"But still, I should collect some 'loot' after all."
Shizuku materialized the Evil Tenderfoot once more and aimed its gaping mouth at the bones scattered across the ground. She pressed the button on it with her thumb.
"Evil Tenderfoot, swallow these bones."
The Evil Tenderfoot stuck out its long tongue and let out a cheerful, strange cry. It made a powerful sucking sound, glug-glug-glug, and all the bones on the ground rattled for a moment before flying into its mouth.
Its mouth swallowed tirelessly. The enormous skeletons shrank and twisted as soon as they touched its tongue, teeth, or lips, like soft chewing gum.
The bones were compressed into lumps and passed through the Evil Tenderfoot's throat, dropping into a space whose capacity seemed to have no end.
"You're planning to sell them to bone collectors, right?" Biscuit watched, then suddenly understood and tapped her right fist against her left palm. "Some collectors are indeed very generous. Shizuku, you're so clever."
"Huh?" After Shizuku had used the Evil Tenderfoot to absorb all the bones scattered across the ground, she heard Biscuit's praise and thought it over in confusion before saying, "I almost forgot I could sell them."
"Huh?" Biscuit asked in surprise. "Then how were you planning to turn them into money just now?"
"Isn't Meteor City a garbage dump?" Shizuku laid out her original plan. "Sometimes garbage bags are full of bones, and even body parts. There's a market for them in Meteor City, too."
She pointed at Biscuit.
"But your idea is better. These beast bones might be rare. If a collector takes a fancy to them, they should fetch a good price."
Biscuit shook her head helplessly and looked toward Gelman, only to see that he wasn't paying any attention to them. Instead, he had taken the