Dimensional Trader in Marvel

"Do you want to hire a Naga army? A permanent one?" Hearing Josh's request, Abbendis across the table was quite shocked.

"That's right, didn't you establish a connection with a Naga tribe?" Josh nodded and asked.

"Not exactly... Boss, I did establish a trade relationship with a Naga tribe, but it's just a trade relationship, and they're the ones in control. Your request to permanently hire a Naga army is way beyond the scope!" Facing Josh's request, Abbendis showed a troubled expression.

Over the years, with Josh's "guidance," Abbendis had constantly expanded his power, especially through continuous maritime trade wars. He had become a competent merchant and leader, often negotiating during trade with Josh. (TL/N: The idea of maritime trade warfare is to attack or neutralize the commercial shipping of one's enemy in an effort to disrupt the enemy's economy, make it more difficult for the enemy to continue waging war by disrupting the enemy's military supply chain that uses the sea, or both.)

But this time, his hesitation was real.

Unlike other races in Azeroth that mostly dominate certain areas, the Naga had truly ruled the entire ocean for thousands of years. Their power was terrifying, to say the least.

And because of their long-standing incursions into coastal areas, they were hated by nearly all kingdoms or races.

Only pirates and a few other groups that needed to operate on the seas had any kind of connection with the Naga, and even then, it was never public.

Abbendis' privateer fleet had spent a lot to secretly establish contact with a Naga tribe, ensuring that his ships wouldn't be attacked by these fearsome sea creatures.

In exchange, Abbendis had to provide a large amount of human kingdom goods every year.

Now, Josh wanted him to provide an entire Naga army? What a joke!

Though Josh said it was a permanent hire, it seemed like he was just buying the Naga directly.

How could the Naga possibly sell their own people?

In fact, if Josh only needed one or two, Abbendis could have arranged it. While Naga slaves were rare on the black market, they weren't impossible to find.

But clearly, Josh needed an entire tribe.

It wasn't just about whether Abbendis could manage it; if even a hint of this leaked, his privateer fleet would never sail again.

"I know this is complicated, but you don't have to do it yourself, do you? You could offer a bounty! The Naga may be powerful, but there are just as many enemies: sea giants, murlocs, lobstrok, water elementals, and most land creatures. I believe collecting a batch of Naga wouldn't take long... By the way, you could offer bounties for those other sea creatures I mentioned. I'll accept anyone," Josh said with a grin, bringing out tactics used by Europeans in Africa and the Americas.

Actually, this method had been used by the future Alliance in Azeroth, like the 60s policy toward Centaurians in the Desolate Lands...

Although Abbendis had gained quite a bit of experience over the years, he was still stunned by Josh's strategy.

It was brilliant, and downright ruthless!

Why hadn't he thought of it?

Not just the Naga, but he could use this tactic on any force that was against him!

Of course, it would be hated, so he couldn't be the one doing it directly.

"That's a great plan, but it would require a lot of manpower, and the financial pressure would be huge!" Abbendis said.

"Don't worry about that. I'll provide you with a reliable team to handle everything as intermediaries, so it won't be traced back to you. As for the funds, that's not a problem; I'll supply you with plenty of gold!" Josh said grandly.

While gold still held a lot of value in intergalactic trade, Josh had already connected to so many universes that he had more gold than he could ever use.

And he wasn't afraid of Abbendis asking for a high price.

This guy is very smart. Even if he takes the opportunity to make a big profit from Josh, he knows how to keep it balanced.

Otherwise, not only would future transactions with Josh be problematic, but the excessive flow of gold could cause a collapse in the gold market of Azeroth.

After all, the population of the various races in Azeroth is limited, and not every race deals in gold.

If too much gold floods the market, a collapse in the gold price could happen any minute.

Abbendis, who had learned modern financial knowledge from Josh, understood that if this happened, the only one who would lose out would be him.

That's why, in past transactions, he had been careful to control the amount of precious metals he received from Josh, mostly focusing on food, meat, and other resources instead.

Due to the constant wars in Azeroth, food production was always low, not to mention livestock—although Azeroth had many wild animals, those ferocious beasts were difficult for professionals to handle, let alone the common people.

Because of this, Josh's large stock of dinosaur meat was almost entirely consumed by Abbendis. His privateer fleet had a huge demand for meat.

Vegetables, fruits, and alcohol were in even higher demand.

Every year, Josh had to help Abbendis acquire large amounts of these goods from other planes. Though Josh could buy them from his own world, doing so would cause a spike in prices, as most areas, except for America, were still in a period of resource scarcity after the war.

Because Abbendis was able to provide the necessary resources for his privateer fleet, the loyalty of his fleet's captains was exceptionally high.

In a medieval setting like Azeroth, most people just want to make sure they and their families live well, right?

"Then it's not a problem, but this may take a long time!" Abbendis nodded.

"That's fine, I can wait!" Josh replied.

Although he needed a lot of Vibranium, it wasn't urgent.

After all, the Talokan and underwater Vibranium mines weren't going anywhere in the Bermuda region!

After finishing up with Abbendis, Josh contacted Yuri, hoping to buy a large number of dolphins and giant squids.

However, due to the environmental issues on Yuri's Earth, there weren't many of these creatures in stock. The massive navy the Allies once had had mostly been dismantled. Since Yuri was now focusing on interstellar colonization, keeping Earth's navy in excess was useless, and maintaining it would waste too many resources. It wasn't feasible to send them to other planets.

As for dolphins and squids, these were biological creatures, so health, lifespan, and care were big problems.

So, Yuri didn't waste time and simply gave Josh the technology to breed both creatures for free.

Clearly, Josh wasn't going to breed them himself. He handed the breeding technology to the Austrian military, outlining his requirements.

The Austrian military was, of course, overjoyed.

The navy had always been Austria's weak point. Even though they had received help from the U.S. in acquiring a few large warships and secretly launched some strategic nuclear submarines, they still lacked a truly powerful long-range fleet.

Dolphins and giant squids, however, were excellent ways to leap ahead in naval capabilities.

After dealing with the military needs for the Talokan, Josh, who had been "busy" for a whole year, found himself with free time again.

However, this was when the beacon for a new dimension appeared.

Unfortunately, Josh wasn't very lucky this year. After the beacon activated, the new dimension that appeared wasn't one that would be helpful to him.

Godzilla... but not the proper version of Godzilla. It was the 1998 American version, the mutated giant lizard, the one starring Jean Reno.

And the owner of the beacon? Jean Reno himself... or rather, the French soldier Philippe Roaché, played by him!

But… maybe getting a mutated giant lizard as a pet wouldn't be so bad?

--

One year later!

"Toooooot!" With the sound of a ship's horn, a giant ship flying the Spanish flag sailed across the Bermuda region's sea.

This scene was quite common in the Bermuda waters.

Although Bermuda was surrounded by various mysterious legends, giving it a "no entry" vibe, these were just tales.

While there had been many disappearances and accidents in this sea area, the Bermuda Triangle was one of the busiest shipping routes in the world.

With so many ships and planes passing through, it was only natural that accidents happened often.

But when compared to the total losses of ships and planes worldwide, Bermuda's percentage wasn't particularly high.

Most of the accidents and mysterious tales came from the 17th to 19th centuries.

That era was the peak of the Americas' colonial wars, with many pirate fleets running rampant.

In such times, the disappearance of ships wasn't unusual.

By contrast, in the mid-to-late 20th century, as peace came, disappearances in this sea area became less frequent.

Many of the so-called mysterious incidents, such as the Flight 914 incident, were eventually debunked as rumors. These lies were easy to expose with just a little investigation into the actual incidents.

Before the 21st century, world communications weren't as advanced, making it easier to fabricate stories.

For example, Josh was once tricked by a tale about Einstein failing a math exam and being inspired to work hard, which had fooled him for years.

But in reality, in Germany's education system, a score of one actually meant excellent, the highest score...

However, in the Marvel world Josh found himself in, after conducting a thorough investigation into Bermuda's disappearances, he found that there were indeed some very unusual cases.

But they were only a small fraction.

And now, he was determined to uncover the truth.

Yes, this ship flying the Spanish flag was actually Josh's.

After a year of preparation, Josh was ready to explore Talokan and seize the underwater Vibranium mines.

However, since this mission would be quite loud, Josh decided not to act under Austria's flag.

Though Austria's rise was undeniable, countries around the world were still wary of it.

Even the newly-formed NATO and the Warsaw Pact had secretly made agreements to restrict Austria in many areas. (TL/N: The Warsaw Pact, officially the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty established in 1955 by the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republics. It served as a military alliance and political counterbalance to NATO during the Cold War.)

Without Josh as a backer, Austria would have faced even more restrictions, much like future Eastern powers.

Austria's geographical location, right in the middle of two major powers, made things awkward.

Had it not been for the ongoing standoff between Germany and the Arctic region, Austria's situation would have been even worse.

Even with Josh's huge industries in the United States, the U.S. government didn't crack down on them.

In fact, the U.S. and Austria continued to cooperate in the trade of military equipment.

But in the past year, Josh had barely returned to the U.S.

This wasn't because he was afraid of anything.

After all, with his current power, there was nothing on Earth that could threaten him—not even the full might of the U.S. military.

The reason he hadn't gone back was simply to avoid any awkwardness.

"Sir, we've reached the designated sea area, and there's no sign of any interfering forces nearby." A calm middle-aged voice echoed in the cabin—Pangu AI was informing Josh that they had reached their destination.

Upon hearing this, Josh put down the scroll he was reading, left the cabin, and made his way to the deck, greeted by the crew's salutations.

On the deck, the main leaders of the operation had already gathered, waiting for Josh's orders.

The team was very diverse.

There were humans, with the representative being none other than Josh's trusted confidant, Vito.

There were also Naga, represented by a sea witch named Narathas, who was the strongest among the Naga Abbendis had obtained over the past year.

Additionally, there were Lobstrok, Sea Giants, and Walrus Men, all captured and "bought" by Abbendis as prisoners of war, as per Josh's instructions.

Below deck, the massive ship carried a large number of soldiers from these oceanic races.

These soldiers had undergone both Yuri's brainwashing and the magical control of the elven mages.

Their loyalty was off the charts!

In fact, inside Josh's inventory, there was even a Godzilla!

--

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