’Giving us a job already?’ He thought. ’He sure moves fast.’
Tang Yao rested his chin on his hand while looking at Leo before starting to explain slowly.
"The Central Plains isn’t in a great condition since the Heavenly Demon’s demise. Many bandits appeared because the group they are afraid of are now gone. One of them is Green Forest Bandit. It’s getting hard to move around and buy goods without having to worry about bandits robbing you."
"Oh?"
Leo didn’t expect Green Forest Bandit or often known as Nokrim to make a move already. The false information about Heavenly Demon’s demise was taken seriously by them it seemed.
’Not bad.’ He thought to himself. ’It works.’
"With your strength, I would like to propose to hire your mercenaries as my personal guard while I travel around doing my business. Usually, my sister would come with me, but the timing is... a bit unfortunate." He glanced at Tang Soso and gave her a reassuring smile. "That is why, I would like to ask for your assistance, Mr. Thunder God."
"Just call me Leo." The black-haired young man said as he narrowed his eyes. "Why should I accept your offer?"
"Because of the price." Tang Yao said seriously before putting a large pouch on the table. "500 Golds for escorting and protecting me. This is the deposit. I will give you another 500 Golds when we return safely."
A total of 1,000 Golds. It was definitely a large amount of money.
’Chiaki might already be banned from the gambling den, so we can’t really make more money by using dice.’ Leo thought and frowned. ’We also need funds for our next project whether we want it or not. But this was... not exactly ideal.’
"Tang Yao." Leo called the young man’s name while resting his chin on his hand while leaning his upper body on the table slightly. "Are you sure that 1,000 Gold coins is enough to hire us?"
"My apologies, I didn’t take that into consideration. We can talk about the compensation more if you want to."
As if. Leo knew Tang Yao was just testing his character. In Murim, no matter how much someone loved money, they always wanted merit more than money. Tang Yao should have known this. So, the 1,000 Golds offer was just bait for him to respond and show his attitude.
"Hmm..."
"We can increase the compensation." Tang Soso suddenly said while glancing at Tang Yao as if they were discussing something in secret telepathically. "Just name it."
Tang Yao sighed at her response and nodded his head slightly at Leo before saying, "What do you want?"
This was difficult.
’I don’t know what price I should ask for to fight the Green Forest Bandit.’
In a way, that fight was unavoidable if he accepted this job. Tang Clan planned to eradicate the Nokrim and took all their resources as part of their scheme to monopolize the weapon industry in Qin City.
’Tang Yao wants to get merit and increase his status in the clan as well as getting more power to stand up against his brother. It’s a risky move for him but beneficial when it succeeds.’ Leo thought while stroking his chin. ’There is something I want from Green Forest too. I’d like to accept this job.’
Considering the enemy numbers, terrain, how long the job would last, and his group’s overall strength, Leo had estimated their strength in fighting the bandits.
"9,000 Golds." He finally decided on a fair price after doing a mental calculation in his head. "That’s my final offer. Oh, and an upfront payment of 1,000 Golds. So the total is 10 thousand."
"That’s too much!" One of Tang Clan’s martial artists exclaimed.