Chapter 236: Two Salesmen—Twisted Twins

Auren focuses as he listens to Jean explaining the twins’ Hatsus’s ability.“The rules are simple: you open it, and a completely random page with a random selection of items will be displayed. However, every item will fit into a certain theme. It can be literally anything... cars, books, clothing, but also things you wouldn’t expect at all, like random stones or collectibles. The first time we used it, the theme was chinaware.”

“Okay?” Auren asks, looking baffled. “Proceed.”

Jean smiles proudly, continuing her explanation. “There will be basic descriptions of the items, but they don’t clearly tell you what they are or what they can do, nor will their sources be revealed. The items are not brand new; as the name implies, they are second-hand items, but they exist somewhere in this world. Each item listed has a set price range, but only the lowest possible price is displayed. It’s advertised as ‘as low as’. Something shown as 10,000 Jenny might actually cost 1 million in the worst case. You can’t rely on it.”

“The price is always somewhere between 1% and 99% of the item’s true value, and the only indication of price we see is the one percent amount. That lets us also know its full value if we just multiply it by 100. You then have a random amount of time, no more than a day and no less than an hour, to decide what to buy. In theory, everything will be sold below its true value, so you can’t really make a mistake.”

“Value is subjective,” Auren argues. “This sounds a little fishy. Selling it later sounds like a nightmare. Even if some people value something highly, actually finding those people might be impossible. Also, markets constantly change. This seems quite unreliable to me. You end up making a loss, especially if the items are things you are interested in.”

“Maybe... I can’t tell you how the value is determined. We created it, but the Hatsu just... existed afterward. You know, we decided on most of the rules, and we added a lot of things to make it more fun and challenging... maybe a few too many. You know, you said, the more conditions the better the effect. Shopping is supposed to be fun, so we made it quite random and limiting. You need to really be lucky to get what you want, but you might discover something unique,” Jean reasons.

Maybe too random. If you add limitations that are not suitable, your entire Hatsu can become useless.

“This still doesn’t explain anything at all... so it’s just a catalogue that lets you buy random items for random prices?” Auren asks. “I don’t see how this is special or useful.”

Joanne then chimes in, “Most items are quite special... Jean is bad at explaining. Every item is highly valued by its owners. Every single item is considered a real treasure by its owner, but the very owner is in desperate need of money and thus reluctantly sells it because he has no other way out. Most likely, the owner is not aware of their item’s true value. Actually... somewhere in the world, a representative will appear. It will be a businessman... a salesman. At least he looks like one, wearing a fedora and a suit. He’ll be able to sense when people are in desperate need of money and sense their treasures and then make an offer they’ll begrudgingly accept.”

Joanne tones grow a little more frightened. “While the salesman appears human... he is just an entity created by our Hatsu. The salesman never rests, always scouring the world for items, using Jean’s shopping experience as a general base. She is knowledgeable about these things, I can promise you. Anyway, the salesman will make sure that the owner of the items sells the item for the lowest amount they’d be willing to part with it. Then the salesman adds a random margin on top of it and lets us buy it. Isn’t that curious? I think it’s fascinating.”

“It’s all about the items, forget the creepy salesman! Shopping!” Jean corrects her.

A Nen Beast... appearing human? Acting on its own. Thankfully, the cost and price for this Hatsu seems to be only money. Is it really harmless... no... it’s not Jean and Joanne paying the majority of the price. This is far more evil than I thought possible. These girls are crazy.

“How do you know that?” Auren asks, now almost yelling. “Did you design it that way? This seems quite dangerous and more far-reaching than I thought.”

“No... we were told by the salesman himself. Because we tried it out. However, when we bought the items, we only had 10 million Jenny left. The listed lowest prices together were only 75,000 Jenny, so we thought we could afford it, but the actual price ended up being 69 million Jenny, near the maximum 99%. The merchant just gave us a few minutes to pay, and after we couldn’t, the merchant banned us from shopping for two weeks. I wanted to tell you before using it, but Jean forced me to try it out.”

“Of course, we needed to try it,” Jean says. “Duh? Why wouldn’t we?”

“What a dark and twisted Hatsu...” Auren mutters, now completely shocked.

“Huh?! What do you mean? It’s just a convenient item that lets us buy cool and interesting things,” Jean argues, clearly disagreeing with him. “It can’t get any simpler and fairer than this.”

“You don’t even understand your own ability,” Auren snaps, shaking his head. “This item creates a self-operating entity that exploits people who are in desperate need of money, buying their treasured possessions for the lowest price they are willing to accept—items they value and love the most but are forced to sell due to various fates and circumstances. How can you call this anything but exploitation? It’s twisted and evil. Also, we’re probably paying a massive markup... which is half of the cost of this ability, while the other cost is clearly the seller who’ll lose his treasure for a fraction of the item’s worth. It literally steals the happiness of people, exploiting their desperate circumstances....”

Auren thinks for a second, while Jean’s face goes pale, taking in what Auren said.

“Still, this is an ability I can see Jean choosing... and it sounds promising, I give you that. We can acquire rare items that some people treasure dearly for a random, but always at least slightly reduced price. However, it doesn’t sound like you, Joanne. Shopping is not among your interests.”

“There... is a twist,” Joanne admits. “Sometimes... although rarely, a special selection of items will appear. At least I envisioned it like that. These items will not be clearly visible, only their silhouettes, and they are brought by a second... salesman, although we haven’t met him yet. He must exist, because this is my part of the Hatsu.”

She hesitates briefly before continuing.

“The second salesman... is not a salesman. He’s a traveler and adventurer, wandering everywhere. Once in a while, he’ll need money to continue his journey... so he sells whatever he comes across, isn’t that romantic? In that case, you’ll see a fixed price for the entire selection of obscured items, but no details at all. Then you can either accept or reject it, just like with the regular items, though you can only buy everything he offers or nothing.”

What happens... if we do not accept these offers? What if we reject the page shown? They still have these items... do they just... save them? Or maybe.... They don’t seem to know, as they only used it once... this is risky... do I even want to find out? Maybe...? Could I just ask the salesman?

Joanne lowers her voice slightly, continuing her explanation.

“We haven’t seen the second entity appear yet... but it should work similarly to the other salesman. The difference is that I didn’t specify where he travels. He could appear anywhere, even in places I don’t know about. I left it vague on purpose. He’ll offer whatever stuff he stumbles across. He doesn’t necessarily buy his wares; he finds them, steals them, or obtains them however he wants. He’s a bit of a crook and rogue, you know, I kind of like that type of adventurer. He just needs money for his travels, and he wants to continue at any cost. His general attitude is based on an old story I read as a child, it’s about...”

So... it’s a deranged, obsessed traveler going anywhere he pleases, picking up or obtaining whatever he wants, and then pawning it off to us, regardless of the consequences. This salesman is just as dark as the other one... maybe even darker. Is he an outright thief or scammer? How could they create something this twisted without being aware of it? Is that their nature? It’s always the quiet and reserved types... Jean’s salesman is bad enough, but Joanne’s salesman is just... scary.

“Yeah, yeah, enough about your dream lover and adventuring rogue, I hate your romantic stories,” Jean says, yawning, then staring at Auren, mustering her courage. “So you see! This is a huge deal. We need your help.”

Auren raises a hand, stopping Jean’s pitch for now. “Wait... Joanne, how did you come up with this ability? An old book? A story?”

“Yes... he’s based on a few, actually, and then you and the others were talking about this unknown continent... you know? The Dark Continent. A world out there that we’re not aware of, with endless possibilities. So I kind of created this story in my head about a daring traveler wandering the world alone, constantly on the move, able to travel anywhere without limits... aside from his traveling budget, which is why he sells us what he finds.”

I’m still not quite sure how this works or what limitations are in place... I wonder if they even know themselves. But she was inspired... by the Dark Continent?!

“This part of the ability interests me,” Auren admits. “I assume... these items won’t be cheap either?”

“I do not know...” Joanne admits. “You know money wasn’t my focus; it’s about the journey and the romance of travelling and exploring. The items are just something that the salesman will get rid of to keep travelling. They’re obtained out of necessity to afford supplies and such.”

“How dumb! My side lets you profit every time... though sometimes just by a single percent, but you can never buy something that isn’t worth more to someone than what you paid for it. Joanne’s is just a silly romantic picking up random trash. Will he sell us stones and fruits he manages to find? Will he charge millions? It’s random, dumb, and unreliable. Also, the value of my salesman’s items is at least somewhat objective, even if I can’t clearly define it. Anyway, we need to test it out, surely you agree? Will you help us?”

She is wrong... this Hatsu might be able to deliver us unexpected treasures. Even if they are expensive, a random seed from the Dark continent could be worth billions if a rare, unknown plant can sprout from it. May even the five... no, that would be too convenient and something we can’t even afford... but that doesn’t mean that others couldn’t... I have a bad feeling about this Hatsu, so many unknowns.

“This isn’t about help. I thought you needed advice or protection, heh. What you actually want is much simpler,” Auren says, finally understanding why they called him here.

“You want...” he continues, crossing his arms, “my money.”

“Hehe, you got us,” Jean says, sticking out her tongue, while Joanne looks completely ashamed.

“Fine, I’ll bite. Does he accept a bank transfer?” Auren asks, looking slightly unsure.

“Yes, he does! Let’s try it out right now!” Jean says loudly, unable to hide her excitement.