"I take back my previous thought. From now on, the total amount of money I've gathered will definitely exceed ten million."
Looking at the extra twenty million credit points on her terminal account, Firefly murmured to herself.
At this moment, she was in a deserted alleyway, and the silver-white sam armor had already been deactivated, transforming back into the seemingly harmless young girl, Firefly.
After discussing the Forbidden Forest Area commission, Lux began purchasing the Mutated Beasts Firefly had caught one by one. They sold for a full fifteen million credit points, and combined with the five million credit points from the commission itself, her assets suddenly soared by twenty million.
Afterward, she walked out of the association and found a random alleyway. After confirming no one was around, she deactivated Sam.
"Why do I suddenly feel like I look down on that three-million bounty for some reason?"
Thinking about how Cipher had to pretend to be caught tonight for three million, it suddenly felt like a lot of trouble.
But soon, she realized something was wrong with her thinking. Since when did she start feeling like three million credit points was a small amount?
"No, no, don't let money warp your perception. S-rank commissions like this aren't available every day. This was just a huge windfall for Firefly, while Cipher's side should be the stable source of income."
After quickly straightening out her thoughts, Firefly followed Lux's suggestion and headed toward the best-rated hotel in the city.
It was getting late. She planned to check into the hotel and then use her Cipher identity to bring Cifera in. After collecting those three million, she could continue stealing funds from the base...
"Eli! How did you get hurt? What did you do this afternoon?!"
As soon as Elis returned home, she was met with Yui's worried inquiry.
As for why Yui was so concerned, it was mainly because Elis's right hand was currently tightly wrapped in bandages, giving the illusion that her arm was about to break off.
"I... wasn't I out doing a mission? This injury was caused by the commission..."
Hearing Yui's questioning, although Elis was mentally prepared, she still couldn't quite hide her guilt.
"You..." Hearing Elis's words, Yui also seemed somewhat helpless. "Why would a Support-type Esper with basically zero combat power suddenly run off to do a commission? Even if you take one, you have to team up with others. Besides, the restrictions on your ability are too great; whether anyone would even team up with you is another matter. Even if they did, you wouldn't be allocated much of the commission funds. If those people don't look after you, you could easily get hurt during the mission. Then, the commission fee you get wouldn't even cover the medical expenses. It's not worth it."
As she spoke, Yui pointed at the bandages on Elis's hand.
"Tell me, what happened here?"
"My arm was dislocated... I was accidentally pulled until it dislocated by a..."
"Pulled to dislocation by someone? Who pulled you? Why did they pull you? If you were intentionally harmed by a teammate during a mission, even if they are strong, you can report the situation to the Mercenary Association to have them punished."
Yui frowned. She had originally thought a Mutated Beast had injured her, but she hadn't expected the injury to be man-made!
"No!" Hearing Yui's words, Elis immediately realized she must have misunderstood. She quickly waved her other intact hand. "That was a powerful person. Because the mission location was quite far, he grabbed my hand and flew to get me there quickly. It's just that because my physical fitness isn't great, my arm was pulled out of its socket when we took off..."
"And he even compensated me with five hundred credit points for medical fees. That guy is a very good person..."
"Ah, well..."
After listening to Elis's explanation, Yui was somewhat speechless. She had originally thought Elis had been bullied while teaming up with strangers, but it turned out to be just a misunderstanding.
"Anyway, be more careful next time. Don't go running off to team up with strangers again."
Then, Yui sighed and continued, "I'm going back to take care of Lin. I put some food in the microwave; if you want to eat, just heat it up."
After saying that, she turned to walk toward Lin's room.
"Wait!"
Seeing Yui about to leave, Elis quickly called out to stop her.
Just as Yui was feeling puzzled, she saw Elis start operating her terminal with one hand. Then, a notification sound rang from Yui's pocket, and she took out her terminal to take a look.
"Two thousand two hundred credit points? Eli, where did you get this money?"
Looking at the sudden payment notification, Yui looked up and asked Elis again.
"I earned this myself for Lin's medical expenses!" Elis put her terminal in her pocket and raised her head proudly. "I helped that person a bit, and then he gave me two thousand credit points. So, I can earn credit points myself; I don't need your care as much as you think!"
But after saying that, Elis felt strangely guilty. After all, the things she helped with could have been done by any ordinary person who understood Mutated Beasts. Although she still had to be a tour guide for Mr. Sam tomorrow, all of that combined wasn't actually worth two thousand credit points—five hundred at most...
However, despite her guilt, she still maintained a 'I'm very capable' look on the surface. If one didn't look closely, they wouldn't see any hint of guilt at all.
But who was Yui? She was a friend and companion who had lived in the same house with Elis and Lin for several years. How could she not notice Elis's guilt?
Realizing something was wrong, Yui continued to frown and asked:
"What kind of help did you give that man for him to give you two thousand credit points all at once?"
"This..."
Elis was instantly stumped. She felt that if she told the truth, Yui definitely wouldn't believe her, but she didn't have any good excuses right now...
"It's just... helping him identify which types of Mutated Beasts were more valuable during his mission, and then being his tour guide tomorrow to show him around Grenource..."
Under Yui's stern gaze, Elis still stammered out the general situation of the help she provided.
"Just that?"
"Just that."
"..."
After a moment of silence, Yui continued to ask her, "You're not lying, are you?"
"I'm not lying!" Elis suddenly got anxious. "This was the only person who didn't reject me after I was rejected by so many people in front of the South Gate. I earned this myself!"
"..."
Another silence.
"You're going to be a tour guide for that man tomorrow, right?"
"Um..."
"I must go along to see what's going on. I suspect the reason that he is so generous might be because you're pretty and he wants to hit on you. Don't get tricked into someone's bed for the sake of two thousand credit points!"
"Ah?"