I leaned against the window of my new room and looked up at the autumn night sky.
The moonlight was quite bright today, so it wouldn’t be a good day for the guys working in the back alleys.
Outside the window, I could see a large garden. The room I was in was close to the center of a huge castle that was over 120 square kiloters in size, and there was a huge artificial garden that dwarves and elves had worked together to grow.
Looking at the rectangular garden spread out between the huge buildings, I was reminded of Washington Square Park, which I had never been to.
A servant in a suit was sifting the fallen leaves that had fallen on the fountain with a sieve. Even this late at night, the servants were each doing their jobs in their respective positions.
I sighed deeply and stuck my head out the window.
“......Co out. I know you’re here.”
Then, still looking at the servant, I spoke softly.
“Yes―”
Then, an unexpectedly bright and cheerful voice ca from above my head. Soon, slender legs slowly squeezed through the gap in the window, and a girl with red eyes and a pitch-black cloak entered the room.
“Your senses are sharper than I thought? I tried to erase the signs of life.”
Of course, I didn’t feel anything. Not a single sign of life, not even a hint of life. Nevertheless, the reason I could call her was none other than that.
Sion was a guy who passionately wanted to win the ‘Army Fog’ job, enough to eliminate all his competitors. He was also a guy who was capable enough to invade the imperial palace at will.
If he wasn’t watching my movents, that would be even stranger.
“Then, I’ll greet you again! Born in the back alley, raised in the back alley......!”
“That’s it, Army Fog. You can definitely find it, right?”
I cut off Zion’s stupid introduction and said,
“You’re saying sothing obvious! My information power is excellent. It’s okay if it’s lacking. Those back alley guys, if I say one word, they won’t be able to move and will just blurt out information!”
Despite the sharp tone, this girl didn’t lose her temper at all.
“......What are you thinking?”
I cut it short and got to the point.
“I want to make money!”
Zion answered my question without thinking too deeply.
“There must be plenty of ways to make money. You’re famous in that industry, right?”
“Oh, am I already famous enough to be heard by the general? Wow, this is an honor!”
Zion maintained a playful attitude the whole ti, as if all of this was a joke.
I was secretly getting hot under the sight of her face smiling harmlessly.
“Even if it’s not my job, you’ll make a lot of money. There must be a reason why you want to work with , even if it ans clearing out all the people living in the back alleys.”
“......Is that a question that you really have to answer?”
Zion was silent for a mont and then said.
“If you don’t answer this question, I won’t make a contract with you.”
“There’s no one else I can entrust you with~”
“You can find people from sowhere other than the capital. If you don’t want to, you can ask our military general, ‘Delta,’ for help directly.”
“.......”
Zion slowly wiped away his bright smile, and I continued speaking to his face.
“It wouldn’t be a good idea, would it? Clearing out the idiots doing business in the capital wouldn’t have been a problem, but dealing with all the rchants who flock from all over the continent one by one... Well, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
A cold shadow had fallen over Zion’s silent face.
She didn’t let out a careless splutter. She probably didn’t want to risk fighting the continent’s general.
She only showed her displeasure on rare occasions.
“There are many capable people in the world. I benefit no matter who wins. If you defeat all the competitors flocking to the capital... they’re all criminals anyway, so the world will beco a better place to live in. If you die and soone else takes over this job, I’ll be happy because I’ll be working with a real ‘pro’ and not a crazy person.”
My skin stung.
I realized anew that she was a monster on par with the general in terms of skill alone.
My heart, which had beco insensitive to even the slightest danger since the battle with Malthael, began to pound for the first ti in a long ti.
My feeble survival instinct sensed the dreary air and warned to prepare my magic.
“Tell why. Why are you trying to take on this job? I need to make sure you’re a person I can control. I don’t want to work with soone who’s just plain crazy.”
“......There’s only one reason, you know.”
Sion sighed softly and slowly walked to the table in the middle of the room. She sighed deeply and poured tea into the cup I hadn’t poured anything into yet, fiddling with it.
She didn’t bring the cup to her lips like before.
“To get to the point, I thought I could at least get 100 gold for it, so I did it. I didn’t an anything else.”
“.......”
I stopped walking toward the table to sit across from her and stared blankly at Sion’s face.
... ... 100 gold?
Did I mishear that?
How did that calculation co about?
Is this guy really stupid... ... ?
1 gold is 100 silver. 1 silver is 100 pennies, 1 gold is 10,000 pennies, and a cup of coffee costs about 1 penny. So you can buy about 10,000 cups of coffee with 1 gold... ... .
Is this kid trying to drink a million cups of coffee with this number... ... ?
How much is that in Korean money? If a cup of coffee costs 4,500 won, then 4,500 tis a million... ... .
Uh... ... .
Hmm.
Roughly 5 billion... ... ?
‘Wait a minute, didn’t you miscalculate? It’s not 5 billion, it’s 5 billion?’
Huh?
Really?
... ... 5 billion?
“......What are you doing? Sit down.”
“Is there sothing wrong with your head?”
How can you conclude that you can extort 100 gold?
Even if I spend a lot of money on this, I was thinking of around 20 gold.
“How much land do you think you have in the imperial capital under your na? How much farmland do you have? And the mansion of Gwyner that you own, that building, and the artwork inside it......”
“No, no. It’s completely different from having a lot of money and being willing to spend a lot of money. How did you co to have such a sense of money?”
“There are ways to extort everything, you know. 100 gold is the minimum inco. I thought I could extort 150 gold if things went well.”
Sion said that with a very confident expression, as if he couldn’t even guess what was wrong.
“The best service cos with the best price, right?”
“Huh.”
“So, have you resolved your concerns?”
Zion brought the glass to her nose and spoke while sniffing the scent. There was no sha in her eyes.
“.......”
There was only one thing I was worried about.
That Zion might just be a ‘crazy bitch’ like the world thinks.
I can’t work with soone who does whatever they want without any standards or discipline, like a rascal.
It might not be as difficult as a battlefield, but the fog in the archipelago is also one of the areas with a high level of difficulty.
Dangerous monsters pop out, and if you’re not careful, you can easily get lost, so it’s too dangerous to wander around with a rascal.
In that sense... ... my worries were sowhat alleviated.
At least I was able to confirm that ‘Zion’ wasn’t just a crazy woman who did whatever she wanted.
She had a clear standard.
That was money.
‘If I judged that it was a job that could extract at least 5 billion, or 8 billion if things went well, then it would be worth taking the risk and infiltrating the palace. That guy is confident that he can survive by invading the palace on his own.’
Whether I was willing to spend the money or not, Sion seed to have a way to extract the money.
If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.
“How on earth did you plan on getting that much money from ? I have no family and only one friend. If you put a knife to my throat and tell to spit out 100 gold, did you think I would spit it out?”
“Huh? Hey, I wouldn’t do sothing amateur like that~ I would never directly harm the general or anyone around . Would I be crazy enough to touch the general of the empire? And to a genius who is supposed to save the world? It doesn’t make sense.”
Sion put down his glass as he spoke and rummaged through his cloak.
Soon, a green-yellow paper that I had seen before was placed on the table.
‘... ... Devil’s Contract.’
The paper that I had used to steal the Achilliptus Forest from Samael was placed on the table.
An absolute contract that would take the target’s life the mont the contract was not kept.
“Where did you get this....”
I was speechless because I was so dumbfounded.
A Devil’s Contract is a special item that only high-ranking demons can possess. Usually, it is used to enslave intelligent beings with excellent brains that would be a waste to turn them into mutants... ...
“You had a hard ti getting it~ Hey, these days, the demons have all disappeared to the north, so it’s not easy to get this. If you put it up on the black market, you should get at least 10 gold.”
“......Did you buy it?”
“No? Are you going to buy this with that money? Even if it’s annoying, I’ll dig it up myself.”
... ... They talk lightly, as if they’re herbalists digging up herbs on the mountain behind the neighborhood.
The high-ranking demon isn’t even the na of a dog.
“The contents of the contract are simple. One. Sion will guide General Bin Kyung to ‘Army Fog.’ If Sion fails to guide General Bin Kyung to the Army Fog within at least a week, Sion will consider the contract to have been broken without permission.”
Sion calmly explained the contents of the contract.
“Two. General Bin Kyung will pay Sion for the number of monsters, demons, humans, elves, and dwarves that Sion killed while escorting him.
The mont you are injured by an enemy attack, Sion is considered to have broken the contract without permission. 3. The mont Bin Kyung says, ‘I will no longer receive your service,’ this contract will be imdiately invalidated.”
After hearing the whole story, I asked the most curious question first.
“... ... So, roughly how much is the price?”
“Orcs, humans, elves, and dwarves each get 2 gold. Monsters get 1 gold each, and demons get 1 gold each. There is no difference in level or difficulty. Whether you catch an ancient dragon or a goblin rolling around on the street, it will be calculated as 1 gold each. Demons and humans are the sa.”
At first glance, it wasn’t a particularly strange contract.
The first clause, well, there was no problem.
The second clause also seed to have no major problems, except that it was a bit unique in that it paid for the number of enemies dealt with rather than the ti spent escorting.
The third clause... ... seed extrely advantageous to . I could cancel the contract at will, right when I wanted. Could I really get 100 gold with this contract?
“......Can I really get 100 gold with that contract?”
The foggy archipelago we were heading to was not a place where monsters sward. It was a place where elite monsters road around, each guarding their own territory.
In addition, considering that the level of the monsters was by no ans low, the amount of 1 gold per monster was not an unreasonable price.
... ... Of course, if you were to ask if it was a price that matched the average market price, it was absolutely not, but you also have to consider that the person providing with the service was ‘Zion’.
Zion was one of the few outstanding talents on the continent who could invade the imperial palace at will and extract information on key figures at will.
At best, he would be a general, or at worst, just below that level.
Most of the ti, you can’t buy an escort with this level of skill even if you pay money.
‘... ... Is it worth investing money in? Especially because of the second clause, the possibility of this guy slacking off seems to be close to 0.’
I consider it as breaking the contract without permission.
This phrase In the ‘Devil’s Contract’, it ans death.
Zion ant that if I was injured by the enemy, my life would be taken away by the Devil’s Contract.
“You are truly crazy.”
“You are crazy about money.”
Yes.
As she said, she was completely crazy about money.
If she could make a lot of money, she would not mind putting her life on the line.
That’s why I was confident.
Even if she was in danger, she would keep safe as long as this contract was maintained.
“......The expected inco from this contract is about 100 gold?”
“At least 100 gold. I think I could make about 120 gold if I was lucky... and I think I could make 150 gold if I was lucky.”
“I think this contract would not even earn 30 gold. You need to kill 100 monsters to get 100 gold, but the fog in the archipelago isn't a place where weak monsters crawl out in droves. Didn't you say you know a lot about fog in the archipelago?"
"Well~ Do you want to bet with ?"
Sion leaned back on his chair with his toes and spoke to with an arrogant attitude.
The old wooden chair ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) maintained its exquisite balance, neither falling backward nor forward, standing in its place.
"Article 4. If the amount of money Sion earned from this contract is more than 100 gold, Bin Kyung will pay Sion an additional 20 gold. If the inco is less than 100 gold, Sion will pay Bin Kyung 40 gold."
"... ... ."
I looked at the contract on the table for a mont, thinking about it.
It didn't take long for to co to a conclusion.
"I refuse. Please remove the fourth clause."
Sion seed confident that she could squeeze out 100 gold.
She was considered the best expert in the underworld, and she seed more sensitive than anyone when it ca to money.
If she were to make the fourth clause, she would probably try to squeeze out more than 100 gold by using all sorts of outrageous thods.
‘I’d rather think of spending more than 100 gold.’
Of course, if we look at the cost-effectiveness aspect, there was no worst option.
Who else in the world would spend 100 gold on one escort?
However, Sion was not a talent who could consider cost-effectiveness.
She was a talent on par with a general, and was clearly a supernova in the underworld.
Who would consider cost-effectiveness when buying a supercar like a Porsche, Lamborghini, or Ferrari? High-end products have their own value.
‘... ...Of course, it was not very nice that this guy got rid of all the other cost-effective alternatives. But.’
What’s the big deal, anyway.
100 gold.
It’s a lot of money anyway.
If you think about fixing your damaged right hand with 100 gold, isn’t that a ridiculous price?
“......You’re surprisingly smart, aren’t you?”
Sion opened his red eyes wide in surprise as the conversation went better than expected, leaning back on his chair and lifting his cup.
As expected, the tea in the cup didn’t decrease by even a single sip.
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