HC:Pacifist | Ch. 162 - Such a Good Porter (Patreon)

The system messages that made Roth stop in his tracks were coming all the way from Hilsford. Bucky was on the move.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 910 [Chicken Eggs] to Solomon, the Gardener.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 860 [Quail Eggs] to Solomon, the Gardener.

Broker 3000XP; 3%(x75%x15%) of the profit (3 silver, 42 coppers); +21 reputation with all snakes.

It looked like Bucky had started running the trade run within Hilsford. Good. If he didn’t, Roth would lose exclusivity with Soros. Looking at how little his profit cut was, Roth pursed his lips. He was only getting 0.3% of the total profit! Even though the amount of money he could make wasn’t much, Roth reminded himself it was still better than nothing. The good thing was that he still gained reputation and profession XP.

Roth resumed his march to the teleportation tree but paused again. Only now did he realize that he had forgotten to tell Bucky he needed to have [Miniaturize] and swim to reach Solomon. It turns out that the dog had found a way. Seconds after he received these notifications, he received several others.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 30 [Swamp Corn] to Mario, the Alligator.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 120 [Elderberries] to Mario, the Alligator.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 50 [Pond Apples] to Mario, the Alligator.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 50 [Juicy Pears] to Mario, the Alligator.

Broker 3000XP; 3%(x75%x15%) of the profit (3 silver, 31 coppers); +19 reputation with Mario, the Alligator.

Roth frowned. How had Bucky gotten from Solomon’s gardens to Mario’s lab so quickly? Even in [Ratan Form], it would have taken Roth at least 20 minutes to go from one place to another. He hadn’t told Bucky how to unlock the secret door to Mario’s lab either. The dog really was a capable porter, by the looks of it. Before he could make sense of what was happening, he had already received another notification.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 15 [Alligator Tears] to Golden Mountain Inc.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 15 [Alligator Scales] to Golden Mountain Inc.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 3 [Alligator Teeth] to Golden Mountain Inc.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 15 [Snake’s Ragged Shed Skin] to Golden Mountain Inc.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 15 [Basic Snake Poison] to Golden Mountain Inc.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered [Snake Fruit] to Golden Mountain Inc.

Broker 6,000XP; 3%(x75%x15%) of the profit (18 silver, 7 copper); +21 reputation with Golden Mountain Inc.

Roth stared wide-eyed at the notification. What? How? Bucky couldn’t have just run the whole way from Mario’s lab to Soros’ merchant association in under a minute, could he? He did some quick numbers in his head. If it took Bucky under a minute to cross the distance that took Roth 30 minutes, how long would it take him to travel from Hilsford to Green Woods?

He turned back and started running toward the exit of the colony. Not 5 minutes had passed when Roth received another string of notifications.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 300x[Blue Tin Ingot] to the Dwarf Exiles.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 350x[Box of Tin Screws] to the Dwarf Exiles.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 200x[Old Inkpot] to Greenleaf Inc.

Roth’s heart skipped a beat. Bucky had reached the periphery of the Green Woods. Five minutes? It took Bucky only five minutes to run from Hilsford to Green Woods!? It took Roth 9 hours to do that! How was the dog so fast?  He had to hurry if he wanted to catch him.

But why hadn’t he received any money on this trade? He slapped his forehead. Of course. When Roth had left Hilsford three days ago, he’d brought a full bag of merchandise from Golden Mountain Inc, but didn’t take any merchandise back to Soros. After all, he planned to continue in the opposite direction and to leave the trade run to Bucky. Since no product moved from the Green Woods to Hilsford, no money came in either. He would only receive some income after Bucky went back to Golden Mountain Inc.

He wasn’t optimistic about how much he would get, though. Roth’s cut was just too small. A piece of the pie went to Soros; now, another significant chunk went to the transport guild.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 2000 wheels of [Gruyere Cheese] to the ratans in the Green Woods.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 2000 wheels of [Manchego Cheese] to the ratans in the Green Woods.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 2000 wheels of [Pecorino Cheese] to the ratans in the Green Woods.

Every notification was a new bomb in Roth’s mind. Two thousand wheels of cheese? No. Six thousand?! How was Bucky capable of carrying so much weight?! On Roth’s last trade run, he could only bring 20 wheels of each cheese.

He reread the transaction notifications with the dwarves and noticed that Bucky brought them hundreds of ingots and screws. Those things were heavy, too! Roth would never have been able to bring back so many.

It wasn’t easy to carry merchandise for all his customers. Even with the bonuses of boar form, [Porter], [Tailor Bag], and wearing his [Utility Belt], he had to choose sparingly how much of each item he could bring so that each customer would be satisfied and he could turn in a profit.

But, just for the ratans, Bucky brought the combined weight of 6000 wheels of cheese. This was several tons of merchandise! How? That dog looked so small. He gulped. No wonder the premium package required one to give 90% of one’s profit to Bucky. He was able to carry so much stuff in one go.

Ratan Dash!

30 Steps!

Roth felt the burst in speed and ran while laughing. At last, some light at the end of the tunnel. Bucky could carry a lot of cargo. Tons and tons of it! He put the treeants of Antioch to shame. That meant the dog could carry more product in each trade run than Roth. 

A virtually unlimited weight-carry capacity didn’t make much difference when traveling from the Green Woods to Hilsford. After all, there was a limit to how many specialty products the factions in his trade agreement could provide him.

He thought of the trade agreement he had with the ratans, as an example.

RATAN TRADE AGREEMENT (Exclusive)

You have earned the right to represent the Rat King as his broker.

Specialty products:

[Miniaturizing Potion] - 2 per day

[Glowshrooms] - 10 per day

[Morelshroom] - 5 per day

[Pine cones] - 30 per day

Procured goods:

[Gruyere Cheese]

[Manchego Cheese]

[Pecorino Cheese]

[Stinky Cheese]

[Tin Pickaxe]

[Tin Shovel]

Rate:

You keep 3% of all profits generated

You need to perform one sale every week, or you will lose broking exclusivity

The ratans only gave him 2 [Miniaturizing Potions] a day. In a week, he could only get 14. No matter how much he would love to be able to carry hundreds of them, he couldn’t overcome the limit imposed by the system. But after seeing Bucky carrying all this stuff, he realized something. Soros could move much more product. He had many supply channels, partners, and connections.

Whereas the factions could only give him ten acorns a day, for example, Soros could provide thousands of them in one go. He had a whole warehouse filled with stuff for sale. The biggest limitation on what he could bring back to the Green Woods hadn’t been a cap on how many products Soros sold or how much money the factions had. No. It had been the amount of merchandise Roth could carry along with him. With Bucky, this limitation was lifted.

Everything was coming up Roth. The more products Bucky moved, the bigger the pie. The bigger the pie, the thicker his very thin slice became. Even though Bucky was taking a huge chunk from his profits, the amount of merchandise he could carry more than made up for it. He couldn’t wait to see how much money he would make from this.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 5000x[Rice Powder], 10,000x[Old Paper], and 1000x[Paw Butter] to the Fox Baroness.

It had taken seconds for Bucky to get from the true throne room in Rat’s Cave to the secret chamber of the Fox Baroness. His heart was split between amazement at Bucky’s achievements and excitement for all the rewards he would gain once Bucky went back to Soros.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 10,000x[Old Paper], 1000x[Old Inkpot],1500x[Popcorn], and 400x[Paw Butter] to the Council of Badgers.

Broker 10,000XP; 3%(x75%x15%) of the profit (91 silver, 19 copper); +148 reputation with all badgers.

Roth checked his inventory and watched as 47,68 gold disappeared. From it, only less than one gold remained his. Good thing that money transfers were made simpler in the game. Otherwise, Bucky wouldn’t have been able to pay the badgers back for the poems Soros sold in the capital.

“Wait a minute!” Roth looked at the clock. It was the middle of the afternoon! Did this mean one could trade with the badgers even if it weren’t midnight? Those poets! They had lied to him! It was a ruse to make him sit through their lengthy poetry sessions. His joy turned to anger.

In the time it took Bucky to run most of the trade route, Roth managed to arrive at the exit. Good thing that he hadn’t been farther from the colony's heart. He stepped out into the light of day and canceled the miniaturized debuff. Thankfully, this small detour wouldn’t greatly delay his journey. After seeing Bucky, he would just go back to Antioch right away. He already had the required cooldowns to activate [Miniaturize] again.

He found Prince Piglet swinging his axe, and the different races in the woods enjoying each other’s company. Looking outside the clearing, he saw something unexpected: peace. There was no one in the clearing. The system had already regenerated the green grass and the tree line. Had everyone left? He eyed the surrounding area suspiciously. It seemed unlikely that everyone would just up and leave…. Was there a trap out there somewhere?

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 100,000x[Old Party Glitter], 5000x[Shiny Old Marble], 30x[Lapidated Quartz], 30x[Polished Pyrite] to Count Crow.

100,000 [Old Party Glitter]? Where was Soros getting all of this junk? Roth frowned as he tried to understand why Bucky had only brought 30 of some of the items and thousands of others. It took a minute for Roth to understand the discrepancy. Besides the trade routes between Hilsford and the Green Woods, he had set up a trade route inside the Green Woods. Corvids bought [Lapidated Quartz] and [Polished Pyrite] from the dwarves. Bucky had picked the units piling up during the week and had already conducted the trade.

The calm clearing was suddenly hit with a gust of wind that shook all the trees. At the same time, Roth received more notifications.

Bucky, the Husky, has just delivered 500x[Prairie Balm],500x[Acargomar Extract], 400x[Silverleaf Salve], 200x[Evergreen Elixir], 18x[Fox Ginseng], 60x[Wild Garlic], 30x[Morel Shrooms] to Prince Piglet.

“Prince Piglet?” He whirled toward the boar prince and found Bucky panting with his tongue out and tail wagging contentedly. He had moved so fast that it almost felt like he had teleported. The dog was towing a sled as big as a train car.

“Hey, martyr.”

“Bucky!”

Bucky stared at Roth with an easy-looking expression. After he stood still for a few seconds, Roth finally understood his intent and patted him on his head. “You’re such a good dog!” 

Roth sincerely meant what he was saying. The dog had thoroughly impressed him. Not only could he carry tons of goods, but he was fast as lightning, could find his way into every secret chamber in his trade route, and was as silent and discreet as a ghost.

+2 reputation with the dogs.

“Bucky, how is the trade run going?”

“Easy-peasy! Woof! Woof!” Roth guessed that the barking was to add emphasis.

“You can carry so much weight. And you’re so fast.”

“I told you I was a big deal.”

“If you were a big deal, you would never have misplaced that cargo in the tundra,” came the taunt from the cat sitting atop the tree. Oli was here, too.

Ch. 161 - Growth Set

INDEX

 Ch. 163 - Cart Pulling