We left the room the next morning and headed back to the restaurant for our breakfast.
No one even stopped me when I went straight towards their kitchens to prepare our meal for us and Chef Steiner stood behind me the entire time watching me work.
I didn't mind that since it kind of felt like a puppy following me around and it was nice that he was trying to learn as well.
I didn't make anything too crazy though, just some simple fried eggs with fish since Ries really likes fish.
I'm also using fish because I don't trust the meat here…
This time I only made food for my group since Chef Steiner didn't ask for his share either.
I suspect he would be trying to copy me afterwards to try and make the same dish for himself.
I don't think I did anything too difficult so I believe he should be able to recreate it without much problems.
The girls were once again lost in the food I made them and this time, I felt it was justified since even I thought it was delicious.
Although I think actually crying over the food is a little too much even for me…
Moving on… We're back at the underground market again.
The hotel wanted us to stay for a few more days and I was honestly tempted to do so. I ultimately decided that we would stay if we still could not find anything that we could buy here to sell at the other stations.
I did ask Amber and the others if it would be a good idea to leave here and head back to our ship since those thieves might still be targeting us for revenge or something.
Amber basically said that they already knew what we looked like so it didn't really matter anymore. She assured me that after a beating like that, they would be choosing to avoid us instead of confronting us directly.
At least, for now that is.
After stealing all those organic ingredients, the last thing they needed was to draw more attention and pursuers on their tail so they would most likely lie low for the time being.
But of course, nothing could be said about the future since they might bear a grudge against us and search for us afterwards.
In other words… They were most likely a problem for future us to deal with.
Well, whatever, not like we can do anything about it now anyway so it's pointless to think about it.
On another note… It looked like we might actually need to take up the hotel's offer because we've already walked through more than half of the hall and there was practically nothing here that caught my eye.
"Seems like we might really need to stay here for a while," I sighed, walking past another stall that was selling slaves.
Amber giggled, "Oh, that sounds like a lovely idea, Tera! Let's have a drink again tonight!"
"I think we have had enough drinks for an entire month, Amber…"
"Awww… We can definitely drink more though!"
I was about to point out the fact that both Lea and Ries woke up with terrible headaches this morning when a commotion from the side caught my attention.
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"This is outrageous! What do you mean you're not continuing this?! We had an agreement!"
I looked to the side to see a rather large muscled man wearing a tank top that showed off his muscles standing over a smaller sized man who clearly looked like a trader with how he was manning that small stall in the corner.
Interestingly though… I could tell what most other stalls were selling but I wasn't sure what his stall was advertising.
"You can stuff that agreement up your ass! I'm not transporting that! Did you not hear about what's been happening these few days?!" The larger man whom I assumed was a Merc shouted.
"They won't target us, I'm sure about it!"
"Fuck you! A ship was blown up in the hangar yesterday because of them! I will not risk my ship for this!"
"I'll up the price! Fifteen million Credits!"
"My life and my ship is worth more than that!"
"Twenty millions Credits! The place isn't even that far!"
"It will still take a few days to reach there and putting aside the probability that they won't attack us, I still need to deal with the probability of those things attacking my crew!!"
"They won't!"
"How would you know?! I've seen people literally getting killed by those things!! You can't lie to me! I already decided on this so you can't change my mind!"
"But you're stranding me here!! Thirty million! Come on!! If I don't make this delivery, I will be the one that's dead!"
"Tough luck pal! But not my problem!"
Before the trader could stop him, the Merc turned his back on him and stormed off without another word.
"Godamnit! You'll regret this!!" The trader shouted after him which the Merc completely ignored.
I felt a nudge from the side and realised it was Ries hitting me with her elbow while looking in the trader's direction.
Right, right, I know. There's our option to get the money we're lacking to get our new ship. Isn't that convenient?
I went over to the trader who was in the middle of cursing up a storm while stomping his foot.
He didn't even realise that we were there until I coughed to get his attention.
He spun around and growled, "What?! Didn't you say you're not-- Oh! I'm sorry… I thought you were someone else… Err… Sorry, but I'm closed already."
I shook my head at him, "I heard your conversation with the other Merc. Is there a problem?"
He looked at me up and down, "Are you a Merc too? You got a ship?"
"Yes and yes. You need some help transporting something I take it? If it's not too big, I could help as long as the pay is good."
He blinked at me, as though he was trying to comprehend what I had just told him.
"You… You would help me?"
"For the right price and also depending on what the cargo is as well as the destination."
He grimaced when he heard the last few words from me, "Ah… That… Well…"
I raised an eyebrow, "How big is it?"
"It's… Not that big… It's two standard galactic delivery units."
Hmm… If it's that size, I would be able to fit them in my ship as well so size isn't the problem. So now the other question…
"What exactly is the cargo?"
He raised a hand first, "Hold on. I need to know something else first. Are you on the hit list of any nobles or high profile individuals?"
"Not that I know of?"
"You haven't been turned away at any Pleasure Stations have you?"
"No I have not."
Technically true since I haven't been to one after all.
"Ok, good. This cargo of mine is destined for Linc Pleasure Station. You heard of it?"
Oh, the one that Bimic initially wanted to go to but I shot the idea down when we were ferrying him here.
I nodded, "I have flown past it before, yes."
He then beckoned me to move behind the counter, "I'll admit, I'm not expecting you to accept this. The cargo I have is very dangerous and only experienced people are able to handle them. They're also extremely valuable so you're not allowed to mistreat them at all."
Ugh… I think I have an idea of what the cargo might be… They're slaves of some alien race and he has them locked up in some cage doesn't he?
Fuck… I mean… I'm definitely not a paragon of virtue myself but I didn't think I would find myself being used to transport slaves either…
I'm not hypocritical enough to consider freeing them when I literally have an Alv slave right now either so whatever. I'm more concerned about him saying that they are dangerous though.
I followed him to the back of his stall where a pile of boxes were hidden underneath some kind of tarp.
He picked up the edge of the tarp and gave me a serious look, "I will have to warn you, they're quite vicious and dangerous so I completely understand if you turn this down. But if you do accept this, I'm willing to pay premium for you to help me transport them. The client this time is really, really demanding."
I nodded, "Let's see what you have then."
He lifted the tarp to reveal two large cages with what metal bars acting as a door on one side while the rest of the cage was made of smooth and featureless steel.
The cage was dark so I couldn't see what was inside it at first until whatever was inside decided to move towards the cage bars.
I heard sharp intakes of breaths coming from behind me and even the trader recoiled his hand away when the thing inside the cage revealed itself.
It was a dog.
…
Is this a joke?