Hunter 103: The Merchant Guild

"Ah, I see."

Lin Jiu listened to Daxius's account of his experience in the assessment world and confirmed that Daxius had deliberately chosen to fail the assessment.

According to the rules, if a contractor fails their assessment without dying in the derived world, they would be demoted to a worker of Reincarnation Paradise and then undergo a Worker assessment. However, due to Daxius's extreme actions in the assessment world, Reincarnation Paradise skipped the Worker assessment process. Now, he was officially a proud Worker.

In Daxius's words, he had no attachments in the real world and even had to forge his identity, so he might as well stay in Reincarnation Paradise.

The assessment world Daxius was sent to was Dororo. Set in the middle of the Muromachi period, after the turmoil of the Ōnin and Bunmei Wars, the power of the ruling Ashikaga shogunate had greatly diminished, leading to a period where lords did not serve their sovereigns, and vassals did not serve their lords.

The lord of Daigo, Kagemitsu, prayed to twelve demons in a temple hall to make his land prosperous. As a result, his son, Hyakkimaru, was born lacking many body parts, serving as the price for the land's prosperity, and was cast into the river as a cursed child.

Hyakkimaru was saved by a doctor named Jukai, who made prosthetic eyes and limbs for him, compensated for his missing parts, and raised him. In one of Hyakkimaru's battles, Jukai and Hyakkimaru learned that he could regain his lost organs by slaying demons. Thus, Hyakkimaru decided to leave his adoptive father and search for the demons to reclaim what was taken from him.

Before embarking on his journey, Daxius asked Reincarnation Paradise about the assessment conditions and learned that his test was to enter the derived world alongside other contractors and complete it. Essentially, Daxius, who had never experienced a derived world, was now competing against regular contractors.

However, this wasn't the reason for his failure. Daxius used the 6,000 Paradise Coins Lin Jiu had traded to him to buy a large amount of cheap recovery items.

Daxius avoided contact with the main characters, Hyakkimaru and Dororo, heading straight to Daigo's domain. Before Hyakkimaru and Dororo could reach there, Daigo's land was already in ruins due to Daxius's actions!

Lin Jiu had taken a course in managerial economics during university, and it seemed that these skills were passed down as a talent to Daxius, who mastered them even more skillfully. By exploiting the economy, Daigo's newly prosperous land quickly collapsed under the merchant Daxius.

In that era, people could not comprehend where the problem stemmed from. Kagemitsu simply believed that the 48 demons had deceived him.

And that was just the beginning. Later, Daxius used the blue chest he had obtained from Lin Jiu, exaggerated its contents, and attracted most of the contractors to the ruined land of Daigo.

Adventuring teams fought other teams, individuals fought individuals, and adventuring teams fought individuals. Even old enemies couldn't resist taking the opportunity to strike, turning Daigo's land into a battlefield for contractors.

In this chaotic situation, the contractors' recovery items were quickly exhausted, and Daxius profited handsomely by selling them more. Not only did he sell the recovery items bought from Reincarnation Paradise, but even outdated medicines from the derived world were controlled by Daxius and sold to the contractors.

Naturally, Daxius couldn't complete the assessment while focusing solely on making money, so he became a merchant worker, which was exactly what he wanted.

"Surviving and coming back is already impressive."

Lin Jiu couldn't help but marvel at Daxius's actions.

"It wasn't too bad!"

Daxius rubbed his chin, seemingly reminiscing about his actions in the derived world.

"How much Paradise Coins did you make?"

Lin Jiu asked, curious.

"Not much. About 100,000! Paradise Coins aren't the main thing; the important part was making sure everyone knew who I was!"

Daxius replied with a smile.

"Making sure everyone knows you? Aren't you worried about getting killed for this?"

Lin Jiu estimated that the recovery items bought with 6,000 Paradise Coins would be sold at a markup of 5 or 6 times, meaning Daxius had likely scammed around 70,000 Paradise Coins worth of items from the derived world. He went all out.

"Compared to the guys from Black Sail Merchant Guild, I'm a saint!"

Daxius justified.

Lin Jiu agreed with this. The merchants from Black Sail Guild sold items in derived worlds at 20 times the price. Of course, they would have to compensate handsomely if they met someone good at haggling!

"What happened to the treasure chest from Kokushibo? Did an adventuring team or an individual contractor get it?"

"Heh!"

"I knew it..."

Lin Jiu watched as Daxus chuckled and pulled out a blue chest. Typical of you!

"Aren't you worried about these people coming after you for revenge?"

"That's why I'm starting a merchant guild."

Daxius said seriously. His main goal was to develop a guild, and using some extreme measures to make a name for himself was necessary, just like some other guilds in the early stages…

Lin Jiu wasn't surprised upon hearing Daxius's plan. His actions in the derived world had already hinted at this.

"The market is already controlled by a few major guilds. It's not easy to rise among them."

Lin Jiu knew that while it was easy for Daxius to cause trouble with his semester of knowledge in that setting, facing professional merchants would reveal many of his shortcomings.

"True! That's why, when ability is lacking, you rely on backing!"

Daxius agreed with Lin Jiu's assessment.

"What do you mean?"

Lin Jiu asked.

"My guild's name is… Reincarnation Guild!"

Daxius grinned at Lin Jiu.

"...…"

Lin Jiu realized where the missing world coordinates on the Reincarnation Disk had gone!

What kind of merchant dares to use that name? Anyone hearing that name would instinctively think it's an official Reincarnation Paradise guild, or at least officially endorsed.

Once this guild's name spreads, who would dare mess with Daxius? Which guild would dare sabotage him?

It's brilliant! Trading a world coordinate for that name, now that's powerful!

"This name was just for one world coordinate?"

Lin Jiu thought it was a good deal if that was all.

"Of course not. Don't forget, we have additional requirements. For certain world scenarios, for instance, when you guys are on a mission, I'll need to provide support. Also, lowering prices in Reincarnation Paradise when necessary. Plus, I'll be existing somewhere between a contractor and a worker."

Daxius explained the additional conditions as part of his role as Lin Jiu's Reincarnation avatar and as someone with an equivalent of a Paradise Guild license.

"That's manageable," Lin Jiu nodded. After all, it wasn't his responsibility.

"Check out the logo I designed for the guild. Isn't it cool?"

Daxius showed Lin Jiu an emblem.

"..."

Lin Jiu was speechless. This was the epitome of relying on backing. Isn't this just the Reincarnation Paradise logo!

"I'll be off if there's nothing else."

Lin Jiu, knowing the full story, didn't need to pay further attention to Daxius's plans and left him to develop on his own.

As expected of his avatar, who inherited his talent for economics. Lin Jiu also knew that the reason Daxius dared to cause such a stir in the derived world was that he was just an avatar—he wasn't afraid of dying. After all, if he died, it was Lin Jiu who would feel the loss.