Gamers of the Underworld

Leather Shoe walked out of the red light district of the busy central zone in the early morning.

After learning from a Succubus all night, his clothing was a mess, and he was exhausted.

He was glad that he wasn’t bothered by his work. It was wonderful that he could focus on learning the entire night.

Though it was after work time, Leather Shoe remembered that he had handed his work to the temporary workers.

He wanted to check on the temporary workers.

When Leather Shoe returned to the municipal temporary shelter, he only saw the place filled with sleeping Goblins, Gnomes, and Orcs. There was no sight of the two Goblin workers.

“Wait, where are they?”

Leather Shoe was taken aback. He saw a Goblin tramp walking out of the temporary shelter holding a clay sandwich in his hand.

Leather Shoe pulled the tramp aside and asked, “Do you know where the two workers who sent you here yesterday are?”

The tramp was befuddled and said, “Gosh, am I receiving a Strange Encounter Mission?”

Leather Shoe frowned, wondering if the tramp was out of his mind.

When Leather Shoe was about to ask the other tramps, the “mad” tramp pounced and grabbed his thigh, saying, “Bro, please wait for a while. I know where they are. They went to the west park to collect vending fees!”

Leather Shoe was bewildered. “They are collecting vending fees?”

…

The west park of Venice was full of street peddlers selling their goods. Their stalls were densely packed, leaving only enough space for three to four creatures to walk through.

These creatures had a special feature, they had green symbols above their heads. They were from Eternal Kingdom.

The gamers read on the discussion forum that they could peddle their goods in the west park if they paid a certain fee. Hence, the gamers went to the west park to take a look.

Then they started to display their goods after finding their spots.

Before long, the Garrison Guards came to disperse the gamers.

“Why are you vending your goods here? Do you have a business license? Do you have a vending license? Have you paid taxes on your goods? Have the goods passed the required inspection?”

A gamer was baffled by the barrage of questions.

Then the gamer was brought away by the Garrison Guards.

The gamer was arrested, and his goods were confiscated. Consequently, other gamers were also arrested.

Many gamers tried to peddle their goods but were later arrested by the Garrison Guards as well.

The incident was exposed on the forum, and the gamers were lodging complaints. The two temporary Goblin workers happened to see the complaints.

They weren’t fearful since it was only temporary work. At most, they would get fired.

The two Goblin workers made their way to the Venice Garrison Guard station with their work permits.

If the temporary municipal work allowed the workers to collect vending fees, then they would make a huge fortune overnight.

The Venice Garrison Guards were astonished that the two Goblin workers had followed the municipal regulations.

A municipal official clarified that the west park had been designated a vending zone and showed the work permits of the two Goblin workers.

After checking the work permits several times, the Garrison Guards certified that they were genuine. Thus, they had to release the arrested gamers reluctantly.

The discussion forum exploded with excitement.

Nobody expected that the arrested gamers would be released. Did it indicate that they could peddle their goods at the west park?

Many more gamers flooded to the west park.

Some residents of Venice went to the park with their magical lamps early in the morning, intending to do some morning exercise. They were shocked by what they saw.

A befuddled Gnome resident who was wearing running pants was approached by a Goblin holding a pair of scissors. The Goblin said to the bald resident, “Boss, do you want a haircut?”

The Goblin, who had green symbols above his head, pointed to the shop behind him. A stone tablet was placed on a rock, and the tablet had the words “Stingy Salon” on it. Following that was an introduction:

“Haircut followed by hair blowing: A hundred times for one Magic Stone.

Dyeing and perming of hair: Ten times for one Magic Stone.

The grand opening discount is valid only for a short time.”

The bald Gnome was tempted. He knew that the hairdresser was good just by looking at the shop name.

“Can you give me an orange dye followed by a perm? I feel that my punk hairstyle isn’t good,” the Gnome pointed to his bald head and said.

“No problem.” The Goblin was pleased and said, “I’ll make sure you’re satisfied.”

The Goblin gamer pulled the Gnome to the stone seat excitedly before he went to look for orange dyed skins for his customer’s hairstyle.

Besides service-oriented vendors, there were more stalls that catered to other gamers.

The gamers were the main consumers, after all.

Underworld residents had to work to pay for food, lodging, mortgage, their children’s education, medical insurance, and other miscellaneous expenses.

The money that they earned from their hard work wasn’t able to meet their expenses.

Therefore, they didn’t have money to buy the gamers’ weapons and equipment.

Adventures were only meant for risk-takers.

The residents who lived in the Dungeons of the Merchant Alliance weren’t keen on fighting and combat.

The gamers were different. Though they earned little, they spent their money very fast!

The maintenance fees of weapons and equipment were enormous. That wasn’t taking into account replacement costs.

There was an online auction system for selling goods.

But after the Open Beta, the auction system became congested and charged unreasonable handling fees. On the other hand, street peddlers only had to pay a one-time fee for a permanent vending spot. The gamers had the ultimate freedom to choose their spots based on a first-come-first-serve basis.

These were face-to-face transactions without any handling fees!

Venice was very far from Eternal Kingdom, but there were a lot of gamers who went there to do their Daily Missions. Moreover, Lord Sherlock had been encouraging gamers to work in Venice.

There was overcrowding in Winterfell and Eternal Kingdom. Venice was better with a new vending location.

Thus, many gamers decided to settle in Venice!

When Leather Shoe arrived at the park that was congested with peddlers, he was in a state of shock.