The day after Uncle Athos told me that the village’s industry was『Mercenaries』 we immediately got a request.
And guess what!
It came from the very empire we had just been at war with!
Apparently, a war had broken out in the southern part of the Empire, and a gaudily armored messenger came to summon reinforcements.
「You Barbars have pledged fealty to the Vaffancrow Empire. We expect your loyalty and devotion!」
The messenger puffed out his chest arrogantly, but Uncle Athos looked bored and responded flatly.
「Haa… So, how much are you offering in payment?」
「Mmph…! Speaking of money is quite uncouth, wouldn’t you say?」
「If you expect loyalty and devotion, then we’ll be needing appropriate compensation. We’re abandoning our farming and hunting to send reinforcements, after all. Surely the great Empire doesn’t intend to have us work for free?」
「Wh, no… Surely not, we wouldn’t…」
Ah!
The messenger just looked away!
He totally was planning to make us fight for free!
I started to rise to my feet, blood rushing to my head, but Uncle Athos whispered 『Leave this to me』.
「O-of course not! You’ll be paid generously!」
This guy has zero resistance to provocation! LOL.
I kept my face serious, but I was laughing hysterically on the inside.
From there, Uncle Athos ran the table, gold coins as payment, advance pay, bonuses for performance, food supply, transportation support, you name it. He squeezed every benefit out of the Empire.
A scribe traveling with the envoy awkwardly drafted the mercenary contract onto parchment, and both the envoy and I signed it.
「We may have lost the war, but we’ve won the money battle!」
After seeing off the envoy, Uncle Athos raised his fist triumphantly.
Seriously, the man’s a genius.
From now on, I’ll be learning everything I can from my reliable uncle.