episode_0008

“No, you can’t pay your salary?”

The subordinates began to become enraged at the words of the Black Wolf mercenary leader.

“Count, are you going to cut this guy’s stomach because he lost the war?”

“개새끼네 이거.”

“You must retaliate immediately.”

It was common for nobles to not pay fair wages to mercenaries they hired. But that mainly applied to nameless mercenaries.

Who are the Black Wolf Mercenaries?

It is one of the most famous mercenary groups in the Empire of Astyren, and their leader Wolff was also a mercenary knight.

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Considering that it is commonly known that their strength is equivalent to 100 soldiers, the power of the Black Wolf mercenaries, which number around 100, could never be ignored.

To such a group of mercenaries, Count Anitul did not pay them in the form of cutting their stomachs.

In the war, he worked harder than anyone else.

“Retaliation? Against the Count? Kids, don’t play around.”

However, there was nothing the mercenary group could do to take revenge on the count.

No matter how knight-level Wolf was, he had three or four knights by his side, and the commanders throughout the war were also knight-level.

It’s not the level to attack.

“Still, Captain, if things continue like this, the loss will be severe. And since it’s winter soon, there won’t be any war for a while.”

One of the vice-captains, a subordinate, spoke. Wolff was troubled.

As his subordinate said, it did not suit his temperament to only take losses.

At that time, the vice-captain, who had expressed his opinion earlier, once again presented an interesting opinion.

“How about plundering the baron’s territory?”

“Baron Hypro?”

“Yes. Baron Hipro is a vassal who was neglected by Count Anitul, and he is a man with little military power, so he would never dream of revenge.”

“Hmm… But as far as I know, Baron Hypro’s territory is not very pleasant.”

Baron Hippo was a pathetic man who had no sense of reading the trends and lacked the authority of an aristocrat.

The estate given to such a man by a greedy count could not have been good.

In particular, I knew that many of the estates bordered the Dark Forest and were not managed properly.

Perhaps looting such a place could be seen as more of a loss.

If a warbear emerges from the dark forest, it would be a major crisis for the mercenary group.

“Hey… .”

When Wolf was feeling frustrated.

One of the mercenaries, the leader of the ten gathered here, opened his mouth.

“What is it?”

“As far as I know, there is a village in Baron Hepro’s territory with many beautiful women.”

“There are a lot of beauties?”

“Yes. Do you know one of Baron Hippo’s soldiers named Leon?”

It’s a ridiculous question. Usually, a mercenary leader doesn’t remember a single soldier. It was difficult to remember the faces of one’s own subordinates, but there was no need to remember each and every one of other people’s subordinates. However, Wolff remembered a soldier named Leon.

Because you have good skills for a soldier? There was that, but it was also because of his outstanding appearance.

“I know. Soldiers from the village of Rugeron often boast that the women in their village are the prettiest.”

“Isn’t this a funny story? If even a warbear comes out near the dark forest, everyone will die.”

“Well, isn’t it that only the pretty girl survived?”

After carefully considering the opinions of his subordinates, Wolff made a decision.

“Good. There is no war to work on anyway, so let’s plunder a village called Rugern or Rugeron.”

The subordinates cheered at the leader’s decision.

There is nothing more enjoyable to mercenaries than looting.

. . .

Even though I made it, I had to get permission from the village chief, so I showed the watermill to the village chief and gave it a demonstration.

In fact, the village chief even shed tears when he saw the mill, which performed better than the windmill.

“You are the treasure of this town!”

“Why are you like this? Burdeningly.”

Anyway, I received permission from the village chief, and since this year was difficult for everyone due to the war, he allowed me to use the watermill for free this year without any usage fee.

“I will be in charge for a while. Anyway, I was bored because I didn’t have any work to do recently.”

“Wouldn’t it be difficult? It’s winter soon.”

“It’s okay. It’s harder for a blacksmith to starve to death anyway.”

Only Tom and I know how to use it, but Tom took the initiative and said he would be in charge for a while.

I really am a grateful man.

‘I hope this won’t make that idiot bully Sylvia.’

As the owner of the mill, there was a lot to take off, so everyone, except the idiot and the one who cheated, was grinding grain with a millstone.

When I see people saying that they want to live alone in these times, I feel so embarrassed that I want to kill them.

“Well, the village chief will take care of this.”

Next thing I do is… .

“That?”

While I was thinking of going hunting in the dark forest, a group of peddlers were approaching the village.

I went straight home, discussed with my family, and went to see the peddler.

“Welcome~It’s not every day! From potions and monsters that you need to have as a daily medicine, to magic tools to protect your body! Selling it cheaply. Cheap!”

There, a girl with short hair and cat ears and a tail was proudly promoting the product.

I felt drained by the promotion of a random merchant who didn’t seem to be selling anything cheap at all.

“Oh~Who is this? Aren’t you Sian, a regular customer?”

“Pina, I guess all the merchants of Cat Kit Company are full of energy like you, so much so that they often come to this remote village.”

“Nyahahaha, that can’t be possible. The only peddler who will come to such a remote village is Pina.”

As you can see, Pina was a cat beast with pink cat ears and tail. In the first place, the Cat Kit Company was an association formed by cat owners.

“But I don’t mind going to difficult areas to become rich.”

“And then they are slashing the price.”

“Nyahahaha, please pretend not to notice that.”

“Do you want to lag behind?”

“It’s a joke. joke! Nyahahaha.”

Let me aim. I curled my bleeding tail and avoided eye contact. As a beast, she was infinitely weak in front of the strong.

“That’s right. Sian, do you know that?”

“Don’t change words.”

“You don’t know either. This is special information. Only Sian knows. Count Anitul was defeated by Duke Sahad.”

“What?”

“The war ended with Count Anitul paying compensation to Duke Sahad, but looking at the atmosphere, I don’t know when war will break out again.”

The information Pina gave me had both good news and bad news.

The good news is that the war is over and the father, husband or son of someone who went to war returns to the village.

The bad news is that Count Anitul is stealing the farmers’ hard work to pay the compensation.

“So you came here earlier than expected.”

“Nyahaha, I don’t think I’ll be able to sell anything in this town if it’s not now.”

I felt bad about the merchant’s base intentions, but it worked to my benefit.

Because we have to prepare for the coming winter and the Count who will suck our blood.

“Since you are Sian, I will not beat you up on the price. Do you have any leather or by-products? It would be beneficial to sell everything to me.”

“Ten pieces of good quality warbear leather.”

“Yes?”

“The claws are good, in a pile, and five fresh snails.”

“Eek?”

“Finally, 100 pounds of rock salt.”

“, did you keep this much in mind?”

Just leave it alone.

It’s a trophy that I collected by hunting and gathering non-stop for almost two months in order to take care of my family.

“There are too many and I can’t exchange them all for gold coins. Is there anything you need?”

“About three or four potions, a long sword, bow and arrows, and perfume and oil. Lastly, the fruit I asked for before.”

“Now, wait a minute.”

My hands were busy moving around on the abacus as I ordered, and I started calculating a large amount of ledgers.

“Ugh… So, this is the amount of profit I get… ”

“If you calculate them one by one, there is no end.”

“Money is a lifeline for merchants.”

“Ha… You benefit anyway.”

According to my father, warbears are strong monsters and cause a lot of damage to the civilian population, so among nobles and knights, they decorate their mansions to show off their power and force, like tiger skins in Joseon.

In particular, nobles who were insensitive to money were willing to buy it no matter how high the price was, so asking for it was almost always the price.

However, I did not have a distribution network to sell it myself, and it was too cumbersome, so I sold it to Pina who came to the village.

“Calculation is complete. Here are five gold coins as change.”

“And take this.”

“Eck? Why are you giving back the gold coins? Is that what you think? Excuse me, but I have no intention of selling myself.”

“It’s not like that, it’s prepaid.”

“Pay in advance? Do you need anything?”

“Next time you come, please buy the items written here.”

Pina looked embarrassed after seeing the letters written on the tree bark.

“All of these are not easy to obtain.”

“That’s why it was paid in advance. I will come and pay for the missing parts.”

“Okay. For merchants, credit means trust, so they take responsibility for it.”

I returned home while checking the items I purchased from Pina, the peddler.

Then, as I checked my long sword and bow, I thought about the worst.

‘Just in case, let’s not hunt for a while and wait in the village.’

According to Pina, Count Anatul lost the war and asked for compensation.

If so, there is a high probability that he would not have paid fair wages to the mercenaries hired under him.

And the actions of mercenaries who were not paid were determined.

Plundering the estates of nobles who skipped their salaries.

‘Our village is located in a remote area, so the probability of an invasion is low.’

It’s an assumption, but there’s nothing bad about being prepared.