The players had no idea about the undercurrents beneath their exciting and enjoyable gaming experience. These past few days in Chardo Port had been an absolute blast.
The Steam Lords had defended their city and finally weathered the catastrophe that threatened to destroy it. The entire city was in the midst of a celebration. Against this backdrop of joy, the good-as-their-word Halfling lords not only paid the players' commissions in full, but also rewarded them extra for their outstanding performance and heroic feat of independently defending the harbor district.
According to Old Huo's calculations, even the player who earned the least from this major battle would get a four-digit bounty, while the lucky ones would take home more than ten thousand.
Good grief, these Halflings had been at peace for hundreds of years, and they really were loaded. Even in such a miserable state, they could still play the part of "big spenders." The dirt-poor people of Transia were green with envy.
Still, the Halflings' cunning minds really did give them a talent for business.
Almost as soon as the players had collected their rewards and stuffed their bulging purses, Madam Taylor, the black-market big shot who'd rushed back to Chardo Port, organized a black-market trade fair in the city's battered harbor district. She brought out all the good stuff she'd accumulated over the years.
She put more than thirty Dominator-class weapons up for sale in one go, and even used her connections to get twenty sets of exoskeletons from Governor Mirian. In a single night, the players' freshly collected rewards—which they'd barely had time to enjoy—made their way right back to her through the market.
Word had it that an eighty-percent-new walking machine had even appeared at the auction. The players therefore had every reason to suspect that the