Negotiation

After she confirmed that Allen was not hurt in any major way, Theresia heaved a sigh of relief.

Allen gently set down the albaheron he had caught in the earthen-floored part of the house.

As long as its wings were folded, the monster was only slightly larger than an average adult human. However, because of how small the house was, its feet still protruded out the front entrance.

"So, what happened, Allen?"

"It came down from the sky, so I caught it, mother." Allen said innocently. 'Which technically isn't a lie.'

"Allen's so amazing!" Krena gushed with a bright smile, showing not a hint of fear at the sight of the monster's corpse.

In contrast, Mash burst into tears as soon as he saw the huge body.

"Mama, so scawieeee!" he cried as he ducked behind Theresia's back.

'Come on, Mash, don't be such a crybaby, okay? You've gotta grow up into a strong man so you can help protect our family... But that aside, this bird... It's definitely heavier than twenty kilograms, isn't it? Which means it should have atleast ten kilograms of edible meat. I'm sure the feathers can be used for something too. Plus, since it's a monster, it should have a magic stone... Heh heh heh, I wonder how much it'd be worth if I sell it?'

Allen was already contemplating how much the albaheron was worth.

While it may have been a monster taller than a human adult, all he could see were materials and meat.

Rodin, who was supposed to be sleeping in his room, asked loudly, "What's happened?!"

When Theresia explained the situation to him, he exclaimed, "That can't be!" and stuck his head out of the bedroom door.

Because the ground of the earthen-floored area was lower than the rest of the house, the bird was out of his line of sight. Allen lifted its head up to show him.

"Th-That really is an albaheron. Did you really capture it, Allen? With your stones and wooden sword?"

"Huh? Uh, yes, father."

Unlike Theresia and Krena, what Rodin first noticed was the monster's squashed right eye and the neck that was bent in multiple locations from repeated blows. He had instantaneously analyzed the wounds and figured out how Allen had done it.

Because he wanted to take a closer look, he sat up and tried to drag himself forward.

Seeing this, Allen rushed to his side in a fluster. "What are you doing, father?! You have to stay in bed!"

At this time, Gerda just happened to show up. "Whoa, what's with the commotion? What happened?"

'Hold on, why is Mr. Gerda here at this time? We weren't expecting him— which reminds me, we weren't expecting Krena either. Wait, could it be that...

'Well, I haven't been playing with Krena ever since the day father woke up. Krena agreed to take a break—albeit reluctantly—but could it be that she couldn't take it anymore after just these few days?' Allen pondered to himself.

'I can imagine how she might've been trying to burn off her energy by making Gerda play with her instead. But playing with Krena is even more tiring than farmwork—I know firsthand.'

Allen kept staring suspiciously at Gerda, but the large man seemed to be making an effort to avoid his gaze. Allen was convinced that he had guessed correctly.

'Ah, so Mr. Gerda must've purposefully let her out of the house because he was reaching the end of his rope.' Gerda's body language was all the confirmation he needed.

"Papa, look what Allen caught! He's amazing!" Krena gushed as soon as she saw her father approach, completely oblivious to what Allen may or may not have deduced.

Gerda replied, "Seriously?" before proceeding to examine the albaheron.

Then he turned toward Rodin, "Looks like this is for real. Don't be pushing yourself like this. Hm...you mind if I take care of this?"

"That...would be a big help. Please, and thank you."

'Hm? "Take care" of it? Is he going to teach me how to butcher it? I'd really appreciate it.'

"All right. Let's go then, Allen."

"Uh...go? Where to?"

"The Village Chief's house, of course. We have to hand over this albaheron, after all."

'Wait, "hand over?" Seriously? Are all monsters considered his property or something?'

Gerda grabbed the albaheron and the hatchet hanging on the wall. He beckoned Allen to follow him as he walked out.

Making sure that the boy was watching properly, he explained, "You're gonna need to let the blood out first, or the meat's gonna spoil." Then he chopped the bird's head off and drained the blood into the ditch beside the house.

Allen was still confused about the "hand over" thing so he asked, "Do all monsters belong to the Village Chief?"

"Technically, they belong to the feudal lord. All monsters that we serfs capture are subject to the sixty percent tax too. We only get to keep the remaining forty percent."

'Seriously? And here I'd thought the tax was only for the crops. It also applies to the monsters that we randomly catch?'

Gerda went on to explain that no one would care if it was just horned rabbits—after all, they were only Rank E, the lowest rank—but those were the exception.

Albaherons were Rank D, and therefore required proper taxation. All of this new information was a shock to Allen.

"However. Deboji is partly responsible for what happened to Rodin.

"There's room for negotiation. And this is your first catch ever—I'll make sure to haggle as much as I can." If the Village Chief had not insisted on the hunting party letting commoners in, then Rodin would not have been injured.

Gerda's idea was to take advantage of the guilt that he must be feeling to secure better terms on Allen's behalf.

"If that's the case, I have an idea," Allen said, proceeding to share how he wanted the negotiations to go.

Gerda listened thoughtfully, then nodded to show his acknowledgment.

He adjusted the weight of the albaheron on his shoulder as he led Allen and Krena toward the direction of Deboji's house.

Because his house was on the way, he was planning on dropping Krena off while passing by.

"Allen, can I come play again?!"

Krena stared at Allen intensely, hanging on his next word. Gerda also stared at Allen intensely, hanging on his next word—albeit with a slightly different feeling behind it.

Allen stopped to think about his schedule.

Whereas his play knight sessions with Krena used to start after three o'clock and end at four, the starting time had been creeping forward to between one to two o'clock recently.

Now that he and Krena had turned six years old, they did not need to nap as much after lunch, and the time freed up by sleeping less had been going toward playing instead.

'Well, I've already finished harvesting all our potatoes. I think I can afford to give up my afternoons.' Allen thought. "Yep, I'm free tomorrow. Come on over."

"YAYYYY!" Krena jumped up and down with joy. Next to her, Gerda placed a hand on his chest and sighed in relief. Raising a Sword Lord was hard work.

After dropping Krena off at home, Gerda and Allen continued making their way toward the Village Chief's house.

The large albaheron gathered many curious glances when they entered the residential area, but the two proceeded without paying them any mind.

"Is the Village Chief home?" Gerda asked, knocking on the door of the Village Chief's house. Soon someone came out. Gerda explained his business, then the person allowed him inside together with Allen.

"What a splendid-looking albaheron! What's the occasion?"

The monster was laid out in the room where the feast with the knights had been hosted. The Village Chief and another person, who was likely a relative, had come out to speak with Gerda.

"Mm, this kid here's Rodin's son. This albaheron randomly flew down, and he killed it. So, now we've brought it over," Gerda explained, following the story that he and Allen had worked out on the road.

"I see, I see."

"And as you know, Rodin is currently bedridden. Can the family keep the rest of the bird if they turn in all the feathers?"

"What?!"

Bird feathers could be used to make quills and accessories. As such, they were never merely discarded. Naturally the same was true for albaherons.

"Can't you let them have that much, at least?"

"Ah, that's not quite sufficient...for such a large bird..."

Silence filled the room. Gerda glared at the Village Chief as if trying to intimidate him, but apparently turning in only the feathers was truly not enough.

Eventually Gerda sighed. "All right, all right. Then you can have the magic stone too. How's that, then? Rodin's family has four people, remember. Honestly, even I don't know how else they're going to get their meat. Thanks to someone making an unreasonable demand, he can't join any of the other great boar hunts this year either."

"Wha—?! It was the feudal lord who ordered me to send more meat! I have already explained it to you!"

'Hmm? So it was because the feudal lord asked for more meat that the Village Chief wanted more people in the hunting party?'

"So you did. Well? Feathers and magic stone. What do you say?"

"W-Well, uh, Rodin has done a lot for the village... All right, that will do."

Gerda shot Allen a quick look. It was actually Allen's idea to first offer only the feathers, then add the magic stone to the offer afterward.

The idea was to start the negotiations with blatantly unreasonable terms so that the other party would become more amenable to the real terms.

"Thank you so much, Village Chief!" Allen said loudly with a smile.

Deboji nodded graciously. "Mm! Make sure you grow up big and strong like Rodin, all right?"

"So, if I manage to capture more albaherons, I only have to give you all the feathers and magic stones?"

"Wait...what?"

This was Allen's true aim, as he had every intention of killing more albaherons. However, the feathers and magic stone together were still shy of the sixty percent tax that was supposed to be imposed on everything. This was why Deboji hesitated.

"Come on, why not let the kid have it? That is, IF, he manages to catch another one, right?" Gerda asked somewhat conspiratorially, putting emphasis on the "If".

"Ahhh...I suppose so. Kid, if you can get more albaherons, feathers and magic stones alone are fine."

"Yay! Thank you very much! Um, it would be very tiring to bring the whole monster this far again. May I give everything to the tax collector all at once when he comes to our house?"

While he was at it, Allen tried to settle on the method of payment too. He was trying to make the case that it would be difficult to bring the entire albaheron to the village chief's house every single time.

"...Well, that does make sense. Do that, then."

Although he had hesitated, Deboji fully believed that this business of hunting albaherons was merely a one-off matter.

He therefore accepted Allen's terms quite readily, giving him permission to pass the feathers and magic stones from all future catches directly to the tax collector when he arrived in early December.

Afterward, Gerda and Allen hurried out, citing the need to return home before dark. Along the way, however, the large man praised the boy over and over again for his exemplary brilliance.