Chapter 139 – Fairly Rescue (1/2)

Harja! It's good to see you're alright!”

I forced a smile as I approached the chieftain.

”Hey! Looks like you've been having trouble huh?”

But somehow, Geirskogul ruined my attempt at pleasantries immediately. The scowl which the dragonkin leader gave the both of us told me more than enough.

”You...”

”But you know, it's a bit frustrating that now I owe you two, though.”

Frankly speaking, I didn't want to damage our relations in the slightest. Harja hadn't liked me from the beginning, and while that wasn't something I could do anything about, lowering her hostility towards me as a whole was something I would like, and have already made efforts towards.

But it was clear my efforts were only providing limited results, and she was far from getting over her initial dislike of me.

Having Geirskogul set me back due to his thoughtlessness wasn't really something I could afford.

Frankly speaking, he was quite a lot like some of the fairies despite how badly the imps got along with them.

”O...owe?”

”That's right. You came and saved us back when the intruders first showed up, then again you held back most of the group leaving us free to go directly for our objective.”

I gently stroked the body of the canister in my arms as if it was an infant.

Killing that assassin was really just a bonus.

”Though, I'm sorry that due to us, you lost your prey.”

I did my best to make my apology seem as heart felt as possible. While I couldn't condone murder, it was clear that to her it was a hunt, and we were the cause for the remaining members of the group to retreat.

That wasn't to say that Harja and her subordinates were guaranteed to actually succeed in their hunt, but the fact that my actions did inadvertently forcibly end it was a fact.

Acknowledging that much shouldn't cause trouble for me. Or rather, it was possible that it would placate the dragonkin leader.

”If there's anything I could do in return, don't hesitate to ask.”

”Hmph.”

It didn't seem like my words had much of an effect on the woman towering over me. She barely even gave me a glance.

”Maybe I could make a large amount of some sort of dish you liked? Or some drink?”

She did like some of the things I made before. At least it seemed like it, but as she never really vocalized any opinions, or even asked me to make any more of anything, it was hard to say that she actually liked it, or simply consumed them for appearance's sake.

But her subordinates did properly enjoy many of the things, so it couldn't be some sort of racial difference.

And to my pleasant surprise, the fingers on her crossed arms did twitch a bit when I mentioned a drink. Maybe this line of thought wasn't wrong at all.

”I mean, I would really like to pay off my debts to you, but there's so little I have which such a strong chieftain could want. I mean, the chieftain of the dragonkin? Seriously, you have power, you have lots of strong people under you, and since I've already opened up the dungeon to everyone, you even have the means to get some of the best food ingredients. The only thing I have that could be of value to someone who has almost everything is my recipes.”

If I wasn't imagining it, I was sure that Harja was standing a bit more straight than just moments before.

It didn't really feel good to kiss her ass like this, but if a bit of pampering her pride meant that our relationship would tip away from hostile, it would be worth it.

”But if there's a chance that there's anything amongst my recipes that you want, maybe I can pay my debt through it?”

It was a bit shrewd, using the recipes that I had stolen from Earth to improve our relationship. But at the same time, I might as well use the one advantage I held over her that I hadn't already promised away.

”Fire water.”

”Huh?”

Her voice was low, so I wasn't quite sure I caught what came from it.

”That fire water. I want that.”

Turning to face me directly, she looked down at me imposingly while declaring what it was she wanted.

”Ah, you mean vodka? Sure. I'll prepare a few barrels of it as soon as possible.”

The little twitch at the corner of her lip when I mentioned barrels gave me confidence that I had won my bet.

”But that alone is a bit short, since I owe you twice. How about I teach one of your guys how to make it as well?”

”Hmph. You planning on winning my favour by wagging your tail like some hatchling?”

”Eh, well, I mean, rather than that, I just want to pay my entire debt as soon as possible you know? It doesn't feel good to owe someone when I have the ability to pay it off, you know?”

Whether I was successful at covering myself up or not, I couldn't read it from her expression. At the very least, she didn't seem to press any harder in regards to the matter.

”Well, fine then.”

And with those words, Harja presented her hand to me.

I stared at the hand for a moment before looking up at its owner's face. The dragonkin chieftain didn't have any particular sort of expression on at first, but as I stared it warped into a scowl.

”What? You can't shake my hand?”

”Ah, no! I mean yes!”

I quickly grabbed her hand and shook it, making sure my grip was strong, like I put all my sincerity into it. I remembered reading that limp wrested handshakes was actually a form of insult and firm handshakes was a sign of respect and trust.

After we let go, Harja gave me one last look before turning to her subordinates.

Past her, I saw Magni as he looked on.

The young dragonkin looked away when he noticed my glance, and after a moment of gaze wandering awkwardness, he turned to me and waved his hand. I waved back and gave him a casual smile before turning away.

While I was worried when Harja and her people found out about Magni, especially after I saw how desperate he tried to avoid them. But lately it seemed like things were a bit better. If they weren't he wouldn't have been chosen to come with Harja in her hunt after all.

”Hey, sorry about your sword Sarah.”

I returned the mithril sword I borrowed from our resident FPS player. Even if she didn't really use it, I still felt bad about the abuse I put it through.

The once shiny pearl white sword was quite dinged up with chips in its blade. It wasn't so bad that it couldn't be fixed up, but it would take quite a bit of work. If she wasn't too attached to it, it might actually be easier to scrap it and forge a new one.

”Naw, it's fine. I barely used it anyways.”

The moment she received the weapon, Sarah chucked the thing into her bag, barely giving it a glance.

”By the way, that last shot was quite impressive. What was it anyways? An adamantium bullet?”

”That's right! It was a copper jacketed adamantium core bullet! Oh man, I had to beg so hard to get that scrap adamantium and have it shaped just right! Did you know that even in this country, there's barely any of the stuff? I wanted some tungsten, but nobody's even heard of it. But when I heard about adamantium, I got so excited! But apparently only the most important smiths have any, and they used almost all of it up to make their tools! In the end, there wasn't enough to make any parts for my gun. Only that one bullet. Oh, I gotta go and find it. Maybe I can fix it up and reuse it.”

”Wait!”

”What? You don't need anything from me anymore right? If I don't look for it now, there's no way I'll find a single used bullet later on!”

”No, what I mean is, I want to give you something for helping me so much today. If you want adamantium, then I can just give you a few ingots of it!”

”Really! You're the best bud ever!”

Sarah leapt onto me, pushing my face into her boobs. They weren't as big as my own, but they were big enough to stop me from being able to breath. And after a few moments, once it was clear that the woman wasn't about to let me go to refill my lungs, I quickly stopped returning her hug and started to tap her shoulder to be let go.

”Oh, sorry.”

”No problem.”

If something like some adamantium made her that happy, then I wasn't going to get angry about it.

”I'll get you the adamantium later. Maybe you'll like some orichalcum to go with it?”

”What's that?”

Considering where she came from, I wasn't too surprised by that response.

”It's a metal that's really good at being a magical conductor. Maybe it could help improve your rifle in some way? Like in your expansion chamber?”

”Hmmm. It's worth a shot I guess. I'll take some.”

”Alright. You'll have to wait a bit on the adamantium, though I do have orichalcum and mithril for now. I'll give those after we've cleaned up.”

”No problem.”

”Geirskogul, you too. Thanks for the help. Same with you three as well.”

Next, I turned to the four imps who followed me here.

”Ah, it's all good! We had a bunch of fun!”

”””Yea!!!”””

It was a bit cute how Geirskogul's subordinates cheered they way they did.

”Even still, I owe you guys as well.”

”Nah! We had fun! That's all that matters!”

”””Yea! Fun!”””

”Well, how about this? I make you dinner? You can have lots of candies and treats.”

”Candies!”

”Treats!”

”Sweets?”

”No, well, I mean...but...”

Unusually, the imp chieftain hesitated at the thought of being rewarded with treats. Normally he'd be at the front of the line to fill up on sweets.

”I know you think you don't need to be compensated because you had fun, but enjoying what you did has no thing to do with the fact that you helped me out. You both came to my rescue and came with me to get Orphne's soul. You deserve it. And I want to reward you for it. Is that wrong?”

”Ah, umm, no. I guess it's not. Yea. It's not! Alright! Candies!”

”I'll make sure to prepare a whole bunch for tomorrow then.”

”Yea!”

”””Yea!”””

With the imps all excited, I finally turned to the last member of our little expedition.

”Claret, you had enough?”

”Huh? Oh yes, Master!”

I've been doing my best to ignore the bloody pile of dented metal despite the fact that I was salivating the entire time so much from the smell that I was worried I'd start dirtying my robes.

That familiar of mine hopped over, the sound of metal screeching as she pulled her feet from the mess.

”Geez, you got yourself so dirty. Here.”

I conjured up some warm water and rubbed it along her body wherever I found blood and gore sticking to her. Frankly, I was amazed she took things this far. And that expression full of happiness and joy told me just how much stress she'd managed to pound out of her.

”Thank you Master!”

”Yea yea. Well, it's the usual anyways.”

While she rarely got herself dirty like this, having to clean up and take care of her like she was a child wasn't anything new. If anything, it's completely endearing.

”Now, what to do with this trash...”

I glanced over at the mostly unrecognizable pile of meat, blood, and bent metal while I casually stroked Claret's hair.

”Well, whatever.”

Rather than really think about it, I just set the entire thing to fire. The blue-white flames quickly incinerated all traces of that assassin's body, his armour even warping and partially melting from my casual incineration.

In the end, all that was left was a black circle of earth with a bunch of glowing pieces of deformed metal no longer in a state that could identify what they originally were.

”Sarah, do you want these pieces?”

”Sure. You're not going to use them, right?”

”No way in hell.”