The dragon just wants to stay at home, but the players are frantically upgrading their technology.

As a seasoned smuggler, Frye knew that once he paid the money before crossing the border, he was the boss and it was okay for him to throw a tantrum occasionally.

But once you cross the border, if you can't figure out who's in charge, you might lose your head.

“Mr. Frye, there are three kobolds blocking our way on the mountain road ahead. The leader is a dragonblood warrior, and the other two are carrying furs and some grass. They have also set up an ambush around the area.”

"After being discovered, they didn't attack. Instead, they came up to us, speaking in an unfamiliar language, and their dogs kept barking."

As Grayson approached Frye, his expression grew increasingly strange.

"Perhaps...they want to make a deal?"

At the end, Grayson revealed his guess.

"trade?"

Frye raised an eyebrow. Kobolds, such lowly creatures, are usually chaotic and cunning. Why would they want to trade?

"Go and see."

Fry strode forward, his mind racing with doubts, but as a smuggler, he didn't want to miss out on any opportunity for profit.

Grayson, in particular, mentioned fur.

Grayson followed without saying a word, placing his hand beside the longsword at his waist, ensuring he could act at any moment.

"Woof woof woof! Woof woof woof woof woof! Woof..."

Sure enough, not long after we left, we heard the sound of dogs barking in the distance.

"..."

Looking at the two players beside him who had been shouting for a long time and were now starting to bark like mad dogs, and then at the scout whose expression had not changed at all, who did not say a word and would not let him pass, Zhan Shuai was completely numb.

He had already realized that there was a language barrier.

"Wait, production team, do you really need to be this hardcore?"

Zhan Shuai kept complaining and cursing the production team.

No wonder, the setting of fellow villager Long is that of a time traveler; so this is what was waiting for them here.

But what kind of decent game development team would create a language just for a game?

At this moment, Zhan Shuai truly had a love-hate relationship with the game's realism and hardcore nature.

Just as the Warlord was feeling conflicted, Grayson and Fry bypassed the guards and came to stand before him.

"This is a smuggler? He's old and ugly, and not even dressed as well as the guards next to him. He doesn't look like someone who makes huge profits at all!"

“Wealth shouldn’t be flaunted. But this smuggler has made us shout for ages. Why don’t we rob him later and then we’ll know if he’s rich or not?”

"It's not impossible~"

Before Zhan Shuai could speak, the two kobold players behind him started discussing.

Although the two were discussing something dangerous, to Frye it was like the barking of a dog; he couldn't understand a word of it.

"This...this is the hide of a tusked wild boar?"

As soon as he got closer, Frye noticed the boar hide in the hands of the player behind him.

After being tanned by the player, the wild boar hide is no longer recognizable as it was originally.

At this moment, the wild boar skin is grayish-brown, hard, and covered with pinhole-like pores.

Even so, Frye recognized him at a glance.

Especially those large pores, and the hair roots that hadn't been removed, were exactly the same as what he had received from the demi-human race before.

And their crude tanning techniques are no different from those of other demi-human races.

"Tsk tsk, as expected of lowly kobolds, what a waste of such a fine tusked boar hide!"

"This is excellent material for making leather armor!"

Taking advantage of the fact that the kobolds in front of him couldn't understand, Frye made no attempt to hide his true intentions.

"However, with some recycling and processing, it won't be too bad."

Turning his gaze away, Fry muttered something to himself.

"What are you chattering about?"

Knowing that the other side wouldn't understand, Zhan Shuai said whatever he wanted, pointing at Frye and then at the fur.

"Someone who understands Chinese can do the work? Just a smattering, do you even want to do the work?"

Seeing the muscular Warmaster make this move, Frye was not afraid at all; instead, he laughed.

This is money, even if it's a little less, it's still money.

"I want to see!"

Fry pointed to the fur, then to his own eyes, indicating that he wanted to take a look.

After a difficult exchange of body language, the two players roughly understood each other's meaning.

At Zhan Shuai's signal, the player holding the fur muttered to himself as he brought up the wild boar hide and placed it on the ground.

Frye also gestured to the people who followed him to fetch some goods.

"Hmm...it's alright, the technique is a bit rough, but the ingredients are decent!"

As he squatted down to inspect the items, Fry praised them verbally, but his face didn't show any satisfaction.

Beside him, Zhan Shuai looked at what Frye's men had brought over and gave them a look of utter disgust.

On the ground lay a pile of farm tools, broken pots, crudely made weapons, cheap wine, and coarse salt mixed with sand and yellowish hues.

"two!"

Fry walked over, pointed to something on the ground, and then held up two fingers.

"five!"

Zhan Shuai immediately understood what he meant, stood up, and held up five fingers.

"two!"

"five!"

Looking at Frye's dark face, Zhan Shuai was so angry he gritted his teeth. What kind of junk did this old man bring? He even tried to bargain down the price.

However, we can't win now, and we shouldn't fight.

The camp also needs iron tools to rapidly develop productivity and produce weapons and equipment to fight goblins.

Then, Zhan Shuai began a fierce bargaining session.

Ultimately, the transaction was successfully completed with four items and a wild boar hide as the final outcome.

After the first step of the transaction was completed, Zhan Shuai raised his hand, signaling the players hiding in the forest to come down with the remaining pelts.

"you!"

Seeing the War Commander's actions and the kobolds rushing out, Frye's heart tightened, and he took several steps back, reaching for the weapon hidden at his waist.

Grayson, standing to the side, also changed his expression slightly and almost drew his sword.

But when they saw the good quality pelts in the kobold's hands, Frye and Grayson immediately understood what was going on.

The boar hide with long tusks that we just saw was just something this kobold used to scout ahead.

"Ha! What cunning kobolds! I'll take your remaining pelts myself."

Frye withdrew his gaze, turned to look at Zhan Shuai, his eyes filled with admiration mixed with a hint of dislike.

This guy is just like all those businessmen—shrewd and cunning.

Exactly, why not just let go of any profit?

However, I'll still profit no matter what.

Fry looked at the pile of trash on the ground and chuckled to himself.

These weren't proper goods, but rather junk left over from his shop that he couldn't sell.

As for the good stuff we bought, we'll save it to slaughter those subhuman races in the northern grasslands.

These lowly kobolds are already blessed by God to be able to use what they can't sell.

After some more haggling, Zhan Shuai finally obtained several pieces of ironware, a large pot, a small amount of scrap iron, and two bags of salt in exchange for a dozen or so ordinary animal hides and a monster hide.

As for the herbs, Frye didn't even glance at them from beginning to end.

And so, despite neither side showing much respect for the other, the transaction was completed despite the language barrier.

Grayson, who was standing to the side, had been listening to Frye's complaints and ramblings all along and was already used to it.

This is what these smugglers are like.

Even Grayson himself thought so, considering these demi-human races crude and barbaric.

"Hey bro, are you guys planning to rob him of a ticket later?"

Watching Frye's convoy disappear into the distance, Zhan Shuai spoke softly to the two players beside him.

"What's wrong? Can't I just rob it?"