Elemental Cats

Toz decided to leave early in the morning after their mini-barbeque. Hugh had recovered enough that as long as not another Rat King showed up, he would be fine.

Hugh sent him off with a smile. Despite the way Toz had gone about doing things when dealing with Hugh, there seemed to be pretty significant goodwill directed toward Toz from him. Toz suspected that it was because of the Rat King's corpse and only because of that.

To Hugh, Toz was pretty fresh off of his mother's lap and was new to the business of dealing with materials and resources that were acquired from exploring. Since that was the case, even if Toz was capable and knew that the Rat King was valuable, he wouldn't know exactly how valuable a corpse as intact as it could be, was. Hugh, however, could quickly realize from the information he had gotten from the messenger that had told him about the Scorched Earth Rats and the Scorched Earth Rat King that he had practically been handed a fortune.

The Scorched Earth Rat King had only been defeated by human hands once in the past. Although it hadn't appeared that often, every single other time the Scorched Earth Rat King's remains had only been salvaged several decades after its estimated death from natural causes.

And during the one time the Scorched Earth Rat King had been bested, no one knew what had happened to its body. Almost the entire story had been covered up, and only a few details were known to the higher-ups in the various guilds. Those who searched frantically, like the fifth level manager Amber had contacted, could find out that some kind of fluke had led to the Rat King's defeat. But that was it. That was where the story ended.

There were no mentions of what happened to its body or what the fluke was. Of course, those that were ranked high in their organizations and had enough authority knew that the fluke was actually a very special person, not a mere fluke. An individual who has long since surpassed the transcendent level, whose current accomplishments couldn't be heard by people who were still mortals, had in his youth bested the Scorched Earth Rat King.

Although none of the ones directly involved with the current Scorched Earth Rat infestation knew about all that, especially not Hugh since he had been given a brief version so he could quickly take action, that didn't stop Hugh from figuring out the how valuable that the Rat King's body would be to a lot of people.

The Scorched Earth Rat King wasn't constrained to the levels of power as practically every other being was. It could grow to astounding levels of power incredibly quickly. It possessed an extraordinary amount of vitality and tenacity, almost making it immortal as long as it had enough resources to feed on. All those things made the Scorched Earth Rat King something every scholar who knew of it desperate to figure out how it worked. While a live specimen would fetch a price several times higher than a mangled corpse, even pieces of the body would be more than human history had ever officially seen.

What he could get in exchange for the orange orb he had initially been looking for wasn't even like pocket change compared to the Rat King's value. He did his best to keep the smile off his face ever since he realized that Toz was serious about handing over the body and credit to him. Hugh was worried that if Toz understood exactly how happy he was and that the Rat King's body was extremely pricey, Toz would renege on the agreement they had made, no matter how troublesome things would get for him. Hugh only relaxed when he finally parted ways with Toz.

Toz, even if he had known about the actual price that the Rat King would fetch, wouldn't be able to get it for full price. He himself was only a third level mage, and the only one who could be considered as a backer to him was Amber, a first level branch manager of the Explorers' Guild.

Even the higher-ups in the Explorers Guild would probably prioritize benefits over satisfying a single low level mage, so Amber wouldn't be able to do much if Toz was pressured by even just a medium level mage or someone with similar authority into handing over the Rat King's corpse practically for free.

And after getting robbed of all his rewards, Toz would most likely be interrogated. He was the first one to make a report on the Scorched Earth Rats. He also seemed pretty convinced they were a considerable threat even from the beginning. Then only a few days after it's revealed that it's a type of beast known as the Scorched Earth Rats, Toz comes back with the body of the Scorched Earth Rat King. Something that would give Toz a heavy purse if he sold it. Incredibly convenient.

Even if a truthseeker was used and Toz answered truthfully, that he didn't plan the whole thing, that it was all a coincidence, he would still end up waist-deep in shit, with no money and not anywhere close to his next adventure.

On the other hand, Hugh was a fifth level mage with a good reputation, strong connections to the guild, and a promising future. Although he might get an offer slightly lower than the Rat King's actual value, it wouldn't be much, and after settling any suspicions or curiosity, he would get rich, then use that money to get both him and his squad stronger, and then continue on with his life.

Compared to doing something that would almost inevitably end up with a bad result for himself, Toz didn't mind not getting a bunch of money that would only sit and rot in his pockets while he's exploring. Unlike Hugh, he didn't have an acute need for money in order to progress further, there were also no supplies or tools or any other item he needed but couldn't afford. Toz held no regrets in giving up the Rat King's body to Hugh.

Toz started walking to Yellow Sparks without looking back. Lucy on his usual place atop Toz's head. Nil and Mindle walking on either side of Toz.