Ch. 123: Presentation to Negotiation
“If you take the job, I’ll pay five silver coins beforehand. Five more after the job is done.”
That was the first thing Klaus said after Loren finally managed to peel him off.
“Is that per person?”
“Ugh…Y-yeah. Twenty silver coins in total. It isn’t bad, isn’t it? Then…”
“No way.”
Klaus brightened up for a second at Lapis’ response, but Loren cut her off.
Lapis ignored Klaus, who was at a loss for words, and looked at Loren, wondering why he said so.
“Jobs that start by talking about money can never be trusted. Those who jump at jobs like these can never live for long.”
“I see. I’ll go throw this thing out then.”
When Lapis said so in a cold voice and pointed at Klaus, Loren’s stern face crumbled slightly.
“I mean…we can at least listen to what he has to say.”
“Make up your mind.”
Lapis’ voice hardened slightly at Loren’s indecisiveness, saying that Klaus’ offer couldn’t be trusted, but then wanting to hear him out.
Loren responded in an unsure manner, very unlike his usual self.
“Yeah well…I mean, if the conditions are solid, I don’t think there’s a reason to be so hard on him, you know…”
“Loren, are you getting soft on Klaus, by any chance?”
“I don’t think I’m being soft on him in any way, but…anyways.”
Loren forced the conversation in another direction, knowing that he was at a disadvantage.
Lapis already knew so due to the air around him, but instead of pushing it, she calmly went with the change in topic.
“If you want our help, tell us everything, no secrets. After that, I’ll tell you the minimum conditions we’ll help you for.”
“If we find out you’re lying, I’ll snap you in half. What part of you would be how I’d be feeling at the time.”
Intimidated by Loren, who told him to tell them everything, and Lapis, who completely threatened him, the words started spilling out of Klaus’ mouth.
“As you could see by the amount of rewards, the girls and I were talking about how we shouldn’t take this.”
“The girls? So Ange and the other girls are on board with this?”
Klaus was currently in a party with three girls.
Since Loren thought that the whole thing had something to do with women, he thought that Ange and the other girls wouldn’t want to take part in it.
From the few times he had met them before, all of them had feelings for Klaus, but they were also annoyed and tired of Klaus’ and his sloppy habits with women.
He guessed that they would be fed up with him soon, and thought that maybe today was that day, but from what he just heard, it didn’t seem to be so.
“They agreed to lend a helping hand to the village in distress.”
“That was easy. So, what’s the actual reason?”
“I’d appreciate it if you would keep it between us…”
“Why would I give two damns about the love affairs in your group?”
Although he said that, Loren wasn’t someone to spread the word about such things.
He didn’t care if the girls found out about it, he just wanted to know what Klaus’ intention was.
“Well, actually, the village chief…”
“Young?”
“Not that much. But she has an outstanding charm, in a sense…She was a housewife until her husband passed away last year…”
“Did you start feeling sorry for her when she started crying?”
“Yeah, and some other intentions as well…”
“You know that’s going to be the death of you? Don’t expect to die peacefully in a bed.”
Although Loren had said that, Klaus’ life was his own, so no matter how it ended, it wasn’t something for him to be concerned about.
“Well…hahahaha…”
When Klaus laughed without even a hint of remorse, Loren snorted, and Lapis sighed deeply.
“So how about it? Will you help?”
“Since you came over to us and begging, I’m guessing that means no one else other than your group wanted to do this?”
“Pretty much. I wouldn’t have accepted it if it weren’t for the chief.”
Klaus said so very clearly.
As he wondered where he got that gut of his, Loren started to think.
He understood that the correct thing to do was push the whole thing away, saying that it wasn’t their problem.
But other thoughts swirled in his mind as he glared at Klaus, who was looking at him with eyes full of expectation.
This young man named Klaus could be summed up as human trash, as he had been showing them, but there was a small part of him that couldn’t leave anyone in need.
He also had a rare Gift called <<Boost>>, so if personality was taken out of the equation, he was quite the skilled swordsman.
On top of that, although it was unknown how long they would stay with him, the girls in his party were all very skilled as well, so they were quite capable as a party as well.
They weren’t bad people to gain favors with.
There was the possibility that Klaus would forget it, but Loren knew that he wasn’t that much of a scum.
“It’s not like we don’t know each other. I’d be willing to do it depending on the payment.”
When he told his opinion to Lapis, although the disgust didn’t drop from her face, she nodded, as if she wasn’t rejecting Klaus completely.
“I’ll join depending on the payment as well.”
“Is twenty silver coins not enough?”
Klaus suggested the original amount he presented, but Loren shook his head.
“No, it’s not worth the trouble.”
“We’ve become iron rank adventurers as well. If you want our help, it should be enough for our services.”
When Lapis said that, Klaus’ face brightened for some reason.
“You ranked up? Congratulations.”
“Oh right, you were my opponent on the exam. Did you not hear the results?”
“They didn’t tell me anything after it ended vaguely.”
There had been a rank up exam, but Loren’s opponent during that exam was Klaus.
As Klaus had said, it ended weirdly since there had been an interruption, but for some reason Loren had passed and was now a proper iron rank adventurer.
“And so, we decided to increase our payments.”
“That’s not that welcoming.”
“Give it up. So, our conditions are ten…”
“Fifteen silver coins upfront, another fifteen after the job, so a total of thirty per person. If you cover the necessary expenditure, we’ll accept the job.”
Lapis interrupted Loren and told Klaus a specific amount.
Klaus looked surprised, but Loren knew why.
The condition that Lapis presented was over three times the amount that Klaus had suggested.
If he wasn’t surprised, it meant that he had suggested a low payment to try to rip them off.
“Isn’t that a bit too much?”
Klaus managed to squeeze the words out of his mouth, which was agape with shock, and Loren agreed.
Loren’s suggestion was going to be ten silver coins upfront and ten after per person, for a total of forty silver coins.
Even that was double Klaus’ suggestion, and Loren thought that was a bit much as well, but not only did Lapis ask for more than that, she asked him to cover their expenditures as well, showing how she never refrained herself.
“I won’t force you. If you don’t like it, you can go ask others.”
Klaus looked to Loren for help at Lapis’ cold and unapproachable attitude.
But Loren had no intention of giving him a helping hand at this point.
It was because Lapis had gone as far as to interrupt him to propose her conditions.
Lapis had more experience as an adventurer than Loren.
Which made him believe that Lapis’ proposal would be suitable payment for iron rank adventurers than what he was thinking of.
But he also believed that Klaus couldn’t pay it.
The original payment was eight silver coins.
Making him pay sixty to help him on the job, even though it was because of a woman, made Loren pity him slightly.
“We’re acquaintances, right? Can’t you lower it a bit?”
“I would believe it’s still cheaper than market price.”
“That might be true, but I don’t have enough to pay that.”
“That’s not my problem.”
Although her voice was still cold, Lapis quickly glanced at Loren.
He didn’t know exactly what she wanted, but he had a good guess of what it was, so instead of calling out to Klaus, who was hanging his head at Lapis’ words, he called out to her.
“Keep it at that Lapis. It’s not like we’re strangers. Can’t we lower it a bit?”
“Loren’s the leader, so I’ll follow what you say.”
“Klaus, I can’t lower it that much. Fifty silver coins upfront for the two of us as well as the expenses. How about that?”
Loren felt that he didn’t lower it enough.
But he also felt that if he did, it wouldn’t do any good for Klaus either.
He was someone who would end up losing his life if he didn’t learn his lesson with women sooner or later.
‘I think it’s going to be a meaningless effort, Onii-san.’
The one who jabbed in as cold as Lapis, was the girl named Shayna, who had been turned into a No Life King, being reduced to just her astral form after losing her physical body and was residing within Loren’s spirit.
Watching Klaus rejoice at the discount and bowing his head over and over, thanking him, he wondered if it was as Shayna had said.