186 Hiring
Once the Tier 1 Mercenary realized the decider of his fate was not Xu Feng, but Carmen— the one he tried to vent his frustration on. He quickly slipped out of the guards and bowed with his forehead kissing the ground.
"I'm sorry for obstructing you, lady." The Tier 1 Mercenary apologized. "I was venting earlier because you distracted me and made me miss an ideal mission from the bulletin board." "..."
Speechless, Xu Feng couldn't believe his reason for obstructing them was because of that. No wonder the demoness unleashed fear among everyone in his past timeline.
Had it not been for him, she would have been taken advantage of consecutively, given that there was no one to properly guide her in this complex world. "Uhh, why are you making me decide?" Carmen fidgeted her fingers nervously and questioned. "Well, he's the one that wants to find trouble for you, so naturally you have to be the one to decide." Xu Feng shrugged. To be fair, he couldn't be bothered with the Tier 1 Mercenary's fate. After all, thanks to his deed, he could gain some good points from Carmen.
"J-Just let him go," Carmen said after much difficulty. "The fault was mine to begin with when I tried to hire him with just 10 copper coins." "How is that wrong?" Xu Feng suddenly raised an eyebrow and turned to the Tier 1 Mercenary. Purposely taking a step forward and ensuring Carmen could not see his facial expression, he flashed a menacing grin, "Hey, you tell me. Is it wrong to hire you with just 10 copper coins?" Baffled, the Tier 1 Mercenary was rendered speechless. He attempted to turn to look at the guards, seemingly asking them to help him, but the guards feigned blindness. They avoided being involved in this messy water. After all, it was evident that Xu Feng was picking on him and only him. Not to mention, it was his fault anyway for being petty and it backfired him hard for not knowing who the woman was with. The guards were very unwilling to offend a Baron rank status directly under the jurisdiction of the Aetheria Empire for a Tier 1 Mercenary, especially when it was the latter's fault.
Meanwhile, Xu Feng simply nodded and patted her shoulder lightly, indicating to her not to feel bad about rejecting his goodwill.
"Well, I was going to help you cover the cost anyway." He calmly revealed. "If I really coerce him to be hired for 10 copper coins, then I might never be able to hire another mercenary in my life. I only did it to give him a fright and not to pick on someone in the future so carelessly." "Is that so?" "Mhmm, the moment you let people walk over you, then you best not hope to be respected in the future."
Shortly after, Xu Feng retrieved 8 silver coins, turned to Jeff, and asked, "8 silver coins and 10 copper coins, are you willing to accept a commission to kill an Ironhide Behemoth, Jeff?" "An Ironhide Behemoth?" Jeff was startled briefly. Although an Ironhide Behemoth was a difficult monster to kill, it wasn't impossible either. Additionally, the Ironhide Behemoth wasn't an agile monster, so even if they failed to kill him and got injured in the process, the chance of escaping was high.
'But 8 silver coins is a little bit too low...' Jeff thought to himself. As a Tier 1 Mercenary, the lowest commission he accepted was 10 silver coins. However, seeing the same menacing grin on Xu Feng's face, Jeff probably understood the 10 copper coins were a joke, but there was still a price for acting out against Carmen. Hence, the deduction of 2 silver coins.
After all, there was no way a Baron rank noble like Xu Feng wouldn't know about the market price of hiring a mercenary.
He tried to sneak a glance to Carmen for help this time, but unfortunately for him, Carmen was equally ignorant of the hiring price. She knew 10 copper coins was impossible after being rejected, but as for 8 silver coins? She didn't know. Meanwhile, Xu Feng smirked coldly when he noticed the sneaky action of Jeff.
'Heh, I'll be damned if I pay you the full price after what you did, Jeff.' He exclaimed inwardly, feeling proud that he didn't inform Carmen of the pricing.