What Do You Mean I'm The Captain Of A Yandere Mercenary Company? Chapter 1041: Big Money For Live Bugs

Wait... I almost jumped at the chance but that’s more because I don’t know the exact price.

I raised my hand, "Give me a moment... I need to make some calls."

He raised an eyebrow at me, "You’re able to make calls down here?"

I gave him a look with my face completely blank, "We have our ways."

Refusing to elaborate, I walked a distance away while my girls moved to form a wall between me and him, all of them understanding the task.

I rang up Vier who was still on the ship up in orbit, using Renata as our link to establish a comms channel.

The call connected after two rings and Vier’s face appeared on the screen, looking concerned.

"Tera? Is something wrong?"

I gave her a reassuring smile, "No. Things are fine for now."

She did not miss the words that I added at the back, "For now?"

"Well... I don’t know what’s going to happen in a little bit... You know we’re supposed to be looking for that outpost right?"

"That’s what you relayed to me, yes. I also know that you were told specifically not to approach that outpost if it had been destroyed. Was it destroyed?"

"No, it’s completely intact."

"Ah... Then let me guess... It’s an outpost that is dedicated to experimenting on the bugs and they probably asked you to help them capture some bugs alive, didn’t they? How much are they paying?"

Honestly... I’m not even surprised that she figured all of that out with just this information.

"They are offering five times the market value of a dead bug for each one we brought back alive."

Vier paused for a moment after hearing that and I realised she must be checking the market using her personal terminal.

"Hmm... Current market rate... If we’re going for a perfectly preserved and intact specimen... It’s going at around a hundred and twenty thousand Credits for the normal bugs. The big ones that shoot acid go up to three hundred thousand and a humanoid one at five hundred thousand. Five times of that? I would say that the price is fair but given the resources we have on hand that we would be mobilising, you should be able to ask for seven times instead. Make sure to specify that you are basing the price on a perfectly intact specimen and if they try to shoot you down, mention that you have a hundred dogs with you and they are paying for a guaranteed success without any risks."

Oh... I err... Didn’t know that they were going for that much Credits... I thought that they might just be going for maybe ten thousand Credits or so...

I mean... I’m literally wading through their corpses while we deal with those nests...

Crap... Now that I know how much they’re worth, I’m thinking back on how I’ve crushed and tore those bugs apart.

Now I can’t unsee the fact that I was crushing and tearing apart Credits instead of bugs... Maybe I shouldn’t have found out how much they’re worth after all...

As if reading my thoughts, Vier gave me a reassuring smile, "You need not worry Tera. I have already negotiated a good contract with the military for the nests that we cleared. These market prices are only viable if you are selling them to collectors and other research companies but they will only take specimens that meet their criteria. The contract I got for us with the military will have them paying us for every single bug they retrieve from the nest we cleared. Of course, they would be buying them at a much lower price than the market but they will also take the corpses that have been completely shredded apart too. So we will make a killing from this plus the clear reward for the nest."

Oh Vier... You really are the best~

I exchanged ’I love you’s with her before hanging up, turning back to walk over to the security guard with my girls formed up behind me.

"I assumed when you said the market price, you were referring to the price offered for a fully intact specimen on the market?"

He nodded, "That’s correct."

"And will the price change if I were to say... Return with a bug that is missing legs or something?"

He paused, as though he never considered that possibility.

"I... Suppose if you were to return with an imperfect specimen but it is still alive... We’ll lower the price according to how damaged it was... But we’ll keep the minimum at twice the market price."

"Can I assume that you have the authority to decide how this will be handled? Specifically, how much you are paying us for this job?"

He nodded, "I’m also the one in charge of acquisitions here so I have full say over this."

Oh? And here I thought he was just a simple security guard. I guess that’s why he could talk to that professor or whoever directly, assuming that professor was the head of this place.

I nodded at him, "That makes things simpler. In that case, I want the price increased to seven times the market rate and the lowest price to not fall below four times what the market is offering. And you’re buying every single bug that we bring back to you alive. No telling me that you only needed one and then telling me to toss the rest out."

"Done."

Eh? That easily?

I was fully expecting him to start bargaining or even just rejecting the counter offer... Was seven times the market price still too little? Should I have asked for eight? Maybe he might have even accepted it if I had asked for nine or ten?

Oh well... I’m not shameless enough to ask for more after the other side has already agreed to the new terms I proposed so let’s just take it.

I nodded at him again, "Very well then. You said something about a new tunnel?"

"Yes. It’s at the back of the outpost where we had been excavating to collect samples. We broke through the wall and it led to another cavern where we have found bugs patrolling the area from time to time."

"I’m surprised the bugs didn’t come in through that opening to attack you guys then..."

"We have defenses set up in that breach and we also disguised the hole we made as well. Additionally... The bugs seemed to only move through one side of the cavern and left our side of the cavern alone. I suspect that they only move along a predetermined path and they don’t stray from the path laid out for them... Or something."

"Right... So I guess you want us to just go there and snatch up a bug to bring back to you guys. Anything we should look out for?"

"Honestly? I wouldn’t even know what to warn you about. We’re completely inexperienced when it comes to these bugs. From what I learned, you’ve already cleared multiple nests and fought the bugs longer than we’ve been studying them here. I think you would know more than we do, actually..."

Fair enough...

I got him to lead us out of the tower where we were rejoined with Patricia, Renata and my dogs.

I had to take a moment to give them all pats and call them good girls before I mounted my Power Armour and started moving towards the far end of the outpost with the same guy leading us.

We had to move past several more buildings and almost all of them also had the same futuristic and weird designs as the first few that we saw.

Interestingly, I noted that there were a few robots moving amongst the people here... And they weren’t the androids type of robots but literally just a metal frame with a head, body, arms and legs to do their duties, making them look like metal skeletons.

I’m guessing that this group of people trusts AIs more than other people? Maybe?

We reached the other side of the outpost and I saw the hole that the guy had told me about.

It wasn’t really big, just about the size of a large car which made me believe they stopped digging the moment the wall collapsed, as evident by the digging machines that were placed beside the hole.

There were quite a number of guards there and there were even automated turrets set up with robots also joining the watch.

Additionally, they had barricaded the hole with defensive covers and from what I could see, there was also something covering the hole on the other side to hide it as well.

Guess they really did take their position here seriously and they weren’t leaving anything to chance.

Although... Everyone there did stiffen up and quickly edged away from the hole when they saw me coming towards them with my small army of dogs walking beside me.

Ahem... Step aside people~ Coming through~