Standing before him was Renn and the group of scavengers and hunters he had employed. Surprisingly to him, nearly all of them bore visible injuries, their weary faces reflecting it all. Yet, after hearing the report that the targets were dead, he eased the tension in his heart.

“Old Tarlak, I’ve brought the belongings of those impostor hunters; they’re all inside these two boxes. Sque.” Renn stepped forward and presented two large styrofoam boxes that were carried on a trolley.

Tarlak’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “Good, good, good. As promised, I shall reward you accordingly… But, my dear, did you really think you would receive the reward you anticipated?” Tarlak let out a derisive snort and raised his arms, signaling his hired hunters to close in around Renn, their weapons poised and ready.

Caught in the middle of the encircling hunters, Renn’s hairy face became a sheet of paper. “You! You dare renege on your promise?”

“Yeah, so what? What can you do about it?”

“You…!” Renn gritted his teeth, but in the face of the hunters that would kill him if he didn’t obey, he didn’t do anything rashly.

“Now begone, you twerp! Or else!” Tarlak released the source power inside his body to scare Renn.

“Eep!” In fear, Renn scrambled to his feet and darted outside like a scared mouse.

As the mastermind behind the monopoly of scavenged goods in the Eastern Outpost, Tarlak relied not only on his sharp intellect but also on his formidable powers as a dual source user. Otherwise, his operation wouldn’t have lasted for so long.

“The rest, go guard the outside,” he ordered, throwing a pouch containing source crystals at them.

All of a sudden, when it was at the most unexpected moment, the two styrofoam boxes burst open, and from within were two unfamiliar figures. In just a split second, they pounced at him at an extraordinary speed, especially the one with a pair of horns and a tail.

Tarlak didn’t have the time to react and was immediately brought down by the horned girl. He gasped for air, failing to circulate the source energy inside his body to resist the sudden attack.

“S-Stop! Wh-Wh-What’s the meaning of this?!” Amidst the intense choking, he forced his throat to speak.

“This guy sounds like a third-rate villain,” the other one commented, chuckling.

“Men, stop this bastard!”

And yet, his men didn’t respond and simply let things happen, and they even gave off what appeared to be a disproportionally large wrench to the girl.

He didn’t have the time to snip at them as he soon passed out. The last thing on his mind was an incoming massive wrench on the head…

***

Maxim’s Perspective

The operation “Trojan Horse” was a great success. It was the name that I came up with on the spot as I brought down the villain that had ruled the underground of the Eastern Outpost. Or so it seemed.

“Eh, he isn’t much of a fighter.” I shrugged, disappointed by the whole scenario. I remembered when my computer was once attacked by a Trojan Horse virus for downloading pirated games… It was a hassle.

“Anyway, Maxim,” Tuilë tapped my shoulder and asked, “what’s with the lackluster plan? Wouldn't it be better to just barge through from the outside?”

“Er, that’s certainly an option too. But the element of surprise was what I was aiming for.” Given how underwhelming it turned out, I concocted a little something to deceive Tuilë.

“Ooh! Now that you mention it, he did seem taken aback.”

Having said that, I looked around the recycling store. Renn and his group’s acting had been top-notch, to say the least. I didn’t know when, but Renn had already reentered the store, and an expression of satisfaction was plastered on his face for some reason. Considering what I would do next, however, I told them to stay outside to secure the perimeter and handle the rest of the hired hunters.

Rather than walking outside, Renn squeaked and said, “Let me stay here; I know where he put his secret stash.”

“You do? Alright then.”

Perhaps Renn had been planning to betray Tarlak one way or another even without me planning all this. This was likely the reason why he was willing to work under this scam merchant.

Before proceeding any further with the treasure hunt, though, I restrained Tarlak to a chair with a sturdy rope that I had found nearby. The binding was necessary to ensure his compliance and prevent any potential escape or unexpected aggression. By the way, Tarlak was an avian creature with two pairs of lined-up eyes.

In the midst of doing so, Renn took a key from Tarlak’s clothes and said, “This way, sir. He keeps his treasures here… Sque,” and led us toward a room at the back of the store.

The store was relatively big with many rooms, resembling more of a makeshift home than a mere shop. Among them, the one that Renn led us stood apart because of its sturdy steel door. Renn carefully inserted the key into the lock, turning it with a practiced hand.

As the door yielded with a soft creak, the light from outside illuminated the interior from the increasingly large gap. I was immediately startled by the glittering things inside.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

There were so many treasures!

Inside was a plethora of goods that dazzled the eye. Rows upon rows of shelves lined with boxes, each containing a treasure trove. Source crystals of various grades and sizes, precious metals gleaming in the faint light, intricately crafted jewelry that sparkled with allure, and an array of exotic artifacts and curious electronic devices. What was more, hanging on the wall was an assortment of peculiar guns, cold steel weapons, and formidable armor on display. Just how long did he need to scam the people here to gain these many riches?

Granted, most of the things here were scavenged from the ruins outside the outpost… But the total value would exceed five thousand First-Order source crystals! With that amount, I wouldn’t even need to unleash genocide on the mutant ants when rebuilding the airship, and still had lots to spare.

Dumbstruck, I could only remain frozen in place—

“WOOW!!” Tuilë gasped and rushed into the room before me and stroked the gallery of weaponry there. “Look, look! These guns are so rare to find in Aquarine! And these precious metals… I can make a lot of new devices from them!”

Tuilë enthusiastically wandered around the room until she ended up before the bulkiest gun in the collection. “Wait… Isn’t this steam gun something that someone asked me to help make in the past? How come it’s here?

“Huh, so even your invention does end up in the strangest of places…” I mused over the funny fact.

Still, this treasure trove was indeed a rare finding…

“Oh please, don’t be a bumpkin, this amount is nothing when compared to my treasury.” As usual, Lunaria went about with her snarky remark as Luna-1 flew out of my backpack.

“And do you have access to your so-called ‘treasury’?” I challenged.

“That…” Lunaria hesitated for a moment before conceding, “Alright, I’ll give you this one.”

How rare. Usually, she didn’t want to back down when it came to boasting about her past nation and such.

Whatever the case, most of the things here were all stolen from the scavengers… As a result, I was thinking of giving some of them back to where they belonged, and one such scavenger stood silently beside me while eyeing the pile of source crystals.

“Renn, go ahead and take whatever you want here.” I turned my head to him.

“S-Sque? Y-You sure?” he inquired, his whiskers twitching with disbelief.

“Considering that merchant has stolen so much from you, let's consider it repayment for all the trouble he’s caused,” I replied, offering him a small smile.

After all, my heart wasn’t so cold that I would pocket all the things here. If anything, that would only make me no different than Tarlak — the scammer in question.

Renn didn’t stand on ceremony and took two handfuls of source crystals from the pile. It might be two handfuls, but his hands were small compared to mine, much less to say to Tuilë’s, thus not exceeding a dozen in total.

“Just those crystals?” I raised my left eyebrow.

“I can't bring myself to take more… For I have done something immoral just for some treasures I shouldn’t have laid my eyes upon.”

I didn’t reply immediately. After a moment, I simply gave him a nod, acknowledging his choice and letting him go without reneging on my promise. I would have a need for them later down the line anyway.

While I was at it, I stuffed five Second-Order and a few dozen First-Order source crystals into my backpack. This would be essential if I wanted to achieve a Tier-2 enhancer.

When we were busy being enthralled by the treasure here, I heard faint grunts outside, or rather, from Tarlak who was tied to the chair.

We, of course, checked his condition, only to see that his eyes were open, and stared at us with incredulity.

“You dare do this to me?!” Tarlak was mad, like really mad. He kept struggling to get the rope that was binding him to loose, seeming unwilling to communicate.

Finding that we were not seeing eye to eye, and him not completely realizing the state he was currently in, I instructed, “Tuilë, do your job.”

Tuilë grabbed her wrench. “Aye!”

“Wai—! Ack!”

She bonked Tarlak’s head with her large wrench, just enough to put him unconscious but not kill him. He crumpled to the floor, the chair he was tied to toppling over, and his tongue protruded from his mouth.

Amused by the sight, I joked, “Maybe you should turn that wrench into a catalyst weapon. I bet the destructive power would increase.”

“Yeah, maybe I should.” She made a smirk at me.

As we chuckled at each other’s jokes, Lunaria called me from inside the treasure room. Returning there, Luna-1’s manipulator arm was holding on to a purple amethyst-like crystal.

“This is?”

“It’s a magic crystal — a condensed form of magical energy. Its primary use is for providing energy,” Lunaria explained.

“Magical energy? What’s the difference between source energy and this?”

“Well, you can think of source energy as a mutated form of magical energy, but that’s not important here. The key point is that if we can gather more of these crystals, we won’t need to worry about the airship running out of energy,” answered Lunaria.

Neat. That would eliminate one of the major problems we were facing with long-distance travel.

Turning to Tuilë, I asked, “Have you ever seen this kind of crystal?”

Tuilë shook her head. “Nuh-uh. I’ve never seen anything like this before, but based on its color scheme…” She paused, deep in thought. “I think there might be similar stones here in Aquarine, although they are extremely rare.”

Lunaria interjected, “Those are magic stones, and they are of lower quality compared to this. That won’t do since even source crystals are way better at providing energy than those.”

Overall, we put this issue on the backburner and decided to wait until Tarlak regained consciousness. Being an enhancer with a strong constitution, it barely took fifteen minutes before he opened his eyes again.

Learning from his previous experience, this time Tarlak knew better than not to make a fuss. Due to his sudden compliance, I made him sign a source contract that had been prepared for him beforehand.

“So, you want me to comply according to what you said? Why do you think I will agree to such an unreasonable contract, huh?”

I shrugged. “Well, if you don’t agree, I don’t mind finding someone else as your replacement. I’m sure there’re plenty of others here who would be more than willing to take your place.”

Tuilë, with a menacing smile on her face, repeatedly tapped the massive wrench into her palm. Faced with such a threat, I even felt goosebumps.

“Eep! F-Fine…” He heaved a long, weary sigh, his face appearing to have aged in years. “I will do what you want…”

To be honest, the terms outlined in the contract were the usual, with the exception of a few additional clauses. One stipulation required him to conduct fair dealings with scavengers, while another mandated that he share 30 percent of his earnings with me. Additionally, the contract aimed to abolish any forms of monopoly in the Eastern Outpost. Although these conditions may have seemed unconventional, they weren't entirely unreasonable.

Next, I instructed Tarlak to return half of what he squeezed out of these scavengers back to them while telling him to transport the rest to a certain location as soon as I finished with my exploration of the ruined city.

Once done, I exited the recycling store and noticed that it was still two in the afternoon. Going back now seemed to be a waste of time, considering that I’d a limited amount of time.

My original goal was to hunt a certain mutated monster deeper into the city, but the jewelry inside my backpack was a bit too heavy for me to carry casually. Tuilë, on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind the weight inside her now even larger sack.

Subsequently, we sought out the little merchant that I didn’t know the name of yet. Originally, finding him was supposed to be hard, but after our second encounter, he told us of his usual spots around the Eastern Outpost. Thus, we were able to find him rather quickly this time.