Gino stared at the ancient knife lying on his counter. He stared at Kaizen standing there looking way too confident. He stared back at the knife like he was caught in some kind of loop.
"For free?" Gino repeated the words slowly, testing them carefully like they might suddenly explode in his face. "You are just giving this to me? Just like that?"
"Just like that," Kaizen confirmed while leaning back casually and crossing his arms like he did not have a care in the world. "Consider it a generous tip for your hospitality. A token of our blossoming friendship."
Gino blinked several times in rapid succession. He looked at the teenage boy standing in front of him with completely new eyes.
Usually, the people who owed him money were sweating bullets and practically shaking in their boots. They were desperately begging for extensions or reduced interest rates. They were counting every single copper crowns to make absolutely sure they were not getting ripped off even by a fraction.
But this kid? This absolute madman just casually tossed a genuine museum-grade artifact onto the counter like it was a candy wrapper and cheerfully said keep the change.
"You..."
Gino started to chuckle. The chuckle quickly turned into a genuine laugh. A loud, belly-shaking roar of amusement that made the bead curtain rattle on its string.
"You are absolute chaos incarnate! I love it! I genuinely love it!"
He reached under the counter with one meaty hand.
Slide.
He pushed the black student ID card back across the wooden surface toward Kaizen.
"Here you go, kid. Your soul is officially your own again."
Kaizen stopped the card with one finger. He did not pick it up off the counter. Instead, he calmly slid it right back toward Gino.
"Not yet," Kaizen said smoothly with a mysterious smile. "I need another loan."
Gino's hearty laughter cut off instantly like someone had flipped a switch. His expression shifted.
"Wait just a minute. Is that why you gave me the knife for free? Do you have a serious gambling problem, kid? Because I do not lend to addicts."
"Nah, nothing like that," Kaizen grinned while shaking his head. "Like I said, that knife was genuinely for our blossoming friendship. No strings attached."
He leaned in closer across the counter, getting right into Gino's personal space. His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper that nobody else could hear.
"What is your commission rate on unregistered dungeon loot?"
Gino froze completely in place. The ancient dagger he had been casually twirling in his fingers stopped moving.
The friendly merchant smile did not vanish from his weathered face, but it fundamentally changed. The warmth and humor evaporated instantly, replaced by cold, calculating business logic.
"Unregistered?" Gino asked slowly and carefully, making sure he heard correctly. "You mean completely tax-free merchandise?"
Kaizen nodded once.
In the Kingdom of Zenith, selling dungeon loot through the legal channels was an absolute scam designed to rob adventurers blind.
The Hunters Guild took their percentage cut for validation. The Auction House took another substantial percentage cut for listing services. And the greedy Government took a massive forty-nine percent tax on anything classified as Historical Assets.
By the time you actually cashed out your hard-earned loot, you were lucky to be left with pennies on the dollar.
But the Black Market?
The Black Market did not believe in paying taxes to anyone, especially not the government.
"The standard legal rate is forty-nine percent," Kaizen recited like he had the numbers memorized. "Plus additional listing fees. Plus mandatory appraisal fees. It is literal highway robbery with a polite smile."
"And here in my humble shop?" Gino grinned wide, revealing his gold tooth that glinted in the dim light. "We respect the hustle and the grind."
"So what is your actual rate?"
Gino looked thoughtfully at the single ancient knife in his hand. Then he looked at Kaizen's currently empty hands and dirt-stained clothes.
"For standard clients who walk in off the street? Thirty percent commission," Gino said. "But you, kid... I have a strong feeling that doing business with you is going to be very profitable for me in the long term... so..."
Gino tapped the wooden counter rhythmically with his thick fingers while he calculated.
"For a VIP customer... for a genuine business partner... fifteen percent flat rate. No government cut whatsoever. No questions asked about origins. I personally handle all the cleaning, all the fencing, and all the necessary hush money for officials."
"Fifteen percent," Kaizen mused out loud, pretending to consider it. "That sounds incredibly fair, actually."
"So," Gino leaned forward eagerly across the counter, his eyes gleaming with barely restrained greed. "What exactly did you find up on that frozen mountain? A ceremonial sword? A holy chalice? Ancient jewelry?"
Kaizen just grinned in response. It was the confident, knowing grin of a man who had personally buried a literal treasure trove under a specific pine tree approximately two hours ago.
"I found enough valuable loot to retire comfortably for the rest of my life," Kaizen whispered dramatically. "But I physically cannot move it all by myself."
Gino's eyes widened with sudden understanding and excitement. "You are talking about bulk quantities?"
"Massive bulk quantities."
"So you need me to arrange a truck and some muscle to help transport it?"
"No, nothing like that," Kaizen said while pointing directly at Gino's hand. Specifically, at the simple golden ring sitting on his pinky finger. "I need that ring."
Gino looked down at his prized Vault Ring. The spatial storage device that was worth a small fortune all by itself.
"Ah, I see now," Gino said while understanding dawned on him. "So the ancient knife was actually payment for borrowing my ring? That would make it a loan worth one hundred thousand crowns..."
"Not a loan," Kaizen corrected him firmly. "Think of it as an advance payment. Against all the loot I am about to bring you to sell."
Gino stared at him for a long moment without speaking.
It was a massive gamble. A huge risk on his part. If the kid was lying or wildly exaggerating about the treasure, Gino would be out a fortune in equipment.
But he looked down at the genuine ancient five-thousand-year-old knife in his hand. He looked at the calm, terrifying confidence burning in Kaizen's young eyes. The kid believed what he was saying.
Gino reached down under the table and pulled out a backup ring from a hidden drawer. It was a sleek silver band, less ornate but just as functional.
"If you are lying to me about this," Gino warned while holding the ring out threateningly, "I will personally sell both of your kidneys to a necromancer I know."
"Deal," Kaizen immediately snatched the ring without hesitation. He slid it onto his finger. The enchanted metal resized instantly to fit him perfectly.
[Item Equipped: Vault Ring]
[Durability: High]
[Capacity: 1000kg]
Kaizen grinned like a kid who just got everything he wanted for his birthday.
"Get your best appraisal kit ready, Gino. I will be back in less than an hour with the goods."
He turned on his heel and walked confidently out of the shop, the bead curtain clicking and clacking behind him.
He stepped back into the bright afternoon sunlight of the bustling market. The crushing pressure of debt was completely gone. The threat of expulsion was about to be permanently gone. And now he had an actual magical inventory to bring back his entire fortune without getting mugged.
"Tax fraud," Kaizen whispered happily to himself while walking. "The true path to power in any world."
He could not stop grinning.
Time to go back to that mountain and get filthy rich.