CHAPTER 235: CHAPTER 235

---Victor POV---

Returning to the waiting area, Hiro and Liam welcomed me back with dirty smirks. Flipping them the bird, I inquired if the owner had responded to my offer yet.

"The owner tentatively accepted your offer.", Liam spoke, sipping on his tea. "They cannot formally accept without approval from their business partner. We are currently waiting for the results of their discussion now."

"Ugh... I was hoping this would be quick and easy.", I groaned, getting Nuelalla situated with a coloring book and crayons. "This might take quite a while then. How about we play some five-card draw while we wait?"

Nodding their heads approvingly, we rearranged our chairs and snagged a nearby table. Handing a new deck to Liam, the duke shuffled the cards several times before having Hiro cut it. Dealing us our hand, we settled in for the long haul.

---Twenty Hands Later---

Heading to the checkout counter with lingerie in hand, the woman informed us they had made their decisions. Rising from our seats, we began heading over to pay for their items when the Store Manager bot abruptly sat up in his seat. Informing me the owners were calling him, he rerouted the audio through his external speakers so we could speak.

"Apologies for the long delay.", a male voice spoke up. "Is the prospective buyer there with you now?"

"Yes, I am here.", I replied, motioning for the robot to follow me. "Have you and your business partner reached a verdict?"

"Potentially, I would like a bit of clarification first.", a vaguely familiar female voice said. "Your offer was seven hundred and fifty million credits for the whole lot. Do you mean all the bots on the planet, or just the district you are in now?"

"I am interested in purchasing all the sales bots currently on the planet.", I answered.

Typing away on a mechanical keyboard, one of the owners, presumably the woman, quickly looked something up on their computer. Hearing a dissatisfied hum, the woman began to speak once again.

"Our system indicates that there are five hundred thousand sales bots currently online in that world. Your offer comes out to fifteen hundred a head, which is far below the current market value.", she pointed out. "Five thousand a bot is a fair price for them."

Offended by her counteroffer, I could not believe she was asking so much for them. While they were in excellent condition, it did not change the fact these bots were cheap, outdated models. Digging up some data on the bots from the web, I came back with my second and final offer.

"You must be insane if you honestly believe what you have is worth 2.5 billion credits. Your bots have been out of production for nearly eight years now. Converting each bot into a warehouse droid will cost you thirty thousand credits. You might get five thousand in scrap per bot, but that would require paying a small fortune for a scrapper to haul them away.", I refuted. "Tell you what, I will up my offer to one billion credits. Take it or leave it."

The male owner, sifting through some paperwork, confirmed that my estimates were accurate. Pushing his business partner to be reasonable, his tone of voice suggested he might be having money problems right now.

"I suppose a billion credits is a fair offer for scrap bots.", the female owner relented. "Very well, we accept your offer. Our lawyers will draw up the paperwork, and I will hand-deliver it to you this evening. Please continue enjoying your stay in our resort world."

Disconnecting from the call, the sales bots cried out with unbridled joy. Excited to start their new lives as medic bots, they profusely thanked me for purchasing their freedom.

"If you really want to thank me, hold your heads high and fulfill your new duties to the best of your abilities.", I said with a grin.

We will, sir! (Sales Bot 1)

"That is good to hear. My engineers will come to retrieve you shortly after the paperwork is finalized.", I informed them. "Your reprogramming and retrofitting will begin tomorrow morning. I look forward to working with everyone of you from now on."

With our business concluded, we bid the bots farewell, for now, and set out for our next stop. Following the directions one of the bots gave Elma (Space Elf), Hiro’s convenience store soon came into view. Excitedly running ahead, Hiro entered the store while his two lovers sighed in embarrassment.

"Please forgive him. He has been acting like this since he had cola on your city-ship.", Mimi stated. "Assuming we cannot find any here. Would you be willing to sell cola to him?"

"Of course, I am actually surprised he did not think of that already.", I chuckled. "I can sell him cola, or make him a carbonation- "

Cutting me off midsentence, a call came in from UR-025. Hesitantly answering him, I inquired if something was wrong.

Forgive my intrusion, but several guests have arrived on the property. Five young men, and a young dragoness. (UR-025)

"I do not recall inviting anyone over to the mansion...", I remarked, looking to my family, who were equally as confused as me. "Jarvis, please pull up a live feed of the front door camera."

Pulling up the feed now, sir. (Jarvis)

Projecting the video for everyone to see, an annoyed sigh escaped my lips when I realized it was Julius and his band of idiots. When Lucoa and the other dragonesses noticed that Kanna was among them, they exchanged confused looks. The young dragon wasn’t old enough to venture out of the village without a guardian, which meant she had either run away or something terrible had happened.

"Victor, can we please go back home for a bit to figure out what is going on?", Lucoa requested.

"Of course.", I said, looking over at Liam. "We will be back shortly. Please carry on without us for a bit."

"Not a problem, see you in a bit.", Liam replied, heading inside with Amagi, Elma (Space Elf), Mimi, and Rosetta.

Opening a Warp Storm back to our residence, we quickly stepped through to greet our unannounced guests.

---Holfort Kingdom Capital Outskirts, Home---

Opening the door before they had a chance to knock, I greet the group with a big grin. Crying out in fright, the five men leapt backward, reaching for their blades, while Kanna stood there looking up at me.

"Hold on a moment... Victor, is that you!?", Greg gulped, warily staring at me. ’Holy shit... He’s fucking huge!! What sort of insane meal plan and workout regimen is he on?!’

"Yeah, it is me, Greg.", I chuckled, stepping aside so they could enter. "Come on in."

Accepting my offer, the six of them stepped inside, where my family warmly received them. Lighting up with excitement, Kanna scrambled over to Ilulu and Tohru, latching onto their legs.

"Lady Ilulu, Lady Tohru, there you are!!", Kanna said, holding onto them tightly. "Why did you go away and leave me all alone? Did I do something to upset you?"

"It was nothing like that, Kanna. We left the village to help Lucoa care for the baby she is carrying.", Tohru stated, motioning toward my wife’s round belly.

"That is how it started anyways.", Lucoa giggled. "Now though, they are trying to become Victor’s wives as well. Hopefully things progress quickly because I want our kids to grow up together, like we did."

Looking at me, they inquired if I was open to making that happen. Promising to discuss the matter later, this was not a conversation I wanted to have in front of children. Getting us back on topic, I asked Kanna what brought her to our doorstep.

"I ran away from home.", Kanna admitted, clinging to Tohru. "Since Lady Ilulu and Lady Tohru left, I have been all alone in the village. There are no children my age to play with, and my parents prioritize their stupid store over me all the time. I am practically invisible to them..."

Feeling the genuine pain in her tone, Tohru held Kanna closely to console her. Looking at me for approval, I agreed to let her stay with us. As she was roughly the same age as Nuelalla, my hope was that the two would become fast friends.

"Thank you for escorting her here.", I told Julius and company. "I am glad to see you have finally gotten your heads on straight."

"We are getting there.", Chris admitted before shoving Jilk and Julius forward. "Go on and speak with your mother. We have some time to spare before our meeting at the smithy.

Giving her sons a smile, Mylene offered them a seat on the couch. Accepting her offer, they sat down and slowly began telling her about their most recent expedition.