Chapter 139: Money Talk (1/2)

139 – Money Talk

“Welcome back.”

“Thanks.”

“We’re back.”

When we got back to Black Lotus, we found Elma resting up inside the break room. I, Mimi, and May all went out for business, but this elf sure was living it up huh.

“So, how was it?”

“We found out what we came there for. It looks like the standard bonus for those two would be 10-20% of the total earnings whenever they participate in jobs. It’s reasonable enough.”

“I see. The parts we salvaged the other day already got sold by the way.”

“Oh, really?”

“That was quite fast.”

“Yeah. Here. Take a look.”

I took the tablet terminal from Elma. She then sat down beside me. Mimi sat down opposite me as well and peeked at the terminal screen.

“……They sold for much higher than I thought.”

“Yeah. I also got a bit surprised.”

The sale price displayed on the terminal was higher than I expected. The small chimera ship sold for the price of 55,000 Enels. The medium-sized ship with a relatively undamaged frame and serviceable equipment sold for 90,000 Enels. In addition, the various weapons and parts we stripped from the other downed pirate ships sold for a total of 130,000 Enels.

“Um, so we earned a total of 275,000 Enels, right? It’s a lot more than the bounty rewards.”

” That’s amazing, Hiro-sama.”

“Yeah, it is. It’ll seem even more amazing if you consider the fact that this might be our average earnings from now on. After all, we’re going to be continuing with stripping down all we can from the ships we defeat and bringing those in good condition back to be sold. It’s gonna be great.”

“Wow!”

“The rest of the loot also got sold already as well. All in all, they got sold for 150,000 Enels.”

“This one’s also unexpected.”

“There were quite a lot of rare metals and other valuable minerals after all.”

The total prize money for the bounties was 217,000 Enels. The salvaged ships, weapons, and parts were sold for 275,000 Enels. And the rest of the loot sold for 150,000 Enels. So that makes our total profit 642,000 Enels. If it was from before we got the mothership, we wouldn’t have been able to reach even half the amount of this time’s total profits in a single sortie. So this actually means our average income has practically doubled!

“So how much are you giving those two?”

“I think 10% is appropriate for the work those two put in. What do you guys think?”

“Paying them a fixed amount of 10,000 Enels would suffice as well, I think. But 10 thousand does feel a bit cheap if you consider the fact that they risked their lives too. I’ll leave it up to you, Hiro.”

“I-I also think 10% is fine.”

“Okay then. I’ll pay them 10% of our total earnings. So their bonus is gonna be 27,500 Enels then. The remaining money is 614,500 Enels, so your share is 6,145 Enels and Elma’s is 18,435 Enels. Your share is gonna end up lesser than those two, Mimi. You sure you don’t have any objections?”

I’m also a bit iffy about it as well.

“Well, those two are professionals with the accompanying skills to boot, so I think it’s fine. Mimi has already improved a lot in her job as the ship operator, but she’s still shaky if you want her to transact business within a colony alone. The next step for her is to learn some proper self-defense techniques so she can fend for herself if need be. I’m sorry Mimi, but even though you perform a stellar job as an operator, I still can’t say you’re a full-fledged mercenary if you can’t go out of the ship without an escort.”

“I-I’ll do my best……”

Elma’s so strict when it comes to working. But I can’t really say otherwise since she’s doing such a perfect job as a sub-pilot and can go out of the ship to do errands by herself without any problem. And I bet she can even do a better job than Mimi as a ship operator. She also has quite a lot of channels built up for selling loot. She was formerly a solo ship captain as well, so I guess that’s just to be expected. She’s not a veteran for show.

“The total bonus for those two is 27,500 Enels, so each of them gets 13,750 Enels.”

By the way, my share is 589,920 Enels. It’s too much? No, the ships are a 100% mine y’know. I’m the captain as well as the owner and manager, so this much is fine. I’ll also have to shoulder everyone’s daily expenses too, so it’s just fair.

“My share is just a bit larger than theirs huh. Can you consider raising my salary a bit too, dear captain?”

Elma gazed at me with upturned eyes.

“Please ask for a raise only after you return at least part of your debt, my dear sub-pilot.”

“Oh, can I really?”

“……Are you really in such a hurry to pay it off?”

“Hmm. I wonder.”

Elma smiled teasingly. Damn. She’s really cute. But I still won’t raise her salary. As I was charmed by Elma’s smile, Mimi suddenly hugged my arm. I felt Mimi’s puffed up cheeks as she did so.

“Mimi-san?”

“It’s nothing, Hiro-sama.”

Mimi’s strength has been steadily increasing due to her daily workouts, so she’s now physically stronger than your average adult woman. I’ve also been working out myself so I was also growing in strength, but Mimi’s development also can’t be dismissed. In other words, what I’m trying to say is that her hug now hurts if she does it too strongly. However, the two soft mounds pressing on my arm served as wonderful cushions, so it’s all good. Oh, dear Lord. What bliss.

“That’s playing dirty, Mimi.”

“If I don’t at least do this, I won’t be able to win against you, Elma-san.”

Mimi and Elma seem to be in an argument with me sandwiched between them, but I wasn’t really paying attention since I was busy focusing on the soft sensations assaulting me from the left and right. Who cares anyway.

“Ah–! Boss is flirting around without me!”

“Big sis……”

A cute-sounding high-pitched voice rang out. It looks like May brought the mechanic sisters with her. I turned toward the spot where the voice resounded from and saw Tina running straight toward me, Whisker chasing closely from behind, and May looking apologetic at the very back. And due to Tina’s shout, the two soft sensations left my arms…… Oh, how lamentable. I then stretched out my hands in order to catch the running Tina.

“……!”

The starry-eyed Tina jumped straight into my arms with great momentum. She made quite the jump, but due to her tiny frame, it didn’t have enough force to knock me down.

“There, there. Good girl. Good girl.”

I unknowingly started petting Tina.

“Meooow!”

What are you, a cat? Come to think of it, I haven’t managed to encounter anyone having pets in this dimension yet, but do they actually have them? Cats, I mean. Anyway, I haven’t really seen any cats in the colonies we’ve been to. But was Tina really imitating a cat, or was it another type of similar animal? I’m not sure.

“”……””

“Haau……”

Whisker stopped at an awkward distance from me and her sister. She looks like she wants to have her stop, but doesn’t know how to go about it and just paused in place. Before long, her complexion started going pale and she became teary-eyed. I continued innocently stroking Tina’s head. I ignored the sharp gazes coming at me from left and right. I’mma ignore them no matter what. Whisker looked like she was about to wet herself from the pressure, but I’ll ignore that as well. Of course, I was also completely ignoring May’s gaze. See no evil, folks. See no evil.

“Okay, that’s enough. Turn end! Break up!”

“Uh, why?”