Was it a scam?

"...uuu... uuuuuu..."

"Hmm?"

The young man was glancing back to see whether Bossac was done talking, but then a surprising noise made him look back at the child whom he didn't let go of yet.

"Oh, what in the?!"

...and he flinched in shock, seeing them cry their eyes out, shaking, but trying to keep it down...

"...uuu... Kirri was ri-i-ight... uuu.. bad man will kidnap me if we separate... uuuu..."

The child with the long fringe sobbed, but didn't try to break free a all, they just resigned themselves to their fate...

"...mister... mister, please don't hurt me... uuuuuu...."

The only attempt to even remote opposition was a pitiful cry as the child looked up at speechless Viria with their big teary eyes.

"I... I am sorry for picking you up without asking... And I am certainly not going to kidnap you, okay? It's okay, you don't have to cry."

The young man immediately put the child back down, and crouched by them, looking up apologetically at their tearstained face.

"You're going to make the bills wet."

He added, not really used to talking with crying children.

"Ah...! I'm sorry!"

The child flinched and bowed their head apologetically while moving their hands and holding the bills away from their face – but it also made it look as if they were offering them to Viria...

"I see him! Laor, I see him! Tir, why are you taking so long to..."

That was the time when the resolute girl showed up, clearly looking for her friend, with perfect timing to witness the scene.

"Hey! Mister! What do you think you're doing?!"

Her face immediately turned grim but she didn't start shouting, instead, she raised her voice only slightly as she approached Viria from the side and glared down at him, using the chance that he was crouching.

"I am not doing anything. Your friend bumped into me in the doorway and started crying when I moved them away, are they okay?"

"..."

Viria turned to the young girl with a worried expression and explained in a calm voice – but for whatever reason, the resolute girl just stared into his face before she suddenly blushed and looked away.

"You... you weren't trying to steal the bills?"

She mumbled only glancing at the young man's face.

"Why would I do that? I am pretty sure that they are mine, to begin with..."

"...n-no they're not... uuu...!"

"Hmph! I knew it!"

Viria shrugged his shoulders and cleared out, but shockingly that made the long fringe kid and the resolute girl let out shocked voices.

...are those kids trying to scam me after all...?!

The young man wondered, expecting the whole thing to be some odd guilt-trip trap that the children were trying to lure him into.

"Kirri? Tir? Ah! Wh-what is going on...?"

As should have been expected, the third child showed up too and the trio was complete.

"...haa..."

Viria stood up and sighed, about to curse himself for letting his guard down just because of the age of the trio – all in all, it was still a prison, and people would adapt to the reality they lived in. It would be a different case if everyone on the first floor was innocent – but if scammers and forgers were also placed there, nothing was off the table.

"Mister, back off or we will call the scary mister that we work for! Or guards!"

The resolute girl who flinched and took a step back when Viria was standing up, now stepped forward and stomped her foot trying her best to act tough.

"...Kirri... what is going on...?"

The third child – that Viria also initially assumed was a boy, but now had doubts about it – inched towards their friends and asked in a hushed voice, keenly observing Viria's movement.

"Alright, sorry to keep you waiting, boy, we can... hmm...?"

Before Viria could groan in annoyance that of course the kids work for someone, Bossac who finished the talk walked up to them and patted the young man's shoulder before looking at the children in surprise.

"Oh, isn't that perfect?"

The guard took a single glance at the bills in the hands of the child with the long fringe and snatched them up without even a second of hesitation.

"E-eeehhh?! Even you, Boss...?!"

The child cried out and their chin started trembling uncontrollably. Seeing the action of the guard, the other two had a similar reaction.

The child who showed up late took a step back with a scarred expression, while the resolute girl bit her lips and glared at the man while clenching her fists.

"Seventeen yellows, five blues, and three greens... That would be... You should be pretty much done, right? See, boy? I told you that you will not have to worry about a thing – if you find someone hard-pressed for food or in dire need of healing, you could even squeeze a black bill for those."

Bossac expertly counted all the bills and handed them to Viria with a smile.

"Really? I need to figure out how much things are worth here..."

The young man took the money and took it within his clothes in a mood soured by the realization of his own naivete.

"Depends on what is needed and what we can export."

Bossac hurried with an answer.

"Meat is almost always needed with how much everyone eats so two or four molerats get you a yellow bill, as for the other parts... we have a certain amount that we keep in the storage to distribute, there are the materials we also pass on to the lower floors, everything exceeding that amount would be hauled to the outside world and sold there, but when that happens, the materials are certainly worth less because even though monsters here are stronger than the ones in other dungeons, they are still low-low to middle-low grade materials. Minerals get exported almost immediately and although they are worth less than monster materials when we are seeking to refill the storage, they are a more stable source of income – but it also requires a lot more time. All in all, it's like I said. Hunting is definitely the best."

The guard explained, putting one foot on the step of the trading post.