Knowing how these smugglers worked would greatly benefit him. And yet it was clear that just mentioning their name was a taboo, something that was considered an act against the law of this world.
"Why do I smell trouble coming out of you?" As Alons went to bring the crystals as promised, the lady nymph turned to Hye and asked, after a long gaze of sizing him up and down.
"I'm just curious to learn more about these outlaws," Hye simply said, while his eyes were fixed over the merchant who went into the grand building in front of them.
"It's not a big deal," the lady nymph said as if this was something known to many, "these are groups of merchants who went to the dark side, decided to smuggle goods under the nose of the authorities in any place."
"I know what smugglers mean," Hye rolled his eyes, "I want to meet one of them."
"Oh, you plan to expand your activities and even include them under your wing? What a greedy human you are!"
Hye was sure this lady was smart enough to guess what he truly wanted. And so he simply remained silent, and she showed a smile that wasn't like one on her face.
"Anyway, do you really plan to stay here for one month?" The lady nymph changed subject, evading speaking about smugglers. And this didn't escape Hye's senses, telling him how truly bad it was to just speak about them in the open.
"I need to gather as many crystals as I can before leaving here."
"Why do I smell a scheme? You must be after something if you want to stay for this long."
"I don't plan anything," Hye shrugged, "I'm just cornered and chased by these Hescsos. And who knows when the next time will appear, where I'll be able to acquire more crystals like this."
"You can make a deal with me and get many mines," she rolled her eyes, seemingly feeling bitter about not finalising this deal with him.
"I'm going to, but not right now," he didn't reveal any of his future plans about this, "tell me, by this month's end, the things I want will be ready, right?"
"Sure," she gave him a confident answer, even without thinking for a single second about it, "but you'll need to pay by then."
"Who told you I'm poor?"
"I know you are rich, but if you continue this way, you'll have to pay lots of your bones in return for the useless crystals. If you just make a deal with me and get as many mines as you like, things will be much cheaper in the end."
"Tsk," Hye felt like any topic they'd start would end up rolling about the same point. So, he remained silent, didn't say anything to let her chill out.
Alons took almost an hour before returning back. The amount he brought was at least ten times the amount Hye got from the first merchant.
"I've added you as a friend, please keep in touch and I'll inform you whenever I gain any crystals. Do you want anything else?"
Alons, like his friend, took Hye towards the next deeper sector. The passage was the same, with fewer people walking in that third sector.
"Thanks, crystals are everything I need right now," Hye didn't ask for anything else. He just wanted to solve this problem of his kingdom as fast as possible.
Realistically speaking, he knew just depending on others to get crystals, purchasing them with his bones, wasn't going to work. There was a limit to how much he could get from them. Yet this would solve the problem of powering up part of his forces.
He planned to protect his new zone with that defensive formation. But it seemed like there were holes in such a defensively tight system. So it was still up to his forces to defend his zone in the end.
The moment he established his zone, things wouldn't calm down. Hye knew such news would spread far and wide, and the Hescos would find a pinned spot for him to hammer.
Even if Hye didn't plan to make any trade deals with anyone at this zone, and even if he secured it with lots of portals, he still needed to go out and adventure the universe.
That zone would be a great advantage and disadvantage for him at the same time. And yet he never doubted or thought twice about walking back in this plan.
"Please wait here, I'm going to call for a friend and come back," like what happened before, Alons went inside a big building and vanished for a few minutes before coming back.
Such a thing happened over eighteen more times. The area Hye landed at was formed of twenty-one sectors. And now he was standing in front of the last sector, one that was so narrow to only have five grand buildings, filling a circular space with little streets and almost no one walking inside.
Hye already made lots of deals, amassed tons of crystals. And yet this wasn't enough. He kept recalling how massive his kingdom's population was, how huge his armed forces were, and so he needed tons of folds of what he gained here.
Yet when he arrived at the later sectors, the merchants there complained that the stocks of crystals in the entire world were running low. According to the last merchant, the one who accompanied Hye right now, the prices of crystals in the black market were going off the roof. And that was all thanks to Hye.
Yet the latter never felt any regret or anything like this. He wanted to gather more crystals. The merchant walking by his side told him that lots of dirty deals were happening right now to bring more crystals here. And Hye didn't care about that.
He simply walked by this merchant's side, ignoring all of his hidden remarks and accusations. The moment they arrived at the last sector separation area, Hye finally found something different.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m