Chapter 82: Distribution Rules
The Iron Cross’s Eastern division’s collection of “Frost” Sequence materials wasn’t a standard team requirement.
It was an urgent directive from headquarters.
On the northernmost Scandinavian Peninsula, several countries had recently united to form the “Kalmar Union.”
Kalmar, though called a union, was in essence an empire, with power concentrated in the hands of Queen Margaret.
The Hanseatic League in northern Holy Roman Empire expressed strong concerns about this.
The Hanseatic League was a merchant guild composed of large merchants from the northern cities of the Holy Roman Empire, originally a purely commercial organization. Later, to defend against increasingly rampant pirate attacks, the Hanseatic League began to build its own navy.
At the end of the Fifth Age, in order to monopolize the Baltic Sea trade route, the Hanseatic League decisively defeated the northern countries in a naval battle and successfully signed the Treaty of Stralsund, restricting the northern countries from interfering in Baltic Sea trade, ensuring the freedom of the port town of Visby, and even vetoing the succession rights of the northern royal families.
(Simply put, the Hanseatic League monopolized the trade routes in the North Sea, possessed colonial port towns, and could even decide the kings of the northern countries.)
Now, with the northern countries united by Queen Margaret, the Hanseatic League immediately felt a strong military threat.
Whether the other party came openly (direct attack) or covertly (increased pirate activity), it would seriously affect the Hanseatic League’s trade security and economic interests in this region.
Therefore, the Hanseatic League urgently needed to prepare for this. As a mercenary group solely funded by the Hanseatic League, the Iron Cross was thus issued the mandatory task of “collecting Frost Sequence materials.”
All branches had to collect a certain amount of Frost materials within a time limit and hand them over. This was a death order.
These materials would be sent to Lübeck and urgently made into supernatural items that could resist frost through special channels, used to defend against the attacks of the Norman pirates under the Northern Queen.
(The Transcendents among the Norman pirates mostly leaned towards the Frost Sequence, which could help them resist the cold, freeze the enemy’s arms in battle, or prevent them from freezing to death if they fell into the sea.)
Of course, this was just a potential conflict that was expected to happen within a few years, but hadn’t happened yet. The current confrontation between Emperor Otto and the Church was the main theme of the world. Unless you paid special attention to the political situation in the remote areas north of the Holy Roman Empire, ordinary people shouldn’t know about this.
So, how did this Asker know about this?
Guessing that they were here for Frost Sequence materials and being certain that they desperately needed these materials and wouldn’t give up until they achieved their goal were two completely different things.
The former was negotiable, the latter was the bottom line of the transaction. Once the bottom line was seen through, there was no room for bargaining – just press the price down to the bottom line.
Hermann stared at Asker, his eyes complex and gloomy.
After Andrea yielded, the three parties quickly reached an agreement.
Sparta would provide 20 reserve boy soldiers, mainly acting as guides.
The two mercenary groups, Azure Longsword and the Iron Cross, would be responsible for entering the mountains and eliminating the rampaging Snow Monsters.
However, disagreements and arguments arose again regarding the distribution of spoils.
“It’s impossible to divide the harvest based on the number of people.” Asker shook his head repeatedly. “That’s not fair.”
“What’s unfair about it?” Andrea said. “We contribute more people, so of course we should get more, it’s very fair.”
“Then I’ll hire 100 Spartans right now to temporarily join my team as guides, then we can calculate based on the number of people.” Asker said.
“That won’t do!” Andrea hurriedly said. “Only warriors who can effectively damage the Snow Monster count!”
“Oh, then I’ll equip these 100 Spartans with stones, and they can throw stones at the Snow Monster. As long as they hit, it counts as damage, how about that?” Asker said.
“Of course not!” Andrea said.
“Then tell me, what is the definition of damage.” Asker countered.
Andrea was speechless.
What was considered damage? If throwing stones counted as damage, then Andrea also wanted to hire a group of people on the spot to forcibly increase his share of the loot.
But damage couldn’t be quantified after all… After pondering for a moment, Andrea could only compromise:
“How about this, we calculate based on the actual kills. Whoever kills the Snow Monster, the loot on it belongs to them.”
“Okay.” Asker said, “If two people hit the Snow Monster at the same time, and the Snow Monster dies, who gets the kill? I suggest cutting off its ear after killing it. Whoever has the ear gets the loot.”
“That won’t do!” Andrea immediately became agitated. “I brought a lot of gunmen this time, how can you make gunmen go to the front line to cut off ears?”
“What’s the problem? My team also has gunmen and mages,” Asker said.
“How many people are in your team! Half of the non-Transcendents in my team are gunmen!” Andrea said, exasperated.
“Then how do you suggest we calculate it?” Asker asked.
“Gunmen are counted as one person. The spoils are divided in half after the battle, one half is evenly distributed based on the number of people, and the other half is based on kills.” Andrea said casually.
“Okay, our share will be based on kills, and your share will be based on the number of people.”
“Are you here to pick a fight?” Andrea was going crazy.
“I’m just reminding you that this distribution method is unreasonable.” Asker said calmly. “After all, having more people doesn’t necessarily mean you can kill faster. What’s the point of being so insistent on dividing based on the number of people?”
“Then what do you suggest?” Andrea said impatiently, throwing the question back.
“Calculate based on kills.” Asker said.
“If multiple people hit the same Snow Monster, how do we count the kills?” Andrea asked.
“Simple.” Asker said, “After encountering a Snow Monster, whoever attacks the target first, that Snow Monster belongs to them. Whether the other side attacks or not doesn’t affect the ownership of the materials on the Snow Monster. Assuming both sides cooperate to kill the Snow Monster, the ownership belongs to the one who attacked first.”
“This way, only one side will be attacking a Snow Monster at the same time, and the ownership is clear.”
Andrea pondered for a moment and felt that this rule was advantageous for him.
The reason was simple: to prevent being frostbitten by the Snow Monster at close range, he had brought a large number of gunmen this time. Gunmen had a longer attack range, so they could hit the Snow Monster before the members of Azure Longsword.
As long as they got the first shot, they could enjoy the protection of the rule and claim the materials after killing the Snow Monster.
But was this guy really so kind? Andrea became suspicious again.
The rule seemed fine, but he had been tricked by Asker too many times, so he couldn’t be sure if there was a trap.
So he turned to Hermann and asked, “What do you think?”
“The rule is advantageous for us.” Hermann’s judgment was the same as his.
“But I don’t trust this guy.” Andrea muttered. “After all, this rule was proposed by him.”
“He’s guarding against us.” Hermann said, “This rule, on the surface, restricts everyone from snatching targets from each other, but in reality, it divides the battlefield. Since the enemies belong to each side, then in battle, we will naturally be separated, and we can’t use ‘accidental injury’ as an excuse to attack them.”
“I see.” Andrea quickly understood. “So he still doesn’t trust us? Haha, it’s understandable for a small mercenary group to be cautious.”
The two whispered for a while and then agreed to Asker’s rule.
Whoever killed it, got it; whoever attacked it first could kill it. If a dead Snow Monster fell from the sky, whoever grabbed it first got it.
In short, it was a race.
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