The man stared at me with narrowed eyes. “What kind of game are you playing?”

I held up my hands innocently. “You asked for a product for your soup. I delivered. Now, you’re trying to pull back on the deal. If you doubt the quality of my product, then let’s put it to the test. If I’m wrong and the taste is worse than what you already offer, then I will apologize and pay you for the inconvenience.”

“What kind of pay?” he asked suspiciously.

I reached into my pocket where I pulled the abnormal crystal I had harvested from the abomination. I showed him the sparkly gem, and his eyes widened. He reached out for it, but I made it disappear with the flick of my wrist. I stored it back in my inventory, but I did it in a way people would have assumed I just used a trick of the hand.

“A great crystal…” He growled. “You told me you were poor and needed coin.”

“A great crystal isn’t the kind of thing one can just easily sell,” I responded awkwardly. “Do we have a deal?”

He looked genuinely tempted for a moment, but then he shook his head. “It’s too late tonight. We’ll talk in the morning.”

“W-wait!

He reached up and grabbed the lid, before I could even move, it slammed shut in my face. I reached out to try to grab it and pull it up, but it was useless. I gave a single strike against the metal and then cursed to myself.

“If you try to World Travel now, you’d have to pull energy from the great crystal,” Cecelia warned.

“Yeah, I know…” I rubbed my hand while glaring at the closed cart.

“We should have just enough to rent a room though.”

I let out a sigh. “Why can it never be easy?”

“Isn’t it because of you?”

“What are you saying?” I frowned.

“It would be laughably easy to become wealthy in your world,” Cecelia explained. “I’m the most advanced artificial intelligence, and your world has networked everything. I could take some of your money and put it in the stock market, and through day trading I could triple it within a week. Within a few months, I could gather you a million dollars. You could patent military designs from my databanks and sell them. You could take any of a dozen technologies from this world, including me, and sell them to the highest bidder. You’ve chosen a much harder path.”

My lips twisted slightly. “It’s not that easy. I can’t just suddenly show up with some random technology or artificial intelligence. People are going to wonder where it came from, and they are going to question when I’m not able to replicate it twice. I’d immediately get unwanted attention.”

“You’ve already gotten unwanted attention.”

“That’s exactly my point,” I responded. “I’ve barely done anything, and I’ve already gotten the notice of this mysterious Allco group. If I acted even bolder, I do not doubt that someone in my world would retaliate. I don’t have the resources, history, or background to be able to protect myself. Even if I secure a little money, accounts can be frozen, and people can be hired to silence me.”

“Even if you say that you have me. I’d be able to see any threat coming.” Cecelia responded stubbornly.

“And are you confident you’re the only AI in that world?”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Allco is there. Let’s assume they are the Allco from this world. Wouldn’t they have brought an AI just like you? While you’ve been running around on the internet like you owned the place, a rival AI could have been waiting and watching you. Are you prepared to fight a rival… no… a superior AI who had decades to improve and optimize itself to work with our world’s level of technology?”

Stolen novel; please report.

“… it seems you have thought about this.”

“As quickly as I could rise, I could fall just as fast. I’m vulnerable in that world, and until I build the connections and defenses I need, I will continue to be vulnerable. I won’t take unnecessary risks, especially the kind that could end up hurting those I care most about. I can’t make waves that would make the elites nervous. The worst part is that I don’t even know who the elites are, or what their goals are, so I have to be even more careful.”

“I understand, I’m sorry for assuming…”

I frowned as I continued walking down the dark and derelict street. This city wasn’t exactly well lit at night, but I didn’t dare use my Perco either. It was one of my cards, and I didn’t want to expose it if I didn’t have to. If this was the nicest place the wasteland had to offer, it felt somewhat sad. Everything had a feel of being haphazardly put together. Nothing had a feeling of permanence. The houses were mostly hovels of junk or preexisting buildings that had been repurposed.

“My world isn’t my only concern,” I spoke, looking left and right as I came to an intersection. “This world also has its dangers. There are elites here who also don’t want to see the status quo change. They wouldn’t want to see another power rise in Argos City, and they might be willing to do anything to stop it.”

“I hear footsteps, Master. We’re being followed.” Cecelia pointed out.

“I know…” I responded.

Ever since leaving the line of food carts, I had felt someone was following me. I had been listening for echoes as we walked. I had also been looking for a good place to confront them. I wanted somewhere with a room where I could run or escape. I had learned how easy it was to get cornered when you weren’t paying attention. The other thing I learned was that it was always better to strike first.

I sharply turned a corner and then stopped, putting my back against the wall. I summoned Anweil’s blade and waited as my finger hovered over the plasma function. As a form came around the corner, I reached out and grabbed them. It was a hooded figure with a long cloak that draped over them, covering all of their features. It was the type that was up to no good. With the blade to their neck, I shoved them against the wall of the building.

“Ahhh!” A voice cried out.

“Why are you following me?” I demanded.

“I… I wasn’t!” A high-pitched voice protested.

“Wrong answer.” I pressed the button on the blade, and it suddenly lit up with a swish sound.

A sizzling sound could be heard, along with the faint smell of ozone. The person in my grip must have thought the sound and smells were their skin, as they started letting out screams. Their hood fell back, and what I found was a young girl, no older than fourteen. I let go of the plasma blade and stored it in my digitizer, but the girl continued to scream. I slapped a hand over her mouth, and only then was her noises muffled.

“Mmm! Mmmmfffmmm…” She tried to say something while struggling fruitlessly against me, but the more she moved, the more I felt like I was somehow assaulting her.

In the end, she was just a young girl. She might be almost the same height as me, something that annoyed me, but she appeared to be innocent.

“I’m going to ask you one last time,” I spoke in a whisper, leaning close to her ear. “I will remove my hand and you will answer. If you scream, you will regret it. Do you understand me?”

“Mfflmmm…” She tried to say something else, her eyes wide and frightened, but then she just nodded.

“Alright, why were you following me?”

I took my hand away from her mouth. Her cheeks were slightly red, and she was breathing hard. She still looked terrified.

“Y-you’re the death merchant, right? D-daniel?”

“Death merchant?” I blinked and then nodded. “My name is Daniel, but I don’t know about death merchant.”

“They say… there is a merchant followed by death. He visited the Bling, and they were wiped out. He visited the Ascension’s coalition, and they were scattered. Then there were the Slave Traders…”

“Just get to the point!”

I wasn’t angry. Rather, I was somewhat shocked. I didn’t realize I was getting such a reputation in Argos city. Is that what people up north thought of me? I supposed there had been a lot of incidents that occurred where I went. However, it wasn’t like I did it on purpose. Well, I did wipe out the Bling deliberately.

“Y-yes…” The girl shook slightly. “I heard that Death Merchant Daniel arrived in Twin Elms this evening. I’ve been trying to find you since then.”

“Well, you found me,” I responded irritably. “What do you want?”

“Y-you’re here to purchase debts for forced labor, correct?”

“That’s correct.”

“Then, please… do not acquire my mother’s debt!”

I frowned. “I only have an interest in three people. Why would I care about your mother?”

She let out a breath of relief. “I see… I was worried. You see, my mother used to work in the technocracy, and she has some skill as a programmer, so I feared you’d come and snatch her away.”

“Your mother is the programmer?” I asked.

“She is.” The young girl nodded.

The programmer was the person I had most wanted to acquire.