“Buying the turtle, huh...”

While sipping tea after our meal, Rio murmured with a pensive look.

“Honestly, I was thinking of heading back right away, but as expected, the lunch at the castle was really good.”

“Ahaha, that’s definitely true.”

Since we're close to the sea, lunch was full of seafood. Maybe it’s because I’ve only ever eaten at the port before, but the meals there always felt a bit rough, like typical fisherman's fare.

“Having this kind of elegant food once in a while isn’t so bad.”

“Once in a while, sure. But I might have been a little nervous after all.”

“Really? Didn’t look like it...”

Now that I think about it, she didn’t seem nervous. Oh, but she was glancing at me from time to time.

“I was worried that Shu might drink the water in the finger bowl.”

“Pfft.”

Whoa whoa whoa, hold on there, Miss Rio.

“...I wouldn’t make a mistake like that, okay?”

I forced out my words while trying to remain composed. I didn’t think she realized I didn’t know how to use it... I’m so glad I didn’t touch the finger bowl before her... Who would’ve guessed it was for washing hands?

“So, next is the matter of the Sea Emperor Turtle’s purchase, right?”

“Yeah. They said someone would come to get us, so I guess we can just wait here.”

That was clearly an attempt to change the subject, but I was relieved she didn’t press further.

While chatting idly, we heard a knock at the door. Led by a maid, we headed to a conference room. Of course, no one was inside yet. It was a simple room with a long table that could seat about ten people.

“Are we going to be made to wait forever again?”

Rio looked worn out as she sat in a chair near the entrance.

“If they take too long, we can just leave halfway through.”

It’s not like we need the money anyway.

“Ahaha, true. ...I wonder if that Sea Emperor Turtle will fit in my dimensional box?”

“Hmm, probably. I think it’ll fit... And if not, we can just shrink it.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

As we discussed how to store the turtle, people entered the room surprisingly quickly. It was the robed man who had stood beside the Emperor earlier, and Dogesha, the one with the slave-abusing son. Both of them looked extremely displeased.

The man in the robe introduced himself as Alcaine. Apparently, he’s the Chancellor of the Empire. Needless to say, Dogesha is the Commander of the Imperial Army.

“We don’t have much time, so let’s get to the point... How does fifty billion sound?”

Fifty billion all of a sudden? I don’t even know what it’s for. The Earth Dragons we put up at auction exceeded a hundred billion total, so this fifty billion probably isn’t for all the Sea Emperor Turtle material.

“Uh, is that amount for each head we brought this time?”

Tilting her head, Rio asked the question on my mind. At that price per head, I might be willing to let it go. The Sea Emperor Turtle is huge, after all.

“‘What?’”

...Or so I thought, but both of them looked at us like we were insane. What’s with those expressions?

“It’s for the two heads and the main body of the Sea Emperor Turtle, obviously.”

“Huh?”

All of it? You're telling me the Sea Emperor Turtle, which was harder and bigger than the Earth Dragons, is worth less than half?

“It’s a monster with no recorded subjugation history. We don’t even know what the materials can be used for. And the dismantling costs are enormous. There’s even a chance that none of the materials are usable. Taking all that into consideration, fifty billion is more than generous.”

“Just dragging the turtle from the sea to the coast took two warships. We haven’t even begun dismantling yet.”

Following Alcaine, Dogesha muttered bitterly. It's been about two days since we killed it, and they still haven’t gotten it out of the sea?

“Hmm...”

“Hmph. You may have become S-rank, but you were just a C-rank before, right? Even with the leap in rewards that comes with S-rank, it’s rare to come across that kind of money.”

They were trying to convince our hesitant selves, but the thing is—we don’t want money. We already defeated the turtle, freed Ivan and Phonia, and there's really no reason to stay in this city anymore. Actually, we kind of want to get out as soon as possible.

So—

“If you’re not sure the materials are useful, then we’ll just take everything ourselves.”

“Right. As a token of thanks for hauling the body to shore with your ships, we’ll leave one head behind.”

“Wha!?”

“Let’s do that. After all, we’re the ones who took it down. Oh, but what about when I protected Master Dogesha from the turtle’s breath attack? ...Well, let’s just throw that in as a freebie.”

“Grr...”

While the two of them looked increasingly pale, we threw out whatever words were bubbling up from deep within our hearts.

“Calling us here under the pretense of gratitude and then trying to dump unwanted goods on us without even asking our preferences—what’s with that?”

“And even though you officially requested our help, you told us not to interfere. What was that about?”

Now that Rio mentioned it, I remembered. And it’s starting to piss me off again.

“Oh, and one more thing. Please make sure Mellow Lagroi is properly arrested for the crime of slave abuse.”

“Ggh... I’ll get the full story from my son...”

While we’re at it, I’ll make sure to explain things clearly to the father whose veins were bulging in anger. We testified in front of the Emperor, so I hope this won’t be brushed aside.

“The victim said he was beaten, kicked, and then stabbed with a rapier.”

“What... That idiot son of mine...!”

“Well then, we’re quite busy, so we’ll be taking our leave.”

Throwing out those words rapidly, I stood up from my seat.

“W-Wait!”

Who actually waits when someone tells them to wait?

Ignoring the voices being thrown at us from behind, we left the conference room.