The Founder of the Great Financial Family

The mercenary, Sett, who came out of the store after exchanging the Talents, suddenly felt uncomfortable. 

He looked around cautiously, wondering whose gaze he felt when he saw a group of armed people looking at them warily. 

‘This territory’s Seers?’ 

Looking at their garb, the familiar costumes let him know they were the Seers in charge of the security of this estate. 

Sett frowned without realising it. 

‘Tch, I didn’t even make a fuss, but you’ve come like ghosts,’ 

He hadn’t made a fuss or messed anything up in the store, sure he didn’t like the little boy he had been dealing with, but even then, all he’d done was yell a little. 

Nevertheless, the fact that their guards were attached means they had been wary of their visit to Banco from the beginning. 

‘I guess they aren’t called Banco for no reason. Well, it’s the place where most gold coins are stored. It’s no wonder the Seers are careful,’ 

The goldsmith ran the Banco that paid the most in taxes among all the people within this territory. 

Therefore, from the lord’s point of view, he had to pay the most attention to Banco’s safety, and the result of that was the hawk-like gaze of the Seers watching Banco. 

‘But it’s not like we’re going to dress up for exchanging currency since we’ve been rolling around outside – since we didn’t cause a fuss, they should at least try and look at things from our side,’ 

Since there was nothing good to come from making a fuss in someone else’s area, Sett and his colleagues sped through and immediately went to the market to buy what they needed. 

“Wall, a Banco is a Banco after all – did you see the Seer’s gathered outside?” 

“Leave it. That’s the way it is normally,”

“That’s true,”

“Let’s go back. If we’re in a place like this, we don’t get good looks,” 

After finishing their business in the market, they headed to their campsite, situated some distance away from the village, in the surrounding forest. 

Sett’s colleague, Keith, began speaking on the way to the campsite. It was about the situation at Banco, 

“Hey, why didn’t you try to cut down two more shillings each while you were at Banco? Three shillings a Talent is too expensive,” 

“Right, it was only one shilling for every Talent, wasn’t it? What the heck are three shillings about?” 

Even Chris, who had come with him, added his voice to the criticism, and Sett voiced his displeasure, 

“It’s the only Banco around – what was I supposed to do? From the looks of it, they knew they were being gutsy and had the confidence to carry on – what difference would you guys have made? It would have been the same if you were in my place,” 

Chris recalled some old memories. What was clear was that things were different, 

“I don’t think it used to be that expensive?” 

“Wasn’t it expensive? What are you talking about?” 

“I was here once, three years ago. I stopped by to explore the abandoned mines. When I exchanged my money at the store, it was 1 shilling for every Talent. Yeah, I’m sure that was it. I remember thinking the exchange fee was cheaper than I thought even though I was in the outskirts,” 

“What?” The other two looked shocked at the absurd news, 

“But why didn’t you say anything earlier?” 

“Hm… I just figured things had changed in the meantime – this was three years ago after all,” 

“What?” 

“But how can the exchange fee get so expensive in that time?”

“There’s no way it could rise that much,” 

At that moment, all three were able to recall what Rockefeller had said earlier, 

“Come to think of it, that kid did say that since he came, the business was doing well,” 

“For gods’ sake…!” 

“I think we’ve been done in – I bet we could have gotten it for two shillings,”

“Ha… that money was enough to get drunk twice over!” 

“Not twice! I could do it three times with that money!” 

However, they had almost arrived at the campsite. It was a little late to turn around now – and the Seers who had been watching them were also problematic. 

“Even if we go back, I don’t think we’ll get it back,”

“If it was you, would you give it back? I’m sure they’re happy to have ripped someone off after a while,” 

“He was just like a goblin – I heard goblins do business like that,”

“Honestly, that took a lot of guts,”

Eventually, the three who couldn’t turn their steps back returned to the campsite. They went straight to where the captain had set his place to report what had happened at the village.

At the captain’s barracks; 

Carl, the captain of the Hound Mercenaries, had already communicated with the lord’s custodian and sent him back to the lord’s castle, 

Looking at the bag of gold coins, it was clear he had already received advance payment for the orc extermination. 

Sett looked at the gold coin bag on the floor and began to report to Captain Carl about the trip to the village. After hearing their whole story, Captain Carl slowly opened his mouth, 

“It seems the situation isn’t as serious here as we thought. Looking at the custodian’s attitude, they didn’t call us because they were desperate – they had enough leeway to be calm,”

“We felt the same way – it seemed too peaceful in the village to have called for us,” 

Keith and Chris, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, frowned. 

It meant this job wasn’t at their usual playing level. 

“We’re not some local gang shitheads, so why the hell would they call us for this then?”