After exchanging his dalants, the mercenary Seth stepped outside the store and suddenly felt an uncomfortable gaze.
Wondering what it was, he looked around and noticed a group of armed men warily observing them.
"Are these the Sheriffs?"
Their attire looked familiar; they seemed to be the Sheriffs responsible for law and order in this territory.
Seth grimaced without realizing it.
"Damn, I didn't cause any trouble, yet they show up like ghosts."
He had no recollection of causing a disturbance or a commotion inside the store.
Of course, he hadn't been fond of the boy he encountered, but at most, he had only growled softly before leaving.
Despite being under surveillance, it means that they were wary of us visiting the bank.
"It seems the bank is not an ordinary place. After all, it's the place where the most gold coins are stored, so it's natural."
The person who paid the most taxes among the residents of the lord's territory was the goldsmith who operated the bank.
Therefore, from the lord's perspective, the safety of the bank was of utmost importance, and the result was the hawk-like eyes of the seers monitoring the bank.
"But we can't exactly dress up neatly just to exchange money, can we? We didn’t cause any trouble when we went, so I wish they’d understand our situation a bit."
Causing a disturbance in someone else's territory would do no good, so Seth and his colleagues quickly left and headed straight to the market to start buying the things they needed.
"The bank is really something, huh? Did you see the seers stationed outside?"
"Forget it. That's how it always is there."
"True that."
"Let's head back. We won’t get any good looks staying around here."
After finishing their business at the market, they headed towards their campsite.
Their campsite was located in a forest, somewhat away from the town.
On their way to the campsite, Keith, a companion of Seth, suddenly brought up a topic.
It was about the bank they had visited earlier.
"Hey, when we were at the bank, why didn't we negotiate down to 2 shillings per piece? 3 shillings is too expensive."
"Right. Wasn't it originally 1 shilling per dalant? What's with the 3 shillings now?"
Chris, who had come along, joined in the scolding, causing Seth to respond with annoyance.
"What can I do when that's the only bank around? They were obviously running a boldfaced business. And do you think you guys would have done any different? You would've been the same."
At that, Chris was suddenly able to recall a past memory.
What was clear was that the past was different from now.
"I remember it wasn't that expensive when I came here before."
"Not expensive? What are you talking about?"
"I was here three years ago, remember? It was for a brief visit for that abandoned mine exploration. I exchanged money at that store back then, and I remember it was 1 shilling per dalant. Yes, that's right. So even though it was a frontier area, I thought the exchange fee was surprisingly cheap."
"What?"
Hearing this, the other two had expressions of incredulity.
"But why didn't you say anything earlier?"
"Well... I thought it had changed. It's already been three years."
"What did you say?"
"But how can the exchange fee become so expensive overnight?"
"Could that even be possible?"
At that moment, all three of them were able to recall what Rockefeller had said earlier.
"Now that I think about it, didn’t that kid say that business has been good since he arrived?"
"Damn it…"
"It seems like we've been properly duped, right? It should have been enough even at 2 shillings."
"Ah... With that money, I could have gone to the bar and had fun twice! Fun, I tell you."
"Twice? With that money, you could do it three times!"
Despite this, it was too late to turn back as they were almost at the campsite, and the stares they had been receiving from those around them were also a problem.
"Even if we go back, it doesn't seem like they would return it, right?"
"Would you return it if you were in their shoes? They must be pleased, having caught a sucker after a long time."
"He was just like a goblin. Isn’t that how goblins do business?"
"Ha... to think that three of the Hound mercenaries would just leave like this."
"Honestly, it was a big gamble."
In the end, unable to turn away, the three returned to the camp.
Upon their return, they immediately went to where the commander's tent was located.
They had gone to the village and were now reporting back to their leader.
The commander's tent they visited.
When they arrived at the commander's tent, Karl, the captain of the Hound mercenaries, had already met with the administrator sent by the lord and sent the administrator back to the lord's castle.
The bag of gold coins laid on the floor of the tent seemed to indicate that they had received an advance payment for the orc subjugation.
The mercenary trio looked at the bag of gold coins on the floor and started reporting to Captain Karl about their visit to the village.
After listening to their entire story, Captain Karl slowly opened his mouth.
"It seems the situation in the territory isn't as serious as we thought. Well, judging by the attitude of the administrator who came to us, it didn't seem like they were in a huge rush to call us. There was a certain ease on his face."
"We felt the same way. Considering they called us, the situation in the territory seemed quite peaceful, didn't it?"
As Keith and Chris quietly listened to their conversation, they slightly scrunched up their faces.
They thought it wasn't a place for them to play around.
"Why are we even called for such a trivial matter? Are there no other mercenary troops available for the lord here? This is just not on our level. Not at all."
"Aren't the infamous Hounds too good to be playing around in a place like this? Beasts like us are best suited for the unpredictable and bloody battlefields, right?"
Even the renowned Hound mercenaries weren't always destined for only tough tasks.
Unlike his complaining subordinates, the satisfied Captain Karl started to speak.
"We've already received the advance payment. There's no rush, so we can take our time."
Having roughly grasped the situation, Captain Karl began to ask them an unexpected question.
"Did you say you stopped by the bank?"
"Yeah, we did stop by."
"How was it there?"
Why suddenly ask about the bank?
While Seth was wondering, Keith responded.
“Is there even anything to ask about how it was? It was just so-so.”
“So-so? What about its size?”
“Size? Why do you care about that?”
While Keith was retorting, this time it was Chris who answered that question.
“It seemed appropriately sized for a place in the frontier.”
Now, the mercenary Seth expressed his curiosity to Captain Karl.
He was curious about the sudden inquiry regarding the bank matter.
“Captain, why did you suddenly ask about the bank matter?”
In response to that question, Captain Karl silently picked up a gold coin purse that was on the ground nearby.
“I don’t have the nerve to just leave this purse of advance payment from the wolf’s den. How would I know if there’s someone with sticky fingers like last time? Wouldn’t it be safer to deposit it in a bank, even if we have to pay some storage fees?”
Seeing Captain Karl smile cunningly, his three subordinates exchanged glances and then began to shake their heads.
Not understanding their meaning, Captain Karl expressed his confusion.
“Why such a reaction?”
Seth answered on behalf of the other two.
"It doesn't seem like a very good idea."
