Chapter 5: Trao’s Business
Like experienced thieves, Trao and his group finished collecting the equipment and swiftly withdrew from the Demon King’s territory.
“Now we have funds for our campaign,”
Trao said with a satisfied expression. Thanks to their high-capacity, high-performance item bags, they were able to gather a large number of weapons and armor.
Meanwhile, the three from Garnet looked physically and mentally exhausted.
“Senpai, um… will the money from selling this equipment be enough to defeat the Demon King?”
Rio asked, seeking some justification for their wrongdoing.
“No, this is just seed money. We’ll use this to start a business and gather more funds. This is just the beginning, you know?”
What kind of business would they start with weapons and armor looted from corpses?
The Garnet trio had nothing but bad feelings about it.
“Um, what kind of business will it be?”
Dominique asked, fear seeping into her expression beneath her hood.
“What kind? Well, it’s business, you know. We make things and sell them, that’s all.”
What those “things” were was the crucial point, but they were too afraid to probe further.
They certainly didn’t think Trao would start baking and selling bread.
Back at their hideout, a small house, Trao and the others could finally catch their breath.
Rio and the others collapsed onto their beds, exhausted.
Only Trao remained energetic, starting to sort through the weapons and armor they had brought back.
After a day and night passed, and the Garnet members had recovered from their fatigue, Trao announced as they emerged from their beds,
“Well, now that we have money, shall we start our business?”
It seemed Trao had barely rested, going out to sell what he could immediately and prepare funds.
“Um… what exactly are we going to do?”
Lilith asked, her face twitching.
“Ah, we’re going to make and sell these potions,”
Trao said, producing a bottle of purple liquid.
“That potion is…”
Dominique recognized it.
As a mage skilled in alchemy, Dominique had often been asked by Trao to create various items.
“Yes, it’s the potion I had Dominique brew before. It was designed to prevent various status ailments by elevating mental states. I was planning to distribute it and make a profit if it turned out well. But there were some side effects.”
“If I remember correctly, it overstimulated the mind and was highly addictive, so it wasn’t really a good thing…”
Dominique said hesitantly.
“Yeah, high addiction means more customers, which isn’t bad, but it could cause problems. The overstimulation of the mind was also concerning.”
(How did they test that high addiction rate?)
Rio and Lilith wondered internally but didn’t dare to ask.
“You’re not seriously planning to produce and sell that potion, are you? Senpai, I think there are various problems with profiting from this, mainly from a humanitarian perspective,”
Dominique, usually reserved, clearly stated her opposition.
“No, we won’t sell it to humans. We’ll sell it to monsters.”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
“Huh?”
The three spoke in unison. They couldn’t understand what Trao was saying.
“We’ll increase the purity of the potion, adjust the mixture to suit monsters, and make it poisonous to humans. For now, we’ll distribute it to monsters for free to get them addicted, then start charging for it.”
“Um, how are we going to get money from monsters who don’t have any?”
Rio asked.
“Well, when they need money, they’ll gather it from the territories they’ve occupied. Until now, monsters showed no interest in money, so there should be plenty left in occupied areas. We can also exchange for expensive art or items.”
“Wouldn’t that cause monsters to kill people for money?”
Lilith immediately expressed her concern. It would be terrible if people were attacked by monsters because of the potion they made.
“With or without the potion, monsters kill people anyway. But what happens if monsters learn the value of money? They might start sparing people who pay. If you pay money, there’s a chance you might be saved. Also, with money as a goal, the monsters’ invasion speed will definitely decrease. Until now, they’ve been ignoring money and invading at an incredible speed, but if looting is added to the mix, we should be able to buy quite a bit of time. This business is beneficial for all of humanity, you know?”
“I-Is that so…?”
Rio and the others felt like they were talking to a shady con artist, but there was no denying the logic of his words.
“That’s right. So, I’ll need you all to get moving. Rio, you’re in charge of gathering materials. If possible, I want to start cultivation too. Dominique, you’ll handle brewing and refining. Lilith, you’ll take care of packaging and shipping the product. Spend as much money as needed to gather manpower. However, build the factories in separate locations. We want to reduce the risk in case of monster attacks. Also, make sure the personnel don’t know about the processes before and after their own. We don’t want them to know what they’re involved in. If possible, it’s better to separate each process into different factories.”
No matter how they looked at it, it seemed like they were setting up a criminal organization. However, Rio and the others followed these instructions.
Trao doesn’t lie. It’s true that he’s gathering money to defeat the Demon King. …Even if his methods are somewhat questionable.
Rio gathered adventurers and collected the main ingredient, Black Lotus. At the same time, he commissioned several villages to try cultivating it artificially.
With the economy stagnating due to the Demon King’s army’s invasion, Rio’s well-paying proposal was welcomed by the commissioned villages. It wasn’t particularly suspicious, as it could be explained as making materials for high-value items.
Dominique busied herself with securing alchemists and building factories. As the factories for each process were built in different locations, it was difficult for the alchemists to know exactly what they were making.
Lilith handled packaging and shipping, setting up multiple routes to prevent easy tracking of the distribution channels, ensuring that manufacturing locations and shipping destinations couldn’t be easily connected.
It took Trao and his team several months of preparation to start mass-producing the potion. During this time, the Demon King’s army halted its invasion due to Demon King Bastouza’s paranoia.
Moreover, with the death of Becker, who had been mediating between Bastouza and his subordinates, the other three of the Four Heavenly Kings grew increasingly dissatisfied with Bastouza.
They had thought of Becker as “an unpleasant guy who gave orders while hiding behind the Demon King’s authority,” but after Becker’s death, when they had to deal directly with Bastouza, they realized how well Becker had been mediating.
While Demon King Bastouza was indeed a powerful demon, he was also a tyrant who often gave unreasonable orders.
“Becker was actually a good guy,”
became the common understanding among the remaining Four Heavenly Kings, and they often thought,
“Can’t something be done about him?”
regarding Bastouza.
However, the Demon King was the strongest entity who controlled monsters through power and fear, and they couldn’t possibly defy him.
They were suspected of treason without evidence and were kept in the Demon King’s territory, separated from their own armies.
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