All Chapters of THE VIRGIN MERCHANT: Buying Modern Warfare In Another World: Chapter 141
- Chapter 150
169 chapters
Chapter 141
I choked on my hot dog."Master Art?" Shannon's voice came from somewhere far away, concerned. "Master Art, your face is turning red. Redder than the suit. Are you dying? Is this a heart attack? Should I get the monks? I'm not qualified for this, I'm a merchant, I do inventory, I don't do—"I held up one hand, still chewing, still choking, still processing.One point five million.Again.I had spent almost a million VP on stupid things, the suits, the catering, the snacks, the interdimensional DNS settings I still didn't understand, and somehow, through the power of standing in formation, looking ridiculous, and accidentally impressing an entire kingdom's female population with my very tight red leather pants, I was right back where I started."Shannon," I said, once I'd swallowed and confirmed that I was, in fact, not dying of a hot dog-induced heart attack."Yes, Master Art?""Remind me to send a fruit basket to every woman in the Gothic Kingdom.""...what?""And a thank-you card. H
Chapter 142
I laughed.Shannon appeared beside me, her expense report now covered in glitter and mustard and what looked like a tearstain from the emotional rollercoaster of the day. "Master Art, I've calculated the damages. We need approximately fifteen thousand gold for repairs, twenty thousand for civilian compensation, and at least five thousand for my emotional suffering.""Done," I said. "Add another ten for the beard.""The beard?""For the beard trauma. You earned it."She blinked. Then, slowly, she smiled—the first real smile I'd seen from her since the dragon showed up. "You're not as terrible as I thought.""High praise, Shannon.""Don't let it go to your head, boss.""Too late. It's already there. Right next to the admiration bonus."She rolled her eyes and walked away, but she was still smiling.I leaned back on my crate, the Red Beast's engine cooling beside me, the fire crackling in front of me, and my team scattered around me in various states of exhaustion, celebration, and hot d
Chapter 143
"It's glitter, Ellene. Glitter that you can't burn, can't wash, can't sweep, and can't sit on without looking like you're about to host a very aggressive children's birthday party.""...yes.""And your warriors—trained killers, veterans of a hundred battles, people who have stared down death and spat in its face—are currently losing to rainbow smoke.""The smoke is very persistent.""And the children—the children—have not only accepted the glitter, they have weaponized it. They are now using it to extort snacks from the adult population under the guise of being dragon ghosts.""Kevin is a menace.""Kevin is an entrepreneur. I'm promoting him.""YOU ARE NOT PROMOTING A CHILD TO ANYTHING—""Assistant Glitter Distribution Manager. It comes with a hot dog allowance."Elsa stared at me. Her eye twitched. Behind her, I saw Milla press her lips together to keep from laughing.Jeon flickered in and out rapidly, which I'd learned was his version of suppressed amusement. Even Shannon, who was s
Chapter 144
"But what about the health code violations?""The Gothic Kingdom doesn't have a health code.""We're going to invent one.""Fine. We'll invent one. And then we'll give Greg a waiver. Because Greg is a hero and heroes don't follow rules."Shannon stared at me. "You just want the hot dogs.""I do want the hot dogs that is not chicken. The hot dogs are terrible and I love them. Don't judge me."The Gothic citizens, predictably, had opinions about the recovery efforts.Some were grateful. The families moved into the palace with tears in their eyes, clutching their children and their few remaining possessions, thanking Ellene and me with the kind of desperate sincerity that made my chest hurt."Thank you, Lord Merchant," an old woman said to me on the second night. She was sitting on a royal couch—royal—with her granddaughter on her lap, both of them covered in glitter and wrapped in blankets that had once belonged to Gothic nobility. "We thought we'd lost everything. And now... now we're
Chapter 145
On the seventh day, I sat on the palace steps—carefully, because the throne was still a glitter disaster—and stared at my HUD.CURRENT BALANCE: 1,493,500 VPI hadn't spent much. A few thousand here and there. Repairs. Supplies. Hot dogs. A truly excessive amount of glitter-removal shampoo for Shannon's beard.But the big purchases, the ones that would make a dent in my fortune—were still waiting.What to do? What to do?Shannon sat down beside me, her beard finally glitter-free for the first time in a week. She looked exhausted but content. Her expense report had grown to thirty-seven pages, but she'd stopped complaining about it and started treating it like a *project*."Master Art," she said."Shannon.""You've been staring at your OXYGEN for an hour.""I've been thinking."Shannon smirked, "Dangerous activity.""Very funny.""What are you thinking about?"I gestured at the courtyard. At the glitter-covered stones. At the children rolling in the piles, Kevin now had a crown made of
Chapter 146
"People of the Gothic Kingdom!" I shouted, my voice echoing off the stone walls. The Red suit's built-in amplifier helped, but honestly, I just had good lungs. "My name is Arthur. Most of you know me as the Merchant Lord, the guy in the red suit, the idiot who stood in a V-formation and shot a rainbow at a three-headed snake until it turned into glitter."The crowd murmured. Some laughed. A few cheered. The goat bleated."Celebration time is over," I said, and the murmuring stopped. "We've had our fun. We've eaten the hot dogs. We've rolled in the glitter. We've watched Kevin terrorize the population in the name of ghost rights. But now, now, it's time to work."A woman in the front row crossed her arms. "Work how? The dragon destroyed half our farms. The nobles are squabbling. The knights are too busy polishing their armor to actually help. And the Athens Kingdom is still out there, probably sharpening their swords and waiting for us to fall."I pointed at her. "That's exactly the at
Chapter 147
A woman in the back shouted, "What about the Athens Kingdom?""The Athens Kingdom is our partner now. I've opened the routes. I've reopened trade. Their merchants will come here. Our merchants will go there. We'll share resources. We'll share knowledge. We'll share hot dogs, if Greg can figure out how to expand across borders."Greg, who was standing by his cart in the back of the plaza, gave a thumbs up."And if anyone—" I let my voice harden, "—anyone tries to start a war, tries to reopen old wounds, tries to convince you that the Athens Kingdom is still your enemy... you send them to me. I have a very colorful team. We have a rainbow beam. And we're not afraid to use it again."The crowd cheered.*****The next few months were a blur of construction, cooperation, and chaos.FarmingEto's mining improvements were a massive success. The mines were safer, more productive, and—somehow—glitterier. The obsidian from the Gothic mines became famous across the multiverse for its unique spark
Chapter 148
The inns were packed every night. Merchants from Athens, from the Crystal Realm, from as far away as the Sunken Isles came to trade, to eat, to see the glitter. The roads were safe. The taxes were low. The people were happy.Even the nobles, grudgingly, complainingly, dramatically—came around.Lord Blackthorn got his red suit. It wasn't Aphrodite-grade, I wasn't about to drop that kind of VP on a man who had called me "a jumped-up peddler with delusions of grandeur"—but it was red. And sparkly. And it made him look like a very angry, very old Power Ranger."I look ridiculous," he announced at the monthly noble council."You look unified," Ellene corrected."I look like a*fool.""You look like a fool who's part of the team. Now sit down and vote on the grain distribution."The nobles voted. They always voted. Not because they agreed—many of them still grumbled about the changes—but because Ellene had a rainbow beam and I had a bottomless supply of VP and neither of us was afraid to use
Chapter 149
Lord Blackthorn stormed off, muttering about "jumped-up peddlers" and "disrespectful children" and "I want my money back for this stupid suit." But I saw him pause by the bakery window, watching the children line up for bread, and I saw the corner of his mouth twitch.He'd come around. Eventually. But I was getting restless.The Glitter Territory was stable. The people were happy. The hot dogs were selling. And I had one point four eight million VP burning a hole in my pocket and absolutely nothing to spend it on."I need to go back," I announced one morning, sitting on the palace steps with my morning coffee, actual coffee now, because the trade routes had brought in beans from the Crystal Kingdom and life was good.Shannon, who had taken to joining me for morning coffee because she was incapable of letting me have a single moment of peace, looked up from her expense report. "Back where?""The Southern Territory. The mine."She stared at me. "The mine that we left months ago? The min
Chapter 150
Elsa floated on her back, her Pink-Black-Pink armor piled on a rock beside the shore, her face tilted toward the sun. She looked... peaceful. Not like a warrior. Not like a strategist. Just like a woman who had decided that the water was warm and the sky was blue and nothing else mattered for a little while."Master Arthur," she called out, "you have algae in your hair.""I'm accessorizing.""You look like a swamp creature.""A fabulous swamp creature."Herbert laughed—a deep, rumbling sound that echoed across the lake and startled a flock of birds from the trees. Barnaby, who had eventually given in and waded into the shallow water up to her knees, was staring at the algae on my head with the expression of someone calculating exactly how many gallons of shampoo it would take to fix me."Twelve," he said."Twelve what?""Twelve gallons of shampoo. Minimum.""Put it on the expense report.""It's your hair.""Then put it on my expense report. That's what expense reports are for.""That'