Chapter 110

Portable Mist

We still had a week left before our esteemed prosecutor would arrive.

Which meant we had time to take care of the original reason we came to Erens Village.

“Nimbus.”

In the end, the true purpose of Kairus and Irena’s journey to the Aylan Republic wasn’t to ruin Settern’s life.

It was to find someone who could make an add-on capable of generating clouds.

“It should be fine to take care of personal matters before the prosecutor gets here.”

This seemed like the perfect time to meet the technician Simid Kellogg had introduced to us.

If we asked him to make the add-on today, we could finish the Rose Garden request tomorrow once the prosecutor arrived.

“Still, this really is a tiny village.”

It was easy to see why Aylan’s corporations had no interest in Erens Village. There weren’t many people, and most of them worked in agriculture.

“And the farming here... how should I put it? It’s like they’re only doing it because there’s nothing else to do.”

It’s not like the village specialized in some outstanding local product that justified such a focus on farming.

Well, now that the Rose Garden was backing them, they did have at least one crop that could be considered a specialty.

The catch was, if anyone else found out, they’d be hauled straight off to prison.

“This is the right address.”

Since Erens wasn’t a large village, it wasn’t hard to find the technician’s house.

“I guess I didn’t even need to double-check the address.”

A loud grinding sound of cutting tools echoed from inside the house. It wasn’t the kind of noise you'd expect from a farmer’s home.

“...”

I pulled the string attached to the front door, and a bell rang out. The noise from the cutting tools died down, and with the clank of metal, the door opened.

“You damn bastard sons of bitches! Can’t you see the sun’s still up? I’ve got work to do!”

The door flung open, and a man wearing safety goggles came bursting out.

“You’re Heringson Moore, right?”

He was a young man with a nearly burnt-out cigarette dangling from his lips.

“Never seen you folks before. Who the hell are you? And how do you know my name?”

Heringson peeled off his scorched welding gloves as he asked.

“We’re here on recommendation from the Treasury Chief.”

“Aha.”

At Irena’s words, Heringson spat the cigarette onto the floor and held out his hand.

“About damn time. I was starting to wonder when you’d show.”

He gave Kairus and Irena a quick once-over, then jerked his chin toward his house.

“Come on in.”

Kairus and Irena stepped inside and sat down on chairs stained with black grease.

“Why don’t we start with the money talk?”

At Heringson’s words, Kairus replied.

“We can afford to pay, so let’s discuss that later. First, I need to know what you’re capable of.”

At that, Heringson let out a short laugh, then pulled a hip flask from his waist.

“Oh really? What would it take for me to earn your approval?”

Instead of answering, Kairus took out a norigae ornament adorned with a jade scorpion.

“Looks like something archaeologists would like. Guys like me, though? Doesn’t do much for us.”

He barely even looked at it, but Heringson quickly recognized it as an antique.

“And water’s too bland. I prefer drinks that are a little more exciting.”

He not only sensed the item was old but also figured out its purpose, then took a swig from his hip flask.

Kairus, still watching him, opened his mouth again.

“The add-on we want is simple.”

He used the norigae to fill a glass with water, then brought the tip of Flicker to the surface.

The blade vibrated rapidly, causing the water inside the glass to resonate with the frequency and shatter into droplets.

‘I can do it. I just can’t use it in combat.’

Kairus focused his mind. It was practically impossible to perform in battle, but in a stable environment like this, with full concentration, he could pull it off.

Soon enough, the droplets, which had been scattering in all directions from the vibrations, broke down even further—

And turned into mist.

“...Got it. I get the general idea. What kind of specs are you looking for?”

“Over 500 milliliters of water per minute into mist.”

That was the minimum output required to use Nimbus effectively through the add-on.

Listening to Kairus, Irena added her own request.

“Keep the weight under 200 grams. And it needs to be compact enough to carry.”

It wasn’t like they could lug it around on their backs, so portability was essential.

Heringson, who had been listening to their requests with a rather serious expression, let out a slow sigh.

“You two are planning to wring me completely dry, aren’t you?”

“Is it impossible?”

At Kairus’s question, Heringson pointed to Flicker and the stained glass with his finger.

“You’d need to allocate about five horsepower. In that case…”

He tapped his hip flask with a fingernail.

“Something about this size, under 100 grams in weight, and a maximum output of 1.5 liters per minute is doable.”

“Five horsepower?”

A standard-issue, mass-produced military battle gear had an output of one horsepower.

For an add-on to consume the output equivalent of five military-grade battle gears—it honestly seemed like overkill.

“If you're using battle gear, I figured you could easily allocate that much power to the add-on.”

That part was true enough. The issue was...

“It’s still a burden.”

Five horsepower would consume a substantial chunk of the stable output from two battle gears.

“Well, think it over.”

Do they reduce the required power and increase the size and weight? Or do they go with Heringson’s proposal?

‘It’s the size of a hip flask, and it can produce three times more mist than we originally wanted.’

But in exchange, they’d have to sacrifice three horsepower from their battle gear’s output.

“Let’s go with the prototype.”

“Nice. I like a guy who makes bold decisions.”

Kairus had made up his mind. In the end, the important thing was generating mist through Nimbus.

If they couldn’t do that, they couldn’t even use Nimbus in the first place.

“Now let’s talk about money.”

Kairus nodded at Heringson’s words. He was willing to pay whatever it took, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t haggle.

They say good products should be bought at a fair price?

That’s a fool’s mindset. If you can slash the price of a good product in half, the happiness you get from the deal doubles.

“150,000 pyint.”

“The hell did you just say?”

Kairus stared at Heringson in disbelief.

No matter how high-end the add-on might be, that price was completely unacceptable.

‘Do you know how much stained glass costs?’

The tag Cecilia personally put on it was about 70,000 pyint.

And now this guy was asking for twice that amount—for a single add-on? From Kairus’s perspective, that was just not going to happen.

‘Do I need to use physical persuasion?’

Thanks to a lifetime of experience, Kairus immediately thought of something that most people wouldn’t dare to consider, let alone act on.

[Would breaking one of his bones maybe lower the price?]

It was a brutally primal thought, one that was difficult for most people to even entertain.

“…What’s your cost price?”

Irena asked as she stared quietly at Heringson. She wasn’t expecting a serious answer—it was more of a “Let’s see what nonsense comes out of his mouth” kind of question.

“The materials are kind of pricey, sure, but I can probably keep it under 10,000 to 15,000 pyint.”

Kairus and Irena were thrown into even deeper confusion.

So he had just jacked up the price by over ten times. What made it worse was how casually he said it.

‘If he was planning to scam us, no way he’d answer that question like that.’

While the two of them stood there reeling in disbelief, Heringson tilted his head.

“What’s with the faces? I thought it was a reasonable price.”

While Kairus and Irena were still trying to process what Heringson considered a “reasonable” price, he tilted his head again.

“Too expensive? Then... what was it... how about 3,000 pyint?”

“No.”

That was too much of a drop. Kairus and Irena looked at each other, baffled.

He’d gone from asking 150,000 pyint to suddenly offering a completely absurd 3,000 pyint.

It wasn’t even enough to cover the raw material cost he’d just mentioned.

‘What the hell is this guy?’

‘What kind of person is he?’

Heringson had a seriously broken sense of money. He had meant the 150,000 pyint seriously, and the 3,000 pyint just as seriously.

Come to think of it, it had always seemed a bit odd. Why would a technician this skilled be holed up in some backwater village?

150,000 pyint was a ridiculous rip-off, but something around 20,000 to 30,000 pyint was a price Kairus could actually accept.

Which meant Heringson was someone who could easily afford to live comfortably if he wanted to.

“Sorry for the out-of-nowhere question, but why are you living in this village?”

“I tried my best, but turns out I just didn’t have enough money.”

At that, Kairus sighed quietly and rubbed his forehead.

The man had talent, but his financial instincts were wrecked. The only reason he hadn’t starved to death by now, despite his warped sense of money, was thanks to his outstanding skill in crafting add-ons.

If Heringson were doing regular work like normal people, Kairus could guarantee he’d have ended up hunted down by loan sharks, his organs harvested, and dumped into the ocean by now.

“Let’s call it 30,000 pyint.”

Heringson had said the materials cost between 10,000 and 15,000 pyint. Given his skill, it made sense to pay him double that.

“Oh! Great, let’s do that.”

Before Heringson could even finish agreeing, Kairus had already pulled out a sheet of paper.

“Then let’s start with the contract.”

When dealing with someone whose sense of money was this shattered, written proof was a must.

You never knew what kind of crazy thing he might say later on.

Kairus quickly drafted the contract and handed it to Heringson.

“Good, good. Mhmm.”

Heringson skimmed through it quickly and inked his thumb in red. Meanwhile, Kairus rechecked the contract and asked:

“You’re confident it’ll be done within a week?”

The reason for the question was simple. Someone with such a messed-up sense of money wasn’t exactly trustworthy.

Kairus wasn’t even sure if Heringson had properly read the contract. A guy who went from asking 150,000 pyint to 3,000 pyint might as well be functionally illiterate.

“It might take up to a week, but I’ll probably finish sooner. Just so you know, I’ve never missed a deadline on anything I’ve been commissioned to build.”

Thankfully, the only thing broken about Heringson was his financial sense. His time sense was apparently intact.

“Alright. We’ll be counting on you.”

Once Heringson pressed his thumbprint, Kairus brought out a seal and stamped the document. It was a forged seal tied to his fake identity, but that didn’t matter. This was still a promise and Kairus always honored those.

Afterward, they each kept a copy of the contract.

“Will you be picking up the finished product in person, or should I send it somewhere?”

The answer to that was already decided. Heringson had said he could complete the add-on within a week.

And Settern Volos was scheduled to arrive in Erens a week from now.

“We’ll be staying in the village. Contact us when it’s done.”

Kairus’s words made Heringson nod in acknowledgment.

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