Rebuild World

s not it, I mean which ruin to be more precise?”

 

“That’s a secret.”

 

“A secret…?”

 

Katsuragi was surprised by that reply and had a conflicted look on his face.
Seeing that, Akira lightly frowned and looked displeased.

 

“If you say you can’t buy them unless I tell you where I found them, I’ll just sell them somewhere else.
I did take these relics to you first as I promised, so I won’t take any complaint from you.”

 

Seeing Akira start putting those relics back into his rucksack, Katsuragi stopped him in panic.

 

“Wait wait wait wait wait! Wait there, okay?! Don’t put them back! I’ll get them checked first, so just leave them there! I’ll bring you some coffee too! So just enjoy the coffee while you wait!!”

 

Katsuragi went to make coffee and placed it in front of Akira.
He then brought out a special device for inspecting relics and started inspecting the relics in front of him closely.
Akira was trying to look calm while sipping his coffee and observing Katsuragi.

 

Katsuragi put on a monocular magnifying glass on one of his eyes and looked closely at the relics, while doing that, he casually threw a question at Akira.

 

“Akira, what do you think these relics are?”

 

“Expensive-looking relics.”

 

“Expensive, huh? Just how expensive do you think these are?”

 

That was when Alpha interjected.

 

“Akira, no need to hold back.”

 

“1 billion Aurum.”

 

Hearing that, Katsuragi could not help but laugh.

 

“No no no, although these are indeed old-world information terminals, 1 billion Aurum is just too big no matter how you think about it, you know? There’s no way they cost that mu-“

 

Katsuragi stopped midway when he realized Akira was staring at him.
There was a slight suspicion and contempt in his stare.

 

“You were planning to buy them cheaply if I had said a low price, weren’t you?”

 

Katsuragi smiled as if to play ignorant, but he could not completely fool Akira.
Normally, Katsuragi would never make such a mistake.
The price that Akira suggested was too high that it threw him off-beat.

 

“Of course not.
It’s just that we can’t get a good deal that we both can accept unless both of us have at least some knowledge about these relics that you’re trying to sell, you see.
That’s why I was just trying to make sure you know a few things about these relics.”

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“Really now?”

 

“Geez, don’t be like that, if I offer to buy these relics with a price that’s way above your guess, that in itself would be suspicious for you too, right?”

 

“To be honest, I have no complaint if you’re going to buy them at a higher price than I expected though.
So then, are you done inspecting them yet?”

 

“Be patient.
These might be worth more than I expected, you see.
My main job is not inspecting relics, so I can’t really say for sure how much they are worth without inspecting them closely.
To be honest, it would be great if you would leave them here for a few days, is that okay with you?”

 

“No, that’s not okay.”

 

Katsuragi slightly frowned, he then said as if to calm Akira down.

 

“Just a few days should be fine, you know? It’s not like we’re strangers after all, right? I can assure you that it’s better if you get these relics properly inspected.
I can even use my connections with a relics inspector acquaintance to have him write an inspection certificate for these relics, you know? As I said before, inspecting relics is not my main job, so it’s definitely better to have a real pro check them, don’t you think so too?”

 

But Akira shook his head.

 

“Still no.
Sorry to say this, but I don’t trust you that far yet.
I want to avoid the problem in case you replace them with cheaper relics after I leave them with you just to get you to tell me later that they are actually cheap relics.”

 

“Geez, what a worry-wart, it will be fine, I tell you.”

 

“It’s your own fault for frequently doing or saying something untrustworthy, like what you did just now.”

 

Katsuragi lightly laughed and looked away.
Seeing that, Akira lightly sighed.

 

“Well, personally speaking, I don’t think you would do something like that though.
But with that being said, I can’t really tell where these relics would go once I leave them to someone else.
It’s just that I simply can’t really trust a friend of a friend of a friend, you see.
But of course, if you can promise me to take responsibility and pay me 1 billion Aurum in case if anything bad were to happen, I won’t mind leaving them with you.”

 

Katsuragi smiled wryly.
As a merchant who often traded with Hunters, he could understand where Akira’s attitude came from.

 

“As expected, I can’t go that far, but still…”

 

Katsuragi hummed.
It was true that his main job was a merchant, not a relic inspector.
So of course, he lacked the knowledge and devices to do a proper relic inspection.
After thinking for a while, he then came up with a suggestion.

 

“How about if I call a relic inspector whom I know to come here?”

 

“If you’re going to inspect these relics in front of me, you can do whatever you want.”

 

“Alright!! Just wait for a bit here then!!”

 

Katsuragi pulled out his information terminal and immediately started preparing.

 

Not too long afterwards, multiple relic inspectors came to the trailer, all of them were the relic inspectors that Katsuragi called.
They then used their inspection devices, which looked exaggeratedly huge with a huge link to each device as they immediately started their inspection.

 

Akira was sipping his coffee with a calm face, although, to be honest, he was a bit surprised by what was going on.

 

“For some reason, it seems it’s being blown out of proportion though.
They seem to be taking a very close look at those relics, well, those are mechanical relics, after all.
I wonder if it got broken when it got blown off back then.”

 

Alpha replied with her usual smile.

 

“It’ll be fine.
Just keep calm and show some confidence that those relics are really worth that much.
If you show weakness here, they might rip you off, you know?”

 

“A-alright!”

 

Akira sipped his coffee while trying to calm himself down, he was doing his best to show confidence there.

 

While the other people inside that room were still inspecting the relics, Katsuragi and another guy stepped back and went to the deeper part of the trailer.
They then started conversing while whispering to make sure that Akira could not eavesdrop on them.

 

“Katsuragi, is that boy the one who brought in those relics?”

 

“That doesn’t really matter.
Just make sure to do a proper inspection of those relics.
So, how is it? Are they not fake?”

 

“I can’t really say for sure since I can only carry relatively low accuracy inspection devices with me, but from the result up until now, I think they’re not fake and they are in a pretty good condition too.
If I’m being strict here, the cases are a little bit bent, but that should not affect the articles inside them.
So then, where did that boy get those relics?”

 

“Geez, give it up, will you? Can’t you just open the case and take a closer look at them?”

 

“Some of those cases will break its content when not opened with the right method, you see, and that’s doubly true for articles that can only be contained inside a container.
For example, those articles in the form of powder.
I don’t want to be held responsible if we open them and break their contents.
That aside, why won’t that boy tell you where he got them from? Is it because he’s just a carrier from another shop or something and those relics were actually found by another Hunter? Do you have any good guess where he might have got those relics?”

 

“Just drop it already.
I only asked you to inspect the relics that one of my customers brought in.
Isn’t that enough already? If you keep pestering me with unnecessary questions, I’ll have you leave, you know?”

 

Katsuragi said so and glared at the other guy.
So the other guy clicked his tongue and decided to stop pursuing that subject.

 

After that, they continued talking in secret about the result of the relic inspection.
Once they reached a conclusion, Katsuragi sent the people that he called in to inspect the relics out.
He then sat facing Akira with the relics lined between them and smiled at Akira with a merchant’s smile.

 

“Sorry for the wait, the inspection is done.
So, about the price though, I know that you want me to pay you on the spot.
But even if you bring relics to the Hunter Office, they sometimes only transfer the money the day after, or in some cases, it might even take a few weeks.
So just keep that in mind and listen to me, okay?”

 

“Alright, so then, how much is it?”

 

Katsuragi smiled and said.

 

“60 million Aurum, what do you think?”

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Akira’s face slightly turned stern.
He then frowned and stared at the relics in front of him.

 

“Don’t just fall silent, tell me if you’re okay with that price or not.”

 

Akira was actually trying his best not to show his surprise on his face, he did not expect those relics to be worth that much.
That stern gaze on those relics was actually because he was so surprised that he inadvertently looked at them with a mix of suspicion.

 

But for some reason, maybe because he was slightly desperate, Katsuragi who saw that thought that Akira was doing calculations if that was a good price or not.
Akira suddenly extended his hand, in reality, Akira was just going to take a closer look at the relics, but Katsuragi thought that Akira was going to stuff them back into his rucksack.

 

“Whoah there! Wait, let’s think carefully about this, okay? It’s 60 million Aurum, you know?! 60 Million!! I’ll at least let you know this, even if you bring them to the Hunter Office, at most, they’ll only pay you 50 million Aurum.
I’m sure it won’t go close to 60 million! Although in place of that your Hunter Rank would go up, I know that you don’t really care about that, right? If you’re looking for money, just sell them to me.”

 

Akira did not say anything.
He only looked at the relics in his hand and Katsuragi alternately.

 

“Moreover, if you bring them to the Hunter Office, they’ll pester you about where you got those relics and whatnot.
That’s the same if you try to sell them somewhere else.
You don’t want to tell anyone where you got these relics, right? If it’s me, I’m willing to buy them from you without asking where you got them, and I can guarantee you that I won’t leak anything to anyone.
I know that this is a good deal for you, so just sell them to me, yeah?”

 

Akira still would not say anything.
Katsuragi started to get even more desperate.

 

“Alright alright!! I’ll buy them for 70 million Aurum but with one condition! As expected even I can’t offer you more money than that!! If this is not good enough for you, I’ll drop this deal, you know!!”

 

“One condition?”

 

Katsuragi was slightly relieved seeing that Akira finally gave a positive reply.
Although he calmed down, he still had a mix of desperation in his merchant smile.

 

“Although I’ll buy them for 70 million Aurum, I can only pay you 30 million Aurum.
So for the rest, I’ll give you 40 million Aurum store credit.
After all, I know that you would just use all of them for medicines, right? So I’m sure that it’s a good deal for you too.
I don’t mind if you want to use it for my other goods, and if you need something else, I can also put an order for you.
Of course, you’ll have to store some money for that order though.
And also, if you ever find similar relics again, make sure to bring them to me first.
That’s the condition.”

 

Akira was pretending to be thinking when he was actually trying to calm himself down.
Katsuragi was nervously waiting for Akira’s reply.
In the middle of that strangely tense mood, Akira opened his mouth and finally said.

 

“…Alright, I’ll take that deal.”

 

“Nice!! I’ll transfer the money right away, so you should check if it properly reaches you.”

 

Katsuragi immediately finished the transfer before Akira changed his mind.
Akira checked the transfer and confirmed that it indeed reached his account.

 

“I received the money, that’s it then.”

 

Katsuragi sighed with a big smile on his face.
He quickly brought out a strong-looking case and carefully transferred the relics into that case before handing it over to the relic inspectors that he sent outside the trailer.
When he returned, he had a wide smile on his face, it seemed that he also got a good deal with those relic inspectors.

 

“That was a good deal.
Now then, it’s my turn now.
What do you need? Is it more medicines? Wait for a bit here, I’ll bring it out.”

 

Katsuragi went to the warehouse and returned back with a box of medicines and placed it on top of the table.
The box also contained not the usual 2 million Aurum per box medicine that Akira usually bought from Katsuragi.

 

“This is my recommended medicine.
I ordered these expensive medicines especially for you.
It’s 5 million Aurum per box.”

 

“5 million, huh? Isn’t that a little too expensive?”

 

Akira frowned, but Katsuragi smiled as if it did not bother him at all.

 

“Well, it’s originally for Hunters who usually work further to the east after all.
So that price is pretty normal out there.
But I can guarantee it, it’s a high-quality medicine.
Like I said, I ordered them especially for you.
To be honest, as someone who’s selling medicines to you, I’m a bit worried about how you spent your money only on medicines, you know? I’m sure you can understand that, right?”

 

“…Well, can’t really say I don’t.”

 

Akira occasionally used a lot of medicines to the point that some people thought he was trying to be a superhuman.
Although he also had started taking drugs to clean up the nanomachine residue in his body, he still had not done that yet.
He was planning to take one after his next ruin expedition.

 

Katsuragi nodded to affirm Akira’s guess.

 

“Thought so.
So that’s where this medicine comes in.
These are specially made for Hunters and its producer put extra effort into keeping the nanomachine residue to a minimum.
So even if you consume a lot of them in a short span of time, it should only leave a small amount of nanomachines in your body.
Not to mention that it’s highly effective.
So you don’t have to consume too much of it in one go and the nanomachine from this medicine can stay active for a relatively long time.
It’s the perfect medicine for you.
This time I only ordered 2 boxes, but you should buy them.
You have 40 million store credit, so there’s no need for you to be overly frugal about this kind of thing that might save your life.”

 

“Alright, I’ll take them.”

 

“Certainly!! I knew that you would buy them!”

 

“By the way, what were you going to do with them if I did not buy them? It’s not like anyone would buy that 5 million Aurum per box medicine around this place, right?”

 

“But of course, there’s you, no? Well, what can I say, my merchant instinct is telling me that you’ll definitely grow powerful enough to be able to buy this kind of medicine just fine.”

 

“I wonder about that.”

 

Katsuragi said so smugly and Akira just sent a gaze at him with suspicion.

 

Katsuragi was not lying.
But it was not like he had no plans at all, he had already prepared plan B to send those medicines to another city through his connection in case Akira would not buy them.
This was one of the results of his talent as a merchant.

 

In the end, Akira bought 2 boxes of 5 million per box medicine and 5 boxes of 2 million per box medicine.
On top of that, he also placed an order for 2 boxes of that 5 million per box medicine.
So he was left with 10 million store credits that he saved in case he was going to buy something later from Katsuragi.

 

Once he was done with his business there, Akira returned back to his bike and drove away.
Katsuragi saw him off and mumbled.

 

“To be honest, I was thinking of cutting my ties with him and Sheryl’s gang if he wasn’t going to bring me relics soon.
But still, I didn’t expect him to bring something like that.
Not to mention, Sheryl seems to be turning into a rather prospective customer too.
Is it that my luck as a merchant is getting better lately? I guess this is a good time to take a risky gamble, huh?”

 

Katsuragi had a big dream to join the ranks of the Corporate Government and issue a currency under his name for the territory he ruled.
And finally, he felt like he spotted a way to make his dream come true as he smiled widely.