Roland stared at Petrov with a look of interest and laughed. "You're the first person to ask me that," he said. He took the cup and had a sip, and then said in a casual tone, "Longsong Stronghold is undoubtedly mine, even if I'm not here. What I really need is a person or a family to run Longsong Stronghold on my behalf. Therefore, what you should ask me isn't the ransom, but the "agency fees".
Agency... Petrov was no stranger to this word. Many of the nobles had no time or interest in trade, while they had large output in their domain. Some sharp-sighted businessmen would help them to sell goods. In order to obtain this right from the noble, the businessmen had to pay a sum of money in advance as a deposit.
"How many pieces of gold royals would you require?" he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.
