CH 136

Chapter 136 – Special Reward

“Assuming the rescue operation is successful, King Dragia and the others will surely investigate who did it. And sooner or later, it will be obvious that Rajie, who disappeared from the scene, is a suspect.” (Bouchi)

“In all likelihood, yes. Rajie-dono’s position isn’t hard to connect to the identity of that woman called Shuren. He has more than enough motive to rescue Nike, her posthumous child.” (Shiki)

“Yeah. And so… it’d probably be best to assume that they know that I, or rather, Hakumen, had been in contact with Rajie, right?” (Bouchi)

After all, I had met the old man in the palace and been invited onto his carriage there. It was very likely that someone had seen that.

Then the rescue operation would take place right after that, and Rajie would also disappear, so it wasn’t hard to somehow suspect that Hakumen was involved in some way. Moreover, Rajie was a former merchant. There might be people who would think that there was possibly a connection between the merchants originally.

“It just comes down to which side to take then.” (Shiki)

“Nope, I’ve already decided that, haven’t I? I’m going to stick with Rajie’s side.” (Bouchi)

“Is that alright?” (Shiki)

“The business deal with King Dragia and the other leaders is tempting. But it takes time to earn that money from them. In comparison, I could make a fortune in one fell swoop if I stick with Rajie’s side, you know?” (Bouchi)

“Haha, that’s an answer quite befitting milord.” (Shiki)

Rather than betting on future returns, I wanted to prioritize the money I could obtain immediately.

“Right, I should probably check it out.” (Bouchi)

I decided to open the and check the selling price of the treasure held in the .

With that much treasure, it would definitely exceed ¥100,000,000. No, it might even be over ¥1 billion… or so I thought. The actual figure left me speechless.

“What’s the matter, milord?” (Shiki)

“……..” (Bouchi)

“….Milord?” (Shiki)

—¥30.5 billion.

I looked it over again and again to make sure I wasn’t counting it wrong, but it really said ¥30.5 billion, which was way more than I had been expecting.

“S-Shiki… This is amazing…! Don’t be surprised, alright? The treasure’s selling price is— ¥30.5 billion.” (Bouchi)

“What?! That’s the cost of like 20 unique skills, isn’t it?!” (Shiki)

In other words, I could buy 20 skills if I wanted to. What in the world is this? Is this a bug or something?

“I had no idea it would be worth this much… It seems I can also check the composition of the treasure, too. Might as well take a look.” (Bouchi)

There were many different kinds of valuables amongst the treasure, not just gold coins. The gold coins were worth about ¥10,000 each, but since there were about a million of them, this placed their total value at a whopping ¥10 billion.

The rest were gems, weapons, and armor, but…

“Apparently most of these things are artifacts. Some are just ordinary gems, but all of them are extremely valuable.” (Bouchi)

There were rubies and sapphires, which also existed on Earth, but some of them were minerals characteristic of a fantasy world.

“Were there any weapons of high value?” (Shiki)

“Yes, the Scarlet Water Dragon Axe and the Fish King’s Scale Shield. Both of them cost ¥700,000,000. Incredible…” (Bouchi)

There were also accessories with all kinds of different effects and enchantments, each of which exceeded ¥100,000,000 in value. In terms of rank, they were probably A-Rank or S-Rank items.

“How could the Chancellor have hidden so much wealth?” (Shiki)

“Well, he was running the Empire behind the scenes, so he must have had his ways.” (Bouchi)

The items were likely forcibly taken from citizens, merchants, and adventurers. He did seem like the kind of person who would commit such atrocities without batting an eyelid.

“I wonder if I’ll even be able to have half of it…?” (Bouchi)

“Who knows? More than that, do Rajie and the others even have an accurate grasp of how much value there is here?” (Shiki)

“…Rajie-san, that old geezer. If it’s him, he would probably know.” (Bouchi)

After all, he had the skill, . He could probably ascertain the value with one glance. That was how he had experienced a meteoric rise as a merchant.

“Even if I can’t get half, maybe even a third… or even a quarter of it, that would be a pretty big profit.” (Bouchi)

Even a quarter would be worth around ¥7 billion. It would be the biggest reward to date.

“What do you think about increasing the commission fee for their request by playing a bigger role in the rescue operation, Shiki?” (Bouchi)

“Hm, I see. Perhaps by rescuing Nike ourselves?” (Shiki)

“That might be a good idea. If Rajie and the others get Nike back in one piece and move to the island I’ve prepared for them, they probably wouldn’t hound me over it.” (Bouchi)

All of the credit would go to me alone. That way, I would be able to reel in a bigger fraction of the reward.

“But if we’re going to do that, I’m going to have to investigate a bunch of different things. I don’t know much about the palace, and I don’t even know where Nike is being held.” (Bouchi)

There wouldn’t be any problem even if I took Nike in a somewhat forceful manner, but it was risky if I took too long. Well, even if we did get caught in the act, we could just use a and escape in an instant.

“If this is what we’ve decided to go with, it’s a race against time. We need to get this done before tomorrow night.” (Bouchi)

I used a [Copy Doll] and made a copy of Bouchi Hiro, and then I immediately went to Joysprout Island. After meeting up with Izu and the others there, I told them about what had happened in the Empire and explained what we were planning regarding the rescue of Nike.

“―I understand. Then Master, please take me with you.” (Izu)

“Take you, Izu?” (Bouchi)

“Yes. With my songs, we can easily make the enemies powerless.” (Izu)

“That makes sense. With the abilities of Izu-dono and myself, we should be able to swiftly complete this rescue mission.” (Yofel)

Yofel’s skill was a powerful weapon when used in tandem with Izu’s singing. By combining her ability to make illusion seem like reality with the effects of Izu’s singing, it would be possible to make everyone in the palace see the illusion.

“Alright. Sol, I know you might be tired from flying around all morning, but do you think you could help me do some scouting again?” (Bouchi)

“Sol is always fired up and ready to go! Ah, but… a little reward after a day’s hard work would, erm… keep me going.” (Sol)

“Sol! How shameless of you!” Izu reprimanded. However…

“Haha, sure thing. This is our biggest job yet. I plan to reward everyone who lends a hand. I’ll even give a special reward to whoever does the most.” (Bouchi)

“““…?!!”””

….Eh?

Immediately after those words left my mouth, all of their faces became noticeably strange.

“A special reward from Master…” (Sol)

“This one must do anything and everything that may be useful to milord for this special reward…” (Shiki)

“I’m afraid I will be the one to take Master’s hand in marriage as the special reward.” (Izu)

“No, it’s simply a given that I will be the one to receive the most praise from Master.” (Yofel)

The girls were all emitting intimidating auras that seemed to emit a nearly perceptible menacing ‘gogogogo’ sound.

And Izu, what was that about marriage as the special reward?

Then, I felt a light tugging on the hem of my shirt. When I turned around, I saw Ior standing there.

“Hiro-sama… I want to help out too…” (Ior)

“Huh? You want to help out too, Ior? But… it’s kind of dangerous.” (Bouchi)

“…I can’t?” (Ior)

Ior looked up at me with wet, upturned eyes that oozed an illegal level of cuteness.

I want a little brother like tha—Er, I mean, what should I do…?

“As expected of my little brother. Wanting to be useful to master is a respectable attitude to have. Master, if it’s not too inconvenient, could Ior participate too?” (Yofel)

“…Are you sure this is alright?” (Bouchi)

“Yes. This child is an elf too. Recently, he said he wanted to get stronger, and he’s been learning martial arts from Shiki-dono as well.” (Yofel)

Hoh, is that so? He was a growing boy after all. He wouldn’t want to have his older sister to protect him forever.

“…Fine.” (Bouchi)

“…! Really, Hiro-sama?” (Ior)

“Yeah. But don’t get separated from me or Yofel, alright? Can you do that?” (Bouchi)

“Yay! I promise! I’ll be useful to Hiro-sama!” (Ior)

What a great kid. Let’s definitely make sure to get him back to the island safe and sound.

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