Chapter 6: Negotiation Part 2, Killing Another Dragon

"I will be blunt to you and say that I wish you people no harm since there is no merit in making you my enemies. In fact, I am more than willing to cooperate with you since I am very far away from my home world and I have difficulty with proscuring supplies."

Hazama's expression visibly recovered. What Ray says is indeed true since they both can benefit from each other, why not just do that instead. It's a win for both sides. He massages his forehead and dispels the negative thoughts. He is too fixated on Ray being a potential enemy because he thought Ray is simply the forward forces of an unknown military force. The stress caused by the Water Dragon really had taken a toll on him.

"Indeed, we can benefit from each other." Hazama said while nodding his head in agreement before he sighed. Negotiation job isn't his expertise but he comes because he assumes that he will meet another leader of an army just like him.

"Then, let's get down to business. As you had seen before entering this room, I had slain the Flame Dragon and I can help you to slay the Water Dragon that is wreaking havoc in Alnus Hill but I will expect payment for it."

"Naturally, we will pay you for your services but how much will it be?" The air around Hazama turned into a sharp one, like a real general that commands an army.

"200 1kg pure gold bullion. Gold is the hard currency for world travelers like me since paper currency doesn't hold any value just like how your paper bills will be worthless in a special region." Ray gives a fair price which is around 12 to 14 million dollars. This is relatively cheap when considering how much expensive weaponry and losses they will suffer if they wanted to kill the Water Dragon themselves.

Itami and the others hissed when Ray mentioned gold bullion, 200 1kg pure gold bullion! An insignificant amount when compared to annual revenue of a country but for people like Itami and the others, this is a very big wealth.

Actually Ray wanted to charge more but he decided to give them great discounts to secure a partnership. The profit he can make later is much bigger than the payment for killing the Water Dragon.

"I will need to gain permission from the higher ups but I am sure they will accept the deal." Hazama said

"Cheh, this is why I hate bureaucracy. Everything is painfully slow, I am glad that we replaced the obsolete governing system and replaced it with AI that works faster and 24/7." Ray complained out loud for them to hear.

None of them reacted probably due to shock or trying to hide their shock or both.

"Ahem, anyway. Is there anything for us to discuss anymore? Our future partnership also requires approval from the government which is outside of my judicrism."

"Ah, one more thing. I wonder if you are interested in technology of the future? I have some that I can sell to you, for a fair price of course." Ray said before he took out a few drones. This is the only thing from the system that isn't bound to the system or him which is the only thing he can sell.

"These are?" Hazama ask after seeing a few cubes similar to the inactive turret.

Ray activate them and the cubes flashes in blue holograms before transforming into a flying drone equipment with a gernade launcher, machine gun and few other devices fitted into a compact drone.

"These are combat drone. This particular one is a multipurpose drone for urban warfare which usually assist single personnel. You can imagine its uses like short range scouting or clearing buildigs etc. There is also other variations."

Ray activate another cube which transformed into a bulkier drone. The drone is outfitted with 4 sniper rifle that modelled after Heavyshot turrets and it also carry one small bomb that can reliably destroy a small structure.

"This is a heavier variant that have stronger firepower and a small explosive device that can destroy an area of 5 meter radius. Or perhaps a scout variant that has little weaponry but has a large operational range and reconnaissance devices."

"Your price?" Hazama said after noting each detail Ray explained to him. He is honestly impressed by it and can't wait to get his hand on it. The scout variant especially. He can imagine how much progress they can make with it in hand to explore the special region especially when the land is filled with danger.

"I believe we can negotiate it later after you have the approval to purchase my merchandise."

"Indeed." Hazama said after he remembered that he didn't have the authority to make this decision.

"So, when will you go and deal with the Water Dragon? I hope you can do it as soon as possible after I gain the permission."

"I can do it now really if we didn't need to wait for permission." Hazama nodded with visible satisfaction since Ray could do it immediately after he obtained the permission.

"Then we can wrap this up now. I need to return and meet the higher-ups immediately and I will leave a squad behind for the purpose of communication. I hope you don't mind."

"No problem, I will arrange them a temporary residence while waiting for the good news."

Then both stand and walk to the door before Hazama shakes hands with Ray and leaves immediately to Alnus Hill with half of his initial convoy. Myui, who has been observing Ray, finally voices her thoughts.

"Is this the cooperation that Brother Ray seeks from JSDF? Myui still doesn't understand how this will attract merchants to Italica. The trade that Brother Ray proposed isn't sustainable and it all comes from Brother Ray's own personal pocket."

"Umu, Myui is getting smarter." Ray said as he unequipped his Combat Suit and patted her head. Myui enjoyed the head pat with happy emotions while being stared at by a jealous kitty who also wanted a similar treatment.

"Indeed. The trade is not sustainable but this is to gain some capital for my actual plan. What do you think is attractive to merchants?"

"Profitable business?" Myui replied. This isn't the answer that Ray wants but close enough.

"Yes, profitable business and what is more profitable than a rare one of a kind product that no other place can provide."

Myui eyes widened in realization. This is the basic knowledge of trade that Ray knew from his long childhood of playing mmorpg games. There is nothing more expansive that limited one of a kind item and the same principle can be applied to real life equivalent.

Ray wanted to do what JSDF did in the anime. To create a town that provides and sells items from Japan or their Earth. They basically found a ludicrous business of selling stuff the special region didn't have. The business is very profitable because the said stuff isn't really valuable for them but the people of a special region are willing to pay gold for the said stuff.

Sadly his system cannot provide what he needed for this task and he himself lacks capability to do it himself. Sigh… if only the system can help him with his predicament…(peek screen)

[Due to excessive complaints and requests from users, user requests had been forwarded to the creator.]

Ray looks at the screen for a few moments before dismissing it and returns to imparting Myui what little knowledge he has. Cheshire already hogged his lap after her little bout of jealousy while Yao left with a maid to accommodate the JSDF members that stayed.

It was a few minutes later that another notification arrived.

[Shop function has been updated.]

[Hub Marketplace extension added to cater to user's needs. The shop has nearly unlimited products from across the multiverses. However the creator hal put a limit to what users can purchase from the marketplace. Users are only allowed to access tier 1 shops.]

Ray quickly went and checked the newly updated shop. To his surprise, the products do indeed come from various multiverses! He saw stuff ranging from fictional power, fictional characters, services to even worlds being sold in the marketplace but almost all of the sweet juicy stuff is grayed out.

He wanted to curse the creator. Why show him all this good stuff only to be denied the ability to purchase them? Is this a purposely made feature?

Regardless, he cannot be ungrateful. Just having a tier 1 access is already good enough since it provides answers to most of his problems right now. Tier 1 only consists of mundane stuff and nothing supernatural or very weak one. Like how Senzu bean from Dragon Ball is a tier 3 item but super healing serum that have almost similar but limited functions is tier 1.

Ray excuses himself from Myui and everyone before holing up in his room. He spent hours browsing the marketplace and found few that could help him renovate the town of Italica. The first one is construction drone hive which as its name stated, a drone specialized in construction that helps construct any buildings as long as material and energy is provided. Second one is industrial 3D printer which is self explanatory while the last one is worker drone hive that generally excel in any work as long as they are provided with instructions.

When he checks the price however, even if he sells all his organs, he cannot cover the cost at all. Each of them reach millions of points that are exchanged with SAS dollar at the rate of 1 point for 5 SAS dollars and the cheapest one, construction drone hive priced at 3 million points which means it cost 15 million SAS dollar.

He sighed and once again entered the Mission to grind but less suffering since he had max Pay Grade skill that increased his cash gain by 400%. The marketplace also has risk free stimulants that can remove his fatigue… he can relive his period of game addiction where he grinds 20 hours per day.

…

Shortly 2 days later, Ray accumulated enough money for both drones to hive and put them to work. However he is also in a stage of denial after he bought the industrial 3D printer. He discovered that he can create as many drone hives as he wants with a fraction of its market price using a 3D printer. All he needs is a blueprint and raw materials that he can buy from the marketplace too.

The rice had turned into porridge, there is nothing he can do to undo his purchase. After he recovered from his brief depression, he went and bought the blueprint for construction drone hive and the raw material all for around 1 million points and the blueprint that cost 800k points only needed to buy once and he basically can produce the 15 million points drones for less than 20k points per hive. He create dozens more construction drones and send them all to rebuild the city with better infrastructure and better city planning.

Ray also has to send Myui and Yao to convince the people that he is making their lives better. He ends up having to bri- compensate the citizens to finally convince them to allow the reconstruction of the town. Into almost a small scale city.

With usage of apartment complexes, Ray managed to free more than 60% of the land in the city to open space for other buildings. Ray plans to turn the rest of the 60% of land into a commercial area.

Ray is tempted to use a worker drone on the farmland but that is the lifeblood of the Italica people that he cannot casually touch. Then he decided to open a few factories that he made sure to produce no pollution to package the grains that they planted. This is because the food can last longer and is protected from elements which are easier to transport by merchants. Not exactly a ludicrous business but he can increase its value by 20-40%.

The other products he can create using the local produce is quite limited. The grains and staples like potatoes he could possibly use in brewing for trading with merchants while he can introduce better culinary knowledge to improve the foods of this world. Many options in hand and he only needed to choose which one he wanted.

He can simply create a fully automated everything to fill the gap if he wanted. The lack of a professional culinary practitioner? Slap a drone and download culinary knowledge. He can simply open shops and let the drones man those shops.

The people can free themselves from working at their farmland if they want. Ray can build school and other learning institutions and let them learn necessary knowledge to do better jobs and let the menials one to machine. The town especially needs skilled people to fill the administrative jobs. Ray and Myui are simply not enough to govern the whole town. Maybe for now but in the future it will be hard with just two of them alone.

…

Another day after Ray initiated his plan to reconstruct the town, Itami and three others who left behind informed him that Lieutenant General Hazama already obtained the permission to hire Ray. Ray and the Itami's group rush back to Alnus Hill since Ray wanted to get the job done quickly.

With a short 1 hour ride, Ray arrived at the JSDF base on Alnus Hill. Cheshire also tagged along with him since she insisted to follow.

(Change POV)

I step down from the vehicle and for the first time show myself without Combat Suit on. My face is quite ordinary and almost too common with black hair and very pale skin since I am almost always wearing a Combat Suit.

"Major Ray! We met again. This time I have permission from high-ups to hire your services but they requested to record the battle. I hope this isn't a problem for you?"

I already know that this is the Japanese government trying to assess the threat I pose to them. I allowed it since I wanted to make this as flashy as I could and make them think twice before messing with me.

"No problem. I can start now right?" I ask while looking at the side to see Rory Mercury and the human mage Lelei La Lalena coming forward to the conversation.

"We also wanted to participate in the dragon hunt." Rory said which Hazama sighed and let them join since he had no power over them.

"It is up to Major Ray to decide since he is the head of this operation and he has free reign over it." Hazama said before he passed the baton to me.

"About my rank… My rank actually rose from major to commander recently." I said while showing the identification card that shows the Battery Commander insignia. The recent grind helped me reach level 86.

The purpose of me doing this is because our conversation is being recorded by a recording crew. They also have a vehicle equipped with their devices to record the upcoming battle. The crew is being escorted by a unit that will protect them while they are recording.

Hazama looks at me weirdly but congratulates me regardless. He is probably thinking how am I getting promoted when I am very far separated from my home world.

"Let's go, I already have a visual on the dragon's location. The JSDF don't need to interfere and stay away from the battle lest you get caught in the crossfire." Ray gave his order before taking one of the vehicles that Hazama lent to him to hunt the dragon.

"Wait, are you bringing the girl with you?" The medic of the Third Recon team, Mari Kurokawa, asked worriedly which caused most attention to shift to Cheshire that is clinging to my shoulder.

The cameraman seems very focused suddenly and probably trying to find something that can be used against me but I didn't really care about those shitty politicians that I would probably kill without any remorse.

Cheshire then jumps in front of me and tries to look intimidating but has a reverse effect.

"Cheshire is strong and Cheshire can fight for owner's sake, nya!" Cheshire's statement caused many whispers, especially from an outsider from the recording team.

"Yes, I am bringing her with me. Not like the Water Dragon is a formidable opponent." I said before entering the vehicle with Cheshire, Rory and Lelei. Compared to the savage bosses I always fight, Water Dragon is a breeze in the park.

Our group moved south from Alnus Hill to the direction of Schwarz forest. When we get closer to the dragon, the air becomes very humid and there is constant rain which is the ability of the Water Dragon.

"The dragon is in front of us." Rory said as she grabbed her large axe and jumped out of the vehicle in excitement.

I stopped the vehicle and left it along with Cheshire and Lelei. The recording team is a safe distance away from us, trying to record the battle as best as they could.

Rory stood a few meters in front of me, grinning sadistically while looking at the dark blue scaled dragon in the distance. The dragon didn't seem to notice us even at a close distance.

"Suit re-engage." I commanded vocally to re-equipped my Combat Suit before BLACK Proposition appeared in my hand.

"Do you two have any plan to approach this battle?" I asked Lelei and Rory but the two of them shook their heads.

"Well, I planned to fight it alone. So, just try to not get into my way or get caught in my attack." I said before activating Aerial Bombardment which takes 3 seconds for the first strike to arrive.

"Cheshire, you fire at will." I give the cosplay cat maid her order before shooting Proposition on the dragon's neck.

A weird thing that I recently noticed, despite being a LMG, Proposition is a very accurate weapon and my aim is almost always on the spot because I experience little to no recoil with my ACE Suit. My aim also always corrects itself because I have Combat Assist Implant that helps me aim better.

The dragon was about to roar in anger after being attacked but the first explosive impacted its body and caused the dragon to get stunned and disoriented. Then the following few more explosives pummeled the dragon to the ground.

Lelei and Rory are surprised by the mysterious explosion that rained on the dragon. They knew Ray caused it but didn't know how he did it. The attack clearly isn't magic which means this is an attack similar to what the JSDF uses.

Then Cheshire also fired her main gun on the pitiful dragon. Its majestic scaled body filled with splendid dark blue scales now have several exposed flesh. Cheshire aimed at the exposed flesh with a HE shell that exploded on impact and filled the dragon with searing hot shrapnels.

The once mighty dragon now laid helplessly on the floor waiting to be killed. I am constantly firing on the open wound on the dragon's body. Rory feels complicated because she joins for a glorious fight but the dragon already half steps into the grave by the time she reaches the dragon for a melee.

Another volley of shells ejected from the cannon on Cheshire's rigging and it penetrated the softened flesh of the dragon before exploding internally. Lelei is curiously studying the shells of Cheshire's cannon instead of contributing to the fight.

Just a short few minutes, the dragon that terrorised Alnus Hill now drawing its last breath. Rory delivered the coup de grace on the water dragon to shorten his suffering before offering the dragon's soul to her god, Emroy.

The battle was too fast and flashy. The recording team and its escorts are dumbfounded that the battle didn't last for more than 10 minutes. Explosions and gunfire occur constantly, either coming from Ray's Aerial Bombardment or Cheshire's cannon volley. They simply couldn't believe that the monster that terrorised JSDF and gave them multiple sleepless nights was killed- no, slaughtered that easily.

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(Note: For now there isn't much of Ray's pov because I am writing either a time lapse of what happened or changes that Ray did but this will not last very long. Ray will return to his adventures when he finishes rebuilding Italica. I plan for Ray to venture to the continent of Falmart, away from the main location of the anime. There are plenty of places to discover and Ray can explore to obtain materials to transition his SAS 4 gears into technomagic equipment. Adamantite is one of them that he already obtained.)