08 October 2023

Earth Dungeon 78.2

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Chapter 78.2. Glimpse


"Serika-chan... poor girl-nya."

Karin also looked at Serika with a lukewarm gaze. She thought it was strange, Serika seemed to believe that she should make choices that would increase her favorability in various situations. Whether it was the dress or the lines she would ask later. If she failed, she would immediately change or normally? Her favorability with the other person would definitely drop.

[Surely, her lack of accumulated experience in romantic relationships makes her behave clumsily. She can't move smoothly. Haha.]

Shizuku smiled with a hidden meaning. You were probably like that when we first met.

Under everyone's warm gaze, Serika blushed like a ripe apple, and her eyes became teary. Oops, maybe I teased her too much.

"My bad, I'll forget about it."

"Mmm!"

She pouted and punched me lightly, and I smiled awkwardly while receiving her blow.

"Alright, alright. So, what are your demands, Sakimori?"

As if starting over, the albino beauty waved her hands vigorously. She dissipated the relaxed atmosphere and turned it into a serious expression.

"I'll return the armored cars, 1 jeep, and half of the automatic rifles. I won't return the other equipment and ammunition. Instead, provide 2 10-ton trucks, 3 sets of agricultural machinery, from cultivation to harvesting, tractors, and combines, basically. Also, construction machinery. Three shovel trucks and three bulldozers. Three large generators. Continuous supply of gasoline and diesel. Can you do it?"

"That's quite an increase... Can we do it without any written agreement? I hate to say it myself, but I'm highly likely to betray you, you know?"

I smiled at Serika's serious expression.

"In the abandoned town, you can't survive without considering that your trading partner might always betray you. I have no trust or guarantees either."

To rise from nothing means just that. Besides, we can probably manage the gasoline and such. Huh?

"What's wrong? Your face is all red... could it be you've fallen for me?"

"Why is your face so red?" 

"Can you stop it there? Can't you be a dense protagonist? Is that okay? In that case, I'll say it quietly and modestly, 'Your smile was really cool' while lowering my head. Then, you'll ask, 'What did you say?'."

"What did you say?"

"So fast! Geez, Sakimori are so...!"

Serika stomped her feet and threw a tantrum, but I understood. This girl, like Shizuku, had a similar personality. Did this conversation even have any elements that would make her face turn red?

[I'm also good at assassin games. I'll show you later, Sakimori-san.]

[I don't want to see it.]

Shizuku-san, who seemed to have lost interest, I'll soothe Shizuku-san later.

"Is it possible?"

I asked seriously. Serika nodded with a tired expression.

"Except for military supplies, we're flexible. I think it'll work. Do we have a deal? I concede."

"Anything else? Well then, did Serika manage to obtain the position of the union leader? If there are multiple, give me the one with the most influence. I'll leave it to Numata. In the future, I want to trade with the union in the spirit of coexistence and mutual prosperity."

Trade in money and supplies will become more active. With the people from the outer city.

"I won't mess with the union anymore... Alright, how about the position of the alcohol union leader? Is that the last thing?"

"No, one more thing. I want an identification card for the inner town. You have it, right? The back alleys. I'm not planning to live there. Just need to go in and out. If I can come and go, that's enough."

I can infiltrate with bribes, right? I want to know the market in the inner town. I can peep through crows and shadow cats, but I don't want to misuse it and take risks.

"If it's a fake ID, I have it, but you can't buy buildings with it. Is that okay? One for you."

Serika accepted it with some thought. She accepted my demands more than expected... Did I just make a dangerous deal? If it fails, everything I've done so far will be in vain.

"No problem. That's fine."

Now I can finally develop our base. Having bulldozers makes a huge difference. I want to fortify it a bit more. Ryuko's power will finally come in handy.

"But if we do too much, won't we attract attention-nya?"

"That's the thing, Karin. What do you think the country will do in that case?"

That was the question. We will indeed attract attention, or rather, it's almost at the level of becoming a rumor.

Karin asked worriedly from behind, but what's the reality?

"They'll try to confiscate this place. Will they kill all the residents? Then take it away?"

In that case, we'll destroy tanks and armored vehicles one by one. I wonder how much the point of divergence between damage and profit would be.

"Umm, killing everyone won't bring any benefits-nya. It will just turn into a ruin-nya. No one goes through the trouble of doing that-nya. I'm not going to kill anyone, am I-nya?"

"Is that an assurance of my loyalty?"

"We don't know who's backing Sakimori, and since I'm on your side, I won't-nya."

With a teasing smile, Serika poked my cheek with her index finger. She seems happy.

"Unless Sakimori armed with powerful weapons-nya. An armored car alone is not powerful-nya? I'm not sure how much he could do with this-nya. You're fooling me, Serika-nyan! Sakimori don't want to secure this vehicle either-nya."

Damn, she realizes I don't want to have too many military vehicles. But no problem.

"In that case, I'll destroy it."

The catgirl jumps up when she realizes what's behind it, but Serika doesn't care. That's because she's right. It's just a matter of turning it into a mere object.

"The inner town is a terrible drag. No one will touch the abandoned town if we attack it and cause damage like Suwa did. I'm sorry to say this. But it's a tiny base."

"Thank you for the shameless line. But that's the way it is. A missile or bombing would do zero damage, but if they go that far. It's important. If they wanted to kill me, they could always kill me personally. Right?"

"I'd like to argue with that opinion, but yes. I think that there are no people in the abandoned town to begin with. I'm sure the inner town still won't mind."

Serika shrugs but affirms. They're the ones who think there are no people in the abandoned town. If I needed to deal with them, I would have to go through a very cumbersome procedure. The day the skeptics can unify their will will be when their feet start to burn, you know.

"And now that I've got Serika's approval..."

"Is that what you got?"

"Before winter sets in, I'll cross the bridge and survey the other side. I need to grow the company little by little."

The fact that I, the president am doing the survey makes me weep.

Reality is a hard place to live.

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