With a somewhat tired look on my face, I went down to the first floor of the Hunter Guild, where I found all three of them together, including Zink-kun.
âHey, I heard you were looking for me too, Zink-kun?â
âYes! I was wondering where you were stayingâŠI didnât expect to find you sleeping in a tree!â
âThatâs right. I didnât think Iâd be sleeping in a tree again either, even though weâre in town⊠but Iâll be fine after today!â
Jajaan! Iâll show them the leather bag that Guild Master gave me.
âââOh, oh, oh, oh!ââââ
Whoa, Potta-kun seems to recognize this leather bag too, Gufufu.
I sit down where the three of them are sitting and put the leather bag on the table.
âIâll check the contents right away! Iâll buy Potta-kunâs skewers of meat soon, so just wait for me.â
âWhy did they give you this?â
âI heard that the mayor gave it to me as a thank-you for rescuing Mei-chan and the others.â
âOh, I think the guildâs emergency request usually pays 100,000 Bikes for one person to come back alive, right?â
âYes⊠but⊠no, never mind.â
Zink-kunâs statement is kind of disturbing, but itâs something I donât really understand, so I canât honestly care.
Anyway, I turn the leather bag upside down and several golden coins fall out.
Jingling jingling jinglingâŠ
âLetâs see⊠15 coins in all. How much is one of these coins worth?â
âA thousand Bikes a piece.â
âSo thatâs 150,000 Bikes⊠thatâs still great!â
âBut you could have gotten more if it was an urgent request from the guild!â
âYou idiot! If such a request is posted, weâll be punished even if we get back alive!â
âWhat? Is that what happens?â
I couldnât help but interject at the unexpected mention of punishment.
âOh. If you donât come back after exceeding the request schedule, the guild will request an urgent search and rescue. If you are found, the hunter who survives will be charged a fine for the inconvenience and the money will be deducted from your subsequent rewards.â
âI see⊠what about this time?â
âWell, since itâs before the emergency request, the penalty should be minimal. It is too early for an urgent request to be issued. I think the mayor gave you a small gratuity in exchange, less than what the guild would have given you.â
Hmmm.
This too is at odds with Jagov-sanâs explanationâŠ
Jagov-san seems to be a bit of a shady salesman.
He may not be a bad guy, but he has an atmosphere that he tries to pull out his true feelings by shaking you with ingratitude and emotions, and then tries to do something from there.
I probably wonât be able to beat that guy with words.
âWell, I got what I got, so thatâs good! It seems like everyone else isnât getting punished either! Anyway, Iâll buy everyone a meat skewer!â
âYay! Iâll have one!â
âAre you sure? You saved my life, and now youâre going to give us something again⊠Iâll take only one skewer!â
âPotta-kun, you can have two without restriction. I got some meat from you earlier. So please bring us five meat skewers, auntie!â
âYou returned the favor so soon. Youâre so fast!â
I saw that each skewer cost 300 Bikes.
Itâs a small price to pay for something like that.
Iâd like you to accompany me for a little while afterwardâŠhmmm.
âAh! Thatâs right! Iâll give you the money for yesterdayâs materials. How much do you need?â