You'll have to take one!"

"Do you know how hard I've been drying these otter skins, you should give me at least two more potatoes!"

Everyone is a haggler.

In the empire, the value of crabs, antlers, otter pelts, pearl shells, diamonds, wolf teeth, and bear bones are traded for sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, radishes, barley, cabbage, and more.

"Oh no, we can't afford to lose to Balak's warriors."

"Well, I'm afraid you can't keep raising the price of your goods like this, but I can't help it. I'll meet your demands this time, Nene. You're a good bargainer~"

"We don't have anything to offer, either."

The merchants quickly take the natives' goods, even though they are grumbling.

Soon enough, the agricultural products-potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, cabbage, radishes, carrots, barley, and rice-are gone, along with cheap glass beads, brooches, and perfume.

In their place were deer antlers, mushrooms, sea turtles, ivory, bones and skins of all kinds, peony, reishi, matsutake, jewelry, gold, and the hatchlings and eggs of small and rare beasts.

The merchants pretended to be calm as they looked at the goods piled high on their carts, but inwardly they were jumping for joy.

I wonder how many tens of thousands of times this is.

When the trade was finally over, the merchants' demeanor became arrogant.

They saw more goods than they could carry in their carts, and now they began to accept goods based on their merit.

Then.

A girl stepped forward.

She could not have been more than twelve years old. She was pretty, with dark hair and dark eyes.

She carried several plump caterpillars, carefully roasted on twigs.

They were a delicious and prized food among the Balak natives.

The girl held out the caterpillar skewers and said to the merchants of Bourgeoisie Street.

"Excuse me, can I get a glass bead?"

But the merchants' attitude was cold.

"There's a glass bead, but what's that?"

"This is the caterpillar of a sunbeetle."

Several of the younger Balak children looked at the skewer of caterpillars the girl was holding and gave her an envious glance.

The caterpillar was a rare insect that tasted unusually like a mixture of milk and egg yolk, and it was worth a lot of money.

However, the merchants of Bourgeois Avenue looked at the girl's caterpillar skewer with disdain.

"...Wow, you're not giving this to me to eat, are you?"

"Haha, kid, that's for you brown-skinned people. White people don't eat that stuff."

"That's why you're black as a dung beetle. Hahaha!"

"Why don't you give me something else instead of that, like showing me up your skirt."

They taunt, sneer, and sexually harass the girl in an imperial language she can't understand.

Boom!

One of the vendors shoves a skewer of caterpillars out of the girl's hand.

She drops the caterpillars to the floor.

She couldn't understand what the merchants were saying, but she could at least guess the meaning of their jeers, scorn, mockery, and lustful glances.

Just then.

...Jaw!

A boy picked up a skewer of caterpillars that had fallen to the floor and devoured them in one bite.

Vikir.

He stood in front of the merchants, gulping down the caterpillars in his mouth.

His face and body were covered in black charcoal dust, as if he had just spent the night in an open fire.

"...."

The girl looked up at Vikir, panicking.

Vikir patted her on the head, then turned to look at the merchants.

He spoke in a fluent Imperial tongue that stunned the merchants in front of him for a moment.

"This trade is invalid."