Considering these were monsters of unknown worth, like Bram had said, it would take some time for the guild to have even a rough estimate of how much I was owed for them. After some discussion, it was decided that I would collect my payment for the dinosaurs sometime down the road when I returned to Karelina and could visit the guild branch there. I was totally fine with that arrangement, so I agreed without hesitation.
Once Bram had wrapped up his discussion with me, he turned to Elrand (who was still trying to force his way back over to the dinosaurs) and Moira (who was still holding him back for all she was worth). “Hey, Elrand! Listen to us for a minute! It’s about those monsters,” he said.
In the end, Willem was deputized to explain the situation to Elrand. It eventually became clear that the guild intended on asking Elrand to butcher the dinos, and the moment he realized that was where the conversation was headed, his excitement levels shot straight up to maximum. He was practically hyperventilating, even. It was the sort of display that made me question if it was really a good idea to entrust him with important tasks at all.
“Ahhhhhh, I knew you’d come through for me, Mukohda! You always, always do! The lengths you go to to make me happy are unbelievable, oh best friend of mine!”
Nobody’s best friends with you here, thank you very much! That is not a role you get to give people unilaterally!
“I really am sorry for all the trouble, Moira,” Bram sighed.
“Think nothing of it. I, for one, am sorry that your image of the elven race will be forever tarnished by him,” Moira wearily replied.
Yeah, I know. He really is just that off-putting, but you don’t have to worry—all of us understand that he’s an exception among exceptions when it comes to elves on the whole.
There was still one thing that I had to tell everyone about. It would, after all, probably pose issues when it came to the dinosaurs’ processing. “So, umm, one more thing. I think you might have trouble cutting the biggest ones up, even with something like an adamantite knife,” I said.
The supersauruses had been apex predators surrounded by other dinosaurs with fangs and claws that could supposedly pierce through adamantite. It was safe to say that their skin would be the toughest out of all the dinosaur corpses I’d brought to the guild.
“A magic sword would have no difficulties, I would think,” noted Fel, who’d seemed content to lurk in the conversation’s background up till that moment.
“Yes, quite! Even if it happens to be made out of adamantite itself, the magical enhancements bestowed on such a blade should render it equal to the task,” Gon agreed.
“Of course,” Bram said, a look of exhaustion coming across his face.
Bram proposed an arrangement where I’d lease one of my magic swords to the Adventurer’s guild, which I agreed to on the spot. I ended up letting them borrow Caladbolg, the sword that Elrand had found the most comfortable to wield. The full contract would apparently take a few days to write up, but the gist of it was that I would be paid eight hundred gold coins every month until the sword was returned to me.
This must be one of those “passive income streams” I’ve heard so much about. Yeah, I definitely see the appeal.
“You’re really had it rough, haven’t you, Willem? I sympathize,” Bram said as he slapped the guildmaster on the back.
“Thank the gods someone understands,” Willem moaned, practically on the verge of tears. The other higher-ups quickly moved in to comfort him. Meanwhile, the biggest dragon lover around was letting out ridiculous shrieks and coos as he ran rampant around the storehouse.
Yeesh. Talk about pure chaos... I thought. I couldn’t even guess what sort of expression I was making, but it couldn’t have been a good one.
“And? What of the meat?”
“You’ve been discussing the sale of the beasts, but you’ve said nothing of the portion that we’ll be eating!”
《Yeah, I wanna get a taste of those big ones! Make it happen!》
《Master, Sui wants to try eating them too!》
My familiars picked that moment to chime in. Oh, right, I thought. There’s no way they’re letting this drop until they’ve tried the supersaurus meat for themselves.
“H-Hey, umm, one last thing. Do you think you could butcher one of these for me right away and hand its meat over to me?” I asked as I brought out another of the supersauruses.
Bram sighed. “Fine,” he said. “We’ll do it, but we’re only buying the materials from one of them. Everything left over from the other’s going straight back to you.”
Between the leviathan, the other dinosaurs, and the magic sword’s rental fee, the guild was seriously strapped for cash. They’d have to watch their spending very carefully until all their investments paid off.
Anyway, I asked them to butcher the supersaurus as quickly as they reasonably could at my familiars’ urging, and noted that they could treat it as practice for the real thing if they wanted to. They agreed, and even said that they’d waive the usual butchering fee, which I certainly didn’t mind. Mister dragon lover didn’t mind either, to say the least—in fact, he was so worked up with motivation that he started shouting about how he’d “stay up all night, if I have to” to get the thing butchered for me.
The higher-ups and Moira looked exhausted, Willem was practically sobbing, and the freaky degenerate was very loudly over the moon. The scene was so painfully chaotic I could barely even bring myself to watch, and the second I had an excuse, I beat a very hasty retreat. Frankly, I thought I deserved congratulations for getting even one of the supersauruses butchered in a timely manner amid that whole mess.