Chapter 30

The mercenaries fell silent upon seeing Lucian fulfill his promise without saying a word.

From all around, mixed emotions could be felt jealousy, sighs, regret, greed.

Ignoring the looks thrown at him from every direction, Lucian smiled and spoke.

“Since the sum is quite large, some of you might feel a bit uneasy. If you’d like, I can assign you extra escorts to your next destination.”

“No, I’m fine. It’s more comfortable for me to move alone.”

“Oh, really? Then so be it.”

As soon as Lucian stepped aside, Aiden rushed out.

From the urgency in his stride, it seemed like he was ready to buy a horse and leave immediately.

Almost at the same time, the other mercenaries stood up abruptly.

‘They plan to follow him, kill him, and rob him.’

That’s how mercenaries were.

Even having worked with them in his past life, no matter how many times he saw it, the sight only brought a bitter smile to his face.

Clap, clap.

“Well, I haven’t finished speaking yet, so sit down.”

Before they could move further, Lucian clapped to get their attention.

Most stopped, but some ignored him and continued walking.

One group even approached the entrance, blocked by Lucian.

“Young master, please let us through for a moment. We need to use the bathroom.”

“We’ll be right back, won’t take long. If you want, I can sign a note.”

There are always people who can’t read the room.

Even after a life had just been lost before their eyes, these idiots hadn’t learned a thing.

Lucian smiled disdainfully and reached into the platinum bag.

“Sven’s head fetched a price far too high for its worth. I wonder how much yours would be worth?”

“…!”

“Get back to your seats. Unless you want me to make another oath.”

Only then did the mercenaries understand, retreating with pale faces.

As no one responded, Lucian pulled out a few platinum coins and placed them on the table while shouting.

“Oh, eight gods of heaven!”

“We’re sitting! We’re sitting, look at us! Sitting!”

“Please forgive us just this once! We didn’t mean to disrespect you, young master!”

The mercenaries who had reached the entrance immediately returned to their seats, terrified.

Seeing this, the rest stayed completely still as well.

They knew that if they kept ignoring him, they might become the next target of an oath.

Once everyone, hesitant and trembling, returned to their places, Lucian spoke.

“Lately, some rats calling themselves the Imperial Liberation Alliance have been causing disorder in the area. You were supposed to be the ones to catch them. But due to your negligence, those bastards are roaming freely as if they own the world.”

“…”

“I’ll state my purpose clearly. I want you to fulfill the contract. Starting tomorrow, you’ll work properly and in proportion to what you’ve been bleeding from my brother. If you slack off again like today, I won’t forgive you. Understood?”

The mercenaries showed displeased expressions.

It was true that they had taken advantage of their favorable position and demanded too much.

But it was also true that the Valdeck family had tried to hire them at standard rates when their value was through the roof.

So even though they had made mistakes, accepting all of this without protest wasn’t easy either.

“Young master, please don’t misunderstand. It’s not out of greed, but…”

“I will give one platinum coin for each member of the Imperial Liberation Alliance you capture.”

“…?!”

The mercenaries’ eyes widened.

It was a smaller amount than used in the previous oath, but as an additional payment, it was still massive.

Even split among an entire group, one platinum coin equaled the pay of four or five major jobs.

“And to any group that captures five or more, I’ll give another platinum coin as a bonus. What do you say?”

Gulp.

The sound of swallowing echoed everywhere.

With just five captures, they could collect six platinum coins.

Split or not, it was enough to seriously consider retirement.

The offer was so tempting that everyone began glancing at each other, indecisive.

“We accept! With conditions like these, there’s no reason to refuse!”

A group of mercenaries in the corner stood up.

The others were startled, but only for a moment.

Once one paved the way, the others began to rise as well.

“We accept too!”

“Where should we go? Just give us our destination!”

“Guys, grab your gear! It’s time to work!”

Lucian smiled at the instant turnaround of the same mercenaries who had been sprawled on the floor moments before.

Then he raised his hand to call for silence and shouted.

“It’s already late, so rest today. Tomorrow morning I’ll inform each group of your deployment area. But remember this—if you dare to slack off again, I’ll make you return every single coin of the advance you received. Burn it into your heads!”

***

Lucian and his group left the inn after finishing the negotiation.

Although a few murmured warnings could still be heard, no one dared protest as before.

“It ended more or less well. With this, I’m sure my older brother will be satisfied, so let’s go back and report to him.”

Hearing him speak as if it were something insignificant, Raymond swallowed hard. In reality, the outcome was far from something to be taken lightly.

‘That he was able to turn around a deadlocked situation with just an oath…’

Anyone who didn’t understand would think he simply spent a fortune to get rid of a piece of trash.

But a few platinum coins were nothing compared to the benefit Lucian had gained.

‘By showing the platinum coins, he proved he could pay large rewards. With the oath, he removed their distrust. Then he got the mercenaries to turn on each other, breaking their unity, and made them feel a real fear that the same could happen to them.’

Saying it was easy, but pulling it off was extremely difficult.

When an interest group grows too large, it gets so full of itself that it completely loses common sense.

Even if someone tries to remind them of their place, their arrogance often leads to bloodshed.

But Lucian had managed to slap them metaphorically with nothing but words and bring them back to their senses.

‘In the end, the mercenaries lost their leader and spent the entire negotiation dancing to the tune of the third young master. If that Sven guy were still alive—no, if their unit hadn’t been broken, several would’ve refused to accept the terms.’

And that’s without even counting the process of getting them to the negotiation table.

Even the conditions he presented were perfect.

The total pay remained the same, but he added absurdly high bonuses for results.
It looked like a risky, thin line—but in reality, it was overwhelmingly favorable for House Valdeck.

‘The Imperial Liberation Alliance acts so openly because they believe surveillance is full of holes. Once the mercenaries, blinded by bonuses, start moving, those guys won’t be able to act so freely.’

Being a secret organization, they were used to operating in the shadows.

If they truly went into hiding, even top-tier mercenaries would struggle to find them.

They might catch one or two at first, but for the rest of the contract period, they wouldn’t even see their shadows.

In contrast, the Alliance would have to constantly worry about avoiding the mercenaries, and their operational range would shrink drastically.

It was, literally, the best play—minimum cost, maximum enemy control.

‘If there was one weak point in all this…’

“Young master, you handled the situation splendidly. But don’t you think the first bag of platinum coins you threw was too full? What would you have done if someone had really killed that mercenary on the first try?”

Hugo’s words voiced exactly what Raymond had been thinking.

Everything had gone well, but that had been a real risk.

If a mercenary had been blinded by greed from the first oath and killed Sven, the loss would have been absurdly disproportionate.

‘Having confidence in a plan is good. But at such a young age, overconfidence can easily become arrogance.’

Raymond mentally prepared to give a light reprimand, depending on the response.

But Lucian simply smiled and tossed the platinum bag.

“See for yourself.”

“¡Hngh!”

Hugo flinched and caught the bag with both hands. If even one coin had fallen to the ground, it could’ve been a disaster.

“Young master, don’t scare me like that! What if I had dropped it?”

“It’s fine even if one falls. That bag doesn’t have any platinum coins.”

“Huh?”

“I moved them aside earlier. This is the real bag.”

Clink.

From Lucian’s chest came a small pouch.

It was barely a quarter the size of the one he had thrown earlier.

“T-then, that bag…”

Hugo, stunned, opened the large bag. Seeing its contents, his face twisted.

“They’re all silver!?”

“Think about it. Do you really think my father would give me that many platinum coins? Even if he supports me, there’s a limit.”

“So in the bag you threw earlier…”

“Except for the few I placed on top, the rest were all silver coins. The colors are barely distinguishable; just cover the engraving. The only time I used actual platinum coins was for the final oath.”

Upon hearing the explanation, Hugo, Raymond, and even the Black Lions were left speechless.

The whole bag had been a bluff?

“Wait a second, young master. What about the Pantheon oath? You promised to give platinum coins.”

“When did I say that? I said I’d give everything in the bag. I never mentioned that it was all platinum coins.”

They all looked at each other. Vincent, who had the best memory of them all, nodded.

“That’s what he said. The platinum coin part was only in the first offer. But when he made the oath, he said he’d give everything in the bag, nothing more.”

“So the offer and the oath were different?”

“Strictly speaking, even the first offer wasn’t a lie. He showed the bag while talking, but never said everything inside was platinum.”

“…”

It was a stretch—but not wrong.

Contracts were always full of tricks, and the mercenaries themselves had made ridiculous excuses until now.

The important part was that, even if the first offer had been ambiguous, the Pantheon oath had no issue.

He hadn’t promised a specific amount, just the contents of the bag.

“And if they had figured it out? What would you have done if someone killed Sven as soon as you made the first offer?”

“I would’ve wrapped it up quickly and stashed it. With a minimum of common sense, no one would open the bag in a place full of greedy colleagues watching like hawks. They would’ve just looked at the color.”

“But even then, it would’ve been a big loss. You also took back several platinum coins by canceling the oaths.”

“And whoever took the bag would’ve become everyone’s target. With a sum like that, obviously everyone would’ve lost their minds. And when they later found out it was full of silver, no one would believe them.”

In fact, even the mercenary who had received a few real platinum coins now had one foot in the grave.

Even though the intimidation and rewards had calmed things down, there were always fools willing to take the risky path.

‘In my past life, I saw people hunted for years over far smaller amounts. With luck, they’ll escape and live in peace. If not—they’ll spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders.’

And even that was with the reduced amount.

If someone had taken the big bag full of supposed platinum coins, surviving 12 hours outside the inn would’ve already been a miracle.

“And if the rightful owner of the reward died, there’d be no reason to retrieve it either. It’s not rare for a knight to defeat some bandits and earn a little extra income in the process.”

“…!”