Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Mercenaries

After ensuring that everyone’s eyes are on him, Simon continues speaking. His tone is vastly different from just now. He is serious when he has to be serious, just like how a team leader ought to be.

"Our client is Snowe Halphas, and the request is to investigate a hidden village within Olga Federation. We’ll be paid 800 Baal gold coins up front and 200 Baal gold coins after completion. Unusually enough, the downpayment is higher than the rest of the fee, and the overall amount is very large. In addition, there might be a bonus in it for us depending on the results of the investigation."

Simon shares the news he has learned with Sera and Dick, and then goes on to explain the details.

"Our objective is to perform a thorough investigation of the forest around Sooka, to find the mysterious village. The biggest problem is that these ruins are probably going to be filled with monsters  and beasts."

As he sees the gleam in his comrades’ eyes, Simon yields the speaker’s role to his two friends who has returned after collecting information.

"First off, Snowe Halphas’s position in court is precarious. Apparently the king has been treating him coldly. However, Snowe is not in any financial difficulty." 

"Regarding that hidden village near Sooka, Sera and I did some research, there is a rumour that a family of skillful assassin lives in forest near Sooka. Sooka is now ruled by Sarutobi family of Baron rank. It is said the hidden village of skillful assassins is actually home to the distant family of Sarutobi. perhaps we could learn something if we asked around Sooka. What do you think?”

"Can’t do that. We were asked to keep our movements secret. The requester said that we were not to eliminate witnesses."

"Of course, that region is a federation's territory. If we act rashly, we’ll be making enemies of the federation. Simon should know better."

Simon glares furiously as Dick says that.

"Ehem." Sylvia interferes.

She continues, "In other words, this is the usual dirty business, am I correct?”

Everyone nods.

"In that case, there’s only one more problem left.”

“That is, the origin of the information about the hidden village, am I correct?”

“Indeed. It smells fishy, no matter how you slice it.”

"Sooka and area surrounding it is owned by Sarutobi clan that is just merely Baron. Despite being the second lowest nobility rank, he has military strength beyond baron. Several countries infiltrated federation through Sooka but they were annihilated. Baron could never defeat invading armies."

The four of them are worried. They do not know if they should accept this assignment.

Their jobs are a gamble with their lives as the stake. No mercenary could do the job without telling themselves that no amount of checking is enough. If they sniff out a hint of danger which they could not handle, then they would have to refuse the job, no matter how good the terms.

Simon put a black thick bag on the table and open it. His comrades are pleasantly surprised to see shining golden coins in it.

"I had checked. These coins are genuine and I had counted."

"That means it’s not a trap… alright, the truth is, I had the feeling that the other side was serious from the moment I got this payment."

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"Before I decide, I have something I want to say… or rather, something I want to ask. This is vital.”

Simon took a deep breath, and beside him, Sylvia sighs..

“Sera, a weird man was looking for you.”

Sera's face is initially blank, like a mannequin’s, but at that moment, her brows twitches. 

She pauses a beat, and then speaks in leaden tones.

“—I owe him money.”

“You owe him?”

Simon exclaims in surprise. Of course, it is not just Simon, but Sylvia and Dick who are shocked as well. The money they made as mercenaries is evenly divided among them, so they know exactly how much each of their colleagues earns. When they thought about the payment they had received, it is hard to imagine she would end up owing someone money.

"How much do you owe?”

“—200 gold coins.”

This is an astounding amount when one considers the amount of money a regular person makes. Even mercenaries of their caliber could not earn that much money in one go. The total payment for this job is 1,000 gold coins, but that is for the entire team, which is 5 persons. 

Sera's expression turns gloomy. 

"I’ve kept quiet about this all this time because it’s a family shame… my family used to be nobles in Baal, but my father's younger brother wrested the rank and land from him."

"However, my parents are still living a noble lifestyle. Of course, we didn’t have the money to support such a lifestyle, so they had to borrow money from shady places to make ends meet.”

Simon, Sylvia and Dick looked at each other.

Sera had hidden it well, but her voice is still flavored with a hint of annoyance, displeasure and anger.

"Is that so… then we’ll put your problem aside for now, Sera. We’ll let you handle that yourself… let’s return to the topic of whether or not to take this job.”

“I think it’ll be fine.”

“Sylvia?”

“There aren’t any drawbacks to it, right? Besides, we haven’t had proper work in a long time.”

"All right. We decide to take the job. Tell Sharon later."

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