Chapter 17

“Well done, If I were you, I’d have accepted 1 shilling per talent and done the exchange. That’s how it was for the Hound mercenaries I did business with a few years ago as well,”

Rockefeller shook his head,

“We can’t do that, we don’t have anything to lose after all, so we don’t have to make that much of a concession to them,”

Nerve was needed for trade sometimes.

“Those people wouldn’t have had anywhere else to exchange money apart from here and Talents are too big so they wouldn’t accept them in other stores,”

1 Talent was the equivalent of a rural worker’s entire month’s earnings. Going to the market trying to buy things with that amount of money would be burdensome – even the big merchants wouldn’t be able to give sufficient change.

“So that’s why we can have this much nerve,” Rockefeller explained,

“And what if they just left?”

“You just have to reduce it down lightly – you saw that they didn’t leave right away because they were hesitant right?”

“And what if they decided to get tyrannical? From one glance you can tell they’re the rough kind who aren’t afraid to cause a bit of trouble,”

“The Seer barracks are right next door, do you think they wouldn’t have noticed? I saw earlier they were signalling each other to not make a fuss,”

“Well, it wouldn’t be good for an outside to make a mess in another territory and as you said, the Seers’ are just next door – it turns out your way was right, well done,”

In Carter’s view, Rockefeller had certainly done a good job, even more so than himself.

“I’m sure you’re better at this job than I am, I don’t have that kind of disposition – I think I was born a coward,”

“I’m glad you see me like that,”

“I see that jobs need to be distributed to increase income – after leaving things to you, that’s how it feels,”

“Thank you,”

It came to Carter’s mind that the placer gold trafficking had been quite lackluster these days.

“But I don’t think you’ve brought me any gold these days – did something happen that I don’t know about?”

It wasn’t like he could bring Carter gold dust that they didn’t have so Rocefeller lied through his teeth without a single break in his expression,

“I don’t know either. It does feel like we’ve lost touch recently…”

“Have you heard nothing from him?”

“Yes, I haven’t really heard anything,”

Carter, who hadn’t placed much weight on the placer gold smuggling and had only thought he would reap as much profit as he safely could, was slightly disappointed.

“Hmm, well, it was a small amount but I suppose the smuggler went underground – that’s a shame. Well, it’s not too bad since you’re doing a good job though,”

“Well, it was a small deal anyway, wasn’t it? I think he might have found another route, since he hasn’t been in touch with me. After all, this isn’t the only place for trafficking right?”

“Well that’s true – I should have played it better, tch. What was so disappointing that he quit the deal?”

“Forget about it, I’m working hard instead, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, I’m glad you’re here, If I had known you had such talent, I would have used you as an assistant from the beginning,”

Still it was in his nature to be sad about the loss of income.

Carter, who was sighing deeply, began to express regret over the gold coins that slept quietly in his warehouse.

“By the way, I finally have enough money to do the lending you mentioned before,”

In the past, he would have only leant out his own gold coins, but now, he was willing to secretly lend out even the gold coins his customers had left behind – but there was a worry there.

“The problem is, I don’t have anyone to lend that much gold out to. I can’t just lend it to any bastard on the road – I’d like some creditworthy people like the Lord to come borrow gold coins,”

Rockefeller was also lost in thought, leaving behind Carter’s regretful sighs.

‘The orc trouble is only just beginning,’

The frequent appearance of the orcs near the Montefeltro estate was only the beginning. The full scale war between the Dwarves and the Orcs, which began due to the Goblins’ pranks was not due to start yet.

If the two forces were influenced into conflict, there were many things for Rockefeller, who worked with money, to look forward to.

‘I can guarantee that things will become more fun if it gets noisier – war always brings in an friend called money,’

The mercenary, Sett, who came out of the store after exchanging the Talents, suddenly felt uncomfortable.

He looked around cautiously, wondering whose gaze he felt, when he saw a group of armed people looking at them warily.

‘This territory’s Seers?’

Looking at their garb, the familiar costumes let him know they were the Seers in charge of the security of this estate.

Sett frowned without realising it.

‘Tch, I didn’t even make a fuss but you’ve come like ghosts,’

He hadn’t made a fuss or messed anything up in the store, sure he didn’t like the little boy he had been dealing with, but even then, all he’d done was yell a little.

Nevertheless, the fact that their guards were attached means they had been wary of their visit to Banco from the beginning.

‘I guess they aren’t called Banco for no reason. Well, it’s the place where the most gold coins are stored, it’s no wonder the Seers are careful,’

It was the goldsmith who ran the Banco that paid the most in taxes among all the people within this territory.

Therefore, from the Lord’s point of view, he had to pay the most attention to Banco’s safety and the result of that was the hawk-like gaze of the Seers watching Banco.

‘But it’s not like we’re going to dress up for exchanging currency since we’ve been rolling around outside – since we didn’t cause a fuss, they should at least try and look at things from our side,’

Since there was nothing good to come from making a fuss in someone else’s area, Sett and his colleagues sped through and immediately went to the market to buy what they needed.

“Wall, a Banco is a Banco after all – did you see the Seer’s gathered outside?”

“Leave it. That’s the way it is normally,”

“That’s true,”

“Let’s go back, if we’re in a place like this, we don’t get good looks,”

After finishing their business in the market, they headed to their campsite which was situated some distance away from the village, in the surrounding forest.

On the way to the campsite, Sett’s colleague, Keith began speaking, it was about the situation at Banco,

“Hey, why didn’t you try to cut down two more shillings each while you were at Banco? Three shillings a Talent is too expensive,”

“Right, it was only one shilling for every Talent wasn’t it? What the heck are three shillings about?”

Even Chris, who had come with him, added his voice to the criticism, and Sett voiced his displeasure,

“It’s the only Banco around – what was I supposed to do? From the looks of it, they knew they were being gutsy and had the confidence to carry on – what difference would you guys have made? It would have been the same if you were in my place,”

Chris recalled some old memories, what was clear was that things were different,

“I don’t think it used to be that expensive?”

“Wasn’t it expensive? What are you talking about?”

“I was here once, 3 years ago. I stopped by to explore the abandoned mines, I remember when I exchanged my money at the store it was 1 shilling for every Talent. Yeah, I’m sure that was it. I remember thinking the exchange fee was cheaper than I thought even though I was in the outskirts,”

“What?” The other two looked shocked at the absurd news,

“But why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

“Hm… I just figured things had changed in the meantime – this was three years ago after all,”

“What?”

“But how can the exchange fee get so expensive in that time?”

“There’s no way it could rise that much,”

At that moment, all three were able to recall what Rockefeller had said earlier,

“Come to think of it, that kid did say that since he came, the business was doing well,”

“For gods’ sake…!”

“I think we’ve been done in – I bet we could have gotten it for two shillings,”

“Ha… that money was enough to get drunk twice over!”

“Not twice! I could do it three times with that money!”

However they had almost arrived at the campsite, it was a little late to turn around now – and the Seers who had been watching them were also problematic.

“Even if we go back, I don’t think we’ll get it back,”

“If it was you, would you give it back? I’m sure they’re happy to have ripped someone off after a while,”

“He was just like a goblin – I heard goblins do business like that,”

“Honestly, that took a lot of guts,”

Eventually, the three who couldn’t turn their steps back returned to the campsite. They went straight to the place where the captain had set his place to report what had happened at the village.

At the captain’s barracks;

Carl, the captain of the Hound mercenaries, had already communicated with the Lord’s custodian and sent him back to the Lord’s castle,

Looking at the bag of gold coins, it was clear he had already received advance payment for the orc extermination.

Sett looked at the gold coin bag on the floor, and began to report to Captain Carl about the trip to the village. After hearing their full story, Captain Carl slowly opened his mouth,

“It seems the situation isn’t as serious here as we thought. Looking at the custodian’s attitude, they didn’ call us because they were desperate – they had enough leeway to be calm,”

“We felt the same way – it seemed too peaceful in the village to have called for us,”

Keith and Chris, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, and frowned.

It meant this job wasn’t at their usual playing level.

“We’re not some local gang shitheads so why the hell would they call us for this then?”