They climbed the mountain slope. From the entrance, they ascended to the mid-slope again. And in those 30 minutes, Rowan thought about many things.
First, he realized sothing was off.
Rowan had paid 50 copper coins as soone being escorted. But now he was at the front. No one said anything about it, and they’d naturally yielded that position, which made Rowan feel sothing was wrong.
Because when they t the bandits from Mushroom Mountain Village, Yuval had told Rowan not to recklessly step forward.
That contradiction.
Guessing the reason wasn’t difficult at all.
’Orcs must not be ordinary creatures.’
The attitude Yuval showed in front of the bandits and his current attitude were clearly different, as different as night and day. When facing the bandits, Yuval had been protective, almost paternal in his concern for Rowan’s safety. Now, there was a careful distance, a studied casualness that felt rehearsed. Rowan wasn’t so oblivious as to miss that shift in deanor. He wasn’t that tactless, despite what these rcenaries might think of a newcor to their world.
During the 30 minutes climbing the mountain slope, Rowan reassessed his own actions.
’Questions remain about the orc’s combat power.’
The rcenaries were acting too boldly for the orc’s combat power to be higher than at least eight bandits. That ant there was a large variance in orcs’ combat power.
’What’s the standard?’
He didn’t know. But the important thing was that the rcenaries were acting so boldly to reassure him, and unlike them, he needed to be cautious.
’If I pull back now, the rcenaries will pull back too.’
That would be regrettable. Even against a powerful orc, they might win if they cooperated with the rcenaries. It was infuriating that the rcenaries put him at the front, but Rowan had higher priorities than that.
’If it’s a powerful orc, I can have black dreams.’
He even wanted to et the kind of orc the rcenaries were worried about.
Rowan decided not to charge recklessly but to fight within a distance where the rcenaries could provide backup. That ant abandoning aggression and taking a defensive stance.
’Yuval, I thought he was at least a rational rcenary, but he’s no different from the others.’
He also reassessed his judgnt of Yuval. He’d thought there was sothing different about him while commanding rcenaries, but it was the sa. He looked proper on the outside, but inside he was as low-class as any rcenary.
Finding rational people in this world might be impossible.
Even in modern society, people who gave one thing when they received one thing were rare.
The storyteller’s tale about greedy humans ca to mind too.
’The answer is to split from this rcenary group at Torch Fortress.’
He’d followed along wanting to see a taxidermist or soone connected to nobles, tried to stay together to obtain a rcenary badge incidentally, and set out to receive Rakson’s legacy.
Of course, he’d also thought about belonging to this rcenary group and learning the ropes due to favorable feelings toward Yuval, but this situation cleanly ended that.
’No matter how I think about it, the answer is to extract what can be extracted, learn what can be learned, then split.’
He seed to be gradually learning about this era’s rcenaries. That was a good sign. At least realizing the rcenaries’ ntality painfully also ant growth. Thinking that his next stage was rcenary and then rcenary captain, this wasn’t a bad sign at all.
’It’s not that I shouldn’t beco such a rcenary. I have to govern and work with such rcenaries going forward.’
Rowan slowed his steps a bit. Strategy was needed.
’If a powerful orc appears, how should I fight?’
He had to make the rcenaries fight without running. That was a difficult strategy. Rowan had no ideas. He knew nothing about ancient tactics and strategies in life. If anything, it was superficial knowledge about battles like Thermopylae or Hannibal crossing the Alps.
Here, those were completely irrelevant. Most of it was accounts of things like three hundred Spartans holding a narrow pass against impossible odds.
’I can’t let go of even one silver coin either.’
Money was also important. The bear’s whole hide becoming big money because of noble connections was no different from a fortuitous encounter. It was also knowledge gained because peddler Yove had spilled the beans. But selling it was another problem.
It was a hide worth one gold coin only if sold to nobles. If he hadn’t had the lord’s crest, the Skull rcenary Group wouldn’t have purchased the whole hide. With no connections, and even if he had them but had to sell to others, the price would be cut in half, so not even 10 silver coins would have gone to Rowan.
This journey was literally created by coincidence upon coincidence and luck upon luck.
If peddler Yove hadn’t slipped up about how to sell bear hide, he wouldn’t have revisited Rowan several tis to negotiate.
’Such fortune won’t co again.’
Rowan had no connections to nobles. He’d never sell a 20-silver-coin bear hide again. Even bringing the sa quality, they might tell him to sell for five silver coins or less. Unity could be achieved, and since those connected to nobles were very few, who knew what could happen.
If he resisted that, he might be driven out as a thief overnight and spend months in prison.
But selling to villages was also foolish. He’d have to cut the bear hide, and pieces the size of small blankets were one or two silver coins. Even that could drop to copper coins depending on the market. There might not be anyone who needed them.
Even one silver coin dropped from killing the orc was precious to Rowan. Considering half of Rakson’s one silver coin tuition was labor or barter, currency itself was precious.
’The rcenary group must be conflicted too.’
Rowan had only now realized they were conflicted over eight silver coins, that he was playing the tank role against the orc, and that they were acting boldly to deceive him.
’I’ll play tank. But taking the orc’s life is my job.’
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