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 mediumsized 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 selfdefense 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?"

"Just cause."

Mimi and Elma's voices sounded harsher than usual. C'mon. It's not

something to get irritated about, you two. Tina's just like a kid to me.

She's an adult in age, but just look at how she acts.

"Oh, right. The ship parts you salvaged for us have been sold already

together with the two ships we recovered. The total profit is 275,000

Guineas."

"It's a lot more than we thought."

"We were quite surprised as well. And as a result of consulting with the

Mercenary Guild, it was decided that the bonus for the two of you will

be 10% of the total earnings."

"10%?"

"Yep. 10%. In other words, your bonus will be 27,500 Enels. You'll need

to split this amount, so each will get 13,750 Enels."

"Thirteen thousand seven hundred fifty Enels…!?"

Tina tilted her head in confusion. It even seemed that steam was rising

from her head. I turned to Whisker and saw that she was just the same

as her sister.

"Our profits will vary depending on the job we undertake and how

many we hunt per day, but you will get the same bonus rate from now

on as long as you participate actively."

"???"

It looks like Tina's brain has already short-circuited. She was looking up

at me with her neck still tilted to the side when she froze up. Instead of

short-circuiting, did her engine stall or something?

"This has got to be a dream, right?"

I don't know how she got to that conclusion, but all strength left her

body as she buried her face on my chest. She looked like she was

getting ready to sleep.

"It's no dream. This is real y'know. It's not really something worth being

so surprised about, right?"

"Now look here, boss. We just pulled out parts from scrapped ships for

a day and we got a bonus that's worth four times more than our

monthly salaries. Of course, we're gonna be shocked silly!"

"Uh, I guess so, huh."

"Just what have we been working so hard for until now…?"

Tina continued to sulk as she made herself comfy on my chest. Tina's

pressing herself closer against me, but the only impression I'm getting

was of her being woefully flat. Even so, Mimi and Elma still looked

really jealous as they continued giving harsh stares toward Tina.

Whisker, who has frozen on the spot herself, was pulled by May. She

was then made to sit on the adjacent sofa while still looking glassyeyed. So it really was that much of a shock for them huh.

Elma and Mimi couldn't take it in the end and forcibly tore off Tina from

me. Afterward, they both asked me to hug them as well. I then woke up

Whisker, who ended up sleeping on the sofa from shock. She was

already groaning strangely as if having a terrifying nightmare. Anyway,

it was a bit of a mess, but in the end, I managed to have them all calm

down and gather around the coffee table inside the break room.

Whisker still looked somehow out of it, but she was at least responding

properly when addressed, so I guess she'll be fine after a while more.

Probably.

"I guess it'll turn out this way if you use an ordinary citizen's common

sense huh."

"Yeah. Or rather, Boss's sense of wealth is just so out there. It's pretty

stressful for little old me y'know."

"Am I really that strange…?"

I didn't think so myself, but it seems that Mimi and Tina thought

otherwise. I don't really have any intention of becoming a careless

wastrel, guys.

"I don't really think it's that unusual. He's a bit light on the purse strings

sometimes, but it's not like he's wasteful when it comes to money,

right?"

"Yeah. You tell em, Elma."

"This is bad. These two are actually of the same kind."

"Aren't they? Recently, I've begun to question if I was the one who's

strange."

Tina shook her head in exasperation and Mimi nodded strongly in

agreement. Eh? Really, guys?

"We're just looking at things from different perspectives. For us, our

most pressing concerns when it comes to money are our daily

expenses, meals, and our monthly salary. Big brother's concerns are

more focused on the prices of ships, equipment, weapon systems, and

ammo. So what he considers as a bit expensive may start at a million or

so. I bet he thinks 10,000 Enels is just chump change. No, I'm sure of it."

"But 10 thousand is already a lot of money, right?"

"Yes, it is."

"Eh…"

10 thousand Enels can't even begin to cover the expenses for ammo

replenishment and repairs y'know. Our two ship's shields are pretty

tough though, so I rarely pay for hull repairs, if at all. But in case

Krishna ever gets damaged severely, even 100,000 Enels won't be able

to cover the repairs. 10,000 Enels was peanuts in comparison.

"There he goes with his 'Eh… ' again. I suppose our perspectives really

are worlds apart…"

"But won't 10 thousand get easily spent in places like a fancy restaurant

or something?"

"That's only if the restaurant serves real organic meat and vegetables.

In a regular restaurant, you can eat your fill with just five Enels or so."

I guess she has a point.

"Our food cartridges cost 100 Enels though, and those are just regular

ones. See. It's not that unusual to spend that amount on food, right?"

"One cartridge can already make thirty meals. That means each meal

costs just 3 Enels. 300 Enels would be enough to cover all your three

meals for a month. If you add the bills for air, water, and other living

expenses, you'd just need 1000 Enels to cover all the basics. Our salary

is 3700 Enels per month, and that's already considered relatively high

y'know?"

Whisker nodded in agreement to Tina's explanation. It's true that they

looked quite energetic and healthy when we first met, so they probably

were relatively well-off. I see. My sense for money was unusual huh…

Well, Mimi's already told lots of times in the past, but I really didn't pay

much heed to her complaints.

"Well, isn't it fine? That just means I'm contributing a lot to driving the

economy. Yep."

"Yeah, that's right. Since we're well off, it makes no sense to hold back

too much."

It looks like Elma agrees with my point of view.

"And as long as you stick with me, you won't be strapped for cash

anyway. So just give up, okay."

"Yes."

"Yeah, I guess that's right huh…"

"…We'll try to adapt as soon as we can."

Mimi nodded obediently at my words. Maybe she just wanted to prove

that her money sense was the one that's normal so she was being

stubborn.

"It's wonderful that everyone has managed to finally see eye to eye

when it comes to our finances."

May, who was standing next to the table, made a satisfied nod after our

talk. I wonder what her opinion about all this was though.

"How about you, May? What's your take on this?"

"Me? I do not have any problems whatsoever with Master's proclivities

when it comes to handling money."

"Is that so? I'm a bit surprised."

I don't intend to be much of a spendthrift, but I wasn't expecting her to

not have any objections at all.

"Yes. You are a bit susceptible to hard-selling, but there have been no

major problems so far. And it seems you are also aware of it to an

extent, Master. I will endeavor to earn enough for us to spend freely

without feeling burdened with Black Lotus, so there is no problem."

"I see."

If my money sense was that of the average joe, I wouldn't be able to

come up with the idea to buy Black Lotus in the first place. And besides,

we're earning good money anyway, so it's fine.

"Yosh. That's a wrap then. We're done with this topic, okay? So, about

the other thing that I discussed with the Mercenary Guild…"

I ended the talk about money matters for the time being and moved the

discussion to my plan to make Black Lotus double as a mini cargo

transport carrier. I still have to make lots and lots more money to reach

my ultimate goal and make the girls happy after all. It would be better

to plan ahead for a bright future instead of getting hung up on the past