SWNOVELXO Chapter 41 - Multi-Level Marketing (3)
Chapter 41 Multi-Level Marketing (3)
At the sight before him, Gunther Irons’ thoughts came to a halt.
How should he even describe this?
How could something like this happen?
‘Is this really the Forest of Beginnings I know?’
Such doubts were only natural.
Who wouldn’t be skeptical upon seeing that scene?
“Line up, line up! Hey you, no cutting in line!”
“At that price, I can’t sell it.”
“…Come on, give me a little discount.”
Ten or so cadets gathered in small groups.
Roughly made stalls from split wood.
And the items laid out on those stalls.
Seeing this, Gunther instinctively thought of one word.
‘Market?’
A scene of people buying, selling, and haggling was certainly fitting to be called a market.
The only problem was…
‘…This is the Forest of Beginnings?’
It wouldn’t be surprising if they started fighting with knives over those goods, but how could they be so nonchalant?
‘What the hell is going on?’
While Gunther was lost in thought, the boy who came with him tugged at his sleeve.
“Come on, this way!”
Gunther didn’t resist the tug and followed along.
After walking a bit, the boy waved his hand excitedly in one direction.
“Eric!”
The one called Eric was none other than the boy who first got fed Tosaba by Yuri.
In just ten days, he had shed the ragged appearance he had when he first met Yuri and now looked more like a decent human being.
Not only had his appearance become cleaner, but his eyes also shone with regained confidence.
“Hm?”
As Eric turned his gaze, the boy who brought Gunther smiled brightly and shouted.
“I brought a new customer!”
With that, the boy patted Gunther on the shoulder.
While Gunther stood there, trying to understand the situation, the boy extended his hand to Eric.
“I’d like my commission.”
“Already met your quota?”
“Yeah, this guy is the last one.”
At those words, Eric pulled out a wooden board and checked it.
“Let’s see… Was your name Dennis Wayne?”
“Yep.”
“Dennis Wayne… Ah, here it is. That makes six.”
Eric added a line next to the name Dennis on the wooden board and then asked Dennis.
“So, what do you want for your commission? Food? Or something else?”
“Of course, food.”
“Good choice.”
Nodding, Eric handed the boy a hefty Tosaba and winked.
“Since you’re a regular who brought six new customers, I picked out a big one for you this time.”
“Oh? Thanks!”
“Don’t mention it, I’m the one who should thank you. Let’s continue to have good business.”
“Sure!”
Dennis waved lightly and left.
Meanwhile, Gunther, watching all this happen right beside him, was dumbfounded.
‘Did… Did he sell me?’
Was this outright human trafficking?
And was he the one being trafficked?
What on earth was going on?
Seeing Gunther’s extremely confused expression, Eric smiled knowingly.
“Feeling a bit lost?”
“What was that just now?”
“Just now?”
“That Dennis guy… Did he sell me to you?”
“Oh! That? No, not at all.”
“Then what was it?”
“Hmm… Think of it as a sort of commission. When an existing customer brings a new one, they get a reward from me. If you bring two new customers, you get a commission in the form of your chosen item.”
“…Isn’t that just human trafficking?”
“Hey, it’s different! We don’t harm you; in fact, we help you.”
“Help?”
“You can get items necessary for survival here. As long as you can pay the price, that is.”
Saying this, Eric pulled out a Tosaba from his pocket.
“This is called Tosaba. When cooked, it has a great flavor, and just two of these are enough for a meal. The price is 150 silver coins per root!”
Then Eric pointed with his finger.
“Over there, they sell well-dried firewood for 200 silver coins per bundle of ten, and that guy sells flint for 100 silver coins. And…”
Eric paused for a moment and glanced over Gunther’s appearance.
Despite being twenty days into the test, Gunther looked somewhat composed.
Noticing this, Eric realized Gunther wasn’t an ordinary person.
With sparkling eyes, he whispered in Gunther’s ear.
“…There are premium items too.”
“Premium items?”
“Bird meat costs 1,500 silver coins per piece. Honey and tree sap are 2,000 silver coins per piece.”
Hearing that not only meat but also honey was available, Gunther was left speechless.
Seeing Gunther’s reaction, Eric’s smile deepened.
“The prices might be a bit high, but you seem like you can afford it. Interested? Just say the word, and I’ll get it for you.”
Despite Eric’s tone, as if offering a special opportunity, Gunther didn’t show much reaction.
Instead, he decided to understand the situation better.
“…I’ll think about it.”
“Of course, it’s not a small amount of money, so take your time. But don’t ponder too long. Despite being premium items, they’re in high demand, so they run out quickly.”
“Got it.”
“Oh, and…”
“…?”
“If you bring new customers, come to me. I manage new customers. Two new customers will get you a Tosaba as a commission.”
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
Gunther gave a short nod and preempted Eric from speaking further.
“I have a few questions.”
“What are they?”
“Since when have you been selling items here?”
“Hmm… It’s only been a few days since we really set up, but if you ask when we started, I’d say about ten days ago?”
“…Ten days? You’ve been selling here for ten days? Where do you get all these items?”
At Gunther’s question, Eric flinched.
He spoke with a hardened expression.
“It’s not proper to ask about someone’s business secrets. The items we sell here are all legitimate, so don’t worry and take a look around.”
Answering somewhat coldly, Eric pushed Gunther’s back, signaling he didn’t want to talk more.
Thus, Gunther was pushed towards the open space and began to look around curiously.
One thought struck him.
‘This isn’t a market, it’s a shop.’
Mainly traded were food and survival necessities.
And it wasn’t just a small amount but enough to supply dozens of people.
Understanding how this place operated, Gunther couldn’t help but be impressed.
‘This is incredible.’
He identified three key elements of the shop.
First, a large quantity of goods.
‘They’re selling enough food and supplies for at least a dozen people at once. Where do they get all these items?’
Second, attracting customers and advertising.
‘Even without active promotion, once someone visits the shop, they bring new customers, thereby increasing the customer base.’
Third, safety.
‘This is the only place providing a stable supply of food until the end of the test… Other cadets would want this place to continue too. It’s essential for them.’
As long as they gave up competing for each other’s silver coins, surviving the test’s primary goal would be manageable.
Once they passed the survival test, they’d become actual cadets, not just trainees, so most cadets would want this shop to continue.
Those with lesser skills had an even greater psychological need for the shop, so they naturally acted as its guards.
Realizing this, Gunther clicked his tongue.
‘It’s amazing.’
Running such a balanced operation, even if crude, was no easy feat.
Creating such a system in just ten days was all the more remarkable.
‘Though this shop’s structure won’t last long…’
Even if items kept coming, the silver coins in the Forest of Beginnings were limited.
Eventually, the circulating currency would run out, leading to the shop’s closure.
‘But until the test ends?’
It could operate sufficiently until then.
The one who set this up must have aimed for that short-term profit.
‘Who on earth?’
Gunther scanned the cadets using the shop.
A few caught his eye.
‘Including that Eric guy, three… They are the shop’s core.’
Eric managed new customers.
The other two handled regular sales.
Several others seemed to help them, but the core members were the three, including Eric.
They were the hub around which the larger flow moved.
‘But considering the amount of goods sold here… it can’t just be those three.’
How could just three people manage such a volume of goods?
There had to be a group collecting the items.
‘A group for collecting and another for selling. This shop likely resulted from their cooperation.’
A shop jointly owned by several cadets.
Gunther became convinced of his thought.
Others likely thought the same.
Who would think that one person gathered all these goods?
Who would guess that the shop’s owner was…
“Eric, I brought the goods!”
“Oh, th-thank you.”
“I’ll take these over there!”
“Y-yeah…”
No one would suspect that the shop’s owner was a diligent black-haired boy doing chores.
Thus, the multi-level marketing shop Yuri created continued its thriving business at the edge of the Forest of Beginnings.
Time flowed like water, and the test neared its end.
And with it, Yuri’s pouch of silver coins swelled ever fuller.
* * *
Yuri had one misconception about the Cradle.
It wasn’t that the Cradle monitored every single move of the cadets.
There were a total of 503 cadets.
To monitor all of them, each cadet would need a Black Sword Corps member assigned, continuing their mission for a month, requiring rotation personnel.
That would mean at least a thousand members were needed.
The Black Sword Corps, constantly short on manpower due to missions across the continent, couldn’t allocate such a large force just to monitor cadets.
Thus, the Cradle only periodically checked the cadets’ general movements, and even that stopped after distributing the silver coins.
With the withdrawal of monitoring personnel, the Cradle didn’t immediately notice Yuri’s unusual activities.
They only realized something was amiss after noticing a strange sign.
That sign was…
“Why isn’t it ringing?”
The bell, “Conflict of Bugs,” which rang to signal the presence of dropouts, wasn’t ringing.
Although it had rung once on the tenth day due to the one-eyed man’s manipulation to shake the cadets’ resolve.
But since then, not a single dropout had rung the bell.
While the number of dropouts varied with each test, some always occurred.
Having none was unprecedented.
Especially after distributing the silver coins, the dropout rate usually accelerated.
Yet despite ample time since distribution, there were no dropouts.
This clearly indicated something unusual was happening.
The one-eyed man sent Black Sword Corps members into the forest.
Soon after, he received a baffling report.
“…What did you say?”
The reporter, feeling awkward, responded.
“Some cadets… were running a business… in the Forest of Beginnings.”
“Huh…?”
The one-eyed man exhaled in disbelief.
It was that absurd.
“So instead of fighting, they’re playing around with the silver coins we gave them?”
The issue wasn’t just their playful attitude.
The silver coins, meant for competition, were being used for economic activities.
Delving deeper revealed more absurdities.
“Three are running the shop, but the source of the goods is unknown?”
He had Black Sword Corps members monitor the so-called “shop” for a few days.
Goods kept coming in, but no one knew where they came from.
Despite the significant daily sales volume, even the monitoring Black Sword Corps couldn’t figure out the source.
‘Enough supplies for a dozen people are being released daily. The total volume released so far would suffice for hundreds, yet the source is undiscovered?’
How meticulous must they have been for even the Black Sword Corps to miss it?
As he clicked his tongue, a scene flashed in the one-eyed man’s mind.
A cave stocked with enough supplies for hundreds.
Realizing the likely culprit behind the current situation, the one-eyed man smirked.
‘That guy.’
It could only be him.
No one else could handle such a volume of goods.
Yuri must have put up those three as fronts while taking most of the profits himself.
Having alone realized this, the man uttered in disbelief.
“Ha, damn brat.”
The one-eyed man’s initial evaluation of Yuri was merely “an amusing guy.”
But this incident upgraded Yuri to a “person of interest.”
Still, even knowing who the culprit was, the one-eyed man didn’t intervene in the forest.
Despite the lack of dropouts deviating from the Cradle’s plans, they took no action.
Why?
Because the issue would resolve itself without intervention.
‘Yeah, go wild. The real test starts now.’
Only a slight adjustment in plans was needed.
“Move up the schedule. Call the kids.”
Time passed after the one-eyed man’s order.
Two days before the end of the one-month survival test.
A black ship arrived at the dock.
Shortly after.
With a cruel smile, the one-eyed man announced.
“From this moment…”
It signaled the start of an event that would be a festival for some.
And a hellish stage for others.
“The Dragon Plaque Exchange begins.”