Ch.7676. The Brother Seller

– [Mr. Amon! Because of you I…!]

Click.

Amon hung up on the squinty-eyed nun.

Some time had passed since the dungeon disappearance incident.

With the practice dungeon gone, the nun who suddenly needed to find a new dungeon cursed Amon daily, but he didn’t particularly care.

This time it wasn’t Amon’s fault.

‘I told you not to recommend me there.’

Amon had said he wouldn’t do it.

He had a bad feeling from the moment he heard that power varied according to faith.

But the squinty-eyed nun, the teaching assistants, and even the students pushed him, so he had no choice but to do it.

He felt sorry for the squinty-eyed nun, but in a way, he had authorized it, so he was reaping what he sowed.

At least that’s what Amon thought.

Amon lost interest in the vanished dungeon.

Instead, he decided to enjoy the brief rest he was given.

He had originally cleared his schedule for six months for the security job, but this incident left his schedule up in the air.

He would be unemployed until the nun found and selected a new practice location.

He decided to use this short break to meet people he hadn’t seen in a while.

Amon drove his car to the bustling district.

The busy area was located between the city center and the dungeon district.

He entered an equipment store in the busy area.

“It’s been a while, Paul.”

It was the store of Amon’s first party members.

As soon as he saw their faces, memories of their brief time together came flooding back.

They were the party that had taught him a lot during his first exploration and had given him a good impression of explorer work.

Unfortunately, they had encountered Scavengers and suffered serious injuries, and in the process of replacing their bodies with machines, they no longer had mental capacity to spare, so they chose to retire.

And they were the party that gave Amon his livelihood, Sky Step.

This store was opened with all the assets they had.

Mercenary Department Store.

It was a store that handled various things, not only items needed for specific dungeons but also products needed by mercenaries.

Compared to Amon’s previous life, it was like a small department store for mercenaries.

After greeting Paul, Amon also greeted Tori, who had been a party member and was now Paul’s wife.

“Nice to see you too, Tori.”

“It’s been a while. How many months has it been?”

“Almost 3 months, I think.”

“3 months… So this is your first visit since we renovated?”

“That’s right.”

“Oh my. We’ve been neglecting our investor. Honey, what are you doing? Hurry up and show him around.”

SMACK!

“Oops. Sorry. Failed to control my strength.”

As expected of a former vanguard.

Just from Tori’s pat on the back, Paul, who had been a mage, staggered.

Perhaps there might even be a handprint under his clothes.

It was somewhat violent, but that was their way of expressing love.

While Amon was watching them with a warm smile, Paul approached, applying ice magic to his back.

“So, what brings you here?”

“No particular purpose. Getting repairs, doing some shopping. Came to chat while I’m at it.”

“Do you have time today?”

“I’m free until dinner.”

“Then I’ll show you around our building. It’s your first time since the renovation, right?”

Amon accepted the offer.

He wanted to check out the place that had been renovated with his money.

“I’ll watch the lobby, so enjoy your tour~”

Tori, the department store’s madam, waved her hand.

Amon toured the department store with Paul’s guidance.

“Wow, the store has grown so much~”

“Yeah. Thanks to you, even just touring the building is a job now.”

Paul introduced the building with a joke.

First, the lobby where Tori was stationed was floor 0.

It was the floor that sold consumables frequently sought by mercenaries.

Preserved food, tents, medicines, flares, and so on…

Items that were practically the lifeline of explorers who ventured deep into dungeons.

While listening to the explanation, Amon suddenly recalled a question.

“What happened to the energy bars I introduced before?”

At Amon’s question, Paul pointed to a corner with a bitter smile.

Familiar-looking dry blocks were displayed.

They seemed to be selling well, as only about half of the display was left.

Amon was shocked.

“People actually buy those?”

The reason for his surprise was simple.

Those blocks were made by the white mage in Amon’s party.

The first thing the white mage did after becoming the chief research team leader at Kathy’s company was to establish a company that produced these blocks.

Colleagues tried to stop him, but the white mage firmly believed these blocks had commercial potential.

But as everyone except the white mage had predicted, no retailer would purchase his product.

Still, the white mage didn’t give up.

– “Retailers aren’t mercenaries! They don’t know the market, so they don’t understand the value!”

With such an invincible logic, there was nothing to say.

In the end, to break the white mage’s stubbornness, Amon reluctantly introduced the energy bars to Paul’s store.

‘If he sees they don’t sell even when placed in a store, he’ll give up.’

That was clearly his thinking when he introduced them, but…

“Why are they selling?”

Paul answered as if he couldn’t believe the situation either.

“Mainly Horde, graduate students, and mercenaries who need to stay in dungeons for a long time eat them.”

It made sense immediately.

Those who had abandoned their humanity for efficiency would certainly eat such things.

After all, repeated surgeries tend to break one’s sense of taste, and for those people, this would be the best means of eating.

‘What a crazy world.’

It was odd to realize it through food, but this world never rolled the way Amon thought it would.

***

Paul’s tour continued.

In the basement where guns and weapons were sold, he met blue-haired Hale and had a brief conversation.

On the second floor, which sold combat systems and cyberware parts, he met the yellow-haired rifleman Even and chatted for the first time in a while.

“Oh? You’re walking?”

“Bought an exoskeleton. With this, I have no problem walking.”

“How’s your lower body?”

“Every morning, Mount Everest is right in front of me.”

Though his lower body was paralyzed, Even was always Even.

Loving guns and gunpowder, never losing positivity in any situation.

Instead of despairing over his paralyzed legs, he rejoiced in the fact that his sexual function remained—a positive person.

As Even proudly declared this, blue-haired Hale tackled him from the side.

“What good is that? You have no use for it.”

“What the hell!?”

Hale showed his ring finger with a victorious smile.

Even grabbed Hale’s collar and shook him.

Amon watched their exchange with a warm smile.

Afterward, Amon and Paul walked around the department store.

Almost everything a mercenary needed was gathered in the building.

During Paul’s tour, mercenaries filled the building, and numerous employees frantically greeted them.

It was a boom time.

The smile never left Paul’s face as he guided Amon.

‘Seeing this, my investment was worth it.’

Amon had felt sorry for Paul until now.

Was it because he joined the party that they encountered Scavengers?

Did their startup funds decrease because the hospital took mana stones instead of treatment fees?

He had always felt uncomfortable in a corner of his heart.

But now there was no need for that.

‘With this, I’ve repaid the value of the mana stones.’

It was a bit late, but they had repaid each other’s kindness.

Afterward, the two headed to Paul’s office.

“Let’s chat here until lunch.”

Inside the office, the two chatted freely.

“What did you do in situations like that, Paul?”

“Oh boy. There’s no answer for that. I got beaten by Tori too.”

“You’ve had it rough.”

“You too.”

While they were talking like this, the topic of human trafficking suddenly came up.

“Come to think of it, Amon, have you had any run-ins with human traffickers lately?”

“No?”

He had been entangled with human traffickers twice in his early explorer days, but since then, he hadn’t had any issues as he became involved with Kathy’s company.

It might have been ‘in the past,’ but not ‘lately.’

Still, just in case, Amon told him about some older incidents.

The story of the human trafficking clan leader who had been hiding among party members.

The explanation ended.

Paul’s expression darkened after hearing the explanation.

“So that was you…!”

“Pardon? What happened?”

“Recently, there’s been a gang looking for someone. That someone is you.”

“Could you tell me more about that?”

“I was going to tell you anyway.”

Unlike Amon, who always operated on a large scale, Paul had more dealings with people from the underworld.

The mercenaries who were his store’s main customers were mostly friendly with people from the bottom of society.

People like prostitutes and gang members.

Naturally, information flowed to Paul, who dealt with these people.

“Originally, one of the gang’s main sources of income was human trafficking.”

The gang didn’t directly engage in human trafficking.

They could if asked, but there was a more efficient method.

“In human trafficking, the gang was a kind of corporation. They bought from suppliers and distributed to consumers.”

Instead of doing the legwork themselves, they subcontracted to small-timers like Scavengers or crews to supply the goods.

This method was safer than direct involvement, required less labor costs, and allowed for higher margins.

Thanks to this, the gang had been able to make a lot of money with this method until now.

Then one day, suddenly the suppliers disappeared.

Both the Scavengers who had been steadily supplying organs and the crews who had been selling explorers on the gang’s request.

All contact was suddenly cut off.

With suppliers suddenly gone, the gang’s business was affected, so they immediately began to investigate.

At the end of their investigation, the gang discovered that all the suppliers had been annihilated.

By this point in the explanation, Amon could roughly understand the situation.

“Don’t tell me…”

“Well, they know it was us who wiped out the Scavengers. Fortunately, since many gang members rely on our department store, we weren’t targeted. The problem was the crew.”

“Ahaha…”

“Yes. That’s you.”

Unlike with the Scavengers, in the case of the beast-man crew, he had cleaned up with the help of the mercenary office.

It was no wonder they couldn’t reach the conclusion that Amon was the culprit(?).

“Still, it’s fortunate.”

“What is?”

“Those guys will never find out it was you anyway.”

As Paul said, the gang would never be able to reach Amon.

Recently, Kathy had been actively deleting or manipulating information about Amon.

If they could reach him, they would be considered a corporation, not a gang.

Besides, even if they did reach him, it wouldn’t be a problem.

Amon had already become too big a figure for a gang to dare touch.

That’s why Paul was relieved.

“Just go about your business as usual.”

At least his acquaintance and benefactor wouldn’t be in danger.

Paul gestured for him to forget about this conversation.

No need to get involved and make things troublesome.

However, Paul had overlooked three facts.

One was that Amon wasn’t the type to avoid fights that came his way when he had sufficient power, though he might if the situation was precarious.

Another was that Amon was currently bored.

And finally…

“Don’t worry, Paul.”

Ethically, humanely, and religiously, Amon had no intention of letting those who crossed the line go unpunished.

Amon held Paul’s hands firmly and said:

“Those who sell their brothers will surely burn in hell.”

Paul was about to say something to Amon but decided against it.

Instead, he thought he should pray for their souls at church this weekend.