4 The Spring and Autumn Company

After the digital contract was done, Hussein transferred credits into my account. A six-digit number showed on it, which amounted to around six hundred thousand credits. This increase of 500,000, made me secretly smile so widely — I almost split my head in two. If there was no one else in the room, I would have shouted while jumping around. Then, I said goodbye to Hussein before leaving the store.

Now that I have this much money, it's time to splurge it on my equipment and buy a lot of provisions. Surely money cannot buy everything in the world, but it's certainly able to buy happiness, even if it was just a shallow and brief one.

Afterward, a weapon store in the middle of the market caught my eye. It was from one of the big companies which owned the Blue Moon Station. "The Spring and Autumn Store" the hologram signboard in front of the store read. From how fancy the store was structured, anyone could tell that it was a high-class store.

Might as well go into a high-class store like this.

I walked toward the entrance with two well-equipped robots guarding the place. The robots were taller than me, and each held an advanced plasma rifle that would scare anyone just by its price alone. The robot guards scanned my body before allowing me to go in — only after taking my plasma gun.

As for my dimensional storage, it was scanned with a detector looking for any volatile reactions inside. Yet, it didn't scan the content individually. Since, if it did this, people wouldn't dare to come here and conduct business.

Inside was a spacious and luxuriously decorated hall with a fancy red carpet on the floor. Just like old Hussein's store, there were a lot of shelves near the wall and platforms scattered around with a hologram screen explaining their usage.

How peculiar, there's no price tag. Also, instead of a human, it uses robots as a salesman. What a crazy bunch… I remember that someone needs permission from the government, and a large sum of money, to be eligible to buy them.

As I approached one of the pedestals with a diamond shape device on it, I heard a submissive voice spoke beside me, [Good day, sir. This is the newest model of type XII gravity bomb with a disintegration power enough to destroy anything within 100 meters. Not even the nano-carbon steel is able to withstand it.]

I nodded slightly, finding that the source of the voice came from a humanoid robot dressed in servant clothes near me.

"Interesting weapon, how much is it?"

[Sir, this kind of weapon needs an extensive procedure and license to be bought. However, if sir was eligible for the purchase, and bought more than 10, we could give a discount of 10%. As for buying individually, it cost 5000 credits respectively.]

Since space was vast, the government didn't have very strict control over all places. It was unlike when humanity still just occupied one planet.

Although the people were given the freedom to buy a weapon as self-defense, a weapon like this would need a long set regulation to be met before it was possible to use freely. Unless the buyer had connections in a big company and the government.

Seems like the reason the price tag wasn't shown is that it's a way for the company to earn more money. After all, the customer can't complain when the device sold is rare and hard to find. They could go to other companies, which is where they'll find the price is pretty much the same.

Still, I'd need a manager here to handle what I'm gonna buy and some secluded room to not let this matter spread into other's ears. Which means what I need to request is…

"Call the manager of this store, I want to make a big purchase!"

[Pardon?] The robot seemed confused by my demand.

"I said I want to make a big purchase. This cannot be handled by some simple robot like you; call the manager!" I glared at the robot.

[Yes, calling the manager….]

A few moments later, a slim man with brown hair and long black mustache, wearing a light brown tuxedo, came over to me. He had his two hands held together and a smile on his face, looking like a shrewd merchant.

Since this man appeared to be the manager, I began smiling on the inside. As expected, the manager is human.

"Are you the one that called for me?" inquired the man, narrowing his already small eyes.

"Yes, and you must be the manager here?"

"I'm indeed the manager of the Spring and Autumn branch store, manager Lester. What business might this gentleman have?" the man who called himself manager Lester, asked with a smile that wasn't really a smile.

"My name's Victor Petard Asterisk and I don't think that this place is appropriate for the business I wish to conduct." I had my eyes looked around the hall, confirming there was nothing suspicious around then continued in a low voice, "This will amount to hundreds of thousands of credits."

Hearing what I just whispered, manager Lester opened his slanted eyes wide and then said, "Pardon my bluntness. Please follow me, Mr. Asterisk!"

As my weapon was currently confiscated, I kept my guard high as I followed the manager. However, since the store needed to keep its credibility and trustworthiness to be successful, they surely wouldn't do anything funny to me right now.

Before long, I was brought to a VIP room, where we got in and took a seat across each other. Silence pervaded through the room; the only audible sound was a servant robot pouring tea.

Suddenly, Manager Lester broke the quietness of the room by opening his mouth and said, "Mr. Asterisk, what is the deal that you want to talk about?"

"I want to buy a lot of weapons, devices, and materials for exploration and excavation. Could you provide this to me?"

I flicked my wrist and a small device, projecting a holo-list of things, came out from my dimensional storage. The list was full of all kinds of devices, tools, materials, and even weapons I had always coveted and wanted over the years.

Upon seeing the list, manager Lester's eyes widened in surprise, and he answered while playing with his mustache, "Of course, of course, but all of this will amount to more than 500,000 credits. Could Mr. Asterisk be able to pay for it?"

With a confident smile, I projected a hologram from the helmet and there was a grant to transfer 550,000 credits.

"Take the change for the handling of the stuff matter and to keep this a secret. Oh.. and send all of the stuff straight to my ship as soon as possible!" I smiled; a bit vigilant to the manager.

Looking at the amount on the holo-screen, manager Lester smiled with delight, continued answering in a subservient tone unlike earlier, "Yes… yes.. of course, this matter will be taken care of!"

"Good, then I'll take my leave." Without giving any thought to drink served tea, I stood up and got out of the room. Being cautious is a must, there was no guarantee that it was safe to drink.

"Wait, please take this, good sir!" Manager Lester presented a silver card designed with a tree half in spring and half in autumn. "This is a Silver VIP Card of the Spring and Autumn Company, only someone who makes a 100,000 credits transaction, at least, are eligible to get this."

Finding nothing suspicious on the VIP card, I took the card and stored it in my dimensional storage. Even though I felt that I had seen this kind of situation somewhere, I decided to disregard that after not finding anything fishy.

"I'll make another purchase here later," I said, leaving the room. Although for some reason, I could feel that manager Lester was maliciously staring at me.

***

A Certain Malicious Group's Perspective

On one of the dark white-colored moons of the rogue planet, hidden beneath the dim white blanket of the thick ice. A black colored base stood sturdy and covered with snow. There was a big hall within the base filled with malicious looking people.

In the back of all that was, a figure of a large, bald man was sitting on a throne on a pedestal like a king. Suddenly, a man hastily ran inside the room, as if a ghost was chasing him. He stopped close to the pedestal while panting hard in exhaustion.

"Bo-Boss…" After he calmed down, he continued with an excited tone, "We managed to catch the scavenger who possibly got a Technology Cube!"

"Hmm…?"