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“Rad? What’s the matter?”
“It’s essentially a question of whether we can transport the materials, right?”
“What’s the matter? Can’t unrelated people stay out of this!?”
“No, I’m also an adventurer, and I was talking about the rights of adventurers, so it’s not like I have nothing to do with it.”
“Now listen…!”
“Wait a moment, Mayor! Rad, do you have something to add?”

“No, there shouldn’t be any problem for them, right? It’s maybe because the Guild Master seems to have forgotten due to agitation, but you see… that girl over there used something to transport Goblins, right?”
“Something?… Oh, I see!”
“It has a capacity large enough to hold all of those Goblins. In fact, I think it could hold much more than this giant turtle.”
“Right, I remember now! Why did I forget such an important detail!”

…Oh? The conversation seems to be progressing on its own, but I think it’s heading in a favorable direction? Wait, are you gonna leave us out again?! ‘Something’? What is that ‘something’?

“Hey, what have you been talking about? What’s this ‘something’ and how does it relate to Goblins?”
“Well, Mayor! We just realized that there was no issue here! These girls have a high-capacity magic bag that can hold all of the materials from that magic beast!”
“…Huh?”
“Oh what a relief! It looks like everything’s settled now!”

Ah, right, right! I forgot about the magic bag! Well, technically, it’s not that high-capacity, but I just made it look like it was.

To explain in more detail, after we defeated the Legion and went to call for reinforcements in the town, we collected all the borrowed magic bags and pretended to transfer their contents into my “magic bag” (more accurately, a bag made to look like it) while secretly moving them into [Storage]. I totally forgot about it! Great move, Rad!

“W-wait a minute! That won’t do!”
“No matter how many times you say that, it won’t change the situation. As I mentioned earlier, it’s us who are facing difficulties with your unreasonable demands.”
“Umm…”
“And why aren’t you considering a regular negotiation? Even if it can’t be a lump sum, there are countless ways to make a deal, including installment payments. Yet, from the beginning, you’ve been trying to get them to give it away for free. I mentioned this before, but as a member of the Adventurer’s Guild, I absolutely cannot accept that.”
“But…”

“And frankly, are you looking down on them just because they’re young? Regardless of their age, these girls are skilled adventurers. Skilled enough to defeat a massive monster like that. I can’t fathom why you would needlessly underestimate such capable adventurers.”
“…”
“Furthermore, aren’t they supposed to be the town’s benefactors? And not just once but twice with this subjugation, all within this short span of time.”
“…Twice?”

“Yes, they haven’t wanted it to be publicized, but these three girls standing here are the ones who wiped out the Goblin Legion.”
“What!?”
“Rad here and his group are skilled adventurers, but even they were captured by such a large-scale Legion. Mayor, remember how you turned pale and then celebrated when you heard about the Legion’s defeat?”
“This is…! Oh my, what have I…! I didn’t know, but I’ve acted so ungrateful…! I’m so sorry, you three! It is as you say! Forgive me for my foolish words!”

Wow, he’s prostrating! Wait, please stop!

…Afterward, we returned to the town and had some discussions at the guild. In the end, the Mayor agreed to purchase a portion of the magic beast materials to tide things over. He bought about 10 kilograms of it, and he was planning to use it to prepare food for sale for today and tomorrow in a hurry.

He also said something about doing a fishing rush for turtles today and tomorrow. Good luck there.

During the parting, he kept bowing his head profusely. It seemed like he felt really bad for going too far in his actions and attitude, thinking too much about the town. He kept apologizing and bowing over and over.

…Well, I guess he’s not a bad person, probably. I wouldn’t say he’s an exceptionally good person either.

In fact, had I been in the Mayor position… No, never mind, I would’ve just paid in installments. Trust and reputation are important.

But, you know… I’ve been thinking this for a while, but people in relatively high positions are, often kinda… stingy, aren’t they? Like, he changed his attitude fast this time around, but… No, I mean, I’ve seen a lot of good people too, but still, aren’t they being too self-centered when it comes to profits?

Looking at it that way, the Guild Master here, who protected the guild’s interests and adventurers’ rights while also listening to adventurers’ opinions, seemed like a pretty capable person, huh? I wonder why someone like him was in such a remote town.

After the discussion, we received the reward and returned to our rented house. After resting for a while, a pleasant smell wafted in. Intrigued by the scent, I returned to the town square, where several stalls had appeared that weren’t there earlier. I peered at the stalls and it seemed like they were grilling skewered meat.

…Wait, so the town’s specialty, turtle meat, is served on skewers?!

Hmm, grilling turtle meat on skewers… As I observed for a while, it seemed like they were marinating the meat in sauce before grilling it. There were several types of sauce, and they also had salt-grilled turtle meat.

Since I was already here, I decided to buy some and try it. Surprisingly, it tasted pretty good. Hmm, it reminded me more of a softshell turtle than a normal one. It didn’t smell and had umami, but the meat itself was quite light in taste. Maybe that’s why they used sauces?

“I was really curious about how it would taste given its appearance, but it’s surprisingly delicious.”
“I quite like it too! munch munch.”
“Arisa… please don’t walk around holding two of them…”

It seemed like Lily and Arisa were enjoying it as well. They bought several skewers from different stalls to compare the flavors. The sauces all seemed to be soy sauce-based, which was somewhat unusual in this country. Personally, I think I prefer the simplicity of just salt.

And, I guess you could say as expected, it had similar effects to softshell turtle meat, and after eating a few skewers, I felt a warming sensation in my body… Listen, I’m not getting turned on, okay?

But hmm… Maybe it’s because I ate something somewhat resembling a softshell turtle, I started feeling like making a softshell turtle hotpot…

Okay, let’s hurry back home and make it!