CH 37

Chapter 37 – Boastful Negotiations

TL: Sponsored chapter (1/1). Thanks for your support!

As that guy said that, he began to approach with his gun pointing in my direction.

Well, I guess there will always be people who will think this way.

“Wait. I’ve told you this before. In the end, as human beings, we fight to protect. What can we even protect if we let ourselves be led astray, killing those who have done nothing wrong?” (Leader)

“B-But, Boss…” (Comrade)

“Even if this guy is a villain at heart, has he done anything to us?” (Leader)

None of them were able to refute that, and they all fell silent.

“…One question for you… Enjou, was it?” (Leader)

“Yes. What is it?” (Enjou)

“Why are you selling us weapons?” (Leader)

“To earn profit. That’s simply what merchants do after all.” (Enjou)

“Profit… So you want food?” (Leader)

In this world, the primary form of currency was really becoming food, huh?

“No, no. Sorry to tell you, but I’m not short on food.” (Enjou)

“Then what do you want? There’s no way you would give it to us for free, right…?” (Leader)

“Of course not. What I want is money and precious metals. Isn’t that easy to understand?” (Enjou)

“…Why? In this world, money and valuables have no use anymore, don’t they?” (Leader)

“That’s not necessarily true. Did you know that there’s been a door-to-door salesman who has been selling food recently?” (Enjou)

“…! Is that true? Did any of you guys hear about it?” (Leader)

“Oh, now that you mention it, I’ve heard about that, Boss. There’s apparently a door-to-door salesman who shows up in a rich neighborhood a short distance from here, selling food and other daily necessities in exchange for money and other things of value.” (Comrade)

“There are people out there like that in this day and age?” (Leader)

“Yes, there are. I’ve done business with them after all,” Enjou said shortly after, answering the leader’s doubts.

“So as long as you have money and valuables, food can be obtained. There’s also another person who sells medicine, too. That person also asks for money. That’s why I also ask for money and valuables to be able—to engage in business with such people, you see.” (Enjou)

I had figured that these men would catch wind of it as a result. And as it turned out, one of the leader’s comrades had heard about it, which increased the persuasiveness of my case.

“So what will you do? Will you buy weapons from me?” (Enjou)

“….With money and valuables, or?” (Leader)

“Of course, as long as it’s proportionate to the value of the merchandise, that is.” (Enjou)

“….Are these weapons you have here all that is available?” (Leader)

“Hahah, I can’t have you looking down on arms dealers. Anything that you ask for, I will prepare for you… No matter what kind of weapon it is.” (Enjou)

“…! Then can you provide us with tanks?” (Leader)

“I told you, didn’t I? Any weapon.” (Enjou)

If they wanted, I could prepare a tank or a fighter jet for them. But naturally, that was only if they could provide appropriate compensation.

“As a token to commemorate our acquaintance today, I will provide you those weapons over there as a free service.” (Enjou)

“““Whoaaa, seriously!!??”””

All of the members of the group struck triumphant poses and immediately went over to inspect the weapons. However, there weren’t a lot of bullets included. This was to ensure that they would continue to buy from me in the future.

“You guys… Seriously.” (Leader)

The leader was exasperated by the excitement of his comrades, but his guardedness against Enjou was gradually loosening. It was good to see this kind of development.

“….I’m grateful, but are you sure about this?” (Leader)

“I don’t mind, as long as you agree to uphold a long business partnership with me from now on.” (Enjou)

“…. I understand. Then I have a request that I want to make right away.” (Leader)

“What is it?” (Enjou)

“Just a moment. I’ll list the things I want on a sheet of paper.” (Leader)

The leader of the group took out a notepad from his pocket and began to write on it. After a while, he handed it over to Enjou.

“…Hoh, you once again seem to be letting your greedy side show a bit.” (Enjou)

The writing on the notepad listed a large number of weaponry that would normally be difficult to obtain. However, with these weapons, it would certainly be enough to clear dungeons from here on out.

“Can you prepare them?” (Leader)

“It won’t be a problem.” (Enjou)

“…..Seriously? Can you really procure them?” (Leader)

“Please don’t make me repeat myself over and over again. No matter what weapons you want, I can prepare it for you. I can even get you a nuclear bomb, if you’d like?” (Enjou)

Of course, after handing such a thing over to them, I would plan to have them leave the city immediately. But they definitely wouldn’t easily ask for such a thing, which cost several billion yen.

“…..Just who the hell are you?” (Leader)

“I’m just a lowly arms dealer. By the way, ‘Boss’…? Could I get your name?” (Enjou)

“Ah, yeah… I’m Otaka Renji, the manager of this group.”

“The manager…?” (Enjou)

“We originally gathered to clear dungeons. For now, our organization’s name is ‘The Apostles of Peace’.” (Otaka)

“…..Are you a chuuni or something?” (Enjou)

(TL: Chuuni – also known as Chuunibyou or ‘Eighth-Grader Syndrome’.)

“S-Shut up! I didn’t want such an embarrassing name either! But one of their kids said it was a good name, so we had no choice but to go with it!” (Otaka)

“Huh? Didn’t you take it well at the time, saying that it had a nice ring to it?” (Comrade 1)

“Yeah, exactly. You were the one who came up with the idea along with our kids, weren’t you?” (Comrade 2)

“S-Shut up, you guys! If you say anything more, I’ll have to give you all a taste of my military hand-to-hand fighting techniques!” (Otaka)

Otaka’s face was flushed red with embarrassment as he told his comrades to stop.

Hmm. Somehow, this person’s thoughts are awfully childish. Well, I don’t hate it.

“Cough, cough! Er, Can I ask you one more thing, Enjou?” (Otaka)

“Go ahead.” (Enjou)

“Why did you reach out to us? Armed communities like ours are popping up all over the place. Why did you specifically choose us to be business partners with you?” (Otaka)

Certainly, I understood from Sol’s findings that ordinary people were forming communities to fight against monsters and mob rioters like Ohsaka’s group had been. If they were alone or in small groups, they wouldn’t be able to stand a chance, and they’d be killed. Then, the things they wanted to protect would be stolen from them.

In other words, people were forming groups to secure their own safety.

“There’s no particular reason, though?” (Enjou)

There were sticks of dynamite wrapped around his body, and he was also wearing some kind of machine.

“These bombs are designed to be triggered based on my heartrate. Of course, if I die or faint, the bombs will go off instantly, and then… Bang.” (Enjou)

“W-W-What the hell!? You think your own life is something you can just throw around!?”

….Oh, so that’s what you’ll get angry over. I see. This guy seems to be even more serious of a person than I thought.

The man who had tried to threaten Enjou earlier was trembling, his face pale with fear. But of course. Everyone here could have been blown to smithereens because of him.

“I put my life on the line for my business. My products are like my children. If you try to take them away from me unreasonably, as the parent, I am prepared to die alongside them.” (Enjou)

Enjou’s eyes glowed with an ominous light. Seeing his weighty resolve, Otaka and the others were taken aback.

“…In the first place, you wouldn’t sell your children, though.” (Otaka)

“Ooh, that was a good one, Otaka-san. You got me there, hahahah.” (Enjou)

Every time, I really felt like I ought to give professional acting a shot. After all, this entire thing was pretty much one big performance.

Kaiba, Torimoto, and now Enjou. Now that I had a variety of characters that could be used for different purposes, I really found my range rather amazing.

“But I hope you understand my determination to do business. In this day and age, you could die at any time. That’s why I told myself that if that was going to be the case, I wanted to spend my life living as freely and interestingly as possible. Well, being an arms dealer is just something that was handed over to me by my father.” (Enjou)

“Father? …Meaning…” (Otaka)

“Yes, he died. He was killed by a monster.” (Enjou)

“That… I’m sorry to hear that.” (Otaka)

“No, no, don’t be. So as you can see, I have quite the grudge against monsters. That’s why I want to sell weapons to armed militias like yours, so that you can also kill a lot of monsters. Of course, I’ve been killing some of them myself, as you can see with this house.” (Enjou)

Indeed, all of this was completely false information. I just made up this scenario in hopes that it would provide a more reasonable motive for his actions.

“Besides, there have been robber groups starting to appear recently. I want groups of righteous people like yours to keep those guys in check.” (Enjou)

According to Sol’s information, the number of insurgent groups, much like the one which had been organized by Ohsaka, had been increasing lately. They were all groups of idiots who raided houses without question, taking not only food, but also kidnapping women. Those bastards were so heartless that they could simply kill children at the drop of a hat, so I wanted to exterminate those groups as soon as possible.

“Do you have any more questions? If you don’t, I’d like to get to preparing those weapons.” (Enjou)

“Ah, no… When can we do the trade?” (Otaka)

“Whenever is convenient for you. But for this number of weapons, a proportionate amount of compensation will be required. Can you prepare such a sum?” (Enjou)

“…How much will it cost?” (Otaka)

“I would roughly estimate about… ¥130,000,000.” (Enjou)

“““―H-Hundred million!??”””

Aside from Otaka, everyone’s jaws dropped. The fact that Otaka didn’t seem surprised meant that he thought the price was appropriate.

“Well, firearms are one thing, but I asked for three APC vehicles after all.” (Otaka)

He was talking about a type of combat vehicle which was capable of attacking on the move due to the attached 5.56mm machine guns and Type-01 light anti-tank guided missiles (a type of shoulder-launched missile).

(TL: APC vehicles)

The price for one was about ¥30,000,000. However, this was the normal, real world price. I could buy it in the <Shop> at a cheaper price, so that surplus price difference would go towards my profits.

“¥130,000,000, huh…? I’d appreciate it if you could consider giving me a bit of a discount.” (Otaka)

“Hahaha, surely you jest. Before, when you and your group conquered a dungeonized bank, you made quite the killing, didn’t you?” (Enjou)

“….! I see. You’re really a despicable one, aren’t you? What was that about only reaching out to us because we were nearby? This was what you were after all along, wasn’t it?” (Otaka)

“I’m merely a merchant who goes where he smells the money.” (Enjou)

This was the result of doing proper research. In the end, gathering intelligence was the best weapon of all.

“Whatever. Since you already know, we won’t be able to pull a fast one on you after all.” (Otaka)

“Then that means you’ll pay me the exact price?” (Enjou)

“Yeah. I’ll make sure to pay you in full. But I will trust you not to have any defects on your end.” (Otaka)

“Of course. If there are any defective products, I will take care of it.” (Enjou)

Enjou got to his feet and extended his right hand. Otaka reached out and took his hand, shaking on it to seal the business deal.

Thus, in this way, yet another major business partner was secured.