Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Multi-Level (3)
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Gunter Irons's mind ground to a halt at the sight unfolding before him.
How the hell was he supposed to describe this?
How could something like this even happen?
*Is this... really the Forest of Beginnings I know?*
It was only natural for such doubts to arise.
Who wouldn't question it after seeing that scene?
"Get in line, get in line! Hey, you there, no cutting!"
"Nah, I can't sell at that price."
"...Come on, just knock a little off."
A dozen or so prospective riders gathered in small groups.
Crude stalls pieced together from split logs.
And the goods piled up on top of them.
The sight naturally brought one word to Gunter's mind.
*A market?*
The haggling and buying and selling certainly looked like a market.
The problem was...
*...this is the Forest of Beginnings?*
These people would normally draw swords over scraps without batting an eye. How could they just stand around so casually?
*What's going on here?*
While Gunter stood there dumbfounded, the boy who'd come with him tugged at his sleeve.
"Come on, this way!"
Gunter didn't resist the pull and let himself be led along.
After a short walk, the boy waved enthusiastically toward one side.
"Eric!"
The one called Eric was none other than the boy who'd been the first to catch a tosaba from Yuri.
In just ten days, he'd shed the filthy look from when he'd first met Yuri and now appeared almost human again.
It wasn't just his appearance—confidence gleamed in his eyes too.
"Huh?"
Eric turned, and the boy who'd brought Gunter flashed a bright smile and shouted.
"Brought a new customer!"
With that, he patted Gunter's shoulder.
While Gunter stood there trying to process it all, the boy held out his hand to Eric.
"I'd like my commission."
"You already hit your quota?"
"Yeah, this guy's the last one."
Eric pulled out a wooden plank from beside him and checked it.
"Let's see... Dennis Wayne, right?"
"Yeah."
"Dennis Wayne... Ah, here it is. That makes six."
Eric added a tally mark next to Dennis's name on the plank and turned to him.
"So, what do you want for your commission? Rations? Or something else?"
"Rations, obviously."
"Smart choice."
Nodding, Eric placed a thick tosaba root in the boy's hand and winked.
"You're a regular who brought in six, so I picked a good one this time."
"Oh? Thanks!"
"No, thank you. Hope we do more good business."
"You got it!"
Dennis waved lightly and walked off.
Meanwhile, Gunter was left stunned by the exchange happening right beside him.
*Did he... just sell me?*
Out in the open like that?
And I was the one sold?
What the hell was this?
Seeing Gunter's utterly bewildered expression, Eric smiled like he understood completely.
"Feeling dazed, huh?"
"What was that just now...?"
"That?"
"The guy named Dennis... sold me to you?"
"Oh! That? Nah, nothing like that."
"Then what?"
"Hmm... He just took a referral fee. If an existing customer brings in new ones, they get paid for it. Bring in two new customers, and you get a commission in whatever item you want."
"...Isn't that usually called human trafficking?"
"Pfft, no way! We're not hurting you—we're helping."
"Helping?"
"You can get survival supplies here. As long as you pay the price."
Eric pulled a tosaba from his pocket and showed it off.
"This is tosaba. Grill it up, and the flavor's amazing. Two or three are enough for a full meal. One root goes for 150 silver coins!"
He pointed to one side with his finger.
"Over there, they've got bundles of good dry firewood—ten sticks for 200 silver. That guy's selling flint for 100. And..."
Pausing dramatically, Eric scanned Gunter's outfit.
Even twenty days into the trial, he still looked somewhat well-off.
Eric realized Gunter wasn't just any ordinary trainee.
His eyes sparkled as he leaned in and whispered.
"...We've got premium stuff too."
"Premium?"
"Bird meat's 1,500 silver per bird. Stone honey and wood honey are 2,000 per chunk."
Gunter was speechless at the variety—even honey by type.
Eric's smile deepened at the reaction.
"It's a bit pricey, but you look like you could afford it. Interested? Just say the word, I'll hook you up."
Gunter didn't react much to the special-deal tone.
Instead, he wanted to grasp the situation better.
"...I'll think about it."
"Fair enough, fair enough. Not cheap stuff, gotta be careful. But don't overthink it—premium items sell out fast."
"Got it."
"Oh, and..."
"?"
"If you bring in new customers, come to me. I handle new customer management. Two new ones gets you a tosaba commission."
"...I'll keep it in mind."
Gunter nodded curtly and cut in before Eric could ramble more.
"Oh, got a few questions."
"Shoot."
"How long have you been selling stuff here?"
"Hmm... We've been properly set up for just a few days, but if you're asking from the start, about ten days?"
"...Ten days? You've been selling here for ten days? Where the hell do all these goods come from?"
Eric flinched at the question.
His expression hardened.
"You asking to steal my trade secret? The stuff here's legit, so just browse and don't worry about it."
Eric shoved Gunter toward the open area with a curt reply, clearly done with the topic.
Pushed into the clearing, Gunter began wandering and looking around.
Soon, a spark lit in his eyes.
*This isn't a market... it's a store.*
Mostly survival essentials like food.
And not small amounts—enough for dozens.
As he pieced together how it all worked, Gunter couldn't help but be impressed.
*Incredible.*
He identified three core elements of the store.
First, massive inventory.
*Enough food and supplies for at least a dozen people at once. Where does it all come from?*
Second, customers and promotion.
*No active advertising... Existing customers bring in new ones to build the base.*
Third, security.
*This is the only reliable spot for steady rations until the trial ends. Other trainees want it to stick around too. They need it.*
Skip the cutthroat competition for silver coins, and you could pass the "survival" trial easy.
Pass that, and you're not a trainee anymore—you're a real 50th Cohort rider.
Most trainees wanted this store to last.
The weaker ones especially—they guarded it without being asked.
Realizing this, Gunter clicked his tongue.
*It's a slapdash operation, but balancing every element like this ain't easy.*
That made it even more impressive.
Building a system like this in just ten days.
*Though it can't last forever...*
Silver coins in the forest are finite.
Eventually, spendable wealth dries up, and the store shuts down.
*But until the trial ends?*
That should be plenty.
The creator probably aimed for that.
Short-term, rake in a ton of silver.
*Who did it?*
Gunter scanned the trainees using the store.
A few caught his eye.
*Including that Eric kid, three of them... They're the core.*
Eric handled new customers.
The other two sold goods steadily.
A few more helped out, but the key players were those three.
He could feel the whole operation revolving around them.
*But with the volume sold here... it can't end with just three.*
How could three handle this output?
There had to be separate gatherers.
*Gatherers and sellers. This store's probably their joint venture.*
A store with multiple trainee owners.
Gunter was convinced.
Anyone would think the same.
Who'd believe one person gathered all this?
That a single mastermind built this system?
And that the store owner was...
"Eric, got more goods!"
"Y-yeah, good work."
"I'll stock this over there!"
"R-right..."
No one would guess a black-haired boy running odd jobs.
And so, Yuri's multi-level store thrived on the outskirts of the Forest of Beginnings.
Time flowed like water toward the trial's end.
Yuri's silver pouch swelled fat alongside it.
* * *
Yuri had one misunderstanding about the Cradle.
They weren't monitoring every move of every trainee.
There were 503 prospective riders total.
To watch them all, you'd need one Black Sword Soldier per trainee for a full month—plus rotations.
That'd take over a thousand men.
Black Sword Soldiers were stretched thin across the continent.
They couldn't spare that many just to babysit trainees.
So the Cradle only tracked general trends periodically—and even that stopped after handing out the silver pouches.
Pulling surveillance let Yuri's antics slip by unnoticed.
They caught on only after spotting anomalies.
The anomaly?
"Why hasn't it rung?"
The bell signaling stragglers, "Bugbear's Discord," stayed silent.
It had rung once on day ten—to rattle the trainees, courtesy of the one-eyed man.
But no one had rung it since.
Trials always produced stragglers by now, varying by cohort but inevitable.
Zero was unprecedented.
Especially after silver distribution ramped up competition—dropouts accelerated.
Yet none after all this time?
Something was definitely wrong.
The one-eyed man sent Black Sword Soldiers into the forest.
Soon, he got a ridiculous report.
"...What did you say?"
Even the reporter sounded awkward repeating it.
"Some trainees... were running a market... in the Forest of Beginnings."
"Huh...?"
The one-eyed man let out a rare empty laugh.
Absurd didn't cover it.
"So they're ignoring the fights we're supposed to encourage and playing shopkeeper with the silver instead?"
But it wasn't just play.
Silver meant for competition was fueling an economy.
Digging deeper revealed even worse.
"Three guys running the store, but the goods' source is unknown?"
He'd had Black Sword Soldiers monitor the "store" for days.
Goods kept arriving from somewhere, but no one knew where.
Daily sales were substantial, yet even the watchers couldn't trace the supply.
*Enough for a dozen people a day. Hundreds' worth total, and no source found?*
How sneaky did you have to be to evade Black Sword Soldiers?
Tsking, a memory flashed in the one-eyed man's mind.
A cave stocked with supplies for hundreds.
He knew the culprit behind it all. His lip curled.
*That kid.*
Only him.
Who else could manage that volume?
Yuri was probably fronting three dupes and pocketing most profits.
Alone in his realization, the man muttered in disbelief.
"Ha, what a pain in the ass."
His initial take on Yuri was just "funny guy."
Now? "Person of interest."
Still, knowing the culprit, the one-eyed man didn't interfere.
No dropouts wasn't in the plan.
But the Cradle took no action.
Why?
It'd sort itself out without lifting a finger.
*Go wild, kid. The real trial starts now.*
Minor schedule tweak needed, though.
"Advance the timeline. Call the kids."
His order went out, time passed.
Two days before the month-long survival trial's end.
A black ship docked at the pier.
Moments later.
The one-eyed man declared with a cruel smile.
"Effective immediately..."
For some, it was a festival.
For others, hell.
"...the Badge Hunt begins."