'Giving us a job already?' He thought. 'He sure moves fast.'
Tang Yao rested his chin on his hand while looking at Leo before starting to explain slowly.
"The Central Plains isn't in a great condition since the Heavenly Demon's demise. Many bandits appeared because the group they are afraid of are now gone. One of them is Green Forest Bandit. It's getting hard to move around and buy goods without having to worry about bandits robbing you."
"Oh?"
Leo didn't expect Green Forest Bandit or often known as Nokrim to make a move already. The false information about Heavenly Demon's demise was taken seriously by them it seemed.
'Not bad.' He thought to himself. 'It works.'
"With your strength, I would like to propose to hire your mercenaries as my personal guard while I travel around doing my business. Usually, my sister would come with me, but the timing is... a bit unfortunate." He glanced at Tang Soso and gave her a reassuring smile. "That is why, I would like to ask for your assistance, Mr. Thunder God."
"Just call me Leo." The black-haired young man said as he narrowed his eyes. "Why should I accept your offer?"
"Because of the price." Tang Yao said seriously before putting a large pouch on the table. "500 Golds for escorting and protecting me. This is the deposit. I will give you another 500 Golds when we return safely."
A total of 1,000 Golds. It was definitely a large amount of money.
'Chiaki might already be banned from the gambling den, so we can't really make more money by using dice.' Leo thought and frowned. 'We also need funds for our next project whether we want it or not. But this was... not exactly ideal.'
"Tang Yao." Leo called the young man's name while resting his chin on his hand while leaning his upper body on the table slightly. "Are you sure that 1,000 Gold coins is enough to hire us?"
He gave Tang Yao a meaningful stare, ignoring the nasty remarks from the Tang Clan members around because he called the second Young Master without any respect at all.
"We might be slaves to money and ally to the highest bidder, but I am not stupid. We always have a choice to refuse the job we don't want to do, especially one that is clearly a scam and not paying enough." He grinned and said calmly, "Either you give us a good deal or you find someone else to work for you."
"You-"
"Restrain yourself." Tang Soso said coldly to stop the nearby guard before looking at Leo. "Can you explain why you refuse? 1,000 Golds is already an extravagant amount for an escorting job. And it's just to Shaanxi, which isn't that far from Qin City. It should be easy for someone of your level."
"Even if it's easy, money is always the issue." He smiled at her, tapping the table lightly with his finger. "Do you think I am not aware of your destination and goal? Nokrim is a large group. Their executive members are 6 Stars martial artists and their leader is rumored to be 8 Stars. That means it will be more dangerous than you think."
Leo smirked before continuing.
"Hiring us for a war with a mere 1,000 Golds means you are underestimating us. I will ask again... Are you sure that 1,000 Gold coins is enough to hire us?"
Once again, silence dominated the room. No one said anything to break it. No one dared to do it because they were all aware that Leo was correct in his remark.
While Tang Clan didn't know the extent of Leo and his group's capability, they knew that hiring a martial artist to join a war for 1,000 Golds will not be enough. The story was different for clan members and its warriors. They were loyal and merits were more important to them compared to money.
But, Leo had mentioned at the start that they would work for money. Based on what they knew and what happened yesterday, Tang Yao knew the man in front of him didn't care about merit or respect at all.
'He even said he's a slave to money.' The second Young Master thought. 'He's true to his words.'
Rude he might be, he was an honest person. That was his evaluation regarding Leo, a mysterious individual who acted differently than most martial artists in Murim.
"My apologies, I didn't take that into consideration. We can talk about the compensation more if you want to."
As if. Leo knew Tang Yao was just testing his character. In Murim, no matter how much someone loved money, they always wanted merit more than money. Tang Yao should have known this. So, the 1,000 Golds offer was just bait for him to respond and show his attitude.
"Hmm..."
"We can increase the compensation." Tang Soso suddenly said while glancing at Tang Yao as if they were discussing something in secret telepathically. "Just name it."
Tang Yao sighed at her response and nodded his head slightly at Leo before saying, "What do you want?"
This was difficult.
'I don't know what price I should ask for to fight the Green Forest Bandit.'
In a way, that fight was unavoidable if he accepted this job. Tang Clan planned to eradicate the Nokrim and took all their resources as part of their scheme to monopolize the weapon industry in Qin City.
'Tang Yao wants to get merit and increase his status in the clan as well as getting more power to stand up against his brother. It's a risky move for him but beneficial when it succeeds.' Leo thought while stroking his chin. 'There is something I want from Green Forest too. I'd like to accept this job.'
Considering the enemy numbers, terrain, how long the job would last, and his group's overall strength, Leo had estimated their strength in fighting the bandits.
"9,000 Golds." He finally decided on a fair price after doing a mental calculation in his head. "That's my final offer. Oh, and an upfront payment of 1,000 Golds. So the total is 10 thousand."
"That's too much!" One of Tang Clan's martial artists exclaimed.