Chapter-05 - Trash-Debts.

I turned to face him again. "You are worried that the army will come looking for me and you will face their wrath?"

He didn't answer.

"It's not like this is your first time dealing with bullying by the Army or the servants of the Emperor's."

"This war has put everyone on edge, everyone is itching to go mad and you come out of nowhere claiming to be a Blackwood and shady mysterious supply lines to acquire such a rare ingredient in one day?"

I sighed. "I am just trying to survive the aftermath of my father's death and his debt and the mess he left for me. I am trying to do good and live on. I am nothing more than this." I pulled out the box and extended it towards him. "And no one can do better than this."

The Overseer took the box back and opened it again, checked the vials again, and then after confirming it, he stashed it away in his pocket.

"With the current market price of each vial, they would cost around 700 to 900 gold each."

The Overseer scowled at the price. He wanted to retort, but he knew the actual price was more than 900 gold, and the way I was mockingly announcing it was a generosity towards him.

"As an old friend of my father, I will give a discount. How about 500 gold?" I smirked at him. "Fair?"

The Overseer did not want to admit it, but he would not get this bigger of a supply and the price anywhere else. "Fair," he agreed.

"Now the total would be 500 gold times 20, 10,000 Gold, right? I hope my calculation is not that bad."

Before he could say anything, I continued. "So if we remove the 5000 gold my father owes you, we are left with 5000."

"Wait a moment here, that was only the base amount. I spent far more than 5000 to acquire the items your father requested and spent even more to take care of them."

"So you still have those items with you?" This was news to me. "Then let me take the delivery."

The Overseer suddenly regretted spilling the beans.

"First make the payment."

"Show me the goods at least if I want it or not or if it's worth it for me to pay you or not."

"What? Didn't you say you would pay the debt of your father?"

"Didn't I just pay for it? Now you are making it up and adding more, no sane person would fall for your lame scamming tricks."

The Overseer gritted his teeth. "Scamming tricks?? Your father…!"

"Okay okay…fine, I will pay, show me the goods at least."

The Overseer snorted but agreed. "Wait here."

"Oh come on…do you keep your customer at the door instead of letting them look at the inventory?"

The Overseer was getting so irritated, but a person who can arrange 20 vials of Succubus tears is valuable no matter the risk, so he allowed it.

I looked around at a lot of cages, all calm and sad. A lot of human beast hybrids.

Some half-human hybrids of elves, orcs, and even lizardfolk sat in their cages, their eyes dull with resignation. Some looked malnourished, while others had fresh wounds. Clearly, the Overseer wasn't one for humane treatment.

I whistled. "Damn. You're running a circus here or what?"

The Overseer shot me a glare. "These are high-value merchandise, not some street performers."

"Right, right. Of course. And the scars? Those are free bonuses?"

He ignored me and led the way deeper into the warehouse. The stench of sweat, filth, and something metallic filled the air. Blood? Probably.

He led me to an underground cell. I was surprised to see an underground cell in a tent setup shop?

Although this tent was huge like some circus show, still.

The reason they are in the tent is because at a moment's notice they can pack and run, but this does not look like the setup of pack and run.

After going through several cells, the Overseer stopped in front of one.

He turned and smiled.

Several shadows cornered us, or they all cornered me.

I recognized the silhouette of the shadow.

"Commander Venk! You finally caught up to me." I turned and greeted him like an old friend.

He immediately grabbed me by my collar. "You have run far enough, where are our supplies?"

"Supplies? It's only been a month…do you even know how the supply line works?"

"Do you think I have no right to hurt you?"

"Oh, I believe you do have the right to hurt me, but you don't have the right to delay the supply…if you hurt me, I will just delay it."

"And you will be executed for it."

"Fine by me, but you will be executed along with me as I will keep screaming about how Commander Venk has a fetish for young boys and he molested me and that's why I have such bruises and that's why the supply never arrived."

"WHAT?" he immediately let go of me as if I am very filthy and stink.

The Overseer's smile started to vanish.

"You think you can get away like this?" Commander Venk was fuming at my personal assumption that he likes boys. "I am due my weekly report, and I will mention how you betrayed the Emperor."

"And I am due my weekly report too, I will mention how I kept begging Commander Venk to provide me with the standard of army requirements, and he kept molesting me."

Commander Venk clenched his fist so tight we all were able to hear the leather gloves scrunching.

"You stole everything, leaving us naked in the middle of the jungle, and you dare blame us for not providing you with anything? You RAN AWAY!"

"What? You want me to flaunt my ties with the army while I arrange weapons for you? Do you think the Black Market is this stupid?"

"You had no qualm sharing that info to this filth slave trader." Commander Venk pointed at the Overseer.