Chapter 80: Payment Due
When Rudashius arrived, he saw Eleanor and Asker, one holding Sidlipha’s head and the other lifting her feet, trying to pull her off the ground.
Sidlipha struggled, a look of despair on her face.
The Spartan boys nearby cheered her on, as lively as if they were watching a tug-of-war.
Is this… some new training method? Rudashius wondered.
He quickly remembered his task and hurried over to Asker, briefly explaining the situation.
“The Iron Cross mercenary group? Andrea?” Asker said with a smile. “Of course I remember him. We’re old friends.”
Judging by the look on Andrea’s face, I doubt he’d agree with that statement… Rudashius thought to himself.
Asker turned to go back to the dormitory and gather the rest of the girls. Seeing this, Hood rushed out, shouting.
“You don’t want to train?” Asker asked, surprised after hearing Hood’s complaints. “The quality of Spartan military training is very high. It’s a rare opportunity to train in their territory, it will be very helpful for your strength development!”
“Dude, I give up, stop messing with me, okay?” Hood was almost in tears. “I’m a mechanic! A support profession! Improving my combat strength is useless for me!”
“You can’t say that. When real danger strikes, no one cares whether you’re a combat profession or not,” Asker said.
“I don’t care! If you make me run with them again, I’ll quit the group right here and now! I quit!” Hood declared resolutely.
Seeing his unwavering stance, Asker relented and let him stay in the dormitory. He then left with the girls of Azure Longsword.
Following Rudashius to the Spartan Royal Court, they saw the place surrounded by layers of Spartan warriors who had come upon hearing the news.
Pushing through the crowd, they saw the two Spartan kings sitting on stone chairs, and two high-ranking members of the Iron Cross mercenary group in the center of the plaza.
One of them was Andrea, the guy who had distributed the silver coins in Stanimaka.
“Captain Asker, long time no see,” Andrea greeted him with a smile, showing no sign of their previous unpleasant encounter.
This was the mark of a large mercenary group.
In the mercenary business, competition was unavoidable. Making enemies today and making enemies tomorrow, if they held onto every grudge, they wouldn’t have time for any business, they’d be spending all their time seeking revenge!
Smaller mercenary groups, when they had a feud, would at most ignore each other when they met. Larger mercenary groups, even with a feud, could still smile and greet each other, continuing to trade and cooperate as needed.
Of course, if you showed any weakness, the knife from a large mercenary group would be more ruthless than anyone else’s – after all, they were professionals.
“Commander Andrea, I didn’t expect to see you here,” Asker replied politely. “I apologize for leaving so abruptly last time, without a proper goodbye.”
“No worries, no worries.” Andrea maintained his smile, sneering inwardly.
“In that case, let’s settle the accounts, shall we?” Asker said.
Andrea: ???
“Settle the accounts?” Andrea’s smile faltered. “What accounts?”
“The commission for finding Von Kesim.” Asker looked at him strangely, his expression as if saying, “Don’t tell me you’re trying to renege on your payment.” “Five denarii per day, plus 5 pounds for finding Von Kesim, have you forgotten?”
I!@#￥%&… A string of curses ran through Andrea’s mind, but he maintained his composure and feigned confusion:
“Captain Asker, your claim is unreasonable. Von Kesim appeared on his own accord, attempting to snipe everyone in the fortress. How does that count as you finding him?”
“Who defeated Von Kesim in the sniper duel?” Asker asked.
“I admit it was you, and I am very grateful for your assistance.” Andrea said slyly. “However, it was Captain Matthews of the Free Wind mercenary group who promised to share the bounty for participating in the siege. You should ask him for payment. We, the Iron Cross, only promised a bounty for finding Von Kesim.”
“Did you eventually find him?”
“We did.”
“And how did you find him?”
“By following you, of course…” Andrea suddenly clapped his hand over his mouth, as if realizing he had misspoken.
Hermann beside him sighed. The surrounding Spartans watched them in silence.
“Indeed.” Asker nodded. “After the sniper duel, our people led the way and brought you to Von Kesim, didn’t we? And in the end, you took his head and exchanged it for the bounty from the Church.”
Led the way, my ass! Andrea roared inwardly. You ran so fast, if it weren’t for our experienced scouts, we would have lost you long ago!
“Captain Asker, that’s not quite fair, is it?” Andrea forced a smile, regaining his composure.
“It is true that you ‘led’ us to Von Kesim.” He emphasized the word “led” with subtle sarcasm. “However, you also took his sniper rifle, didn’t you? That rifle is worth 500 pounds.”
“You said yourself that the sniper rifle belonged to Von Kesim.” Asker looked at him, puzzled. “How can you use someone else’s belongings to offset the debt?”
“How can it be someone else’s belongings?!” Andrea couldn’t help but retort angrily. “You led us to Von Kesim, so of course we could kill him, and then the sniper rifle naturally became our spoils of war, didn’t it?”
“Then who ultimately killed Von Kesim?” Asker asked.
Andrea: …
Damn, this logic is twisted!
He held his forehead, calmed down for a few seconds, and sorted out the relationship:
The Iron Cross mercenary group hired independent mercenaries to find the mission target, promising a reward of 5 pounds.
After finding the mission target, the Iron Cross mercenary group would kill Von Kesim and take his head and weapon, earning 1000 pounds, of which 5 pounds would be given to the independent mercenaries.
However, the real problem was that finding Von Kesim didn’t mean his head and weapon belonged to you – you still had to kill him first.
In other words, the initial statement of the Iron Cross mercenary group had a loophole: they only promised 5 pounds for finding the target; they didn’t specify who owned the loot on the target.
Of course, ordinary mercenary groups couldn’t kill Von Kesim independently, so Andrea hadn’t considered this at first.
But then something unexpected happened: Azure Longsword led them to Von Kesim, theoretically completing the Iron Cross’s commission.
Then they killed Von Kesim and took his weapon, which was no longer related to the commission.
Theoretically, even if they had taken Von Kesim’s head at that time, as long as they could escape, there wouldn’t be any legal problems.
Seeing the changing expressions on Andrea’s face, Asker said slowly:
“Look, I led you to Von Kesim, and I also killed him by the way. You didn’t have to do anything and got Von Kesim’s head, which you exchanged for a 500-pound bounty from the Church. Now you’re reluctant to give us the agreed-upon 5 pounds? That doesn’t seem right, Commander Andrea.”
Leave a Reply