Interspecies Trader

On the following day, I left to become rich soon after our usual morning rituals. My first destination was the outer world. I borrowed many containers from Suuru and filled them all with water from the river. This liquid, which was worth nothing where I sourced it from, was the precious commodity that would allow me to start something.

I teleported back, not at Suuru's house, but much closer to city 82, which I now knew was simply named in correspondence with the dome number. Now came the tricky part of my plans. During the past week, I used any leisure time I had to learn more about running a business in the dome. For normal people, it was quite easy. They just needed to register their business in the city hall and pay their taxes on time.

For me, it was a completely different story. The problem was still the same as before: I didn't have an ID, which was necessary to register a new business. Or more like, to do anything at all. Of course, I inquired about the procedure of acquiring one or getting a new one if someone happened to lose it. This was where I was stuck. It would all be fine if the civil servants had records of me somewhere, even if it was from dome 14. Except that no such record existed. I was a complete alien in this world. No parents, no family, no birth certificate. Nothing that could prove my identity.

As such, getting an ID wasn't possible currently. I couldn't even run a normal stall at the market. Still, that wouldn't stop me. If I couldn't do it the normal way, I could simply go back to more rustic methods.

I was now at the entrance of the city, where the fields gave way to buildings and streets. I knocked on the door of the last farmhouse and a middle-aged woman opened it.

"Hello, ma'am."

"Hello. What is it?"

"I'm here to propose a great deal to you."

"Not interested."

She started to close the door but I exclaimed.

"You won't need to do anything! You'll earn money by doing nothing. It's true!"

That stopped her and she gave me a mocking smile. This was great since it meant she had at least a minimum of curiosity about my words.

"I'm not born from the last harvest, young lady. Don't try to trick me with nice words."

"No tricks. It's simple. I want to install a little stall on your land, right in front of the city. I'll just use a small corner of space and I'll pay daily rent. You'll get money by doing nothing."

"Why wouldn't you open a stall in one of the markets?"

"This is part of my business strategy. How about it, ma'am? It won't be any inconvenience for you and you'll get an additional income. If you think I create any trouble, I'll leave immediately."

"Hmm…"

She took a better look at me, checking me from top to bottom.

"Are you a foreigner?"

"That's right."

"What are you going to sell?"

"Water for now. Maybe other goods later."

"I see…"

She paused for a couple of seconds before adding.

"Tell me more."

I knew this was a done deal when she said that. We talked some more and determined which space I could use and how much I should pay her. Just like she said, she wasn't naïve and bargained for the best price she could get. I had to pay her 50 lods per day, which was quite absurd considering the lack of value of the land. It hurt a bit but I had no choice. Plus, if everything went according to plan, I expected to earn a lot more than that.

Eventually, we had an agreement that left us satisfied. I gave her 50 of the 90 lods I had on me as rent for the first day and went to set up my stall. It was nothing complicated. One metallic table, a large metallic basin, and a piece of paper. All borrowed from Suuru. The basin would be the main pool containing the water I would sell. Due to the lack of raw materials, even bottles were precious in the inner world, as proven by the fact that Suuru could make money by sculpting metallic ones. When buying water, people came with their bottles and filled them with the quantity of liquid they paid for.

On the piece of paper, I wrote only two things: "Water" and "5 per liter". This was half the market price and the only advantage I had compared to other water merchants. However, it was an incredible advantage since water was so expensive in the first place. It was one of the main expenses for normal people in the domes. The only problem was the location. To speak frankly, there was almost nobody around, except for some old women who seemed to be already retired. I filled the basin with the water from the bottles in my storage and waited for customers.

As expected, I had to wait a long time before anyone cared enough about the presence of my stall to come to check it. Funnily enough, the first person to do so was the woman I was renting the land from. She looked at my pitiful stall and scowled a little. Yet, when her eyes read the price on the piece of water, her expression transformed into wonder.

"You're selling water for 5 lods per liter?"

"That's right."

"Is it poisoned or something?"

"Of course not. It's completely drinkable water."

I scoped some of it with a bottle I prepared for that purpose and drank it before her.

"Hmm… How are you going to make a profit like this?"

"I have a way to acquire water for cheap. You don't need to worry about it."

"Are you acquainted with a water mage?"

I smiled without answering. She seemed to take the hint and stopped asking questions. Yet, she wasn't done.

"Let me try the water. I'll pay for it and buy more if it doesn't feel weird."

"Of course."

She had a bottle with her and scoped a small amount like I did before. She prudently drank it and her eyebrows rose.

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