Chapter 13 – Signing a Contract

Theo was from the 75th floor, one of the tower’s neutral zones.

Theo had long adored Maryl, the most beautiful girl in Granier Village.

“Theo, confess! You’re good enough.”

“That’s right. Only the brave win the beauty.”

“Confess! Confess!”

Encouraged by the cheers of Oren, the son of the richest house in the village, and his friends, Theo confessed his love that he had hidden all this time.

“Maryl, actually, I liked you! Please go out with me!”

However,

“Hmph! Know your place. How dare you look at me!”

“Yeah, Theo. You should know your place. Sorry. Actually, Maryl is dating me. Kehehehe.”

Oren kissed Maryl’s lips and said, mocking Theo.

“Kehahaha. Theo, look at that blank face of yours.”

“Puhahaha. How can he walk with his head held high in Granier Village now?!”

Maryl’s smile that had shone on him since a few days ago,

the cheers of his friends—no, the guys who had pretended to be his friends—were all a play to play a prank on the naive Theo.

Instigated by the guys to confess in the village square to show a brave appearance, Theo, who was miserably rejected in a place where many people were watching, could no longer hold his head high in the village.

After staying indoors for a few days out of shock, Theo fled in the night and became a traveling merchant with the thought, ‘I will become rich and take revenge!’

When he bought the necessary licenses and equipment to become a traveling merchant with 50 Tower Coins he had saved by working hard all his life, and was about to purchase goods to sell in his trade with the remaining 5 Tower Coins,

“Theo, this is really good stuff, but I will sell it only to you.”

Scaram, a goblin traveling merchant who had given Theo various advice about being a traveling merchant, secretly spoke to him.

“What is it?”

Because Scaram had kindly given him advice until now, Theo did not suspect him at all.

The items Scaram pulled out in that manner were a tumbler, a mini fan, and a portable hand warmer.

“These are items from outside the tower.”

“Items from outside the tower?”

“Yeah. If you take this to the upper floors, you can sell it very expensively. The beings living on those upper floors collect these kinds of things as a hobby.”

“Really?! I will buy them!”

“This is a map with the location of a new member of the Seed Shop. Since they are a new member, if you’re lucky, you can beat down the price.”

Believing only Scaram’s words, Theo followed the map and climbed the tower.

However, because he had given almost all of his money to Scaram for the price of the goods, he was unable to buy enough food. Therefore, Theo came all the way to Se-jun’s location while starving.

***

“Eh?! Work together?”

“Yeah. And all the items you brought are trash.”

Se-jun first shook Theo’s mental state with facts.

“What?! Trash? That can’t be!”

Theo got excited at Se-jun’s words. Since he was told that the items he bought by spending his entire fortune on Scaram, whom he trusted, were trash, it was only natural.

“There is no magic cast on these at all. This tumbler blocks heat transfer by cutting off contact with the outside, and the mini fan and the portable hand warmer will stop after a few hours of being turned on because the battery will run out. Here, look.”

Se-jun explained, turning on the mini fan and setting it on the floor.

“No! How do you know, Se-jun Park?! Scaram said there was magic cast on these!”

“I came from outside the tower.”

“What?!”

Everything was explained by those words.

“Probably that guy Scaram tricked you.”

“H-how could that be. He was so kind to me…”

While Theo, who received a huge shock, muttered to himself denying reality,

Squeak!

Squeee!

Pyang!

the white rabbits began farming,

Splash!

Thud!

Pyak!

and Se-jun and the Black Rabbit caught piranhas to make grilled fish.

And in the meantime, the mini fan stopped less than an hour after being turned on.

“Huwaaaang! Scaram is a bad goblin bastard, meow!”

“Why am I always the one getting tricked, meow?!”

“What do I do now, meow!”

Theo began to wail and cry. Out of excitement, even the Granier dialect that he had practiced for a long time to fix burst out.

“Theo, calm down. Shall we talk about future plans while eating some grilled fish?”

“*Sniff*… *Gulp*. You’re going to feed me and then tell me to pay again, aren’t you? *Sniff*… I’m not a fool.”

Theo swallowed hard looking at the grilled fish, but he did not fall for it. Though naive, he was not a fool to be tricked by the same trick twice. And Se-jun also had no intention of receiving money for this.

“No. I will make what you ate before free as well.”

Having shaken his mental state, it was now time to soothe him. Se-jun was aiming for something bigger.

“Really?!”

“Yeah.”

“Here. Listen to me carefully while eating.”

Se-jun placed the grilled fish in Theo’s front paws and began talking about the partnership.

“Yes.”

Yum, yum.

Theo ate the grilled fish frantically while listening to Se-jun. When he finished eating the last grilled fish,

Stamp.

“Huh?!”

Before he knew it, his left paw was stamping a contract.

Peel.

As he lifted his paw from the contract, his paw print was clearly left behind.

On the contract, the words were written.

“Why is this here?”

Why was the contract, which should have been inside his bundle, in front of him?

Theo hurriedly read the contract.

[Purpose and Details of Contract]

“1. This contract aims to allow Party A and Party B to cooperate mutually and promote the sale of Party A’s crops to acquire mutual profit.”

“2. In the future, Party B shall sell the crops provided by Party A for life and bring back the sales proceeds.”

[Remuneration]

“1. Party A shall give Party B 25 grilled fish or the equivalent amount as a weekly wage.”

“2. Party A shall give Party B 3 to 5% of the sales proceeds brought back by Party B as an incentive.”

[Special Provisions]

“1. Party B may terminate the contract if the total sales proceeds generated within one month after receiving Party A’s crops for the initial transaction are less than 5 Tower Coins.”

“2. Party B must sell the crops at or above the price specified by Party A.”

“3. Party B cannot create additional clients without Party A’s permission.”

“4. When trading, the Granier dialect must be used.”

[Party A: Se-jun Park]

[Party B: Theo]

Below the contract, Se-jun’s thumbprint and Theo’s paw print were stamped side by side.

Special Provision 1 was meant to give Theo an escape route, getting him to stamp the contract.

And Special Provisions 2 and 3 were inserted to prevent Theo, who was a massive pushover, from acting like a pushover, and Special Provision 4 was because Se-jun was certain that Earthlings would definitely prefer Theo’s dialect.

“What is… this?”

“Let’s do well in the future, Representative Theo.”

Se-jun stroked Theo’s head.

“Not yet. There is Special Provision 1.”

Theo pushed Se-jun’s hand away and spoke coyly.

“I know. But we’re trading for now anyway, Representative Theo.”

“Hmph! That’s true.”

Theo answered and subtly glanced at Se-jun’s hand.

Stroke, stroke.

Se-jun stroked Theo’s head again.

After a moment,

Purr, purr.

Theo was tired, and under Se-jun’s stroking, he fell fast asleep.

“Good night, Representative Theo.”

Se-jun laid the soundly sleeping Theo by the campfire and stood up.

‘Just as planned.’

That way, Se-jun secured a means to earn Tower Coins.

“Yaaaawn. It smells good, meow. No! It smells good.”

Correcting the dialect that came out unconsciously, Theo rubbed his eyes and woke up from sleep.

“Are you awake?”

Se-jun asked while grilling fish and green onions for breakfast. Next to him, recently grilled fish was piled high. It was piranhas that Se-jun and the Black Rabbit had diligently caught since morning.

“Yes. How long did I sleep?”

“You slept since yesterday’s lunch and just woke up now.”

Today was the 129th day of distress; Theo had slept for a whole day and woke up in the morning.

“But what is that?”

Theo asked, twitching his nose at the piled grilled fish.

“This week’s wage. The grilled fish is getting cold. Pack it quickly.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Theo briefly thought, ‘Why did I receive a weekly wage when we were partners?’ but quickly began to pack the grilled fish into his bundle at the smell stimulating his nose.

The bundle item was a necessity for traveling merchants who had to travel multiple floors, and because preservation magic, space expansion magic, and weight reduction magic were cast on the bundle, many items could be kept in their original state for a long period.

“Let’s eat breakfast!”

Squeak!

Pyak!

At Se-jun’s shout, the rabbits dashed over and began to eat breakfast.

After the noisy breakfast ended,

“Excuse me… Se-jun Park.”

Theo called Se-jun.

“Just call me Se-jun.”

“Yes. Se-jun, but what do you plan to sell?”

“Cherry tomatoes.”

“Pardon?”

Pluck.

“This.”

Se-jun plucked a red-ripe cherry tomato from the tree and showed it.

“This?”

Theo looked at the cherry tomato with dissatisfaction.

“Take a look.”

Se-jun handed the cherry tomato to Theo.

“Huh? Magical Cherry Tomato? Is this an item?!”

“Yeah. Not bad, right?”

“At what price will you sell it?”

Magic power increases by 0.1 and decomposes 10g of fat for 10 minutes.

When Theo saw the item’s options, he thought that if he received a good price from the tower’s awakened ones, he could get about 0.01 Tower Coins per piece. 10,000 won for one cherry tomato. It was a sufficiently high price.

However,

“0.05 Tower Coins per piece.”

Se-jun called a price five times higher than Theo’s expectation.

“What?!”

At Se-jun’s words, Theo stared at the cherry tomato held in his paw with a look that said, ‘Will this sell?’

Assuredly, Se-jun was certain that his cherry tomatoes would sell expensively. This cherry tomato was not an item for awakened ones.

Although the magical cherry tomato brought fat decomposition and magic power increase to the awakened ones, it was not a significant effect. Their bodies were already optimized to some extent through awakening, so there was no great effect.

However, for the non-awakened ones outside the tower, cherry tomatoes that instantly decomposed 10g of fat upon eating without side effects, along with boosting bodily vitality, and also having a top-grade taste, were definitely a product that would sell.

Especially considering the early rarity, Se-jun thought he could even receive 0.1 Tower Coins.

Se-jun believed in Earth’s dieters. They would surely respond.

“Alright. Since it is a contract for now.”

Theo thought it was rather a good thing. If the total sales amount from this trade did not reach 5 Tower Coins, he could terminate the contract after only receiving the grilled fish.

“How many will I take?”

“About 1,000?”

Se-jun pointed to the storage he had made in the corner of the cave. Cherry tomatoes were stacked full there.

Se-jun and the rabbits helped Theo pack the cherry tomatoes into his bundle.

“Then I will be back.”

Theo left the cave, carrying the bundle.

***

Five days later, the 38th floor of the tower.

Inside a dark cave, ten elite hunters of the Phoenix Guild were struggling to clear the 38th floor, but the possibility of clearing was still remote.

As they were searching the cave like that,

Screeech!

spider monsters approached.

“15 spiders! Diamond formation!”

At the leader’s words, the hunters hurriedly formed a formation.

Screeech!

Simultaneously with forming the formation, the spider monsters’ attack began.

“Keep checking the rear so we don’t get surrounded!”

“Yes!”

Being elite hunters of Earth’s top guild, they had no openings.

After a moment, the battle ended.

“Whew. Good job. Gather the spider carcasses and rest here for a bit.”

“Yes.”

Just as the hunters gathered the spider monsters’ carcasses and were about to sit down and rest,

“Human, take a look at some good stuff here, meow.”

A ginger cat called them.