Harem Legion: Queens of the Apocalypse-Chapter 97 What Men Offer, I Take or Burn

The Ice Regiment had been combing the villages lately, but they didn’t haul in much rice - most of their time was spent around the meteorite, and Magnus hadn’t given any special orders on the food front.

After over 30 minutes of back-and-forth, Evan and his four teammates still couldn’t outtalk the women. Magnus finally stepped in and gave a little ground, sealing the deal.

Evan’s convoy - four box trucks and five trailers - rolled in and linked up with the Ice Regiment. Each side sent 20 people to tally the goods and draft the list. Since Magnus’s team only had three trucks, Evan agreed to sell them two of his box trucks in exchange for 100 crates of bottled water per truck. No bottles included - bring your own containers.

Caroline and Sophie handled the handover. Magnus, Isabel, Evan, and a couple folks from the first batch of traders, including the middle-aged guy, stayed in the sleeper truck.

Seeing that the deal was legit, the middle-aged trader started to panic. "Hey, little brother, you’ve already given them water - what about us?"

Isabel shot him a look and said, "Didn’t you just say you weren’t trading? Called them our hired actors, didn’t you? What now? Changed your mind?"

"We never said that! We’ll trade!" the man snapped. "They’ve got stuff - we’ve got stuff too. We’ve got gas cylinders! You can’t do this to us! Save us some water, won’t you? Otherwise we’ll all be dying of thirst!"

"We’ll talk after their trade’s done," Magnus said calmly. But he already had a rough idea - there were about 7 to 8 tons of water on the fire truck, and one ton could fill 2,000 half-liter bottles. No way Evan’s group would use it all up.

Outside, the water trade was a noisy mess. Most of the water came without containers, so folks had to get creative - pots, bowls, pans, you name it. Ice Regiment members just poured it in bottle by bottle, not caring if it was drinkable.

After two hours, the trade wrapped up. Evan’s team asked, "If we want to trade water with you again, how do we find you?"

"Right here, of course!" Isabel grinned. "Didn’t you grab a copy of the price list? Just bring us the stuff on there - we won’t cheat anyone."

Caroline came into the truck and showed Magnus the final record: two box trucks acquired, one ton of rice, 377 women’s designer bags, 75 sets of new quilts, 155 pieces of new women’s clothing, and some random odds and ends... 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The Ice Regiment had paid with 5,977 bottles of half-liter mineral water. Of those, 2,000 came with bottles.

Magnus frowned at the numbers. Three tons of water didn’t bother him - one Nature Crystal could make 2,000 tons. What stung was losing those 2,000 plastic bottles. He’d handed them over - how was he supposed to trade with anyone else now?

After sending off Evan’s convoy, Magnus wasn’t as thrilled as the rest. He asked Caroline, "How many bottled waters do we have left?"

"Let me think..." she said. "Still got around 300 crates, 24 bottles in each... a bit over 7,000 bottles."

"Magnus, you’re worried we’ll run out of bottles, aren’t you?" Isabel asked.

He gave a small nod. "Do we still have other containers that can hold water?"

"Plenty," she said. "Sealed containers, fuel drums, those big white barrels - 100 liters, 50 liters - we’ve still got a decent stash in the truck. Liana helped us find them earlier. And besides, we don’t have to worry too much. Any convoy coming to trade water will always bring their own containers. They’re just as scared we’ll give water but not the bottles."

She turned to the three men nearby. "Hey, your team brought containers, right?"

"We did..." The middle-aged man gave an awkward smile. "But do you still have water to trade with us?"

Knowing they had containers eased Magnus’ mind. "One gas tank gets you ten boxes of bottled water. That’s 240 bottles. If you don’t want the bottles, I’ll give you 300 straight."

Three hundred bottles meant 150 liters. If he could keep the bottles, that made his job easier.

"Deal! We don’t want the bottles!" the man said quickly. "Whatever you’ve got left, we’ll take! Come on, let’s start now!"

Compared to Evan’s convoy, this one looked less impressive, but they brought more water. Why? Because gas tanks were a rare commodity. Ice Regiment didn’t have any.

All 166 tanks got traded - took four hours. One tank turned into 150 liters. In total, they walked away with 25 tons of water. Their containers only held about 7 tons. The man suddenly didn’t want to continue - said they were done. But a deal was a deal. They said they’d trade 166 tanks, and Ice Regiment still had plenty of water.

They took 7 tons with them. For the remaining 18 tons, Magnus delivered it himself. At their camp in a nearby village, they pointed him to a dried-up well. Magnus unleashed the Nature Crystal, dug in his heels, and blasted the water out like a fire hose. Less than five minutes, well filled, transaction done.

When Magnus returned to camp, it was past 7 p.m. First thing he did was check the gas tanks. All there. He was pleased - those were way better than those useless fashion bags.

But gas tanks took up space. Couldn’t stack them either. Magnus told Caroline to round up a team and send three trucks full of gas tanks back to the bunker.

*****

After refilling the firetruck’s tanks, he hopped onto the sleeper bus. First thing he saw? The women laughing and trying on new clothes, twirling around with their new bags.

One of the girls, halfway through changing, yelped when she saw him and covered her chest - then giggled, posing playfully with both hands in the air. The rest burst into laughter.

Magnus cleared his throat and kept his eyes down as he went back to his bunk. Another round of laughter followed him. Felt like they were making fun of him. Not gonna lie - it stung a little.

He shut the curtains around his bed, lay down, and a thought crossed his mind. A Nature Crystal appeared in his hand, glinting softly in the dim light.