Chapter 32

Chapter 32

“Y-you bast... no, you, ehem,” the middle-aged man was forcibly suppressing his anger, which Urich found very funny and made him slap his knee.

“Let’s just forget about what happened earlier. It was a personal thing, right? Anyway, what happened to your little master? He didn’t come with you?”

“Sigh, and I was happy that I finally got to meet a mercenary squad,” the man looked up at the ceiling with a face full of concern. He let out a deep sigh and looked at Urich and the mercenaries.

“How about you introduce yourself first? If you don’t like me, you can leave, but it looks like you’re the desperate one here,” Urich said as he crossed his arms. His attitude made the middle-aged man twitch his lips in frustration.

“My name is Kuba Phillion—it’s Sir Phillion to you. ‘Sir,’” he emphasized his title as Sir.

“Pfft, Sir? You wish, Uncle Phillion,” Urich’s mockery erupted a laughter from the mercenaries in the room. Phillion, who had enough of the humiliation, desperately wanted to storm out of the room.

‘No, I mustn’t. I have to endure any kind of insult for his sake.’

Phillion suppressed his frustration and glared his eyes.

“I want you to escort my master to the capital of Hamel.”

The mercenaries murmured.

“We don’t have any horses so we travel everywhere by foot. And walking to the capital of Hamel is going to take us three months. If anything goes wrong, maybe even up to half a year,” Bachman frowned.

“There’s no need for horses. Just throw us into your mercenary group and transport us without anyone noticing as naturally as possible.”

Phillion glared at the mercenaries with an intense gaze.

‘This is an opportunity that doesn’t come often. I must not miss them.’

Phillion was familiar with the song Urich’s Brotherhood. Any mercenary squad that had a song about them going around was guaranteed to be skillful.

‘I hate to admit it, but this man took me down like I was a child. I know he’s good.’

Phillion had something more important than his own pride.

“The expense for this request is going to be huge, you think you can handle the down payment?”

“Handle it? My down payment will be more than enough for you.”

Phillion took out a pouch and put it on the table. It was only as big as a fist.

“Are you joking? This much gold coin isn’t even enough to keep us going for a single month, let alone a down payment...” Donovan stopped mid-sentence as he was scolding the middle-aged man. The other mercenaries also stared in awe.

“These are pearls, not gold coins.”

The mercenaries dropped silent. Urich was the only one who didn’t know what was going on.

“What is that? Is it expensive?” Urich said as he took out a pearl from the pouch. Its brilliant shine caught his eyes. He stuck out his tongue to get a taste, but Bachman stopped him.

“Be careful, Urich, a pearl that big is easily worth over ten million cils. It’s the jewel of the sea.”

Bachman, who used to be a fisherman, knew the worth of pearls better than anyone else in the room. Even so, the other mercenaries all had an idea of what they were worth.

“You brought a pouch full of jewels, not gold coins.”

Urich put the pearl back into the pouch and looked at his mercenaries. Everyone was frozen in place.

“We’ll take a moment to discuss among ourselves, Sir Phillion,” Donovan said as he ushered Phillion outside. Before leaving, Phillion said to the mercenaries with a concerned look.

“Integrity is the most important making of a mercenary.”

The mercenaries didn’t respond, and Phillion had to wait outside the tent for their discussion to end.

“Urich, this is a huge job. It’s nothing like the ordinary jobs that we’ve been doing,” Donovan said as he walked back into the tent. Only Urich had no idea how big of a deal this was.

“Master Pahell’s mother is Sarian, the second wife of the late lord, while the other sons are the children of the first wife. They are his half-brothers.”

Urich’s head was starting to hurt and frowned.

“Why is it so complicated?”

“This is just how the noble world works. Just let him finish.”

Phillion glanced at the mercenaries and continued.

“Master Pahell’s mother, Sarian’s brother is a member of The Order of Imperial Steel. We plan on officially starting a war with his help. We’re confident that he will lend his hand to his nephew in his effort to reclaim his rights.”

“So, it’s just an inheritance dispute. You nobles are always the same—you don’t give a damn about the people below you who are dying for your wars,” Bachman shot at Phillion. He himself had to flee his homeland after all the exploitation by the nobles.

In a battle between the noble families, it was the common people who lost the most. For them, it didn’t matter who became lord, since it had very little impact on their lives.

“Shut up, Bachman,” Urich commented harshly.

Bachman clicked his tongue in response.

“Our original plan was to take a ship that I had arranged for us and leave the Kingdom of Porcana once and for all, but it never came. Either they couldn’t reach us with new information, or something must have happened. That’s when I happened to hear that the mercenaries were in town. I figured it was better to travel on land, anyway.”

After hearing the whole story, Urich looked at the other mercenaries. They nodded, thinking that there wasn’t too much to worry about.

“What about our pay?”

It was the biggest question that the mercenaries had. They had already seen the down payment of pearls that were worth over a hundred million cils. It was definitely a lot of money, but not for the distance and the length of their travel.

“I will pay you triple the down payment for three months of travel. For every additional month, I’ll add another pouch of pearls.”

The mercenaries’ mouths hung by their ears. it sounded like a crazy amount of money.

“Bachman, can you do the calculation? I’m bad with numbers,” Urich said as he raised his hand.

“Considering that it’s the same pouch of pearls as the down payment, and spreading that over three months... we’ll get four, or five hundred million cils. Now, if we split that among ourselves..." Bachman’s face dropped. He repeatedly folded and opened his fingers.

“Considering that the remuneration is including our expenses, we get ten million cils per person at best. Is this a joke? Only ten million for three months of hard work? Huh?”

Bachman threw his hands up in the air, riling up the other mercenaries.

“Booooo! That makes no sense, no way!”

“Ten million for three months of work? Get out of here!”

Bachman pretended like he was listening to the complaints, then looked at Phillion.

“Sir Phillion, do you hear that? Sounds like that’s nowhere near enough.”

The wrinkles in Phillion’s face deepened.

“I’ll add a hazard pay. Another pouch of pearls for every battle...”

“Make the hazard pay payable immediately after each battle,” Urich said, cutting Phillion off.

“I don’t have that many pearls on me.”

Without him noticing, Phillion had lost control of the negotiations. He was being played like puttie in Urich’s hands.

“Fine, then swear on the name of Lou—that if you break your swear, you’ll become a ghost who forever wanders the world of the living. Integrity also applies to the employer, not just us mercenaries.”

“I swear on the name of Lou that I will not break our contract. If I break our integrity, then I will gladly accept the punishment of my soul, the soul of Kuba Phillion, forever wandering the world of the living.”

Phillion solidified his oath by praying on Urich’s solar pendant.

“Good, Uncle Phillion. Bring your young master by noon tomorrow,” Urich said as the tension on his face eased. Phillion strode out of the mercenary camp with a weary look on his face. After walking for a while, he looked up at the sky. The stars were twinkling.

“Well, I guess that worked out. I’ve found some people to escort my master.”

The back of the loyal knight staggered with fatigue. He had risked his life for this quest.