As Luthra began to walk, each step he took seemed to echo in Marco’s mind like a countdown to his own execution.
’He is coming. He is coming right for us. This is it. This is the end. Pola, you useless piece of junk, why did you let me get so loud?! My righteous anger has led directly to my impending doom!’
Marco’s eyes darted around the lobby, searching for an escape route. The main entrance was too far. The windows were reinforced. The bathrooms? Could he lock himself in a stall? No, a man who could crush an orc’s skull would not be stopped by a flimsy bathroom door.
’He definitely heard me. I called him a scavenger and a parasite. I basically announced to the entire world that I thought he was a thief. He is going to use that industrial chain to tenderize my entire body into a fine paste. I am going to become a human-sized sack of broken bones and regret!’
Pola nudged him sharply in the ribs with his elbow. "Stop hyperventilating. You look like a fish that has been left on the docks for too long. Behave in a normal way."
"Normal?! How can I be normal?! A walking natural disaster is approaching me with purpose! Okay, new plan. I will apologize. I will get on my knees and beg for my life. I will offer to polish his chain for the rest of eternity! Wait, that sounds weird. Forget that plan!"
Luthra stopped directly in front of them. The sheer proximity of the man seemed to suck all the air out of Marco’s lungs.
"You two," he began. "I require your assistance."
Marco did not breathe. ’This is it. He needs our assistance... to help him hide my body.’
Pola, ever the professional, gave a slight, stiff nod. "What do you require?"
"I am unable to sell these cores myself due to a lack of registration," he stated plainly. "I require one of you to use your hunter’s license to complete the transaction for me. For your cooperation, I will provide you with a percentage of the total earnings."
The words hung in the air. Marco’s brain, which had been preparing for a violent end, short-circuited and rebooted with a completely new set of panicked thoughts.
’A percentage?! He is offering us money?! This is a bribe! He is trying to make us his accomplices in crime! It is a trap! The moment we do this for him, he will own us! We will be on his leash forever, forced to sell his stolen goods and cover his tracks! We will become the unwilling sidekicks to a super-scavenger!’
Then, a second, more powerful thought crashed into the first one.
’But... a percentage of that sack... that sack is full of orc and hobgoblin cores. Even a ten percent cut would be more money than we have made in the last six months. We could finally get our gear upgraded. We could eat something other than instant noodles. We could afford the nice instant noodles, the ones that come with a little packet of dried vegetables.’
Marco grabbed Pola’s arm, his grip surprisingly strong. He leaned in and spoke in a frantic hiss that was still loud enough for several people nearby to hear.
"Pola! What do we do?! This is a loyalty test from a shadow overlord! If we say yes, we are throwing away our honor as hunters! If we say no, he will throw us away! Into a trash compactor! There is no correct answer here!"
Pola pried Marco’s fingers off his arm with a grimace. He then turned his full attention back to Luthra, his expression unreadable.
’This man cleared an entire street of monsters by himself. Refusing a simple, and potentially very profitable, request from him seems like a poor strategic decision.’
"Shut up, Marco," Pola said without looking at his partner. He then looked directly at Luthra.
"What percentage are you offering?"
Marco’s mind went into overdrive, performing a series of frantic and flawed calculations.
’Ten percent! That sack looked heavy. Let us assume it contains one hundred kilograms of pure orc cores! Orc cores are red, which is the color of money! If one core is worth a thousand credits, and there are a thousand cores in that sack, that is one million credits! Ten percent of that is one hundred thousand credits! We could buy a small apartment! Or at least a very, very nice sword! A sword that sings when you swing it! Do those exist?!’
Pola ignored the slight wheezing sound coming from his partner. He was a professional, and this was a business negotiation, albeit a very strange one.
"Fifteen percent," Pola countered, his voice steady. "We are registered hunters of the Association. Using our license to process a large number of undocumented cores carries a certain professional risk. The paperwork alone will be a significant nuisance. Fifteen percent is a more appropriate fee for the services and the risk we are undertaking."
Marco tugged on Pola’s sleeve. ’What are you doing, you madman?! He will kill us for your insolence! Never haggle with a man who uses industrial hardware as a weapon! That is the first rule of survival in the slums!’
Luthra considered the offer for less than a second. The additional five percent was an irrelevant sum compared to the time he would save. Arguing was just a waste of time.
"Agreed. Fifteen percent."
He extended his hand, not for a handshake, but to gesture toward the exchange counter. "Let us proceed."
Pola nodded and, with a firm grip on Marco’s collar to drag him along, walked back to the counter. The same young woman was there, looking flustered.
"We will be processing this sale," Pola announced, placing his hunter license card on the scanner. The device beeped, and his information flashed on the woman’s screen: Pola, E-4 Rank.
The cashier looked from the card to the two men, and then to the enormous sack Luthra once again placed on the counter. She swallowed.
"Very well. Please empty the contents into the mana-core analysis bin."
Luthra untied the sack and tilted it. A cascade of glowing stones tumbled out into the large, metallic basin next to the counter. The lobby, which had been buzzing with whispers, fell completely silent. The sheer quantity of cores was staggering. Most were the dull green of goblins, but there were dozens of the brighter hobgoblin cores, and a significant, eye-catching pile of blood-red orc cores.
The machine whirred to life, and a robotic arm began to sort and scan the stones at a rapid pace. A running total began to climb on the digital display above the counter.
Marco watched the number with wide, unblinking eyes. His brain had stopped producing coherent thoughts and was now just a loop of the word ’money’ repeated over and over again.
The machine finally beeped, the sorting complete. The final number glowed on the screen, a sum that made several onlookers gasp out loud.
[Total Value: 287,540 Credits]
The cashier stared at the number, then at the two E-4 rank hunters, and then at the quiet man in plain clothes. A haul of this size was not something an E-rank party usually brought in. This was closer to a D-rank subjugation reward.
Marco felt a wave of dizziness. ’Two hundred and eighty-seven thousand... and our cut is fifteen percent... carry the one... divide by ten... oh gods, my head hurts... it is... 43,131 credits! For standing here! We have become rich by standing here and being accessories to a crime! This is the greatest day of my life!’
Luthra showed no reaction to the large sum. He simply looked at the cashier. "Please transfer the funds."
The transfer was completed. Pola’s cheap hunter-issued communication device buzzed with a credit deposit notification. He glanced at it, and for the first time, his professional mask slipped, his eyes widening slightly.
Luthra then turned to them. "Your payment."
Pola, still slightly dazed, initiated the transfer from his device to Luthra’s own cheap, cracked phone. He sent the full amount minus their fifteen percent share.
Luthra’s phone buzzed. He checked the number. 244,409 Credits. It was correct.
He nodded at them. "The transaction is complete."
With that, he turned away from them and walked right back to the exchange counter, where the young woman was still trying to process what had just happened. Marco and Pola were left standing in the middle of the lobby, staring at the 43,131 credit balance on their account.
Luthra got the cashier’s attention.
"Hello again. I would now like to become a registered hunter."
He placed his phone on the counter. "Please deduct the 30,000 credit fee for the registration and the assessment."