The Founder of the Great Financial Family

The Mercenary Captain schooled his expression into something more gentle even in the face of such disgustingly obvious acting and directly said to the lord, 

"So I came back to you because the Unit Price for the job is not right," 

"The Unit Price doesn't match the job?" 

"Yes, of course, the job we took was a simple Orc Subjugation, and there was no mention of an Orc Sorcerer in the job we were hired for,"

"Hmm…"

The lord was in a position where he was aware that without a Mage, to subjugate an Orc tribe that had an Orc Sorcerer was unreasonable. However, he had called the Hound Mercenaries specifically because he thought they would still be able to handle the work appropriately somehow.

If they had initially put out the job and asked for an Orc subjugation with the Orc Sorcerer included, they could have brought in the appropriate forces. Still, the amount they demanded in terms of pay would have been considerably high. 

"Well, this has become a rather flustering situation. We would have never thought that there would be an Orc Sorcerer there – right?" 

"Yes, my lord, I had no idea that there would be Sorcerers among the group that I thought were simply Orcs," 

"Yes, as you can see, we had no idea about this," 

Carl replied with a crumpled look, 

"Yes, well, it's good that you've found out about it even know," 

"Well, is there nothing you can do without your own power?" The lord asked, 

He was truly shameless. As if he didn't know. 

"There's an Orc Sorcerer, so we can't do it with our power alone. As you know, Sorcerers can't be touched with normal weapons as I think we will need to bring in a Mage to fight against the orcs. And the additional costs of hiring the Mage must be covered by the lord," 

That was when the lord's expression changed, 

"And if I said no?" 

"Then we will take as there was no request for subjugation this time,"

"Hm, in that case, there might be an issue due to the penalty that comes with cancelling the contract," 

This time, it was the mercenary Captain's expression that became brutal. 

"Territory lord, are you planning on going to war against us? If you keep asking for things outside of common sense, we will have no choice but to retaliate accordingly," 

The lord burst into laughter. 

"Hahaha, I was just kidding. Why are you staring at someone so murderously over a joke? If the wrong person saw it, they would think our relationship was terrible – isn't that so? Carl?"

"We are people who don't really like jokes," 

For a moment, the smile disappeared from the lord's face,

"That's enough, I'll stop joking, and as you said, I'll pay for the additional cost of hiring a Wizard. So don't worry too much and complete the given mission well. These days, it's chaotic in the land because of the Orcs – the headache they give me might kill me," 

While it was true that he was annoyed, as long as the lord paid for the extra cost of hiring a Mage instead, Carl didn't have any reason to argue with him anymore. 

‘Looking at him accepting it, it seems he had expected this much. Well, it's true that if we went through the normal method, then the overall cost would have been much more,'

"Then that's alright," Carl nodded, 

The lord took out a pen and a promissory note, which he seemed to have prepared ahead of time, and placed them on the table.

"Alright, how much do you need? There must have been an amount that you had in mind?" 

Looking at the scrap of paper he took out, Carl frowned again, 

"My lord, you're not thinking of paying with that, are you?" 

The lord, who had been writing, paused his pen and looked up at Carl, 

"Is there a problem? I don't have the coins right now, so I'll write you a promissory note instead," 

"Mages are paid in advance. And we too prefer visible gold coins to the scraps of a paper that the lord gives," 

The lord, who tried to settle the matter with the promissory note, had a bitter expression. 

"It's not like I'm going to be ruined anytime soon, and I have a steady income, so what seems to be the problem? With this promissory note, you can get gold coins from me anytime once I write it for you."